Item: Barracuda Essentials
Rating: 10
Author: Derek Schroeder

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Barracuda Essentials is used by everyone at the company. It is the antispam system as well as encrypted email sending system. It is also the email archiver and extended backup of 365 mailboxes service. There are several flavors of Barracuda Essentials but the "base" and most common is the antispam system that includes outbound email encryption.

Pros and Cons

Filtering inbound and outbound email.
Sandboxing potentially bad email attachments.
Making setup easy to configure and maintain with Office 365.
Unifying logins for end users to Office 365 usernames and passwords.

From the administrative side, unifying ALL of the components and modules can be a bit clunky.

Return on Investment

From an investment standpoint, Barracuda does minimal contracts so there is not a significant one.
The security suite can prevent breaches for user mailboxes.
Protection from lawsuits relating to email and communication.

Alternatives Considered

Proofpoint Advanced Threat Protection and Sophos Secure Email Gateways

Barracuda Essentials is the best in class. Things can change as time moves on, but Barracuda Essentials does the best job for sandboxing attachments as well as providing DKIM and SPF support. It is very customizable and includes outbound email encryption with its base antispam system, which is the only product to do so.

Support Rating

This is the best tool in the industry. It provides the best support on top of the product. If one has any trouble configuring things or troubleshooting things, Barracuda's support is renowned for resolving bugs and issues as well as assisting troubleshooting and fixing issues. I would highly recommend it as it covers all email security bases.

Key Insights

Do you think Barracuda Essentials delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Barracuda Essentials's feature set?

Yes

Did Barracuda Essentials live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Barracuda Essentials go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Barracuda Essentials again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Proofpoint Advanced Threat Protection, Sophos Secure Email Gateways, Mimecast Secure Email Gateway

Likelihood to Recommend

Barracuda Essentials is a great solution for businesses of all sizes. As companies grow to become VERY large, the on-premises physical appliances might be a better price point, but it utilizes the same backbone, subscriptions, and services. All organizations in all industries should care about email filtering, email archiving, and better than the built-in backups for Office 365.

Barracuda Essentials: essential for email security

Overall Satisfaction with Barracuda Essentials