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Mimecast Email Security vs Symantec Messaging Gateway comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024

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

Mimecast Email Security
Ranking in Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
Office 365 Protection (3rd)
Symantec Messaging Gateway
Ranking in Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Secure Email Gateway (SEG) category, the mindshare of Mimecast Email Security is 11.9%, down from 15.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Messaging Gateway is 2.6%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
 

Featured Reviews

ShaheenKapery - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides valuable security features and has a straightforward setup process
The initial setup process is straightforward and takes a weekend at most. A .com domain can take up to forty-eight hours, while a local domain takes about four to eight hours because it has to propagate through the international DNS records. It is a cloud-only solution. If you're managing email security on-premises, you use your bandwidth to download emails, including spam, and then use your servers to clean it up. For example, say a third of your email is spam; this consumes significant bandwidth and resources. However, if you use Mimecast, they filter the emails on their servers before delivering them to you. It can be a major selling point in regions with expensive bandwidth, such as Africa. You can save bandwidth and improve overall efficiency by offloading the spam filtering to Mimecast.
Girish Vijay - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable and reasonably priced solution that performs well and has a very good malware database
Since Symantec merged with Broadcom, they might have lost some good technical engineers. Maybe that’s the reason why the product is performing poorly. When we have a good marketing and sales team, even though our product cannot perform, we will sell it at a high price because of the buzzwords. However, at the end of the day, the product should perform. Most of the products might not perform. Symantec is a very good product, but the services are basic. I rate the technical features of the product a nine out of ten. However, I would rate the services provided by the solution a six out of ten. Overall, I rate the tool an eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We like Mimecast's spam filtering. The email signature feature is also a big plus for our users."
"Its administration console is very easy to use. The administration console is absolutely important because you interact with the platform through it."
"The solution offers good technical support."
"It's really quite user-friendly. In terms of technical superiority and the product itself, there are no complaints. It is really cutting edge."
"I would rate Mimecast Email Security a nine out of ten."
"It does a good job for us, and its admin console is easy to use."
"In the current environment that the world is in, everyone is trying to hack everyone else, so Project+ definitely helps a lot there."
"Due to our specialized use case, that HIPAA dictionary really comes in handy."
"Symantec Messaging Gateway has a huge knowledge base about phishing, spamming, spoofing, etc."
"The setup is pretty simple."
"Symantec is a secure product."
"The most valuable features of Symantec Messaging Gateway are advanced content filtering, malware, and antivirus defense."
"What I like most about Symantec Messaging Gateway is its usability. I also find its interface very friendly. The solution has a very good interface."
"The solution is "set and forget". You pay for it and everything is done for you."
"The feature that I like the best is the fingerprinting concept."
"The anti-malware and spam features are valuable."
 

Cons

"The solution is very expensive."
"The reaction time between a new threat being identified and Mimecast picking it up needs to be narrowed a bit."
"Its pricing can be improved. It is a bit expensive."
"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."
"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."
"Mimecast need to ensure that the body text format is correctly handled and that images are properly embedded in the body text."
"External security features need improvement."
"The documentation could have more detailed examples of how to use the product in various situations. As more companies shift to the cloud, they could better integrate the on-prem and cloud versions through an on-prem client."
"What's lacking when you compare it with Proofpoint and other threat protection solutions is that it does the basic stuff, but we need more advanced threat handling."
"The solution takes up a lot of memory."
"They really need to create a good package that competes with Microsoft."
"In a later release, it would be nice if the messaging gateway supported the cluster feature."
"They have updated the version of the Messaging Gateway and the new features they are adding the need to be re-evaluated. They have done some changes on the policy."
"It could be more scalable."
"This product would benefit from better integration with Symantec Endpoint Protection."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product has good pricing in terms of return on investment."
"The licensing costs are per-user for the product that you get with them."
"It is a bit expensive."
"I'm always going to say the price needs to be lower, but it's reasonable."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the pricing a ten."
"Compared to the other solutions in the market, Mimecast Email Security with Targeted Threat Protection's pricing is fine."
"The product price is moderate. I rate the pricing a five out of ten."
"The solution is expensive."
"They're a little costly compared to Microsoft."
"A subscription for technical support costs extra."
"It's a bit expensive compared to its competitor Barracuda Email Security Gateway but cheaper than Sophos Email."
"For 150 users, we pay INR 1,60,000."
"Symantec Messaging Gateway’s pricing is very cheap."
"The cost of Symantec Messaging Gateway is too expensive in general. However, the appliance also includes the price of the license in the same bundle."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
5%
Financial Services Firm
23%
Computer Software Company
18%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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 needs improvement with Mimecast Email Security with Targeted Threat Protection?
If I ask you about the room for improvement, we discussed the phishing aspect, the DNS system, and the key rotation. Apart from that, are there any other areas that you would like to see improved o...
What needs improvement with Symantec Messaging Gateway?
The solution takes up a lot of memory. The system becomes slow. The performance must be improved.
What is your primary use case for Symantec Messaging Gateway?
We use the solution to secure our data and emails.
 

Also Known As

Mimecast Email Security with Targeted Threat Protection
Symantec.cloud, Symantec Email Security.cloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Azizi Developments, Affinity Credit Union, Aftercare, Al Abbar Group
Doric, Joblink Plus, Our Lady of Mercy College, Parramatta, PPB Advisory, Slater & Gordon Lawyers, Sydney Adventist Hospital Ltd.
Find out what your peers are saying about Mimecast Email Security vs. Symantec Messaging Gateway and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
861,524 professionals have used our research since 2012.