Fortinet FortiMail vs Fortinet FortiMail Cloud comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiMail and Fortinet FortiMail Cloud 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. Fortinet FortiMail Cloud Report (Updated: January 2024).
763,955 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
"I like its investigation capabilities, as that is what is most important to me. It is fairly simple with a user-friendly interface.""The email protection is excellent, especially in terms of anti-phishing policies.""The product's scalability is good.""Microsoft Defender for Office 365 helps people to work remotely. It is a secure solution. We don't need to use our company's computers or get VPN connections to the networks. I can control how they share screens and what they send to the devices. It keeps our organizations confidential and sensitive information safe.""The two main features that prove most beneficial for us are URL scanning and attachment scanning.""The deployment capability is a great feature.""I would say that 90% of the spam and phishing attack emails get blocked right off the bat.""There are several features that I consider valuable."

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"When combining this solution with other Fortinet products, such as FortiGate, it integrates well and provides a comprehensive protection package.""It can block a lot of fake emails.""The solution can scale.""The most valuable features of this solution are anti-spam, sender reputation, and antivirus.""It actually filters the compromised emails when on a network layer itself.""The most valuable aspects of this solution are that it protects us from spam and phishing attacks. We had a lot of attacks coming in and then we deployed this solution and they stopped. We no longer have any spam or phishing issues.""One major benefit of the Fortinet FortiMail product is its ease of management.""They have a feature called CDR, Content Disarm, Reconstruction, click protection, and DLP for encryption purposes."

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"FortiMail Cloud is very fast.""If there is a problem somewhere Fortinet can act on it immediately. That is very important.""The most valuable feature is the advanced threat protection.""The deployment is simple.""Content disarming and analysis are essential features in our email security setup""The product's initial setup is straightforward and simple, making it an easy-to-use tool.""The most valuable features are filtering and sandboxing.""I am impressed with the tool's ability to setup rules and destinations. It also helps to monitor suspicious items."

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Cons
"The GUI is sometimes slow to fetch the device report and could be improved.""The phishing and spam filters could use some improvement.""There is room for improvement with the UI.""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.""In some situations, it has not been able to pick impersonated emails having no attachments. Technical support definitely has a scope for improvement.""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 custom alerts have to improve a lot.""Microsoft Defender for Office 365 should improve the troubleshooting tools. It's unclear whether the device is blocked at the firewall level or at the device itself. The granularity needed for troubleshooting is currently lacking. From my perspective, Microsoft should address this issue to benefit many users who likely share the same sentiment."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Cons →

"I have little to say about possible improvements, but the configuration for content blocking could be better. So, for example, if the email includes the line "You have a Bitcoin", I would like it to be easier to block it before it enters an inbox. Fortinet could maybe offer better or simpler help on how to do this properly.""The solution could improve by making the UI more user-friendly and increasing spam and threat detection capabilities.""Limited ability to upgrade hardware may lead to some performance issues that might otherwise be improved.""Sometimes it takes a little bit too long to determine if an email is good or not. If they could shorten that time span, it'd be so much better. It does delay our email, which does not make users happy. That said, I would have to say we have not been blacklisted for quite a while now.""There are features that other solutions have that this one is lacking, such as reporting options. I hope in future releases they advance their features list.""The solution doesn't scale easily.""The web console management interface could be improved.""The statistics and BI in general could be improved."

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"Fortinet FortiMail Cloud doesn't have AI features, making it an outdated tool for me.""The tool's UI can be simple since it's cluttered now and you can't understand where you are going. It's not obvious to find out the menus or things that you are looking to find.""The dashboard could use improvement.""I would like to see more advanced sandbox features, where you can actually download to a machine where you can test.""The URL filtering and handling should be enhanced because it doesn't support all languages. I believe that this would be easy to enhance in the future.""The setup of the rules can be improved. I think it should be simplified and would be the best improvement in the system.""This solution is slow and it should be made faster.""The downside of this solution is that it is difficult to implement policies on FortiMail."

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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 →

  • "It's on a subscribed basis."
  • "When we're talking about pricing, other products have about the same price. That is normal."
  • "The price of this solution could be more competitive."
  • "It should cost around $60,000. We bought it as a bundle, so everything comes together in the license. That is standard."
  • "A license for our company using FortiMail and FortiCare (filtering and support) was $4000."
  • "The licensing is for three years. In the beginning, we did not pay monthly, it was paid once for three years."
  • "You only have to purchase one license for multiple participants."
  • "I see how manageable and flexible the licenses are."
  • More Fortinet FortiMail Cloud Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    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:FortiMail possesses notable strengths, and one key feature is its store-and-forward concept.
    Top Answer:It could benefit from enhancing its functionality, especially in terms of advanced filtering. Introducing features such… more »
    Top Answer:Content disarming and analysis are essential features in our email security setup
    Top Answer:The pricing depends on various factors, including the type of licenses and subscriptions you have procured. The cost… more »
    Top Answer:During our deployment and in our day-to-day operations, we've encountered certain challenges with our email security… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    MS Defender for Office 365
    FortiMail
    Learn More
    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."

    Fortinet FortiMail Cloud is a comprehensive email security solution that protects organizations from advanced threats and ensures secure email communication. It offers robust features such as anti-spam, anti-malware, and data loss prevention to safeguard against email-borne attacks. With its cloud-based deployment, FortiMail Cloud provides scalable and flexible email security without the need for additional hardware or software. 

    It offers real-time threat intelligence and advanced analytics to detect and block sophisticated threats, including zero-day attacks. FortiMail Cloud also includes encryption capabilities to secure sensitive data and comply with regulatory requirements. With its user-friendly interface and centralized management, organizations can easily configure and monitor email security policies across multiple domains. 

    FortiMail Cloud provides comprehensive protection against email threats, ensuring business continuity and peace of mind.

    Sample Customers
    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
    Magromer Cueros y Pieles S.A.
    Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company16%
    Computer Software Company16%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Logistics Company6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Government7%
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider19%
    Manufacturing Company15%
    Government15%
    Computer Software Company11%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization43%
    Computer Software Company9%
    Comms Service Provider6%
    Government5%
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider25%
    Non Profit13%
    Real Estate/Law Firm13%
    Energy/Utilities Company13%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company19%
    Comms Service Provider11%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Construction Company7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business42%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise42%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business29%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise51%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business45%
    Midsize Enterprise30%
    Large Enterprise25%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise54%
    Large Enterprise28%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business68%
    Midsize Enterprise21%
    Large Enterprise11%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business34%
    Midsize Enterprise22%
    Large Enterprise44%
    Buyer's Guide
    Fortinet FortiMail vs. Fortinet FortiMail Cloud
    January 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiMail vs. Fortinet FortiMail Cloud and other solutions. Updated: January 2024.
    763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Fortinet FortiMail is ranked 5th in Email Security with 30 reviews while Fortinet FortiMail Cloud is ranked 5th in Cloud Email with 7 reviews. Fortinet FortiMail is rated 8.6, while Fortinet FortiMail Cloud is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Fortinet FortiMail writes "Effective email security and user-friendly GUI interface". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Fortinet FortiMail Cloud writes "A reliable email security solution with deep integration capabilities and exceptionally strong support". Fortinet FortiMail is most compared with Cisco Secure Email, Barracuda Email Security Gateway, Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP), Proofpoint Email Protection and Trend Micro Email Security, whereas Fortinet FortiMail Cloud is most compared with Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration, Proofpoint Email Protection, Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP), SendGrid and SonicWall Email Security. See our Fortinet FortiMail vs. Fortinet FortiMail Cloud report.

    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.