Barracuda Email Protection vs Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Barracuda Email Protection and Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Email Security solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Barracuda Email Protection vs. Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) Report (Updated: May 2024).
772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"I like its investigation capabilities, as that is what is most important to me. It is fairly simple with a user-friendly interface.""The initial setup was easy.""Defender helps us prioritize threats across our organization.""Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable features are safe attachments and safe links.""There are several features that I consider valuable.""Our customers are satisfied with Defender for 365 because Microsoft products are easy to use and customize to meet the client's needs. Everything is in one place, so we can adjust policies as needed for phishing, DLP, ATP, or any other security features that our clients want to apply.""I would say that 90% of the spam and phishing attack emails get blocked right off the bat.""The risk level notifications are most valuable. We get to know what kind of intrusion or attack is there, and we can fix a problem on time."

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"The most valuable features are security and ease of use.""The most valuable features of Barracuda Email Protection are flexibility and customization.""The most valuable aspect includes attempts to spoof or compromise domains from external sources.""I'm quite satisfied with the graphical user interface for Barracuda products.""The solution is straightforward to set up.""The archiving and search features are very good.""The best feature of Barracuda Email Protection is that it provides protection for Microsoft 365.""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."

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"It is easy to configure, easy to use, easy to add exclusions, easy to track, and easy to add anything else if you want.""We can migrate seamlessly without any disruptions to our operations.""I like the product's ZAP feature.""The most valuable feature is the ease of administration. Other solutions require complex administration, but Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is easier.""It has a really nice web-based administration console.""The initial setup is just a standard process.""It provides security to both on-premises and Azure infrastructures.""It's definitely scalable."

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Cons
"The only thing they should improve is the licensing model. They should stop changing it. A year ago, the five features I mentioned were included in one product. Now, three of them are bundled into one product, and you have to pay extra for the other two. I don't mind paying extra, but I don't want them to change it every year or every six months. I need to know what I'm looking at and not worry about it next year.""Microsoft Defender for Office 365 must improve the overall management style, including the GUI. It also needs to change the filters so that it is easy to whitelist and blacklist data.""About eight months ago, we started to measure the quantity of phishing and spam that we have been receiving, and it has been increasing a lot. That means that protection for our email is not as good as we were expecting.""They can improve their security in a way where a customer can know if all their attachments are safe or not to open through a report. The solution does its job perfectly, but it never reports to the customer whether those attachments have been stopped before or not.""Too many false positives and lacks an accurate capability to detect malicious SharePoint sites.""Microsoft wants its well-paying customers to finish testing some of its half-baked products, find bugs, and report bugs back to Microsoft's team, which is a little frustrating for those who have to manage it and roll it up to thousands of people across the organization.""The visibility for the weaknesses in the system and unauthorized access can be improved.""One area for improvement is integration. For example, when it comes to external SaaS platforms, we were not able to get a lot of information on integrations with such apps for security and authentication."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Cons →

"The product must enable bulk user management.""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 policies are set up in Barracuda by default; we don't have any control over them.""Sometimes it is somewhat laggy, especially on the Archiver side. It should have improved performance on their Message Archiver.""Barracuda Essentials can improve by continually adding more features.""There is room for improvement, particularly in reaching out to technical support during deployment.""I would like to see some additional functionality in terms of employee monitoring, as part of a work-from-home security solution.""I would like to see better integration with other products."

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"Performance and speed should continue to be improved.""I would like to get reports about vulnerable connections from our clients with information about domains, public IPs, etc. That would be highly useful.""Microsoft 365 Defender and EOP policies are stable with the proper license. However, with the basic policy, it's hard to say it's stable due to configuration limitations.""The tool is not 100% stable.""The management interface of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) could be intuitive.""The solution can be complex at times. It would be nice to have the on-server version. It needs to improve the stability as well.""The solution must improve the user experience.""Our company faces difficulty with Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) because it's too big, clunky, and difficult for a small client to implement quickly and easily."

More Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It's a user-base subscription."
  • "From the pricing point of view, like any other product in the market, there is scope for negotiation."
  • "Defender is a little bit more expensive as compared to others. We are in the manufacturing environment. So, we don't have a high budget for all of our endpoint devices. Its cost is a major concern for us."
  • "For licensing, it's usually a yearly package for customers who are subscribed to Office 365, but they can also pay on a monthly basis."
  • "Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is an add-on to the Office license. Many customers are purchasing this solution."
  • "Microsoft Defender for Office 365 comes with Microsoft Windows. It is free with the operating system."
  • "The solution saves money so we have seen a return on investment."
  • "Defender for 365 comes in various plans and licenses, along with other Microsoft security solutions. Purchasing this kind of package or security bundle gives good value for money, and that's what I recommend."
  • More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "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."
  • "Price-wise, this product is middle-of-the-road."
  • "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."
  • "Barracuda licensing model is good."
  • "The price is similar to that of Microsoft 365."
  • More Barracuda Email Protection Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The price could be lower."
  • "The solution is priced high and could be less expensive compared to other solutions."
  • "The solution is expensive but is backed by Microsoft's reputation."
  • "The price of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is reasonable."
  • "It is a low-price solution."
  • "Apart from the license fee for the solution, there are no additional costs."
  • "Online Protection is fairly expensive."
  • "The tool's pricing is excellent."
  • More Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Threat Explorer is an invaluable tool for me, and it plays a crucial role in helping me discern the origins of various… more »
    Top Answer:The product must provide better malware detection. The detection algorithms don't perform the way I hope they would.
    Top Answer:I'm quite satisfied with the graphical user interface for Barracuda products.
    Top Answer:Barracuda licensing model is good. The price could always be better.
    Top Answer:Regarding Barracuda Email Protection specifically, I'm quite satisfied. I think there's room for improvement in their… more »
    Top Answer:The initial setup was easy. The configuration process is very straightforward.
    Top Answer:We face challenges with reporting features and the lack of a proper dashboard in Microsoft's portal. There's no… more »
    Top Answer:The main use case is to block suspicious links in emails. However, some functionalities like SIPP attachment are not… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    MS Defender for Office 365
    Barracuda Essentials
    Microsoft EOP, MS Exchange Online Protection
    Learn More
    Overview

    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is a comprehensive security solution designed to protect organizations against advanced threats in their email, collaboration, and productivity environments. It combines the power of Microsoft's threat intelligence, machine learning, and behavioral analytics to provide real-time protection against phishing, malware, ransomware, and other malicious attacks.

    With Microsoft Defender for Office 365, organizations can safeguard their email communication by detecting and blocking malicious links, attachments, and unsafe email content. It employs advanced anti-phishing capabilities to identify and prevent sophisticated phishing attacks that attempt to steal sensitive information or compromise user credentials.

    This solution also offers robust protection against malware and ransomware. It leverages machine learning algorithms to analyze email attachments and URLs in real-time, identifying and blocking malicious content before it reaches users' inboxes. Additionally, it provides advanced threat-hunting capabilities, allowing security teams to proactively investigate and respond to potential threats.

    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 goes beyond email protection and extends its security features to other collaboration tools like SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams. It scans files and documents stored in these platforms, ensuring that they are free from malware and other malicious content. It also provides visibility into user activities, helping organizations detect and mitigate insider threats.

    Furthermore, this solution offers rich reporting and analytics capabilities, providing organizations with insights into their security posture and threat landscape. It enables security administrators to monitor and manage security incidents, track trends, and take proactive measures to enhance their overall security posture.

    The popularity of Microsoft 365 means criminals test and design their attacks to bypass its native security features. And that means you need additional layers of defense. With Advanced Threat Protection enabled, Barracuda uses multiple layers of detection, including signature, static, and behavioral analysis, along with CPU-emulation sandboxing to accurately detect and block zero-hour targeted attacks and ransomware.

    Traditional email gateways use static rules and policies—reputation analysis, block lists, and malicious payloads—to determine if an email is malicious.

    Barracuda protects your Microsoft 365 inbox against evasive threats with a powerful AI engine that learns the unique communication patterns within your organization through access to internal and historical emails. Once it understands what legitimate emails looks like for each user, it can detect anomalies that signal malicious intent. This context-based detection is more effective at blocking targeted attacks, which are designed to bypass traditional rule-based email security.

    Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) is a comprehensive email filtering and security service designed to protect organizations from spam, malware, and other email-based threats. It provides advanced threat protection, anti-malware and anti-spam filtering, and data loss prevention capabilities.

    With EOP, organizations can ensure the security and integrity of their email communications. It uses multiple layers of filtering and scanning to detect and block malicious content, including phishing attempts, viruses, and ransomware. EOP also leverages machine learning and artificial intelligence to continuously improve its threat detection capabilities.

    In addition to its robust security features, EOP offers advanced anti-spam filtering to reduce unwanted and unsolicited emails. It uses a combination of reputation-based filtering, content filtering, and sender authentication techniques to identify and block spam messages.

    EOP also includes data loss prevention (DLP) capabilities to prevent sensitive information from being leaked or shared inappropriately. It allows organizations to define policies to detect and prevent the transmission of sensitive data, such as credit card numbers or social security numbers, via email.

    Furthermore, EOP integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Exchange Online and other Office 365 services, providing a unified and integrated email security solution. It can be easily managed through the Exchange admin center, allowing administrators to configure and monitor security settings, review reports, and manage quarantined emails.

    Sample Customers
    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
    ACT Government, Acumen Group, AGIP, Delta Dental Plans Association, Desai/Nasr Consulting Engineers, Inc., Equinox Information Systems
    Information Not Available
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Manufacturing Company17%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Government7%
    REVIEWERS
    Construction Company25%
    Security Firm25%
    Manufacturing Company25%
    Educational Organization13%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Construction Company7%
    Real Estate/Law Firm7%
    Healthcare Company7%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company25%
    Retailer13%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Non Tech Company6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Government9%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business45%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise40%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business30%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise51%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business60%
    Midsize Enterprise33%
    Large Enterprise7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business42%
    Midsize Enterprise18%
    Large Enterprise40%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business64%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise21%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business27%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise54%
    Buyer's Guide
    Barracuda Email Protection vs. Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP)
    May 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda Email Protection vs. Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
    772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Barracuda Email Protection is ranked 15th in Email Security with 14 reviews while Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) is ranked 3rd in Email Security with 34 reviews. Barracuda Email Protection is rated 8.8, while Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Barracuda Email Protection writes "Set-it-and-forget-it type of product that doesn't require a lot of management". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) writes "An effective email security solution that provides DLP, Safe Attachment, and Safe Links". Barracuda Email Protection is most compared with Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration, TitanHQ SpamTitan, Abnormal Security, Fortinet FortiMail and Mimecast Email Security, whereas Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) is most compared with Proofpoint Email Protection, Cisco Secure Email, Fortinet FortiMail, Mimecast Email Security and Darktrace. See our Barracuda Email Protection vs. Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) report.

    See our list of best Email Security vendors.

    We monitor all Email Security reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.