Fortinet FortiMail vs Sophos Email comparison

Cancel
You must select at least 2 products to compare!
Microsoft Logo
12,736 views|10,031 comparisons
97% willing to recommend
Fortinet Logo
6,551 views|4,300 comparisons
93% willing to recommend
Sophos Logo
3,060 views|2,036 comparisons
95% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiMail and Sophos Email 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 Fortinet FortiMail vs. Sophos Email Report (Updated: May 2024).
772,679 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"There are several features that I consider valuable.""The product is not resource-intensive.""Microsoft Defender has a feature to protect each and every attachment. Even if it's an encrypted attachment, it will check for any potential threats.""I would say that 90% of the spam and phishing attack emails get blocked right off the bat.""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.""The technical support is good and quick to resolve issues.""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.""I like its investigation capabilities, as that is what is most important to me. It is fairly simple with a user-friendly interface."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Pros →

"I love the integration between Fortinet products.""FortiMail is a stable product.""It has a very high level of security through special licensing with solutions like FortiGuard, sandboxing solutions in the cloud, and URL rewriting solutions.""Fortinet FortiMail is easy to use and the detection rate is very good. You can customize content filters and profiles are done easily. Additionally, there is a sandbox integration feature that is good.""Fortinet’s support services are good.""Technical support is great. They're available 24/7 and their response time is typically within the hour.""The spam filtering is great.""The anti-spam features are valuable."

More Fortinet FortiMail Pros →

"The platform is scalable when installed on server-based systems.""The anti-malware, risk scanning has been pretty spot on.""The most significant aspect is the response filtering concerning attachments and links.""It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution.""I found the user interface friendly.""The solution's identity proxy feature is very good and reliable.""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.""When you say email security, it's about everything, incoming email, outgoing email, spam, phishing emails, unwanted marketing emails. You can set rules, but the main feature of Sophos Email is to make sure you don't get hacked. 95% of people who are hacked do not get hacked by typing the router password. They are hacked from the inside out, which means they send you a document that is a zero-day attack, you open it, nothing happens, but technically the attack is running in the background of your computer. This is how they gain access to your PC."

More Sophos Email Pros →

Cons
"The visibility for the weaknesses in the system and unauthorized access can be improved.""This product's effectiveness could be improved, in terms of detecting unwanted spam or even malware between the emails, compared to other products.""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.""One area for improvement is support, in terms of being able to reach them and, especially, technical support for configuration.""Microsoft Defender for Office 365 should be more proactive.""The certification training for Defender for 365 needs to be deeper and incorporate Sentinel. I took all the security courses except one, and Sentinel isn't included.""About eight months ago, we started to measure the quantity of phishing and spam that we have been receiving, and it has been increasing a lot. That means that protection for our email is not as good as we were expecting.""Microsoft wants its well-paying customers to finish testing some of its half-baked products, find bugs, and report bugs back to Microsoft's team, which is a little frustrating for those who have to manage it and roll it up to thousands of people across the organization."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Cons →

"The sandboxing features are not well done in Fortinet FortiMail, making it an area of improvement.""The solution could be improved by providing a virtual machine facility with a complete set of options in the VM setup.""My customers frequently ask to have detailed documentation for FortiMail and FortiWeb as they have in FortiGate. What they currently have is not enough.""The statistics and BI in general could be improved.""Sometimes, the tool flags legitimate incoming traffic as spam.""It is not easy to install.""They should add a lot of threat-intelligence feeds from different sources - not only from one source (FortiGuard).""Fortinet FortiMail could improve general user management. There are no password policies for users."

More Fortinet FortiMail Cons →

"The tool's integration becomes an issue when the internet connection is weak.""Sophos Email could improve DLP features.""Sophos Email could better detect fake emails, especially when the domain names are similar. It needs to improve spotting spoofed domains, like when one letter differs in a domain name. It also needs to incorporate AI detection. Barracuda detects suspicious emails better. However, malware scanning is better in Sophos Email.""The product could include all the essential features and capabilities, similar to the on-premise, server-based version.""There have been some issues with compatibility and effectiveness, particularly when integrating it with our firewall. The main challenge has been email protection, especially due to compatibility issues and difficulties with log access and email relay configuration.""Sophos Email can improve security.""Lacks visibility into spam emails.""The security of the solution could improve."

More Sophos Email Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It's a user-base subscription."
  • "From the pricing point of view, like any other product in the market, there is scope for negotiation."
  • "Defender is a little bit more expensive as compared to others. We are in the manufacturing environment. So, we don't have a high budget for all of our endpoint devices. Its cost is a major concern for us."
  • "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."
  • "Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is an add-on to the Office license. Many customers are purchasing this solution."
  • "Microsoft Defender for Office 365 comes with Microsoft Windows. It is free with the operating system."
  • "The solution saves money so we have seen a return on investment."
  • "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."
  • More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The licensing model for this solution is better because it is based on the box and not the number of users."
  • "It is an expensive product."
  • "The annual cost is $55,000."
  • "Pricing is straight-forward and renewable without complicated pricing structures."
  • "Pricing is based on initial license purchase and use volume."
  • "In the future I would like it if there's a possibility to lower the price of the bandwidth and UTM. It is quite expensive."
  • "This is a good solution and value for the money."
  • "If you don't need the full bundle that includes everything, you have options for the small or medium enterprise environments."
  • More Fortinet FortiMail Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "There is an additional fee for their central managed console."
  • "Licensing is paid on a yearly basis."
  • "Most of our clients are on a perpetual license. If there is a budget issue, they can choose a subscription. However, most of the clients choose the perpetual license."
  • "The pricing could improve by having additional discounts. For example, when customers buy have more than 50 or more users, there should be additional discounts."
  • "I rate the price of Sophos Email a four out of five."
  • "It is an expensive solution. On a scale of one to ten, where one is low price, and ten is high price, I rate the pricing a seven."
  • "The pricing is fair."
  • "The solution is expensive."
  • More Sophos Email Pricing and Cost Advice →

    report
    Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Email Security solutions are best for your needs.
    772,679 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Threat Explorer is an invaluable tool for me, and it plays a crucial role in helping me discern the origins of various… more »
    Top Answer:The product must provide better malware detection. The detection algorithms don't perform the way I hope they would.
    Top Answer:The price of Fortinet FortiMail steadily increases every year. There is a possible ten percent increase. It's concerning… more »
    Top Answer:The solution's pricing could be improved.
    Top Answer:The solution's identity proxy feature is very good and reliable.
    Top Answer:We use exchange licenses, for which we get immediate support from Sophos.
    Top Answer:The solution's sandboxing and spam control features could be improved. I have faced a few issues with false positives… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    MS Defender for Office 365
    FortiMail
    Sophos Email Security
    Learn More
    Sophos
    Video Not Available
    Overview

    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is a comprehensive security solution designed to protect organizations against advanced threats in their email, collaboration, and productivity environments. It combines the power of Microsoft's threat intelligence, machine learning, and behavioral analytics to provide real-time protection against phishing, malware, ransomware, and other malicious attacks.

    With Microsoft Defender for Office 365, organizations can safeguard their email communication by detecting and blocking malicious links, attachments, and unsafe email content. It employs advanced anti-phishing capabilities to identify and prevent sophisticated phishing attacks that attempt to steal sensitive information or compromise user credentials.

    This solution also offers robust protection against malware and ransomware. It leverages machine learning algorithms to analyze email attachments and URLs in real-time, identifying and blocking malicious content before it reaches users' inboxes. Additionally, it provides advanced threat-hunting capabilities, allowing security teams to proactively investigate and respond to potential threats.

    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 goes beyond email protection and extends its security features to other collaboration tools like SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams. It scans files and documents stored in these platforms, ensuring that they are free from malware and other malicious content. It also provides visibility into user activities, helping organizations detect and mitigate insider threats.

    Furthermore, this solution offers rich reporting and analytics capabilities, providing organizations with insights into their security posture and threat landscape. It enables security administrators to monitor and manage security incidents, track trends, and take proactive measures to enhance their overall security posture.

    As cyber attacks become more sophisticated, it is crucial for email security solutions to offer multi-layered protection. Fortinet's proven email security platform, FortiMail, is a comprehensive multi-layered threat protection solution designed to secure users from the full spectrum of email-based threats, which includes zero-day threats, credential impersonation, spam, phishing, malware, and business email compromise (BEC) attacks.

    Fortinet FortiMail offers a variety of deployment models to best fit your organization’s email security needs. On-premises, private or public cloud, or hybrid email environments can be deployed and managed in-house by your team or managed by Fortinet’s data centers. FortiMail also employs virtual machines that provide robust scalability options and flexible deployment of email security infrastructure.

    Fortinet FortiMail Benefits

    Fortinet FortiMail provides your organization with the following benefits:

    • Eliminate message-based threats by using FortiMail’s advanced inspection capabilities before they can harm your users.
    • Flexible licensing ensures that you don’t have to create a license for each user as you scale your network upwards.

    • Achieve regulatory compliance with sophisticated messaging content archiving, quarantining, and routing tools.
    • Stop spam before it takes over your messaging system and network resources, ensuring that your messaging performance remains optimized.

    Fortinet FortiMail Benefits

    Some of Fortinet FortiMail’s top features include:

    • Spam and malware prevention: FortiMail employs advanced techniques and technologies, such as outbreak protection, impersonation detection, content disarm and reconstruction, and sandbox analysis to provide users with high-performing antispam and antimalware tools designed to prevent unwanted bulk email, ransomware, and other targeted attacks.
    • Powerful data loss prevention: Identity-based email encryption and archiving help prevent the loss of sensitive and important information and ensure that your organization adheres to compliance with corporate and industry regulations.
    • Automatic updates: Receive dynamic updates from the FortiGuard subscription services that automatically upgrade your antispam and antivirus functionality using intelligence gathered by Fortinet's dedicated global threat research team.
    • Seamless integration: Integrations with other Fortinet products and external third-party components enable companies to enhance their security by sharing indicators of compromise (IoCs) across a unified security system.
    • Easy email management: Gain full visibility over real-time email traffic with Fortinet FortiMail’s intuitive dashboards, rich reporting features, centralized quarantine tools, and end-user controls. Control email traffic with the solution’s full mail transfer agent and mail-handling capabilities. The solution’s quick-start setup wizard greatly reduces the complexity of deployment and management.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Fortinet FortiMail stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its powerful anti-virus tool and its robust spam protection capabilities.

    Flamur P., head of security management at Ipko Telecommunications, writes, "Fortinet FortiMail has a lot of valuable features. It works great. It also has an antivirus feature. Support for Fortinet FortiMail was also great when my team wanted to block some geographic IPs, but couldn't figure out how to do it. The support team provided clear communication on how to resolve that issue. Another valuable feature of Fortinet FortiMail is spam filtering which tells you how many spammy emails you've received. Based on my current use cases, I'm happy with Fortinet FortiMail."

    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.

    Sample Customers
    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
    Magromer Cueros y Pieles S.A.
    Del Monte Foods, Terra Verde, spicerhaart, RIVERLITE, Dataprise, SureBridge, Reed's School, Sayfol International School
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company17%
    Computer Software Company17%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Logistics Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Government7%
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider17%
    Computer Software Company14%
    Manufacturing Company14%
    Government14%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization45%
    Computer Software Company9%
    Comms Service Provider5%
    Government5%
    REVIEWERS
    Retailer33%
    Manufacturing Company17%
    Financial Services Firm17%
    Outsourcing Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    Construction Company8%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business45%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise40%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business30%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise51%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business46%
    Midsize Enterprise31%
    Large Enterprise24%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise55%
    Large Enterprise27%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business79%
    Midsize Enterprise7%
    Large Enterprise14%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business40%
    Midsize Enterprise20%
    Large Enterprise40%
    Buyer's Guide
    Fortinet FortiMail vs. Sophos Email
    May 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiMail vs. Sophos Email and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
    772,679 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Fortinet FortiMail is ranked 5th in Email Security with 57 reviews while Sophos Email is ranked 11th in Email Security with 28 reviews. Fortinet FortiMail is rated 8.6, while Sophos Email is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Fortinet FortiMail writes "Good GUI and configuring security policies is easy but the pricing needs improvement". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Sophos Email writes "Provides good identity proxy features, but sandboxing and spam control features could be improved". Fortinet FortiMail is most compared with Cisco Secure Email, Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP), Barracuda Email Security Gateway, Proofpoint Email Protection and Kaspersky Security for Mail Server, whereas Sophos Email is most compared with Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP), Barracuda Email Security Gateway, Perception Point Advanced Email Security, Proofpoint Email Protection and Hornetsecurity 365 Total Protection. See our Fortinet FortiMail vs. Sophos Email report.

    See our list of best Email Security vendors.

    We monitor all Email Security reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.