Microsoft Exchange Online Protection has features like DLP (data loss protection), Safe Attachment, and Safe Links. Also, it has a Litigation Hold feature that is useful for email protection in cases where emails are deleted because of mishandling.
Deputy Manager at a computer retailer with 11-50 employees
An effective email security solution that provides DLP, Safe Attachment, and Safe Links
Pros and Cons
- "Microsoft Exchange Online Protection has features like DLP (data loss protection), Safe Attachment, and Safe Links."
- "It would be helpful for customers if Plan 1 features were included with EOP."
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
If you want extensive email security, you need to purchase a Plan 2 license. Plan 1 and Plan 2 are the two plans for Microsoft Exchange Online Protection. Some customers hesitate to purchase this product because it adds some costs to them, which is necessary for them. It would be helpful for customers if Plan 1 features were included with EOP. However, they still need to purchase Plan 2 for advanced security features.
One of our clients recently requested to compare Zimbra's features with Microsoft Exchange Online Protection. Zimbra is open source, while Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is not. When I compare both the products, many free features are available in Zimbra because it is open-source software.
It makes no sense to request Microsoft Exchange Online Protection add all the features people get on open-source software like Zimbra. Hence, I would say whatever features Microsoft Exchange Online Protection has are enough. Microsoft has a dedicated research team that should research and add new techniques like phishing and spamming solutions to the product.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Exchange Online Protection since January 2000. I work as a Microsoft distributor.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is a stable product. I have been working with it for the past four or five years, and it is one of the most effective and popular products in our country for email security. Since it has a yearly or monthly subscription, adding Plan 1 to EOP would be very helpful, increasing the product's popularity even more.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP)
January 2026
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
As far as I know, and as far as I have worked with Microsoft Exchange Online Protection, its scalability is okay enough. I used this solution for small, medium, and large companies.
How are customer service and support?
Since our region is tied to the Indian region, the technical support is okay and supportive. However, it would be more helpful if support is enabled in our country.
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection manages too many sites from India, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan. Sometimes they experience too many hiccups, except for severity-level cases. The technical support team responds according to the SLA, but sometimes they break it. A support center in Bangladesh would be very helpful for us.
I rate Microsoft Exchange Online Protection a seven or eight out of ten for its technical support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is much easier to deploy. We have faced issues with platform-to-platform migrations, such as Zimbra to Microsoft Exchange Online Protection, GoDaddy to Microsoft Exchange Online Protection, and Google G Suite to Microsoft Exchange Online Protection migrations.
In all of these cases, we have encountered challenges during migration. If we get migration support from Microsoft, we can increase our sales by 10 to 20%.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection's pricing is a little bit more because its price has recently increased. The product's price should be reduced by at least 10% because it's software, and they're just recovering their costs. If you sell 100 units with a profit of $5 for each unit, you make $500 in profits. However, if you reduce the profit to $3 for each unit and sell 1,000 units, you make a higher profit of $3000.
Even if they lose some revenue, their product reach will improve because there are many customers in Bangladesh. If Microsoft Exchange Online Protection reduces its price, its users will increase. The approximate licensing cost of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection varies depending on different packages.
What other advice do I have?
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection has lots of features. The solution offers a zero draft model, which is the most robust model for email security, identity protection, and endpoint security. According to the Gartner report, it's a good product. Microsoft Exchange Online Protection's product and client feedback is very good. The solution's price should be reduced, and Plan 1 features should be included with Exchange Online Protection.
Overall, I rate Microsoft Exchange Online Protection nine and a half out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller
Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Has significantly reduced phishing and spam while providing a smooth setup experience
What is our primary use case?
My use case for Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) is basically to protect ourselves from phishing emails and to improve our email security.
What is most valuable?
The best features of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) include its reliability with removing spam and its impressive automatic filtering.
We've benefited from the anti-phishing features of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP), as it has been quite accurate and has eliminated most of our phishing emails, making it really impressive.
What needs improvement?
The user interface of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) has room for improvement, as at times it doesn't make sense where to go to access certain features.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) for over a year now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I consider Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) to be a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) is a scalable solution.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate technical support from Microsoft for Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) a seven on a scale from one to ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) was quite straightforward, which is one of the positives of the tool.
What about the implementation team?
We managed our deployment of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) ourselves, without using a third party such as an integrator or consultant.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I find the price of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) to be fairly reasonable, and I have no problems with it.
What other advice do I have?
My advice for people looking into using Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) is that if you're just starting out, the Microsoft documentation is often quite helpful, and if you read that, then you have no need to contact support. I rate Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Last updated: Sep 12, 2025
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Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP)
January 2026
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Senior Manager ICT & Innovations at a logistics company with 501-1,000 employees
Enables users to migrate seamlessly without any disruptions to their operations and provides an easy-to-use dashboard
Pros and Cons
- "We can migrate seamlessly without any disruptions to our operations."
- "The solution must improve the user experience."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution to ensure that our assets on the cloud are highly secure.
What is most valuable?
The product is very easy to deploy. We can migrate seamlessly without any disruptions to our operations. The dashboard is very easy to use for new learners and professionals.
What needs improvement?
The solution must improve the user experience. Managers, engineers, and CXOs have different skill sets. Adding different profiles would add to the user experience.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The tool is 100% stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The tool is highly scalable. Around 2000 people are using the solution in our organization. We have two administrators.
How are customer service and support?
The support is very good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we were using the on-premise solution.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is deployed on the cloud. The initial setup is very easy. The migration and configuration took us one month.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution should reduce the cost. We use the E3 license.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend the solution to others. If we use the product, we will not have any dependency on the on-premise solution, and we can work seamlessly from anywhere. Overall, I rate the tool a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Senior Cyber Security Architecht at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Easy to deploy and user-friendly with simple dashboards
Pros and Cons
- "It's all running in the backend, so it doesn't affect the app functionality."
- "Some features, like encryption, are not available."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for security.
What is most valuable?
The solution is user-friendly.
It's easy to deploy. There are not many hassles throughout the process. Anybody can just read up on it and deploy it.
It's all running in the backend, so it doesn't affect the app functionality.
The dashboard is very simple.
The solution is stable.
It can scale.
What needs improvement?
The product needs more granularity.
Some features, like encryption, are not available.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for less than two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is definitely stable. I have not seen any issues. We know that Azure or AWS, once in a while, have some outages. Every product has got its own outages. Considering that, I have not seen much of an issue with Azure, at least with the Exchange Online Protection.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
There are some small limitations, and you cannot really scale mailboxes beyond 100GB. The customer will need to understand that you cannot really scale in that sense. You will have to archive your mailbox and archive your data. Beyond that, it is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
I personally do not deal with Exchange Online Protection. One of my other team members does. They did contact Microsoft for various issues. For example, the limitations around the 100GB mailbox. They wanted to know if they wanted to migrate that, how long it would take, or if they could increase the 100GB mailbox.
Microsoft helped tell them the exact answers. However, it depends on the customer to customer. Some customers have got premium support, so they get more straightforward answers.
In general, support has been good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I'm also using Microsoft Defender.
We've also used Proofpoint. Proofpoint has more granularity. It also offers different features.
Exchange Online and Defender offer safe attachments and anti-malware. However, they just have one single option for features, and you check a box, and it enables one blanket policy. With Proofpoint, you can choose your options.
Microsoft products are good and more user-friendly in general. They are just missing the granularity aspect.
In Proofpoint, the tap and trap work very well, and it has some kind of monitoring as well for the tap and trap.
When you're moving from Proofpoint to Microsoft, if you need to do a comparison and if you need to showcase to the customer all features are working as expected, some functionalities might be a little difficult for us to showcase. Maybe that dashboard will differ. It's a common dashboard that we have for Microsoft. Maybe Proofpoint has got more features, however, for use cases, it'll be a little difficult to demonstrate to the customer.
We've moved to this solution since we were moving the majority of our products to Azure. We wanted to move to the cloud to reduce hardware costs and avoid having a separate server, which we do not need for Exchange.
How was the initial setup?
It's easy to set up the solution. For an Exchange person, or anybody who has worked on Microsoft on-prem Exchange, it is pretty easy for to deploy the Exchange Online Protection. They will have to learn Microsoft 365 Defender as well since it's got a lot more functionalities, including threat explorer. It has got more granularity in the investigations. In any case, anybody who has worked on Microsoft on-prem Exchange will be able to do a setup, which should not be a big problem.
How long it takes is purely based on how many mailboxes you have got. It also depends upon the mailbox size as well. In a lot of cases what happens is you'll have to migrate from on-prem to Exchange Online, O 365, and you'll have to migrate the mailboxes. That process all depends upon the mailbox size as well, although getting into Exchange Online will not take much time. They can directly change the MX record and do a lot of things pretty easily, in maybe less than a week's time. For moving mailboxes to the public cloud, maybe a company will have to run it in hybrid environments for some time, then slowly move the mailboxes and complete the configuration. A lot of functionalities are there in Azure, Microsoft O 365, and Exchange Online Protection in general.
Setting up Exchange Online is easy at the beginning, however, completing the configuration, it'll take time based on my experience. If it is a very small company, and if they're maintaining a mailbox size of around 10GB or 5GB, something like that, and they've got hardly 100 mailboxes or less than that, it'll take less time. However, I've seen a few customers where the mailbox size is huge, and it takes time, maybe up to six months.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't have details surrounding pricing.
What other advice do I have?
We have a partnership with Microsoft.
I'm not sure which version of the solution we're using.
If a company wanted to use this solution, I would advise them to check their mailboxes and consider what functionalities they want to have. When they move to Exchange Online Protection, it has got all the functionalities, anti-malware, anti-phishing, et cetera, and all those features are definitely available. And if they want something user-friendly, it is definitely there. It can also be deployed quickly, so that's one of the core advantages of having the Microsoft product.
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. The simplicity and the easy deployment ensure that anybody who has worked on Exchange can easily work on this. There's no specific training needed to get started. And, with a basic E3 license, they get Exchange Online Protection. It's just missing granularity.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
M365 / Azure Information Security Officer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Provides incident alerts to detect malware attached to mailers
Pros and Cons
- "With Microsoft Exchange Online Protection, if malware is attached to a mailer, it's very easy to go into the incident alert and find out what's happening with that identity and the mail."
- "If a company wants to put in line back-to-back anti-spam solutions, they need to work on that part because Microsoft recommends either you use EOP as a front line or you don't use it."
What is our primary use case?
We are using Microsoft Exchange Online Protection for all our customers. Microsoft doesn't give you a preconfigured solution like other vendors. Microsoft has come out of that plug-and-play concept, and for every product, you need to reconfigure and fine-tune it according to your needs.
What is most valuable?
With Microsoft Exchange Online Protection, if malware is attached to a mailer, it's very easy to go into the incident alert and find out what's happening with that identity and the mail.
What needs improvement?
If a company wants to put in line back-to-back anti-spam solutions, they need to work on that part because Microsoft recommends either you use EOP as a front line or you don't use it. Microsoft Exchange Online Protection needs to work on this shortcoming.
Microsoft needs to redo its pricing regarding Microsoft Exchange Online Protection because every customer who buys Microsoft 365 needs Microsoft Exchange Online Protection.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Exchange Online Protection for around four to five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate Microsoft Exchange Online Protection ten out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate Microsoft Exchange Online Protection an eight out of ten for scalability. Around 70,000 users use Microsoft Exchange Online Protection in our organization.
How are customer service and support?
Microsoft's technical support is much better than other vendors. However, Microsoft engineers need to be guided. For example, if I tell Microsoft's EOL team about a certificate issue, I need to let them know about the issue and the article I'm talking about, and then they will fix it for me.
How was the initial setup?
Since I come from an Exchange background, Microsoft Exchange Online Protection's initial setup is simple.
What other advice do I have?
At times, when we are doing URL whitelisting, we raise it to the support, and Microsoft removes one feature of whitelisting.
Overall, I rate Microsoft Exchange Online Protection a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Self Employed, Freelance, Consultor, Sales - Learning Time at a outsourcing company with self employed
It provides the same protection regardless of whether users are in the office
Pros and Cons
- "The solution uses artificial intelligence and machine learning, so you don't need train it to detect something. The detection and response times are short. It's an excellent product."
- "I would like to get reports about vulnerable connections from our clients with information about domains, public IPs, etc. That would be highly useful."
What is our primary use case?
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection protects remote and on-site users against email-based threats.
How has it helped my organization?
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection guards against threats regardless of whether our users are in the office. If you receive an email with a malicious link, the solution will warn you against opening it.
What is most valuable?
The solution uses artificial intelligence and machine learning, so you don't need train it to detect something. The detection and response times are short. It's an excellent product.
What needs improvement?
Microsoft should publicize the solution more because it isn't well known. I appreciate the solution because it does a lot of things that I used to do manually. I didn't realize something like this existed. I went to Symantec, Trend Micro, and other providers, but Microsoft had the only solution to my problems.
I would like to get reports about vulnerable connections from our clients with information about domains, public IPs, etc. That would be highly useful.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Microsoft Exchange Online Protection for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate Microsoft Exchange Online Protection nine out of 10 for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate Microsoft Exchange Online Protection 10 out of 10 for scalability.
How are customer service and support?
I rate Microsoft support eight out of 10.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is easy to set up.
What was our ROI?
We have seen a return on our investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is fairly priced.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Microsoft Exchange Online Protection nine out of 10.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior Infrastructure Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
A main communication tool that helps to use and update tickets
Pros and Cons
- "We use the solution in all our environments. We use it for remedy tickets and give them updates. It was our main communication point."
- "The solution can be complex at times. It would be nice to have the on-server version. It needs to improve the stability as well."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution in all our environments. We use it for remedy tickets and give them updates. It was our main communication point.
What needs improvement?
The solution can be complex at times. It would be nice to have the on-server version. It needs to improve the stability as well.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with the product for seven years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The tool is scalable and it helps us to add/remove new users, servers, clusters, etc.
How was the initial setup?
The solution's setup is complex and it took us months to complete the deployment.
What about the implementation team?
We did the product's deployment in-house.
What was our ROI?
We have seen an ROI with the tool's use.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution's pricing is subscription-based rather than a yearly licensing cost. Pricing is based on the size of the environment and company and can be expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate the product a seven out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
System Administrator at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
A highly stable solution that serves as a spam filter while protecting against viruses and malware attacks
Pros and Cons
- "The solution's stability is very, very good. I didn't face any problems in the last year."
- "It wasn't easy or intuitive enough for me to start using it. So, the reason was that the solution changed."
What is our primary use case?
We use our company's Microsoft Exchange Online Protection as a spam filter, virus protection, and malware protection.
What is most valuable?
I find the solution's filtering and malware protection features to be the most valuable ones.
What needs improvement?
Other users wish to see the encryption feature added to the solution in the future.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Exchange Online Protection for three or four years. My company has used it for a longer time. Also, I don't remember the version of the solution I am using. My company is an end customer of the solution.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution's stability is very, very good. I didn't face any problems in the last year.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Between 50 and 100 users are using the solution in my company. At the moment, we have three administrators for the solution. Normally, I am the one working on the solution. I am not sure whether I am going to increase the solution's usage in the future. At the moment, we are still going strong with Microsoft Exchange Online Protection.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't contacted technical support. It has been a really long time since I contacted Microsoft technical support. So, it has been more than thirteen or fourteen years. I have no idea how it is today. A long time ago, it was very good.
How was the initial setup?
It was deployed long before I got over the task in my company, so I wasn't a part of the deployment process.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
My boss told me that he checked an alternative for Microsoft Exchange Online Protection, maybe because of the cost, which I am not sure. I don't know how much we pay for this. My boss looks after the payment part. So, Mimecast was the other solution he was considering as an alternative. Mimecast could be much more expensive or much cheaper, but I have no idea. So my boss asked me to check out Mimecast and see if there's any difference. In my opinion, there is no big difference between Microsoft Exchange Online Protection and Mimecast. They both are reliable and work quite well. As we are now running with Microsoft Exchange Online Protection for years, I don't see the need to switch over to Mimecast.
What other advice do I have?
I am satisfied with the overall product. It wasn't easy or intuitive enough for me to start using it. So, the reason was that the solution changed. I started to work with it shortly after it changed from the servers and changed to another part of Azure network. It was not quite easy, but it was okay for me since I'm used to such problems and switching over to other problems.
Our team was responsible for everything in our company, but since I started using Microsoft Exchange Online Protection, it's much easier for me as an administrator.
Overall, I rate the product an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: January 2026
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
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