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Cloudflare SASE & SSE Platform vs Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Offi...
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Ranking in Email Security
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (9th)
Cloudflare SASE & SSE Platform
Ranking in Email Security
13th
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (8th), Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (9th), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (6th), Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) Protection (5th), Access Management (5th), Bot Management (3rd), ZTNA as a Service (5th), ZTNA (1st), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (8th), Remote Browser Isolation (RBI) (1st)
Microsoft Exchange Online P...
Ranking in Email Security
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
Anti-Malware Tools (11th)
 

Featured Reviews

Gordon McGowan - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 28, 2023
Improves organizational security without the help of third-party applications
We use Microsoft Defender for Office 365 for protection.  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 product helped us maintain collaboration and communication during…
FS
May 24, 2024
Protects and regulates access to internal applications based on policies
Cloudflare Access has strong integration with Microsoft, among other platforms. However, when it comes to Kaspersky, we have clients who typically encounter challenges. The usual setup involves configuring a forward proxy, an IDP, and a CASB. Orchestrating these solutions can be challenging if the client already uses a VPN client such as Check Point or Mobile VPN. Clients typically do not replace their VPNs all at once; instead, they gradually phase out the old solution. The interaction between Cloudflare Access and the legacy VPN solution can be complex, particularly ensuring seamless access without introducing new restrictions. This complexity arises not from the product itself but from the nature of migrating to a new system. Migrating ten thousand employees daily is impractical, so a step-by-step approach throughout about a year is often necessary to facilitate a smoother transition.
Sandeep G. - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 25, 2022
Easy to deploy and user-friendly with simple dashboards
I'm also using Microsoft Defender. We've also used Proofpoint. Proofpoint has more granularity. It also offers different features. Exchange Online and Defender offer safe attachments and anti-malware. However, they just have one single option for features, and you check a box, and it enables one blanket policy. With Proofpoint, you can choose your options. Microsoft products are good and more user-friendly in general. They are just missing the granularity aspect. In Proofpoint, the tap and trap work very well, and it has some kind of monitoring as well for the tap and trap. When you're moving from Proofpoint to Microsoft, if you need to do a comparison and if you need to showcase to the customer all features are working as expected, some functionalities might be a little difficult for us to showcase. Maybe that dashboard will differ. It's a common dashboard that we have for Microsoft. Maybe Proofpoint has got more features, however, for use cases, it'll be a little difficult to demonstrate to the customer. We've moved to this solution since we were moving the majority of our products to Azure. We wanted to move to the cloud to reduce hardware costs and avoid having a separate server, which we do not need for Exchange.

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's most valuable feature is its performance."
"The deployment capability is a great feature."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable features are safe attachments and safe links."
"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."
"It gives us visibility into threats and, for endpoints, it helps us to prioritize threats. We used to have a lack of visibility, but now our time to detect and respond has decreased."
"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 two main features that prove most beneficial for us are URL scanning and attachment scanning."
"I like its investigation capabilities, as that is what is most important to me. It is fairly simple with a user-friendly interface."
"The tool also offers good scalability, and the dashboard, along with real-time analytics, is very good."
"The capabilities of the software are strong enough for me to do what it's supposed to do. For me, we don't need to do a lot of configuration on our site. We just enable it and monitor it."
"The best feature is rate limiting. If I'm expecting 500 visits per hour, Cloudflare will limit the requests if I suddenly get 50,000."
"Cloudflare DDoS is better than its competitors for its security, deployment, and scalability."
"Cloudflare Access is part of the Zero Trust philosophy."
"Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform removes the risk of exposing the applications to the public."
"For Cloudflare Access, I am using the free plan...The most valuable feature is their protection."
"The simplicity of the solution is its valuable features as almost no effort was needed to learn the configurations. It is also one of the cheapest firewalls available in this category."
"The most valuable features of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection are the EOP, ATP, safe links, fishing, and antispam."
"The product's most valuable feature is third-party integrations."
"We like the holding facility that is available for potentially suspicious URL's. This allows a real-time review to be performed before the email reaches a users inbox."
"I like the product's ZAP feature."
"In general, my company is happy with Microsoft support...My company hasn't faced any stability issues with the solution."
"What I like most about Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is its integration with Windows, so we have one central view for all alerts and incidents."
"It has a really nice web-based administration console."
"We use the solution to receive emails. We do not use the calendar function as our clients are slow adaptors to the latest features."
 

Cons

"Microsoft security solutions work as expected. They are constantly updating the solutions to make them better. At the same time, the changes can impact a customer's environment, and we need to adjust settings. Sometimes we aren't aware of the changes, and nothing is pushed from the backend automatically."
"The certification training for Defender for 365 needs to be deeper and incorporate Sentinel. I took all the security courses except one, and Sentinel isn't included."
"The XDR dashboard has room for improvement."
"The company should focus on adding threats that the solution is currently unable to detect."
"Microsoft should provide more documentation for users so they can self-educate. I would like to see more documentation for advanced security features."
"The custom alerts have to improve a lot."
"There's room for improvement regarding the time frame for retrieving emails."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 must improve the overall management style, including the GUI. It also needs to change the filters so that it is easy to whitelist and blacklist data."
"The response time for support must be reduced."
"The onboarding process can be improved a little bit."
"Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform needs to improve its documentation. It took time to do the implementation."
"The tool should provide on-premise versions. Currently, all versions are cloud-based."
"There are premium tier live service and lower tier live service, so we opted for the lower tier. But there is no medium tier where we pay a little extra and get a bit more service. So if that can be improved."
"The initial onboarding was causing us some confusion."
"Cloudflare DDoS has poor technical support."
"The free plan has limitations. For example, I can only set up three rules, and the application firewall is unavailable."
"The solution needs to improve its backup."
"The product's end-of-life cycle could be extended."
"It wasn't easy or intuitive enough for me to start using it. So, the reason was that the solution changed."
"The solution can be complex at times. It would be nice to have the on-server version. It needs to improve the stability as well."
"Microsoft 365 Defender and EOP policies are stable with the proper license. However, with the basic policy, it's hard to say it's stable due to configuration limitations."
"Some features, like encryption, are not available."
"Performance and speed should continue to be improved."
"The licensing can be on the expensive side, especially in the cloud space."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's a user-base subscription."
"The product is very expensive."
"The pricing is normal. Considering its popularity, it's not overpriced."
"It is much more expensive than using another solution because we have had to include some options and upgrade our license."
"For large enterprise organizations, they can definitely afford it, but for small and medium organizations, they might struggle to cover the expenses."
"From the pricing point of view, like any other product in the market, there is scope for negotiation."
"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."
"While Microsoft Defender for Office 365 necessitates pricier E3 or E5 subscriptions, the extensive functionality offered by these licenses across various Microsoft products justifies the investment."
"My company has to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the solution. There are no hidden charges apart from the licensing costs of the solution."
"The solution's pricing lacks transparency."
"The pricing is somewhere in the middle. I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten."
"The pricing of the solution is cheap. The licensing cost is also very low. I rate the cost and pricing a three out of ten."
"The price tag is no longer $200,000, but rather $300,000 to $400,000. It's twice."
"The solution is not that expensive."
"Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform's pricing is good."
"The prices are slightly expensive."
"The solution is expensive but is backed by Microsoft's reputation."
"It's a high price."
"The price could be lower."
"It is a low-price solution."
"The pricing for the solution depends on what you are trying to achieve with the use of the product, but I know that it is not a cheaply priced product. Yearly payments have to be made towards the licensing fees of the solution."
"Regarding the price, it's comparable to other service providers. We've also looked at Check Point's offerings, and the pricing doesn't seem to be an issue."
"Apart from the license fee for the solution, there are no additional costs."
"Online Protection is fairly expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

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?
While Microsoft Defender for Office 365 necessitates pricier E3 or E5 subscriptions, the extensive functionality offe...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is a very good solution that allows you to use a single port or tool to control eve...
What do you like most about Cloudflare Access?
The tool also offers good scalability, and the dashboard, along with real-time analytics, is very good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cloudflare Access?
The price of Cloudflare Access is the same as compared to Akamai, but I get better performance from Cloudflare. My co...
What needs improvement with Cloudflare Access?
Cloudflare Access has strong integration with Microsoft, among other platforms. However, when it comes to Kaspersky, ...
What do you like most about Microsoft Exchange Online Protection?
The initial setup was easy. The configuration process is very straightforward.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Exchange Online Protection?
The product's end-of-life cycle could be extended. When it gets upgraded, we should receive some incentives. For exam...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Exchange Online Protection?
The main use case is to block suspicious links in emails. However, some functionalities like SIPP attachment are not ...
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
Cloudflare Area 1 Email Security, Cloudflare Bot Management, Cloudflare Gateway, Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform, Cloudflare DDoS
Microsoft EOP, MS Exchange Online Protection
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
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Find out what your peers are saying about Cloudflare SASE & SSE Platform vs. Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) and other solutions. Updated: August 2024.
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