Abnormal Security vs IRONSCALES comparison

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Abnormal Security

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024

IRONSCALES and Abnormal Security are advanced competitors in the email security solutions category, each offering distinct advantages. Abnormal Security appears to have the edge due to its AI and API-based capabilities providing comprehensive threat protection and effective auto-remediation.

Features: IRONSCALES emphasizes community-based threat-sharing, which enables faster identification of phishing attempts globally. Its AI-driven detection offers high efficiency, significantly reducing manual review times. The mobile app functionality enhances accessibility for managing security alerts on the go. Abnormal Security leverages AI for robust threat protection and efficient auto-remediation, minimizing false positives. The solution's ease of integration and strong API capabilities improve threat visibility and user experience by learning employee behavior.

Room for Improvement: IRONSCALES could improve its reporting features and expand language support, and some users express a need for better integration with various platforms. Abnormal Security users suggest enhancing integration capabilities and adjusting pricing for educational institutions. There's potential for better outbound message scanning and coordination with other tools.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both IRONSCALES and Abnormal Security provide cloud-based deployment options, with IRONSCALES offering a hybrid solution. IRONSCALES is praised for its responsive technical support, though some users mention communication issues during specific cases. Abnormal Security receives positive reviews for its quick and effective customer support, especially in understanding industry challenges.

Pricing and ROI: IRONSCALES, while considered costly, offers significant ROI due to its preventive capabilities that reduce time and losses, with licensing perceived as fair but potentially expensive with additional features. Abnormal Security offers competitive pricing models, particularly for the educational sector, and provides considerable value through cost-effective integration with enterprise needs, recognized for substantial ROI through reduced operational costs and enhanced security effectiveness.

To learn more, read our detailed Abnormal Security vs. IRONSCALES Report (Updated: January 2026).

Abnormal Security vs. IRONSCALES

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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

Abnormal Security

Ranking in Email Security

4th

Ranking in Secure Email Gateway (SEG)

3rd

Average Rating

9.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

IRONSCALES

Ranking in Email Security

14th

Ranking in Secure Email Gateway (SEG)

5th

Average Rating

9.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (16th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Secure Email Gateway (SEG) category, the mindshare of Abnormal Security is 11.4%, up from 11.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IRONSCALES is 4.9%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Secure Email Gateway (SEG) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Abnormal Security	11.4%
IRONSCALES	4.9%
Other	83.7%

Secure Email Gateway (SEG)

Featured Reviews

William Schellhaas

Senior Director of IT at Crunch Fitness West Florida and Atlanta (CR Fitness)

Provides comprehensive email security management, effective in detecting a wide range of email threats

The ideal scenario would be for Abnormal Security to work in tandem with Microsoft to analyze incoming emails. This means Abnormal Security would assess emails before they reach my inbox, even if it happens slightly after Microsoft's initial scan. Currently, the process isn't seamless. Microsoft analyzes emails and delivers legitimate ones to my inbox. Abnormal Security then scans these delivered emails, and if flagged as malicious, they disappear. This creates a problem for our ticketing system mailbox, which is a third-party service. Emails sent to the ticketing system address are automatically forwarded by Microsoft. However, if these emails are malicious, Abnormal Security only cleans them from my Outlook mailbox after they've been forwarded. Since we primarily rely on the ticketing system and not the Outlook mailbox, these malicious emails still reach the ticketing system.

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reviewer2770017

Email Security Analyst at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

Has improved threat analysis by providing clear email correspondence history and reporting tools

The best features IRONSCALES offers are the investigation tabs, headers, and correspondence history, which stand out the most for me. The investigation tabs are valuable for my work because reporting goes a long way in terms of playbooks and having a full investigation. The investigation tab knows exactly how to put the information in a way that makes it very easy for reports to get done fast. Security awareness training is a big part of IRONSCALES. The platform offers a broad spectrum in terms of what campaigns can be run for security awareness for users as well as reporting back on how users interact with their mails and understanding where the vulnerabilities lie. IRONSCALES has positively impacted my organization by making email security simple in terms of controlling mails, understanding where the threats are, and protecting the organization itself.

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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

"Initial auto-remediation allows us to auto-remediate before the email lands in the end user's inbox for a split second."

"It does some really cool stuff that other tools aren't doing. We found it to be really effective, and the AI/ML functionality is really what differentiates them."

"Ease of use is undoubtedly one of the most valuable features of Abnormal Security."

"It protects us from being business email compromised, which is invaluable for maintaining our security."

"Abnormal Security's AI capabilities are what we like most, as they can categorize and classify the emails, and based on the context of the email, understand if it's a graymail, a bulk mail, or a phish."

"What I like about Abnormal Security is that it notifies me if any of my partners or suppliers are experiencing a security breach by analyzing their database and identifying potential cyber threats."

"One of the things that I love about them is that the setup and installation are super easy. All you do is give them access to your Microsoft 365 tenant, and through APIs, they are able to do their work. They are doing all this through APIs, so you do not have to install the software and take a month to get it all set up to even see the value of the solution. You could be up and running in less than an hour."

"I would recommend Abnormal Security."

More Abnormal Security pros

"For what was being offered with IRONSCALES, I feel like we got an incredible deal."

"Their anti-phishing platform is absolutely fantastic. The automated AI piece is amazing, and their technical support is fantastic."

"I would say the most valuable feature is what they call Themis. It's like a virtual analyst that uses the decisions that system admins make to generate a score for whether an email is legitimate, spam, or phishing. It gets better based on the decisions that we make over time. The automation piece is great as well. The integrated approach of email security combined with employee awareness training is excellent."

"The best features of IRONSCALES are that most alerts are validated through AI, which reduces the fatigue of alerts that need to be worked on by the team handling the alerts investigation part."

"The report function through Gmail is probably the most valuable feature. The next most valuable features are simulation and training."

"AI-driven phishing detection and incident remediation are valuable. It saves time from having to do manual analysis and investigation, and we also get alerts for phishing emails."

"For me, the mobile app is most valuable. All other features are also very useful, but the mobile app makes it really easy for me to manage on the go. I don't have to be at my desk. I could be at the shops, or it could be in the evening when I am out, and I can get a notification on my phone that there is an incident that has been raised. I can sort it out very quickly without having to be at my work PC."

"The fact that it is set-and-forget is valuable. Once you turn it on, you very rarely have to micromanage it, whereas, with a lot of spam filters, you have to go in very often."

More IRONSCALES pros

Cons

"When we're working on something as engineers, and we find an idea or a method of doing something that would be greatly improved by doing it another way, there should be an ability for me to click the ideas button, type in an idea that I have, and submit it to a product review team or developers to have them think through the process a little bit more."

"The pricing for academic institutions and student mailboxes is challenging."

"For Abnormal Security as a product, I would say probably somewhere around a seven, as there are some other areas where they can improve to achieve a higher rating."

"The biggest pain point for us is the lack of support for on-premise email systems."

"The ideal scenario would be for Abnormal Security to work in tandem with Microsoft to analyze incoming emails."

"I, as such, do not have anything that I do not like or would like to add, but you could argue that because they are doing it API-based, there is a chance that something could slip through temporarily before they are able to pull it out. In theory, it could happen just because of the nature of the system. They are not in line with the delivery of the mail. They are kind of asynchronous, which is a pro as well as a con. If it is synchronous, then I know it would always stop them, but because it is asynchronous, things could get through temporarily or because of some system issues on the Microsoft side or their side. It is the nature of the beast, but it is a little bit of a con."

"There could be more selectable options and more granular selections available."

"There could be room for improvement in enhancing integration with other cybersecurity tools."

More Abnormal Security cons

"IRONSCALES should bundle more features together instead of separating them and charging additional licensing fees."

"In addition to integrated training, they should also have personalized training that you don't have to do as part of a phishing campaign or a simulation."

"I think the tool can continue to hone the product to ensure the detections are accurate."

"There is a feature called Account Takeover, which isn't what I want it to be able to do. I know that they're working on that, but when they first started the Account Takeover feature in incident management, it didn't have much information. It didn't have any usability to it. I already had tools in place that were better."

"I would love to see the indication of compromise and how the solution utilizes open source resources. It would be good to see that included in the paid versions. It would be a small addition but add a lot of value for clients."

"I would really prefer to drill down more on correspondence history. It provides detailed background information to actually understand what's going on."

"Even though they have been continuously improving it, it is not 100% there. We have had a few incidents where legitimate emails were getting blocked, and we had to manually remove those emails from quarantine. It is 90% effective or accurate because, on rare occasions, some emails from customers were not getting delivered. In one or two instances, their emails got blocked by IRONSCALES, and we had to manually remove the emails from quarantine. I would like them to improve their algorithm to avoid flagging genuine emails as malicious. I would also like to be able to whitelist certain email addresses. I'd love to be able to whitelist a particular customer."

"The tool supports 15 to 16 languages, but the content it uses in the training in Spanish has certain limitations."

More IRONSCALES cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Abnormal Security, on the other hand, provides the same level of functionality for just over $60,000 – that's half the price!"

"The pricing appears fair, and they demonstrate a genuine willingness to work with us on it."

"Overall, we'd certainly prefer lower pricing, but Abnormal Security doesn't seem unreasonable compared to similar offerings in the market."

"The license is based on the user count, so the number of users that have an email address in the organization."

"There is an installation cost. Since we have this as a managed service, we pay for licensing and the managed service itself. Other than that, there are no additional costs."

"The tool is not very cheap, but it is affordable."

"They are pretty much the same as all the other competitors in the market."

"The product is available as a middle-priced tool. I think it is not the cheapest solution."

"We pay $3000 plus a little more a year for the number of employees we have, and we're not even that big. The solution is at the higher end in terms of cost. It's not the most expensive product, but I would say it's worth the price if you have a high volume of email traffic. In our case, the solution has inspected over 162,000 emails between three and four months. It saved us a lot of time and money. It's a worthwhile investment because a bad actor only has to succeed once; we must defend against everything in our business. IRONSCALES offers a sense of security and confidence from being well protected."

"As compared to everything else we looked at, it was good. It was the best value for the dollars."

"Considering the value it provides, it is definitely worth the cost. We don't have to do manual analysis and remediation of phishing emails, which saves us a lot of hours. Its licensing is based on the number of users being supported and the number of email addresses being protected. I'm not aware of any additional costs."

"IRONSCALES is an expensive solution."

More IRONSCALES pricing and cost advice

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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Secure Email Gateway (SEG) solutions are best for your needs.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

18%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	1
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	8

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	4

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Abnormal Security?

The features that appeal to me most are the combination of auto-remediation and Detection 360.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Abnormal Security?

I find the pricing to be favorable, but I did not disclose the exact cost.

What needs improvement with Abnormal Security?

Ease of use is important, and Abnormal Security's responsiveness and ability to deliver solutions when issues arise are crucial. However, there is always room for improvement, as achieving a perfec...

What do you like most about IRONSCALES?

The solution captures a bit more of the unknown, quantifies it, and applies intelligence to it to pick out and stop a lot of phishing emails that come through.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IRONSCALES?

While I don't specifically oversee the pricing details, I understand that IRONSCALES is in the range of similar solutions while offering better results.

What needs improvement with IRONSCALES?

I would really prefer to drill down more on correspondence history. It provides detailed background information to actually understand what's going on. If there were clickable drill downs on specif...

Sublime Security vs Abnormal Security

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Compared 6% of the time

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Product Reports

Abnormal Security

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Overview

Abnormal Security is a cloud-based email security platform designed to protect organizations from advanced targeted attacks, such as phishing and business email compromise (BEC), and account takeovers. Their approach is centered on using artificial intelligence (AI) and behavioral data science to detect anomalies in email activity.

Abnormal Security is specializes in protecting email communications, detecting and preventing threats, filtering out spam and phishing emails, and blocking malicious attachments. Users rely on Abnormal Security to enhance their email security, identify and stop sophisticated attacks, safeguard sensitive information, and improve overall cybersecurity measures.

Abnormal Security targets sophisticated attacks that traditional email security measures might miss. Their system analyzes various data points to build an understanding of email behavior within your organization. This includes emails themselves, sender and recipient information, and even business context. By understanding these patterns, they can identify anomalies that might indicate a malicious attempt. Their solution is designed for the cloud, offering quick deployment and minimal configuration. This eliminates the need for complex setup processes often associated with security software.

Abnormal Security customers appreciate the ease of use in setting up and managing the platform, along with its ability to accurately filter out suspicious emails and prevent potential cyber threats. Abnormal Security has been praised for streamlining processes, boosting productivity, improving communication within teams, providing valuable analytics for informed decision-making, and driving success in various projects. Experience the robust security measures and benefits of Abnormal Security to safeguard your sensitive information and maintain a secure email environment.

Abnormal AI

IRONSCALES delivers cutting-edge AI-driven email phishing detection and prevention, seamlessly integrating with Microsoft 365 for enhanced security.

IRONSCALES, with its advanced AI capabilities, focuses on email security by detecting phishing threats, mitigating business email compromises, and preventing impersonation. Its integration with Microsoft 365 strengthens spam filters, automatically responding to suspicious emails. The platform is used globally for threat inspection, quarantine, and end-user incident reporting. Staff training is enhanced through simulated phishing campaigns, offering an extra layer of protection beyond Microsoft's spam filters. Areas for improvement include better Google Suite integration, pricing adjustments, and enhanced reporting features.

What features make IRONSCALES stand out?

AI Phishing Detection: Advanced algorithms for identifying phishing threats.
Microsoft 365 Integration: Seamless enhancement of email security within Microsoft systems.
Mobile App: Manage email threats on the go.
Anti-Phishing Training: Simulated campaigns for staff education.
Multi-Organization Management: Centralized administration for multiple entities.

What benefits and ROI should you consider?

Time-Saving: Automated detection and response to threats improve efficiency.
Comprehensive Security: Offers an additional protection layer beyond standard spam filters.
Ease of Use: Intuitive integration and user-friendly design streamline operations.
Risk Reduction: Minimizes potential email security breaches through proactive threat management.

In finance, IRONSCALES plays an essential role in safeguarding sensitive data from phishing attacks, ensuring compliance with industry standards. Educational institutions use IRONSCALES for training faculty and students on recognizing phishing attempts, thereby enhancing overall cybersecurity awareness. IT sectors leverage its capabilities for managing complex threat landscapes.

Sample Customers

Foot Lcoker, Xerox, Liberty Mutual, Mattel, Boston Scientific

Allegheny Millwork, Ayrshire College, Nium, Orris, Paramount School District, Pres Les, PRT Staffing, Recovery Unplugged, Telit, WebHelp

Abnormal Security vs. IRONSCALES