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

Proofpoint Email Protection vs SonicWall Email Security comparison

Sponsored
 

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

Microsoft Defender for Offi...
Sponsored
Ranking in Email Security
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (11th), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (1st)
Proofpoint Email Protection
Ranking in Email Security
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
51
Ranking in other categories
Security Awareness Training (2nd), Digital Risk Protection (3rd), Office 365 Protection (3rd), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (2nd)
SonicWall Email Security
Ranking in Email Security
34th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 12.9%, down from 18.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Proofpoint Email Protection is 8.1%, down from 11.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall Email Security is 0.5%, down from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

Vikas Ingle - PeerSpot reviewer
Centralized tenant enables group control but setup process complicates implementation
Actually earlier, I used to have full controls with Trend Micro. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 ( /products/microsoft-defender-for-office-365-reviews ) is now part of a centralized tenant for my entire group. I don't have control on that, as another team is maintaining it. Since I don't have full visibility of the features, I cannot make significant comments.
AhmedRamadan - PeerSpot reviewer
Optimize email security with effective sandboxing and auto Pull for quarantine
Proofpoint is used as an email security gateway for big enterprises, primarily for their on-premises servers. Many customers also use it alongside Office 365 Proofpoint offers a complete solution for email security with features like DLP, email archiving, and encryption. The most valuable…
Constantnos Achilleos - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides strong email filtering and threat intelligence but pricing needs improvement
I work with SonicWall Email Security SonicWall Email Security uses multi-layer cloud security. It filters emails before they come to my provider, such as Office 365. It has real-time threat intelligence and provides strong data loss prevention. Additionally, it filters emails before they reach my…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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 individuals within our organization who are affected."
"I would say that 90% of the spam and phishing attack emails get blocked right off the bat."
"We use Microsoft Defender for its ability to integrate with existing business technologies, which is beneficial for protecting business areas."
"The email protection is excellent, especially in terms of anti-phishing policies."
"Defender for 365 is a comprehensive cloud-based solution. The value of the cloud is that you aren't alone. Threat intelligence and analytics are shared in the cloud. We don't have to find the solution alone. If you face an unknown threat with traditional solutions like Trend Micro and Symantec, you need to open a case and send your information to them to analyze forensically and identify the source of the attack."
"Our customers are satisfied with Defender for 365 because Microsoft products are easy to use and customize to meet the client's needs. Everything is in one place, so we can adjust policies as needed for phishing, DLP, ATP, or any other security features that our clients want to apply."
"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."
"It’s easy to handle integrations, and we don't need a lot of people in our IT team."
"The initial implementation is pretty easy to handle."
"Its anti-phishing functionality is the most valuable. Certainly, the biggest problem I have is phishing."
"The anti-spam features are excellent on the email firewalls."
"As a cloud-based product, it can scale well."
"A one-stop shop for email protection"
"Provides better control over emails, especially those sent via Office 365 on the cloud."
"The solution blocks malicious emails containing viruses and malware and reduces them out of spam."
"The Tap and Trap features. They are the best features."
"It is a very scalable solution."
"There are no wasted extras and the interface is really simple."
"According to our customers, the product's most valuable feature is the ability to detect spam and reduce phishing emails."
"Setup was easy. It took about 30 minutes."
"The anti-spam aspect of the solution is its most valuable feature."
"SonicWall Email Security uses multi-layer cloud security."
"The most valuable features are the anti-spam, anti-phishing, anti-virus, and anti-spoofing."
"The most valuable feature is that it protects from spam."
 

Cons

"The UI needs to be more user-friendly."
"The visibility for the weaknesses in the system and unauthorized access can be improved."
"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."
"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."
"There's room for improvement regarding the time frame for retrieving emails."
"The custom alerts have to improve a lot."
"Microsoft security solutions work as expected. They are constantly updating the solutions to make them better. At the same time, the changes can impact a customer's environment, and we need to adjust settings. Sometimes we aren't aware of the changes, and nothing is pushed from the backend automatically."
"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."
"The solution could be improved with the addition of PLP and email encryption features."
"Sometimes it detects false positives."
"It's scalable, but the devil's in the details — you have to know your email volumes."
"There is room for improvement in detecting and preventing phishing attacks. While the solution performs well in some aspects, it struggles with phishing threats."
"Proofpoint should have better integration with complex environments that need more than one instance of Proofpoint, as there are issues with nested instances."
"Phishing detection could improve further to match some of the capabilities offered by competitors."
"I want Security Awareness Training in there as a package deal. A lot of companies are starting to value email security a little bit more and take it a little bit more seriously, and the great product that we link together with a lot of these sales is a training product called Security Awareness Training. It is an upsell that we do with Proofpoint, and it is definitely something that I recommend everybody with email security to look into. It would be great if Security Awareness Training is included with the email security."
"The Secure Mail aspect should have an Outlook add-in, instead of an external dashboard that outside users have to access."
"The technical support from the company is not always very good at solving issues, but they offer access to a good community of users where problems are easily solved."
"The pricing could be improved."
"We would like to see more information on a dashboard about what is happening when it comes to spamming and malware."
"The platform's control panel needs enhancement."
"There could be definition updates included in the subscription."
"They need well-trained partners in Nigeria."
"SonicWall Email Security could improve by making the file blocking and the release feature easier to use"
"The reporting needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's a user-base subscription."
"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."
"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."
"Compared to other brands, Microsoft Defender for Office 365's pricing is competitive."
"I know that the product is incredibly expensive."
"The license is expensive because the cost is based on the number of users."
"In general, the pricing is competitive."
"The solution uses a licensing model that is reasonable compared to other products."
"Customers pay around $90,000 yearly for a 1,000-user organization, with the subscription license being the main expense, apart from implementation fees."
"The tool's pricing depends on the customer's preference, offering options for an annual license or a monthly subscription. The cost varies based on factors such as the number of users and specific requirements. Overall, the pricing is competitive."
"I rate the price of Proofpoint Email Protection a four out of five."
"Proofpoint Email Protection is a reasonably priced product, which means that it is neither too low nor too high in terms of price."
"Pricing has recently been increased and the cost is a downside"
"The licensing is basically $8/user."
"The platform offers a yearly license."
"The overall price of SonicWall Email Security should be reduced and there should be an option to purchase one or two licenses more instead of their current policy of bulk increases only. There should be more flexibility in the licensing model. Each license cost approximately $33 annually."
"The cost is cheaper than Sophos. I would rate it as five out of ten."
"When compared with Cisco, it is very well priced. Cisco is very expensive."
"Our customers purchase the solution's yearly license."
"I rate the application’s pricing a five out of ten."
"We have a two-year license subscription and the price is very high."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Email Security solutions are best for your needs.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Educational Organization
26%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Wholesaler/Distributor
9%
 

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?
Microsoft is quite affordable with a lot of features available for any size organization.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Microsoft could improve by offering recommendations for domain spoofing attacks, especially scenarios where DNS recor...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Proofpoint Email Protection?
In terms of pricing, it is okay compared to others. I would say it is normal. Additional costs do come in, but it enh...
What needs improvement with Proofpoint Email Protection?
In terms of improvement, the price could be better. Additionally, more security could be implemented.
What do you like most about SonicWall Email Security?
According to our customers, the product's most valuable feature is the ability to detect spam and reduce phishing ema...
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
Proofpoint Enterprise Protection, Cofense PhishMe, Proofpoint Digital Protection
Dell SonicWALL Email Security Platform, SonicWall Hosted Email Security
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
Blocket, University of Waterloo, Lincoln Memorial University, WellSpan Health, U-Haul, Carestream Health, Westinghouse
Star Kay White, Locala Community Partnerships
Find out what your peers are saying about Proofpoint Email Protection vs. SonicWall Email Security and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.