Sophos Email vs Symantec Messaging Gateway comparison

The compared Sophos and Broadcom solutions aren't in the same category. Sophos is ranked #10 in Email Security , with an average rating of 8.2, and holds a 2.0% mindshare in the category. Broadcom is ranked #9 in SEG , with an average rating of 8.5, and holds a 2.6% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Sophos users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

Sophos Email

Read 33 Sophos Email reviews

2,129 Views
1,916 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Symantec Messaging Gateway

Read 20 Symantec Messaging Gateway reviews

1,269 Views
406 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Sophos Email

Symantec Messaging Gateway

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Sophos Email and Symantec Messaging Gateway based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Email Security solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Sophos Email vs. Symantec Messaging Gateway Report (Updated: January 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Sophos Email vs. Symantec Messaging Gateway

January 2024

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Helped 868,787 peers since 2012

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

Sophos Email

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Email Security (10th), Office 365 Protection (1st)

Symantec Messaging Gateway

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (9th)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Messaging and Collaboration solutions, they serve different purposes. Sophos Email is designed for Email Security and holds a mindshare of 2.0%, down 2.4% compared to last year.
Symantec Messaging Gateway, on the other hand, focuses on Secure Email Gateway (SEG), holds 2.6% mindshare, up 2.5% since last year.

Email Security Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Sophos Email	2.0%
Microsoft Defender for Office 365	11.4%
Proofpoint Email Protection	8.2%
Other	78.4%

Email Security

Secure Email Gateway (SEG) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Symantec Messaging Gateway	2.6%
Microsoft Defender for Office 365	27.6%
Proofpoint Email Protection	21.0%
Other	48.8%

Secure Email Gateway (SEG)

Featured Reviews

BhanuPrakash

Technical Head at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Achieving Seamless Email Security and Encryption while Managing Temporary Email Storage Limits

We continue to use Sophos products and remain with the company. For firewall protection, we use XGS systems. We have provided Sophos Email Gateway for one of our clients. We have integrated Sophos Email with our internal email server, using it for both outbound and inbound traffic. Integration with Office 365 protection for Sophos Email Security works smoothly without any challenges. The solution is totally cloud-based. I recommend Sophos Email for mid-sized companies as it is a good option, though it may not be ideal for large-scale or small businesses. I have not tried incorporating AI technology with Sophos Email yet. I am Bhanu Prakash, Technical Head for Systek Services, and can be reached at b.hanu@teamsistek.com. I am a partner with Sophos. Overall rating for Sophos Email: 10/10.

Read full review

Dennis O'Reilly

Cyber SecOps Principal at Dotcom Security

The product provides good content filtering options, but the false positive submissions must be improved

The tool is very stable. I rate the stability a seven out of ten. It's an on-premise application that runs on a virtual machine. It has dependencies on the hypervisor host that we're running it on. If it's not configured, the application can be influenced by it. Sometimes, there is a service stop error while the service is still running. Sometimes, the service just stops. Some policies do not act the way that we intend them to respond.

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

"Sophos Email is a stable solution."

"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 platform is scalable when installed on server-based systems."

"Endpoint and server protection are very effective."

"I have found Sophos Email to be scalable."

"The speed and stability were fine."

"Our client recently received many emails, and their employees didn't realize these emails were phishing attempts. Consequently, they clicked on them and fell victim to the attack. Therefore, it is important to secure their system with Sophos Email Security."

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

More Sophos Email pros

"It has very good capabilities for managing malware."

"Symantec is a secure product."

"The most valuable features of Symantec Messaging Gateway are advanced content filtering, malware, and antivirus defense."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is the content filtering policies because the solution offers huge options for configuration, such as hardware manipulation, et cetera, and the dictionaries make the work easier."

"The feature that I like the best is the fingerprinting concept."

"I like that it's simple and easy to configure, deploy, and manage. The reporting function has all the features we're looking for, and we are fine with that."

"Symantec’s spyware and malware signature database is very good compared to other products."

"The anti-malware and spam features are valuable."

More Symantec Messaging Gateway pros

Cons

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

"The security of the solution could improve."

"Sophos Email does not work with split delivery. If I have a domain with 100 mailboxes and want to protect only 50, it is not recommended by Sophos or not possible to configure."

"The tool has some performance issues and bugs, making it an area where improvements are required."

"Servicing and support are areas with shortcomings where the solution needs to improve."

"Their technical support is slow to respond."

"The solution should be able to support the cloud environment."

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

More Sophos Email cons

"The solution takes up a lot of memory."

"Sometimes the solution picks up false positive for viruses during scans."

"The solution interface is from 2003 and is outdated. Symantec Messaging Gateway needs to update the interface."

"The documentation could have more detailed examples of how to use the product in various situations. As more companies shift to the cloud, they could better integrate the on-prem and cloud versions through an on-prem client."

"They have updated the version of the Messaging Gateway and the new features they are adding the need to be re-evaluated. They have done some changes on the policy."

"What's lacking when you compare it with Proofpoint and other threat protection solutions is that it does the basic stuff, but we need more advanced threat handling."

"We've had issues in the past where the user finds spam, and Symantec does not recognize it as spam."

"Messaging Gateway's advanced malware detection could be improved."

More Symantec Messaging Gateway cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Sophos Email is priced lower than its competitors."

"The tool's price is reasonable. On a yearly basis, there is a 20 percent increase in prices, but it is not an issue."

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

"The product is cheaper compared to other solutions."

"It falls somewhere in the middle—it's not excessively expensive nor very cheap."

"The tool's pricing is medium."

"Licensing is paid on a yearly basis."

"The solution is expensive."

More Sophos Email pricing and cost advice

"For 150 users, we pay INR 1,60,000."

"A subscription for technical support costs extra."

"Symantec Messaging Gateway’s pricing is very cheap."

"The cost of Symantec Messaging Gateway is too expensive in general. However, the appliance also includes the price of the license in the same bundle."

"It's a bit expensive compared to its competitor Barracuda Email Security Gateway but cheaper than Sophos Email."

"They're a little costly compared to Microsoft."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Healthcare Company

Retailer

Financial Services Firm

23%

Computer Software Company

15%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	25
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	8

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Sophos Email?

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

See all answers

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

Regarding Sophos Email pricing, I would rate it between six or seven out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Sophos Email?

While Sophos Email is generally sufficient, one challenge we face is the 24-hour email storage limitation. This presents an issue when internal systems are down for more than 24 hours. The solution...

See all answers

What do you like most about Symantec Messaging Gateway?

Symantec is a secure product.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Symantec Messaging Gateway?

The solution takes up a lot of memory. The system becomes slow. The performance must be improved.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Symantec Messaging Gateway?

We use the solution to secure our data and emails.

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Sophos Email

Compared 21% of the time

Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) vs Sophos Email

Compared 10% of the time

Barracuda Email Protection vs Sophos Email

Compared 9% of the time

Hornetsecurity 365 Total Protection vs Sophos Email

Compared 8% of the time

Mimecast Email Security vs Sophos Email

Compared 2% of the time

More Sophos Email Competitors

Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) vs Symantec Messaging Gateway

Compared 24% of the time

Cisco Secure Email vs Symantec Messaging Gateway

Compared 12% of the time

Fortinet FortiMail vs Symantec Messaging Gateway

Compared 12% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Symantec Messaging Gateway

Compared 11% of the time

Fortinet FortiMail Cloud vs Symantec Messaging Gateway

Compared 6% of the time

More Symantec Messaging Gateway Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Sophos Email

September 2025

Download Sophos Email product report

Buyer's Guide

Symantec Messaging Gateway

September 2025

Download Symantec Messaging Gateway product report

Also Known As

Sophos Email Security

Symantec.cloud, Symantec Email Security.cloud

Overview

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

Symantec Messaging Gateway is a comprehensive email security solution designed to protect organizations from advanced threats and spam. It combines multiple layers of protection, including anti-malware, anti-spam, and data loss prevention, to safeguard sensitive information and ensure email continuity.

With its advanced threat intelligence and machine learning capabilities, it can detect and block sophisticated attacks, such as ransomware and spear-phishing. The solution also offers robust encryption and authentication features to secure email communications.

Its intuitive management console provides administrators with granular control and real-time visibility into email traffic. Symantec Messaging Gateway is a reliable and scalable solution that helps organizations mitigate email-borne threats and maintain a secure messaging environment.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

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

Doric, Joblink Plus, Our Lady of Mercy College, Parramatta, PPB Advisory, Slater & Gordon Lawyers, Sydney Adventist Hospital Ltd.

Buyer's Guide

Sophos Email vs. Symantec Messaging Gateway

January 2024

Free Report: Sophos Email vs. Symantec Messaging Gateway

Find out what your peers are saying about Sophos Email vs. Symantec Messaging Gateway and other solutions. Updated: January 2024.

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