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

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 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

Microsoft Defender for Offi...
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (1st), Email Security (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (10th), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (1st)
SonicWall Capture Advanced ...
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
23rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 9.7%, down from 16.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection is 1.6%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Office 3659.7%
SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection1.6%
Other88.7%
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
 

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.
Mohamed Fouad - PeerSpot reviewer
Cybersecurity Team Leader at EMAK For Integrated Solutions
Advanced sandboxing has protected our environment and stops unknown threats in real time
The most capable feature of SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection is the accurate verdict of the file, and I have used many other types of sandboxing, but using SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection is truly helpful for our organization. In my experience, the best features SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection offers include accuracy for the submitted files, and one of the most valued features is its usability, as it is so usable and helpful to integrate with other solutions, making it a fantastic product overall. It is easy to set up and connect SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection with other solutions, as it can be integrated with many products, supporting real-time memory inspection, rapid signature deployment, broad file type support, and block until verdict capability, along with flexible configuration, while providing comprehensive reporting. SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection supports sandbox evasion techniques, which is important since sophisticated malware increases the evasion capability to detect and deceive sandboxing environments. SonicWall employs deception techniques simulating user interaction or fake high volume targets to determine when custom malware can still potentially bypass detection through environment-aware code. SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection positively impacts our organization by helping us stop advanced persistent threats, as we have defined our targeted adversaries and increased security for our organization.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable features are safe attachments and safe links."
"The insights provided with Microsoft Defender for Office 365 are helpful because it comes with the E5 license, and by default, we can use a lot of capabilities."
"The product is not resource-intensive."
"There are several features that I consider valuable."
"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."
"It also gives me good visibility because, with Defender, I'm using a Microsoft product to defend Microsoft products. The integration was really seamless and I have wide visibility because it picks up almost everything. Literally, I can see almost every activity that happens, from the e-mail to the workstation itself."
"The good part is that you don't have to configure it, which is very convenient."
"They have a large database of commonly known things that they can catch automatically, then they have anything which is questionable go to the sandbox and be examined there before going into our network."
"It also has an easy configuration. The feedback that we get from our customers is that it's a good product."
"The stability of the solution is good. We haven't had any breaches or crashes. It's been very stable for us."
"In my experience, the best features SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection offers include accuracy for the submitted files, and one of the most valued features is its usability, as it is so usable and helpful to integrate with other solutions, making it a fantastic product overall."
"We get alert messages whenever there is a new threat. We are notified at the firewall level that things are blocked, which keeps us in our comfort zone."
"The reporting that you get from it is the most valuable feature. You can see it via the appliance itself, and also via the MySonicWall account for the registered device. You are able to select the file if it's malicious, and you can select it in the reporting and see what triggered it, and things like that. I found that to be quite useful."
"I like this setup for a firewall. You can set things up very easily and you can automate items as well. It's a very robust firewall solution for enterprise as well as small businesses."
"Provides good protection and security."
 

Cons

"We noticed that from time to time, Microsoft's stability does have problems. Sometimes the service goes up and down. Sometimes they change without prior notice."
"There needs to be an improvement in integrating the product to work across multiple operating systems, and to have better support for non-Microsoft file types."
"The inbuilt analysis of false positives can be faster. It's not slow, but it can be faster."
"You should be able to deploy Defender for every subscription without the need to add servers."
"Configuration requires going to a lot of places rather than just accessing one tab."
"Specifically, within Microsoft Defender for Office 365, I want it to improve the DLP capabilities."
"Specifically, within Microsoft Defender for Office 365, I want it to improve the DLP capabilities."
"They can improve their security in a way where a customer can know if all their attachments are safe or not to open through a report. The solution does its job perfectly, but it never reports to the customer whether those attachments have been stopped before or not."
"It does fare well against enterprise products."
"SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection needs to reconsider the pricing, especially in the cloud environment."
"Having an on-premise solution as well would be an option for some people, but they'll want to use a cloud solution for their sandboxing. Certain sites would want to keep all the checks done on an on-premise appliance. All the checking, rather than sending that up into a cloud engine."
"I would like to have better documentation before starting with deployment because the deployment is a bit complex."
"We would like to get immediate alerts from the alerting system without using third-parties."
"SonicWall should promote their roadmap and improve their marketing to customers."
"SonicWall had a recent layoff. This is a concern for us, because now we are missing the local presence from both the engineering and sales side."
"If anything at all, it would be some very minor updates that need to be done, but in terms of changes, nothing comes to mind."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Microsoft Defender is expensive. I typically recommend it only if clients have the budget. Otherwise, I would suggest an alternative."
"The product is expensive."
"The product is very expensive."
"Defender for 365 comes in various plans and licenses, along with other Microsoft security solutions. Purchasing this kind of package or security bundle gives good value for money, and that's what I recommend."
"The pricing has become expensive."
"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."
"The pricing is normal. Considering its popularity, it's not overpriced."
"Compared to other brands, Microsoft Defender for Office 365's pricing is competitive."
"We get our value for our money."
"The best deal from SonicWall is to buy the HA pair. When you buy the initial one, you receive the second one at a significant discount. If there is an event and something happens to one firewall, then you have the second firewall to roll into. For the price, it's pretty to tough to beat and not a lot of other firewall vendors offer it. You battle for a discount on both. Where with SonicWall, if you buy one, the second one is at half price. It's pretty straightforward."
"When you compare it with other solutions, they are cheaper and more economical."
"It's thirty dollars per user and we have 30 users."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) 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%
No data available
 

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 Business5
Midsize Enterprise3
 

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 needs improvement with SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection?
SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection needs to reconsider the pricing, especially in the cloud environment. The product is good overall, but the GUI needs to be more stable. I chose nine out...
What is your primary use case for SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection?
My main use case for SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection is that it helps us with sandboxing for analyzing and inspecting unknown files and URLs. A quick specific example of how I've used ...
What advice do you have for others considering SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection?
I advise others looking into using SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection to consider that it is truly helpful and very important to have great sandboxing with advanced threat protection to s...
 

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.
Wonder Cement, Foster Clark Products
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs. SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.