Compare Barracuda Essentials и Mailster

Benefits:

Advanced threat protection Malware protection Easy configuration Easy Self learning Easy integration with O365

Drawbacks:

Web UI needs improvements. Product support team should improve more.

Summary:

Keeping our mail boxes safe from spam and phishing mails. Automatic backup and archive for O365 is also very useful.

Benefits:

Extremely easy transition for end users. Daily digests are simple to configure and understand. Scanning is VERY accurate.

Drawbacks:

Sometimes larger attachments will have a slight delay, due to their sandboxing feature. But it blocks malicious content within attachments so it's... Read more

Sometimes larger attachments will have a slight delay, due to their sandboxing feature. But it blocks malicious content within attachments so it's a catch 22.

Summary:

Benefits:

Barracuda stops spam and dangerous e-mails. Now that I have access to the list of caught e-mails (which I have had to insist on access to, see bel... Read more

Barracuda stops spam and dangerous e-mails. Now that I have access to the list of caught e-mails (which I have had to insist on access to, see below) I can see that a lot gets caught. But... And it's a big but.

Drawbacks:

Barracuda catches all sorts of inbound e-mails that I want to receive and has probably cost us business. It will randomly intercept messages that a... Read more

Barracuda catches all sorts of inbound e-mails that I want to receive and has probably cost us business. It will randomly intercept messages that are responses to e-mails that I have sent, will intercept e-mails from large, reputable companies and has even started intercepting notifications from our CRM system that we have used for years. I only became aware when a prospective customer rang me and asked why i was chasing him when he had been responding to my messages. Worse, when I discovered there was a problem I discovered that Barracuda only keeps intercepted messages for a month. I currently have several quarantined inbound messages that I can't release - and as a new business salesman I am very concerned about the amount of business all this may have cost. I am currently trying to get the software turned off. For me it's not fit for purpose.

Summary:

Overall - very poor. Catches messages it shouldn't and at best I have to regularly check quarantine reports to ensure that Barrcuda hasn't caught ... Read more

Overall - very poor. Catches messages it shouldn't and at best I have to regularly check quarantine reports to ensure that Barrcuda hasn't caught something that I need. At worst, some messages have been lost.

Benefits:

It's very quick and easy to get the initial setup completed and then get switched over. As an MSP, the platform is absolutely wonderful. Very easy ... Read more

It's very quick and easy to get the initial setup completed and then get switched over. As an MSP, the platform is absolutely wonderful. Very easy to switch between clients and if you have multiple Barracuda products, you can see everything in one pane of glass. I went from logging into the product for the first time, never having even seen a demo, to having 3 clients setup, configured and moved over, in less than 2 hours. But don't let the simplicity fool you, it's very robust and very customizable.

Drawbacks:

I have honestly had no issue with Essentials at all so far.

Summary:

I had a client today who was wondering why a pretty obvious spam email came through. I looked into it and realized that it came from a valid sender... Read more

I had a client today who was wondering why a pretty obvious spam email came through. I looked into it and realized that it came from a valid sender (SPF/DKIM setup) who had been hacked. But even though the email got through, Essentials was still protecting because it had Link Protection and so even if someone had clicked on the link in the email, it catches that it's a bad link and brings up an error page rather than the malicious content.

Benefits:

Mailster seamlessly plugs in with WordPress to create a versatile mass email communication service where a single email to a central address gets ... Read more

Mailster seamlessly plugs in with WordPress to create a versatile mass email communication service where a single email to a central address gets forwarded to everyone on the list and to ensure continuity of discussions if a recipient replies everyone else gets the response email creating a two-way communication

Drawbacks:

The initial setting up of Mailster is a bit tricky as you try to figure out how to compile email lists adding and removing recipients, figuring ou... Read more

The initial setting up of Mailster is a bit tricky as you try to figure out how to compile email lists adding and removing recipients, figuring out how to navigate the software is not exactly intuitive

Summary:

Benefits:

Mailster provides unique functionality that you can't find anywhere else. Internal mailing lists are common, and CMS websites are common. But the... Read more

Mailster provides unique functionality that you can't find anywhere else. Internal mailing lists are common, and CMS websites are common. But the ability to bring the two together is a synergy that we feel every group could and should use. For trade groups like ours, it changes the way the group functions and adds significant value to membership. Mailster has made our trade group of lawyers more of a "must" to join because of its ability to preserve emailed information in the CMS database for later search and use. That database grows in value by the day. In addition, Mailster is flexible and adds functionality we hadn't considered. The ability to have small mailing lists to collaborate on projects is valuable. Those who want to continue to use Mailman mailing lists can send emails to Mailster to preserve that information on the CMS. In Joomla, integration with the Facebook-like Community Builder brings even tighter integration of the entire membership. Mailster's optional digests are preferable to some members. And the ability to have information sent to a CMS article has a variety of uses. Finally, Mailster is a mature product that has been around for years, with outstanding support. We don't know how many websites have incorporated Mailster, but it isn't enough. In our view, organizations who haven't yet discovered Mailster are missing a key tool to add value to their memberships and missions.

Drawbacks:

We have used Mailster for years and watched it continue to grow and improve. In that time, we can find no cons.

Summary:

We have used Mailster with Joomla for years, and are now excited to have it available in Wordpress. The reason it's so critical is its ability to ... Read more

We have used Mailster with Joomla for years, and are now excited to have it available in Wordpress. The reason it's so critical is its ability to bring email and a website together into a cohesive, user-friendly information ecosystem. Its primary purpose is to provide flexible mailing lists. Critically, these are two-way ' anyone belonging to the list who sends an email to the list's mailing address sends it to everyone else on the list. It has the same functionality as an internal corporate or group listserve, or the standalone open-source solution called 'Mailman'. But it greatly improves on the capabilities of either one by integrating that functionality within an existing Joomla or Wordpress CMS-based website. Our usage scenario: a trade group of 150 lawyers had used a Mailman mailing list for years and was reasonably happy with it, but it was separate from their website. The user lists didn't correspond, and a lot of valuable information was shared on Mailman that didn't make it to their website. That's a critical loss for a group that is trying to build a single, searchable database of information that grows in value over time. Mailster changes all that. It duplicates the capability of Mailman as a closed listserve and adds many more extremely useful features: 1. It integrates tightly with the user base of the CMS in flexible ways, so you only have one database of users. 2. You can add users, permanently or temporarily, to a mailing list who may not possess registered access to the website. 3. You can create as many mailing lists as you want, all from the same interface. This is great for subgroups of CMS users who might be collaborating on a project. 4. The archives are immediately available on the front and back ends, include attachments, and are searchable both with a Mailster search and a Joomla or Wordpress full-site search. 5. Archives for multiple mailing lists can all be set up to be viewed on the website, each with their own menu item or all combined. 6. There is an option for daily, weekly or monthly digests. 7. The 'ultimate' edition of Mailster can flexibly display emails in an individual CMS article automatically. We think of Mailster as a flexible bridge between (1) the email interface that everyone is used to and (2) your website, a group's listserve, specialized mailing lists, and the searchable content of the website itself. It's an indispensable tool. We strongly recommend this product.

Benefits:

Mailster makes it easy to capture email addresses and to send campaigns to customers right in my WordPress dashboard. Its also easy to integrate wi... Read more

Mailster makes it easy to capture email addresses and to send campaigns to customers right in my WordPress dashboard. Its also easy to integrate with other software like Optin Monster

Drawbacks:

Designing emails is a bit of a challenge. They have limited templates

Summary:

For the cost, Mailster is value for money and it makes it easy to grow web traffic via email notifications.

Benefits:

It was easy to setup, I liked being able to create groups, and that it has many useful features like the mail archives.

Drawbacks:

I had to do paperwork to get approval from my organization to purchase a component from a non-United States address. When I first started I remembe... Read more

I had to do paperwork to get approval from my organization to purchase a component from a non-United States address. When I first started I remember it was confusing trying to figure out how all the pieces worked together. I had to create new email accounts, figure out which settings to use (test those settings), and there was a bit of a learning curve. But for a tool this powerful and with so many options, that's not surprising.

Summary:

Our organization purchased Mailster because it was the only game in town if you wanted to create mailing lists on a Joomla website. Our staff use ... Read more

Our organization purchased Mailster because it was the only game in town if you wanted to create mailing lists on a Joomla website. Our staff use our mailing lists frequently and it's one of our core features for our staff site that people can review archives of previous conversations on the mailing list. The setup did take some work, however the website documentation was helpful, and once I went through the instructions it didn't take much time to setup the mailing lists. I liked the features that allowed us to test our connection. When I had questions or needed help, support from Mailster was quick and they were able to fix any problems we ran across. I would recommend Mailster to anyone that needed to run mailing lists for their website users.