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Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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...
Ranking in Email Archiving
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (2nd), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (2nd), Microsoft Security Suite (9th), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (1st)
Proofpoint Intelligent Com...
Ranking in Email Archiving
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
eDiscovery (15th), Compliance Management (14th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Email Archiving category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 19.7%, down from 35.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform is 3.9%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Archiving Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Office 36519.7%
Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform3.9%
Other76.4%
Email Archiving
 

Featured Reviews

Emeka Ndulu - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Improves threat visibility and response while reducing manual tasks and training users against phishing
I appreciate the attack simulation feature whereby I get to train users and educate them on how to identify phishing emails and spam emails, as well as the anti-spam protection. It gives me visibility into my threat environment and threat landscape to ensure that I am one step ahead of any likelihood of threats within my environment. I get to detect it and respond, so the threat intelligence is very effective. Microsoft security solutions save my time. It saves money because once I protect my environment, I don't lose money. It has decreased my detection time and my time to respond.
Anita Brüggemann - PeerSpot reviewer
System Administrator at emco Bautechnik GmbH
Effectively reduces spam and malicious emails with reliable detection capabilities
It would be helpful to make it easier for end users to filter and see items in the quarantine within the Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform. As an admin, I believe it would be sensible if end users could also see the quarantine folder in the Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform so they can create their own rules. The reports are all predefined, and I cannot create custom reports, so I am not fully satisfied with their visibility. I would appreciate the ability to generate my own reports.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 saves me time; it does save a lot of time, especially with the automation."
"The insights provided with Microsoft Defender for Office 365 are helpful because it comes with the E5 license, and by default, we can use a lot of capabilities."
"The deployment capability is a great feature, and we're able to activate this feature throughout France with a click."
"The risk level notifications are most valuable. We get to know what kind of intrusion or attack is there, and we can fix a problem on time."
"The coolest feature of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is its ability to look for phishing emails."
"The two main features that prove most beneficial for us are URL scanning and attachment scanning."
"The good part is that you don't have to configure it, which is very convenient."
"Microsoft Defender has a feature to protect each and every attachment. Even if it's an encrypted attachment, it will check for any potential threats."
"Our experience with the platform has been positive as it has maintained consistent control over spam and malware threats."
 

Cons

"There's room for improvement regarding the time frame for retrieving emails."
"Microsoft should provide more documentation for users so they can self-educate. I would like to see more documentation for advanced security features."
"The custom alerts have to improve a lot."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is not up to the mark in comparison with Wiz or Palo Alto."
"The inbuilt analysis of false positives can be faster. It's not slow, but it can be faster."
"You should be able to deploy Defender for every subscription without the need to add servers."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 must improve the overall management style, including the GUI. It also needs to change the filters so that it is easy to whitelist and blacklist data."
"Sometimes I have to recategorize things when it takes the wrong step and I do not want it to classify something as suspicious."
"The Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform does not provide features that help reduce manual efforts, so additional human resources are still required to manage security."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For large enterprise organizations, they can definitely afford it, but for small and medium organizations, they might struggle to cover the expenses."
"It is much more expensive than using another solution because we have had to include some options and upgrade our license."
"The solution could be better by simplifying the business model of their licensing. It was hard to figure out how to get the licensing done for the environment, initially."
"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."
"From the pricing point of view, like any other product in the market, there is scope for negotiation."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 comes with Microsoft Windows. It is free with the operating system."
"The product is expensive."
"The license is expensive because the cost is based on the number of users."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Manufacturing Company
18%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise31
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
The inbuilt analysis of false positives can be faster. It's not slow, but it can be faster.
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
My use case for Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is for email protection, safe links, protection of links, documents, protecting my documents, and protecting attachments. I also use it to conduct ...
What needs improvement with Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform?
It would be helpful to make it easier for end users to filter and see items in the quarantine within the Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform. As an admin, I believe it would be sensible if e...
What is your primary use case for Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform?
We use the Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform because it has a good ability to detect viruses and malicious emails, and it collects a lot of spam emails. Since we use this platform, the spa...
What advice do you have for others considering Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform?
It is a cloud-based deployment of the Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform. We worked with an internet provider, who is also a security provider, and it took one day to deploy it on the cloud...
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
Proofpoint e-discovery and Analytics, Proofpoint Enterprise Archive
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Mimecast, Barracuda Networks and others in Email Archiving. Updated: February 2026.
885,264 professionals have used our research since 2012.