Barracuda Email Protection vs Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance comparison

The compared Barracuda Networks and Microsoft solutions aren't in the same category. Barracuda Networks is ranked #2 in EA , with an average rating of 8.6, and holds a 15.1% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #14 in G , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Barracuda Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Barracuda Email Protection

Read 19 Barracuda Email Protection reviews

3,238 Views
648 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Purview Communica...

Read 3 Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance reviews

996 Views
528 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Barracuda Email Protection

Microsoft Purview Communica...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Barracuda Email Protection and Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Barracuda Networks, Veritas and others in Email Archiving.

To learn more, read our detailed Email Archiving Report (Updated: January 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Email Archiving

January 2026

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Helped 881,757 peers since 2012

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 Email Protection

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Email Archiving (2nd), Email Security (12th), Security Incident Response (9th), Office 365 Protection (4th)

Microsoft Purview Communica...

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

GRC (14th), Digital Risk Protection (9th), Microsoft Security Suite (32nd)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Corporate Compliance solutions, they serve different purposes. Barracuda Email Protection is designed for Email Archiving and holds a mindshare of 15.1%, down 27.1% compared to last year.
Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance, on the other hand, focuses on GRC, holds 1.2% mindshare, down 1.6% since last year.

Email Archiving Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Barracuda Email Protection	15.1%
Microsoft Defender for Office 365	16.3%
Veritas Enterprise Vault	5.5%
Other	63.1%

Email Archiving

GRC Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance	1.2%
RSA Archer	5.2%
AuditBoard	3.7%
Other	89.9%

GRC

Featured Reviews

Sherif Fouad

Group ICT Manager at a mining and metals company with 501-1,000 employees

Have raised concerns about scanning engines and automation while continuing to rely on layered protection strategies

Incident response is something that requires more development from Barracuda's side. Regarding room for improvement for Barracuda Forensics and Incident Response, for the product, developing or improving the scanning engine is important, but it's a bit tricky. I know that they are working on it heavily. The difference between Barracuda and Sophos is Sophos focused heavily on cybersecurity while Barracuda tried to increase their product portfolio. Sometimes, in some cases, this might end up with their teams being unfocused or a bit thin and stretched and super busy. However, there is room for improvement. The product is great. The teams that are supporting are great. But there is always room for improvement. Even if you have a product that you would give a rating of 10 out of 10, there is always room for improvement. The day we stop improving is the day we die. Regarding the scanning engine, Barracuda Forensics and Incident Response has a very good feature where you can create automated flows for how to handle specific emails that are detected as incidents. This needs a bit of an improvement. That's the only component of Barracuda Forensics and Incident Response that I believe requires improvement.

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Christopher Peralta

System administrator

Facilitates compliance and records management but needs user-friendly enhancements

The features I appreciate the most in Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance include the ability to build cases, give them dates, and find them based on the notes that I left behind. The importance of Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance building taking into account critical regulations from around the world is very significant. It helps us stay up to date. While I don't need the functionality, Purview delivers data protection across multi-cloud and security platform environments, including AWS and GCP. It takes into account critical regulations from around the world. It helps us stay up to date with what's going on. We can show compliance in real-time. It's very easy to pull records. The time it saves is very useful.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The archiving and search features are very good."

"The most valuable features of Barracuda Email Protection are flexibility and customization."

"The product is easy to deploy and maintain."

"The most valuable features of Barracuda Essentials are it's a trusted name and is rated very high on review sites. It blocks high percentages of spam and junk email and it's in the cloud. They have hardware appliances, but this is in the cloud. The solution is very effective at blocking malware and blocking spam and this is what we are looking for. There's not a whole lot of complexity, you want a solution that is very good at blocking out all of the unwanted emails."

"The most valuable features are security and ease of use."

"We now have a secondary backup of Office 365 that's much easier to retrieve compared to Microsoft. If someone deletes something in Office 365, we can get it back within Office 365, but it's difficult. Barracuda is much easier. There is a lot less management needed using Barracuda. The management becomes much easier for Office 365 and it's no longer on-prem, so there are fewer hours managing on-prem devices, servers, and things of that nature. We don't have network appliances anymore for the backup of our information."

"I'm quite satisfied with the graphical user interface for Barracuda products."

"We check the reports sometimes to see that frequent attacks and malicious emails are being blocked by the solution."

More Barracuda Email Protection pros

"Customer support is excellent."

"Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance helps with extra collaboration and ensures communication is within the framework."

"The time it saves is very useful."

"The features I appreciate the most in Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance include the ability to build cases, give them dates, and find them based on the notes that I left behind."

Cons

"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."

"They could simplify the licensing and the pricing."

"Barracuda Email Protection needs better reporting and more robust integration with security awareness training platforms and third-party solutions."

"The customer service and support could be improved if the support were available directly in Europe. Currently, the support is often managed from India, so we sometimes need to wait due to the time zone difference. It would be quicker and better if the support were provided by European staff."

"The platform's pricing needs improvement."

"Sometimes, in some cases, this might end up with their teams being unfocused or a bit thin and stretched and super busy."

"Sometimes it is somewhat laggy, especially on the Archiver side. It should have improved performance on their Message Archiver."

"The solution's reporting mechanism is a little poor and could be improved."

More Barracuda Email Protection cons

"The product should incorporate more automation with the help of AI."

"Monitoring and compliance for web applications could be improved."

"Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance can be improved by having more tutorials available for those who aren't used to using this platform."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive."

"The price of Barracuda Essentials is better than some of the competing products."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten."

"Barracuda licensing model is good."

"We didn't have to pay a lot for the solution because we got it from a good vendor with a good user volume."

"We pay annually. They never charged us for anything else. And they were quite a bit under that $20,000 mark. It was $19,074. And they've been pretty good about not skyrocketing the price or anything like that. It has gone up. It's gone up to $24,000 in 2020."

"Despite a list price possibly around $40 per user, their market price allows customers to easily buy the solution."

"Price-wise, this product is middle-of-the-road."

More Barracuda Email Protection pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	12
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	5

No data available

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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Barracuda Email Protection?

Their list price is too high, but in India, the selling price is affordable at around $10 per user per year. Despite a list price possibly around $40 per user, their market price allows customers t...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance?

I was talking with some engineer from Microsoft about how we can audit our web page. They create or add to Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance that part, the Layer seven of the OSI model, to...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance?

Overall, I rate Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance at a nine. I highly recommend it to anyone due to its robust system and valuable resources for IT security, risk assessment, and data mana...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance?

Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance is a bit expensive, $500 per license, but it is cheaper compared to products like ComplyAd, GeoComply, and ComplyAdvantage.

See all answers

Comparisons

Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration vs Barracuda Email Protection

Compared 26% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Barracuda Email Protection

Compared 17% of the time

Mimecast Advanced Email Security vs Barracuda Email Protection

Compared 12% of the time

Proofpoint Email Protection vs Barracuda Email Protection

Compared 9% of the time

Abnormal Security vs Barracuda Email Protection

Compared 4% of the time

More Barracuda Email Protection Competitors

RSA Archer vs Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance

Compared 22% of the time

Workiva Wdesk vs Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance

Compared 13% of the time

ARIS Risk and Compliance Manager vs Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance

Compared 11% of the time

MEGA HOPEX vs Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance

Compared 11% of the time

Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention vs Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance

Compared 8% of the time

More Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Barracuda Email Protection

February 2026

Download Barracuda Email Protection product report

Buyer's Guide

GRC

February 2026

Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance report

Download Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance product report

Also Known As

Barracuda Essentials, Barracuda Forensics and Incident Response

No data available

Overview

Barracuda Email Protection provides advanced security with features like AI protection and cloud-based spam blocking, making it essential for managing email risks effectively.

Barracuda Email Protection stands out with its robust malware detection, ease of use, and seamless integration with Microsoft 365, serving enterprises by simplifying email threat management. Despite its efficient spam filtering and straightforward setup, users seek improvements in email encryption, third-party vendor integration, report details, and more streamlined performance. Organizations leverage its AI capabilities for phishing detection and employee training, allowing for automated operations and comprehensive threat protection. Its archiving, search, and hands-off management are crucial for companies lacking extensive security resources, ensuring persistent email access and secure practices.

What are the key features of Barracuda Email Protection?

Cloud-Based Spam Blocking: Reduces unwanted emails effectively.
Impersonation Detection: Identifies phishing attempts seamlessly.
Malware Detection: Protects against malicious threats.
AI Protection: Enhances security with intelligent analysis.
Microsoft 365 Integration: Ensures smooth operation within existing systems.
Customizable Rules: Allows tailored security protocols.

What are the main benefits and ROI of Barracuda Email Protection?

Time Savings: Automates and streamlines email management processes.
Email Security: Maintains domain reputation by reducing spam and threats.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides a unified approach to email threats.
Central Management: Simplifies oversight with a unified console.
Reliable Support: Offers technical assistance and guidance.

In finance, healthcare, and large enterprises, Barracuda Email Protection is deployed for its reliable email archiving and retrieval, supporting compliance and data integrity. Industries benefit from its AI-powered phishing detection and employee training tools, enhancing operational security and reducing risk exposure.

Barracuda Networks

Communication Compliance is an insider risk solution in Microsoft 365 that helps minimize communication risks by helping you detect, capture, and act on inappropriate messages in your organization. Pre-defined and custom policies allow you to scan internal and external communications for policy matches so they can be examined by designated reviewers. Reviewers can investigate scanned email, Microsoft Teams, Yammer, or third-party communications in your organization and take appropriate actions to make sure they're compliant with your organization's message standards.

Communication Compliance policies in Microsoft 365 help you overcome many modern challenges associated with compliance and internal and external communications, including:

-Scanning increasing types of communication channels
-The increasing volume of message data
-Regulatory enforcement and the risk of fines

Additionally, there may be a separation of duties between your IT admins and your compliance management team. Communication Compliance supports the separation between configuration of policies and the investigation and review of messages. For example, the IT group for your organization may be responsible for setting up communication compliance role permissions, groups, and policies and investigators and reviewers may be responsible for message triage, review, and mitigation actions.

To learn more about our solution, ask questions, and share feedback, join our Microsoft Security, Compliance and Identity Community.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

ACT Government, Acumen Group, AGIP, Delta Dental Plans Association, Desai/Nasr Consulting Engineers, Inc., Equinox Information Systems

Information Not Available

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Barracuda Networks, Veritas and others in Email Archiving. Updated: January 2026.

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