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Darktrace vs Fortinet FortiMail comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Cloudflare One
Sponsored
Ranking in Email Security
21st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (15th), Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (20th), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (11th), Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection (7th), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (13th), Access Management (13th), Bot Management (3rd), ZTNA as a Service (9th), ZTNA (4th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (10th), Remote Browser Isolation (RBI) (3rd)
Darktrace
Ranking in Email Security
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
84
Ranking in other categories
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (2nd), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (1st), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (1st), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (7th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (10th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (9th), Attack Surface Management (ASM) (4th), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (5th), AI Observability (6th)
Fortinet FortiMail
Ranking in Email Security
4th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
68
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Cloudflare One is 1.5%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Darktrace is 2.0%, down from 3.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiMail is 3.1%, down from 5.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiMail3.1%
Darktrace2.0%
Cloudflare One1.5%
Other93.4%
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

CV
Network Architect at IP Dimension
Cloud security has improved remote access and has reduced costs for smaller client sites
I have used Cloudflare One's Identity-Aware Proxy, and it is quite straightforward from what I have seen so far. The app registration on the Azure side integrates fully into Cloudflare, and I am very satisfied with that part because it is easy to set up. The integration of Cloudflare One's Secure Web Gateway and Zero Trust Network Access works without any issues. That part is pretty automatic, and if you complete the rest of the setup, it comes together by itself with no issues from my side. What makes it nice is that we can actually start replacing on-site firewalls at this stage for the smaller clients because it does not matter if they go to a coffee shop or work from home; they are still secured by the same connection. The hops get shorter and you get better latency. We have done testing to see if it is better. One thing that we did notice with our proof of concept with our current client is that they have people connecting from the UK. When they used their previous VPN solution, uploading CAD drawings and other files to the server took a long time. They mentioned that it is much quicker on Cloudflare One's solution. I definitely believe that is part of the improved performance, and I am satisfied with that as well. What is nice about Cloudflare One is that it makes the setup easier and also easier to train technicians to maintain it. Compared to legacy systems, we do not need to get fancy firewalls in place that are costly. That is definitely also a cost-saver with Cloudflare One.
AM
Technical Consultant - Unix Platform Services at BITS AND BYTE IT CONSULTING PVT LTD
Consistent threat hunting and anomaly detection deliver valuable insights for network security management
In terms of improvement for Darktrace, pricing is the main concern. Pricing bothers me and this is one of the major factors when choosing a solution. When we get feedback from customers, that's the only felt need. When we factor in Darktrace, we do it only limited. We put it on where the perimeters and connections are, but still, some gray areas are left out, especially if we have multiple branches. We need Darktrace on each branch to get the data out, and I suggest having some kind of a centralized product that gets data from multiple sources to aggregate and provide the data.
Abhimanyu Das - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Associate at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Targeted email filtering has reduced spam and phishing and now saves significant investigation time
The best features of Fortinet FortiMail include its techniques and tactics, which are highly effective compared to other solutions such as Microsoft 365. Although Fortinet FortiMail may not be as advanced in some aspects, it is well recognized for its strong performance in handling spam and phishing. It performs thorough mail scanning and also offers a sandboxing feature that enhances protection. Fortinet FortiMail has had a positive impact on my organization by significantly reducing unwanted email activities such as spam and phishing. It provides accurate detection and generates results that often exceed what can be achieved through manual analysis. Since deploying Fortinet FortiMail, I have observed a reduction in investigation time by at least 20 to 30 percent.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The blocking feature is very good."
"Cloudflare, in my opinion, was easy to implement."
"This solution is easy to understand and easy to configure."
"Cloudflare Access is a stable solution."
"For Cloudflare Access, I am using the free plan...The most valuable feature is their protection."
"Clover is the best product globally."
"Enables me to work from two locations."
"It is a stable solution."
"I find it very good in the way that they show the past events, including the attack history."
"The most beneficial feature in Darktrace is identifying phishing emails with the help of the AI engine and machine learning."
"Darktrace's most valuable features are that it understands the network environment and is able to trace the traffic and alert on anomalies."
"The active threat dashboard is the most valuable feature of this solution."
"One member of staff is enough for deployment and maintenance because Darkforce is AI-driven; it does a lot of things by itself."
"It is a stable solution."
"It is autonomous. So, it learns. It uses algorithms and AI to learn the common behavioral patterns on the network, and it is able to identify threats based on abnormal patterns."
"I am impressed with the product's ability to give insights into network traffic."
"Technical support is great. They're available 24/7 and their response time is typically within the hour."
"A full-featured email gateway solution that contains security threats reliably."
"The solution is very reliable and very stable."
"The anti-spam features are valuable."
"The product's initial setup phase was very easy."
"The features I find most valuable in Fortinet FortiMail include its robust security and ease of use."
"Both logging and reporting are very good, as well as the antivirus profiles, content emails, content profile, and application profile."
"As Fortinet FortiMail is a stable product that runs without big issues, it has a bigger chance of getting chosen by customers over its competitors, even if its price may be a little higher."
 

Cons

"The software has automated alerts, but the automated alerts are not available in the mobile app."
"Our customers no longer use Cloudflare because its service is subpar."
"The onboarding process can be improved a little bit."
"From a logging perspective, it is still a bit difficult to see exactly what users are being blocked with the current views."
"They don't have a person to provide support for customers using the solution under their free plan."
"Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform needs to improve its documentation. It took time to do the implementation."
"Our subscription plan for the solution has a limitation of bot signatures."
"The tool should provide on-premise versions. Currently, all versions are cloud-based."
"The interface and dashboards could be improved for ease-of-use."
"The solution can improve the reporting."
"The pricing is based on the number of endpoints, so the program is rather expensive."
"The price point for the product was too high for what our possible use case could be."
"The pricing is costly in USD, and they charge based on device counts."
"In an upcoming release, there could be more customizable playbooks or a library of playbooks to choose from."
"The pricing is a bit high for the region."
"One thing I would like is for Darktrace to flag SMB traffic more accurately. Currently, it only flags that SMB traffic has occurred, but it doesn't specify which file was being transferred. This makes it difficult to investigate incidents involving SMB traffic, as we don't have concrete evidence of what was being sent."
"In my opinion, points for improvement for Fortinet FortiMail include sometimes the speed and fine-tuning the false positive problems, especially with the signed PDF attachments and the whitelist and blacklist."
"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."
"An additional feature that could be added is a pop-up screen notifying you that an email has been blocked, without having to double click on it to take you there it could provide you with a summary explaining why it was on hold or why was it spam when you hover over it with your cursor."
"I have faced issues from one of the customers that they received spam emails. I think they need to look into it and improve their signatures."
"The tool needs to improve its pricing policy. Also, it needs to be more user-friendly. I would want it to improve email security as well."
"The solution could be improved by providing a virtual machine facility with a complete set of options in the VM setup."
"Maybe FortiMail's integration could be better."
"I think they should improve Fortinet FortiMail on-premises by enhancing its user interface."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price tag is no longer $200,000, but rather $300,000 to $400,000. It's twice."
"The solution is not that expensive."
"The prices are slightly expensive."
"The solution's pricing lacks transparency."
"Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform's pricing is good."
"The pricing of the solution is cheap. The licensing cost is also very low. I rate the cost and pricing a three out of ten."
"My company has to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the solution. There are no hidden charges apart from the licensing costs of the solution."
"The pricing is somewhere in the middle. I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten."
"It is expensive. I don't have the price for other competitors."
"It was $3,600 a month or $2,000 plus or so. I am not sure. Its licensing is pretty simple."
"The price of the solution is not cheap. It is not a one-time purchase, there is a subscription that needs to be paid every one to five years depending on your choice. It is expensive but you can reduce the price by only using the services that you want."
"There is an annual license to use Darktrace."
"The pricing is very flexible for Darktrace. Sometimes, a customer does not have the appropriate budget, but Darktrace can handle that. They offer monthly payments, so the customer can acquire the solution very easily."
"All of the other modules, such as the licensing modules, are on par. It's one for one."
"I am using a demo of Darktrace for deployment and testing which is free."
"The solution is about $6,000 per quarter."
"You need to pay additional fees for premium support."
"I find Fortinet FortiMail pricing reasonable. There's no additional cost apart from its standard licensing fees."
"It is reasonable."
"The fees for Fortinet FortiMail can be complicated. However, overall the pricing is fair."
"It's not as that expensive with the competitive different brands. The products sell a lot."
"If you don't need the full bundle that includes everything, you have options for the small or medium enterprise environments."
"The solution is quite pricey compared to other competitors in the market."
"In terms of licensing, we are using a virtual machine license for the single virtual server which it runs on. Doing it this way enables us to cut costs by only licensing FortiMail for our exact use case. If you need to expand in future, you can later buy extra licenses per virtual machine."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
21%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business44
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise30
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business32
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise15
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cloudflare Access?
Cloudflare Access has strong integration with Microsoft, among other platforms. However, when it comes to Kaspersky, ...
What is your primary use case for Cloudflare Access?
Cloudflare Access provides secure access to internal applications for employees, external members of the organization...
What advice do you have for others considering Cloudflare Access?
Cloudflare Access is one of the best integrations available. While about two hundred vendors offer similar services, ...
How does Crowdstrike Falcon compare with Darktrace?
Both of these products perform similarly and have many outstanding attributes. CrowdStrike Falcon offers an amazing u...
Which is better - SentinelOne or Darktrace?
Which solution is better depends on which is more suitable specifically for your company. Darktrace, for example, is ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Darktrace?
Concerning pricing for the product, I would say it is somewhat expensive.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiMail?
I think they should improve Fortinet FortiMail on-premises by enhancing its user interface. Additional features they ...
 

Also Known As

Cloudflare Area 1 Email Security, Cloudflare Bot Management, Cloudflare Gateway, Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform, Cloudflare DDoS, Cloudflare SASE & SSE Platform
No data available
FortiMail
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

23andMe
Irwin Mitchell, Open Energi, Wellcome Trust, FirstGroup plc, Virgin Trains, Drax, QUI! Group, DNK, CreaCard, Macrosynergy, Sisley, William Hill plc, Toyota Canada, Royal British Legion, Vitol, Allianz, KKR, AIRBUS, dpd, Billabong, Mclaren Group.
Magromer Cueros y Pieles S.A.
Find out what your peers are saying about Darktrace vs. Fortinet FortiMail and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
892,383 professionals have used our research since 2012.