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Fortinet FortiMail vs MetaDefender Email Gateway Security comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 6, 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

Fortinet FortiMail
Ranking in Email Security
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
68
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
MetaDefender Email Gateway ...
Ranking in Email Security
32nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (13th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiMail is 2.7%, down from 3.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MetaDefender Email Gateway Security is 1.0%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiMail2.7%
MetaDefender Email Security Solutions1.0%
Other96.3%
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

Abhimanyu Das - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Cybersecurity Engineer at Kyndryl
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.
RM
Senior Information Systems Engineer at Liberty Pumps, Inc.
Helpful support, and useful dashboards
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. I haven't tried it in a while since then. Since I can't turn it off on a per-user basis, I had to turn it off globally. I have certain exceptions for not doing the sanitization, and how to set those up is not intuitive. It would be useful if there were a better way of doing that. Using digital certificates is hard. It would be better if it used Windows Servers' built-in certificate management.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"FortiMail effectively filters all emails coming to our mail server, blocking malicious ones automatically."
"It is one of the most efficient solutions in our environment. We have more than nine hundred users. All of these users are protected by Fortinet FortiMail."
"I am satisfied with both the scalability and the stability of this solution."
"It actually filters the compromised emails when on a network layer itself."
"The anti-spam feature is very valuable."
"For now, as per our experience with FortiMail in handling a large number of emails and spams as well, in the past three years, we have been protected and saved from any attacks from the outside."
"Through Fortinet FortiMail, we can perfectly authenticate each local mail service and mail release so that only authenticated mail goes out from our domain."
"After three months of evaluating FortiMail, it has exceeded our expectations and we will definitely continue using it."
"The sanitization is very good."
"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 most valuable feature is called summary reconstruction which is used to deliver encrypted files to users."
 

Cons

"Fortinet FortiMail should allow more flexibility with the content rules."
"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."
"Fortinet FortiMail's pricing could be improved."
"I will not give good marks on their support team."
"Header inspection and containerization, like on-prem premises sandboxing, need enhancement."
"My customers frequently ask to have detailed documentation for FortiMail and FortiWeb as they have in FortiGate. What they currently have is not enough."
"I'll rate it higher when it can be easier to configure or connect to the cloud to report on the attachments."
"ortiMail has some latency issues and sometimes takes time to receive emails."
"Although the number of AV engines is good, it could be better."
"The DLP should be upgraded and has room for improvement."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Price-wise, the solution is not far from Microsoft ATP. So, it is affordable."
"You need to pay additional fees for premium support."
"The solution is quite pricey compared to other competitors in the market."
"If you don't need the full bundle that includes everything, you have options for the small or medium enterprise environments."
"Fortinet FortiMail is inexpensive."
"The price is acceptable for the support license it includes."
"Pricing is straight-forward and renewable without complicated pricing structures."
"The annual cost is $55,000."
"According to our customers, the price of MetaDefender is high and it continues to increase by almost 15 percent each year."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Construction Company
14%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Pharma/Biotech Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business33
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise14
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiMail?
I think they should improve Fortinet FortiMail on-premises by enhancing its user interface. Additional features they could have in the future would include advanced analytics capabilities. I do thi...
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiMail?
I do have a partnership with Fortinet. I have been both a partner and reseller.
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

FortiMail
OPSWAT MetaDefender Email Security, MetaDefender Email Gateway Security, MetaDefender Email Security
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Magromer Cueros y Pieles S.A.
https://www.opswat.com/blog/how-one-of-the-largest-banks-in-taiwan-uses-opswat-metadefender-email-security-to-close-security-gaps https://www.opswat.com/blog/hapool-insurance-achieves-almost-100-reduction-in-email-threats-with-opswat https://www.opswat.com/blog/luzerner-psychiatrie-ag-stops-email-borne-malware-attacks-with-opswat-technology
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiMail vs. MetaDefender Email Gateway Security and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,533 professionals have used our research since 2012.