No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Proofpoint Email Protection vs Trustwave Secure Email Gateway comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024

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 Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
110
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (2nd), Digital Risk Protection (3rd), Office 365 Protection (1st)
Trustwave Secure Email Gateway
Ranking in Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
15th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Secure Email Gateway (SEG) category, the mindshare of Proofpoint Email Protection is 18.3%, down from 21.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Trustwave Secure Email Gateway is 1.5%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Secure Email Gateway (SEG) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Proofpoint Email Protection18.3%
Trustwave Secure Email Gateway1.5%
Other80.2%
Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
 

Featured Reviews

Siva_Prasad - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Consultant at Infosys
Email defenses have reduced phishing incidents and protect sensitive data across our enterprise
As things are evolving and threats develop in unpredictable ways, Proofpoint must adopt AI solutions and agentic solutions more aggressively and provide them to customers as part of service offerings. Inbuilt AI solutions would add more value and make Proofpoint a more premium choice for customers. With the help of AI solutions, agentic AI, and generative AI capabilities, the product would be more efficient than it currently is. Filtering false positives is highly challenging because it is impossible for humans to identify which emails are genuine and which are spam. Proofpoint should focus more on this area with back-end agents or other tools. Proofpoint should decide which emails are genuine and which are spam so it is not a challenge for end users. When receiving an email, end users should not have to determine whether to respond or not. Proofpoint should not release such spam emails and should strictly block such spam and spoof emails based on connection IPs. Currently, false positives occur in the product, and while this occurs in every product, it is an area where Proofpoint can focus on improving and reducing false positives. One email is enough for an end user to be deceived and lose money, so addressing this area is critical.
FA
Cloud & Systems Admin at Service Management Group, Inc.
Offers clear vision on the clear side of what is being blocked and easy to use but a bit old-fashioned GUI
I would rate my experience with the initial setup a four out of ten when one is difficult, and ten is easy. It's difficult initially since it's an on-premise solution. So it's a bit difficult. So the initial assessment took a few days, and then the deployment was a couple of days. It is on-prem. That is also one of the improvements you need to make on the cloud. Most of the people like things to be on the cloud. You don't have the burden of setting up things on-premise.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Proofpoint Email Protection is really good at what they do within their email protection niche."
"I recommend Proofpoint Email Protection because it provides everything in one place, such as security control."
"It has been comprehensive and easy to use for both users and administrators."
"Proofpoint Email Protection has provided top shelf email protection services and has prevented breaches and loss of data."
"Proofpoint Email Protection has positively impacted my organization by blocking significantly more phishing emails, and phishing is the main entry point into getting compromised, so I have more peace of mind knowing that more malicious emails are getting blocked."
"The Tap and Trap features. They are the best features."
"The most valuable feature of Proofpoint Email Protection is the blocking capabilities, it blocks a lot of potential threats."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to remove bad messages that were delivered, prior to being classified as unwanted."
"The product's most valuable features are spam protection and artificial intelligence."
"I like that it doesn't hold emails for any reason; it sends out notifications to the user as well as administrators. So we have a clear vision on the clear side of what is being blocked and in time as well."
 

Cons

"I feel Proofpoint Email Protection is overpriced. I cannot say that the security level being provided does not justify the cost, but when comparing the similar level of security with other applications or security systems, it is overpriced."
"The largest complaint that we hear from our customers is that there is no local support."
"The false positives are an issue. There are many false positives that come in, which you report to Proofpoint."
"The accessibility of Proofpoint Email Protection, particularly access to product trials, could be improved. It's hard to get a trial for Proofpoint Email Protection, and many customers prefer not just to do the POC or demo but try the product out."
"I would like to see improvements in the transition from Proofpoint Protection Server to Proofpoint on Demand because Proofpoint Protection Server is not very user-friendly and requires logging into two portals for some features."
"Integration and filtering out who you want and don't want to have integrated ID could be improved."
"The areas of Proofpoint Email Protection that could be improved or enhanced involve the email rewrite functionality. It can be aggressive sometimes, rewriting a lot of very benign content."
"I would want better spear phishing protection in the essentials package."
"There is room for improvement in GUI because it is a bit old-fashioned."
"The technical support services and stability need improvement as well."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Proofpoint Email Protection is a reasonably priced product, which means that it is neither too low nor too high in terms of price."
"I rate the price of Proofpoint Email Protection a four out of five."
"It is expensive."
"Pricing has recently been increased and the cost is a downside"
"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."
"Proofpoint Email Protection has comparable pricing."
"Customers pay around $90,000 yearly for a 1,000-user organization, with the subscription license being the main expense, apart from implementation fees."
"The end customer is buying our solution, which can be for monthly or annual usage depending on our payment and business model."
"The pricing is in the middle. Compared to other products, it should be five out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive."
"It is a cost-effective product."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Secure Email Gateway (SEG) solutions are best for your needs.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise61
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Proofpoint Email Protection?
The downside is I feel the vendor support is a little lacking and should be more responsive. The technical support is not up to the mark.
What is your primary use case for Proofpoint Email Protection?
I am leading this security domain, and my L1 and L2s have been using Proofpoint Email Protection and other modules of Proofpoint Email Protection for more than three years.We are currently working ...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

Proofpoint Enterprise Protection, Proofpoint Digital Protection
Trustwave SEG
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Blocket, University of Waterloo, Lincoln Memorial University, WellSpan Health, U-Haul, Carestream Health, Westinghouse
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Proofpoint Email Protection vs. Trustwave Secure Email Gateway and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.