Fortinet FortiMail vs Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 6, 2023
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Offi...
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Ranking in Email Security
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (9th)
Fortinet FortiMail
Ranking in Email Security
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Exchange Online P...
Ranking in Email Security
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
Anti-Malware Tools (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2024, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 13.1%, down from 20.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiMail is 7.2%, down from 7.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) is 7.3%, down from 13.1% 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%
No other categories found
Anti-Malware Tools
5.6%
 

Featured Reviews

Nagendra Nekkala. - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 14, 2023
The automated attack disruption works well if you have a strong policy configuration
365 Defender is a critical tool for mitigating attacks and preventing threats. We use it for email filtering and blocking phishing attacks throughout the entire enterprise. We have around 1,500 users.  365 Defender has improved our security across multiple categories. It's effective against…
Bruno Moreira - PeerSpot reviewer
May 9, 2023
Provides virus outbreak prevention and FortiSandbox integration
I have one deployment, which is a service provider, so it's working in a multi-tenancy environment. At least ten customers are being handled by this multi-tenant Fortinet FortiMail. We use Fortinet FortiMail mainly for incoming messages and also as a server In the first presentation we did, we…
Gandhavadi Gopinath - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 29, 2024
Protects against malware and stops phishing attacks by moving them to quarantine
I will recommend the tool to others. We have two types of customers. One set of customers only uses the basic suite. We do not recommend the tool to them unless they require it because it will be expensive for them. Another set of customers are Microsoft 365 E3 or Business Premium users. For them, Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is an in-built solution. We configure Microsoft 365 and provide Microsoft Exchange Online Protection as an add-on product. We are considering selling the tool separately. We have recently tied up with Fortinet. We are exploring our options. It will take some time. I am exploring other options because we have only used Microsoft Exchange Online Protection till now. We are a Microsoft shop. We haven’t explored other providers before. We did a project for a PCI DSS audit using Microsoft Stack. Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.

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."
"Threat Explorer is one of the features that I very much like because it is a real-time report that allows you to identify, analyze, and trace security attacks."
"I like its investigation capabilities, as that is what is most important to me. It is fairly simple with a user-friendly interface."
"Does a thorough job of examining email and URLs for malicious content."
"The initial setup was easy."
"The initial setup is straightforward. You just add the license, click it, and then you can set up the rules. It is quite simple."
"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 email protection is excellent, especially in terms of anti-phishing policies."
"The product's initial setup phase was very easy."
"The anti-spam feature is very valuable."
"Technical support is great. They're available 24/7 and their response time is typically within the hour."
"The solution is very reliable and very stable."
"It has a very high level of security through special licensing with solutions like FortiGuard, sandboxing solutions in the cloud, and URL rewriting solutions."
"This excellent email gateway minimizes spam, inspects suspicious emails and isolates infected attachments with little administrative effort."
"The most valuable features are the endpoint defense features, it is very secure."
"A full-featured email gateway solution that contains security threats reliably."
"We can migrate seamlessly without any disruptions to our operations."
"I like the product's ZAP feature."
"The product's most valuable feature is third-party integrations."
"The initial setup was easy. The configuration process is very straightforward."
"The pre-set policies and configuration analyzer are the most valuable features."
"What I like most about Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is its integration with Windows, so we have one central view for all alerts and incidents."
"Online Protection's most valuable feature is its admin interface."
"It is easy to configure, easy to use, easy to add exclusions, easy to track, and easy to add anything else if you want."
 

Cons

"We need to be able to whitelist data at the backend."
"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."
"It would be better if it were more scalable. It depends on the architecture, but we would like to make it more scalable for both data centers."
"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."
"There is room for improvement with the UI."
"Configuration requires going to a lot of places rather than just accessing one tab."
"There's room for improvement regarding the time frame for retrieving emails."
"In some situations, it has not been able to pick impersonated emails having no attachments. Technical support definitely has a scope for improvement."
"Such kinds of things, raised from the point from the objective actually, we are using Fortinet FortiMail. We don't find any kinds of challenge or difficulties, but Fortinet FortiMail is more efficient and more effective for us. I don't know for other client, but for us, Fortinet FortiMail is very effective Like, for instance, if it is possible, let's say some kind of high threat is actually encountered if it could be possible to SMBs in our smartphone, or mobile apps, kinds of thing, if Fortinet FortiMail is available to monitor the thing using from our mobile phone from our smartphone. If such kinds of things are truly included, it will be more or good for us."
"The solution lacks to provide more visibility when there is a problem, and it needs to be tracked."
"Fortinet FortiMail could improve general user management. There are no password policies for users."
"The solution could improve by making the UI more user-friendly and increasing spam and threat detection capabilities."
"Sometimes, authentic emails get blocked by the solution's firewall."
"In the Latin America market, some spam messages use Portuguese language. Some clearly spam messages would be better identified by the anti-spam if not for the language."
"It's difficult for me to talk about areas for improvement in Fortinet FortiMail because I'm the general manager of the company and I'm an engineer with knowledge about the solution, but I'm not deeply involved in its implementation. As I mentioned previously, Fortinet FortiMail is also being used within the company, and I'm happy with its functionality, but sometimes, attacks pass and avoid the Fortinet FortiMail filters, but those could be very sophisticated attacks. There could still be an improvement in the filtering feature of the solution, though the security of Fortinet FortiMail is okay for me because I believe you can't implement one hundred percent security in any solution. The initial setup for the solution also needs improvement. The setup is supposed to be simple, but then the customer starts to complain that some of the false positive emails are reaching quarantine, so my team has to configure it again. There have been instances when Fortinet FortiMail rejects valid emails because some of the service partners of the customer have not been configured accurately, so the system considered valid mails as attacks to be quarantined, so aside from improving the filters, there should also be an improvement in the categorization of emails in the server. My team has to modify the configuration so that valid emails could pass and for Fortinet FortiMail to correctly filter the SPAM traffic. A feature that could be added to Fortinet FortiMail in its next release is advanced AI, so it can analyze and decide accurately on which mail is valid and which mail is SPAM."
"The security products stop their operations once the subscription period expires. It is a wrong policy. If I trust a product, it has to continue working even after expiry. It should have a grace period of 30, 40, or 60 days. We can extend the subscription during those days. In some places, subscription extensions can take up to six weeks. During the renewal process, the support offered by the company is very poor. It also reduces security. We pay for the expired period but do not get protection during those times. The user of Fortinet FortiMail should have a feature to see spam names."
"The product could be more stable. Microsoft products could be more stable because sometimes, even though they are updating some things, we cannot find those updates."
"Our company faces difficulty with Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) because it's too big, clunky, and difficult for a small client to implement quickly and easily."
"They should specify the difference between Defender for Office 365 and Exchange Online Protection."
"When you're using a Microsoft product solution, you can scale it, but if you're not, there are limitations."
"The price of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection could be reduced to make it more competitive."
"Some features, like encryption, are not available."
"It wasn't easy or intuitive enough for me to start using it. So, the reason was that the solution changed."
"Not all settings can be configured automatically and most still require manual configuration. However, there is an automation tool available that can be used to input all the configurations either as a script or a tool it would be helpful."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The license is expensive because the cost is based on the number of users."
"Microsoft Defender is expensive. I typically recommend it only if clients have the budget. Otherwise, I would suggest an alternative."
"The pricing has become expensive."
"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."
"The product is expensive."
"The product is very expensive."
"The pricing is normal. Considering its popularity, it's not overpriced."
"It's a user-base subscription."
"The product's licensing part depends on the number of mailboxes and the hard disk needed by customers. The cost of the license depends on the number of mailboxes and the number of emails."
"9,000 Euro per annum for Fortinet Mail and sandbox."
"The pricing is on the higher side."
"There is either an annual or six-month charge to use this solution. Fortinet FortiMail is cheaper than Proofpoint or Cisco Security, or other email security appliances."
"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."
"Price-wise, the solution is not far from Microsoft ATP. So, it is affordable."
"Fortinet FortiMail is a little bit expensive."
"The solution is reasonably priced compared to one of its competitors."
"The product's pricing is competitive for the US market."
"The price of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is reasonable."
"The solution is priced high and could be less expensive compared to other solutions."
"The pricing of the solution is reasonable."
"Online Protection is fairly expensive."
"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."
"Apart from the license fee for the solution, there are no additional costs."
"Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is a good solution at an affordable price. It is a good investment."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
7%
Educational Organization
45%
Computer Software Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
5%
Government
5%
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

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 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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiMail?
The price of Fortinet FortiMail steadily increases every year. There is a possible ten percent increase. It's concern...
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiMail?
The solution's pricing could be improved.
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 ...
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
FortiMail
Microsoft EOP, MS Exchange Online Protection
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
Magromer Cueros y Pieles S.A.
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiMail vs. Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
787,779 professionals have used our research since 2012.