

Sophos Email and Microsoft Defender for Office 365 are leading solutions in email security. Sophos Email presents a simpler management and configuration experience, while Defender benefits from extensive integration within the Microsoft ecosystem, offering a more holistic security approach.
Features: Sophos Email is known for its AI-enhanced spam and phishing protection, ease of management, and effective sandbox feature for attachment scanning. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 integrates threat protection features such as anti-phishing, safe links, and attachment scanning, leveraging Microsoft tools for comprehensive security with a focus on cloud services and threat prioritization.
Room for Improvement: Sophos Email needs to enhance endpoint security and improve support response times, along with clearer logging features. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 can improve threat visibility, expand file type compatibility, and simplify user interface elements for configuration.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Sophos Email offers on-premises and cloud deployment options but faces challenges with technical support and setup complexity. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 provides extensive cloud integration and multi-environment flexibility but can be complicated for those unfamiliar with Microsoft's suite.
Pricing and ROI: Sophos Email offers competitive pricing and flexible subscriptions, making it appealing to various business sizes. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is perceived as more expensive due to additional licensing within the Office 365 ecosystem, justified for larger enterprises but challenging for smaller businesses.
It has also decreased our time to detection and response by about 15 to 20 percent.
Overall, cost of owning and operating our system goes down.
It's hard to quantify the return on investment we've seen from Microsoft Defender for Office 365.
Over the past two years, there have been no critical problems.
we opened tickets, and they typically resolve them quickly.
With a subscription for Microsoft Defender for Office 365, it is an eight. Without it, it is a six.
When I reported a problem with our firewall, they acted promptly and delivered another piece of equipment.
The technical support from Sophos Email deserves a rating of 10 out of 10.
After-sales support for Sophos is very good.
We have never faced scalability problems, and Microsoft manages it effectively.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 scales transparently for us, as we grew from 1,000 users to 3,000 users, and we didn't notice much difference.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 scales with the growing needs of my company well.
I would rate the stability of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 as 10 over 10 because it's highly available, it works, and it does the job it is meant to do.
I have not experienced any downtime, crashes, or performance issues because of Defender.
The solution is stable, as we have been using it for the past two years.
The main area for improvement is simplifying the implementation and rollout process.
Microsoft could improve by offering recommendations for domain spoofing attacks, especially scenarios where DNS records like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are not properly published.
There is a different console for different things; I just want one consolidated console.
Sophos Email does not work with split delivery.
The main competitor for Sophos in the market is Palo Alto, which has reduced their price by more than 35 to 40%, making it a very challenging part to sell this product.
We've likely saved 30% of costs.
Money-wise, it is a part of the Office 365 suite, making it slightly more expensive compared to Trend Micro.
Microsoft is quite affordable with a lot of features available for any size organization.
Sophos Email pricing is a bit high, especially since I purchase through a partner, and they sell it at a higher price since they also seek to make a profit.
It ranks the threats and allows us to prioritize those hitting us the hardest, such as email threats.
It provides end-to-end visibility on email threats such as phishing, extending beyond Exchange Online Protection.
The value of the DLP feature is significant to us because we have internal data, sometimes sensitive, and the users may not always be aware of security and privacy, which might lead them to send out information mistakenly to external parties.
It provides a defense layer for email protection, scanning every incoming and outbound email for malware and spam.
Sophos already has Sandbox, and if any issues are identified, Sophos blocks that particular mail and site instantly, which is why customers are very happy and safe from other attacks.
The spam reduction feature in Sophos Email provides comfort when using it.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Defender for Office 365 | 9.6% |
| Sophos Email | 2.0% |
| Other | 88.4% |


| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 23 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 10 |
| Large Enterprise | 31 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 26 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 3 |
| Large Enterprise | 5 |
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.
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.
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