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Check Point Email Security (formerly Harmony Email & Collaboration) 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

Check Point Email Security ...
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
99
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (3rd), Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (6th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (6th)
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. Check Point Email Security (formerly Harmony Email & Collaboration) is designed for Email Security and holds a mindshare of 3.7%, down 4.7% 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 (%)
Check Point Email Security (formerly Harmony Email & Collaboration)3.7%
Proofpoint Email Protection5.9%
Microsoft Defender for Office 3655.0%
Other85.4%
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

Harish (Kumar) - PeerSpot reviewer
Cybersecurity And Information Governance Head at Aeren
Email security has blocked sophisticated phishing and now protects inboxes with AI detection
The only challenge with Check Point Email Security (formerly Harmony Email & Collaboration) is that it is an API-based solution. In an API-based solution, the major challenge is that it can read email content and Google Drive content. This presents a data privacy challenge, and we had to mitigate it by signing a Data Processing Agreement and other agreements. Because it is not a traditional in-line solution, Check Point Email Security (formerly Harmony Email & Collaboration) connects with Google Workspace using API permission and can access email, attachments, sender, recipient information, links, and all metadata is with Check Point. Data storage and everything else is with Check Point, which is the challenge. This solution has a drawback because of API deployment, while other solutions are traditional secure email gateways that are in-line solutions. In those solutions, we need to change the MX record, but with this solution we do not need to change the MX record, which is a pro of API-based deployment. However, there is also a con in that with API solutions, the email is scanned but after delivery in the mailbox.
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

"The most valuable feature is the sandboxing feature. It provides a sandboxing environment where you can open links and see where they lead. You can see what is presented in the link after opening it."
"For Threat Prevention, I was impressed with this feature and the solution's effectiveness. It has been very good."
"Its characteristics are adapted to the most modern threats."
"This DLP is very useful, as it gives our users additional protection."
"Email security has improved since we deployed this platform."
"The incorporated AI capabilities are particularly notable, functioning as AI versus AI, and it has protected us from various threats with a nice dashboard that shows if anything is missed by MS 365."
"It fully protects colleagues from visiting insecure sites and browsing in unhealthy environments."
"For us, I prefer Check Point before Palo Alto and before other brands because Check Point is most effective in attack mitigation and attack detection."
"The cloud-based interface is very user-friendly."
"Symantec Messaging Gateway has a good GUI, and it is very powerful in detecting viruses and spam."
"It is a solid and stable product."
"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've been using Messaging Gateway for ten years."
"We use the solution for its advanced virus protection, phishing and other features."
"The setup is pretty simple."
"Since Symantec Messaging Gateway is a Linux-based solution it is stable."
 

Cons

"I would like the agents to perform better; sometimes, they are too heavy for endpoints, and they affect performance."
"A phishing simulator would be helpful as a user training module."
"We have used technical support, but their response time is very slow. It needs to be improved."
"The cost is a little bit expensive."
"Currently, Check Point HEC supports only Microsoft Office 365 and Google Sheets. In today's world, some clients are using old email service provider solutions, so it would be better if HEC also provides support for third-party email service solutions, such as IBM HCL Notes, creating more opportunities."
"The solution fails to support hybrid deployments."
"While the analytics are commendable, they don't provide deep dive insights. They show the overall counts of malware, phishing, and business compromise emails, but there isn't a robust ability to dive deeper into those categories to see specifics."
"There is always room for improvement and growth."
"They really need to create a good package that competes with Microsoft."
"If the customer has to think about budget and solutions to reduce IT cost, they should get away from Symantec and try using Microsoft."
"It is a nice product but is not user friendly in terms of the graphical interface. It is poor and is not rich in terms of the human interface."
"Symantec Messaging Gateway should include better exclusions and exceptions for better administration."
"Sometimes the solution picks up false positive for viruses during scans."
"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."
"Messaging Gateway's advanced malware detection could be improved."
"The biggest problem is it's an on-prem product and we're trying to get out of having equipment in data centers."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is expensive."
"I rate the platform’s pricing a seven and a half."
"The cost is similar to other competitors. It's not much higher."
"I rate the product's pricing a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"As we are a non-profit organization, we got the tool with a good offer. On a yearly basis, we pay 10,000 Euro for 500 users, which also includes the technical support part."
"Having information stolen by a hacker would be more expensive than purchasing a license."
"The price is very good, based on what they deliver."
"Reasonable cost, quick and easy implementation, and transparent."
"Symantec Messaging Gateway’s pricing is very cheap."
"A subscription for technical support costs extra."
"They're a little costly compared to Microsoft."
"For 150 users, we pay INR 1,60,000."
"It's a bit expensive compared to its competitor Barracuda Email Security Gateway but cheaper than Sophos Email."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
16%
Construction Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
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 Business73
Midsize Enterprise24
Large Enterprise37
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise9
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Check Point Harmony Email & Office?
We are not currently using this product. Six months back, we removed that product due to a few issues. The major issue is naturally the budget, as it is expensive. Our organization is expanding and...
What is your primary use case for Check Point Harmony Email & Office?
The major use case for Check Point Email Security (formerly Harmony Email & Collaboration) was Business Email Compromise, CEO fraud, and vendor impersonation. Phishing attacks were also a major...
What needs improvement with Check Point Harmony Email & Office?
The only challenge with Check Point Email Security (formerly Harmony Email & Collaboration) is that it is an API-based solution. In an API-based solution, the major challenge is that it can rea...
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Also Known As

Check Point CloudGuard, Check Point CloudGuard SaaS , Check Point Harmony Email & Office
Symantec.cloud, Symantec Email Security.cloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Helvetia, Denham Capital, Daymark Solutions, Neopharm Group
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.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.