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IRONSCALES vs Proofpoint Email Protection comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.6
Businesses find IRONSCALES offers significant ROI by saving time, reducing intervention, and enhancing cybersecurity with minimal licensing costs.
Sentiment score
5.9
Proofpoint Email Protection enhances security by reducing spam and threats, though its interface may impact operational efficiency.
The ideal situation would be to have all these portals combined into one unified dashboard.
Information Security Architect at Loews Hotels
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
IRONSCALES customer service is praised for responsiveness, knowledgeable staff, and high satisfaction, despite minor delays.
Sentiment score
6.9
Proofpoint Email Protection's support is often praised for expertise and responsiveness but criticized for inconsistencies and sluggish communication.
Customer support for IRONSCALES is outstanding.
Email Security Analyst at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
I would rate their technical support as very good, as they respond promptly when my team opens a ticket.
Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
I am familiar with the granular policy control feature of Proofpoint Email Protection, and I find their support excellent for modifying those policies.
Senior Cybersecurity Specialist at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Sometimes I get some really great responses and analysts, but sometimes when their cloud services have a failure, they are slow to respond and tell me about it, though they have been improving.
Consultant at Exelixis Inc
I rate customer support a three out of ten mainly because of the phishing attacks that are getting through.
Information Security Architect at Loews Hotels
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.6
IRONSCALES offers seamless scalability, easy integration, and cloud-based flexibility, supporting growing businesses without performance issues or maintenance burdens.
Sentiment score
7.6
Proofpoint Email Protection offers scalable, adaptable cloud-based architecture, efficiently supporting expansions for businesses of all sizes, despite minor licensing concerns.
Proofpoint is scalable for multi-site organizations with thousands of users.
Products and solutions director at ITVikings
Proofpoint Email Protection is a scalable solution that very much fits our capacity requirements.
Consultant at Exelixis Inc
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
IRONSCALES is praised for its stability, reliability, minimal downtime, and improved performance, enhancing operational workflows for users.
Sentiment score
8.1
Proofpoint Email Protection offers consistent stability and reliability, with minor interface issues and infrequent outages reported by users.
When evaluating the stability of Proofpoint Email Protection in regards to downtime, bugs, and glitches, it comes and goes in waves.
Consultant at Exelixis Inc
 

Room For Improvement

IRONSCALES needs better Google Suite integration, intuitive UI, enhanced features, multilingual support, and improved email detection accuracy.
Proofpoint Email Protection's high cost and integration challenges hinder its usability, flexibility, and effectiveness in phishing and spam detection.
If there were clickable drill downs on specific users or specific correspondence to relate them to certain types of mails, that would be beneficial.
Email Security Analyst at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Having a more user-friendly UI would make it easier to identify features and options when using the tool.
SOC LEAD at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Though this isn't problematic for our users, the content could be updated more frequently.
Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
They need to simplify the interface to show all the products I have access to in one location.
Consultant at Exelixis Inc
Proofpoint could expand its phishing detection capabilities to improve its efficiency.
Products and solutions director at ITVikings
More security could be implemented.
Logistics Manager at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

IRONSCALES offers valuable email security with high pricing, involving annual licensing and fees, considered worthwhile for phishing prevention.
Proofpoint Email Protection is costly but valued for its robust features despite higher pricing than competitors like Mimecast and Barracuda.
While I don't specifically oversee the pricing details, I understand that IRONSCALES is in the range of similar solutions while offering better results.
Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Customers pay around $90,000 yearly for a 1,000-user organization, with the subscription license being the main expense, apart from implementation fees.
Products and solutions director at ITVikings
Additional costs do come in, but it enhances security.
Logistics Manager at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

IRONSCALES enhances email security with AI detection, Microsoft 365 integration, user-friendly features, and mobile app incident management.
Proofpoint Email Protection offers robust security, AI-driven threat detection, user-friendly management, and strong support for email threat visibility.
IRONSCALES has positively impacted my organization by making email security simple in terms of controlling mails, understanding where the threats are, and protecting the organization itself.
Email Security Analyst at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
The best features of IRONSCALES are that most alerts are validated through AI, which reduces the fatigue of alerts that need to be worked on by the team handling the alerts investigation part.
SOC LEAD at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
IRONSCALES excels at analyzing the intention, not just the content itself, but the sender's attempt to gain user attention.
Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
What I appreciate about the DLP portion specifically is that it is very detailed and customizable.
Information Security Architect at Loews Hotels
I appreciate that it's the industry leader, and its firewalling is very easy to manage and implement.
Senior Cybersecurity Specialist at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Feature-wise, what I appreciate most about Proofpoint Email Protection is that their bread and butter is their email security gateway.
Consultant at Exelixis Inc
 

Categories and Ranking

IRONSCALES
Ranking in Email Security
14th
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
16th
Ranking in Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
5th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Proofpoint Email Protection
Ranking in Email Security
2nd
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
4th
Ranking in Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Digital Risk Protection (3rd), Office 365 Protection (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Secure Email Gateway (SEG) category, the mindshare of IRONSCALES is 4.9%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Proofpoint Email Protection is 20.3%, up from 20.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Secure Email Gateway (SEG) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Proofpoint Email Protection20.3%
IRONSCALES4.9%
Other74.8%
Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2770017 - PeerSpot reviewer
Email Security Analyst at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Has improved threat analysis by providing clear email correspondence history and reporting tools
The best features IRONSCALES offers are the investigation tabs, headers, and correspondence history, which stand out the most for me. The investigation tabs are valuable for my work because reporting goes a long way in terms of playbooks and having a full investigation. The investigation tab knows exactly how to put the information in a way that makes it very easy for reports to get done fast. Security awareness training is a big part of IRONSCALES. The platform offers a broad spectrum in terms of what campaigns can be run for security awareness for users as well as reporting back on how users interact with their mails and understanding where the vulnerabilities lie. IRONSCALES has positively impacted my organization by making email security simple in terms of controlling mails, understanding where the threats are, and protecting the organization itself.
Steve Bradbury - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at Exelixis Inc
Email defenses have blocked advanced threats and provide deep visibility into risky users
The areas that have room for improvement in Proofpoint Email Protection include their cost of ownership, which is fairly high. To manage and run all their products, I have to list and manage administrators in seven or eight different places. That is too many places to keep track of since for this tool I have to go to one location, and for another tool I have to go to a different location. They need to simplify the administration management of administrators and consolidate that into one place for all their products. Access to all the different products is very scattered. For some products I go to one URL, and for different products I go to a different URL. They have a threat URL that has most of their products in it, but not all. They need to simplify the interface to show all the products I have access to in one location.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Secure Email Gateway (SEG) solutions are best for your needs.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise18
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IRONSCALES?
The solution captures a bit more of the unknown, quantifies it, and applies intelligence to it to pick out and stop a lot of phishing emails that come through.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IRONSCALES?
While I don't specifically oversee the pricing details, I understand that IRONSCALES is in the range of similar solutions while offering better results.
What needs improvement with IRONSCALES?
I would really prefer to drill down more on correspondence history. It provides detailed background information to actually understand what's going on. If there were clickable drill downs on specif...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Proofpoint Email Protection?
In terms of pricing, it is okay compared to others. I would say it is normal. Additional costs do come in, but it enhances security.
What needs improvement with Proofpoint Email Protection?
I believe they still need to improve by consolidating some portals, as currently, you have to log in separately to a few of them.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Proofpoint Enterprise Protection, Proofpoint Digital Protection
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Allegheny Millwork, Ayrshire College, Nium, Orris, Paramount School District, Pres Les, PRT Staffing, Recovery Unplugged, Telit, WebHelp
Blocket, University of Waterloo, Lincoln Memorial University, WellSpan Health, U-Haul, Carestream Health, Westinghouse
Find out what your peers are saying about IRONSCALES vs. Proofpoint Email Protection and other solutions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.