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Barracuda Security Awareness Training vs Proofpoint Email Protection comparison

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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 Security Awarenes...
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Security Awareness Training (6th)
Proofpoint Email Protection
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
110
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (2nd), Digital Risk Protection (3rd), Office 365 Protection (1st), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

Barracuda Security Awareness Training and Proofpoint Email Protection aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Barracuda Security Awareness Training is designed for Security Awareness Training and holds a mindshare of 1.9%, down 2.2% compared to last year.
Proofpoint Email Protection, on the other hand, focuses on Secure Email Gateway (SEG), holds 17.7% mindshare, down 20.9% since last year.
Security Awareness Training Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Barracuda Security Awareness Training1.9%
KnowBe410.9%
Riot6.9%
Other80.3%
Security Awareness Training
Secure Email Gateway (SEG) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Proofpoint Email Protection17.7%
Mimecast Advanced Email Security14.1%
Microsoft Defender for Office 36513.2%
Other55.0%
Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
 

Featured Reviews

SA
IT Lead at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
Security training has improved onboarding and builds ongoing awareness of phishing threats
Barracuda Security Awareness Training has positively impacted our onboarding process, and we have seen a lot of improvement from the new user's standpoint. On the very first day of their onboarding, we introduce this training so that it has created a good impact where everyone who has joined our organization is aware of phishing emails and how to handle those emails, how to identify those phishing emails, and how to avoid clicking unknown links which have been sent by unknown users to our email inboxes. That gives a huge benefit and saves a lot from all security standpoints. It is very much protected, and they are using it in their day-to-day work. We don't have to worry about phishing methods, nor do we have to rely on people for these things. Everyone is aware of phishing simulation attacks, and we have educated everyone in our organization. Barracuda Security Awareness Training offers predefined modules for phishing simulation with training content that is pre-built with interactive videos, quizzes, and campaigns. They also have automated campaigns like pre-built training schedules and the ability to easily view reporting analytics, risk scores, and user performance tracking. We can track whether users have taken the course or not easily. Policy acknowledgment is also tracked and compliance user acceptance is monitored to see if it works well with email security solutions, especially in Barracuda email security. We can view real-world attack simulation test results and phishing simulations. These are some good features. I rely most on the training content, which makes our job easier because it has pre-built interactive videos for every topic of phishing simulation quizzes and campaigns. It also includes pre-built training schedules as well. We don't have to worry about the scheduling part; we just have to schedule the date and the time, and the campaign automatically starts once scheduled. Additionally, Barracuda Security Awareness Training features are easy to use, the interface is good, quick deployment is done, and it has strong phishing simulation capabilities. It also provides good visibility into user risk levels.
Siva_Prasad - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Email defenses have reduced phishing incidents and protect sensitive data across our enterprise
As things are evolving and threats develop in unpredictable ways, Proofpoint must adopt AI solutions and agentic solutions more aggressively and provide them to customers as part of service offerings. Inbuilt AI solutions would add more value and make Proofpoint a more premium choice for customers. With the help of AI solutions, agentic AI, and generative AI capabilities, the product would be more efficient than it currently is. Filtering false positives is highly challenging because it is impossible for humans to identify which emails are genuine and which are spam. Proofpoint should focus more on this area with back-end agents or other tools. Proofpoint should decide which emails are genuine and which are spam so it is not a challenge for end users. When receiving an email, end users should not have to determine whether to respond or not. Proofpoint should not release such spam emails and should strictly block such spam and spoof emails based on connection IPs. Currently, false positives occur in the product, and while this occurs in every product, it is an area where Proofpoint can focus on improving and reducing false positives. One email is enough for an end user to be deceived and lose money, so addressing this area is critical.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Barracuda PhishLine is a very good solution and I strongly recommend it to others."
"Barracuda Security Awareness Training has positively impacted our onboarding process, and we have seen a lot of improvement from the new user's standpoint."
"Barracuda PhishLine continues to evolve because as the attacks get more sophisticated, they get integrated into the campaigns. Then the users are exposed to the latest attacks in the form of a training session rather than in real life. They're much better prepared for these real-life ransomware attacks that come through via email."
"The most valuable features of Proofpoint Email Protection are the performance from being on the cloud."
"It was easy to set up."
"The Phish Alarm button allows users to submit questionable emails for review and complete analysis."
"From a mail gateway perspective, I think Proofpoint Email Protection is one of the most complete options compared to others."
"The biggest ROI for us was when it stopped a ransomware attack, which could have cost us a ton of money and been detrimental to the company, so it basically paid for itself right there."
"Proofpoint Email Protection is superior to other third-party applications such as Cisco IronPort or FireEye, as it is really very comfortable to use, easy to operate, easy to manage, easy to take actions, easy to deploy, and easy to migrate."
"From the reports that we hear back from clients regarding Proofpoint Email Protection, they are noticing less spam and fewer phishing attempts in their email."
"Using Proofpoint Email Protection has significantly improved SOC analyst workloads for my customers by enhancing response times and adding value through built-in threat investigation tools."
 

Cons

"The initial setup of Barracuda PhishLine is very easy. All of it can be set up in approximately one hour with someone that has some IT training and previous exposure to Barracuda."
"The initial setup of Barracuda PhishLine is very easy."
"Regarding needed improvements, the subscription-based pricing is cost-effective compared to other competitors, but they need to add more premium security protections or features combined into this."
"I feel Proofpoint Email Protection can be improved by providing a better user experience."
"I rate the technical support at a 3 out of 10, with 10 being the best."
"Pricing for the platform could still be cheaper."
"In terms of improvement, the price could be better. Additionally, more security could be implemented."
"I think Proofpoint Email Protection could be improved if the user interface portals could be consolidated into a single portal, as there are currently four, five, or six separate ones."
"Integration for reporting needs to be improved, it's a little complex."
"The stability and UI are the two areas of the solution with certain shortcomings that need improvement."
"The areas of Proofpoint Email Protection that could be improved or enhanced involve the email rewrite functionality. It can be aggressive sometimes, rewriting a lot of very benign content."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are different package plans available, such as email protection advanced, premium, and premium plus."
"The tool's pricing depends on the customer's preference, offering options for an annual license or a monthly subscription. The cost varies based on factors such as the number of users and specific requirements. Overall, the pricing is competitive."
"Proofpoint Email Protection has comparable pricing."
"Clients pay for an annual subscription of Proofpoint Email Protection. Every client always finds it expensive."
"It is on a yearly basis. Their floor for SMB doesn't matter. The user count is 100 users and below at $2,500 a year. Its cost is higher than other solutions. It is probably about 20% to 30% higher than what you would get with Microsoft. There are no additional costs. All costs are factored in. It can be improved pricing-wise so that it is affordable for the SMB market."
"I rate the product price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."
"Proofpoint is fairly expensive."
"Pricing has recently been increased and the cost is a downside"
"The solution charges per user per month to use it. There are not any additional fees in addition to the standard living fees."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
37%
Healthcare Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise62
 

Questions from the Community

What is your primary use case for Barracuda PhishLine?
My main use case for Barracuda Security Awareness Training is phishing simulation training. For example, when a new onboarding user joins an organization, we create a training module with the help ...
What advice do you have for others considering Barracuda PhishLine?
Barracuda Security Awareness Training would work better for a mid-sized organization; it worked well for us since we have already scheduled this training for each onboarding user. If it's for large...
What needs improvement with Barracuda Security Awareness Training?
Regarding needed improvements, the subscription-based pricing is cost-effective compared to other competitors, but they need to add more premium security protections or features combined into this....
What needs improvement with Proofpoint Email Protection?
To improve Proofpoint Email Protection, I suggest breaking down the URL into one versus three different GUIs. Regarding Proofpoint Email Protection's AI capabilities, I think its governance and sec...
What is your primary use case for Proofpoint Email Protection?
My main use case for Proofpoint Email Protection includes phishing emails, spam, URL isolation, and training. I utilize the email protect portal to ensure that none of our employees in any of the b...
 

Also Known As

PhishLine
Proofpoint Enterprise Protection, Proofpoint Digital Protection
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Humanitas, Mount Sinai
Blocket, University of Waterloo, Lincoln Memorial University, WellSpan Health, U-Haul, Carestream Health, Westinghouse
Find out what your peers are saying about KnowBe4, Huntress, Proofpoint and others in Security Awareness Training. Updated: October 2026.
919,894 professionals have used our research since 2012.