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Fortinet FortiMail Cloud vs Symantec Messaging Gateway comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 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

Fortinet FortiMail Cloud
Ranking in Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
8th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
24
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
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Secure Email Gateway (SEG) category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiMail Cloud is 4.0%, down from 4.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Messaging Gateway is 2.6%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Secure Email Gateway (SEG) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiMail Cloud4.0%
Symantec Messaging Gateway2.6%
Other93.4%
Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
 

Featured Reviews

HR
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.
Girish Vijay - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cost-wise, it's a bit expensive, but it's totally worth it."
"I am happy with the stability."
"The most valuable feature is the advanced threat protection."
"The deployment is simple."
"The quarantine feature of FortiMail is the most valuable, as it quarantines emails based on my policies."
"The most valuable features are the low price and its ability to integrate with other Fortinet products."
"FortiGuard is the most reliable and professional mitigation center to handle incidents and risks that I have to face."
"This solution is easy to install."
"Symantec Messaging Gateway is stable and scalable."
"The solution is stable and the performance is good."
"The cloud-based interface is very user-friendly."
"Symantec’s spyware and malware signature database is very good compared to other products."
"The feature that I like the best is the fingerprinting concept."
"It has very good capabilities for managing malware."
"I like that it's simple and easy to configure, deploy, and manage. The reporting function has all the features we're looking for, and we are fine with that."
"The anti-malware and spam features are valuable."
 

Cons

"The URL filtering and handling should be enhanced because it doesn't support all languages. I believe that this would be easy to enhance in the future."
"Its GUI needs improvement."
"Fortinet FortiMail Cloud doesn't have AI features, making it an outdated tool for me."
"There are no specific new features I would suggest at this moment."
"Fortimail Cloud should include more advanced AI features that can analyze every traffic type."
"The dashboard could use improvement."
"Networking should be simplified."
"Fortinet policies add an extra load to the endpoint."
"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."
"They really need to create a good package that competes with Microsoft."
"In a later release, it would be nice if the messaging gateway supported the cluster feature."
"Messaging Gateway's advanced malware detection could be improved."
"Symantec Messaging Gateway can improve detection because most of them are false negatives or false positives that we are trying to troubleshoot."
"The solution interface is from 2003 and is outdated. Symantec Messaging Gateway needs to update the interface."
"Where it is not available, as is the case with unstructured data, this product fails miserably."
"Messaging Gateway's advanced malware detection could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"A license for our company using FortiMail and FortiCare (filtering and support) was $4000."
"The product's price is reasonable."
"The licensing is for three years. In the beginning, we did not pay monthly, it was paid once for three years."
"You only have to purchase one license for multiple participants."
"The pricing depends on various factors, including the type of licenses and subscriptions you have procured"
"It should cost around $60,000. We bought it as a bundle, so everything comes together in the license. That is standard."
"It's on a subscribed basis."
"The price of this solution could be more competitive."
"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."
"For 150 users, we pay INR 1,60,000."
"Symantec Messaging Gateway’s pricing is very cheap."
"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."
"They're a little costly compared to Microsoft."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
University
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Construction Company
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise8
 

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.
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.
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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Also Known As

No data available
Symantec.cloud, Symantec Email Security.cloud
 

Overview

 

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.
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiMail Cloud vs. Symantec Messaging Gateway and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.