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Kaspersky Security for Mail Server 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

Kaspersky Security for Mail...
Ranking in Email Security
35th
Ranking in Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
12th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Defender for Offi...
Ranking in Email Security
1st
Ranking in Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
53
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (2nd), Microsoft Security Suite (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Kaspersky Security for Mail Server is 0.7%, down from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 11.4%, down from 14.8% 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 36511.4%
Kaspersky Security for Mail Server0.7%
Other87.9%
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

Kamran Bhatti - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides reliable real-time email protection and offers competitive pricing features
Regarding Kaspersky Security for Mail Server, I have not compared with other solutions, but I will compare and provide feedback. It is a reliable and fast security solution, and I can say it blocks better than other competitor software. Kaspersky Security for Mail Server has support for Windows and Linux, but regarding improvement, I have to dig deep and will have to do research on that. I have not checked into much detail about what can be better in Kaspersky Security for Mail Server. I have checked in general. If given some time, I can check and compare with other solutions. Regarding Kaspersky Security for Mail Server, I have found this is quite a good solution. It has a good response and good detection capability. I have not checked other products, so I cannot give any detailed or specific feedback regarding that. From what I have checked from Kaspersky mail security, it is satisfactory.
Tolu Omolaja - PeerSpot reviewer
Great URL scanning and attachment scanning, but I would like more proactive threat analysis
The two main features that prove most beneficial for us are URL scanning and attachment scanning. URL scanning involves an automatic scan of links and emails. When a user clicks on a link within an email, the system promptly checks the link's safety. If the link is deemed safe, access is granted automatically. However, if it is flagged as unsafe, we receive feedback and notification to caution us about the potentially harmful link. At this point, we are presented with the option to proceed or return. I have personally witnessed the system identify a few unsafe links, making this the primary advantage of using the solution. The second crucial aspect is the scanning of attachments. When an email containing an attachment arrives, we receive a notification of the new email, along with information that the attachment is being scanned for threats. This additional layer of security provides peace of mind for our organization. While Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers numerous features, these two stand out as particularly impressive and valuable to us.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The integration rate is very high in Kaspersky, which is why most of our customers like it."
"The most valuable features are the anti-phishing and anti-spam capabilities."
"I find the product valuable because it provides easy integration with other platforms like Fortinet firewalls."
"The most valuable feature is the straightforward setup."
"We have achieved cost savings of up to thirty percent by using Kaspersky Security for Mail Server."
"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it is a highly reliable and dependable solution."
"You can install the plugins on the same machine hosting your exchange solution. It's a good complement for Sophos security, which scans the traffic before it reaches your mail service. Kaspersky is on the mail server itself while Sophos handles the incoming traffic. With both of them working together, we have the perfect solution for mail."
"Scalability-wise, I do not think there are any issues so far."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is data backups that we can provide through ticket requests."
"It gives us visibility into threats and, for endpoints, it helps us to prioritize threats. We used to have a lack of visibility, but now our time to detect and respond has decreased."
"The most valuable feature is protection against malicious links, fishing, and impersonation. You can train people to be aware of these threats, but they're not always careful. When they're using their phones between meetings, they click on a link, and it's game over."
"The product is not resource-intensive."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 facilitates efficient management and updates through the cloud. We do not have to worry about incompatibilities. It just works."
"The most valuable feature is the integration. It's a single console, so we don't have to switch around between multiple products. Another valuable feature is the ease of operations and maintenance."
"There are several features that I consider valuable."
 

Cons

"The solution is not 100 percent stable and that can use improvement."
"I rated the overall solution a five out of ten. If a user is looking for a low-budget solution with mid-level security without AI features, Kaspersky Security for Mail Server is suitable."
"I have only made contact via email, and it is a little slow. I would give customer service a rating of six or seven. Improving Spanish support would greatly benefit users."
"It would be great if Kaspersky could do what Sophos does for us. However, we love having these two different technologies doing the same thing. Sometimes Sophos has the patch to block a novel threat, but Kaspersky doesn't."
"Kaspersky lacks in the area of customization, so simpler customization options need to be provided to users."
"Encrypted email attachments are not being monitored by this solution, which is an area that they need to work on."
"The biggest problem in the solution is related to its license renewal since it is pretty hard in Kaspersky to find out the procedure to renew a license."
"The only thing they should improve is the licensing model. They should stop changing it. A year ago, the five features I mentioned were included in one product. Now, three of them are bundled into one product, and you have to pay extra for the other two. I don't mind paying extra, but I don't want them to change it every year or every six months. I need to know what I'm looking at and not worry about it next year."
"Configuring the default strategies and policies in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps generates a lot of noise and false positives."
"I'd like some additional features any product can give me to protect our environment in a better way."
"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."
"In one of the reports I can get the exact place where a vulnerable file resides. But for that, I need to explicitly go into the device and check. If they could include that file part in the report, without my having to go to the device itself, that would help."
"The GUI is sometimes slow to fetch the device report and could be improved."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 must improve the overall management style, including the GUI. It also needs to change the filters so that it is easy to whitelist and blacklist data."
"There is room for improvement in terms of reporting."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is not expensive."
"Price-wise, I would rate this product a four out of five. It could be a bit cheaper."
"My company makes annual payments towards the licensing costs solution."
"The solution offers one of the best prices possible to its users, making it even better than Barracuda. Kaspersky Security for Mail Server is ten times cheaper than Barracuda."
"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."
"I know that the product is incredibly expensive."
"Defender is a little bit more expensive as compared to others. We are in the manufacturing environment. So, we don't have a high budget for all of our endpoint devices. Its cost is a major concern for us."
"I was working in the government and it was too expensive for us to use our Microsoft products."
"Compared to other brands, Microsoft Defender for Office 365's pricing is competitive."
"Microsoft Defender is expensive. I typically recommend it only if clients have the budget. Otherwise, I would suggest an alternative."
"The product is very expensive."
"The pricing has become expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Retailer
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise27
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kaspersky Security for Mail Server?
The pricing is moderate. It is not expensive but not cheap either. For Mexico, a good price is about 20 dollars per agent.
What needs improvement with Kaspersky Security for Mail Server?
Regarding Kaspersky Security for Mail Server, I have not compared with other solutions, but I will compare and provide feedback. It is a reliable and fast security solution, and I can say it blocks...
What is your primary use case for Kaspersky Security for Mail Server?
I work on a mail protection service, specifically Kaspersky Security for Mail Server. I work with Kaspersky Security for Mail Server.
What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Threat Explorer is an invaluable tool for me, and it plays a crucial role in helping me discern the origins of various email campaigns, pinpointing where they emanate from, and identifying the indi...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Microsoft is quite affordable with a lot of features available for any size organization.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
I think that Microsoft Defender for Office 365 could be improved if it could use VirusTotal to compare the programs or anything that I download. VirusTotal helps to identify viruses, malware, troja...
 

Also Known As

No data available
MS Defender for Office 365
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Vimpel Com, Estrella Galicia, Krombacher
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
Find out what your peers are saying about Kaspersky Security for Mail Server vs. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.