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Avanan vs Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.2
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 enhances email protection, reduces costs, and increases productivity, offering invaluable data security.
Sentiment score
8.4
Avanan improved email security, reduced phishing, increased user trust, enhanced mobile protection, and boosted ROI and revenue growth.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection enhances email security, reducing incidents and boosting productivity, yielding strong ROI in the US market.
It has also decreased our time to detection and response by about 15 to 20 percent.
Overall, cost of owning and operating our system goes down.
In terms of the areas where I saw that return on investment with Microsoft Defender for Office 365, it is related to the risk to our environment, specifically regarding users being scammed or phished.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers reliable support, praised for responsiveness, despite some challenges with clarity and third-party resolutions.
Sentiment score
8.1
Avanan's customer service is highly responsive, professional, and proactive, with excellent communication and extensive support staff knowledge.
Sentiment score
6.8
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection support quality varies, with premium users generally reporting more consistent and timely assistance.
Over the past two years, there have been no critical problems.
we opened tickets, and they typically resolve them quickly.
My experience with customer support and technical support for Microsoft Defender for Office 365 has been excellent.
Microsoft offers excellent 24/7 support.
My team is able to get the help they need when necessary.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 scales seamlessly across configurations, supporting thousands of users with effortless integration and optimal performance.
Sentiment score
8.2
Avanan integrates with Office 365 and Google, praised for scalability, admin capabilities, and efficient email protection across diverse organizations.
Sentiment score
8.0
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection offers scalable, adaptable security, supporting diverse organizational needs with ease and high user satisfaction.
We have never faced scalability problems, and Microsoft manages it effectively.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 scales transparently for us, as we grew from 1,000 users to 3,000 users, and we didn't notice much difference.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is highly reliable, offering stable performance, quick issue resolution, and high user satisfaction ratings.
Sentiment score
8.5
Avanan is highly praised for its stability, efficiency, security, minimal maintenance, seamless Microsoft 365 integration, and reliable AI-based scanning.
Sentiment score
8.1
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is highly rated for reliability and stability, with occasional management and configuration challenges noted.
I would assess the stability and reliability of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 as very stable, with barely any issues.
The solution is stable, as we have been using it for the past two years.
Overall, the stability and reliability of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 are good.
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 needs enhanced virus protection, compatibility, UI, integration, reporting, and cost transparency to improve user experience.
Users feel Avanan needs improvements in Active Directory dependency, email quarantining, AI logic, training, UI, performance, pricing, mobile app, and integrations.
Users desire improved automation, integration, security, pricing, reporting, email handling, stability, functionality, support, and clearer product distinctions in EOP.
Microsoft could improve by offering recommendations for domain spoofing attacks, especially scenarios where DNS records like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are not properly published.
There is a different console for different things; I just want one consolidated console.
The main area for improvement is simplifying the implementation and rollout process.
Improving the search process by allowing searches with different types of parameters and facilitating searches within emails would be advantageous.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise users find Microsoft Defender for Office 365 pricing complex but valuable due to integration with Office 365 features.
Avanan provides flexible pricing for Office 365, with straightforward setup and costs between $4 to $8 per user.
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection offers valued security features despite varying costs, with flexible licensing in Microsoft 365 bundles.
We've likely saved 30% of costs.
Microsoft is quite affordable with a lot of features available for any size organization.
Money-wise, it is a part of the Office 365 suite, making it slightly more expensive compared to Trend Micro.
The pricing is reasonable.
Microsoft Exchange is more expensive compared to other services like Gmail.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers comprehensive security with real-time updates and automated threat response, enhancing multi-platform enterprise safety.
Avanan provides advanced malware and phishing detection, 24/7 cloud protection, easy integration with Microsoft 365, and ensures secure communications.
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection provides scalable, user-friendly security with AI, ensuring robust anti-phishing and anti-malware protection for all businesses.
The value of the DLP feature is significant to us because we have internal data, sometimes sensitive, and the users may not always be aware of security and privacy, which might lead them to send out information mistakenly to external parties.
It provides end-to-end visibility on email threats such as phishing, extending beyond Exchange Online Protection.
It ranks the threats and allows us to prioritize those hitting us the hardest, such as email threats.
The security features provided by Microsoft are robust.
In the last three years, has resulted in no antivirus problems.
It offers more features and better security, making it the best option for corporate environments.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Offi...
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Ranking in Email Security
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (11th), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (1st)
Avanan
Ranking in Email Security
16th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (17th)
Microsoft Exchange Online P...
Ranking in Email Security
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
Anti-Malware Tools (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 12.9%, down from 18.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Avanan is 3.9%, up from 3.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) is 6.7%, down from 9.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

Vikas Ingle - PeerSpot reviewer
Centralized tenant enables group control but setup process complicates implementation
Actually earlier, I used to have full controls with Trend Micro. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 ( /products/microsoft-defender-for-office-365-reviews ) is now part of a centralized tenant for my entire group. I don't have control on that, as another team is maintaining it. Since I don't have full visibility of the features, I cannot make significant comments.
Robert Melendez - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhances email security and has a very simple and easy-to-use UI
Spam protection is the most valuable feature. We have implemented the tool to enhance our email security. It helps prevent phishing attacks. The anomaly detection capabilities are baked into the security platform. The product integrates wonderfully with Microsoft 365. It's built right on a cloud platform and works almost natively. The solution has a very simple and easy-to-use UI. The tool appears extremely powerful and has a good solid feature set. It catches things that are bad for my environment. The user interface is good the way it is. If the solution continues down that path, I see no problems with the way it is going. It feels like a mature product.
Alfred Watts - PeerSpot reviewer
Comprehensive protection ensures a seamless experience for IT management
I am using Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) for word processing, spreadsheet management, Power BI, checking my meetings, using Teams, and for Exchange emails. I am utilizing all Microsoft products such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) has been…
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Educational Organization
31%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

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?
Microsoft is quite affordable with a lot of features available for any size organization.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Microsoft could improve by offering recommendations for domain spoofing attacks, especially scenarios where DNS recor...
What do you like most about Avanan?
Spam protection is the most valuable feature.
What needs improvement with Avanan?
Avanan doesn't cover certain tool segments. Barracuda provides backup and retention of emails and Microsoft 365’s bac...
What do you like most about Microsoft Exchange Online Protection?
The initial setup was easy. The configuration process is very straightforward.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Exchange Online Protection?
I would like to improve the setting of rules in Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) as it is currently working...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Exchange Online Protection?
I am using Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) ( /products/microsoft-exchange-online-protection-eop-reviews ) ...
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
No data available
Microsoft EOP, MS Exchange Online Protection
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
Bethel School District, ServiceSource, Capital Caring
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Avanan vs. Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.