Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Barracuda Email Security Gateway vs Symantec Messaging Gateway comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024

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...
Ranking in Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
DMARC Authentication Software (4th)
Symantec Messaging Gateway
Ranking in Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
12th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Secure Email Gateway (SEG) category, the mindshare of Barracuda Email Security Gateway is 7.3%, up from 7.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Messaging Gateway is 2.5%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Secure Email Gateway (SEG) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Barracuda Email Security Gateway7.3%
Symantec Messaging Gateway2.5%
Other90.2%
Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
 

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.
Girish Vijay - PeerSpot reviewer
Deputy Manager IT at Carl Bechem Lubricants India Pvt. Ltd.
A stable and reasonably priced solution that performs well and has a very good malware database
Since Symantec merged with Broadcom, they might have lost some good technical engineers. Maybe that’s the reason why the product is performing poorly. When we have a good marketing and sales team, even though our product cannot perform, we will sell it at a high price because of the buzzwords. However, at the end of the day, the product should perform. Most of the products might not perform. Symantec is a very good product, but the services are basic. I rate the technical features of the product a nine out of ten. However, I would rate the services provided by the solution a six out of ten. Overall, I rate the tool an eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is an excellent, intelligent solution that provides maximum security from email attacks."
"The solution is scalable."
"One advantage is its immediate deployment capability. So the fast speed to deploy is a big plus point."
"I like Barracuda's cloud sandbox feature."
"We find the email security to be valuable."
"This product is powerful and quite simple to use."
"The interface of the Barracuda Email Security Gateway is pretty user-friendly, and you can easily navigate through it."
"It's easy to use. The configuration and web interface are user-friendly."
"Symantec Messaging Gateway has a good GUI, and it is very powerful in detecting viruses and spam."
"It is a solid and stable product."
"The solution is "set and forget". You pay for it and everything is done for you."
"The solution is excellent at blocking spam."
"It has very good capabilities for managing malware."
"Symantec’s spyware and malware signature database is very good compared to other products."
"Messaging Gateway is stable."
"The solution is stable and the performance is good."
 

Cons

"I have noticed that it takes a little time to get familiar with after deploying and some tweaks need to be done as things come up."
"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."
"The pricing needs improvement."
"There is room for improvement in the speed of the interface, specifically the cloud interface, is a bit slow."
"False positives have given us issues."
"The solution should add automatic alerts to the mobile."
"This product can always be made more secure."
"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."
"The false positive submissions must be improved."
"The documentation could have more detailed examples of how to use the product in various situations. As more companies shift to the cloud, they could better integrate the on-prem and cloud versions through an on-prem client."
"It could be more scalable."
"The solution takes up a lot of memory."
"It is a nice product but is not user friendly in terms of the graphical interface. It is poor and is not rich in terms of the human interface."
"Sometimes the solution picks up false positive for viruses during scans."
"We've had issues in the past where the user finds spam, and Symantec does not recognize it as spam."
"What's lacking when you compare it with Proofpoint and other threat protection solutions is that it does the basic stuff, but we need more advanced threat handling."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We typically purchase a one or three-year license for Barracuda Email Security Gateway."
"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 solution requires a license and we pay annually."
"The price of this solution is very high, but it's working fine."
"The pricing for the product is fine."
"As far as advanced email security systems, this product is mid-range on the pricing scale."
"This is one of the major points for integrating this solution in any organization. Barracuda Email Security Gateway needs to make it a bit more tolerable for customers because it is increasing every year. They should create a plan for reducing the cost."
"We find the solution's pricing okay."
"The cost of Symantec Messaging Gateway is too expensive in general. However, the appliance also includes the price of the license in the same bundle."
"It's a bit expensive compared to its competitor Barracuda Email Security Gateway but cheaper than Sophos Email."
"A subscription for technical support costs extra."
"For 150 users, we pay INR 1,60,000."
"Symantec Messaging Gateway’s pricing is very cheap."
"They're a little costly compared to Microsoft."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Secure Email Gateway (SEG) solutions are best for your needs.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Outsourcing Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise13
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise8
 

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.
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

Barracuda Spam and Virus Firewall, Barracuda Sentinel
Symantec.cloud, Symantec Email Security.cloud
 

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
Doric, Joblink Plus, Our Lady of Mercy College, Parramatta, PPB Advisory, Slater & Gordon Lawyers, Sydney Adventist Hospital Ltd.
Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda Email Security Gateway vs. Symantec Messaging Gateway and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.