Small business▲+3Since September 2026: 6% → 9%, +3 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
9%from 6% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 8 pointsRank 4 → 6 of 56
Barracuda · 3 categories · RankedBarracuda Email Protection
94Judge labels
9First choices
19Negative labels
14 / 14Models named it
3Categories
October 2026 Edition. Every number here is derived from the raw labels under vendor table v2026-10.8, every buyer segment counted.
Best standing
10% in Email security for mid-market buyers
Rank 4 of 76 in the mid-market standingaccepted challenger
1 of 14 models made it the first choice on the direct prompt; 13% of its 31 labels there were negative.
What the models named instead of Barracuda Email Protection →By buyer segmentRead the same way at every buyer size.
Small business6 of 66
7%38 labels
accepted challenger
Mid-market4 of 76
10%31 labels
accepted challenger
Enterprise10 of 61
0%20 labels
criticized challenger
In email security · each standing computed within its segment · bars are 0 to 100 · the accent bar is the product's own best reading
Standing by category
Every category where a model named Barracuda Email Protection for a mid-market B2B company. Share is first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts; rank is within every product named in that category.
| Category | Function | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Quadrant | Since September 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Email security | Security operations | 10% | 4 of 76 | 13% | 31 | accepted challenger | ▲+4Since September 2026: 7% → 11%, +4 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| Communications archiving and compliance | Security operations | 0% | 96 of 101 | 100% | 1 | under 10 labels · led by Smarsh Enterprise Archive at 20% | |
| Managed detection and response | Security operations | 0% | 27 of 67 | 0% | 1 | under 10 labels · led by Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response at 37% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now. |
Movement
Since September 2026, Barracuda Email Protection held within the floor in all three categories: no change cleared 11 points.
Best category · Email security · by segment
Mid-market▲+4Since September 2026: 7% → 11%, +4 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
11%from 7% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 7 pointsRank 7 → 3 of 71
Enterprise=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
0%from 0% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 11 pointsRank 24 → 8 of 58
All categories · Mid-market
| Category | September 2026 | Now | Change | Reading | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Email security | 7% | 11% | ▲+4Since September 2026: 7% → 11%, +4 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 7 → 4 of 76 |
| Comms archiving | 0% | 0% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now. | New this edition | Rank 96 of 101, unchanged |
| MDR | 0% | 0% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now. | New this edition | Rank 27 of 67, unchanged |
Shares here are read over the models both editions asked, so they can differ by a point or two from the standing above, which counts every model in this edition.
The floor is 11 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one is noise, and both are shown. Movement is read over the twelve models both editions asked; GPT-6 Luna, Muse Glimmer 30B joined this edition and are in the standing but not yet in the comparison. How the floor is measured · The editions
By model
How each model treated Barracuda Email Protection across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.ShowHide
By model
How each model treated Barracuda Email Protection across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.
ShowHide| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Negative | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Grok 4.20 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Mistral Small | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Kimi K2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
By framing
Which of the six questions produced the naming. By model says how often; this says asked what. The first-choice count on the right carries the marks of the models that produced it.
FramingLabels by classFirst choices
Direct17 labels3
Paraphrase12 labels2
Comparative22 labels1not counted in share
Budget-constrained19 labels4
Scale-constrained4 labelsNone
Negative20 labelsNone
First choiceAlternativeMentionNegative94 labels in all, every segment counted; 9 of the 10 first choices count toward share, since the comparative and negative framings do not. The bar is one segment per label class, to scale within the framing.
What the models said for it
Verbatim evidence the judge attached to positive labels.
“Barracuda and SpamTitan are consistently highlighted as the most affordable and accessible options for budget-conscious companies.” Claude Haiku 4.5 · Email security · budget prompt · first choice
“"the platform of choice for budget-conscious SMBs and lean IT departments"... Start with SpamTitan or Barracuda” MiniMax M2.5 · Email security · budget prompt · first choice
“I'd recommend Barracuda as the strongest all-around choice for phishing and email threat protection.” Perplexity Sonar · Email security · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Barracuda is also noted for being a top pick for SMBs and lean IT departments” Mistral Small · Email security · budget prompt · first choice
And against it
Verbatim evidence attached to negative labels. A warning on a product with few labels is a warning; on a product with many, it is one voice among them.
“A botched server migration in 2018 exposed archived emails containing personal and medical data for 277,139 patients” Kimi K2 · Comms archiving · negative prompt · hard negative
“Barracuda Email Protection (High Caution / Avoid)” GLM 4.7 FlashX · Email security · negative prompt · hard negative
“Barracuda disclosed an RCE vulnerability affecting its Email Security Gateway appliances... not, by itself, to reject all Barracuda products.” GPT-6 Luna · Email security · negative prompt · soft negative
“Caveat: Some users report significant price increases at renewal and forced migrations to bundled products” Kimi K2 · Email security · direct prompt · soft negative
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Barracuda Email Protection, over the 94 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Barracuda Email Protection was named but was not.ShowHide
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Barracuda Email Protection, over the 94 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Barracuda Email Protection was named but was not.
ShowHideProductSame answerTook the first choice insteadHead to head
A head-to-head page exists where both products are among a category's top eight. The other rows are the same fact without a page behind them, so they link to the product instead.
What carried it into the answer
The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Barracuda Email Protection. A fact about retrieval, not a lever on the model.
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list, five of the fourteen in this edition, so these counts come from 92 of the 94 answers that named Barracuda Email Protection and are not a share of its labels.
Domains cited
expertinsights.com53
ironscales.com47
huntress.com43
kaseya.com43
g2.com40
comparitech.com38
esecurityplanet.com30
proofpoint.com28
gartner.com24
adaptivesecurity.com23
369 of the 369 domain citations in answers naming Barracuda Email Protection came from somebody else's page.
Pages cited
Pages are listed as the models cited them.
Search and answers
barracuda.com ranks 4 on Google for the category's searches. In the answers, Barracuda Email Protection takes 10% of first choices and Microsoft Defender for Office 365 takes 32%.ShowHide
Search and answers
barracuda.com ranks 4 on Google for the category's searches. In the answers, Barracuda Email Protection takes 10% of first choices and Microsoft Defender for Office 365 takes 32%.
ShowHideIn search
Google, US estimatesPosition for “email security platform”
–
not in the top ten
Position for “email security platforms”
8
- Searches for its name, Google
- 260 a month (“barracuda email protection”)
- AI search demand for its name, est.
- 13 a month
- Its company's site
- barracuda.com shared with Barracuda's other products; the figures are the site's
- Organic visits to its site
- about 64,778 a month
- Searches its site ranks for
- 9,391 · 659 in the top three
- Sites linking to it
- 12,916
- Paid Google search
- No ads found in the estimate; that does not mean it runs none
In answers
This editionShare of first choices
10%
rank 4 of 76 in email security
Segment leader
32%
Microsoft Defender for Office 365
- First choices
- 9 across its categories
- Named in
- 94 answers
- Its own site cited
- in 92 of the answers that named it
Search figures are US estimates from DataForSEO, read September 28, 2026; AI search demand is its modeled, directional estimate, not a count of queries to any assistant. The answers are this edition's. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
Names read as Barracuda Email Protection
What the judge wrote, as written, with how often. The vendor table decides that these count as Barracuda Email Protection; a claim can dispute any of them.
Barracuda 12Barracuda Email Security 3Barracuda Networks 2Barracuda Email Security (now Sentinel) 1
Follow Barracuda Email Protection
An email the morning each edition publishes: where this product moved, where it held, and by how much against the noise floor. One address, confirmed by a click; a stop link in every email.
Already following? Everything you follow, with a stop for each.
The company
Barracuda is the company behind Barracuda Email Protection.ShowHide
The company
Barracuda is the company behind Barracuda Email Protection.
ShowHideOn record
Company recordsIn its own words
Stated by the vendor, not checked- Positioning
- A complete email security solution that delivers AI-enhanced defenses, automated response and easy deployment.
- For
- businesses
- Price stated
- Plans and Pricing barracuda.com/products/email-protection
- Starting price
- 5.20 barracuda.com/products/email-protection/plans
- Free plan or trial
- Free Email Threat Scan barracuda.com/products/email-protection
- Customers named
- The Giumarra CompaniesFocus Technology
- Not stated on the pages read
- Integrations, certifications, hosting
What Barracuda Email Protection's own pages state, read September 28, 2026: barracuda.com/products/email-protection, de.blog.barracuda.com/category/email-protection, barracuda.com/campaigns/barracuda-advancement-email-protection, barracuda.com/products/email-protection/msp, barracuda.com/products/email-protection/plans. A claimed page can correct any of them.
Is this your product?
Claim this page
Claiming is free and changes nothing in the data. A claimed page shows a verified contact who is told when each edition publishes and when Barracuda Email Protection's standing changes by more than the noise floor; the right to propose corrections to the vendor table, meaning names the judge wrote that should or should not read as Barracuda Email Protection, applied by version and listed in the change log; and a one-line description supplied by the vendor and marked as such.
What a new claim receivesHide what a new claim receives
A new claim receives the current edition's vendor brief for Barracuda Email Protection by email, built from the raw record of the edition. It shows:
- where Barracuda Email Protection is named, by buyer and by framing, and which cells hold its first choices;
- the claims the models make when they name it, ranked, with the strongest and the weakest quoted;
- its vocabulary against the segment leader's, and the pages the models cited;
- who was chosen in the answers that did not name Barracuda Email Protection, and every reason the record gives;
- a battlecard for each top rival: the head-to-head split, why they win, and the reservation quoted against them;
- one page of published figures cleared to show a buyer.