Perception Point Advanced Email Security vs Sophos Email comparison

Perception Point Advanced Email Security vs. Sophos Email

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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...

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 13.5%, down from 19.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Perception Point Advanced Email Security is 2.3%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos Email is 2.4%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Email Security

Featured Reviews

Tolu Omolaja

Head of Department of Network Communications at Eko electricity

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.

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Jijin Joseph

Technical Director at Channelnext

Gives in-depth analysis reports to end users for any malicious content found in emails

Our users would like the solution to scan outgoing emails. So, if my system is compromised, and I have malicious content in my system, then there is a possibility that I send malicious email to my colleague. There is a dependency on AWS cloud.This means if the cloud service is down, which may impact the perception point's email delivery.So it would be great if there is any HA for the solution. I would like a user-friendly configuration, like APIs. This solution is API-friendly configuration by following the steps provided. It would be great if it could be automate it, like the Avanan.Also, it would be good if Perception Point Advanced Email Security could have an MSP model. During the early stages of working with this solution, there were some constraints and issues.

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NaveedAli

Senior manager IT infrastructure at Machine Learning 1 Limited ·

Provides good identity proxy features, but sandboxing and spam control features could be improved

Sophos gives you a feature set to manage your on-premises firewall on the cloud. I just integrated my on-premises firewall into the cloud, and I can manage the tool through the cloud as well if needed. I recommend using Sophos Email as a proxy. For email gateways, I advise choosing mature products with rich feature sets, like Trend Micro or CrowdStrike. The solution's integration with other tools is very simple. I easily integrated Sophos Email with my Active Directory. My organization needs a WAF with a limited feature set, which we use through Sophos. Purchasing additional WAF will be costly, but I get sandboxing and WAF features free of cost with Sophos, which is included in the license. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I would say that 90% of the spam and phishing attack emails get blocked right off the bat."

"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 initial setup was easy."

"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."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is the ease of use."

"The good part is that you don't have to configure it, which is very convenient."

"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 facilitates efficient management and updates through the cloud. We do not have to worry about incompatibilities. It just works."

"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."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 pros

"The most valuable feature is the ability to identify malicious content and phishing emails and reduce the workload we have to do in terms of security."

"The most valuable features of the solution are the ones that are related to finding impersonation attacks and detecting attempts to steal credentials. In scenarios where attackers get you to follow URLs to a malicious site that looks similar to a good site, and then ask for the user credentials to try to steal them, it is very useful."

"Their security engines are very effective at stopping malware and potential attacks before they reach a user's mailbox. They have the best detection engine."

"The solution’s effectiveness when it comes to detection is very good. It has a very good mechanism. It scans our emails. It identifies any threat or phishing attempts and phishing campaigns as well as any bad reputation, servers, or links, then it blocks them. This is what I find to be very good about this system."

"The most valuable feature is the hardware-assisted platform module."

"The Perception Point Incident Response team acts as an extension of our SOC team. This is very important for us. This is a benefit provided for their main product of scanning our emails. If Perception Point can give me IR, this is really good versus other products that do not provide this kind of service. Perception Point's service is great. They are very professional. That reduces the time that my internal SOC has to deal with my internal IT person. They just send an email to the IR team at Perception Point, who continues the investigation and blocks any emails, if necessary. This is very good because it can reduce a lot of time and effort from my team. It is like an extension of my SOC, but external."

"The solution is used to block malicious items hidden inside a document or PDF file."

"One of the most valuable features is the service provided by the incident response team. There have been cases where we have suspected that emails were fraudulent or something was suspicious. In those cases, we immediately contacted the incident response team through the platform, and we had a response in less than a minute."

More Perception Point Advanced Email Security pros

"Sophos Email offers encryption and malware protection, provides visibility into emails, has 99% accuracy in catching spam, enhances organizational safety, integrates with various vendors like Microsoft, is deployable with any email service, prevents data loss, features authentication rules, synchronizes with Active Directory and Azure, and includes a self-service portal. The product is very flexible."

"I would recommend Sophos Email to both end-users and other entities that want to protect their emails."

"I found the user interface friendly."

"It's easy to use and the configuration is straightforward."

"I find the comprehensive features of Sophos Email most valuable."

"I have found Sophos Email to be scalable."

"The most valuable feature of Sophos Email is the sandbox. We're able to scan the file, isolate it, and look at it before it is delivered. It is highly effective."

"The deployment is very easy. It's quite straightforward."

More Sophos Email pros

Cons

"You should be able to deploy Defender for every subscription without the need to add servers."

"The phishing and spam filters could use some improvement."

"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 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."

"Microsoft Defender for Office 365's Mac functionality requires improvement to deliver the same level of protection found on Windows devices."

"Too many false positives and lacks an accurate capability to detect malicious SharePoint sites."

"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 should be more proactive."

"Several simulation options are available within 365, and the phishing simulation could be better."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 cons

"There is room for improvement in terms of adding the DLP (Data Loss Prevention) solution, which would be a good option for Perception Point to look into."

"The only thing that can be improved in Perception Point is the in-depth analysis and attribution to cyberattack groups."

"I think the interface could be improved in the next release."

"Dashboard is an area of concern in the solution where improvements are required."

"From a forensics point of view, it could improve a bit more from a threat intelligence aspect. So, if I find a malicious email, they could have more investigations about sources, headers, where it comes from, if they have seen it in other campaigns before, etc. I would like a little bit more from a threat intelligence point of view so I can understand who else might be affected and attacked as well as the vectors of attack."

"Its websites for analysis need to be a bit more approachable for people who are less technical. Technically, it is a fire-and-forget solution. So, you want to be able to implement this solution for a lot of companies who don't have security operation teams (SOCs) behind them. You need to have something where a secretary can jump onto this console and release whatever she needs to release. Therefore, it needs to be written in a very specific non-technical language."

"Our users would like the solution to scan outgoing emails. So, if my system is compromised, and I have malicious content in my system, then there is a possibility that I am sending a colleague that malicious content."

"We have had a few false positives, not that many, but a few... they have a feature where someone from the Incident Response team can look at an email and mark it as 'verified malicious.' You might think that if an engine detects it is malicious, and an IR team member has flagged it as malicious, it will definitely be malicious. But that's not always the case."

More Perception Point Advanced Email Security cons

"However, the setup was tricky, particularly with the DNS routing between Microsoft Exchange Online and Sophos cloud services. It took me about four attempts to get it working correctly. Despite that, Sophos Email does everything we need, so we don't require any additional capabilities now."

"Sophos Email can improve mail security."

"Lacks visibility into spam emails."

"Email installation could be more user-friendly so that it can be done without involving the partner"

"The tool's integration becomes an issue when the internet connection is weak."

"The tool has some performance issues and bugs, making it an area where improvements are required."

"The product could include all the essential features and capabilities, similar to the on-premise, server-based version."

"Email installation could be more user-friendly so that it can be done without involving the partner."

More Sophos Email cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is normal. Considering its popularity, it's not overpriced."

"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 license is expensive because the cost is based on the number of users."

"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."

"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is an add-on to the Office license. Many customers are purchasing this solution."

"Microsoft Defender is expensive. I typically recommend it only if clients have the budget. Otherwise, I would suggest an alternative."

"For large enterprise organizations, they can definitely afford it, but for small and medium organizations, they might struggle to cover the expenses."

"It's a user-base subscription."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 pricing and cost advice

"When compared to other solutions on the market, it is relatively fair."

"It has very reasonable pricing. Normally, the end user is paying. Perception Point is already in the Amazon marketplace, so we cannot sell it as a distribution partner. For example, we cannot take more than that margin of what they offer in the marketplace. Whatever the end user is paying, it is definitely worth it and it is not that high."

"We were able to get reasonable pricing that matches the ROI we want, so I think that it is the correct price point."

"The pricing compared to the value Perception Point brings is super-competitive. They're not the cheapest in the market, but the value and the quality of the product are superior to anything else in the market, so we don't mind paying more for it."

"The price of this solution was within our budget and I think that it will suit most SMBs."

"If a user only wants protection for email, then the price of the product is okay, but if they opt for the collaboration options offered by the product, then it becomes a little expensive."

"They are not the most expensive vendor. There are much more expensive vendors. They are not cheap, but they are not the most expensive. They are somewhere in the middle."

"The price of the solution is high."

More Perception Point Advanced Email Security pricing and cost advice

"Most of our clients are on a perpetual license. If there is a budget issue, they can choose a subscription. However, most of the clients choose the perpetual license."

"Licensing is paid on a yearly basis."

"The pricing is quite reasonable, with a fixed cost and no additional charges."

"The pricing is affordable, so I’d rate it around a four out of ten on the pricing scale. We pay about fifty pounds a month, including hardware so that costs may differ without it."

"Sophos Email is neither cheap nor expensive."

"I rate the product's pricing a seven out of ten."

"The product is cheaper compared to other solutions."

"I rate the price of Sophos Email a four out of five."

More Sophos Email pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

18%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Retailer

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

Retailer

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?

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 Perception Point Advanced Email Security?

The most valuable feature is the technical support services.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Perception Point Advanced Email Security?

In Brazil, the dollar price affects the cost. Perception Point Advanced Email Security is about 50 percent less expen...

What needs improvement with Perception Point Advanced Email Security?

To improve the solution, maybe a portal for end users to consult their emails would be helpful. The end user could ac...

What do you like most about Sophos Email?

The solution's identity proxy feature is very good and reliable.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos Email?

Sophos Email pricing is a bit high, especially since I purchase through a partner, and they sell it at a higher price...

What needs improvement with Sophos Email?

Email installation could be more user-friendly so that it can be done without involving the partner. If made more use...

Proofpoint Email Protection vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365

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Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Compared 5% of the time

Fortinet FortiMail vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Compared 4% of the time

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Avanan vs Perception Point Advanced Email Security

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Proofpoint Email Protection vs Perception Point Advanced Email Security

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IRONSCALES vs Perception Point Advanced Email Security

Compared 10% of the time

Fortinet FortiMail Cloud vs Perception Point Advanced Email Security

Compared 10% of the time

TitanHQ SpamTitan vs Perception Point Advanced Email Security

Compared 3% of the time

More Perception Point Advanced Email Security Competitors

Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) vs Sophos Email

Compared 10% of the time

Fortinet FortiMail vs Sophos Email

Compared 7% of the time

Hornetsecurity 365 Total Protection vs Sophos Email

Compared 6% of the time

Barracuda Email Protection vs Sophos Email

Compared 5% of the time

Darktrace vs Sophos Email

Compared 3% of the time

More Sophos Email Competitors

Product Reports

Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Download Microsoft Defender for Office 365 product report

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 report

Perception Point Advanced Email Security

Download Perception Point Advanced Email Security product report

Perception Point Advanced Email Security report

Sophos Email

Download Sophos Email product report

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365

No data available

Sophos Email Security

Overview

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is a comprehensive security solution designed to protect organizations against advanced threats in their email, collaboration, and productivity environments. It combines the power of Microsoft's threat intelligence, machine learning, and behavioral analytics to provide real-time protection against phishing, malware, ransomware, and other malicious attacks.

With Microsoft Defender for Office 365, organizations can safeguard their email communication by detecting and blocking malicious links, attachments, and unsafe email content. It employs advanced anti-phishing capabilities to identify and prevent sophisticated phishing attacks that attempt to steal sensitive information or compromise user credentials.

This solution also offers robust protection against malware and ransomware. It leverages machine learning algorithms to analyze email attachments and URLs in real-time, identifying and blocking malicious content before it reaches users' inboxes. Additionally, it provides advanced threat-hunting capabilities, allowing security teams to proactively investigate and respond to potential threats.

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 goes beyond email protection and extends its security features to other collaboration tools like SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams. It scans files and documents stored in these platforms, ensuring that they are free from malware and other malicious content. It also provides visibility into user activities, helping organizations detect and mitigate insider threats.

Furthermore, this solution offers rich reporting and analytics capabilities, providing organizations with insights into their security posture and threat landscape. It enables security administrators to monitor and manage security incidents, track trends, and take proactive measures to enhance their overall security posture.

Microsoft

Perception Point Advanced Email Security is a comprehensive solution designed to protect organizations from advanced email threats. Leveraging cutting-edge technology, it offers multi-layered defense mechanisms to detect and block sophisticated attacks such as phishing, malware, and ransomware.

With its advanced threat intelligence capabilities, it can identify and neutralize zero-day threats in real-time. The solution also provides robust data loss prevention features, ensuring sensitive information remains secure. Its user-friendly interface allows for easy management and monitoring of email security, while its seamless integration with existing email platforms ensures a hassle-free deployment process.

Perception Point Advanced Email Security is a reliable and efficient solution that safeguards organizations against the ever-evolving landscape of email-based threats.

Perception Point

Sophos Email is a comprehensive email security solution designed to protect organizations from advanced threats and data loss. It offers robust protection against malware, phishing attacks, and spam, ensuring that only legitimate emails reach users' inboxes.

With advanced threat intelligence and machine learning algorithms, it can detect and block sophisticated attacks in real-time. Additionally, it provides encryption and data loss prevention capabilities to safeguard sensitive information.

The solution is easy to deploy and manage, with a user-friendly interface and centralized control. Sophos Email offers seamless integration with popular email platforms, ensuring uninterrupted communication while maintaining security.

With its comprehensive features and proactive approach, Sophos Email is a reliable choice for organizations looking to enhance their email security.

Sophos

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.

Information Not Available

Del Monte Foods, Terra Verde, spicerhaart, RIVERLITE, Dataprise, SureBridge, Reed's School, Sayfol International School

Perception Point Advanced Email Security vs. Sophos Email