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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
6.1
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
Office 365 Protection (3rd)
Symantec Messaging Gateway
Ranking in Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
9th
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 October 2025, in the Secure Email Gateway (SEG) category, the mindshare of Mimecast Email Security is 12.5%, down from 15.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Messaging Gateway is 2.6%, up from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Secure Email Gateway (SEG) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Mimecast Email Security12.5%
Symantec Messaging Gateway2.6%
Other84.9%
Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Dennis O'Reilly - PeerSpot reviewer
The product provides good content filtering options, but the false positive submissions must be improved
The tool is very stable. I rate the stability a seven out of ten. It's an on-premise application that runs on a virtual machine. It has dependencies on the hypervisor host that we're running it on. If it's not configured, the application can be influenced by it. Sometimes, there is a service stop error while the service is still running. Sometimes, the service just stops. Some policies do not act the way that we intend them to respond.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We like the content filtering and secure messaging features."
"We like Mimecast's spam filtering. The email signature feature is also a big plus for our users."
"The setup was easy."
"The reviewer gave Mimecast Email Security a rating of 10 out of 10."
"The platform's most valuable features are journaling and email archiving, effectively stopping phishing attacks."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The solution offers good technical support."
"The solution's performance is good."
"The solution is "set and forget". You pay for it and everything is done for you."
"Symantec’s spyware and malware signature database is very good compared to other products."
"Symantec Messaging Gateway is stable and scalable. Installation is easy, and the deployment and maintenance can be done by one administrative person."
"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 anti-malware and spam features are valuable."
"The feature that I like the best is the fingerprinting concept."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the content filtering policies because the solution offers huge options for configuration, such as hardware manipulation, et cetera, and the dictionaries make the work easier."
"Messaging Gateway is stable."
 

Cons

"The tool can be challenging because it relies on rule-based configurations, especially for addressing impersonation threats. This approach requires setting up numerous rules to ensure filtering. It should work based on behavior-based analytics."
"External security features need improvement."
"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."
"Its pricing can be improved. It is a bit expensive."
"The reaction time between a new threat being identified and Mimecast picking it up needs to be narrowed a bit."
"Mimecast needs to reduce the number of false positive emails; a big pain point for us."
"The solution is very expensive."
"The solution's console interface was recently changed for the admins, but the previous one was much better because we could open tabs on it."
"The product must improve the user dashboards."
"The false positive submissions must be improved."
"In a later release, it would be nice if the messaging gateway supported the cluster feature."
"Sometimes the solution picks up false positive for viruses during scans."
"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."
"Messaging Gateway's advanced malware detection could be improved."
"It could be more scalable."
"The biggest problem is it's an on-prem product and we're trying to get out of having equipment in data centers."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I'm always going to say the price needs to be lower, but it's reasonable."
"The product has good pricing in terms of return on investment."
"The customers can select the license packages as per their requirements."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the pricing a ten."
"For what it is, the product is overpriced."
"The product price is moderate. I rate the pricing a five out of ten."
"Compared to the other solutions in the market, Mimecast Email Security with Targeted Threat Protection's pricing is fine."
"It is a bit expensive."
"Symantec Messaging Gateway’s pricing is very cheap."
"It's a bit expensive compared to its competitor Barracuda Email Security Gateway but cheaper than Sophos Email."
"A subscription for technical support costs extra."
"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."
"They're a little costly compared to Microsoft."
"For 150 users, we pay INR 1,60,000."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise8
 

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?
Mimecast Email Security can be improved by adding some API integrations. Instead of remaining a traditional gateway, Mimecast Email Security needs to provide API solutions similar to Check Point.
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: September 2025.
870,623 professionals have used our research since 2012.