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Barracuda Security Awareness Training vs Proofpoint Email Protection comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 Security Awarenes...
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Security Awareness Training (6th)
Proofpoint Email Protection
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
110
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (2nd), Digital Risk Protection (3rd), Office 365 Protection (1st), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

Barracuda Security Awareness Training and Proofpoint Email Protection aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Barracuda Security Awareness Training is designed for Security Awareness Training and holds a mindshare of 1.9%, down 2.2% compared to last year.
Proofpoint Email Protection, on the other hand, focuses on Secure Email Gateway (SEG), holds 17.7% mindshare, down 20.9% since last year.
Security Awareness Training Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Barracuda Security Awareness Training1.9%
KnowBe410.9%
Riot6.9%
Other80.3%
Security Awareness Training
Secure Email Gateway (SEG) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Proofpoint Email Protection17.7%
Mimecast Advanced Email Security14.1%
Microsoft Defender for Office 36513.2%
Other55.0%
Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
 

Featured Reviews

SA
IT Lead at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
Security training has improved onboarding and builds ongoing awareness of phishing threats
Barracuda Security Awareness Training has positively impacted our onboarding process, and we have seen a lot of improvement from the new user's standpoint. On the very first day of their onboarding, we introduce this training so that it has created a good impact where everyone who has joined our organization is aware of phishing emails and how to handle those emails, how to identify those phishing emails, and how to avoid clicking unknown links which have been sent by unknown users to our email inboxes. That gives a huge benefit and saves a lot from all security standpoints. It is very much protected, and they are using it in their day-to-day work. We don't have to worry about phishing methods, nor do we have to rely on people for these things. Everyone is aware of phishing simulation attacks, and we have educated everyone in our organization. Barracuda Security Awareness Training offers predefined modules for phishing simulation with training content that is pre-built with interactive videos, quizzes, and campaigns. They also have automated campaigns like pre-built training schedules and the ability to easily view reporting analytics, risk scores, and user performance tracking. We can track whether users have taken the course or not easily. Policy acknowledgment is also tracked and compliance user acceptance is monitored to see if it works well with email security solutions, especially in Barracuda email security. We can view real-world attack simulation test results and phishing simulations. These are some good features. I rely most on the training content, which makes our job easier because it has pre-built interactive videos for every topic of phishing simulation quizzes and campaigns. It also includes pre-built training schedules as well. We don't have to worry about the scheduling part; we just have to schedule the date and the time, and the campaign automatically starts once scheduled. Additionally, Barracuda Security Awareness Training features are easy to use, the interface is good, quick deployment is done, and it has strong phishing simulation capabilities. It also provides good visibility into user risk levels.
Siva_Prasad - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Email defenses have reduced phishing incidents and protect sensitive data across our enterprise
As things are evolving and threats develop in unpredictable ways, Proofpoint must adopt AI solutions and agentic solutions more aggressively and provide them to customers as part of service offerings. Inbuilt AI solutions would add more value and make Proofpoint a more premium choice for customers. With the help of AI solutions, agentic AI, and generative AI capabilities, the product would be more efficient than it currently is. Filtering false positives is highly challenging because it is impossible for humans to identify which emails are genuine and which are spam. Proofpoint should focus more on this area with back-end agents or other tools. Proofpoint should decide which emails are genuine and which are spam so it is not a challenge for end users. When receiving an email, end users should not have to determine whether to respond or not. Proofpoint should not release such spam emails and should strictly block such spam and spoof emails based on connection IPs. Currently, false positives occur in the product, and while this occurs in every product, it is an area where Proofpoint can focus on improving and reducing false positives. One email is enough for an end user to be deceived and lose money, so addressing this area is critical.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Barracuda PhishLine continues to evolve because as the attacks get more sophisticated, they get integrated into the campaigns. Then the users are exposed to the latest attacks in the form of a training session rather than in real life. They're much better prepared for these real-life ransomware attacks that come through via email."
"Barracuda PhishLine is a very good solution and I strongly recommend it to others."
"Barracuda Security Awareness Training has positively impacted our onboarding process, and we have seen a lot of improvement from the new user's standpoint."
"It's a mature product. It does a good job in detection."
"Proofpoint Email Protection has positively impacted my organization by significantly reducing the risk of employees clicking a malicious link or the company getting compromised."
"Its anti-phishing functionality is the most valuable. Certainly, the biggest problem I have is phishing."
"Proofpoint Email Protection is a strong and reliable solution for defending against advanced email threats, especially phishing and targeted attacks."
"The most valuable feature of Proofpoint Email Protection is the blocking capabilities, it blocks a lot of potential threats."
"Proofpoint Email Protection provides quite comprehensive protection."
"The flexibility is unbelievable and you could get extremely creative to accommodate real case scenarios."
"The solution scales quite well."
 

Cons

"The initial setup of Barracuda PhishLine is very easy."
"Regarding needed improvements, the subscription-based pricing is cost-effective compared to other competitors, but they need to add more premium security protections or features combined into this."
"The initial setup of Barracuda PhishLine is very easy. All of it can be set up in approximately one hour with someone that has some IT training and previous exposure to Barracuda."
"Proofpoint is fairly expensive."
"The email DLP portion could be a bit easier."
"Some of the old portal features of Proofpoint Email Protection are missing in the new portal, so some of the settings could be modernized."
"It became very expensive due to the nature of local circumstances, and I may advise Proofpoint to adjust marketing solutions based on each country."
"Filtering false positives is highly challenging because it is impossible for humans to identify which emails are genuine and which are spam."
"It has too many screens. It is kind of a conglomeration of products. In other words, they built product A, product B, and product C, and they are yet to integrate them into a single administrative console. I would certainly like to see a more seamless administrative interface. I would also like to see them include more bang for the buck, by including features like email fraud protection, rather than making their product so piecemeal, where you are buying little pieces. I agree with the idea of having multiple tiers or layers, but maybe as small, medium, and large, as opposed to an a la carte menu."
"Phishing detection could improve further to match some of the capabilities offered by competitors."
"As a manager with multiple customers using Proofpoint Email Protection, having the ability to manage the admin console more efficiently would be beneficial."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are different package plans available, such as email protection advanced, premium, and premium plus."
"The licensing cost of Proofpoint Email Protection is a lot higher than other solutions, such as Barracuda."
"The tool's pricing depends on the customer's preference, offering options for an annual license or a monthly subscription. The cost varies based on factors such as the number of users and specific requirements. Overall, the pricing is competitive."
"Proofpoint Email Protection has comparable pricing."
"Proofpoint is fairly expensive."
"Pricing has recently been increased and the cost is a downside"
"It is multiple times more expensive, which made it very much less attractive."
"The solution uses a licensing model that is reasonable compared to other products."
"They are competitively priced, but I have been forced to get quotes for other solutions now because they haven't been responding to requests to do the work that we would like them to do."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
37%
Healthcare Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise62
 

Questions from the Community

What is your primary use case for Barracuda PhishLine?
My main use case for Barracuda Security Awareness Training is phishing simulation training. For example, when a new onboarding user joins an organization, we create a training module with the help ...
What advice do you have for others considering Barracuda PhishLine?
Barracuda Security Awareness Training would work better for a mid-sized organization; it worked well for us since we have already scheduled this training for each onboarding user. If it's for large...
What needs improvement with Barracuda Security Awareness Training?
Regarding needed improvements, the subscription-based pricing is cost-effective compared to other competitors, but they need to add more premium security protections or features combined into this....
What needs improvement with Proofpoint Email Protection?
To improve Proofpoint Email Protection, I suggest breaking down the URL into one versus three different GUIs. Regarding Proofpoint Email Protection's AI capabilities, I think its governance and sec...
What is your primary use case for Proofpoint Email Protection?
My main use case for Proofpoint Email Protection includes phishing emails, spam, URL isolation, and training. I utilize the email protect portal to ensure that none of our employees in any of the b...
 

Also Known As

PhishLine
Proofpoint Enterprise Protection, Proofpoint Digital Protection
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Humanitas, Mount Sinai
Blocket, University of Waterloo, Lincoln Memorial University, WellSpan Health, U-Haul, Carestream Health, Westinghouse
Find out what your peers are saying about KnowBe4, Huntress, Proofpoint and others in Security Awareness Training. Updated: October 2026.
919,894 professionals have used our research since 2012.