Kaspersky Security for Mail Server vs Sophos Email comparison

Kaspersky Security for Mail Server vs. Sophos Email

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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

Microsoft Defender for Offi...

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 13.1%, down from 19.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Kaspersky Security for Mail Server is 0.9%, down from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos Email is 2.3%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Email Security

Featured Reviews

Tolu Omolaja

Head of Department of Network Communications at Eko electricity

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.

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Taha Khaleel

Chief Operations Officer at PRO-VISION

A highly reliable solution that provides monitoring capabilities and protection to multiple types of devices

The initial setup of Kaspersky Security for Mail Server is very easy. The initial setup of Kaspersky Security for Mail Server takes around four minutes. The solution is deployed on the cloud and on-premises. For the deployment process, you can buy the solution in a CD form or purchase it directly from the company website and activate it. My company needs managers, engineers, and developers to deploy the solution. The number of people required for the deployment process changes from time to time, so all the staff are included not just for the deployment of the solution but also to make improvements to the solution in the future. You can contact Kaspersky to see if they can provide the solution with integration capabilities for your company by providing you with an open account, which I haven't tried yet, though I plan to try it in the future.

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NaveedAli

Senior manager IT infrastructure at Machine Learning 1 Limited ·

Provides good identity proxy features, but sandboxing and spam control features could be improved

Sophos gives you a feature set to manage your on-premises firewall on the cloud. I just integrated my on-premises firewall into the cloud, and I can manage the tool through the cloud as well if needed. I recommend using Sophos Email as a proxy. For email gateways, I advise choosing mature products with rich feature sets, like Trend Micro or CrowdStrike. The solution's integration with other tools is very simple. I easily integrated Sophos Email with my Active Directory. My organization needs a WAF with a limited feature set, which we use through Sophos. Purchasing additional WAF will be costly, but I get sandboxing and WAF features free of cost with Sophos, which is included in the license. Overall, I rate the solution a seven 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

"Defender for Office 365 has helped eliminate having to look at multiple dashboards and that is the aspect I like most about it. It is simpler, effective, and convenient. The users like the process efficiency."

"The basic features are okay and I'm satisfied with the Defender."

"It also gives the vulnerability status according to the versions you have selected. Let's say you have Google Chrome. It mentions the versions it has, and it updates. Within two hours of an update, it is reflected in the dashboard. That's really nice to have."

"One of the best features of the tool is its capability to aggregate insights from different workloads, basically from the Office 365 and endpoints part."

"Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable feature is its performance."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is the ease of use."

"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."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 pros

"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."

"I find the product valuable because it provides easy integration with other platforms like Fortinet firewalls."

"We have achieved cost savings of up to thirty percent by using Kaspersky Security for Mail Server."

"The most valuable feature is the straightforward setup."

"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 would recommend Sophos Email to both end-users and other entities that want to protect their emails."

"The speed and stability were fine."

"Sophos Email offers encryption and malware protection, provides visibility into emails, has 99% accuracy in catching spam, enhances organizational safety, integrates with various vendors like Microsoft, is deployable with any email service, prevents data loss, features authentication rules, synchronizes with Active Directory and Azure, and includes a self-service portal. The product is very flexible."

"The tool is a good solution for protecting against email attacks and monitoring networks. It supports our compliance efforts and is easy to use and stable."

"The anti-malware, risk scanning has been pretty spot on."

"It's easy to use and the configuration is straightforward."

"I cannot guarantee any email by its name. It can be spam. Sophos Email helps to double-check whether an email is spam or not. It has a dashboard which gives an overview of the alerts."

"The deployment is very easy. It's quite straightforward."

More Sophos Email pros

Cons

"Microsoft Defender for Office 365's Mac functionality requires improvement to deliver the same level of protection found on Windows devices."

"Microsoft wants its well-paying customers to finish testing some of its half-baked products, find bugs, and report bugs back to Microsoft's team, which is a little frustrating for those who have to manage it and roll it up to thousands of people across the organization."

"Configuration requires going to a lot of places rather than just accessing one tab."

"Microsoft sometimes has downtime, and we'll get several incidents coming in back to back. We have a huge backlog of notifications, many of which may be false positives. However, there might be serious alerts, so we can't risk dismissing all of them at once."

"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."

"About eight months ago, we started to measure the quantity of phishing and spam that we have been receiving, and it has been increasing a lot. That means that protection for our email is not as good as we were expecting."

"I am generally satisfied with how it currently is. If I could improve anything, I would reduce the cost."

"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."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 cons

"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."

"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."

"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 solution is not 100 percent stable and that can use improvement."

"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."

"The tool's pricing is expensive. In its future release, the tool should make reporting easier to view."

"Sophos Email can improve security."

"I would like to see improvements in the initial setup process, ensuring better compatibility with diverse customer infrastructures."

"Sophos Email could improve DLP features."

"A lot of legit emails get quarantined."

"The main drawback is regarding the technical support."

"The security of the solution could improve."

"The product could include all the essential features and capabilities, similar to the on-premise, server-based version."

More Sophos Email cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I was working in the government and it was too expensive for us to use our Microsoft products."

"The solution could be better by simplifying the business model of their licensing. It was hard to figure out how to get the licensing done for the environment, initially."

"The product is very expensive."

"It is much more expensive than using another solution because we have had to include some options and upgrade our license."

"The pricing is normal. Considering its popularity, it's not overpriced."

"From the pricing point of view, like any other product in the market, there is scope for negotiation."

"It's a user-base subscription."

"Compared to other brands, Microsoft Defender for Office 365's pricing is competitive."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 pricing and cost advice

"The solution is not expensive."

"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."

"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."

"Sophos Email is priced lower than its competitors."

"Licensing is paid on a yearly basis."

"It is an expensive solution. On a scale of one to ten, where one is low price, and ten is high price, I rate the pricing a seven."

"Sophos Email is a little expensive for us, but it's necessary. We have a subscription and renew it every three years."

"The platform is inexpensive. It offers a cost-effective licensing model. We purchase its yearly license."

"The tool's pricing is medium."

"We use exchange licenses, for which we get immediate support from Sophos."

"The pricing is fair."

More Sophos Email pricing and cost advice

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845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

13%

University

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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 variou...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Office 365?

I don't have detailed specifics on pricing, setup cost, or licensing.

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?

I am generally satisfied with how it currently is. If I could improve anything, I would reduce the cost.

What do you like most about 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.

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 a...

What needs improvement with Kaspersky Security for Mail Server?

I believe integration with other platforms like Fortinet firewalls and a feature similar to a SIEM ( /categories/secu...

What do you like most about Sophos Email?

The solution's identity proxy feature is very good and reliable.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos Email?

Sophos Email pricing is a bit high, especially since I purchase through a partner, and they sell it at a higher price...

What needs improvement with Sophos Email?

Email installation could be more user-friendly so that it can be done without involving the partner. If made more use...

Proofpoint Email Protection vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Comparisons

Compared 14% of the time

Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Compared 7% of the time

Hornetsecurity 365 Total Protection vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Compared 5% of the time

Mimecast Email Security vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Compared 5% of the time

Fortinet FortiMail vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Compared 3% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Competitors

Fortinet FortiMail vs Kaspersky Security for Mail Server

Compared 30% of the time

Barracuda Email Security Gateway vs Kaspersky Security for Mail Server

Compared 15% of the time

Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) vs Kaspersky Security for Mail Server

Compared 9% of the time

Security Gateway vs Kaspersky Security for Mail Server

Compared 7% of the time

Fortinet FortiMail Cloud vs Kaspersky Security for Mail Server

Compared 7% of the time

More Kaspersky Security for Mail Server Competitors

Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) vs Sophos Email

Compared 11% of the time

Fortinet FortiMail vs Sophos Email

Compared 7% of the time

Hornetsecurity 365 Total Protection vs Sophos Email

Compared 7% of the time

Barracuda Email Protection vs Sophos Email

Compared 5% of the time

IRONSCALES vs Sophos Email

Compared 3% of the time

More Sophos Email Competitors

Product Reports

Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Download Microsoft Defender for Office 365 product report

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 report

Email Security

Download Kaspersky Security for Mail Server product report

Kaspersky Security for Mail Server report

Sophos Email

Download Sophos Email product report

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365

No data available

Sophos Email Security

Overview

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is a comprehensive security solution designed to protect organizations against advanced threats in their email, collaboration, and productivity environments. It combines the power of Microsoft's threat intelligence, machine learning, and behavioral analytics to provide real-time protection against phishing, malware, ransomware, and other malicious attacks.

With Microsoft Defender for Office 365, organizations can safeguard their email communication by detecting and blocking malicious links, attachments, and unsafe email content. It employs advanced anti-phishing capabilities to identify and prevent sophisticated phishing attacks that attempt to steal sensitive information or compromise user credentials.

This solution also offers robust protection against malware and ransomware. It leverages machine learning algorithms to analyze email attachments and URLs in real-time, identifying and blocking malicious content before it reaches users' inboxes. Additionally, it provides advanced threat-hunting capabilities, allowing security teams to proactively investigate and respond to potential threats.

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 goes beyond email protection and extends its security features to other collaboration tools like SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams. It scans files and documents stored in these platforms, ensuring that they are free from malware and other malicious content. It also provides visibility into user activities, helping organizations detect and mitigate insider threats.

Furthermore, this solution offers rich reporting and analytics capabilities, providing organizations with insights into their security posture and threat landscape. It enables security administrators to monitor and manage security incidents, track trends, and take proactive measures to enhance their overall security posture.

Microsoft

Email is the number one vector used by cybercriminals to penetrate and attack enterprise IT systems.

Kaspersky Security for Mail Server uses Next Generation technologies including advanced heuristics, machine learning and sandboxing to detect and protect against ransomware, spam, phishing, data loss and even unknown threats penetrating your IT systems through emails and malicious attachments.

Kaspersky

Sophos Email is a comprehensive email security solution designed to protect organizations from advanced threats and data loss. It offers robust protection against malware, phishing attacks, and spam, ensuring that only legitimate emails reach users' inboxes.

With advanced threat intelligence and machine learning algorithms, it can detect and block sophisticated attacks in real-time. Additionally, it provides encryption and data loss prevention capabilities to safeguard sensitive information.

The solution is easy to deploy and manage, with a user-friendly interface and centralized control. Sophos Email offers seamless integration with popular email platforms, ensuring uninterrupted communication while maintaining security.

With its comprehensive features and proactive approach, Sophos Email is a reliable choice for organizations looking to enhance their email security.

Sophos

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.

Vimpel Com, Estrella Galicia, Krombacher

Del Monte Foods, Terra Verde, spicerhaart, RIVERLITE, Dataprise, SureBridge, Reed's School, Sayfol International School

Kaspersky Security for Mail Server vs. Sophos Email