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Sophos Email vs Symantec Messaging Gateway comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

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

Sophos Email
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (15th), Office 365 Protection (4th)
Symantec Messaging Gateway
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (13th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Messaging and Collaboration solutions, they serve different purposes. Sophos Email is designed for Email Security and holds a mindshare of 1.6%, down 1.8% compared to last year.
Symantec Messaging Gateway, on the other hand, focuses on Secure Email Gateway (SEG), holds 3.1% mindshare, up 2.4% since last year.
Email Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Sophos Email1.6%
Proofpoint Email Protection5.9%
Microsoft Defender for Office 3655.0%
Other87.5%
Email Security
Secure Email Gateway (SEG) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Symantec Messaging Gateway3.1%
Proofpoint Email Protection16.7%
Mimecast Advanced Email Security14.5%
Other65.7%
Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
 

Featured Reviews

ManojNair2 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Comprehensive detection has protected email traffic and now simplifies endpoint security work
Sophos Email security is the primary product I use. It scans all your inbound and outbound email for malware. It also has a capability for looking for phishing and spear phishing content and blocking it. Email has an extended capability that includes what's called a secure web gateway. All user traffic gets managed through that, making it a combination product. The version of the product you run determines which features are available. Reporting is competent. There is scope for more improvements, which they will do as they do every year regularly. They keep updating the product. Reporting gives you the relevant details of what is happening, so it's mature on that front. The main benefit is security for your email. The beauty of the Sophos system is that the XDR functionality runs across the system. Sophos, Trend Micro, and Microsoft are the only three that have a very strong system with this concept. XDR stands for extended detection and response, and it's a technology where the system automatically exchanges security signals between the endpoint, the email, and other similar products of the same brand. If you have Sophos Endpoint and Sophos Email, you have very good connectivity from the endpoint to the cloud at the email level and to some extent onto the browsing traffic. You have a very rounded security aspect.
Dennis O'Reilly - PeerSpot reviewer
Cyber SecOps Principal at Dotcom Security
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

"Endpoint and server protection are very effective."
"The most valuable feature is its email security."
"I found the user interface friendly."
"We have been receiving a lot of spam emails and we are using Sophos Email to help prevent the spam."
"The feature of Sophos Email that we find most effective for detecting suspicious emails is primarily based on their signatures."
"The platform is scalable when installed on server-based systems."
"Sophos already has Sandbox, and if any issues are identified, Sophos blocks that particular mail and site instantly, which is why customers are very happy and safe from other attacks."
"The solution's identity proxy feature is very good and reliable."
"The solution is a leader in anti-spam email products and you can block 99% of spam emails, making it very effective with great performance."
"I like that it's simple and easy to configure, deploy, and manage. The reporting function has all the features we're looking for, and we are fine with that."
"My advice to others who plan to use Symantec Messaging Gateway is that it's a very good product, it's very stable, and it's user-friendly, but the only problem is that it doesn't have good partner support here in Bolivia, where I'm located."
"The main thing that I appreciate about this product is that the database of spam, malware, and ransomware is very large."
"The setup is pretty simple."
"Symantec’s spyware and malware signature database is very good compared to other products."
"Messaging Gateway is stable."
"The anti-malware and spam features are valuable."
 

Cons

"Sophos Email needs to increase the number of promos."
"The solution's sandboxing and spam control features could be improved."
"I would like to see improvements in the initial setup process, ensuring better compatibility with diverse customer infrastructures."
"If they had better deployments for email security, I might rate them higher."
"Sophos Email does not work with split delivery. If I have a domain with 100 mailboxes and want to protect only 50, it is not recommended by Sophos or not possible to configure."
"Price is obviously a challenging part, and I think it is the biggest problem we have suffered from over the last two or three years due to a 7 to 8% hike per year, twice a year, which is why we have some renewals on Sophos Email, Sophos XDR, EDR, and the firewall, but due to price hike, they are unable to renew it."
"Sophos Email can improve security. We would like more security for our customers."
"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."
"Since it was purchased by Broadcomm, we've found there's been a general slide in terms of the local services we have access to and we are considering replacing them."
"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."
"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."
"Where it is not available, as is the case with unstructured data, this product fails miserably."
"Support could be better. What's also 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."
"They really need to create a good package that competes with Microsoft."
"The false positive submissions must be improved."
"If the customer has to think about budget and solutions to reduce IT cost, they should get away from Symantec and try using Microsoft."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is fair."
"I would rate the pricing of Sophos Email as a six. It is considered affordable as a standalone product, and there are no additional costs besides licensing. The pricing is fixed."
"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."
"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."
"I rate the price of Sophos Email a four out of five."
"The pricing is quite reasonable, with a fixed cost and no additional charges."
"The solution is expensive."
"I rate the product's pricing a seven out of ten."
"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."
"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."
"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
Outsourcing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Outsourcing Company
19%
Construction Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business27
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise9
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos Email?
Regarding Sophos Email pricing, I would rate it between six or seven out of ten.
What needs improvement with Sophos Email?
Some existing functionality in the product needs better articulation in how data is displayed. In one place there is data, but the way the data should be shown is not being shown right now. I have ...
What is your primary use case for Sophos Email?
I work on the endpoints. I work on endpoint, email, and firewall. Email, I use it on my personal domain, so I know what it does.
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Also Known As

Sophos Email Security
Symantec.cloud, Symantec Email Security.cloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Del Monte Foods, Terra Verde, spicerhaart, RIVERLITE, Dataprise, SureBridge, Reed's School, Sayfol International School
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 Proofpoint, Microsoft, Check Point Software Technologies and others in Email Security. Updated: October 2026.
921,665 professionals have used our research since 2012.