Sophos Email vs Symantec Messaging Gateway comparison

The compared Sophos and Broadcom solutions aren't in the same category. Sophos is ranked #10 in Email Security , with an average rating of 8.5, and holds a 2.0% mindshare in the category. Broadcom is ranked #12 in SEG , and holds a 2.5% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Sophos users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

Sophos Email

Read 34 Sophos Email reviews

2,303 Views
2,050 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Symantec Messaging Gateway

Read 20 Symantec Messaging Gateway reviews

1,275 Views
459 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Sophos Email

Symantec Messaging Gateway

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Sophos Email and Symantec Messaging Gateway based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Email Security solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Sophos Email vs. Symantec Messaging Gateway Report (Updated: January 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Sophos Email vs. Symantec Messaging Gateway

January 2024

Download the complete report

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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

Sophos Email

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Email Security (10th), Office 365 Protection (1st)

Symantec Messaging Gateway

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (12th)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Messaging and Collaboration solutions, they serve different purposes. Sophos Email is designed for Email Security and holds a mindshare of 2.0%, down 2.4% compared to last year.
Symantec Messaging Gateway, on the other hand, focuses on Secure Email Gateway (SEG), holds 2.5% mindshare, down 3.0% since last year.

Email Security Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Sophos Email	2.0%
Microsoft Defender for Office 365	9.6%
Proofpoint Email Protection	7.9%
Other	80.5%

Email Security

Secure Email Gateway (SEG) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Symantec Messaging Gateway	2.5%
Microsoft Defender for Office 365	24.2%
Proofpoint Email Protection	20.3%
Other	53.0%

Secure Email Gateway (SEG)

Featured Reviews

Kalyan Chowdhury

Founder at Computech infosysetm

Stronger email and mobile security has protected users from ransomware and simplified management

Price is obviously a challenging part, and I think it is the biggest problem we have suffered from over the last two or three years due to a 7 to 8% hike per year, twice a year, which is why we have some renewals on Sophos Email, Sophos XDR, EDR, and the firewall, but due to price hike, they are unable to renew it. The price is going to be very high. It would be better if Sophos can provide a more flexible pricing model for different types of businesses. Price could be lower. 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. Palo Alto provides the same functionality for email security, which adds to the challenge because the price is going very high.

Read full review

Girish Vijay

Deputy Manager IT at Carl Bechem Lubricants India Pvt. Ltd.

A stable and reasonably priced solution that performs well and has a very good malware database

Since Symantec merged with Broadcom, they might have lost some good technical engineers. Maybe that’s the reason why the product is performing poorly. When we have a good marketing and sales team, even though our product cannot perform, we will sell it at a high price because of the buzzwords. However, at the end of the day, the product should perform. Most of the products might not perform. Symantec is a very good product, but the services are basic. I rate the technical features of the product a nine out of ten. However, I would rate the services provided by the solution a six out of ten. Overall, I rate the tool an eight 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

"The speed and stability were fine."

"It's easy to use and the configuration is straightforward."

"Endpoint and server protection are very effective."

"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."

"It has enhanced our approach to tackling malware and spam. It is a reliable product with a good user interface."

"The most valuable feature of Sophos Email is the sandbox. We're able to scan the file, isolate it, and look at it before it is delivered. It is highly effective."

"The feature of Sophos Email that we find most effective for detecting suspicious emails is primarily based on their signatures."

"The main use case for Sophos Email is its robust security features; we are effectively blocking spam and phishing attempts, and we have strong control over these aspects."

More Sophos Email pros

"The solution is "set and forget". You pay for it and everything is done for you."

"The cloud-based interface is very user-friendly."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is the content filtering policies because the solution offers huge options for configuration, such as hardware manipulation, et cetera, and the dictionaries make the work easier."

"Messaging Gateway is stable."

"The solution is highly customizable. You can make rules for domains and configure policies for spam or malware. Messaging Gateway is an on-prem solution, so it's useful for companies without a cloud presence."

"Symantec Messaging Gateway is stable and scalable. Installation is easy, and the deployment and maintenance can be done by one administrative person."

"The setup is pretty simple."

"The feature that I like the best is the fingerprinting concept."

More Symantec Messaging Gateway pros

Cons

"The security of the solution could improve."

"The solution has not found a way to block certain kinds of phishing emails."

"Their technical support is slow to respond."

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

"Sophos Email could better detect fake emails, especially when the domain names are similar. It needs to improve spotting spoofed domains, like when one letter differs in a domain name. It also needs to incorporate AI detection. Barracuda detects suspicious emails better. However, malware scanning is better in Sophos Email."

"Price is obviously a challenging part, and I think it is the biggest problem we have suffered from over the last two or three years due to a 7 to 8% hike per year, twice a year, which is why we have some renewals on Sophos Email, Sophos XDR, EDR, and the firewall, but due to price hike, they are unable to renew it."

"Sophos Email does not work with split delivery. If I have a domain with 100 mailboxes and want to protect only 50, it is not recommended by Sophos or not possible to configure."

"The product could include all the essential features and capabilities, similar to the on-premise, server-based version."

More Sophos Email cons

"What needs to be improved in Symantec Messaging Gateway is its local partner support, as it's not as technical. The support my company gets from the partner isn't good. Vendor support is good, but local partner support isn't. I'm happy with Symantec Messaging Gateway as a solution, but the problem is with its partner support. To me, Symantec Messaging Gateway is a complete solution, but it can be very difficult to search the web for resolutions to issues or problems you experience from it. If this could be improved or resolved in the next release of Symantec Messaging Gateway, then that would be good."

"We've had issues in the past where the user finds spam, and Symantec does not recognize it as spam."

"Symantec Messaging Gateway can improve detection because most of them are false negatives or false positives that we are trying to troubleshoot. Additionally, we are having routing problems and they are somehow connected to DNS issues."

"Symantec Messaging Gateway should include better exclusions and exceptions for better administration."

"This product would benefit from better integration with Symantec Endpoint Protection."

"They have updated the version of the Messaging Gateway and the new features they are adding the need to be re-evaluated. They have done some changes on the policy."

"In a later release, it would be nice if the messaging gateway supported the cluster feature."

"It is a nice product but is not user friendly in terms of the graphical interface. It is poor and is not rich in terms of the human interface."

More Symantec Messaging Gateway cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing is paid on a yearly basis."

"It is an expensive solution. On a scale of one to ten, where one is low price, and ten is high price, I rate the pricing a seven."

"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."

"The product is cheaper compared to other solutions."

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

"Sophos Email is priced lower than its competitors."

"It falls somewhere in the middle—it's not excessively expensive nor very cheap."

"The platform is inexpensive. It offers a cost-effective licensing model. We purchase its yearly license."

More Sophos Email pricing and cost advice

"It's a bit expensive compared to its competitor Barracuda Email Security Gateway but cheaper than Sophos Email."

"The cost of Symantec Messaging Gateway is too expensive in general. However, the appliance also includes the price of the license in the same bundle."

"They're a little costly compared to Microsoft."

"For 150 users, we pay INR 1,60,000."

"A subscription for technical support costs extra."

"Symantec Messaging Gateway’s pricing is very cheap."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

10%

Outsourcing Company

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	26
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	8

Questions from the Community

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?

Regarding Sophos Email pricing, I would rate it between six or seven out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Sophos Email?

See all answers

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Comparisons

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Sophos Email

Compared 15% of the time

Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) vs Sophos Email

Compared 8% of the time

Proofpoint Email Protection vs Sophos Email

Compared 7% of the time

Hornetsecurity 365 Total Protection vs Sophos Email

Compared 7% of the time

Barracuda Email Protection vs Sophos Email

Compared 6% of the time

More Sophos Email Competitors

Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) vs Symantec Messaging Gateway

Compared 17% of the time

Trend Micro Email Security vs Symantec Messaging Gateway

Compared 13% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Symantec Messaging Gateway

Compared 11% of the time

Fortinet FortiMail vs Symantec Messaging Gateway

Compared 10% of the time

More Symantec Messaging Gateway Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Sophos Email

December 2025

Download Sophos Email product report

Buyer's Guide

Symantec Messaging Gateway

December 2025

Download Symantec Messaging Gateway product report

Also Known As

Sophos Email Security

Symantec.cloud, Symantec Email Security.cloud

Overview

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

Symantec Messaging Gateway is a comprehensive email security solution designed to protect organizations from advanced threats and spam. It combines multiple layers of protection, including anti-malware, anti-spam, and data loss prevention, to safeguard sensitive information and ensure email continuity.

With its advanced threat intelligence and machine learning capabilities, it can detect and block sophisticated attacks, such as ransomware and spear-phishing. The solution also offers robust encryption and authentication features to secure email communications.

Its intuitive management console provides administrators with granular control and real-time visibility into email traffic. Symantec Messaging Gateway is a reliable and scalable solution that helps organizations mitigate email-borne threats and maintain a secure messaging environment.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

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

Doric, Joblink Plus, Our Lady of Mercy College, Parramatta, PPB Advisory, Slater & Gordon Lawyers, Sydney Adventist Hospital Ltd.

Buyer's Guide

Sophos Email vs. Symantec Messaging Gateway

January 2024

Free Report: Sophos Email vs. Symantec Messaging Gateway

Find out what your peers are saying about Sophos Email vs. Symantec Messaging Gateway and other solutions. Updated: January 2024.

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