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Fortinet FortiMail vs IceWarp comparison

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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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Offi...
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (11th)
Fortinet FortiMail
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (6th)
IceWarp
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Email Applications (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Email Security
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Tolu Omolaja - PeerSpot reviewer
Great URL scanning and attachment scanning, but I would like more proactive threat analysis
The two main features that prove most beneficial for us are URL scanning and attachment scanning. URL scanning involves an automatic scan of links and emails. When a user clicks on a link within an email, the system promptly checks the link's safety. If the link is deemed safe, access is granted automatically. However, if it is flagged as unsafe, we receive feedback and notification to caution us about the potentially harmful link. At this point, we are presented with the option to proceed or return. I have personally witnessed the system identify a few unsafe links, making this the primary advantage of using the solution. The second crucial aspect is the scanning of attachments. When an email containing an attachment arrives, we receive a notification of the new email, along with information that the attachment is being scanned for threats. This additional layer of security provides peace of mind for our organization. While Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers numerous features, these two stand out as particularly impressive and valuable to us.
MOHAN SUKUMAR - PeerSpot reviewer
Secure email management improves through advanced filtering and dynamic virus scanning
Fortinet FortiMail offers capabilities like settings for mail delivery, mail filtering, spam controls, and email bursting prevention. It also allows for email forwarding, dynamic filtering, and scanning based on virus signatures. I can set varying levels of security. The tool is flexible and provides essential features for mail security and management.
AvinashLotke - PeerSpot reviewer
Useful for collaboration and storage but improvement is needed in API integration
The solution has traditional SSL integration, SAML, and Federation Services. In its latest version, it added SAML integration. However, it needs to work on API integration, especially for dashboards or integration with SAP for log and data system management. It doesn't yet have the kind of API that Google and Microsoft provide for synchronizing users with Active Directory. I think IceWarp needs to improve in a few areas. They have two types of admin consoles - a web-based one and a remote one. I'd like to see these combined into a single web-based admin console. The log reading and information system also needs improvement. The current way of showing incoming and outgoing logs isn't very clear. For new users, it's hard to understand these logs, especially compared to Office 365 and other systems with easier-to-read logs. They should also add an export option to get all logs with a single click whenever we need them.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"At the moment we are satisfied with this product. It's a stable, scalable, and resilient solution for us."
"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."
"Our customers are satisfied with Defender for 365 because Microsoft products are easy to use and customize to meet the client's needs. Everything is in one place, so we can adjust policies as needed for phishing, DLP, ATP, or any other security features that our clients want to apply."
"We use Microsoft Defender for its ability to integrate with existing business technologies, which is beneficial for protecting business areas."
"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."
"Does a thorough job of examining email and URLs for malicious content."
"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."
"Its performance is very good and it is stable."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is its interface, allowing users to get around the solution easily. The integration capabilities in the solution are also very easy."
"They have a feature called CDR, Content Disarm, Reconstruction, click protection, and DLP for encryption purposes."
"Fortinet FortiMail is rated an eight for the protection and features it provides in the on-premises setup."
"Fortinet utilizes specialized processing units, which network faster and sample more efficiently compared to others."
"Its threat detection capabilities have been beneficial."
"The product's initial setup phase was very easy."
"The user quarantine feature in the solution is good...It is a stable solution."
"The product is used very extensively in my company since we have around 1,500 users using it. Also, there is no requirement for any administrators to manage the product by the people who own the solution."
"The TeamChat feature has been really good for our email management. It lets us collaborate, share files, and invite guests like Google Spaces or Microsoft Teams. I like the two-factor authentication for security. However, they need to improve their document collaboration tools, as their Word, Excel, and PowerPoint features are basic compared to Microsoft and Google."
"It has great communication capabilities for team chatting and web conferences."
"The groupware module is the most valuable feature."
"An effective, functional, very good tool for controlling resources."
"IceWarp has multiple applications that are easy to use for many people."
"The solution's voice services work well for our company."
"It's scalable and stable."
 

Cons

"The GUI is sometimes slow to fetch the device report and could be improved."
"The product must provide better malware detection."
"You should be able to deploy Defender for every subscription without the need to add servers."
"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."
"I am generally satisfied with how it currently is. If I could improve anything, I would reduce the cost."
"Configuration at the mid-level could be improved for the support team."
"One area for improvement is support, in terms of being able to reach them and, especially, technical support for configuration."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 should improve the troubleshooting tools. It's unclear whether the device is blocked at the firewall level or at the device itself. The granularity needed for troubleshooting is currently lacking. From my perspective, Microsoft should address this issue to benefit many users who likely share the same sentiment."
"The Ui isn't that intuitive."
"The sandboxing features are not well done in Fortinet FortiMail, making it an area of improvement."
"There are features that other solutions have that this one is lacking, such as reporting options. I hope in future releases they advance their features list."
"A room for improvement in Fortinet FortiMail is that it only has a hardware version. I also didn't find the solution scalable, so that's another area for improvement."
"What's missing in Fortinet FortiMail is some sandbox information for some of the emails. It's probably configuration-based, where it could be configured on some emails. For example, there was malware in some emails that weren't detected in some of the Fortinet FortiMail sessions, but it should have been configured from my company's end to better catch scam emails, but overall, the solution is okay. At the moment, my company is okay with the current Fortinet FortiMail offerings, but in the past, because of a lack of understanding, my team wasn't able to quickly implement the geographical IP blocking feature. It was time-consuming to implement that feature, but that wasn't a fault of Fortinet FortiMail. The issue was from my team's end, but just by emailing the support team, that issue was resolved, so right now, there isn't any additional feature I'd like added to Fortinet FortiMail."
"The product's price is an area with shortcomings, making it an area where improvements are required."
"FortiMail's dashboard is somewhat complex and could be made simpler."
"It can be easier to configure or connect to the cloud to report on the attachments."
"With multiple databases for VOIP, chat and web IMAP, maintenance is cumbersome."
"The solution needs improvements in security, particularly regarding document management."
"The tool's configuration capabilities are not straightforward. Apart from that, if I want to archive emails into a vault so that they can be retrieved again later, the integration doesn't work, and IceWarp crashes."
"The solution should improve the mailing list feature. Google has a similar feature where you can automate sending files to different people in a sequence, but that feature is no longer available in the current version of IceWarp. Other features may also have been removed in the current version."
"Although it is not a tool, video conferencing should be scalable and operate in a professional and efficient way."
"I would like to have a trial for mobile applications and more documentation similar to Google Drive with mobile applications."
"Support should be improved. Most of the time, the queries are not resolved within the SLA."
"The solution has traditional SSL integration, SAML, and Federation Services. In its latest version, it added SAML integration. However, it needs to work on API integration, especially for dashboards or integration with SAP for log and data system management. It doesn't yet have the kind of API that Google and Microsoft provide for synchronizing users with Active Directory."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"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."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is an add-on to the Office license. Many customers are purchasing this solution."
"It's a user-base subscription."
"I know that the product is incredibly expensive."
"The license is expensive because the cost is based on the number of users."
"The product is expensive."
"It is much more expensive than using another solution because we have had to include some options and upgrade our license."
"The tool is very expensive."
"The solution is quite pricey compared to other competitors in the market."
"The pricing is on the higher side."
"Price-wise, the solution is not far from Microsoft ATP. So, it is affordable."
"I find Fortinet FortiMail pricing reasonable. There's no additional cost apart from its standard licensing fees."
"If you don't need the full bundle that includes everything, you have options for the small or medium enterprise environments."
"Fortinet FortiMail is a little bit expensive."
"Fortinet Fortimail has reasonable pricing."
"There are various licensing plans available based on geographic zone."
"It is definitely one of the lowest price solutions."
"The solution is inexpensive which is its main benefit."
"I don't see any challenges for the Indian market. For example, 1 GB is available for around 399 INR, and 2 GB for 499 INR. They offer a range of plans, from basic to professional and enterprise, with multiple features. IceWarp's aggressive pricing is competitive compared to other market solutions like Zoho and Microsoft. One significant advantage is that IceWarp does not impose user capping like Google and Microsoft, which allows for substantial cost savings and flexibility in user conversion."
"Our licensing is on a yearly basis. There were no additional costs."
"Pricing and licensing is very competitive and in some cases, cheap."
"I would rate the pricing and eight out of ten."
"Costs far less than other solutions."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Educational Organization
45%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Government
4%
Computer Software Company
18%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
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?
Money-wise, it is a part of the Office 365 ( /products/office-365-reviews ) suite, making it slightly more expensive ...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
The main area for improvement is simplifying the implementation and rollout process. There are many conditions to be ...
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiMail?
Detailed documentation regarding deployment options and configuration would be beneficial. Providing comprehensive do...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IceWarp?
IceWarp was very cost-effective, offering services at a significantly lower cost than Google, which was appealing for...
What needs improvement with IceWarp?
The solution needs improvements in security, particularly regarding document management. Users currently have the rig...
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
FortiMail
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
Magromer Cueros y Pieles S.A.
Marriott, Toyota, Sony, Wendy's, Canon
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Cisco, Proofpoint and others in Email Security. Updated: April 2025.
849,475 professionals have used our research since 2012.