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Proofpoint Email Protection vs The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai 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

Proofpoint Email Protection
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
53
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (3rd), Digital Risk Protection (3rd), Office 365 Protection (2nd), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (2nd)
The NodeZero Platform by Ho...
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
13th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (9th), Penetration Testing Services (1st), Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) (2nd), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) category, the mindshare of Proofpoint Email Protection is 7.1%, down from 12.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai is 0.5%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Proofpoint Email Protection7.1%
The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai0.5%
Other92.4%
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2500410 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Cybersecurity Specialist at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Has provided reliable threat detection and simplified policy management
I do not have experience with Microsoft Purview products, but I know some Proofpoint products. I apologize, I do not have experience with the Purview one, but I do know the Proofpoint products. I'm not sure about the features of the Purview one. Compared to other products, Proofpoint's real-time threat intelligence makes it less noisy. They collect and share threat information effectively, which benefits all customers. I have seen a lot of improvements in Proofpoint's reporting and analytics compared to earlier days. As a leader in the market, I find the pricing for Proofpoint Email Protection is a little high. Their licensing models vary, and even the premium model adequately supports awareness campaigning, so I find it acceptable. Normally, they sell their products through resellers, not directly through AWS Marketplace. For us, we are clients of Proofpoint. I rate Proofpoint Email Protection a nine out of ten.
SH
Chief Information Officer at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Has unified our IT teams by providing clear visibility into network vulnerabilities and accelerated remediation with real-world attack testing
One of the things that we've shared with Horizon is just the reporting. They've made a lot of changes over time, but when examining computers, most average normal people don't look at a computer and identify it as 114.82.117.180. They identify it as 'the printer for accounting.' When many of the reports give the very detailed technical IP address or serial number, that's really not helpful for anyone other than the person, the hands-on person that's trying to remediate it. All the managers, all the leaders, having information in that format isn't helpful. Being able to have information about what those devices are would be very helpful. There's a technical reason they can't just have an easy button because some people have really complicated networks. When examining things for the average company, the average executive, that 114 number, there's only one of those. But if examining an AT&T or a Walmart, it isn't unique. They haven't solved that problem. But for the 90% of companies, being able to have just a human readable name for all devices on your network in all of the reports all of the time would be the most beneficial.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Proofpoint Email Protection is the central location dashboard for viewing all the related information for risk."
"Its anti-phishing functionality is the most valuable. Certainly, the biggest problem I have is phishing."
"The Tap and Trap features. They are the best features."
"The most valuable features of Proofpoint Email Protection are the performance from being on the cloud."
"As a cloud-based product, it can scale well."
"It is a very scalable solution."
"The anti-spam features are excellent on the email firewalls."
"Proofpoint is the main tool for blocking spam because it denies the connection altogether."
"Penetration testing and scans are useful features."
"We experienced a threat that could have severely crippled us, but we were able to shut it down before it escalated, thanks to internal vulnerability testing and addressing critical vulnerabilities using their tool."
"After the third party conducts the pen test, The NodeZero Platform is run, and it finds the same things they found and sometimes a few other things that they did not even identify."
"The NodeZero Platform's real attack capabilities help identify vulnerabilities on my on-premise systems by adding an element of validation and offensive security testing on top of known vulnerabilities. The feature that allows security teams to fix and retest vulnerabilities instantly is very useful, even though it may not happen literally 'instantly.' It's a necessary tool for any organization to understand whether vulnerabilities are genuinely exploitable by attackers. With its near-real-time testing capabilities, it's an essential part of any security portfolio."
"The NodeZero Platform is amazing; what I love most about it is that it's automated and comparable to the manual pen testing we did with a third-party company, but with the added benefit of unlimited retesting to validate fixes."
"My favorite feature about The NodeZero Platform is that it's autonomous, and it truly delivers on that promise—it can be set and forgotten while it performs its tasks, and it does exactly what it claims to do."
"The NodeZero Platform's real attack capabilities help in identifying vulnerabilities on our on-prem systems because it provides actual vulnerabilities by attacking our systems."
"I rate the stability of the NodeZero Platform a ten out of ten."
 

Cons

"The price could be improved."
"Sometimes it detects false positives."
"Integration for reporting needs to be improved, it's too complex."
"Proofpoint Email Protection is an expensive solution."
"The solution could lower its price."
"The product's deployment is complex and requires technical knowledge."
"The flexibility of the solution can be improved."
"The solution's server console and cluster dashboard have been the same for four years so need to be upgraded."
"The speed of the scans takes some time, but in my opinion, it is not surprising for what it is doing."
"I encountered challenges with patch management, as we struggled to test and implement patches due to time constraints. This led to our patch management process being ineffective."
"The areas for improvement for The NodeZero Platform involve integration and automation. It would be beneficial if it could integrate directly with vulnerability management tools that would allow the platform to automatically import data, identify vulnerable systems, and test targets immediately, potentially even enabling automated feedback loops for rescanning since the process is currently manual."
"You need to be cautious about what it scans, as it could potentially cause issues."
"Sometimes even their support doesn't know why we're seeing certain issues."
"The only issue we’ve encountered is that sometimes the scans take a long time to complete."
"They've added a chatbot which isn't particularly useful, but when it can't answer questions, it forwards messages to human support."
"I think The NodeZero Platform could improve by leveraging GPUs for password cracking, which would be pretty good."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing model for Proofpoint Email Protection is simple. It's based on the number of users. Price-wise, Proofpoint Email Protection is a five out of ten because it's a pretty expensive solution."
"The solution is expensive."
"It is on a yearly basis. Their floor for SMB doesn't matter. The user count is 100 users and below at $2,500 a year. Its cost is higher than other solutions. It is probably about 20% to 30% higher than what you would get with Microsoft. There are no additional costs. All costs are factored in. It can be improved pricing-wise so that it is affordable for the SMB market."
"Annually, it costs us about $92,000. This is pretty much what it costs us. There is no additional cost."
"We sell annual licenses for this solution."
"Proofpoint Email Protection is a reasonably priced product, which means that it is neither too low nor too high in terms of price."
"It is multiple times more expensive, which made it very much less attractive."
"They are competitively priced, but I have been forced to get quotes for other solutions now because they haven't been responding to requests to do the work that we would like them to do."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise17
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Proofpoint Email Protection?
In terms of pricing, it is okay compared to others. I would say it is normal. Additional costs do come in, but it enhances security.
What needs improvement with Proofpoint Email Protection?
I believe they still need to improve by consolidating some portals, as currently, you have to log in separately to a few of them.
What do you like most about Horizon3.ai?
Penetration testing and scans are useful features.
What needs improvement with Horizon3.ai?
I think The NodeZero Platform could improve by leveraging GPUs for password cracking, which would be pretty good.
What is your primary use case for Horizon3.ai?
We use The NodeZero Platform for control validation and we are also looking for the likelihood of vulnerabilities.
 

Also Known As

Proofpoint Enterprise Protection, Proofpoint Digital Protection
Horizon3.ai
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Blocket, University of Waterloo, Lincoln Memorial University, WellSpan Health, U-Haul, Carestream Health, Westinghouse
Government agencies, Defense Industrial Base organizations, and enterprises in regulated industries such as finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and criticalinfrastructure rely on NodeZero to meet rigorous security and compliance requirements with continuous, scheduled, and on-demand testing.
Find out what your peers are saying about Proofpoint Email Protection vs. The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,422 professionals have used our research since 2012.