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Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration vs Proofpoint Email Protection comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Offi...
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Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
45
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (10th)
Check Point Harmony Email &...
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (5th), Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (5th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (9th)
Proofpoint Email Protection
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
Security Awareness Training (2nd), Digital Risk Protection (3rd), Office 365 Protection (2nd), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (1st)
 

Featured Reviews

Luis-Brown - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 8, 2023
Allows for easy reporting of problems, valuable anti-phishing, and anti-malware support
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 lacks proactivity in assisting us with preparing for potential threats before they occur. While they employ a substantial amount of threat intelligence to preemptively prevent incidents, their effectiveness diminishes when it comes to delivering proactive threat intelligence alerts from Microsoft. Their focus primarily revolves around managing the internal environment. On the other hand, my other vendor, Check Point, along with my membership in MS-ISAC, supplements me with this type of information. The phishing and spam filters could use some improvement. It is adequate, but it doesn't match the quality of Proofpoint or Mimecast. However, it comes close in effectiveness. Plus, if we're obtaining it for free, investing in the other products seems impractical.
Rahul Kamble. - PeerSpot reviewer
May 3, 2024
Offers complete detection and simple management and is a user-friendly solution
It's very effective as a solution to prevent mobile app threats. It has a mobile MDX, mobile detection, and response session. As a comprehensive solution, Check Point offers a very granular and best-in-class experience. Compared to competitors like Fortinet, Trend Micro, Palo Alto, and Cisco, Check Point provides a superior solution according to both the MITRE and Gartner frameworks. For example, in a recent attack simulation, Check Point only allowed ten malicious emails through, while Fortinet allowed 1500 and Cisco allowed 1800. Check Point's email attack ratio is nearly 0.10%, while others range from 1% to 3%. This demonstrates Check Point's superior email filtering capabilities. Check Point's email cleaning ratio is 99.9%, significantly higher than the 98%, 95%, or 93% of its competitors. Moreover, Check Point Harmony Email incorporates AI technology within its security features. Harmony Email & Collaboration (HEC) provides full protection and addresses zero-day files. It's the best solution available, as others don't offer protection against zero-day attacks and rely on signature-based solutions. HEC is truly the best option.
Pranay Gurrapu - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 16, 2024
Beginner -friendly tool and simplifies the process of adding new domains
We use it for user queries. For example, if a user flags that they're not receiving emails from a particular sender, we investigate where it got blocked in Proofpoint, if it was delivered successfully, or if it was quarantined.  We also onboard new domains, adding SPF and DKIM records to the DNS…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 helps people to work remotely. It is a secure solution. We don't need to use our company's computers or get VPN connections to the networks. I can control how they share screens and what they send to the devices. It keeps our organizations confidential and sensitive information safe."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable feature is its performance."
"The basic features are okay and I'm satisfied with the Defender."
"We use Microsoft Defender for its ability to integrate with existing business technologies, which is beneficial for protecting business areas."
"It also gives me good visibility because, with Defender, I'm using a Microsoft product to defend Microsoft products. The integration was really seamless and I have wide visibility because it picks up almost everything. Literally, I can see almost every activity that happens, from the e-mail to the workstation itself."
"Threat Explorer is an invaluable tool for me, and it plays a crucial role in helping me discern the origins of various email campaigns, pinpointing where they emanate from, and identifying the individuals within our organization who are affected."
"The most valuable feature is protection against malicious links, fishing, and impersonation. You can train people to be aware of these threats, but they're not always careful. When they're using their phones between meetings, they click on a link, and it's game over."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 has improved my organization's security. It makes it easier to manage the infrastructure without the help of third-party applications."
"The first most remarkable thing is the integration with the Office 365 solution, which is easy, fast, and totally transparent for the user."
"The automated rule cleanups and automated policy installs have improved my customers' organizations."
"I can count the number of endpoints, emails, and collaborations being used in the environment."
"This product enhances faster and more secure sharing of information among colleagues from different departments."
"The most valuable feature is spam detection and phishing site prevention, which Microsoft couldn't catch, yet Check Point does."
"In my opinion, it's one of the best products. It does protect other things like Slack and Salesforce, which are more about communication."
"Being able to mass quarantine and remove emails from end users' mailboxes has become extremely important to us as we have grown in size."
"Its analysis or emulation in the review of each file using the cloud and Check Point helps make each interaction via email more secure."
"The most valuable features of Proofpoint Email Protection are the performance from being on the cloud."
"There is no downtime."
"The most valuable feature of Proofpoint Email Protection is the blocking capabilities, it blocks a lot of potential threats."
"The anti-spam features are excellent on the email firewalls."
"It's the top choice because no company can operate without security. Ensuring email protection is a major priority for any organization when building its infrastructure."
"They have customized security rules, mature rules, anti-virus protection, as well as email authentication similar to SPF, DKIM, and DMARC."
"Proofpoint Email Protection offers an additional layer of protection compared to other brands like Microsoft, Mimecast, and Barracuda. While these major companies excel at detecting malicious attachments, the solution goes further by analyzing the context of emails, allowing for more nuanced decision-making."
"The Phish Alarm button allows users to submit questionable emails for review and complete analysis."
 

Cons

"The UI needs to be more user-friendly."
"Configuring the default strategies and policies in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps generates a lot of noise and false positives."
"In some situations, it has not been able to pick impersonated emails having no attachments. Technical support definitely has a scope for improvement."
"The pre-sales cost calculations could be more transparent."
"Microsoft sometimes has downtime, and we'll get several incidents coming in back to back. We have a huge backlog of notifications, many of which may be false positives. However, there might be serious alerts, so we can't risk dismissing all of them at once."
"The only thing they should improve is the licensing model. They should stop changing it. A year ago, the five features I mentioned were included in one product. Now, three of them are bundled into one product, and you have to pay extra for the other two. I don't mind paying extra, but I don't want them to change it every year or every six months. I need to know what I'm looking at and not worry about it next year."
"Microsoft should provide more documentation for users so they can self-educate. I would like to see more documentation for advanced security features."
"We are always looking for others tools to increase automation on tasks. There can be better integration with other solutions, such as PowerPoint and email."
"There is always room for improvement and growth."
"The product's pricing needs improvement."
"At this time, the two-factor authentication does not work for Active Directory."
"We understand that false positives are always there, but sometimes the notifications are more than expected."
"There is too much functionality, which makes it difficult to use. More guidance for users would be helpful."
"After updates, the internet connection fails, and I have to restart my desktop to resume initial functionalities."
"The implementation could definitely be better."
"We still get some false positives. There are times when legitimate stuff gets flagged and it could be that somebody is expecting a very important email but they don't end up getting it. On the flip side, when we alert Check Point about stuff like this, it is corrected, so they are improving. That's a plus."
"The solution's server console and cluster dashboard have been the same for four years so need to be upgraded."
"One major threat is QR code phishing, along with TOAD (Telephone-Oriented Attack Delivery). TOAD attacks don't include links, URLs, or attachments in emails. Instead, attackers try to trick you into calling them, often by offering something enticing like a 50% discount on football matches."
"We'd like to have the ability to create more customized reports."
"The stability and UI are the two areas of the solution with certain shortcomings that need improvement."
"The solution could lower its price."
"Integration for reporting needs to be improved, it's too complex."
"The scalability can be improved, and the solution can be optimized."
"Proofpoint has a lot of false alarms."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution could be better by simplifying the business model of their licensing. It was hard to figure out how to get the licensing done for the environment, initially."
"Compared to other brands, Microsoft Defender for Office 365's pricing is competitive."
"Defender for 365 comes in various plans and licenses, along with other Microsoft security solutions. Purchasing this kind of package or security bundle gives good value for money, and that's what I recommend."
"For licensing, it's usually a yearly package for customers who are subscribed to Office 365, but they can also pay on a monthly basis."
"The license is expensive because the cost is based on the number of users."
"The product is very expensive."
"It's a user-base subscription."
"Defender is a little bit more expensive as compared to others. We are in the manufacturing environment. So, we don't have a high budget for all of our endpoint devices. Its cost is a major concern for us."
"I rate the platform’s pricing a seven and a half."
"Being able to keep the phishing campaigns out of my company has been ROI for me."
"The pricing is competitive."
"Do a full feature evaluation (interactive) with a support person. That is what I did."
"There are absolutely no additional costs to the standard licensing fees. One of the wonderful pieces is that CloudGuard SaaS is all-inclusive in its licensing. There's no a-la-carte functionality. You're getting 100 percent of the product for the licensing that you're paying."
"The pricing and licensing are always negotiable."
"You can get CloudGuard as part of Infinity. When you do the solution through Infinity, it's a per user type of license cost."
"The product’s price is very high."
"It is multiple times more expensive, which made it very much less attractive."
"The solution charges per user per month to use it. There are not any additional fees in addition to the standard living fees."
"Pricing has recently been increased and the cost is a downside"
"In general, the pricing is competitive."
"I rate the product price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."
"Clients pay for an annual subscription of Proofpoint Email Protection. Every client always finds it expensive."
"The solution is expensive."
"They are competitively priced, but I have been forced to get quotes for other solutions now because they haven't been responding to requests to do the work that we would like them to do."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
5%
Educational Organization
29%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Threat Explorer is an invaluable tool for me, and it plays a crucial role in helping me discern the origins of variou...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
The pricing is reasonable since it comes integrated with our Office 365 license.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Sometimes, phishing emails manage to pass through the filter, so the system needs to enhance its phishing email detec...
What is your primary use case for Check Point Harmony Email & Office?
The use cases include anti-spam and anti-phishing. We have Email Collaboration for the anti-spam solution and anti-ph...
What do you like most about Check Point Harmony Email & Office?
The product offers good and easy integration capabilities with other products.
What needs improvement with Proofpoint Email Protection?
The support team was a bit slow. It takes months to implement the next feature. So I'd like to see faster support.
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
Check Point CloudGuard, Check Point CloudGuard SaaS , Check Point Harmony Email & Office
Proofpoint Enterprise Protection, Cofense PhishMe, Proofpoint Digital Protection
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
Helvetia, Denham Capital, Daymark Solutions, Neopharm Group
Blocket, University of Waterloo, Lincoln Memorial University, WellSpan Health, U-Haul, Carestream Health, Westinghouse
Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration vs. Proofpoint Email Protection and other solutions. Updated: January 2024.
815,854 professionals have used our research since 2012.