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Digital Guardian vs Proofpoint Email Protection comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.8
Digital Guardian improved data protection, reduced breach risks, ensured compliance, saved money, and enhanced security and operational efficiency.
Sentiment score
6.2
Proofpoint Email Protection effectively reduces spam and phishing with superior threat detection, saving time despite some usability issues.
The ideal situation would be to have all these portals combined into one unified dashboard.
Information Security Architect at Loews Hotels
The time required for email investigations and responses has changed with Proofpoint Email Protection's visibility and automation.
Sr Security Engineer at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
If you implement these kinds of solutions in your security stack, the first beneficial thing will be that you will not suffer any malware, and you will not face attacks, which ultimately leads to financial benefit.
Senior Security Engineer at DCIPHERS IT SOLUTIONS (P) LTD
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.7
Digital Guardian's customer service is prompt but can be inconsistent, especially for complex issues or international clients.
Sentiment score
7.0
Proofpoint Email Protection's customer service is generally praised for promptness and expertise, with some noting room for personalized improvements.
For vendor support, such as Fortra support, I would rate it a seven because all the support comes from different parts that sometimes have challenges meeting time zones, and sometimes they reroute to distributors and rely on partners.
Cyber Security Researcher at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
I am familiar with the granular policy control feature of Proofpoint Email Protection, and I find their support excellent for modifying those policies.
Senior Cybersecurity Specialist at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
I rate customer support a three out of ten mainly because of the phishing attacks that are getting through.
Information Security Architect at Loews Hotels
Sometimes I get some really great responses and analysts, but sometimes when their cloud services have a failure, they are slow to respond and tell me about it, though they have been improving.
Consultant at Exelixis Inc
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Digital Guardian efficiently scales across environments, managing endpoints for organizations of all sizes, despite minor regional replication challenges.
Sentiment score
7.5
Proofpoint Email Protection is praised for scalable, adaptable solutions for diverse enterprises, despite some pricing concerns.
Regarding scalability, it is a 10 out of 10.
Cyber Security Researcher at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Proofpoint is scalable for multi-site organizations with thousands of users.
Products and solutions director at ITVikings
Proofpoint Email Protection is a scalable solution that very much fits our capacity requirements.
Consultant at Exelixis Inc
Proofpoint Email Protection is quite scalable.
Threat Hunter at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Digital Guardian offers superior stability with frequent updates, but some users face challenges requiring specific modifications for optimal performance.
Sentiment score
8.1
Proofpoint Email Protection is highly stable and reliable, with minimal disruptions and rare downtime, despite some interface complaints.
It was very rock solid.
Sr Security Engineer at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
Sometimes, when creating connectors for implementing with Google Workspace, we encounter challenges because both Google Workspace and Proofpoint Email Protection do not have very good documentation on how to do this.
Senior Security Engineer at DCIPHERS IT SOLUTIONS (P) LTD
For example, if TRAP is not connected with Exchange Online or Exchange on-prem server, there is a problem for the company because if the solution is not connected, it will not work.
Senior Cyber Security Specialist at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Digital Guardian needs improvements in compatibility, ease of use, performance, support, and efficiency across platforms for better operation.
Proofpoint Email Protection requires improved integration, AI enhancements, better support, and user-friendly features to enhance user experience and satisfaction.
The issue is that it works only with users or companies with more than 500 users.
Cyber Security Researcher at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The older legacy user interface just took a little to work with, and the new unified interface, as it was able to do more and more of the functionality of the old one, the product just got easier and easier to use.
Sr Security Engineer at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
Proofpoint could expand its phishing detection capabilities to improve its efficiency.
Products and solutions director at ITVikings
More security could be implemented.
Logistics Manager at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

Digital Guardian provides flexible licensing and custom solutions, considered the best DLP option despite higher costs.
Proofpoint Email Protection is expensive but valued for strong threat protection, favored by large organizations despite higher costs.
Customers pay around $90,000 yearly for a 1,000-user organization, with the subscription license being the main expense, apart from implementation fees.
Products and solutions director at ITVikings
Given my other experience with other vendors, I think they are a bit on the high end and a bit on the pricey end for the email security functionality that we were using.
Sr Security Engineer at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
Additional costs do come in, but it enhances security.
Logistics Manager at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

Digital Guardian enhances data security with scalable DLP, seamless integration, advanced features, and comprehensive monitoring for compliance.
Proofpoint Email Protection offers advanced spam and threat blocking, user-friendly interface, real-time screening, and strong Office 365 integration.
Digital Guardian can easily integrate with this data classification solution and has a very granular level of configuration and policy tuning.
Cyber Security Researcher at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The main feature I find most effective is that Proofpoint Email Protection scans emails and quarantines the doubtful ones.
Logistics Manager at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
The most beneficial feature of Proofpoint Email Protection is mostly spam filtering; it was very efficient, and we were very happy with the functionality as only relevant emails were allowed for mailboxes.
Manager, IT Director at Cakmak Avukatlik Ortakligi
I appreciate that it's the industry leader, and its firewalling is very easy to manage and implement.
Senior Cybersecurity Specialist at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Digital Guardian
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
26th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (15th), Endpoint Encryption (8th), Mobile Data Protection (5th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (42nd)
Proofpoint Email Protection
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (2nd), Digital Risk Protection (3rd), Office 365 Protection (1st), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) category, the mindshare of Digital Guardian is 1.6%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Proofpoint Email Protection is 5.9%, down from 12.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Proofpoint Email Protection5.9%
Digital Guardian1.6%
Other92.5%
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
 

Featured Reviews

Syed Mubeen - PeerSpot reviewer
Cyber Security Researcher at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Enterprise data protection has supported regulatory compliance and integrates with classification tools
In terms of functionality, many features are valuable in Digital Guardian, as the first thing for most customers is that they are using solutions such as Boldon James and Titus, which fall under the classification side, and Digital Guardian can easily integrate with this data classification solution and has a very granular level of configuration and policy tuning. Digital Guardian's data protection policies are indeed useful for my clients. Regarding Digital Guardian, I find it to be a very good solution, and in fact, it is an enterprise-level solution that has very tight integration with most of the products, with Fortra but also with others.
IS
Threat Hunter at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Email protection has reduced phishing workload and keeps unwanted messages out of inboxes
A few things about how Proofpoint Email Protection can be improved include implementing artificial intelligence within their platform to start really understanding the organization that is using their product, what sort of emails they are expecting and if the emails that are being expected should be let in and if the emails that are not being expected should not be let in. I'll give you a further example for this. If someone just tries to send an email from a Gmail address, which is a free public service email service provider, then because anyone in the world can create a Gmail account, I think it is nice and good for Proofpoint Email Protection to actually first check and do a reality check if we have received an email from this address and look at the intent of the email to really see what the email is trying to do and then classify based on that. I still see there is a lack. Hence why I started this conversation with AI and hoping that Proofpoint Email Protection will bring AI in and to really start analyzing these emails, the intent, and whether they really fit the customer organization. We are a manufacturing company, so whether it really fits that profile. I would say if we can get a better user experience from Proofpoint Email Protection products, that would be good. For example, other service providers that provide secure email gateway have the functionality where you can split promotional and bulk email and have them sent to a separate folder. I think if we can have that sort of feature, that would be great where Proofpoint Email Protection just keeps the important emails in the inbox folder and move everything else that is not really business related into a promotional, spam, bulk folder. This is an improvement that I would really like to see. I give it an eight because I am expecting a lot more from Proofpoint Email Protection, more automations, more understanding of who their customer is, what sort of business they do, and what sort of email they are supposed to be receiving and letting through. I think the day when I really have only 1% of work to do and 99% is automated by whatever automation services Proofpoint Email Protection uses would be ideal. I think I have covered any other improvements needed for Proofpoint Email Protection pretty well right from AI to splitting emails based on priorities. I think I have given some pretty broad and good examples.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business22
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise22
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Digital Guardian?
Regarding points for improvement, from a technical aspect, I do not see any suggestions that have come to my notice, but it is an enterprise-level product, and the issue is that it works only with ...
What is your primary use case for Digital Guardian?
The main use case for Digital Guardian is for endpoint DLP, as it is the product for endpoint-level DLP and is one of the core requirements for many enterprises that have to follow compliance, so t...
What advice do you have for others considering Digital Guardian?
I would recommend Digital Guardian to other users, as I mentioned, we have to see the client's existing environment, and since we are not bound to sell Digital Guardian, we are open to selling even...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Proofpoint Email Protection?
In terms of pricing, it is okay compared to others. I would say it is normal. Additional costs do come in, but it enhances security.
What needs improvement with Proofpoint Email Protection?
I have not seen specific outcomes or metrics since implementing Proofpoint Email Protection, such as a reduction in phishing incidents or improved response time. Proofpoint Email Protection can imp...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Proofpoint Enterprise Protection, Proofpoint Digital Protection
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

The Fifth Avenue Theatre, Jabil Circuit
Blocket, University of Waterloo, Lincoln Memorial University, WellSpan Health, U-Haul, Carestream Health, Westinghouse
Find out what your peers are saying about Digital Guardian vs. Proofpoint Email Protection and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,821 professionals have used our research since 2012.