Barracuda vs Mimecast: Cloud Email Security Compared
The Quick Verdict
Mimecast wins this comparison, primarily on the strength of its cloud-native architecture, superior Microsoft 365 integration, and best-in-class email continuity. Barracuda is a solid platform with attractive all-in-one packaging and competitive pricing, particularly for organizations that also use Barracuda’s network security and backup products. But as a standalone email security and management platform, Mimecast delivers a more polished, modern experience.
What Each Platform Does
Barracuda Email Security is part of the broader Barracuda Networks portfolio. The email product line includes Email Security Gateway (appliance or cloud), Sentinel (API-based protection), Email Protection (cloud-native), and Cloud Archiving Service. Barracuda’s strength is bundling — organizations can get email security, backup, network security, and web application protection from a single vendor.
Mimecast is a purpose-built email management platform that unifies security, archiving, continuity, and awareness training. Founded in 2003 and cloud-native from the start, Mimecast has focused exclusively on email as its core competency. The platform protects tens of thousands of organizations and processes billions of messages through its global infrastructure.
Pricing Comparison
Both vendors use custom enterprise pricing. General market positioning for a 500-user organization:
| Category | Barracuda | Mimecast |
|---|---|---|
| Email security | ~$3.00-4.50/user/mo | ~$4.00-5.00/user/mo |
| Archiving | ~$2.00-3.00/user/mo (separate) | Included in most plans |
| Continuity | Not a core offering | Included in most plans |
| Total email management | ~$5.00-7.50/user/mo (bundled) | ~$5.00-8.00/user/mo |
| Deployment options | Cloud, virtual, hardware | Cloud only |
| Minimum seat count | Varies by product | Typically 50+ |
| Awareness training | Separate product | Available as add-on |
On a pure email security basis, Barracuda is often cheaper. But when you factor in archiving, continuity, and the management overhead of separate Barracuda products versus Mimecast’s unified platform, the total cost picture narrows significantly.
Feature-by-Feature Breakdown
Threat Detection and Filtering
Both platforms provide multi-layered email filtering combining reputation checks, heuristic analysis, signature-based detection, and machine learning. Barracuda’s Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) includes CPU-emulation sandboxing that detonates suspicious attachments in an isolated environment. Mimecast’s Targeted Threat Protection offers URL scanning with time-of-click rewriting, attachment sandboxing, and impersonation detection.
In independent testing and analyst reports, both platforms deliver strong detection rates against spam, phishing, and malware. Mimecast’s URL protection is marginally more sophisticated — rewriting links so they are analyzed every time a user clicks, even days after delivery. Barracuda scans at time of delivery and can miss delayed-activation threats.
Edge: Mimecast, slightly. Time-of-click URL scanning is a meaningful advantage against modern phishing campaigns.
Microsoft 365 Integration
Mimecast’s Integrated Cloud Email Security (ICES) connects to Microsoft 365 via Graph API. This API-based approach means no MX record changes, no mail routing disruption during deployment, and the ability to scan internal emails between users within the organization. The integration extends to Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive for broader coverage.
Barracuda offers M365 integration through its gateway products (MX-record-based) and through Barracuda Sentinel, which connects via API to detect account compromise and internal email threats. Sentinel is effective but is positioned as a separate add-on product. Mimecast’s integration is more seamlessly woven into the core platform.
Edge: Mimecast. The API-first architecture and broader M365 ecosystem coverage give Mimecast a meaningful advantage for Microsoft-centric organizations.
Email Continuity
Mimecast’s email continuity service is a market-leading capability that Barracuda does not directly match. When your primary email system goes down — whether from a Microsoft 365 outage, ransomware attack, or infrastructure failure — Mimecast’s continuity service activates automatically. Users continue sending and receiving email through Mimecast’s infrastructure with access via Outlook plugin, web portal, or mobile app. When the primary system recovers, everything syncs back seamlessly.
Barracuda’s Email Security Gateway provides basic email spooling during outages, which queues incoming messages for later delivery. This is not the same as full continuity — users cannot send email, access their mailbox, or continue working as normal during the outage.
Edge: Mimecast, decisively. True email continuity versus basic mail spooling is a significant difference for business-critical email environments.
Email Archiving
Both platforms offer cloud-based email archiving with compliance-grade features: tamper-proof storage, e-discovery search, litigation hold, retention policies, and journal integration. Mimecast archives email as a core platform function, with a unified search and management interface. Barracuda’s Cloud Archiving Service is a separate product with its own management console.
The functional capabilities are comparable. Mimecast’s advantage is integration — administrators manage security and archiving from the same dashboard, and users search archived email from the same interface. Barracuda’s approach requires switching between management interfaces.
Edge: Mimecast for platform integration. Tie on raw archiving capabilities.
Data Loss Prevention
Both platforms offer DLP capabilities to prevent sensitive information from leaving the organization via email. Barracuda’s DLP includes content analysis, keyword matching, and predefined compliance templates (HIPAA, PCI, GDPR). Mimecast’s Content Control and DLP features cover similar ground with content inspection, encryption triggers, and compliance policy enforcement.
Mimecast adds a dimension with its Content Examination policies that can inspect not just outbound email but also attachments, preventing accidental data exposure through spreadsheets and documents. Barracuda’s DLP is solid but less granular in attachment-level inspection.
Edge: Tie, with a slight Mimecast advantage on attachment inspection.
Administration and Reporting
Mimecast’s administration console is cloud-native and consistently praised for its clean design and logical organization. Policy management, quarantine handling, and reporting are accessible from a unified dashboard. The learning curve is moderate, and most IT teams can become proficient within a few days.
Barracuda’s management experience varies depending on whether you use the cloud portal, virtual appliance, or hardware appliance. Barracuda Cloud Control unifies management for cloud products, but organizations running a mix of appliance and cloud products may find themselves switching between interfaces. The reporting is functional but not as visually refined as Mimecast’s.
Edge: Mimecast. More consistent, cleaner admin experience.
Broader Security Ecosystem
Barracuda’s strongest card is its breadth. Beyond email security, Barracuda offers network firewalls, web application firewalls, backup, and SD-WAN. Organizations that standardize on Barracuda can consolidate multiple security functions under one vendor with unified licensing and support.
Mimecast is email-focused. It does email security, archiving, continuity, and awareness training exceptionally well, but it does not extend into network security or backup. Organizations that want a single vendor for everything beyond email will need additional providers alongside Mimecast.
Edge: Barracuda for organizations seeking a broad security platform. Mimecast for organizations that want the best email-specific solution.
Who Should Pick Barracuda?
- Organizations already using Barracuda firewalls, backup, or network security products
- Companies that want email security, network security, and backup from a single vendor
- Budget-conscious organizations where Barracuda’s lower per-user email security pricing matters
- IT teams that prefer hardware appliance deployment options alongside cloud
- Organizations that do not require email continuity as a critical feature
Who Should Pick Mimecast?
- Microsoft 365 environments that want the deepest possible integration
- Organizations where email uptime is business-critical and continuity is a hard requirement
- Companies that want security, archiving, and continuity managed from a single console
- Regulated industries that need seamless compliance archiving integrated with security
- IT teams that prefer a clean, cloud-native management experience
- Organizations that prioritize email-specific depth over broad security platform breadth
Our Recommendation
Mimecast is the better email security and management platform. The cloud-native architecture is more modern, the Microsoft 365 integration is deeper, email continuity is a genuine differentiator that Barracuda cannot match, and the unified management experience reduces operational overhead. For organizations evaluating these two platforms specifically for email protection, Mimecast delivers a more complete solution.
Barracuda is the right pick for organizations that value vendor consolidation across email, network, and backup. If you are already a Barracuda shop and want to keep everything under one roof, the email security products are solid and the bundled pricing is attractive. But if email security is the primary evaluation criteria, Mimecast wins.
One practical note: if you are a small organization (under 100 users) and Barracuda’s pricing is significantly lower in your quotes, do not overextend your budget for Mimecast’s premium features. Barracuda’s email security is effective and will protect your organization well. The Mimecast advantages matter most at scale.
Read our full Barracuda review and Mimecast review for deeper dives into each platform.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Mimecast more expensive than Barracuda for email security?
Generally yes, though the gap is smaller than you might expect. Mimecast bundles archiving, continuity, and security into its pricing, while Barracuda prices these as separate products. When you compare total cost of ownership including all email management features, Mimecast and Barracuda end up closer in price than their per-user security-only rates suggest.
Which is better for Microsoft 365 — Barracuda or Mimecast?
Mimecast has stronger M365 integration. Their Integrated Cloud Email Security (ICES) product connects via API without MX record changes, enabling faster deployment and internal email scanning. Barracuda offers solid M365 protection through gateway-based filtering and the Sentinel API product, but Mimecast's native integration is more mature.
Can Barracuda and Mimecast both handle email archiving?
Yes. Both platforms offer cloud-based email archiving with e-discovery, litigation hold, and compliance retention policies. Mimecast includes archiving as a core feature bundled into most plans. Barracuda offers archiving as a separate product (Barracuda Cloud Archiving Service), which means additional cost but also means you can buy only what you need.