Fortinet FortiMail Cloud vs Symantec Messaging Gateway comparison

Fortinet and Broadcom are both solutions in the Secure Email Gateway (SEG) category. Fortinet is ranked #8 with an average rating of 7.3, while Broadcom is ranked #12. Fortinet holds a 4.6% mindshare in SEG, compared to Broadcom’s 2.5% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Fortinet users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

Fortinet FortiMail Cloud

Read 24 Fortinet FortiMail Cloud reviews

1,947 Views
584 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Symantec Messaging Gateway

Read 20 Symantec Messaging Gateway reviews

1,275 Views
459 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Fortinet FortiMail Cloud

Symantec Messaging Gateway

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024

Symantec Messaging Gateway and Fortinet FortiMail Cloud are two leading solutions in the email security category. Symantec holds an advantage with its comprehensive feature set and ease of use, while Fortinet impresses with advanced threat protection and competitive pricing.

Features: Symantec Messaging Gateway is well-regarded for its sophisticated content filtering, malware defenses, and scalability. Its ability to block up to 99% of spam enhances its robustness. Fortinet FortiMail Cloud offers advanced threat protection, quick threat detection, and seamless integration with other Fortinet products.

Room for Improvement: Symantec needs improvement in unstructured data handling, dynamic content filtering, and endpoint synchronization. Fortinet should enhance its email encryption, develop more user-friendly dashboards, and offer better multi-domain support.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Symantec offers both on-premises and cloud deployment, but its support has weakened post-acquisition by Broadcom. Fortinet is appreciated for straightforward cloud-based deployments, although its support management needs refinement.

Pricing and ROI: Symantec's high pricing with additional features and user-based licensing can be costly, though it provides strong ROI. Fortinet presents a cost-effective alternative with flexible licensing and inclusive support, though its licensing complexity can be an issue.

To learn more, read our detailed Fortinet FortiMail Cloud vs. Symantec Messaging Gateway Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiMail Cloud vs. Symantec Messaging Gateway

December 2025

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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

Fortinet FortiMail Cloud

Ranking in Secure Email Gateway (SEG)

8th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Email (5th)

Symantec Messaging Gateway

Ranking in Secure Email Gateway (SEG)

12th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Secure Email Gateway (SEG) category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiMail Cloud is 4.6%, up from 3.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Messaging Gateway is 2.5%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Secure Email Gateway (SEG) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Fortinet FortiMail Cloud	4.6%
Symantec Messaging Gateway	2.5%
Other	92.9%

Secure Email Gateway (SEG)

Featured Reviews

Himashu Rathoe

Senior Network Security Engineer at Vibs

Provides solid functionality and allows room for enhancing content management and support services

They can improve their CDR content profile and some anti-spam features. They don't have any direct script to run to add personalization, and we have to do it manually one by one. There are many tasks which we have to complete individually. We can't import files into the Fortinet FortiMail Cloud sensors. That's a drawback, as they need to provide a feature to import files. We can make the format, but we cannot import the file into Fortinet FortiMail Cloud. Additionally, in Fortinet FortiMail Cloud, not in FortiSandbox, they need to improve the block and allow list functionality to block URLs and allow specific types of URLs or regex.

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Girish Vijay

Deputy Manager IT at Carl Bechem Lubricants India Pvt. Ltd.

A stable and reasonably priced solution that performs well and has a very good malware database

Since Symantec merged with Broadcom, they might have lost some good technical engineers. Maybe that’s the reason why the product is performing poorly. When we have a good marketing and sales team, even though our product cannot perform, we will sell it at a high price because of the buzzwords. However, at the end of the day, the product should perform. Most of the products might not perform. Symantec is a very good product, but the services are basic. I rate the technical features of the product a nine out of ten. However, I would rate the services provided by the solution a six out of ten. Overall, I rate the tool an eight out of ten.

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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

"One of the most beautiful benefits is its integration, as it can seamlessly integrate with any third-party email servers."

"The implementation was very professional. There are a lot of features I can get through Fortinet and FortiMail, such as security. FortiGuard is the most reliable and professional mitigation center to handle incidents and risk that I have to face."

"The encryption features are most valuable to us."

"Fortinet is good at providing security beyond our email solution assets."

"If there is a problem somewhere Fortinet can act on it immediately. That is very important."

"Cost-wise, it's a bit expensive, but it's totally worth it."

"Content disarming and analysis are essential features in our email security setup"

"The quarantine feature of FortiMail is the most valuable, as it quarantines emails based on my policies."

More Fortinet FortiMail Cloud pros

"What I like most about Symantec Messaging Gateway is its usability. I also find its interface very friendly. The solution has a very good interface."

"It is a solid and stable product."

"It has very good capabilities for managing malware."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is the content filtering policies because the solution offers huge options for configuration, such as hardware manipulation, et cetera, and the dictionaries make the work easier."

"Symantec Messaging Gateway has a huge knowledge base about phishing, spamming, spoofing, etc."

"The cloud-based interface is very user-friendly."

"The feature that I like the best is the fingerprinting concept."

"Symantec is a secure product."

More Symantec Messaging Gateway pros

Cons

"The price is relatively expensive."

"FortiMail needs to develop further, particularly in integrating AI features, to keep up with rapidly advancing technology."

"The setup of the rules can be improved. I think it should be simplified and would be the best improvement in the system."

"This solution is slow and it should be made faster."

"Fortinet FortiMail Cloud doesn't have AI features, making it an outdated tool for me."

"The downside of this solution is that it is difficult to implement policies on FortiMail."

"They could look at strengthening anti-spam with the newly observed domains."

"This ease of use and user-friendliness is something we believe could be improved in FortiMail."

More Fortinet FortiMail Cloud cons

"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."

"Sometimes the solution picks up false positive for viruses during scans."

"The solution interface is from 2003 and is outdated. Symantec Messaging Gateway needs to update the interface."

"In a later release, it would be nice if the messaging gateway supported the cluster feature."

"What's 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."

"We've had issues in the past where the user finds spam, and Symantec does not recognize it as spam."

"Symantec Messaging Gateway can improve detection because most of them are false negatives or false positives that we are trying to troubleshoot. Additionally, we are having routing problems and they are somehow connected to DNS issues."

"What needs to be improved in Symantec Messaging Gateway is its local partner support, as it's not as technical. The support my company gets from the partner isn't good. Vendor support is good, but local partner support isn't. I'm happy with Symantec Messaging Gateway as a solution, but the problem is with its partner support. To me, Symantec Messaging Gateway is a complete solution, but it can be very difficult to search the web for resolutions to issues or problems you experience from it. If this could be improved or resolved in the next release of Symantec Messaging Gateway, then that would be good."

More Symantec Messaging Gateway cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing is for three years. In the beginning, we did not pay monthly, it was paid once for three years."

"When we're talking about pricing, other products have about the same price. That is normal."

"A license for our company using FortiMail and FortiCare (filtering and support) was $4000."

"The pricing depends on various factors, including the type of licenses and subscriptions you have procured"

"The price of this solution could be more competitive."

"You only have to purchase one license for multiple participants."

"It's on a subscribed basis."

"It should cost around $60,000. We bought it as a bundle, so everything comes together in the license. That is standard."

More Fortinet FortiMail Cloud pricing and cost advice

"For 150 users, we pay INR 1,60,000."

"They're a little costly compared to Microsoft."

"A subscription for technical support costs extra."

"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."

"Symantec Messaging Gateway’s pricing is very cheap."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

University

Financial Services Firm

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	2

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	8

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiMail Cloud?

The price of Fortinet FortiMail Cloud in Egypt is very competitive against other products, including the setup cost and licensing of this solution.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiMail Cloud?

The improvement in Fortinet FortiMail Cloud can be made regarding the classification process itself because it has some false positives.

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What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiMail Cloud?

I have experience working with Fortinet FortiMail Cloud as a mail gateway, not a firewall, and we have been using it for about three or four years. I have worked with Fortinet FortiMail Cloud for t...

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Comparisons

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Compared 13% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 17% of the time

Trend Micro Email Security vs Symantec Messaging Gateway

Compared 13% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Symantec Messaging Gateway

Compared 11% of the time

Fortinet FortiMail vs Symantec Messaging Gateway

Compared 10% of the time

Cisco Secure Email vs Symantec Messaging Gateway

Compared 8% of the time

More Symantec Messaging Gateway Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiMail Cloud

January 2026

Download Fortinet FortiMail Cloud product report

Buyer's Guide

Symantec Messaging Gateway

January 2026

Download Symantec Messaging Gateway product report

Also Known As

No data available

Symantec.cloud, Symantec Email Security.cloud

Overview

Fortinet FortiMail Cloud is a comprehensive email security solution that protects organizations from advanced threats and ensures secure email communication. It offers robust features such as anti-spam, anti-malware, and data loss prevention to safeguard against email-borne attacks. With its cloud-based deployment, FortiMail Cloud provides scalable and flexible email security without the need for additional hardware or software.

It offers real-time threat intelligence and advanced analytics to detect and block sophisticated threats, including zero-day attacks. FortiMail Cloud also includes encryption capabilities to secure sensitive data and comply with regulatory requirements. With its user-friendly interface and centralized management, organizations can easily configure and monitor email security policies across multiple domains.

FortiMail Cloud provides comprehensive protection against email threats, ensuring business continuity and peace of mind.

Fortinet

Symantec Messaging Gateway is a comprehensive email security solution designed to protect organizations from advanced threats and spam. It combines multiple layers of protection, including anti-malware, anti-spam, and data loss prevention, to safeguard sensitive information and ensure email continuity.

With its advanced threat intelligence and machine learning capabilities, it can detect and block sophisticated attacks, such as ransomware and spear-phishing. The solution also offers robust encryption and authentication features to secure email communications.

Its intuitive management console provides administrators with granular control and real-time visibility into email traffic. Symantec Messaging Gateway is a reliable and scalable solution that helps organizations mitigate email-borne threats and maintain a secure messaging environment.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data

Doric, Joblink Plus, Our Lady of Mercy College, Parramatta, PPB Advisory, Slater & Gordon Lawyers, Sydney Adventist Hospital Ltd.

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiMail Cloud vs. Symantec Messaging Gateway

December 2025

Free Report: Fortinet FortiMail Cloud vs. Symantec Messaging Gateway

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