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Avanan vs Sophos Email comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 3, 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

Cloudflare One
Sponsored
Ranking in Email Security
20th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (15th), Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (21st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (11th), Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection (7th), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (13th), Access Management (12th), Bot Management (3rd), ZTNA as a Service (8th), ZTNA (3rd), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (10th), Remote Browser Isolation (RBI) (3rd)
Avanan
Ranking in Email Security
14th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (27th)
Sophos Email
Ranking in Email Security
13th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
Office 365 Protection (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Cloudflare One is 1.5%, down from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Avanan is 2.7%, down from 3.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos Email is 2.0%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Sophos Email2.0%
Avanan2.7%
Cloudflare One1.5%
Other93.8%
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

CV
Network Architect at IP Dimension
Cloud security has improved remote access and has reduced costs for smaller client sites
I have used Cloudflare One's Identity-Aware Proxy, and it is quite straightforward from what I have seen so far. The app registration on the Azure side integrates fully into Cloudflare, and I am very satisfied with that part because it is easy to set up. The integration of Cloudflare One's Secure Web Gateway and Zero Trust Network Access works without any issues. That part is pretty automatic, and if you complete the rest of the setup, it comes together by itself with no issues from my side. What makes it nice is that we can actually start replacing on-site firewalls at this stage for the smaller clients because it does not matter if they go to a coffee shop or work from home; they are still secured by the same connection. The hops get shorter and you get better latency. We have done testing to see if it is better. One thing that we did notice with our proof of concept with our current client is that they have people connecting from the UK. When they used their previous VPN solution, uploading CAD drawings and other files to the server took a long time. They mentioned that it is much quicker on Cloudflare One's solution. I definitely believe that is part of the improved performance, and I am satisfied with that as well. What is nice about Cloudflare One is that it makes the setup easier and also easier to train technicians to maintain it. Compared to legacy systems, we do not need to get fancy firewalls in place that are costly. That is definitely also a cost-saver with Cloudflare One.
Robert Melendez - PeerSpot reviewer
Vice President Information Technology at Makeready
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.
Kalyan  Chowdhury - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder at Computech infosysetm
Stronger email and mobile security has protected users from ransomware and simplified management
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. The price is going to be very high. It would be better if Sophos can provide a more flexible pricing model for different types of businesses. Price could be lower. The main competitor for Sophos in the market is Palo Alto, which has reduced their price by more than 35 to 40%, making it a very challenging part to sell this product. Palo Alto provides the same functionality for email security, which adds to the challenge because the price is going very high.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"What makes it nice is that we can actually start replacing on-site firewalls at this stage for the smaller clients because it does not matter if they go to a coffee shop or work from home; they are still secured by the same connection."
"Clover is the best product globally."
"For Cloudflare Access, I am using the free plan...The most valuable feature is their protection."
"Enables me to work from two locations."
"The tool also offers good scalability, and the dashboard, along with real-time analytics, is very good."
"Cloudflare, in my opinion, was easy to implement."
"Cloudflare Access is part of the Zero Trust philosophy."
"The blocking feature is very good."
"If we look at four to five years ago, we had close to six or eight people click a link in an email per month. Now, we are probably down to about five or six clicks a year, if not less."
"When we don't understand some functionalities, the customer support staff responds fast to our calls and provides immediate action."
"Email encryption enhances end to end security of any data before it passes through the networking system."
"The threat detection tools enable us to ascertain malware and phishing messages across the email network infrastructure."
"It is simple to deploy this platform and interact with the set features."
"Easy to use for non-technical users."
"The most valuable feature of Avanan is its Anti-Malware solution for Office 365, and box.com."
"The most valuable feature of Avanan is its effectiveness. When scanning incoming emails for threats it can in an automated fashion, quarantine suspicious attachments."
"The most valuable feature is its email security."
"I would recommend Sophos Email to both end-users and other entities that want to protect their emails."
"There are many features that are important, but among those, the spam protection feature is very valuable. It help us to safeguard the email against phishing and ensures that there is maximum security enabled for our communication processes. It has a huge role in protecting our emails from potential threats."
"The anti-spam functionality of Sophos Email is good."
"It's easy to use and the configuration is straightforward."
"It has enhanced our approach to tackling malware and spam. It is a reliable product with a good user interface."
"I find the comprehensive features of Sophos Email most valuable."
"The tool's most valuable feature is the anti-spam detection filter. Its threat email intelligence features help to identify email data."
 

Cons

"The onboarding process can be improved a little bit."
"Lacks a VPN feature to provide a secure connection to the data center."
"Feedback could be enhanced."
"For the topic of improvement, providing some training material is one of my suggestions."
"From a logging perspective, it is still a bit difficult to see exactly what users are being blocked with the current views."
"The pricing is an area that can be improved. Pricing, as far as I recall, was the source of our problems."
"The software has automated alerts, but the automated alerts are not available in the mobile app."
"There are premium tier live service and lower tier live service, so we opted for the lower tier. But there is no medium tier where we pay a little extra and get a bit more service. So if that can be improved."
"It should also offer a quick backup in case any email is wrongly quarantined or deleted to ensure no data loss."
"Familiarization with performance for new teams may take a long time."
"It should reduce the amount of time needed for thorough scanning."
"When sending bulky emails, the system slows down and takes a long time before it responds effectively to our requests."
"Avanan doesn't cover certain tool segments."
"There are times when we have false positives."
"Sometimes it seemed like the allow list wasn't working. I've created many allow list rules however, they still seem to be blocked; the same is true with the blocked list rules."
"It is complicated for new users unfamiliar with the modern cloud networking infrastructure."
"The tool has some performance issues and bugs, making it an area where improvements are required."
"Sophos Email can improve security."
"The solution's sandboxing and spam control features could be improved."
"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."
"The main drawback is regarding the technical support."
"Sophos Email has few improvements to implement, including the handling of incoming emails in the systems. It needs to add additional feature that helps in enhancing the scanning processes of these emails. While adding these features, it should work towards improving the current features also."
"The security of the solution could improve."
"Sophos Email needs to increase the number of promos."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The prices are slightly expensive."
"My company has to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the solution. There are no hidden charges apart from the licensing costs of the solution."
"The price tag is no longer $200,000, but rather $300,000 to $400,000. It's twice."
"Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform's pricing is good."
"The pricing is somewhere in the middle. I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten."
"The solution is not that expensive."
"The pricing of the solution is cheap. The licensing cost is also very low. I rate the cost and pricing a three out of ten."
"The solution's pricing lacks transparency."
"Having the flexibility and modeling to do the pricing that best fits the needs of the organization is incredibly ideal. That is what Avanan does. They know exactly how many users are using it, etc. We can tune the invoicing associated with how we are using the product so we can charge it back to the shows appropriately."
"Avanan’s price is comparable to Barracuda."
"The pricing of Avanan is reasonable."
"Good pricing arrangement as an SaaS offering."
"The product is not the cheapest in the market."
"Licensing is paid on a yearly basis."
"It falls somewhere in the middle—it's not excessively expensive nor very cheap."
"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."
"There is an additional fee for their central managed console."
"Sophos Email is a little expensive for us, but it's necessary. We have a subscription and renew it every three years."
"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."
"I rate the product's pricing a seven out of ten."
"The pricing is fair."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Construction Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business26
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cloudflare Access?
Cloudflare Access has strong integration with Microsoft, among other platforms. However, when it comes to Kaspersky, ...
What is your primary use case for Cloudflare Access?
Cloudflare Access provides secure access to internal applications for employees, external members of the organization...
What advice do you have for others considering Cloudflare Access?
Cloudflare Access is one of the best integrations available. While about two hundred vendors offer similar services, ...
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 Sophos Email?
The solution's identity proxy feature is very good and reliable.
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?
Price is obviously a challenging part, and I think it is the biggest problem we have suffered from over the last two ...
 

Also Known As

Cloudflare Area 1 Email Security, Cloudflare Bot Management, Cloudflare Gateway, Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform, Cloudflare DDoS, Cloudflare SASE & SSE Platform
No data available
Sophos Email Security
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

23andMe
Bethel School District, ServiceSource, Capital Caring
Del Monte Foods, Terra Verde, spicerhaart, RIVERLITE, Dataprise, SureBridge, Reed's School, Sayfol International School
Find out what your peers are saying about Avanan vs. Sophos Email and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.