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Fortra's Clearswift Secure Email Gateway vs Mimecast Email Security comparison

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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
47
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (11th)
Fortra's Clearswift Secure ...
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
0
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (39th)
Mimecast Email Security
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Office 365 Protection (5th), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Email Security
Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
 

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.
it_user746937 - PeerSpot reviewer
Facilitates creation of your own content-filtering policies with relative ease
* Ability to create message bypasses for groups and/or individuals. Meaning, you do not have to "whitelist" email domains or addresses when a specific bypass will do. * Personal Message Manager (PMM): It allows users to release or delete quarantined messages. Also, allows users to add people to a Trusted Senders list. * Ability to create your own content-filtering policies with relative ease.
Frank Rawson - PeerSpot reviewer
It gives clients peace of mind and helps them educate their users about threats
A few years ago, our team found the implementation to be somewhat challenging. It has gotten easier as we've grown more experienced. The difficulty depends on the expertise of the person doing it. I don't work with Mimecast every day, so it might be more difficult for me than it is for one of my techs who regularly does Mimecast implementations. It requires some specific in-depth product knowledge and an understanding of email solutions. The deployment time varies. In South Africa, it depends on who you use to deploy it. If you use one of Mimecast's local partners, it can take up to two weeks because of their process. However, it's only about four to eight hours of work. After deployment, there isn't much maintenance aside from supporting and educating your customers. Users require constant education on how to use the Mimecast client and release an email that has been blocked.

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 features are safe attachments and safe links."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 facilitates efficient management and updates through the cloud. We do not have to worry about incompatibilities. It just works."
"One of the best features of the tool is its capability to aggregate insights from different workloads, basically from the Office 365 and endpoints part."
"The stability of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is fantastic."
"Some of the valuable features on the email side are anti-phishing, anti-malware, and Safe Links."
"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."
"The technical support is good and quick to resolve issues."
"The most valuable aspect of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is its ability to protect us from malware."
"Ability to create your own content-filtering policies with relative ease."
"A stable solution."
"It's good, it keeps the spam out."
"The solution is scalable."
"The platform's most valuable features are journaling and email archiving, effectively stopping phishing attacks."
"Mimecast certainly helped my customers reduce phishing emails."
"Due to our specialized use case, that HIPAA dictionary really comes in handy."
"The interface of this solution is very easy to navigate and user-friendly. There is no delivery in email and other communications, making it reliable. The configuration is relatively easy."
"The product's most valuable features are impersonation protection and phishing countermeasures."
"The solution is pretty straightforward to use and easy to set up."
 

Cons

"There needs to be an improvement in integrating the product to work across multiple operating systems, and to have better support for non-Microsoft file types."
"There is room for improvement in terms of reporting."
"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 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."
"Microsoft needs to broaden its global support presence by establishing teams of subject-matter experts in all regions."
"This product's effectiveness could be improved, in terms of detecting unwanted spam or even malware between the emails, compared to other products."
"Configuring the default strategies and policies in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps generates a lot of noise and false positives."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365's Mac functionality requires improvement to deliver the same level of protection found on Windows devices."
"Malware needs improvement."
"FTP server and TRUST Manager functionality."
"They could provide a unified licensing model, including all the security features."
"We have subscribed to an archival service, and yet, when we have to get our data out, we have to pay a fee to get our own data. They charge an extraction fee."
"The platform's cost-effectiveness could be improved."
"Lately, Mimecast's outbound mail servers have been regularly blocklisted by spam filters. That didn't happen a few years back, but it seems to be a more frequent problem these days. When a server is blocklisted, it means all of my outgoing mail ends up in the recipient's junk mail. That affects my reputation and business confidence."
"As a user, the user interface of the management console could be upgraded, for example."
"The price could be better, it should be reduced."
"I'd like to have better support from the product in the future."
"The filtering needs more flexibility."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I know that the product is incredibly expensive."
"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."
"The pricing has become expensive."
"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."
"The product is expensive."
"The license is expensive because the cost is based on the number of users."
"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."
"From the pricing point of view, like any other product in the market, there is scope for negotiation."
Information not available
"It's an expensive solution."
"The customers can select the license packages as per their requirements."
"We pay monthly fees to our provider."
"There are additional costs beyond the standard licensing fee."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the pricing a ten."
"The licensing costs are per-user for the product that you get with them."
"I'm always going to say the price needs to be lower, but it's reasonable."
"It is a bit expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
24%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Government
14%
Construction Company
5%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Construction Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

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?
I don't have detailed specifics on pricing, setup cost, or licensing.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
I am generally satisfied with how it currently is. If I could improve anything, I would reduce the cost.
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What do you like most about Mimecast Email Security with Targeted Threat Protection?
The interface of this solution is very easy to navigate and user-friendly. There is no delivery in email and other co...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Mimecast Email Security with Targeted Threat Protection?
The pricing is higher for Mimecast, particularly for the Indian market, where it is considered expensive.
What needs improvement with Mimecast Email Security with Targeted Threat Protection?
Mimecast needs to reduce the number of false positive emails; a big pain point for us. A lot of emails were missed de...
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
No data available
Mimecast Email Security with Targeted Threat Protection
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
Information Not Available
Azizi Developments, Affinity Credit Union, Aftercare, Al Abbar Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Proofpoint, Cisco and others in Email Security. Updated: March 2025.
841,004 professionals have used our research since 2012.