Forcepoint Email Security [EOL] vs Proofpoint Email Protection comparison

Forcepoint and Proofpoint are both solutions in the Email Security category. Additionally, 76% of Forcepoint users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Proofpoint users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Forcepoint Email Security [EOL] and Proofpoint Email Protection based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Proofpoint, Microsoft, Check Point Software Technologies and others in Email Security.

To learn more, read our detailed Email Security Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Email Security

February 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 884,976 peers since 2012

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

Featured Reviews

Cobe Van Coller

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.

Read full review

Muhammad Bahgat

Senior IT Security at ALEXBANK

Easy to use and setup and expands well

We primarily use the solution for email security The solution is very easy for administration. The interface is very good. It's easy to set up initially. We have found the product to be stable. It can scale well. The solution could use better integration capabilities. There are other…

Read full review

AshishKochhar

Information Technology Team Lead at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees

Advanced email protection has blocked targeted attacks and reduces manual threat handling

I feel Proofpoint Email Protection is overpriced. I cannot say that the security level being provided does not justify the cost, but when comparing the similar level of security with other applications or security systems, it is overpriced. If Proofpoint could provide offers or discounts for customers who are already using the product or for new customers implementing it, along with some free services or add-ons, that would be helpful in terms of financial expense. Proofpoint Email Protection has recently introduced AI functionality in terms of data security capabilities and protecting AI assistance from targeted attacks. This is important since everything is now related to AI. The solution is doing threat detection and real-time threat detection and response pretty well. There are a few things I would like to see improved. Sometimes Proofpoint Email Protection takes time to analyze the workflow and the nature of the email. In this age of AI, the solution should analyze an email on the first receipt and determine whether it should pass or be marked as spam without checking previous data. Another improvement would be to have a more user-friendly dashboard. Additionally, if Proofpoint could add the same features in BCP as part of email protection in BCP, it would be helpful since I currently have to take a different add-on for BCP, and integrating it would save costs. I cannot say that threats have increased or decreased with Proofpoint Email Protection because it depends on the mail flow. The solution captures and filters out all threats, and the email threats vary every day depending on how many users are receiving how many emails per day. Today there might be 1,000 emails, tomorrow 5,000, and the day after 500. Proofpoint Email Protection does its job by scanning all emails and threats are reduced to some extent. Since I am aware that virus definitions are updated every day, I cannot blame Proofpoint Email Protection if they take time to determine the nature of an email being received. There are sometimes emails that are false positives, and Proofpoint Email Protection is a bit strict in analyzing false positives, sometimes stopping emails that are actually required. It analyzes the previous nature of an email and if a template looks like an informational template or related to spam, it blocks it because it looks similar to one blocked earlier. However, the template might actually be required. If I receive the same template today that is also blocked by Proofpoint Email Protection, that particular template might be useful and should not be blocked. In such cases, I have to raise it as a false positive stating that this is something in use or my users use and should be released. When AI starts doing its work, it analyzes the email from a sender with a particular template and releases it, but if the same email and template come from another sender, it blocks it according to the policies.

Read full review

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."

"The best feature is rate limiting. If I'm expecting 500 visits per hour, Cloudflare will limit the requests if I suddenly get 50,000."

"Cloudflare DDoS mitigates DDoS attacks."

"Clover is the best product globally."

"Cloudflare DDoS is better than its competitors for its security, deployment, and scalability."

"The capabilities of the software are strong enough for me to do what it's supposed to do. For me, we don't need to do a lot of configuration on our site. We just enable it and monitor it."

"We mostly use Cloudflare WAF, and gets basic Cloudflaire DDoS, caching as extra bonus . We like the factor these features are all integrated into 1 console, simple to manage."

"The simplicity of the solution is its valuable features as almost no effort was needed to learn the configurations. It is also one of the cheapest firewalls available in this category."

More Cloudflare One pros

"I like how versatile the options are. For example, we can set it where we are able to access and browse Facebook but we are denied the ability to post photos. There is also that ability integrate with Office 365 - SharePoint app."

"With businesses running on email now, the companies are completely protected with this solution, and our customers are happy."

"Forcepoint Email Security is a good solution, and I don't have any issues with it."

"It's easier to deploy than other options."

"Using Forcepoint, we have created policies and rules for any suspicious mail. It is blocked and only released by an admin's approval."

"Forcepoint Email Security is a unique endpoint management solution that secures our centralized management, our web, our DLP, and data."

"Forcepoint Email Security is a good solution, and I don't have any issues with it. I found anti-spam and anti-spyware the most valuable features of Forcepoint Email Security."

"The Forcepoint Email Security roadmap easily integrates with the data loss prevention (DLP) suite of Forcepoint. Therefore, the customer doesn't have to buy another solution for DLP."

More Forcepoint Email Security [EOL] pros

"That is why I can consider Proofpoint Email Protection as a number one vendor for email security."

"Proofpoint Email Protection has positively impacted my organization by blocking significantly more phishing emails, and phishing is the main entry point into getting compromised, so I have more peace of mind knowing that more malicious emails are getting blocked."

"As a cloud-based product, it can scale well."

"I like all the features with Proofpoint, such as how it filters the spam and marketing mail, lost reality mail, blocks phishing attacks, blocks malicious attachments, and stops phishing links. Also it can defend against the business email compromise impersonation technique. It is a complete solution for all email attacks. It filters for the bad, malicious attachments. If there is any executable file, it can be deleted. It is a good, complete solution."

"Proofpoint is the main tool for blocking spam because it denies the connection altogether."

"When I manage a SOC and Proofpoint Email Protection is integrated with it, it gives me a consolidated alert, so when phishing alerts come in it is slightly easier to manage, even my L1 incident response team from the SOC can easily understand the alerts, perform basic checks on VirusTotal, and create complete SOAR automation from that information."

"The most valuable features of Proofpoint Email Protection are the performance from being on the cloud."

"Proofpoint Email Protection's advantage is that, when it's working properly, it tends to catch more threats as compared to other products."

More Proofpoint Email Protection pros

Cons

"Our subscription plan for the solution has a limitation of bot signatures."

"They don't have a person to provide support for customers using the solution under their free plan."

"The onboarding process can be improved a little bit."

"The tool should provide on-premise versions. Currently, all versions are cloud-based."

"When there are any dynamic changes in complex applications, the tool takes a lot of time, making its analytics-related area a major matter of concern where improvements are needed."

"From a logging perspective, it is still a bit difficult to see exactly what users are being blocked with the current views."

"Lacks a VPN feature to provide a secure connection to the data center."

"The software has automated alerts, but the automated alerts are not available in the mobile app."

More Cloudflare One cons

"Forcepoint is the best for DLP, but it is not better than other solutions in terms of phishing emails or threat protections on the email. It has less visibility over there. They might need to enhance these components because other solutions, such as Cisco Email Security and IronPort, have more advanced features. Forcepoint should focus more on threats and spam. They have a small database for spam. They must increase their solution's capability from this perspective."

"My advice, if you're looking into using Forcepoint Email Security, is that you can find better options out there."

"There are a lot of limitations on this product when you compare to other products in the market."

"It would be better if it were simpler to deploy on one or two machines instead of three or four machines."

"The reporting functionality needs to be improved, as it is not customizable."

"Technical support is lacking. It could be a lot better."

"This solution could be improved by providing further functionality to reduce or to block ransom attacks, cross-site scripting and man-in-the-middle attacks."

"Technical support is lacking. It could be a lot better."

More Forcepoint Email Security [EOL] cons

"Regarding improvements or enhancements in Proofpoint Email Protection, I find the platform somewhat chaotic. It has too many different sections that perform the same function, which is very confusing."

"We find the cost to be prohibitive."

"The initial setup is complex."

"The false positives are an issue."

"It can be improved pricing-wise so that it is affordable for the SMB market."

"Their technical support is mediocre. It could be better."

"However, for low-size or mid-level organizations, it can be challenging in terms of cost, management, and resource utilization, which could be a problem for low-level enterprises."

"They do not have an on-demand scan for the internal viruses and internal users, and they don't have a scan for the exchange server against viruses and spam as Symantec does."

More Proofpoint Email Protection cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is not that expensive."

"The price tag is no longer $200,000, but rather $300,000 to $400,000. It's twice."

"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."

"The prices are slightly expensive."

"The solution's pricing lacks transparency."

"Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform's pricing is good."

"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."

"The licensing is user base (per user). The product is purchased mostly by medium to large companies. For smaller companies, we have other solutions because the pricing is not cheap."

"Licensing is a yearly subscription that is based on the number of users."

"Its licensing is quite easy and straightforward. They have two or three suites, and the price is negotiable. It depends upon the size of the deal. They have multiple licenses. The standard is one, and then there are additional licenses that you can go for. There are three or four licensing models. You have the network suite, endpoint suite, email security, and the standard one."

"There are three types of support licenses."

"My company pays for Forcepoint Email Security licensing annually."

"When compared to other email security solutions, the price is not cheap."

"The end customer is buying our solution, which can be for monthly or annual usage depending on our payment and business model."

"The solution uses a licensing model that is reasonable compared to other products."

"In general, the pricing is competitive."

"The tool's pricing depends on the customer's preference, offering options for an annual license or a monthly subscription. The cost varies based on factors such as the number of users and specific requirements. Overall, the pricing is competitive."

"The licensing model for Proofpoint Email Protection is simple. It's based on the number of users. Price-wise, Proofpoint Email Protection is a five out of ten because it's a pretty expensive solution."

"We sell annual licenses for this solution."

"It is multiple times more expensive, which made it very much less attractive."

"Annually, it costs us about $92,000. This is pretty much what it costs us. There is no additional cost."

More Proofpoint Email Protection 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.

See recommendations

884,976 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

10%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

10%

Performing Arts

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	11

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	1

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	28
Midsize Enterprise	24
Large Enterprise	43

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, ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Cloudflare Access?

Cloudflare Access provides secure access to internal applications for employees, external members of the organization...

See all answers

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, ...

See all answers

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Proofpoint Email Protection?

I do not handle the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Proofpoint Email Protection, but I think it's a bit pricey...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Proofpoint Email Protection?

Some of the old portal features of Proofpoint Email Protection are missing in the new portal, so some of the settings...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Proofpoint Email Protection?

Proofpoint Email Protection is primarily used for anti-spam purposes. As other companies receive a lot of malware, ph...

See all answers

Comparisons

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Cloudflare One

Compared 5% of the time

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform vs Cloudflare One

Compared 4% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Cloudflare One

Compared 3% of the time

FortiSASE vs Cloudflare One

Compared 3% of the time

Twingate vs Cloudflare One

Compared 3% of the time

More Cloudflare One Competitors

Valimail Monitor vs Forcepoint Email Security [EOL]

Compared 36% of the time

Cisco Secure Email vs Forcepoint Email Security [EOL]

Compared 20% of the time

More Forcepoint Email Security [EOL] Competitors

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Proofpoint Email Protection

Compared 9% of the time

Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration vs Proofpoint Email Protection

Compared 8% of the time

Mimecast Email and Collaboration Threat Protection vs Proofpoint Email Protection

Compared 7% of the time

Abnormal Security vs Proofpoint Email Protection

Compared 5% of the time

More Proofpoint Email Protection Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cloudflare One

March 2026

Download Cloudflare One product report

Buyer's Guide

Forcepoint Email Security [EOL]

March 2026

Download Forcepoint Email Security [EOL] product report

Buyer's Guide

Proofpoint Email Protection

March 2026

Download Proofpoint Email Protection product report

Also Known As

Cloudflare Area 1 Email Security, Cloudflare Bot Management, Cloudflare Gateway, Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform, Cloudflare DDoS, Cloudflare SASE & SSE Platform

Websense Email Security

Proofpoint Enterprise Protection, Proofpoint Digital Protection

Overview

Cloudflare One is a comprehensive platform for security, performance, and connectivity. It provides features like rate limiting, DDoS protection, and application access, tailored to enhance user experience while securing internet access and accelerating communications.

Designed to integrate security measures with ease of use and scalability, Cloudflare One offers a secure web gateway and zero trust network access. These features ensure seamless setup and operation, making connectivity reliable and protected. Users appreciate its integrated console, intuitive interface, and the ability to manage risk effectively. It offers straightforward deployment, improves latency, and boasts cost-effectiveness. While its onboarding process and documentation need enhancement, its value in content delivery and application shielding is notable. Despite challenges in integrating Cloudflare Access with existing VPNs and the need for better automation and support, it remains vital for DNS and infrastructure protection.

What features make Cloudflare One stand out?

Rate Limiting: Controls the traffic rate to prevent abuse.
DDoS Protection: Shields applications from distributed denial-of-service attacks.
Secure Web Gateway: Provides secure internet access with seamless operation.
Zero Trust Network Access: Ensures secure, application-based connectivity without relying on traditional VPNs.
Access for Connectivity: Facilitates access to internal applications securely.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Security: Robust measures for DNS and browsing protection.
Performance: Enhanced site accessibility and communication speed.
Cost-Effectiveness: Offers competitive pricing for its features.
Ease of Deployment: Straightforward and efficient setup process.

In industries like finance, retail, and technology, Cloudflare One is crucial for enabling secure remote access and protecting web applications against dynamic threats. It supports compliance access policies and enhances content delivery, playing a key role in safeguarding digital infrastructure.

Cloudflare

Forcepoint Email Security gives you the security you need by protecting you against multi-stage advanced threats that often exploit email to penetrate your IT environment. It applies real-time behavioral sandboxing, enterprise-grade DLP and other advanced defense technologies to identify targeted attacks, high-risk users and insider threats. Forcepoint Email Security monitors outbound email to prevent leaks of sensitive information, and it empowers your workers — in the office or on the road — to safely adopt technologies like Microsoft Office 365.

Forcepoint

Proofpoint Email Protection provides powerful filtering against spam, phishing, and malware, leveraging effective threat detection and blocking capabilities. This solution integrates smoothly with platforms like Office 365, offering a user-friendly dashboard for seamless operations.

Proofpoint Email Protection focuses on email security, ensuring protection against phishing, malware, and spam. It includes features like URL scanning, anti-phishing, anti-virus protection, and sandboxing for comprehensive threat analysis. Its advanced analytics through TAP and TRAP, along with strong integration abilities, make it appealing for handling email threats. While scalability and ease of deployment are advantages, challenges such as integration in complex environments, the cost, and limited local support require attention. Enhancements in search functionality, email encryption, and improved phishing detection are also needed.

What are the key features of Proofpoint Email Protection?

Effective Filtering: Blocks spam, phishing, and malware with high accuracy.
URL Scanning: Protects against malicious links.
Advanced Analytics: Provides insights through TAP and TRAP.
Seamless Integration: Compatible with platforms like Office 365.
User-friendly Dashboard: Simplifies email management and monitoring.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

Scalability: Adaptable to organizational growth without losing performance.
Strong Threat Protection: Comprehensive defense against email threats.
Easy Deployment: Streamlined setup process for smooth integration.
Advanced Threat Analysis: Identifies and neutralizes threats efficiently.

Industries adopting Proofpoint Email Protection include finance, healthcare, and education sectors, which benefit from its robust email security measures. Educational institutions prioritize safe communication for staff and students, while healthcare organizations focus on protecting sensitive patient data. Financial services benefit from preventing data breaches and fraud through advanced threats management.

Proofpoint

Sample Customers

23andMe

Alphawest, Amadori, AudioNova, Betsson, Confartigianato Vicenza, Davies Turner, iGATE, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Landa Digital Printing, Northern California Bank, Scavolini, Toyota

Blocket, University of Waterloo, Lincoln Memorial University, WellSpan Health, U-Haul, Carestream Health, Westinghouse

Find out what your peers are saying about Proofpoint, Microsoft, Check Point Software Technologies and others in Email Security. Updated: February 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

884,976 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our list of best Email Security vendors.

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.