Kiteworks vs Sophos Email comparison

Kiteworks and Sophos are both solutions in the Email Security category. Kiteworks is ranked #27 with an average rating of 8.5, while Sophos is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.0. Kiteworks holds a 0.3% mindshare in Email Security, compared to Sophos’s 2.2% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Kiteworks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Sophos users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 3, 2024

Kiteworks and Sophos Email compete in secure communication and email protection. Kiteworks has an advantage in pricing and support, while Sophos Email is preferred for its comprehensive features and value.

Features: Kiteworks provides document tracking, secure file sharing, and a private content network, catering to compliance-focused enterprises. Sophos Email offers advanced email filtering, phishing protection, and anti-malware capabilities, which are crucial for safeguarding communications.

Room for Improvement: Kiteworks could enhance user interface functions and provide better native mobile application support. Increasing third-party integrations would also be beneficial. Sophos Email might improve notification systems and address occasional false positives. Visibility into email attachments directly from the management dashboard could also see enhancements.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Kiteworks is recognized for straightforward deployment processes and efficient customer support, favoring quick integration. Sophos Email is also easy to deploy, offering extensive customer service and prioritizing responsive support for technical issues, making it accessible to firms with varied IT capabilities.

Pricing and ROI: Kiteworks typically has a lower initial cost, offering a strong return through enhanced document security. Sophos Email may be more expensive at first but balances this with an ROI focused on preventing security breaches, essential for organizations prioritizing email threat protection.

To learn more, read our detailed Kiteworks vs. Sophos Email Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Kiteworks vs. Sophos Email

April 2025

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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

Microsoft Defender for Offi...

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 12.9%, down from 18.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Kiteworks is 0.3%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos Email is 2.2%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Email Security

Featured Reviews

Tolu Omolaja

Head of Department of Network Communications at Eko electricity

Great URL scanning and attachment scanning, but I would like more proactive threat analysis

The two main features that prove most beneficial for us are URL scanning and attachment scanning. URL scanning involves an automatic scan of links and emails. When a user clicks on a link within an email, the system promptly checks the link's safety. If the link is deemed safe, access is granted automatically. However, if it is flagged as unsafe, we receive feedback and notification to caution us about the potentially harmful link. At this point, we are presented with the option to proceed or return. I have personally witnessed the system identify a few unsafe links, making this the primary advantage of using the solution. The second crucial aspect is the scanning of attachments. When an email containing an attachment arrives, we receive a notification of the new email, along with information that the attachment is being scanned for threats. This additional layer of security provides peace of mind for our organization. While Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers numerous features, these two stand out as particularly impressive and valuable to us.

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Sukkanta Banerjee

Senior Software Engineer at Wipro Limited

Two-factor authentication and .ZIP format make large file transfers very secure

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. Also, only the .ZIP format is supported because it is a very secure mode of file transfer, and that is why it is recommended. It also has built-in antivirus, so if it detects any malware it will quarantine the file and it won't be delivered. This is really important to keep the service up and running in a proper and secure manner. With people working from home, the data needs to be checked to see what kind of data is being sent. It has a two-factor authentication mechanism. For example, if a person with a particular domain is using Kiteworks and sends a file to a party outside of his domain, that external party has to go through two-factor authentication. The receiver gets a link that takes them to the setup of a temporary account, which will be valid for three days. The recipient will also receive a customized password separately. Only after all these steps will they be able to access the file. That access is only available to a person with the mail ID to which the file was sent. In addition, admins can see who is sending sensitive content, what that content is, and to whom it is being sent, and can track emails. One week of good training will give a user complete knowledge for using the solution. The system is very easy to use. You just click on "Compose," attach a file, and send it. It's very easy compared to Outlook or Teams. It's quite simple, even for someone logging in for the first time. It is very smooth and easy to send files.

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NaveedAli

Senior manager IT infrastructure at Machine Learning 1 Limited ·

Provides good identity proxy features, but sandboxing and spam control features could be improved

Sophos gives you a feature set to manage your on-premises firewall on the cloud. I just integrated my on-premises firewall into the cloud, and I can manage the tool through the cloud as well if needed. I recommend using Sophos Email as a proxy. For email gateways, I advise choosing mature products with rich feature sets, like Trend Micro or CrowdStrike. The solution's integration with other tools is very simple. I easily integrated Sophos Email with my Active Directory. My organization needs a WAF with a limited feature set, which we use through Sophos. Purchasing additional WAF will be costly, but I get sandboxing and WAF features free of cost with Sophos, which is included in the license. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Scalability-wise, I do not think there are any issues so far."

"The email protection is excellent, especially in terms of anti-phishing policies."

"Defender is a SaaS platform, so it offers more flexibility. Managing the permissions is easier. The solution's automated detection and response features are scalable."

"The deployment capability is a great feature."

"Defender for Office 365 has helped eliminate having to look at multiple dashboards and that is the aspect I like most about it. It is simpler, effective, and convenient. The users like the process efficiency."

"Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable features are safe attachments and safe links."

"The most valuable feature is the integration. It's a single console, so we don't have to switch around between multiple products. Another valuable feature is the ease of operations and maintenance."

"I like its investigation capabilities, as that is what is most important to me. It is fairly simple with a user-friendly interface."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 pros

"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."

"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."

"I like Kiteworks or Accellion because it's continuously upgraded. I also know that it probably works with a lot of clients."

"I can identify from which region our users are uploading or downloading files."

"Scalability is impressive."

"We could see whether the customer with whom we shared a file had downloaded it, which was not available with GitHub."

"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."

"The benefits that Kiteworks has provided to its customers in terms of data sovereignty."

More Kiteworks pros

"The speed and stability were fine."

"I have found Sophos Email to be scalable."

"Sophos Email is a stable solution."

"When you say email security, it's about everything, incoming email, outgoing email, spam, phishing emails, unwanted marketing emails. You can set rules, but the main feature of Sophos Email is to make sure you don't get hacked. 95% of people who are hacked do not get hacked by typing the router password. They are hacked from the inside out, which means they send you a document that is a zero-day attack, you open it, nothing happens, but technically the attack is running in the background of your computer. This is how they gain access to your PC."

"The tool is a good solution for protecting against email attacks and monitoring networks. It supports our compliance efforts and is easy to use and stable."

"The anti-spam functionality of Sophos Email is good."

"The filtering capabilities are precious and far superior to others I've used. It's intuitive in what it pushes to quarantine, and users can quickly review, free, or delete items without needing an administrator, making it ideal for a multi-user environment."

"The most valuable feature is its email security."

More Sophos Email pros

Cons

"The custom alerts have to improve a lot."

"We need to be able to whitelist data at the backend."

"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 could improve by giving customers information on techniques to prevent threats. For example, information about best practices on how to protect their own devices against hackers and scammers, such as educational information or training. This would help others have a better understanding of cyber security. Additionally, there can be more security features added."

"Configuration requires going to a lot of places rather than just accessing one tab."

"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."

"The GUI is sometimes slow to fetch the device report and could be improved."

"Microsoft needs to broaden its global support presence by establishing teams of subject-matter experts in all regions."

"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 should improve the troubleshooting tools. It's unclear whether the device is blocked at the firewall level or at the device itself. The granularity needed for troubleshooting is currently lacking. From my perspective, Microsoft should address this issue to benefit many users who likely share the same sentiment."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 cons

"I would like to see immediate releases of fixes because now it takes at least a week. If that time span can be reduced to one day or two days, that would be very helpful for users so that things are sorted and transactions work smoothly."

"Perhaps there could be a notification to users about their bandwidth or network packet loss."

"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."

"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."

"The one feature, which I have also requested directly to Kiteworks, is to have a scheduled upgrade function. Currently, one of my engineers logs in after hours for the upgrade. We're a hospital, and we're 24/7, but the primary users are seven to five. So, we log in the early evening just to push a button to tell it to do the update. It would be nice if that could be very easily scheduled."

"File location could be improved."

"There is no offboarding process for end-users in Kiteworks. It's a manual process. There is no automated syncing with LDAP and checking to see if the account is still active. It's a manual process to get people out of here, which isn't the best way."

"It could be more stable. In the next release, it would be better if it was more stable with improved performance."

More Kiteworks cons

"A lot of legit emails get quarantined."

"Email installation could be more user-friendly so that it can be done without involving the partner"

"The tool's pricing is expensive. In its future release, the tool should make reporting easier to view."

"Lacks visibility into spam emails."

"I would like to see improvements in the initial setup process, ensuring better compatibility with diverse customer infrastructures."

"Their technical support is slow to respond."

"Sophos Email could improve DLP features."

"Sophos Email needs to increase the number of promos."

More Sophos Email cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"While Microsoft Defender for Office 365 necessitates pricier E3 or E5 subscriptions, the extensive functionality offered by these licenses across various Microsoft products justifies the investment."

"The pricing is normal. Considering its popularity, it's not overpriced."

"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."

"Defender is a little bit more expensive as compared to others. We are in the manufacturing environment. So, we don't have a high budget for all of our endpoint devices. Its cost is a major concern for us."

"The pricing has become expensive."

"From the pricing point of view, like any other product in the market, there is scope for negotiation."

"For large enterprise organizations, they can definitely afford it, but for small and medium organizations, they might struggle to cover the expenses."

"The product is expensive."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 pricing and cost advice

"The price of Kiteworks is reasonable."

"The solution is very expensive because we are buying with Malaysian Ringgit and it's sold in US dollars."

"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."

"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."

"The product is cheaper compared to other solutions."

"The pricing is fair."

"I rate the product's pricing a seven out of ten."

"The tool's price is reasonable. On a yearly basis, there is a 20 percent increase in prices, but it is not an issue."

"There is an additional fee for their central managed console."

"Most of our clients are on a perpetual license. If there is a budget issue, they can choose a subscription. However, most of the clients choose the perpetual license."

"Sophos Email is priced lower than its competitors."

"I would rate the pricing of Sophos Email as a six. It is considered affordable as a standalone product, and there are no additional costs besides licensing. The pricing is fixed."

More Sophos Email pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

13%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Retailer

Healthcare Company

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...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Office 365?

Money-wise, it is a part of the Office 365 ( /products/office-365-reviews ) suite, making it slightly more expensive ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?

The main area for improvement is simplifying the implementation and rollout process. There are many conditions to be ...

See all answers

What is Kiteworks?

Kiteworks is a secured file sharing platform that enables users to collaborate with different parties across a robust...

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What do you like most about Kiteworks?

The benefits that Kiteworks has provided to its customers in terms of data sovereignty.

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Sophos Email?

The solution's identity proxy feature is very good and reliable.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos Email?

Sophos Email pricing is a bit high, especially since I purchase through a partner, and they sell it at a higher price...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Sophos Email?

Email installation could be more user-friendly so that it can be done without involving the partner. If made more use...

See all answers

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GoAnywhere MFT vs Kiteworks

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Barracuda Email Protection vs Sophos Email

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Barracuda Email Security Gateway vs Sophos Email

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Office 365

April 2025

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 report

Download Microsoft Defender for Office 365 product report

Buyer's Guide

Kiteworks

April 2025

Download Kiteworks product report

Buyer's Guide

Sophos Email

April 2025

Download Sophos Email product report

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365

Accellion

Sophos Email Security

Overview

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is a comprehensive security solution designed to protect organizations against advanced threats in their email, collaboration, and productivity environments. It combines the power of Microsoft's threat intelligence, machine learning, and behavioral analytics to provide real-time protection against phishing, malware, ransomware, and other malicious attacks.

With Microsoft Defender for Office 365, organizations can safeguard their email communication by detecting and blocking malicious links, attachments, and unsafe email content. It employs advanced anti-phishing capabilities to identify and prevent sophisticated phishing attacks that attempt to steal sensitive information or compromise user credentials.

This solution also offers robust protection against malware and ransomware. It leverages machine learning algorithms to analyze email attachments and URLs in real-time, identifying and blocking malicious content before it reaches users' inboxes. Additionally, it provides advanced threat-hunting capabilities, allowing security teams to proactively investigate and respond to potential threats.

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 goes beyond email protection and extends its security features to other collaboration tools like SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams. It scans files and documents stored in these platforms, ensuring that they are free from malware and other malicious content. It also provides visibility into user activities, helping organizations detect and mitigate insider threats.

Furthermore, this solution offers rich reporting and analytics capabilities, providing organizations with insights into their security posture and threat landscape. It enables security administrators to monitor and manage security incidents, track trends, and take proactive measures to enhance their overall security posture.

Microsoft

Kiteworks empowers organizations to effectively manage risk in every send, share, receive, and save of sensitive content over numerous communications channels: email, file sharing, managed file transfer, APIs, and web forms. The Kiteworks platform unifies, tracks, controls, and secures sensitive content moving within, into, and out of an organization, significantly improving risk management and ensuring regulatory compliance.

Kiteworks

Sophos Email is a comprehensive email security solution designed to protect organizations from advanced threats and data loss. It offers robust protection against malware, phishing attacks, and spam, ensuring that only legitimate emails reach users' inboxes.

With advanced threat intelligence and machine learning algorithms, it can detect and block sophisticated attacks in real-time. Additionally, it provides encryption and data loss prevention capabilities to safeguard sensitive information.

The solution is easy to deploy and manage, with a user-friendly interface and centralized control. Sophos Email offers seamless integration with popular email platforms, ensuring uninterrupted communication while maintaining security.

With its comprehensive features and proactive approach, Sophos Email is a reliable choice for organizations looking to enhance their email security.

Sophos

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.

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

Del Monte Foods, Terra Verde, spicerhaart, RIVERLITE, Dataprise, SureBridge, Reed's School, Sayfol International School

Buyer's Guide

Kiteworks vs. Sophos Email

April 2025

Free Report: Kiteworks vs. Sophos Email

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