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Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Mimecast Email Security comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

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...
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)
Mimecast Email Security
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
Office 365 Protection (5th), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Messaging and Collaboration solutions, they serve different purposes. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is designed for Email Security and holds a mindshare of 13.7%, down 20.4% compared to last year.
Mimecast Email Security, on the other hand, focuses on Secure Email Gateway (SEG), holds 17.6% mindshare, up 14.7% since last year.
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.
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 is a stable solution."
"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."
"It’s easy to handle integrations, and we don't need a lot of people in our IT team."
"The stability of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is fantastic."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is the ease of use."
"At the moment we are satisfied with this product. It's a stable, scalable, and resilient solution for us."
"Microsoft Defender has a feature to protect each and every attachment. Even if it's an encrypted attachment, it will check for any potential threats."
"The technical support is good and quick to resolve issues."
"URL inspection works pretty well."
"The platform's most valuable features are journaling and email archiving, effectively stopping phishing attacks."
"It's really quite user-friendly. In terms of technical superiority and the product itself, there are no complaints. It is really cutting edge."
"The solution's performance is good."
"The biggest advantage of Mimecast Email Security is its spam filtering. Its filtering feature is interesting."
"What I like about the integration is that it is directly into Microsoft 365, users can use their Microsoft 365 credentials to log into the portal and access their mail."
"The piece that is most valuable from the Mimecast standpoint will be the sandboxing feature."
"The initial setup is very straightforward."
 

Cons

"The GUI is sometimes slow to fetch the device report and could be improved."
"We noticed that from time to time, Microsoft's stability does have problems. Sometimes the service goes up and down. Sometimes they change without prior notice."
"The changes to customer service, specifically the new model for support agreements, are not favorable."
"You should be able to deploy Defender for every subscription without the need to add servers."
"The visibility for the weaknesses in the system and unauthorized access can be improved."
"Microsoft should provide more documentation for users so they can self-educate. I would like to see more documentation for advanced security features."
"One area for improvement is support, in terms of being able to reach them and, especially, technical support for configuration."
"There's room for improvement regarding the time frame for retrieving emails."
"The solution is very expensive."
"The product's interface could be improved to be more user-friendly."
"From an administrative point of view, Mimecast is a little bit cumbersome and difficult. It's not something that the end-user can easily find navigate themselves."
"Their support should be improved. They are notorious for sending you to knowledge-based articles rather than actually talking to you, but that is, unfortunately, kind of becoming a trend with everything. In terms of features, I haven't had any complaints. However, I don't like the fact they moved to a paid training subscription model. They used to have a lot of free webinars for training, but they have started to charge for them in the past year."
"They could provide a unified licensing model, including all the security features."
"I'd like to have better support from the product in the future."
"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."
"The price could be better, it should be reduced."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is much more expensive than using another solution because we have had to include some options and upgrade our license."
"From the pricing point of view, like any other product in the market, there is scope for negotiation."
"Microsoft Defender is expensive. I typically recommend it only if clients have the budget. Otherwise, I would suggest an alternative."
"The product is expensive."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 comes with Microsoft Windows. It is free with the operating system."
"The product is very 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."
"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."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the pricing a ten."
"It is a bit expensive."
"The customers can select the license packages as per their requirements."
"The licensing costs are per-user for the product that you get with them."
"The product has good pricing in terms of return on investment."
"I'm always going to say the price needs to be lower, but it's reasonable."
"The product price is moderate. I rate the pricing a five out of ten."
"For what it is, the product is overpriced."
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Answers from the Community

HM
May 4, 2023
May 4, 2023
In my opinion, all gateways including Mimecast or Defender for O365 or ProofPoint work hand-in-hand in their respective mechanics and algorithms built. And definitely has its own advantages. However, I have been using it for my customers' MDO which is far better. I would say relying on gateways is important but at the same time USER education and reporting back to the IT administrator far impor...
See 2 answers
TL
Apr 25, 2023
Greetings Matingou, Defender for O365 I would say would suffice as it has all the tools included in Mimecast in just one single tool, may take some time to navigate at first as it gives a lot of information in just one tool but once you know your way around, you will be able to have good visibility on your email threats landscape by provides a range of protections against email-based threats such as spam, phishing, malware, and etc. It also includes features such as URL protection and attachment scanning to prevent users from clicking on malicious links or downloading harmful files. but on the other hand, Mimecast might be needed, if you require compliance measures, including data loss prevention, archiving, and encryption. It also provides greater visibility and control over email security, allowing you to monitor and manage threats in real-time. Hope this helps.
BK
May 4, 2023
In my opinion, all gateways including Mimecast or Defender for O365 or ProofPoint work hand-in-hand in their respective mechanics and algorithms built. And definitely has its own advantages. However, I have been using it for my customers' MDO which is far better. I would say relying on gateways is important but at the same time USER education and reporting back to the IT administrator far important as well. 
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Construction 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 various email campaigns, pinpointing where they emanate from, and identifying the indi...
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.
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 communications, making it reliable. The configuration is relatively easy.
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 despite being known samples. This needs improvement to reduce the workload on admi...
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
Mimecast Email Security with Targeted Threat Protection
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
Azizi Developments, Affinity Credit Union, Aftercare, Al Abbar Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs. Mimecast Email Security and other solutions. Updated: January 2024.
838,713 professionals have used our research since 2012.