No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.
it_user1002690 - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Security Officer & DPO - Data Protection Officer at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Jan 24, 2022
Provides us with good email security maturity, keeping our employees productive by blocking unwanted email
Pros and Cons
  • "The spam filtering, in particular, is very important for us. We have a large volume of emails each month, something like 200,000, and Barracuda filters about 85 percent of the spam, malware, and phishing that comes in. It prevents our users from receiving this content on their computers."
  • "By choosing Barracuda as our solution for filtering, year by year we have seen a big improvement in our environment with a significant reduction in the number of threats."
  • "We still have critical threats coming into our environment and delivered to our users. When we compare it with other solutions, these other solutions can already detect those threats."

What is our primary use case?

The solution is the first security layer for emails that come into our network, and we use it to filter all spam, phishing emails, and malware that come in via email.

We are now using the virtual appliance in our VMware environment.

How has it helped my organization?

In the past, we had a lot of problems from threats and malware that came into our network, directly from email. Users would receive the content and click on a malicious link or open a malicious attachment, and that caused us a lot of problems.

By choosing Barracuda as our solution for filtering, year by year we have seen a big improvement in our environment with a significant reduction in the number of threats. Consequently, we have fewer problems with users. In the past, users who clicked on this malicious content had to stop work for a long period while our support team helped them. We have almost 600 employees, and every month we had a lot of problems with that. Today we have good security maturity using this solution. It has reduced the risk in our environment. Employees lose less time due to malicious content on their computers. Barracuda has helped to secure the gateway.

What is most valuable?

The spam filtering, in particular, is very important for us. We have a large volume of emails each month, something like 200,000, and Barracuda filters about 85 percent of the spam, malware, and phishing that comes in. It prevents our users from receiving this content on their computers.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Barracuda Email Security Gateway for 15 years.

Buyer's Guide
Barracuda Email Security Gateway
September 2026
Learn what your peers think about Barracuda Email Security Gateway. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2026.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

In our environment today, the stability is good.

The problems we have at times are not about the performance or availability, but about the quality of the detection for some threats. The model that we have does not have a sandbox resource, which other versions Barracuda offer. Sometimes we receive a phishing email that has a malicious link, for example. Even though it is an old threat, Barracuda can't detect it. Sometimes these messages are delivered to our users. This is a gap that we have identified.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Because we use the on-premises version, we don't have many options when it comes to scalability. But in our headquarters, we have the same solution working at the same time in two different data centers for availability.

We have plans to update to the next version, preferably the cloud version, where we can have more options for using the other resources and layers that Barracuda offers. We don't have access to those today on the version we have.

How are customer service and support?

Everyone that I have contacted in their technical support is a professional. They always respond quickly and are very patient, for all the problems we have raised. The technical support really is very good. And today, that makes a real difference. Barracuda is a North American company, but they have support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We are in a different time zone, but we always get support quickly.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

In addition to Barracuda, we used an open-source solution from Linux.

How was the initial setup?

It's not so hard to deploy. Barracuda has a huge forum on the internet with a lot of simple guides to follow. In our case, it was very simple to deploy the solution. Obviously, you need to have some knowledge about your network and the protocols, but every time that we need to use support they are always available very quickly to help us. But overall, the deployment is very simple.

The first time we deployed it, it took about three hours.

Ahead of deployment, we had some meetings with our IT team at our headquarters in Germany because we needed to create some rules in our network in Germany as well as here in Brazil. We chose the best resources for virtualization in our environment. We needed to design exactly how it would work: how Barracuda would receive emails and how we would address emails from our Microsoft Exchange before they went to Barracuda. We always used the Barracuda guidelines in the deployment process.

For our 600 users we have two people involved in the solution, a security guy and a network guy.

What was our ROI?

If we didn't have a solution like Barracuda in our environment, we would probably have a lot of problems that would directly impact our business. There would be employees who wouldn't be able to work because their machines were infected by threats after they opened email. If we calculate how many users used to be impacted in a year, and how much each one cost the company when not able to work, it would not be a good result. 

With this solution, we can prevent users and their work from being impacted and, consequently, reduce the impact to our business.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Barracuda has the best price. Every year we need to renew our license, and every year I need to compare Barracuda to two or three other players in the market. Barracuda always has a price that is 30 to 40 percent less than the other players' prices.

Last year we paid for the possibility of changing our hardware every three years. But now, because we changed the licensing model to a virtualization model, we don't need that. We just pay for the product and the support. There are two separate costs.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Over the last two years, I have looked at other solutions that might give us more ability to handle new threats. For example, I have looked at solutions that have a sandbox feature integrated into them. But, Barracuda has given us a good idea of what it proposes to do. They already have the solution that I am looking for, but because of costs, we haven't been able to deploy it.

The advantage of Barracuda is its availability. Barracuda provides really good performance and is able to handle tons of emails by the minute and by the hour. The con is that we still have critical threats coming into our environment and delivered to our users. When we compare it with other solutions, these other solutions can already detect those threats.

What other advice do I have?

Barracuda's technology is the kind of technology that gives us a good balance among security, value, and user experience. It is not the best tool or technology on the market, but it does what it was developed to do. There are other possibilities, if you are willing to pay more. But Barracuda is the right solution for the problem in our environment.

A lot of companies pay for a good and comprehensive solution, but they usually only use 50 or 60 percent of what the solution offers. Barracuda is different. We use it 100 percent. I know what the Barracuda technology delivers for me and the value I get from it for what I pay and how I use it. It is that simple.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
System Administrator at Subisu Cablenet Pvt. Ltd.
Real User
Dec 13, 2021
Blocks spam and viruses, but doesn't block some of the phishing emails
Pros and Cons
  • "It seems good in terms of spam blocking and virus blocking; it is lightweight, and we can filter all of our inbound and outbound emails, with controls for rate control, quarantine, and tagging, and we can see whether an email is a spam email or a phishing email."
  • "Some of the phishing emails are not being blocked. Another problem is that we are not able to manage the date and time in our time zone."

What is our primary use case?

We are relaying our emails from Barracuda Email Security Gateway. We are using Barracuda Email Security Gateway 600.

How has it helped my organization?

It is blocking the virus email addresses. Rate control is also being blocked. It is also able to block some of the blacklisted emails and tag social marketing spam emails, which is good.

What is most valuable?

It seems good in terms of spam blocking and virus blocking. 

It is lightweight, and we can filter all of our inbound and outbound emails. We have controls for rate control, quarantine, and tagging. We can see whether an email is a spam email or a phishing email.

What needs improvement?

Some of the phishing emails are not being blocked. Another problem is that we are not able to manage the date and time in our time zone.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for about 10 days.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Its scalability is good for our environment. We have around 1,500 to 2,000 email users.

How are customer service and support?

I have not yet taken support from Barracuda. We need a little bit of support so that we can solve some of our issues with Barracuda Email Security Gateway. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have used Cisco Email Security. We switched because there was a little bit of difficulty with the licensing features. We also had to frequently get in touch with Cisco tech support for a solution. They would just investigate for a long time, and our solution was delayed. So, we chose Barracuda.

How was the initial setup?

It was easy. It was not complex. It was an on-premises deployment on VMware, and it took one day.

What about the implementation team?

Two people were involved in its deployment. I worked with one person from the vendor.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We are using the trial version right now, and before purchasing the license, we need to solve some of the issues that we are facing. We need a proper solution for our email, and then we will look into pricing. We have a vendor for licensing.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not look at other solutions.

What other advice do I have?

It is good. It is working in our environment. It is very useful to us, but we are having a little bit of difficulty.

I would rate it a seven out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Barracuda Email Security Gateway
September 2026
Learn what your peers think about Barracuda Email Security Gateway. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2026.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Zubair Ahmad - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Chief Manager at Arcil
Real User
Top 20Leaderboard
Jun 29, 2021
Good scalability, but inadequate reporting
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is scalable."
  • "For the moment the solution is good."
  • "Barracuda has shown difficulty in providing us with the solutions we sought."
  • "We cannot customize the solution according to our needs and, consequently, its reporting capabilities are lacking."

What is our primary use case?

We always use the latest version. 

We use it as an email gateway. 

What needs improvement?

Barracuda has shown difficulty in providing us with the solutions we sought. We have found ourselves sending many emails to their outside domain. They have not demonstrated the reporting system we required when reports were sought. 

As the solution is cloud-based there is no need to install anything on-premises. Some of the settings we have configured on the cloud and done integration with our domain server. Once integrated with the system, all the mails pass solely through the gateway. What we see is that there are times when genuine mails are blocked and others when spam mail makes its way through. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Barracuda Email Security Gateway for the past year. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

For the moment the solution is good. It is scalable. 

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is very quick, However, we have generally found them to lack the solution we need when we have contacted them. 

How was the initial setup?

As the solution is cloud-based there is no need to install it in each and every endpoint.

While installation was easy, it was not necessary to do for each and every session, as its parameters are solely within the email gateway. 

What about the implementation team?

The vendor assisted us with deployment. 

There is a five to six person supporting staff which helps us with deployment and maintenance. These consist of managers, administrators and engineers. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We paid for an annual license.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other products before going with this solution. 

What other advice do I have?

The solution is deployed on cloud. 

There are 300 people making use of the solution in our organization.

All solutions have their pros and cons and there is no such thing as a perfect solution. We cannot customize the solution according to our needs and, consequently, its reporting capabilities are lacking. For this reason I rate Barracuda Email Security Gateway as a seven out of ten. 

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
HirenShah - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at Dynamic Group
Real User
Top 20Leaderboard
Dec 20, 2020
A good all-in-one package with phenomenal anti-phishing capabilities and good support
Pros and Cons
  • "This product is powerful and quite simple to use."
  • "Overall, this is a good product with wonderful security capabilities and I definitely recommend it."
  • "I would like to have better integration with third-party archival vendors to facilitate moving data in and out."

What is our primary use case?

This is a total email security solution.

What is most valuable?

This product is powerful and quite simple to use.

It has a unified interface for archiving, security, and backup, all put together into one portfolio.

This product has phenomenal anti-phishing capabilities.

What needs improvement?

I would like to have better integration with third-party archival vendors to facilitate moving data in and out. This is definitely an area that should be worked on.

Having better user admin controls from an application perspective would also be helpful.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using the Barracuda Email Security Gateway for about a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is very stable and we have had no issues.

Because it is a cloud subscription, it is updated automatically.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

In terms of scalability, we haven't had any issues. We have more than 100 users. There are a couple of administrators but most of them are end-users.

How are customer service and technical support?

The Barracuda support is far better than Trend Micro.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Prior to Barracuda, we were using Trend Micro InterScan Messaging Security, and then we were using Symantec's Email Security. We now have all of the features that we want in a single product.

Working with Trend Micro is a little bit tricky at this point in time.

How was the initial setup?

This solution is very easy to install. It took us a couple of days to deploy.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We pay between $8 and $10 USD per user per month.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, this is a good product with wonderful security capabilities and I definitely recommend it.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
MuhammadIshaq Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Administrator at a tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Apr 6, 2023
A scalable solution that to block some blacklisted emails
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution helps us to block some blacklisted emails."
  • "We are using the tool’s 400 model which does not offer accurate spam detection. We have also had performance issues with the tool."

What is our primary use case?

The solution helps us to block some blacklisted emails.

What needs improvement?

We are using the tool’s 400 model which does not offer accurate spam detection. We have also had performance issues with the tool.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with the solution for three years. The tool’s model number that I work with is 400.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. We had faced some stability issues which got resolved after replacing some hardware.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. You can scale up or down the hardware appliances as per your license.

How was the initial setup?

The tool’s deployment is simple.

What about the implementation team?

I find the tool’s tech support very supportive.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Zubair Ahmad - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Chief Manager at Arcil
Real User
Top 20Leaderboard
Dec 12, 2021
Safeguards email and prevents attacks with zero-maintenance required
Pros and Cons
  • "The product safeguards user mail for gateway defense, data protection, business continuity, AI-based inbox defense, and automated threat detection and incident response."
  • "Artificial intelligence improvement could be used to help block spam and phishing mail that is directly delivered to users."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Barracuda Email Security Gateway to protect against inbound malware, spam, phishing, and Denial of Service attacks to ensure that our business productivity isn't impacted by attacks through the email system. 

How has it helped my organization?

As Barracuda Email Security Gateway is based on the cloud, we don’t need to worry about the maintenance of our software or the hardware it resides on. Compatibility and upgrades are taken care of by the cloud service provider.

What is most valuable?

The product safeguards user mail for gateway defense, data protection, business continuity, AI-based inbox defense, and automated threat detection and incident response.

What needs improvement?

Artificial intelligence improvement could be used to help block spam and phishing mail that is directly delivered to users. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Barracuda Email Security Gateway for the last two years.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1222212 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Sep 6, 2021
Helpful technical support, plenty of features, and highly stable
Pros and Cons
  • "There are plenty of features, such as sandboxing capabilities with zero threat protection. It has all the leading email security appliances compared to other solutions."
  • "The solution could improve by adding DomainKeys (DKIM) functionality. This is something that is essentially required nowadays for outbound security. They do not have it on their on-premise solution appliance but they have alternate arrangements for their cloud solution."

What is our primary use case?

We use Barracuda Email Security Gateway for threat protection.

What is most valuable?

It is a very different solution when it comes to anti-spam, anti-phishing, scanning, and it has API direct integration. There are plenty of features, such as sandboxing capabilities with zero threat protection. It has all the leading email security appliances compared to other solutions.

What needs improvement?

The solution could improve by adding DomainKeys (DKIM) functionality. This is something that is essentially required nowadays for outbound security. They do not have it on their on-premise solution appliance but they have alternate arrangements for their cloud solution. You cannot force clients to go to the cloud for one feature, it would be a great benefit to have it on-premise.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Barracuda Email Security Gateway for approximately 15 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is highly stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable.

We have 10 to 15 customers using this solution.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support has been very good.

How was the initial setup?

The solution is straightforward. One side deployment for approximately 600 mailboxes does not take more than three hours. However, if it is more than 1,000 then it could take longer.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

There is an annual license required for this solution.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Barracuda Email Security Gateway an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Consultant at a media company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Jun 20, 2021
Very strong anti-spamming and anti-phishing features
Pros and Cons
  • "The anti-spamming, anti-fishing features are great."
  • "The anti-spamming and anti-phishing features are great; they're really strong and stable in this solution."
  • "The DMARC security is somewhat weak and could be strengthened."

What is our primary use case?

We have almost 600 users using Veeam Backup which is secured through Barracuda Email Security gateway. We are resellers of Barracuda. 

What is most valuable?

The anti-spamming and anti-phishing features are great. They're really strong and stable in this solution.

What needs improvement?

The DMARC security is somewhat weak and could be strengthened. Email classification is not directly integrated with Barracuda Email Security and that kind of classification would be helpful. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. As mentioned, we have close to 600 users. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is stable and reliable. 

How are customer service and technical support?

We contacted technical support during implementation. They were responsive. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was a bit complex but the Barracuda team helped us configure it very well.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I'm not sure of the actual cost but the license fees are based on a per user annual basis. 

What other advice do I have?

For any user receiving compromising third-party emails, Barracuda will help secure the system. 

I rate this solution a nine out of 10. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller
PeerSpot user
IT Administrator at a energy/utilities company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Top 20Leaderboard
Jun 2, 2021
Does not require any maintenance
Pros and Cons
  • "We find the email security to be valuable."
  • "The initial setup was very easy and user-friendly."
  • "The solution should include an improvised anti-phishing feature, since it blocks certain genuine emails."

What is most valuable?

We find the email security to be valuable. 

What needs improvement?

The solution should include an improvised anti-phishing feature, since it blocks certain genuine emails. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Barracuda Email Security Gateway for six or eight months. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not work with another solution prior to this one. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very easy and user-friendly. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I cannot comment on the pricing as this is not within my knowledge. 

What other advice do I have?

We procured the solution as a service. 

We have 3,000 people making use of it. 

There is no need for us to do maintenance. The solution is administered by our subset department and they have a fantastic support team, should there arise any field issues. They are wonderfully accessible. 

I rate Barracuda Email Security Gateway as a nine out of ten. 

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1006845 - PeerSpot reviewer
Presales Network & Security Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Reseller
Apr 28, 2021
Responsive, flexible, easy to use, and cost-effective
Pros and Cons
  • "It is a really good product with a lot of features. It is responsive, updated, and modern. It is easy to use and has an easy interface for non-IT users. Its dashboard is also quite fine. It is also quite flexible and has an API at the backend."
  • "Barracuda has one of the best email security solutions for SMB and big enterprises."
  • "Its integration with other solutions can be improved. There should be integration for telemetry information, system information, and other types of information with other solutions. Barracuda currently doesn't have that. Barracuda has its own platform. Its integration with firewalls is quite good, and it communicates really well with firewalls, but I have not seen any other integration. Based on what I know, it does have an API at the backend, but I have not used it."
  • "Its integration with other solutions can be improved."

What is most valuable?

It is a really good product with a lot of features. It is responsive, updated, and modern. It is easy to use and has an easy interface for non-IT users. Its dashboard is also quite fine.

It is also quite flexible and has an API at the backend. 

What needs improvement?

Its integration with other solutions can be improved. There should be integration for telemetry information, system information, and other types of information with other solutions. Barracuda currently doesn't have that. Barracuda has its own platform. Its integration with firewalls is quite good, and it communicates really well with firewalls, but I have not seen any other integration. Based on what I know, it does have an API at the backend, but I have not used it. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been a distributor of this solution for about five years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable. You can start with a VM or hardware. The hardware is not really scalable, but the VM is scalable. Most vendors are scalable in terms of VMs.

I have about 15 to 20 customers of this solution, and they seem happy.

How are customer service and technical support?

They have a good support team. They are quite responsive and technical. They are also fast in responding. 

How was the initial setup?

It is really easy. I installed Email Security for 100 email clients two or three weeks ago, and it took me half an hour to do the base installation. The training for IT administrations took another one and a half or two hours.

It is easy to install for a non-admin. If you are a normal user trying to configure it, it is really easy to use. If you are an admin, it is a bit more complicated.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It is a cost-effective and relatively cheap solution as compared to others.

Our customers have a yearly subscription. We do have a few customers with monthly subscriptions, but they have cloud-based Email protection, which is a different type of solution. Both solutions are very good.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution. Barracuda has one of the best email security solutions for SMB and big enterprises. Barracuda is not a leader for email security, but they are really good at what they are doing. In terms of email security, Barracuda is one of the best solutions. There are a hundred different products in the market, such as Fortinet and Forcepoint, but Barracuda is cost-effective and really good at what it does.

I would rate Barracuda Email Security Gateway a nine out of ten. It is a really good solution, and it does what it says.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Distributor
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Barracuda Email Security Gateway Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: September 2026
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Barracuda Email Security Gateway Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.