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Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Perception Point Advanced Email Security comparison

Microsoft and Perception Point are both solutions in the Email Security category. Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.5, while Perception Point is ranked #17 with an average rating of 9.3. Microsoft holds a 13.1% mindshare in Email Security, compared to Perception Point’s 2.2% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Perception Point users who would recommend it.
Microsoft Defender for Offi...
Read 48 Microsoft Defender for Office 365 reviews
  • 13,537 Views
  • 10,561 Comparison Views
96% willing to recommend
Perception Point Advanced E...
Read 23 Perception Point Advanced Email Security reviews
  • 2,204 Views
  • 1,332 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and Perception Point Advanced Email Security compete in the email security category. Based on feature comparison, Microsoft Defender for Office 365 seems to have the upper hand due to its robust integration and comprehensive threat protection.

Features: Microsoft Defender for Office 365 provides anti-phishing, malware protection, and Safe Links, ensuring cross-environment protection. Its data loss prevention and threat visibility features integrate seamlessly with other Microsoft products for a smooth user experience. Perception Point's strength lies in its high detection rate and quick scanning, particularly in handling impersonation and malicious email analysis. Its API-based implementation facilitates easy deployment without the need for MX record changes.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Defender for Office 365 could benefit from enhanced cross-platform support, more detailed reporting, and a more user-friendly interface. Improved threat visibility and a simpler pricing model have also been suggested. Perception Point needs to enable better alert customization and real-time notifications and expand its threat intelligence for deeper analysis while addressing some false positives and improving anti-spam and customer engagement.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Defender for Office 365 supports hybrid, public, and private clouds, providing flexibility, though documentation can sometimes feel overwhelming. It receives mixed reviews on technical support. Perception Point operates mainly on the public cloud and is praised for its simple deployment and responsive technical support, though some users seek more direct control and better documentation integration.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is bundled with E3 or E5 subscriptions, perceived as expensive but offering strong ROI due to its comprehensive protection and integration within the Microsoft ecosystem. Perception Point is priced per email with additional scan costs, considered reasonably priced and offering flexible licensing for SMBs, aligning well with customer budgets and needs.

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To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs. Perception Point Advanced Email Security Report (Updated: March 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs. Perception Point Advanced Email Security
March 2025
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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...
Ranking in Email Security
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
48
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (11th)
Perception Point Advanced E...
Ranking in Email Security
17th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Internet Security (6th)
 

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 Perception Point Advanced Email Security is 2.2%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

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.
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Jijin Joseph - PeerSpot reviewer
Gives in-depth analysis reports to end users for any malicious content found in emails
Our users would like the solution to scan outgoing emails. So, if my system is compromised, and I have malicious content in my system, then there is a possibility that I send malicious email to my colleague. There is a dependency on AWS cloud.This means if the cloud service is down, which may impact the perception point's email delivery.So it would be great if there is any HA for the solution. I would like a user-friendly configuration, like APIs. This solution is API-friendly configuration by following the steps provided. It would be great if it could be automate it, like the Avanan.Also, it would be good if Perception Point Advanced Email Security could have an MSP model. During the early stages of working with this solution, there were some constraints and issues.
Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The initial setup was easy."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable features are safe attachments and safe links."
"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 stability of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is fantastic."
"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 risk level notifications are most valuable. We get to know what kind of intrusion or attack is there, and we can fix a problem on time."
"There are several features that I consider valuable."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is data backups that we can provide through ticket requests."
More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 pros
"Their security engines are very effective at stopping malware and potential attacks before they reach a user's mailbox. They have the best detection engine."
"It really works well on SharePoint when you upload a file or save a file. Advanced Email Security scans if it is malicious and identifies issues. It can do some forensics on its console, which is nice."
"The most valuable feature is the technical support services."
"The most valuable feature is the hardware-assisted platform module."
"Perception Point Advanced Email Security has a correct price point and offers very good email filtering capabilities."
"I see from time to time that Perception Point is being proactive. They approach us, and say, "Can you check this, and this?" So, it does seem that they are an extension of my incident response."
"It has modules to detect malware and that is a strong point. It has a very nice way of showing you, directly in the product, a lot of details about certain pieces of malware. It goes very deep and even shows you the assembly code. It also does detonations on files and shows you the results in different operating systems. That is very useful."
"The most valuable feature I have found is the speed of scanning emails."
More Perception Point Advanced Email Security pros
 

Cons

"The GUI is sometimes slow to fetch the device report and could be improved."
"In some situations, it has not been able to pick impersonated emails having no attachments. Technical support definitely has a scope for improvement."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 could improve by giving customers information on techniques to prevent threats. For example, information about best practices on how to protect their own devices against hackers and scammers, such as educational information or training. This would help others have a better understanding of cyber security. Additionally, there can be more security features added."
"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."
"We need to be able to whitelist data at the backend."
"Configuration requires going to a lot of places rather than just accessing one tab."
"The XDR dashboard has room for improvement."
"Configuration at the mid-level could be improved for the support team."
More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 cons
"This is an option to preview an email in their console, and that could be improved. If you open the preview, then it auto scrolls. Therefore, it is hard to look at the email when it is going to the next page or scrolling. It should not have the auto-scroll."
"We have had a few false positives, not that many, but a few... they have a feature where someone from the Incident Response team can look at an email and mark it as 'verified malicious.' You might think that if an engine detects it is malicious, and an IR team member has flagged it as malicious, it will definitely be malicious. But that's not always the case."
"It would be helpful for Perception Point Advanced Email Security to have more integration with other solutions."
"In terms of architecture, and I know that they're going to improve this, the solution needs to be much more redundant. There was an outage a month ago in AWS, and that basically stopped the service for two or three hours. Although in two years, this was the first time that something like that happened, our expectation from a company like Perception Point is that it should work with either a multi-cloud or multi-region architecture, to improve the resilience."
"The only thing that can be improved in Perception Point is the in-depth analysis and attribution to cyberattack groups."
"They could provide additional data loss prevention features as we encounter different kinds of attacks in today's scenario."
"Coming from products in the Microsoft stack, Perception Point doesn't really give you, as an admin, a lot of options to make changes yourself. It's more on their side to make changes in the back end. That's something they could improve on in the future."
"Dashboard is an area of concern in the solution where improvements are required."
More Perception Point Advanced Email Security cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"For large enterprise organizations, they can definitely afford it, but for small and medium organizations, they might struggle to cover the expenses."
"It's a user-base subscription."
"The product is very expensive."
"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 was working in the government and it was too expensive for us to use our Microsoft products."
"It is much more expensive than using another solution because we have had to include some options and upgrade our license."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 comes with Microsoft Windows. It is free with the operating system."
More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 pricing and cost advice
"They are not the most expensive vendor. There are much more expensive vendors. They are not cheap, but they are not the most expensive. They are somewhere in the middle."
"If a user only wants protection for email, then the price of the product is okay, but if they opt for the collaboration options offered by the product, then it becomes a little expensive."
"We were able to get reasonable pricing that matches the ROI we want, so I think that it is the correct price point."
"In Brazil, the dollar price affects the cost. Perception Point Advanced Email Security is about 50 percent less expensive."
"It has very reasonable pricing. Normally, the end user is paying. Perception Point is already in the Amazon marketplace, so we cannot sell it as a distribution partner. For example, we cannot take more than that margin of what they offer in the marketplace. Whatever the end user is paying, it is definitely worth it and it is not that high."
"When compared to other solutions on the market, it is relatively fair."
"The pricing was fair in comparison with the other solutions. We have received good value for what we paid."
"There is room for improvement for them with an MSP partner. The pricing is good and fair. Our customers don't complain. The only thing is that it's a little bit old school. They don't have a system that automatically checks the number of users that our customers have so we can just update the licenses ourselves through a website. It is still done manually. They have a person who checks invoicing monthly to determine if there have been any changes. A nice improvement would be if they could get automated licensing counts."
More Perception Point Advanced Email Security pricing and cost advice
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Retailer
5%
 

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 various email campaigns, pinpointing where they emanate from, and identifying the indi...
See all answers
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.
See all answers
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.
See all answers
What do you like most about Perception Point Advanced Email Security?
The most valuable feature is the technical support services.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Perception Point Advanced Email Security?
In Brazil, the dollar price affects the cost. Perception Point Advanced Email Security is about 50 percent less expensive.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Perception Point Advanced Email Security?
To improve the solution, maybe a portal for end users to consult their emails would be helpful. The end user could access the portal and see their emails or events. They could also refresh the names.
See all answers
 

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Defender for Office 365
March 2025
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 reportDownload Microsoft Defender for Office 365 product report
Buyer's Guide
Perception Point Advanced Email Security
March 2025
Perception Point Advanced Email Security reportDownload Perception Point Advanced Email Security product report
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
No data available
 

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

Perception Point Advanced Email Security is a comprehensive solution designed to protect organizations from advanced email threats. Leveraging cutting-edge technology, it offers multi-layered defense mechanisms to detect and block sophisticated attacks such as phishing, malware, and ransomware. 

With its advanced threat intelligence capabilities, it can identify and neutralize zero-day threats in real-time. The solution also provides robust data loss prevention features, ensuring sensitive information remains secure. Its user-friendly interface allows for easy management and monitoring of email security, while its seamless integration with existing email platforms ensures a hassle-free deployment process. 

Perception Point Advanced Email Security is a reliable and efficient solution that safeguards organizations against the ever-evolving landscape of email-based threats.

Perception Point
 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
Information Not Available
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs. Perception Point Advanced Email Security
March 2025
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