MetaDefender Email Security Solutions vs Zscaler Internet Access comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between MetaDefender Email Security Solutions and Zscaler Internet Access based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Cisco, TitanHQ and others in Email Security.
To learn more, read our detailed Email Security Report (Updated: March 2024).
767,667 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
"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.""Defender enables us to secure all 365-related activity from a single place. It gives us visibility into everything happening in Outlook, protecting us against phishing and other email-based threats. Defender helps us detect any suspicious behaviors.""Since we have started using the solution, there have been fewer compromises.""It also gives the vulnerability status according to the versions you have selected. Let's say you have Google Chrome. It mentions the versions it has, and it updates. Within two hours of an update, it is reflected in the dashboard. That's really nice to have.""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.""It also gives me good visibility because, with Defender, I'm using a Microsoft product to defend Microsoft products. The integration was really seamless and I have wide visibility because it picks up almost everything. Literally, I can see almost every activity that happens, from the e-mail to the workstation itself.""The product is not resource-intensive.""Microsoft Defender for Office 365 has improved my organization's security. It makes it easier to manage the infrastructure without the help of third-party applications."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Pros →

"The most valuable feature of MetaDefender Email Security is the CDR. Customers purchase this solution specifically for data communication, as the other features can be obtained through other technologies that most customers already possess. Therefore, data communication serves as the foundation for the platform.""The sanitization is very good.""The most valuable feature is called summary reconstruction which is used to deliver encrypted files to users."

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"The policies are very intuitive and easy to configure, with very little possibility of messing things up.""Zscaler Internet Access has helped us reduce the time that we spend managing security policies by about four hours a week. We can use this time to focus on other things, especially the IT team.""Zscaler Internet Access protects using data loss prevention. If you have a CASB exposing your cloud out into the network, then Zscaler Internet Access will go ahead and control that unknown cloud application in the CASB, protecting it. There is also data detection with exact data match. This improves the data coming into your cloud so you are protecting it.""The solution is stable.""The most valuable feature of Zscaler Internet Access is that it is a consolidated solution, it comes with many features, such as DLP.""Whether you are in a hotel somewhere, or in Africa, it does not matter. You will get the Zscaler protection presence anywhere.""The solution is scalable and stable.""The initial setup was straightforward. The biggest thing for us was to build our own policies. The deployment itself was only a few hours."

More Zscaler Internet Access Pros →

Cons
"Several simulation options are available within 365, and the phishing simulation could be better.""Configuration requires going to a lot of places rather than just accessing one tab.""The phishing and spam filters could use some improvement.""The pre-sales cost calculations could be more transparent.""Microsoft Defender for Office 365 must improve the overall management style, including the GUI. It also needs to change the filters so that it is easy to whitelist and blacklist data.""One area for improvement is support, in terms of being able to reach them and, especially, technical support for configuration.""There is room for improvement with the UI.""We noticed that from time to time, Microsoft's stability does have problems. Sometimes the service goes up and down. Sometimes they change without prior notice."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Cons →

"They offer a feature called SmartLink neutralization. I have tried it before. It seemed to work most of the time; however, I had a few users for whom it just wouldn't work. Whenever they click on a link, it stays on the MetaDefender page, saying that it's scanning it and never moves forward.""Although the number of AV engines is good, it could be better.""The DLP should be upgraded and has room for improvement."

More MetaDefender Email Security Solutions Cons →

"They block Zscaler IPs when the traffic origin is from Zscaler IPs. They've been blocked by certain government organizations so the end users are not able to visit those websites unless we ask them to unblock those IP. This is a bit problematic.""Technical support could be better.""The performance needs improvement. Some areas create performance issues and, depending on the use cases, require reconfiguration to perform again.""In every cloud service in the world, you have multiple upstream internet providers to create diversity so that if one of your providers fails, your network just continues. In South Africa, there is only one upstream provider, and that's not right. That that's a problem.""The main issue with Zscaler Internet Access is proxy IP detection, which sometimes makes sites inaccessible.""The solution can be improved by advancing some of the newer technologies such as the DLP feature, and adding email security.""We'd like for them to include some sort of antivirus tool.""There are a few features that are not compatible with the Azure cloud."

More Zscaler Internet Access 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 →

  • "According to our customers, the price of MetaDefender is high and it continues to increase by almost 15 percent each year."
  • More MetaDefender Email Security Solutions Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "​Be aware that you will need to invest some time and money to adapt your environment for Zscaler (traffic redirection, software deployment, authentication, etc).​"
  • "The pricing is an issue. It is expensive compared to other firewalls on the market."
  • "Roughly, we might spend $70,000 a month on the solution. We don't pay for anything beyond the standard licensing fee."
  • "Our monthly fee is around R3000."
  • "The pricing is fair based on its competitive market."
  • "The price is competitive. It's not cheap and it's not expensive."
  • "The pricing for Zscaler Internet Access could be made cheaper."
  • "The price of Zscaler Internet Access should improve, it is expensive."
  • More Zscaler Internet Access 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:We paid for a three-year agreement. The cost is kind of high. For smaller companies, it may be outside of their budget… more »
    Top Answer:They offer a feature called SmartLink neutralization. I have tried it before. It seemed to work most of the time… more »
    Top Answer: Cisco Umbrella and Zscaler Internet Access are two broad-spectrum Internet security solutions that I have tried.… more »
    Top Answer:We researched Netskope but ultimately chose Zscaler Netskope is a cloud access security broker that helps identify… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    MS Defender for Office 365
    OPSWAT MetaDefender Email Security, MetaDefender Email Gateway Security, MetaDefender Email Security
    ZIA
    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.

    OPSWAT MetaDefender Email Security solutions are a set of industry-leading email security solutions for organizations, especially critical infrastructures. OPSWAT MetaDefender Email Security solutions introduce key capabilities to elevate organizations’ email security posture, protecting against undisclosed vulnerabilities, zero-day exploits, and malware.

    OPSWAT MetaDefender Email Security solutions leverage proprietary OSPWAT technologies such as Deep CDR, Multiscanning, and Proactive DLP to prevent advanced malware attacks and data breaches. This set of solutions includes an on-premises deployment and a cloud service.


    Key Features:

    Anti-Phishing and Anti-Spam
    Utilizing layered anti-phishing and anti-spam technologies, OPSWAT MetaDefender Email Security solutions perform real-time URL reputation checks and spear-phishing detection to prevent sophisticated attacks. Links are also redirected to MetaDefender Cloud for additional checks.

    Deep CDR
    OPSWAT’s Deep CDR technology sanitizes attachments and emails in real-time to remove malicious components. A new file with similar characteristics will then be reconstructed with only benign components. Deep CDR supports over 130 file types.

    Multiscanning
    MetaDefender Email Security solutions scan files with 20 AV engines to deliver a detection rate of over 98%, with fewer false positives.

    Proactive DLP
    The Proactive DLP technology redacts sensitive and confidential data, including personally identifiable information (PII), in emails, preventing data breaches and helping comply with industry standards. Proactive DLP supports over 40 file types.


    Benefits:

    Protection against Advanced Phishing Attacks
    Protect users from social engineering attacks, thus ensuring IT can raely less on user awareness. 

    Removal of Malicious Content
    Protect business productivity files by removing document-based threats from attachments.

    Zero-Day Exploit Prevention
    Effectively eliminate zero-day targeted attacks by relying on prevention rather than detection.

    Compliance with Industry Standards
    Proactively identify and redact PII and sensitive data to prevent accidental leakage.

    Protection Against Threats Hidden in Encrypted Files
    Decrypt all password-protected files with user engagement.

    Zscaler Internet Access is a cloud-native security service edge (SSE) platform. Its main purpose is to provide AI-powered protection for all users, all applications, and all locations. The solution replaces other legacy network security solutions to stop advanced attacks and prevent data loss by using a comprehensive zero trust approach.

    Zscaler Internet Access Features

    Zscaler Internet Access has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Proxy (native SSL)
    • IPS and advanced protection
    • Cloud sandbox
    • DNS security
    • Cloud firewall
    • URL filtering
    • Bandwidth control
    • DNS filtering
    • Cloud DLP w/EDM and IDM
    • Cloud access security broker (CASB)
    • Cloud security posture management (CSPM)
    • CloudBrowser isolation
    • Cloud secure web gateway (SWG)
    • Zero trust network access (ZTNA)
    • Digital experience monitoring

    Zscaler Internet Access Benefits

    There are several benefits to implementing Zscaler Internet Access. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

    • Fast access with zero infrastructure: Zscaler Internet Access creates a fast, seamless user experience because of its direct-to-cloud architecture. With no infrastructure, Zscaler Internet Access helps you eliminate backhauling, which improves performance and simplifies network administration.
    • Threat intelligence: By using threat intelligence, Zscaler Internet Access can stop ransomware, zero-day malware, and advanced attacks via Inline inspection of all internet traffic, including SSL decryption, and a suite of AI-powered cloud security services. 
    • Consistent security: With Zscaler Internet Access, your security policy goes everywhere your users go. When you move security to the cloud, all users, applications, devices, and locations remain protected and secure based on identity and context.
    • Hybrid workforce: Zscaler Internet Access enables secure access to all external and internal apps from anywhere, so remote work is not an issue. You can also enforce business policies that follow the user, making security identical regardless of location.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by Zscaler Internet Access users.

    A Service Manager at a construction company says, "There are a bunch of different capabilities that are valuable within the platform. We use quite a lot of them, but not everything. The ones that are most important to us are the URL Filtering and the application control. For our needs, the cloud-native proxy architecture is a very good solution. This architecture helps with cyber threats because we inspect most of the traffic and we can see that a lot of threats are stopped directly in the secure web gateway."

    Owen N., Security Architect at Claro Enterprise Solutions, explains that the solution’s most valuable features include “The integration of the gateway that inspects all ports and protocols. So, there is threat prevention; The cloud sandbox; VNS security; Access control that will protect URL filtering and the cloud firewall; Data protection that will protect your gateway, like your CASB or your cloud DLP; The capabilities of this will point your traffic to Zscaler Cloud.”

    An Architecture Senior Manager at an insurance company mentions, "The data loss prevention feature is the most valuable. It stops our users from inadvertently leaking our customers' data to the Internet or anywhere else it shouldn't go." He also adds, “The solution provides quick access to cloud services, securing our data and allowing us to inspect all our traffic.”

    Sample Customers
    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
    Information Not Available
    Ulster-Greene ARC, BanRegio, HDFC, Ralcorp Holdings Inc., British American Tobacco, Med America Billing Services Inc., Lanco Group, Aquafil, Telefonica, Swisscom, Brigade Group
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company16%
    Computer Software Company16%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Government6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Government7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Retailer14%
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Government12%
    Computer Software Company11%
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider31%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Pharma/Biotech Company12%
    Financial Services Firm12%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization19%
    Computer Software Company14%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business42%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise42%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business30%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise51%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business23%
    Midsize Enterprise13%
    Large Enterprise64%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business29%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise55%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise28%
    Large Enterprise54%
    Buyer's Guide
    Email Security
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Cisco, TitanHQ and others in Email Security. Updated: March 2024.
    767,667 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    MetaDefender Email Security Solutions is ranked 24th in Email Security with 3 reviews while Zscaler Internet Access is ranked 2nd in Secure Web Gateways (SWG) with 46 reviews. MetaDefender Email Security Solutions is rated 8.4, while Zscaler Internet Access is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of MetaDefender Email Security Solutions writes "Helpful support, and useful dashboards". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Zscaler Internet Access writes "Provides integrated CASB and file sandboxing but could be less expensive ". MetaDefender Email Security Solutions is most compared with Proofpoint Email Protection and Barracuda Email Security Gateway, whereas Zscaler Internet Access is most compared with Cisco Umbrella, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, Netskope , Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks and FortiSASE .

    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.