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Barracuda Email Protection vs Fortinet FortiMail comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 19, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.7
Barracuda Email Protection reduces costs, enhances security, and increases staff awareness, resulting in high user satisfaction and renewed licenses.
Sentiment score
6.4
Fortinet FortiMail enhances email security with cost savings, reduced spam, efficient management, robust features, and improved productivity.
In an estimate, we were paying close to 300,000, but now we are sitting with Barracuda Email Protection at 100,000.
IT Officer at MVA Fund
The IT department has saved time and cost, as they do not have to run up and down fighting with malicious spam or malicious attacks.
Business Development Manager at Procter & Gamble
We see a return on investment from using Barracuda Email Protection because we are stopping attacks and running our business smoothly.
Cybersecurity Team Leader at EMAK For Computer Manufacturing (ECM)
It offers cost savings compared to Cisco, which was very expensive.
System admin at Environment Fund
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.5
Barracuda Email Protection's customer service is praised for responsiveness, professionalism, and proactiveness, with technical support rated highly.
Sentiment score
6.5
Fortinet FortiMail support is praised for responsiveness and expertise but criticized for variability based on region and tier.
This is particularly problematic for a financial institution and banking customer.
Director Of Technology at PT Exa Teknologi Indonesia
They went through the process and recommended a change in their platform to address the issue.
Director, Information Technology at St Albans High School For Girls
They are quick to find a solution, and they are available twenty-four seven, so overall, it is a great customer support team.
Business Development Manager at Procter & Gamble
I have direct communication with Kenyan system engineers and local support in Ethiopia, enabling good support.
CTO at Malam Engineering PLC
Mainly, they are focusing on Fortinet FortiMail and FortiAnalyzer, where the support engineers are very good.
Head of the IT Security Division at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Fortinet's technical support offers high-quality support.
System admin at Environment Fund
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.9
Barracuda Email Protection is highly scalable for businesses of all sizes, preferred for its effective performance and cloud options.
Sentiment score
7.1
Fortinet FortiMail is scalable for various environments, suitable for mid-sized to enterprise users with virtual and on-premise options.
Barracuda does not limit you based on how many mailboxes or users you have, which is one of the good things for Barracuda.
Director Of Technology at PT Exa Teknologi Indonesia
Barracuda Email Protection's scalability is very good because it handles all my clients' emails and all my organization emails.
Business Development Manager at Procter & Gamble
Scalability is expensive for Barracuda Email Protection.
IT Officer at MVA Fund
The scalability of Fortinet FortiMail depends on whether you are buying a virtualized license, which allows for a scalable pay-as-you-go model, or if you are buying a box.
Head of the IT Security Division at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Fortinet FortiMail is scalable and can be expanded in large environments.
Senior Cybersecurity Engineer at Kyndryl
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
Barracuda Email Protection is rated highly for stability and reliability, with effective security and proactive support noted by users.
Sentiment score
8.3
Fortinet FortiMail is highly rated for stability, reliability, effective spam handling, and seamless integration, requiring minimal fine-tuning.
Customers chose a different product after experiencing a problem when they upgraded the firmware, which caused the system to restart multiple times during working hours.
Director Of Technology at PT Exa Teknologi Indonesia
Barracuda Email Protection's stability is good, with no lagging, no crashes, and no errors.
Cybersecurity Team Leader at EMAK For Computer Manufacturing (ECM)
I think Barracuda Email Protection is stable and very reliable.
IT Officer at MVA Fund
This stability is consistent across Fortinet products, including FortiGate firewall.
CTO at Malam Engineering PLC
 

Room For Improvement

Barracuda Email Protection needs improved zero trust features, data retrieval, reporting, user interfaces, pricing, integration, and mobile performance.
Fortinet FortiMail requires interface refinement, improved features, better documentation, and enhanced integration with advanced threat detection and Fortinet’s ecosystem.
The day we stop improving is the day we die.
Group ICT Manager at a mining and metals company with 501-1,000 employees
Users must go through an induction session where I guide them in configuring quarantine alerts rather than having default settings based on group membership.
Director, Information Technology at St Albans High School For Girls
Barracuda Email Protection could improve in the future to make it more competitive by addressing the fact that Barracuda started with anti-spam and email protection, but now they are moving more to cloud-based solutions rather than device-based or hardware-based solutions.
Director Of Technology at PT Exa Teknologi Indonesia
Providing comprehensive documentation on how to deploy and configure would improve the solution.
CTO at Malam Engineering PLC
The transition from on-premises devices to virtual appliances may be necessary as more organizations migrate email services to the cloud.
Head of computer systems at Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology(IIST)
There are also false positives issues, especially with signed PDF attachments.
Senior Cybersecurity Engineer at Kyndryl
 

Setup Cost

Barracuda Email Protection offers competitive and affordable pricing, often comparable to Microsoft 365, with potential discounts during negotiations.
Fortinet FortiMail offers competitive appliance-based pricing, with flexibility and reliability, though higher than open-source alternatives.
I find that Barracuda Email Protection has a very good licensing model, providing capable features at a very good and affordable price.
Cybersecurity Team Leader at EMAK For Computer Manufacturing (ECM)
In my experience, the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Barracuda Email Protection are competitively priced, making it very affordable for any size of organization.
Business Development Manager at Procter & Gamble
I would say the price for Barracuda Email Protection is very nice; the solution is not expensive.
IT Officer at MVA Fund
Fortinet FortiMail is considered overpriced by Indian rupee standards.
Head of computer systems at Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology(IIST)
The setup cost is a little bit costly.
Senior Cybersecurity Engineer at Kyndryl
 

Valuable Features

Barracuda Email Protection offers comprehensive email security with threat protection, spam filtering, easy integration, and cost-effective incident response.
Fortinet FortiMail provides strong security, usability, scalability, and performance for email threat detection and content control in diverse environments.
Our security has also increased from forty percent to sixty-five percent, especially when dealing with all the threats that come through emails.
Business Development Manager at Procter & Gamble
We do use Barracuda Data Protection functions, and the advantage we have is that the backed-up data is protected from any possible attack that can come or any kind of hijack or data being misused.
Director at Dynamic Group
Barracuda Email Protection has positively impacted my client's organization by reducing almost 50 to 60 percent of phishing emails, making it more secure and allowing us to feel safe from phishing incidents.
Security Engineer at Payatu
Its threat detection capabilities have been beneficial.
System admin at Environment Fund
The most valuable features are Fortinet FortiMail's ability to protect from advanced features of email-based attacks, including protection against ransomware and malware attacks.
CTO at Malam Engineering PLC
Fortinet FortiMail offers capabilities like settings for mail delivery, mail filtering, spam controls, and email bursting prevention.
Head of computer systems at Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology(IIST)
 

Categories and Ranking

Barracuda Email Protection
Ranking in Email Security
8th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (3rd), Security Incident Response (8th), Office 365 Protection (4th)
Fortinet FortiMail
Ranking in Email Security
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
68
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Barracuda Email Protection is 2.4%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiMail is 2.6%, down from 3.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiMail2.6%
Barracuda Email Protection2.4%
Other95.0%
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

Xavie Simons - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Development Manager at Procter & Gamble
Improved email security has reduced spam, simplified encrypted mail, and strengthened user trust
The best features Barracuda Email Protection offers include good spam filtering and very good sandboxing of all links, as well as good encryption. It also has integrated logging for user management of their own spam. It has better filtering technology, so few are false positives as well, with excellent anti-spam engines and logging. It is extremely easy to install, configure, and set up, and there is excellent message tracking for folks that say they have not received an email they were expecting. Integrated logging and user management make my daily work easier because it is very easy to log in and to manage this tool, hence making it a very good tool for email protection. It also has excellent, easy-to-add designated users as site administrators, and it is competitively priced. It has a user-friendly portal, strong cloud-based features, and no additional maintenance cost, along with responsive support. Barracuda Email Protection has positively impacted my organization by handling encryption better than any other tool I have used before, which has increased our email protection significantly. Our security has also increased from forty percent to sixty-five percent, especially when dealing with all the threats that come through emails. It has been a great tool because we can handle email delays and delays on file scanning. When our partners are happy, we are very happy, and it has helped us have less time chasing bad emails. The fast implementation of encrypted mail keeps employees working with less interruption since they are happy, satisfied, and secure.
Abhimanyu Das - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Cybersecurity Engineer at Kyndryl
Targeted email filtering has reduced spam and phishing and now saves significant investigation time
The best features of Fortinet FortiMail include its techniques and tactics, which are highly effective compared to other solutions such as Microsoft 365. Although Fortinet FortiMail may not be as advanced in some aspects, it is well recognized for its strong performance in handling spam and phishing. It performs thorough mail scanning and also offers a sandboxing feature that enhances protection. Fortinet FortiMail has had a positive impact on my organization by significantly reducing unwanted email activities such as spam and phishing. It provides accurate detection and generates results that often exceed what can be achieved through manual analysis. Since deploying Fortinet FortiMail, I have observed a reduction in investigation time by at least 20 to 30 percent.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise15
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business33
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Barracuda Email Protection?
Barracuda Email Protection is easy to deploy and maintain. It doesn't require a specialized resource to manage this tool.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Barracuda Email Protection?
I would say the price for Barracuda Email Protection is very nice; the solution is not expensive.
What needs improvement with Barracuda Email Protection?
Considering it integrates with Azure, I would like to be able to effectively set up policies where people are by default included in certain settings. For instance, for email quarantine, I can't se...
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiMail?
I think they should improve Fortinet FortiMail on-premises by enhancing its user interface. Additional features they could have in the future would include advanced analytics capabilities. I do thi...
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiMail?
I do have a partnership with Fortinet. I have been both a partner and reseller.
 

Also Known As

Barracuda Essentials, Barracuda Forensics and Incident Response
FortiMail
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

ACT Government, Acumen Group, AGIP, Delta Dental Plans Association, Desai/Nasr Consulting Engineers, Inc., Equinox Information Systems
Magromer Cueros y Pieles S.A.
Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda Email Protection vs. Fortinet FortiMail and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.