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Fortra's Agari vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365 comparison

 

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

Fortra's Agari
Ranking in Email Security
37th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Defender for Offi...
Ranking in Email Security
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (2nd), Microsoft Security Suite (10th), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Fortra's Agari is 0.6%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 9.1%, down from 13.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Security Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Office 3659.1%
Fortra's Agari0.6%
Other90.3%
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

Tom Foal - PeerSpot reviewer
CTO at Klaatu IT Security Ltd
Helps to detect and generate reports on phishing emails and saves from email compromises
We use the solution for marketing and brand protection.  I am impressed with the tool's discovery capabilities which help me find out who is sending the emails on the company's behalf. I also find the ability to detect and generate reports on phishing emails a valuable feature.  The product's…
Emeka Ndulu - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Improves threat visibility and response while reducing manual tasks and training users against phishing
I appreciate the attack simulation feature whereby I get to train users and educate them on how to identify phishing emails and spam emails, as well as the anti-spam protection. It gives me visibility into my threat environment and threat landscape to ensure that I am one step ahead of any likelihood of threats within my environment. I get to detect it and respond, so the threat intelligence is very effective. Microsoft security solutions save my time. It saves money because once I protect my environment, I don't lose money. It has decreased my detection time and my time to respond.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"If spam or some kind of malicious email gets past Mimecast and gets into our email environment, we can go into Agari and we can search for it."
"I am impressed with the tool's discovery capabilities which help me find out who is sending the emails on the company's behalf. I also find the ability to detect and generate reports on phishing emails a valuable feature."
"It comes with a lot of helpful tips for complicated areas."
"It is really important for large companies to have the brand protection that is provided by Agari."
"Does a thorough job of examining email and URLs for malicious content."
"The product is not resource-intensive."
"Some of the valuable features on the email side are anti-phishing, anti-malware, and Safe Links."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is a stable solution."
"The deployment capability is a great feature."
"Defender helps us prioritize threats across our organization."
"The good part is that you don't have to configure it, which is very convenient."
"The insights provided with Microsoft Defender for Office 365 are helpful because it comes with the E5 license, and by default, we can use a lot of capabilities."
 

Cons

"The product's user interface is clunky. We have difficulty in finding what we need. I would also like to see automation in the onboarding processes."
"The protocol is quite complicated, which may not be something that could be improved, but it would be better if it was simplified."
"Some customers in the financial sector do not like the cloud solution because they don't want data to be transferred to a US-based cloud."
"Specifically, within Microsoft Defender for Office 365, I want it to improve the DLP capabilities."
"Sometimes I have to recategorize things when it takes the wrong step and I do not want it to classify something as suspicious."
"The phishing and spam filters could use some improvement."
"They have moved features from one console to another. Things have been moved around in the interface and it takes me time to find where certain features are."
"We still see many false positives from time to time with Microsoft Defender for Office 365, so it would be good if we can reduce those false positives and provide better workflows for our end users, as sometimes they may not know what to do when they encounter a false positive."
"The inbuilt analysis of false positives can be faster. It's not slow, but it can be faster."
"There is a different console for different things; I just want one consolidated console."
"Specifically, within Microsoft Defender for Office 365, I want it to improve the DLP capabilities."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing depends on the number of users; per how many mailboxes you have, but they're pretty negotiable with that, too."
"The price of the licensing is based on the volume of email."
"The tool is not expensive and I would rate its pricing a four out of ten."
"While Microsoft Defender for Office 365 necessitates pricier E3 or E5 subscriptions, the extensive functionality offered by these licenses across various Microsoft products justifies the investment."
"For large enterprise organizations, they can definitely afford it, but for small and medium organizations, they might struggle to cover the expenses."
"I know that the product is incredibly expensive."
"Compared to other brands, Microsoft Defender for Office 365's pricing is competitive."
"For licensing, it's usually a yearly package for customers who are subscribed to Office 365, but they can also pay on a monthly basis."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is an add-on to the Office license. Many customers are purchasing this solution."
"Defender for 365 comes in various plans and licenses, along with other Microsoft security solutions. Purchasing this kind of package or security bundle gives good value for money, and that's what I recommend."
"The product is very expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
9%
Retailer
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise31
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
The inbuilt analysis of false positives can be faster. It's not slow, but it can be faster.
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
My use case for Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is for email protection, safe links, protection of links, documents, protecting my documents, and protecting attachments. I also use it to conduct ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
MS Defender for Office 365
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NACHA
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortra's Agari vs. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,757 professionals have used our research since 2012.