Barracuda Email Protection vs SonicWall Email Security comparison

Barracuda Networks and SonicWall are both solutions in the Email Security category. Barracuda Networks is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.6, while SonicWall is ranked #30 with an average rating of 7.7. Barracuda Networks holds a 3.7% mindshare in Email Security, compared to SonicWall’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Barracuda Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of SonicWall users who would recommend it.

Barracuda Email Protection

Read 19 Barracuda Email Protection reviews

3,238 Views
2,655 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SonicWall Email Security

Read 15 SonicWall Email Security reviews

725 Views
631 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Barracuda Email Protection

SonicWall Email Security

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 19, 2026

SonicWall Email Security and Barracuda Email Protection are key competitors in the email security market. Barracuda appears to have a slight edge due to its comprehensive feature set, catering to more extensive security needs.

Features: SonicWall Email Security offers efficient spam detection, easy integration, and advanced packet analysis. Barracuda Email Protection provides superior advanced threat protection, cloud backup features, and AI-driven impersonation detection.

Room for Improvement: SonicWall could improve by enhancing its macro-blocking capabilities and expanding its feature set for more advanced threats. Barracuda may benefit from strengthening its reporting tools and resolving integration challenges.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SonicWall offers a straightforward setup and a responsive support team, which aids in seamless implementation. Barracuda, while offering efficient deployment, encounters challenges with its customer service responsiveness.

Pricing and ROI: SonicWall is known for its competitive pricing, offering high ROI due to effective performance. Barracuda, despite a higher initial cost, justifies its pricing with an extensive suite of security features that can offer significant value over time.

To learn more, read our detailed Barracuda Email Protection vs. SonicWall Email Security Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Barracuda Email Protection vs. SonicWall Email Security

February 2026

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Helped 881,733 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

Ranking in Email Security

12th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

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

SonicWall Email Security

Ranking in Email Security

30th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Barracuda Email Protection is 3.7%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall Email Security is 0.6%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Email Security Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Barracuda Email Protection	3.7%
SonicWall Email Security	0.6%
Other	95.7%

Email Security

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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Swapnil Kulkarni

System Administrator at Ador Powertron Ltd.

Has consistently supported security needs for mid-sized teams with affordable deployment

I do not work with Cloud Secure Edge, CSE, or SMA apart from SonicWall NSA. I am not satisfied with phishing protection, as it falls completely under the email domain security. The customizable policy configuration does not help to tailor email security overall because our systems are not integrated with SonicWall Email Security. We are not using reporting and analytics because it requires completely different software. While all required features are available in SonicWall Email Security for SMBs and startups, we lack analytics features. They provide an option to purchase a complete separate product for analytics, but despite initially having purchased the paper license, due to technical limitations or changes, we cannot use that product. Now they require additional fees to access the analytics feature.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"When we got the service, it included the email archiver with unlimited storage."

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

"Barracuda email protection is stable. I would give it a nine because of its strong cybersecurity features."

"The solution is straightforward to set up."

"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 beauty of Barracuda Email Protection is that it is easy to manage and simple to deploy."

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

"The solution's most valuable feature is impersonation detection."

More Barracuda Email Protection pros

"We always get ROI from the product we are using; it is completely flexible and acceptable according to our security requirements over the last four years and currently."

"The most valuable features are the anti-spam, anti-phishing, anti-virus, and anti-spoofing."

"SonicWall Email Security uses multi-layer cloud security."

"Setup was easy. It took about 30 minutes."

"There are no wasted extras and the interface is really simple."

"According to our customers, the product's most valuable feature is the ability to detect spam and reduce phishing emails."

"This solution provides very good email security that protects us against spamming and malware."

"Beside a few issues with specificity in the email protection controls, this product is very good at handling email security."

More SonicWall Email Security pros

Cons

"The product must enable bulk user management."

"The platform's pricing needs improvement."

"Two to three months back, we got fraudulent emails in which someone in the organization was being blamed."

"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."

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

"Barracuda Essentials can improve by continually adding more features."

"The technology works on a supervised engine, but it would be better if it ran on an unsupervised engine."

More Barracuda Email Protection cons

"The protection level for email security isn't 100%. I'm still getting some spam and junk mail."

"Policy deployment could be time consuming and represents an area for improvement in SonicWall Email Security."

"They need well-trained partners in Nigeria."

"A lot of spoofed emails are still coming to the end-user, so the configuration for this option needs to be improved."

"The pricing could be improved."

"The platform's control panel needs enhancement."

"SonicWall Email Security could improve by making the file blocking and the release feature easier to use"

"The reporting needs improvement."

More SonicWall Email Security cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's pricing is moderate, where it is neither cheap nor expensive."

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

"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."

"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."

"The product is expensive."

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

"The price is similar to that of Microsoft 365."

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

More Barracuda Email Protection pricing and cost advice

"I rate the application’s pricing a five out of ten."

"The overall price of SonicWall Email Security should be reduced and there should be an option to purchase one or two licenses more instead of their current policy of bulk increases only. There should be more flexibility in the licensing model. Each license cost approximately $33 annually."

"The cost is cheaper than Sophos. I would rate it as five out of ten."

"Our customers purchase the solution's yearly license."

"The platform offers a yearly license."

"We have a two-year license subscription and the price is very high."

"When compared with Cisco, it is very well priced. Cisco is very expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Marketing Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	3

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall Email Security?

The solution is affordable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SonicWall Email Security?

Policy deployment could be time consuming and represents an area for improvement in SonicWall Email Security.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SonicWall Email Security?

SonicWall Email Security was used for security purposes, which aligns with the product's core function.

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

Avanan vs SonicWall Email Security

Compared 17% of the time

Fortinet FortiMail vs SonicWall Email Security

Compared 15% of the time

Cisco Secure Email vs SonicWall Email Security

Compared 14% of the time

Barracuda Email Security Gateway vs SonicWall Email Security

Compared 13% of the time

Proofpoint Email Protection vs SonicWall Email Security

Compared 9% of the time

More SonicWall Email Security Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Barracuda Email Protection

February 2026

Download Barracuda Email Protection product report

Buyer's Guide

SonicWall Email Security

January 2026

Download SonicWall Email Security product report

Also Known As

Barracuda Essentials, Barracuda Forensics and Incident Response

Dell SonicWALL Email Security Platform, SonicWall Hosted Email Security

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

SonicWALL Email Security Platform offers powerful protection to keep email threats out. And sensitive data in. With innovative protection techniques for both inbound and outbound email plus unique management tools, the Email Security platform delivers superior email protection today while standing ready to stop the new attacks of tomorrow.

SonicWall

Sample Customers

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

Star Kay White, Locala Community Partnerships

Buyer's Guide

Barracuda Email Protection vs. SonicWall Email Security

February 2026

Free Report: Barracuda Email Protection vs. SonicWall Email Security

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