The compressive strength of unidirectional composites is strongly influenced by the elastic and strength properties of the fiber and matrix phases, as well as by the local geometrical properties, such as fiber volume fraction, misalignment, and waviness. In the present investigation, two microbuckling criteria are proposed and examined against a large volume of measured data of unidirectional composites taken from the literature. The first criterion is based on the compressive strength formulation using the buckling of Timoshenko’s beam. It contains a single parameter that can be determined according to the best fit to experimental data for various types of polymeric matrix composites. The second criterion is based on buckling-wave propagation analogy using the solution of an eigenvalue problem. Both criteria provide closed-form expressions for the compressive strength of unidirectional composites. We propose modifications of the two criteria by a fitting approach, for a wide range of fiber volume fractions, applied to four classes of unidirectional composite systems. Furthermore, a normalized form of the two models is presented after calibration in order to compare their prediction against experimental data for each of the material systems. The new modified criteria are shown to give a good match to a wide range of unidirectional composite systems. They can be employed as practical compression failure criteria in the analysis and design of laminated structures.