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Barracuda Email Security Gateway vs Fortra's Clearswift Secure Email Gateway comparison

 

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 Email Security Ga...
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
DMARC Authentication Software (2nd), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (5th)
Fortra's Clearswift Secure ...
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
0
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (36th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Messaging and Collaboration solutions, they serve different purposes. Barracuda Email Security Gateway is designed for Secure Email Gateway (SEG) and holds a mindshare of 8.7%, up 6.7% compared to last year.
Fortra's Clearswift Secure Email Gateway, on the other hand, focuses on Email Security, holds 1.0% mindshare, up 0.7% since last year.
Secure Email Gateway (SEG) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Barracuda Email Security Gateway8.7%
Microsoft Defender for Office 36521.4%
Proofpoint Email Protection20.9%
Other49.0%
Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
Email Security Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortra's Clearswift Secure Email Gateway1.0%
Microsoft Defender for Office 3659.1%
Proofpoint Email Protection8.1%
Other81.8%
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

MM
Graduate Student at ain shams
Secures email by identifying threats and managing email policies effectively
The intuitive management interface feature makes email security policies very easy to implement as it's all about features that need to be enabled or disabled. Our investigation in any incident or mail is very useful as it provides all details about incoming mails, enabling thorough review and detection. The real-time threat intelligence feature is particularly useful as it detects all kinds of threats identified by incoming mails. The Impersonation license utilizes AI tools. Sometimes some phishing mails are reported as phishing, but they are not actually phishing mails. They are detected due to certain words and languages that appear suspicious but were generated by AI tools. Everyone or an advisor may use it for their own purpose or learning, even though it indicates that the mail detected is phishing when it's not.
PC
Systems Administrator at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Stable, but malware needs improvement and customer support is poor
They need to improve the malware in the product. I am not satisfied with Clearswift because of the lack of customer support. The support is poor, the supplier takes a lot of time and it's expensive. We have some issues here when I contact the supplier, it takes a lot of time for them to get back to us but there's no solution. I am now looking at Symantec as a possible alternative.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Great at blocking spam."
"All features it provides on the cloud environment are very, very useful, including the antivirus that is enabled on it."
"It catches a lot of things and has the ability to add domains as well as add senders and update their things."
"Its backups are valuable."
"It is a very stable solution."
"It can effectively combat phishing attacks, block spam, provide confirmation, and ensure operational manageability with a strong focus on product stability."
"We find the product to be scalable."
"It can scale."
"A stable solution."
"Ability to create your own content-filtering policies with relative ease."
 

Cons

"Sometimes there are false positive emails coming through, so they should improve further on detection technologies and techniques."
"There is room for improvement in the management of multiple domains."
"The technical support is not available globally 24/7 and this is the biggest problem with the product."
"False positives have given us issues."
"I am not aware of the licensing costs."
"Barracuda Email Security Gateway can improve email detection. We have some emails that are bypassing the threat scanning. There are some impersonation emails passing through."
"Barracuda isn't catching everything. We're still getting quite a few phishing emails, so we're looking for something else."
"Solution requires regular checking to ensure it's 'keeping up' with spam."
"Malware needs improvement."
"FTP server and TRUST Manager functionality."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The regular pricing was initially very reasonable, but three years ago, Barracuda revised their price list and SKUs, resulting in a significant doubling of the standard prices."
"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."
"The pricing for the product is fine."
"The solution is priced low. We have received a good price discount here in Sri Lanka. There are additional licenses we have to purchase a license for the ATP."
"The licensing fees are part of a bundled support package that we pay for."
"It is an expensive solution and I would rate it 5 out of 10."
"We have a long agreement with Barracuda Email Security Gateway. We're very pleased with the cost and the solution. The cost is in the average range for this type of solution."
"Barracuda Email Security Gateway is an affordable solution that caters to small, midsize, and high-end businesses with great revenue."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Outsourcing Company
5%
Computer Software Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Educational Organization
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise13
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Barracuda Sentinel?
I would suggest that pricing for Barracuda Email Security Gateway rates around seven. It is not too expensive, but it is a considerable cost. Compared with others, Barracuda Email Security Gateway ...
What needs improvement with Barracuda Sentinel?
Regarding real-time intelligent features of the Barracuda Email Security Gateway, some spam emails are still being released by the ESG to the end users, so the functionality is not working appropri...
What is your primary use case for Barracuda Sentinel?
My use case for the Barracuda Email Security Gateway is to protect our emails from phishing and spam emails to get them blocked by the ESG.
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Also Known As

Barracuda Spam and Virus Firewall, Barracuda Sentinel
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Evolution Recruitment Solutions, Evans Delivery Company, Osoyoos Credit Union, Synovis Life Technologies, Camden County Technical Schools, DEK, Evans Delivery Company, Colgate Rochester Crozer, Hemmera, South Carolina Heart Center, Ferma Corporation, Major League Baseball (MLB), Healy Brothers Automotive Group
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Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Proofpoint, Abnormal AI and others in Secure Email Gateway (SEG). Updated: February 2026.
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