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Kiteworks vs Microsoft 365 Business comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 29, 2025

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

Kiteworks
Ranking in Content Collaboration Platforms
14th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Content Management (15th), Email Security (27th), Managed File Transfer (MFT) (7th), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (9th)
Microsoft 365 Business
Ranking in Content Collaboration Platforms
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
252
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Device Management (MDM) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Content Collaboration Platforms category, the mindshare of Kiteworks is 2.7%, up from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft 365 Business is 3.1%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Content Collaboration Platforms Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft 365 Business3.1%
Kiteworks2.7%
Other94.2%
Content Collaboration Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

KT
Associate Consultant at a tech consulting company with 10,001+ employees
Streamlined global file sharing with user-friendly interface and self-service capabilities
I'm not a network expert, however, there must be some room for improvement. Perhaps there could be a notification to users about their bandwidth or network packet loss. If users receive such notifications, they can understand any disruptions are due to issues with their network or bandwidth rather than the site or Kiteworks. Additionally, I work from offshore India, and I told my client manager to communicate with the Kiteworks forum salesman regarding one feature. I noticed the Kiteworks login UI is very basic, lacking customization. Allowing more HTML tags to add hyperlinks or user-friendly information on the home page would be very useful.
Jitender Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
Principle Consultant at Akaal Cyber Solutions
Comprehensive cloud tools have unified identity security and device management for my clients
I would suggest a lower cost for my clients because Microsoft 365 has many other licenses that provide different types of features. Microsoft 365 Business covers most of their requirements, and for the other parts, they use other third-party tools for cybersecurity. Although Microsoft 365 Business offers some cybersecurity features, it does not offer everything, such as endpoint detection response and mitigation. For those, clients need to buy a higher version of a license, such as Enterprise E1 or E5. I think Microsoft 365 Business can be improved if it adds more features such as endpoint detection or more features from Microsoft Defender, including cloud app security. With cloud app security, the application status or application logs can be monitored. Currently, cloud app security is not part of Microsoft 365 Business. You have to purchase a standalone license for that. If that can be added, it can increase the volume of purchases for Microsoft 365 Business.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The top two features are the two-factor authentication, which is pretty good. It's easily understood by the users. And their API is rather robust. We have numerous integrations that work off the API."
"It’s a great product that you should seriously consider and take the first step by training."
"The best part of this solution is that we can generate multiple reports about how the data is transferred and about user information or IP."
"As a file-sharing application, it's an absolute 10 out of 10."
"I like Kiteworks or Accellion because it's continuously upgraded. I also know that it probably works with a lot of clients."
"We can see when people are sending things. We can definitely see who is sending to whom. From the administrative logs, we can see who is sending to an outside entity, and those logs are retained for quite a while."
"The solution can be used remotely, including from mobiles, and it's easy to upload and share files."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to send a large file of 30 GB in size and more. In Outlook and other email applications, you cannot send files that are larger than 20 MB. But with Kiteworks, 30 GB is transferable by default and, with the proper approval, a file of up to 100 GB can be sent. It makes file transfer very easy and smooth."
"The best feature of the solution is its flexibility."
"It's painless."
"It's strictly in the cloud, so the company doesn't need to invest in hardware to install their Active Directory. So I find that it's a cost-effective alternative."
"The current product they provide has been very satisfying, the email service has been operating perfectly, and Dynamics CRM is the best and competes well with the non-CRM products in the market, such as Salesforce."
"It works great for sending and receiving mail and is very easy to use and navigate around everything."
"It is easy to deploy and do the settings, and it has also been stable."
"We are very happy with the solution and its capabilities."
"The solution comes with many applications as part of the package which is useful."
 

Cons

"File location could be improved."
"There are always issues when there are bugs or upgrades. The challenge with upgrading is getting more storage from the customer. Every time we have a new version, it requires additional storage. This means that the customer would need to procure more storage for their server, which they don't like because it means additional cost to them. So, I think my request would be that the version upgrades don't require any significant storage requirement."
"It could be more stable. In the next release, it would be better if it was more stable with improved performance."
"It would be nice if Kiteworks could provide a free version of the platform so that it could be used for a certain number of file transfers. We could be charged a fee if we exceeded the number of allotted file transfers."
"Kiteworks could benefit from enhancing the proposal knowledge base section, specifically regarding the type of work involved. Currently, the knowledge base seems insufficiently dedicated to this topic, making it challenging for new users to access the relevant administrative law. Improving the visual aids and providing clearer explanations could alleviate this issue."
"We have experienced some issues with stability due to bugs."
"We have experienced a few hiccups and bugs when using the admin console and from a user perspective."
"We mainly had stability issues with kiteworks, where we were pushing the limits of its capability."
"Technical support could be better."
"Sometimes it is quite hard to get a grasp on what features are going to be available at what time."
"The program's UI could be faster."
"The cost is on the high end."
"Previously, it was on concurrent basis access, but currently, it's on named user access. That's the biggest challenge we have, but we are looking to integrate SharePoint whereby we can have a portal where we can have the non-core users access via Sharepoint. That's what I'm looking to have an update on. So the cost is a bit of an issue."
"It should support the local language. It should also be cheaper."
"The solution could have better integration with other applications."
"The pricing of the solution could be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"They changed it midstream. We were being charged a certain flat rate for SFTP traffic. For whatever reason, at the beginning of the year, our pricing changed, and we are now being charged more for using a feature of the product than we were when we first bought it. That has been our experience with billing. It turned out to be more expensive than when we started with it."
"The license management is changing and confusing. If I could make one change to it, it would be better license management through the API."
"It is not really expensive. I mean, to me it's obviously expensive, but it's worth it."
"I believe it's a little costly, but given the faith that we put into it from a security perspective to maintain the integrity of our patient information that is being transferred through this system, that's a small price to pay. So, on the surface, it might look like a lot of money, but depending on the need for security, which is where we feel it shines, it's okay price-wise."
"The solution is very expensive because we are buying with Malaysian Ringgit and it's sold in US dollars."
"The price of Kiteworks is reasonable."
"If you go with Microsoft, they will give you 80 GB in advance and all those kinds of features. They will also keep asking you to go from E1 to E2, E2 to E3, and now E5. Their prices are high, but as long as the organization is happy to pay and your emails are working seamlessly, it shouldn't be an issue."
"The product is expensive and the licensing costs are yearly."
"The price of the solution is costly but it is fair for what is offered. I have found that the billing model can definitely be improved. Currently, it is not very transparent. It is a big problem, especially in cloud-based models."
"The solution is not very expensive."
"We pay a monthly subscription fee for the license."
"Microsoft 365 Business is expensive."
"Licensing fees are paid annually."
"It is not so expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
17%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Marketing Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business115
Midsize Enterprise44
Large Enterprise104
 

Questions from the Community

What is Kiteworks?
Kiteworks is a secured file sharing platform that enables users to collaborate with different parties across a robust offering of secured protected channels. Users have the option of virtual privat...
What needs improvement with Kiteworks?
I'm not a network expert, however, there must be some room for improvement. Perhaps there could be a notification to users about their bandwidth or network packet loss. If users receive such notifi...
What advice do you have for others considering Kiteworks?
Scalability is impressive. It can be highly available, resilient, and scalable infrastructure. I can confidently give it a nine. It suits any level of organization, whether a small setup with two a...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft 365 Business?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing shows that pricing is reasonable, but it depends on the plan, as some advanced security features require higher-tier licenses.
What needs improvement with Microsoft 365 Business?
I have one concern regarding Microsoft 365 in Outlook; if I am using the new Outlook version and I have sent an email to someone using the Classic Outlook, I am not able to recall it, as to recall ...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft 365 Business?
Since I joined my organization, I have been using Microsoft 365 Business for almost two years. Microsoft 365 Business is used for applications like Teams, Outlook, Excel, and Word, which are common...
 

Also Known As

Accellion
Microsoft 365 E3, Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft 365 F1, MS 365 Business
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

United States Securities and Exchange Commission, National Health Service, Husch Blackwell LLP, NYC Health + Hospitals, Viatris, MITRE Corporation, Chubb, Kraft Heinz, KPMG, Kohler, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Purdue Pharma, AVL
Urban Agriculture Co., The Detroit Wallpaper Co., TransBlue Facility Management, Garner Food Company
Find out what your peers are saying about Kiteworks vs. Microsoft 365 Business and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.