Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Forcepoint Email Security [EOL] vs Proofpoint Email Protection comparison

Sponsored
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Offi...
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
45
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (10th)
Forcepoint Email Security [...
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
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.
Kunjal Haria - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 13, 2022
Stable, easy to scale, and has anti-spam and anti-spyware features, but support needs to be faster and more knowledgeable
My use case for Forcepoint Email Security is email security, so it's for protection against spam, spyware, and malware Forcepoint Email Security is a good solution, and I don't have any issues with it. I found anti-spam and anti-spyware the most valuable features of Forcepoint Email Security. An…
Santhosh Kandadi - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 30, 2023
A reasonably priced product that offers protection to emails, along with spam filters
Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten. I wouldn't say that the solution's stability is imperfect since it has been a stable tool. In our company, we see some notifications in the tool stating that certain login attempts are not happening successfully, but it is important to note that these issues happen rarely. The issue in the solution may be because of our lack of experience with the solution in our company. A lot of people rely on the solution's UI. I often see the solution's UI go down, like once a month, which doesn't happen very often, in my opinion.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The benefit that stands out to me is the ability for multiple individuals to collaborate simultaneously within the same document. Additionally, there is the option to save the document directly in the integrated OneDrive or SharePoint."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable feature is its performance."
"The good part is that you don't have to configure it, which is very convenient."
"Threat Explorer is one of the features that I very much like because it is a real-time report that allows you to identify, analyze, and trace security attacks."
"Defender helps us prioritize threats across our organization."
"Defender for Office 365 has helped eliminate having to look at multiple dashboards and that is the aspect I like most about it. It is simpler, effective, and convenient. The users like the process efficiency."
"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."
"There are several features that I consider valuable."
"Using Forcepoint, we have created policies and rules for any suspicious mail. It is blocked and only released by an admin's approval."
"I like how versatile the options are. For example, we can set it where we are able to access and browse Facebook but we are denied the ability to post photos. There is also that ability integrate with Office 365 - SharePoint app."
"This is a reasonably stable solution."
"The feature I find most valuable is the web, email and DLP integration."
"The most valuable features of Forcepoint Email Security are the integration with other solutions. It provides a more secure infrastructure and views for the customers from the DLP. You can work on URLs, files, and advanced inspections that will protect the customers."
"It is good at data leakage prevention (DLP). You can create the data exfiltration profile while sending the emails, which is one of the key advantages of the solution."
"The Forcepoint Email Security roadmap easily integrates with the data loss prevention (DLP) suite of Forcepoint. Therefore, the customer doesn't have to buy another solution for DLP."
"We have found the product to be stable."
"The solution's technical support is good. I rate the technical support a ten out of ten."
"It's very good at identifying threats."
"As a cloud-based product, it can scale well."
"There is no downtime."
"The solution has very strong detection for most of the phishing and malicious emails received from the outside."
"The most valuable feature of Proofpoint Email Protection is the dashboards and their visibility, easy configuration, and artificial intelligence. Additionally, the reports are very important and helpful."
"Proofpoint Email Protection is a good product, and its most beneficial feature is the Threat Response Auto-Pull. I also like that it's an integrated email security solution."
"The most valuable feature is the option to edit the inbound security."
 

Cons

"One area for improvement is support, in terms of being able to reach them and, especially, technical support for configuration."
"Configuring the default strategies and policies in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps generates a lot of noise and false positives."
"It would be better if it were more scalable. It depends on the architecture, but we would like to make it more scalable for both data centers."
"This product's effectiveness could be improved, in terms of detecting unwanted spam or even malware between the emails, compared to other products."
"The visibility for the weaknesses in the system and unauthorized access can be improved."
"The company should focus on adding threats that the solution is currently unable to detect."
"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."
"Configuration requires going to a lot of places rather than just accessing one tab."
"We've fixed a couple of issues on the solution so far. It doesn't work perfectly all the time."
"The reporting functionality needs to be improved, as it is not customizable."
"It's quite difficult to learn this solution, it's not an entry level product. If you are a skilled user you will think it's a very useful tool, but if you are not a skilled user, you'll think it is very difficult to learn."
"The pricing could always be just a little bit better."
"It would be better if it were simpler to deploy on one or two machines instead of three or four machines."
"Customer support could be better."
"This solution could be improved by providing further functionality to reduce or to block ransom attacks, cross-site scripting and man-in-the-middle attacks."
"Forcepoint Email Security is stable, but it could be improved."
"The reporting section could be enhanced. I like some reports but if they could allow us to create custom reports with more flexibility it would enhance the reports more."
"Pricing for the platform could still be cheaper."
"The Secure Mail aspect should have an Outlook add-in, instead of an external dashboard that outside users have to access."
"Integration for reporting needs to be improved, it's too complex."
"Integration and filtering out who you want and don't want to have integrated ID could be improved."
"The price could be improved."
"I would want better spear phishing protection in the essentials package."
"Proofpoint should have better integration with complex environments that need more than one instance of Proofpoint, as there are issues with nested instances."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"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."
"Compared to other brands, Microsoft Defender for Office 365's pricing is competitive."
"The product is expensive."
"The pricing is normal. Considering its popularity, it's not overpriced."
"It's a user-base subscription."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is an add-on to the Office license. Many customers are purchasing this solution."
"From the pricing point of view, like any other product in the market, there is scope for negotiation."
"There are three types of support licenses."
"When compared to other email security solutions, the price is not cheap."
"My company pays for Forcepoint Email Security licensing annually."
"The licensing is user base (per user). The product is purchased mostly by medium to large companies. For smaller companies, we have other solutions because the pricing is not cheap."
"Licensing is a yearly subscription that is based on the number of users."
"Its licensing is quite easy and straightforward. They have two or three suites, and the price is negotiable. It depends upon the size of the deal. They have multiple licenses. The standard is one, and then there are additional licenses that you can go for. There are three or four licensing models. You have the network suite, endpoint suite, email security, and the standard one."
"The licensing cost of Proofpoint Email Protection is a lot higher than other solutions, such as Barracuda."
"The solution is expensive."
"The solution uses a licensing model that is reasonable compared to other products."
"Clients pay for an annual subscription of Proofpoint Email Protection. Every client always finds it expensive."
"Pricing has recently been increased and the cost is a downside"
"The tool's pricing depends on the customer's preference, offering options for an annual license or a monthly subscription. The cost varies based on factors such as the number of users and specific requirements. Overall, the pricing is competitive."
"Proofpoint is fairly expensive."
"In general, the pricing is competitive."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Email Security solutions are best for your needs.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
26%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
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 do you like most about Forcepoint Email Security [EOL]?
Forcepoint Email Security is my go-to Email Protection Software. It has everything I need to secure my emails and kee...
What needs improvement with Forcepoint Email Security [EOL]?
An area for improvement in Forcepoint Email Security is technical support. The agents need to be more knowledgeable. ...
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
Websense Email Security
Proofpoint Enterprise Protection, Cofense PhishMe, Proofpoint Digital Protection
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
Alphawest, Amadori, AudioNova, Betsson, Confartigianato Vicenza, Davies Turner, iGATE, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Landa Digital Printing, Northern California Bank, Scavolini, Toyota
Blocket, University of Waterloo, Lincoln Memorial University, WellSpan Health, U-Haul, Carestream Health, Westinghouse
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Cisco, Fortinet and others in Email Security. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.