Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

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

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 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
6.9
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers strong ROI through security enhancements, cost savings, and improved company productivity despite measurement challenges.
Sentiment score
7.5
Perception Point Advanced Email Security enhances efficiency, reduces false positives, and ensures high ROI by preventing phishing and productivity loss.
It has also decreased our time to detection and response by about 15 to 20 percent.
Technology support manager at Alfred State College
Overall, cost of owning and operating our system goes down.
Designation Chief Consultant at Avtow
It's hard to quantify the return on investment we've seen from Microsoft Defender for Office 365.
Chief Architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
I estimate that my team saves approximately eight hours each week because of Perception Point Advanced Email Security.
Security analyst at a outsourcing company with 501-1,000 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.8
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 users rate support highly, praising its responsiveness and 24/7 availability, despite occasional documentation and communication issues.
Sentiment score
7.5
Perception Point's customer service is highly praised for its responsiveness, quick resolutions, and professional, effective support.
Over the past two years, there have been no critical problems.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
we opened tickets, and they typically resolve them quickly.
Chief Architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
With a subscription for Microsoft Defender for Office 365, it is an eight. Without it, it is a six.
Manager at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
They help us a lot, and when we create a ticket, they answer us in one or two hours.
Security analyst at a outsourcing company with 501-1,000 employees
Customer service and support are good, but there is room for improvement in response time.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers scalable, efficient protection for large enterprises, ensuring seamless growth across diverse industries.
Sentiment score
7.8
Perception Point Advanced Email Security offers seamless scalability and integration, handling high email volumes and diverse user loads effectively.
We have never faced scalability problems, and Microsoft manages it effectively.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 scales transparently for us, as we grew from 1,000 users to 3,000 users, and we didn't notice much difference.
Chief Architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 scales with the growing needs of my company well.
Senior Client Director and Advisory Service Leader at Crossfuze
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 provides 99.9% uptime with minor issues, ensuring reliable performance and seamless cloud integration.
Sentiment score
8.1
Perception Point Advanced Email Security provides stable performance with minimal downtime; users highly rate its reliability and email preservation.
I would rate the stability of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 as 10 over 10 because it's highly available, it works, and it does the job it is meant to do.
Cloud Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
I have not experienced any downtime, crashes, or performance issues because of Defender.
Technology Associate at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
The solution is stable, as we have been using it for the past two years.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
Perception Point Advanced Email Security is stable approximately ninety-nine percent of the time.
Security analyst at a outsourcing company with 501-1,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Users call for enhanced virus detection, cross-platform support, and pricing transparency in Microsoft Defender for Office 365.
Perception Point users desire enhanced spam filtering, customizable alerts, improved UI, better threat intelligence, integration, and additional training features.
The main area for improvement is simplifying the implementation and rollout process.
Infrastructure and Security Lead at Vedanta
Microsoft could improve by offering recommendations for domain spoofing attacks, especially scenarios where DNS records like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are not properly published.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
There is a different console for different things; I just want one consolidated console.
Senior Director, Security Architecture & Engineering at a leisure / travel company with 10,001+ employees
Integration and end-user interaction can be improved as the current system does not allow end-users to send back information to the platform, unlike Google Workspace or competitive tools like Ironscales.
Perception Point Advanced Email Security can be improved by increasing the speed of analysis and delivery.
Security analyst at a outsourcing company with 501-1,000 employees
Maybe a couple of improvements on their portal would be good.
IT at a retailer with 11-50 employees
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 pricing is seen as flexible but potentially expensive, offering value in comprehensive security features.
Perception Point Advanced Email Security offers fair pricing with flexible options and good value compared to leading competitors.
We've likely saved 30% of costs.
Designation Chief Consultant at Avtow
Money-wise, it is a part of the Office 365 suite, making it slightly more expensive compared to Trend Micro.
Infrastructure and Security Lead at Vedanta
Microsoft is quite affordable with a lot of features available for any size organization.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 enhances email security with anti-phishing, anti-malware, threat intelligence, and seamless integration for efficient management.
Perception Point Advanced Email Security offers robust protection with rapid threat detection, low false positives, and excellent support.
It ranks the threats and allows us to prioritize those hitting us the hardest, such as email threats.
Technology support manager at Alfred State College
It provides end-to-end visibility on email threats such as phishing, extending beyond Exchange Online Protection.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
The value of the DLP feature is significant to us because we have internal data, sometimes sensitive, and the users may not always be aware of security and privacy, which might lead them to send out information mistakenly to external parties.
Chief Architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
I get weekly reporting, and by doing that, I can go and talk to these people directly and make them aware of how many attacks they had and where the attacks are coming from and not only the source of the email, but what category of emails that they are receiving.
IT at a retailer with 11-50 employees
Perception Point Advanced Email Security has a correct price point and offers very good email filtering capabilities.
The best features Perception Point Advanced Email Security offers are its multi-layer dynamic scanning and anti-evasion technology.
Security analyst at a outsourcing company with 501-1,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

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)
Perception Point Advanced E...
Ranking in Email Security
18th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Internet Security (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 9.6%, down from 13.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Perception Point Advanced Email Security is 2.2%, down from 2.4% 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 3659.6%
Perception Point Advanced Email Security2.2%
Other88.2%
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

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.
GC
IT at a retailer with 11-50 employees
Provides strong email protection and accurate threat detection with effective multi-layer defense mechanisms
They run us through about seven layers of protection, and the reporting is excellent. I found it to be very effective. It has a very high level of protection with Perception Point Advanced Email Security. They continually modernize their surveillance. They use a lot of AI. They run it through several layers of detection, deep packet inspection, which takes a lot of horsepower. I just think it is a good system. Perception Point Advanced Email Security has helped address specific email threats within my organization. I get weekly reporting, and by doing that, I can go and talk to these people directly and make them aware of how many attacks they had and where the attacks are coming from and not only the source of the email, but what category of emails that they are receiving. With the combination of KnowBe4 PhishER, I think it is a good security process that we have in place.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Email Security solutions are best for your needs.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise31
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

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 ...
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.
What needs improvement with Perception Point Advanced Email Security?
Perception Point Advanced Email Security can be improved by increasing the speed of analysis and delivery. In some cases, we have trouble with multi-factor authentication emails, which take more th...
What is your primary use case for Perception Point Advanced Email Security?
My main use case for Perception Point Advanced Email Security is proactive defense against advanced threats, particularly phishing, zero-day attacks, and malware that a standard filter might miss. ...
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs. Perception Point Advanced Email Security and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.