Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) vs Sophos Email comparison

Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) vs. Sophos Email

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Helped 787,104 peers since 2012

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Offi...

Market share comparison

As of June 2024, in the Email Security category, the market share of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 13.2% and it decreased by 33.9% compared to the previous year. The market share of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) is 7.4% and it decreased by 43.6% compared to the previous year. The market share of Sophos Email is 3.3% and it decreased by 19.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Email Security

Unique Categories:

Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)

12.3%

Microsoft Security Suite

1.5%

Anti-Malware Tools

5.6%

Office 365 Protection

23.3%

Featured Reviews

Chris-Atkinson

Sales Director for Academic, Medical, Corporate and Government markets at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Nov 28, 2023

Provides good visibility and increased security and enables organizations to take proactive steps against threats

We get a lot of good visibility. When we look for something, it's pretty easy to see the IP from which the user signed in. We get to know where the person is logging in from. It lets us know quickly whether a particular IP should be logged in at a particular time. The solution does not help us prioritize threats. It helps us mitigate some of the threats we identify. I don't think prioritization is important. Whoever makes the most has the highest priority. The solution’s threat intelligence helps us take proactive steps, especially with Safe Links. It helps us track down and look at logs, see what document libraries a threat might have gone to, and try to review the exposed data and potentially exfiltrate it. The solution has saved my company's money. The tool has decreased our time to respond by a couple of hours per incident. I don't have to involve my network or security teams. We could click through to determine whether an access is legitimate. There may be more cost-effective solutions in the market. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten for its functionality.

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Luis Bastida

Chief Information Security Officer at Suri Services, SC

Apr 3, 2023

Excellent support, good functionality, and useful protection against online threats

I primarily use the solution for online protection. It protects us from malware and spam, among other threats. I can employ my own policies, for example, attached files and email, and I can apply security to them and analyze threats that may come in. I put together the best configurations to help…

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JOEY CAPAPAS

Sales Manager at iSolutions International, Inc.

May 23, 2024

Prevents phishing emails and other cybersecurity attacks

The solution prevents phishing emails and other cybersecurity attacks 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…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"At the moment we are satisfied with this product. It's a stable, scalable, and resilient solution for us."

"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."

"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."

"Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable feature is its performance."

"The good part is that you don't have to configure it, which is very convenient."

"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is a stable solution."

"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."

"Defender for Office 365 has helped eliminate having to look at multiple dashboards and that is the aspect I like most about it. It is simpler, effective, and convenient. The users like the process efficiency."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 pros

"Microsoft Exchange Online Protection has features like DLP (data loss protection), Safe Attachment, and Safe Links."

"The solution's stability is very, very good. I didn't face any problems in the last year."

"The product protects against malware."

"The initial setup was easy. The configuration process is very straightforward."

"In general, my company is happy with Microsoft support...My company hasn't faced any stability issues with the solution."

"The most valuable feature is the ease of administration. Other solutions require complex administration, but Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is easier."

"Online Protection's most valuable feature is its admin interface."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is the accidental release of information protection capabilities. Additionally, the solution is easy to use."

More Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) pros

"The anti-malware, risk scanning has been pretty spot on."

"I find the comprehensive features of Sophos Email most valuable."

"There are many features that are important, but among those, the spam protection feature is very valuable. It help us to safeguard the email against phishing and ensures that there is maximum security enabled for our communication processes. It has a huge role in protecting our emails from potential threats."

"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."

"The most valuable feature of Sophos Email is the sandbox. We're able to scan the file, isolate it, and look at it before it is delivered. It is highly effective."

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

"The tool is a good solution for protecting against email attacks and monitoring networks. It supports our compliance efforts and is easy to use and stable."

"The solution protects users from phishing links and spam."

More Sophos Email pros

Cons

"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 could improve by giving customers information on techniques to prevent threats. For example, information about best practices on how to protect their own devices against hackers and scammers, such as educational information or training. This would help others have a better understanding of cyber security. Additionally, there can be more security features added."

"The UI needs to be more user-friendly."

"We need to be able to whitelist data at the backend."

"In one of the reports I can get the exact place where a vulnerable file resides. But for that, I need to explicitly go into the device and check. If they could include that file part in the report, without my having to go to the device itself, that would help."

"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."

"The XDR dashboard has room for improvement."

"There is room for improvement with the UI."

"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."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 cons

"Having orchestration features added to Microsoft Exchange Online Protection, particularly automation and remediation, would be quite useful."

"We would like the solution to have more in-built intelligence in the way that it reviews potential security risks, rather than our team constantly having to update the policies."

"The tool's classification for bulk email is cumbersome."

"The management interface of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) could be intuitive."

"Online Protection has an issue in that it doesn't provide an option to stop impersonation."

"The security compliance features need to be improved. Sometimes, a client's mailbox becomes full because of retained information and not because of mail. I would like to see improvement in block rules as well."

"Performance and speed should continue to be improved."

"We have experienced issues while migrating from on-prem to the cloud. The tool needs to improve its stability."

More Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) cons

"Lacks visibility into spam emails."

"Sophos Email needs to increase the number of promos."

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

"The solution has not found a way to block certain kinds of phishing emails."

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

"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 solution's sandboxing and spam control features could be improved."

"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."

More Sophos Email cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution saves money so we have seen a return on investment."

"The license is expensive because the cost is based on the number of users."

"The solution could be better by simplifying the business model of their licensing. It was hard to figure out how to get the licensing done for the environment, initially."

"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."

"Microsoft Defender is expensive. I typically recommend it only if clients have the budget. Otherwise, I would suggest an alternative."

"Compared to other brands, Microsoft Defender for Office 365's pricing is competitive."

"The pricing has become expensive."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 pricing and cost advice

"The price could be lower."

"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."

"The price of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is reasonable."

"The pricing for the solution depends on what you are trying to achieve with the use of the product, but I know that it is not a cheaply priced product. Yearly payments have to be made towards the licensing fees of the solution."

"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is very expensive, I rate the pricing a six. For licensing, we can make monthly or yearly payments. Right now, we pay 5 USD per month to secure a person's license."

"The product's pricing is competitive for the US market."

"The solution is priced high and could be less expensive compared to other solutions."

"The solution is expensive but is backed by Microsoft's reputation."

More Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) pricing and cost advice

"We use exchange licenses, for which we get immediate support from Sophos."

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

"I rate the price of Sophos Email a four out of five."

"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."

"The solution is expensive."

"There is an additional fee for their central managed console."

"Sophos Email is neither cheap nor expensive."

"Licensing is paid on a yearly basis."

More Sophos Email pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Email Security solutions are best for your needs.

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787,104 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

16%

Government

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

15%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

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?

The tool's pricing is reasonable.

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?

The product must provide better malware detection. The detection algorithms don't perform the way I hope they would.

What do you like most about Microsoft Exchange Online Protection?

The initial setup was easy. The configuration process is very straightforward.

What needs improvement with Microsoft Exchange Online Protection?

We face challenges with reporting features and the lack of a proper dashboard in Microsoft's portal. There's no graph...

What is your primary use case for Microsoft Exchange Online Protection?

The main use case is to block suspicious links in emails. However, some functionalities like SIPP attachment are not ...

What do you like most about Sophos Email?

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

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

We use exchange licenses, for which we get immediate support from Sophos.

What needs improvement with Sophos Email?

The solution's sandboxing and spam control features could be improved. I have faced a few issues with false positives...

Proofpoint Email Protection vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Comparisons

Compared 14% of the time

Mimecast Email Security vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Compared 11% of the time

Cisco Secure Email vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Compared 6% of the time

Barracuda Email Security Gateway vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Identity vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Compared 3% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Competitors

Proofpoint Email Protection vs Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP)

Compared 16% of the time

Cisco Secure Email vs Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP)

Compared 10% of the time

Fortinet FortiMail vs Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP)

Compared 8% of the time

Mimecast Email Security vs Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP)

Compared 8% of the time

Abnormal Security vs Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP)

Compared 2% of the time

More Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) Competitors

Fortinet FortiMail vs Sophos Email

Compared 9% of the time

Barracuda Email Security Gateway vs Sophos Email

Compared 5% of the time

Perception Point Advanced Email Security vs Sophos Email

Compared 5% of the time

Proofpoint Email Protection vs Sophos Email

Compared 5% of the time

Hornetsecurity 365 Total Protection vs Sophos Email

Compared 5% of the time

More Sophos Email Competitors

Product Reports

Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Download Microsoft Defender for Office 365 product report

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 report

Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP)

Download Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) product report

Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) report

Sophos Email

Download Sophos Email product report

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365

Microsoft EOP, MS Exchange Online Protection

Sophos Email Security

Learn More

Microsoft

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Sophos

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.

Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) is a comprehensive email filtering and security service designed to protect organizations from spam, malware, and other email-based threats. It provides advanced threat protection, anti-malware and anti-spam filtering, and data loss prevention capabilities.

With EOP, organizations can ensure the security and integrity of their email communications. It uses multiple layers of filtering and scanning to detect and block malicious content, including phishing attempts, viruses, and ransomware. EOP also leverages machine learning and artificial intelligence to continuously improve its threat detection capabilities.

In addition to its robust security features, EOP offers advanced anti-spam filtering to reduce unwanted and unsolicited emails. It uses a combination of reputation-based filtering, content filtering, and sender authentication techniques to identify and block spam messages.

EOP also includes data loss prevention (DLP) capabilities to prevent sensitive information from being leaked or shared inappropriately. It allows organizations to define policies to detect and prevent the transmission of sensitive data, such as credit card numbers or social security numbers, via email.

Furthermore, EOP integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Exchange Online and other Office 365 services, providing a unified and integrated email security solution. It can be easily managed through the Exchange admin center, allowing administrators to configure and monitor security settings, review reports, and manage quarantined emails.

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.

Information Not Available

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

Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) vs. Sophos Email