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Barracuda Message Archiver vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365 comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 29, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Barracuda Message Archiver
Ranking in Email Archiving
10th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Defender for Offi...
Ranking in Email Archiving
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (2nd), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (3rd), Microsoft Security Suite (9th), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Email Archiving category, the mindshare of Barracuda Message Archiver is 5.1%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 10.7%, down from 35.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Archiving Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Office 36510.7%
Barracuda Message Archiver5.1%
Other84.2%
Email Archiving
 

Featured Reviews

SK
Senior Manager at Havells
Easy to use with helpful email backup and search capabilities, but it needs to support SIEM integration
Integration with ArcSight would be very helpful. The user mailbox management is poor. For example, if I want to restore a complete mailbox then it doesn't keep the structure of the inbox intact. When the emails are restored, they are in a single folder that we have to extract and restructure. At times, the restoration doesn't work properly. It would be difficult to opt-out of the services because it would require the transfer of a lot of data from the cloud to on-premises storage. Technical support should be more available to the Indian market.
Emeka Ndulu - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Improves threat visibility and response while reducing manual tasks and training users against phishing
I appreciate the attack simulation feature whereby I get to train users and educate them on how to identify phishing emails and spam emails, as well as the anti-spam protection. It gives me visibility into my threat environment and threat landscape to ensure that I am one step ahead of any likelihood of threats within my environment. I get to detect it and respond, so the threat intelligence is very effective. Microsoft security solutions save my time. It saves money because once I protect my environment, I don't lose money. It has decreased my detection time and my time to respond.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It's easy to use."
"Overall, the solution is good, easy to use, and reasonably priced."
"The most valuable feature is protection against malicious links, fishing, and impersonation. You can train people to be aware of these threats, but they're not always careful. When they're using their phones between meetings, they click on a link, and it's game over."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is a cloud-based email filtering service that helps protect our organization against unknown malware and viruses by providing robust zero-day protection and includes features to safeguard our organization from harmful links in real-time."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 saves me time; it does save a lot of time, especially with the automation."
"The basic features are okay and I'm satisfied with the Defender."
"We have seen a return on investment because if we would have received a phishing email, Microsoft Defender for Office 365 would help out to detect the threat instead of crashing down the whole company."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is data backups that we can provide through ticket requests."
"The two main features that prove most beneficial for us are URL scanning and attachment scanning."
"Threat Explorer is an invaluable tool for me, and it plays a crucial role in helping me discern the origins of various email campaigns, pinpointing where they emanate from, and identifying the individuals within our organization who are affected."
 

Cons

"It's a little bit more expensive than the others."
"The user mailbox management is poor."
"We need a separate license and we don't know how to get the license that is required."
"We still see many false positives from time to time with Microsoft Defender for Office 365, so it would be good if we can reduce those false positives and provide better workflows for our end users, as sometimes they may not know what to do when they encounter a false positive."
"Microsoft needs to broaden its global support presence by establishing teams of subject-matter experts in all regions."
"Microsoft should provide more documentation for users so they can self-educate. I would like to see more documentation for advanced security features."
"They can improve their security in a way where a customer can know if all their attachments are safe or not to open through a report. The solution does its job perfectly, but it never reports to the customer whether those attachments have been stopped before or not."
"Too many false positives and lacks an accurate capability to detect malicious SharePoint sites."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is not up to the mark in comparison with Wiz or Palo Alto."
"One area for improvement is support, in terms of being able to reach them and, especially, technical support for configuration."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"They're a little bit more expensive than the others."
"We are satisfied with the pricing and the service is bundled so there are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"I was working in the government and it was too expensive for us to use our Microsoft products."
"For licensing, it's usually a yearly package for customers who are subscribed to Office 365, but they can also pay on a monthly basis."
"Defender for 365 comes in various plans and licenses, along with other Microsoft security solutions. Purchasing this kind of package or security bundle gives good value for money, and that's what I recommend."
"Defender is a little bit more expensive as compared to others. We are in the manufacturing environment. So, we don't have a high budget for all of our endpoint devices. Its cost is a major concern for us."
"From the pricing point of view, like any other product in the market, there is scope for negotiation."
"While Microsoft Defender for Office 365 necessitates pricier E3 or E5 subscriptions, the extensive functionality offered by these licenses across various Microsoft products justifies the investment."
"It's a user-base subscription."
"The product is very expensive."
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909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise32
 

Questions from the Community

What is your primary use case for Barracuda Message Archiver?
We use Barracuda Message Archiver to keep a copy of our users' emails, both inbound or outbound. Our goal in using it is that from a compliance perspective, we can provide access to our auditors. I...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
My experience with pricing, setup, and licensing is that it's actually quite reasonable even on the licensing side as a standalone product. It's very competitive compared to what competitors are ch...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
I think Microsoft Defender for Office 365 can be improved by creating more educational pieces about not just looking for malware. We are seeing a lot more malware-less emails that Defender for Offi...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
My main use cases for Microsoft Defender for Office 365 include email hygiene.
 

Also Known As

No data available
MS Defender for Office 365
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Alfa Romeo, Texas A&M University, Time Warner, Nintendo, Boeing 
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda Message Archiver vs. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.