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Cisco TrustSec vs. Microsoft Exchange vs. Proofpoint Email Protection

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco TrustSec

    Score5 out of 10
    N/AN/AN/A

    Microsoft Exchange

    Score8.6 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft Exchange is a secure email / messaging gateway with file archiving and encryption / data loss capability, available as a hosted service (Exchange Online) or installed (Exchange Server).N/A

    Proofpoint Email Protection

    Score8.3 out of 10
    N/AProofpoint Email Protection is available as an on-premise or cloud based solution and blocks unwanted, malicious and impostor emails with granular search capabilities and visibility into all messages. Outbound controls include encryption and data loss prevention, while continuity capabilities ensure business communications can continue as normal in the event of an email outage. With Proofpoint's Email Protection, you can protect your people, data, and brand from today’s threats…N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco TrustSecMicrosoft ExchangeProofpoint Email Protection
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco TrustSecMicrosoft ExchangeProofpoint Email Protection
    Free Trial
    NoNoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details———
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco TrustSecMicrosoft ExchangeProofpoint Email Protection
    Considered Multiple Products
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    Microsoft
    Chose Microsoft Exchange
    Office 365 has hosted Microsoft email that is powered by Exchange but which is run completely in the Microsoft cloud and paid for by monthly subscription. Microsoft Exchange, on the other hand, is hosted on-premise and inside your own network. They both work the same way and do …
    Incentivized
    Proofpoint
    Chose Proofpoint Email Protection
    Proofpoint is the leader of the pack when it comes to email security services. I have used a range of other providers in the space and Proofpoint is the best. It's ability to identify and block malicious email and threats sets it above all other competitors.
    Incentivized
    Chose Proofpoint Email Protection
    We have used EOP (Exchange Online Protection) in the past and we also had a POC with Proofpoint which we were excited to use and the results were positive.

    Before Proofpoint, we had many issues with imposters and TAP issues with EOP, which have been improved with Proofpoint. We …
    Incentivized
    Chose Proofpoint Email Protection
    I have used Symantec Brightmail, Cisco Ironport, and Trend Micro Email Security.
    We selected Trend's product due to the price, but it failed miserably at clustering and overall email delivery. Proofpoint came in second as it checked off a lot of the boxes that we required in …
    Incentivized
    Chose Proofpoint Email Protection
    EOP (Exchange online protection)
    Incentivized
    Chose Proofpoint Email Protection
    I have not evaluated any others since I have been in this position. But in a previous position I evaluated Mimecast. It's similar and may have a nicer GUI but I don't think it has the same depth as far as bulk of historical detection data.
    Incentivized
    Chose Proofpoint Email Protection
    We have been using Proofpoint Email Protection so long that I can't actually remember what we used before. It is highly rated on the Gartner scale and we have not evaluated other products because Proofpoint Email Protection does what it is supposed to.
    Incentivized
    Chose Proofpoint Email Protection
    We have not used any other product so far apart from Proofpoint.
    Incentivized
    Chose Proofpoint Email Protection
    This is the only product we have used.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    94%
    Would buy again
    65 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    10 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    63 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    8 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    68 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    10 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    46 Answers
    83%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    5 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    52 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    7 Answers
    Features
    Cisco TrustSecMicrosoft ExchangeProofpoint Email Protection
    Secure Email Gateway
    Comparison of Secure Email Gateway features of Cisco TrustSec and Microsoft Exchange and Proofpoint Email Protection
    Feature
    Cisco TrustSec
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft Exchange
    7.3
    84 Ratings
    14% below category average
    Proofpoint Email Protection
    8.0
    79 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Anti-malware00 Ratings6.567 Ratings10.077 Ratings
    Customizability00 Ratings8.079 Ratings7.076 Ratings
    Data Loss Protection00 Ratings8.368 Ratings6.049 Ratings
    Threat Detection00 Ratings6.566 Ratings8.076 Ratings
    Sandboxing00 Ratings7.444 Ratings7.058 Ratings
    End-to-End Encryption00 Ratings6.767 Ratings10.059 Ratings
    Management Tools00 Ratings8.080 Ratings8.075 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco TrustSecMicrosoft ExchangeProofpoint Email Protection
    Small Businesses
    Armor
    Score6 out of 10
    Sophos Email
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Sophos Email
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Trend Micro Deep Security
    Score9 out of 10
    Sophos Email
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Sophos Email
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    AWS CloudTrail
    Score8.8 out of 10
    OpenText Core Email Threat Protection
    Score7.5 out of 10
    Microsoft Exchange
    Score8.6 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco TrustSecMicrosoft ExchangeProofpoint Email Protection
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (102 ratings)
    10.0
    (96 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.5
    (6 ratings)
    9.0
    (3 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.9
    (12 ratings)
    8.3
    (5 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco TrustSecMicrosoft ExchangeProofpoint Email Protection
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    • Control access to critical enterprise resources by business role, device type, and location, so policy changes can be made without redesigning the network.
    • Easily manage access control and segmentation while maintaining compliance.
    • Create and manage policies in an easy-to-use matrix.
    • Reduce the need for costly network re-architecture by automating firewall rules and access control list (ACL) administration.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Creating and receiving emails is simple. Managing contacts is a nice feature, especially connecting to Active Directory. Calendar management is also helpful and sharing access to others' calendars for scheduling meetings is useful. And reserving resources such as rooms or equipment is also useful. Personal and shared mailboxes are good features, as well. Tasks are a little lacking, but other than that, the features are thorough.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Proofpoint
    Well suited: Proofpoint does a pretty good job at protecting us from spam emails. I was able to block a lot of emails coming from SendGrid by blocking SendGrid emails with a custom spam filter. However, SendGrid has a lot of legit emails too so I was able to create another rule to allow those emails from certain people, then block the rest. That way business need was met but spam emails are blocked. Less Appropriate If you are trying to monitor internal to internal emails Proofpoint is probably a little over featured for that.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Cisco
    • Reduce operational expenses by simplifying network segmentation and defining security groups based on business roles, not IP addresses.
    • Limit the impact of a data breach by quickly isolating and containing threats using technology already in your network.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • As we have a large user base of 11,000 users we use MailTips to avoid people getting confused with people with similar names in the organization.
    • The integration between Teams Meeting and Resource booking is generally very good. The Scheduling Assistance makes it easy to scan calendars and find free periods to provisionally scheduled events.
    • Marking yourself as Out of the Office and busy is easy, as is sharing your calendar within the team/organization or individuals.
    • Voicemail integration and the ability to receive missed chats in your inbox are highly used and useful.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Proofpoint
    • Spam - catches these emails before hitting the inbox.
    • Daily digest - provides users with a list of the emails that were blocked and allows them to choose to release them if they are legitimate emails.
    • Ensures that emails coming into our organization is safe for our users and verifies the email is coming from stated senders email server.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cisco
    • Help and solutions if needed, support
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • The two main factors for the better reliability & Uptime of internally hosted Exchange Server depends on Exchange Server configuration and the level of investment the organization is willing to provide for hosting the Exchange Server On-Premise Environment. As the data is stored in the organization’s hardware, any disaster may lead to the loss of email and servers.
    • Losing data might affect business continuity and rebuilding it can be costly.
    • Security remains a major concern.
    • Security of data loss is main concern. To ensure that, organization needs to configure networks, systems and Exchange platform against possible threats.
    • Hardware and license costs are high.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Proofpoint
    • Proofpoint could offer more frequent training opportunities to customers at all levels of expertise.
    • Proofpoint can always continue to strive to keep its product a leader in the industry.
    • Proofpoint's support site could be overhauled to provide a more logical flow.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    Email and calendars in a business setting are requirements. And Microsoft continues to be the standard of business applications. Microsoft 365 makes Microsoft Exchange easy to use. Everything is in the cloud. Let Microsoft take care of the hardware, the software, and the security. You just enable your business users with the functionality they need.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Proofpoint
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    Microsoft Exchange has come a long way over the years and has nowhere near the technical overhead required for support as it did back in 2003/2007 and prior. The integrations with Teams, Defender, Sharepoint, Copilot and many other products make it a solid and well-rounded tool used for many day-to-day tasks.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Proofpoint
    Very robust and solid product in protecting our emails. The engineers who assisted with our implementation was very knowledgable and great to work with. Easy to use by end-users. Administration and management are also easy for IT. Great dashboard and reporting tools for business reviews.
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    Exchange is setup with multiple servers behind load balancers to provide high availability.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Proofpoint
    There were no appliance errors or unplanned outages during five years of operation.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    I would say it's the best email product I've experienced.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Proofpoint
    Most important thing is the performance of processing mails. Even in a complex environment the system keeps performing on a very high Level.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    We have a good enterprise agreement with Microsoft which affords us quick phone support. I have found the support staff knowledgeable and prompt with a solution when required. At times it may be difficult to schedule a call back, this is mainly due to our need for calls early in the morning which happens to be during a shift change at Microsoft support.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Proofpoint
    We use ProofPoint support quite often to fix issues and assist with setting up features and rules. Each time we have created a ticket, they have been very helpful and respectful. Each ticket has been treated with the appropriate SLA time and attention. We also enjoy the regular check-ins from the engineers when tickets are open but we get busy with other tasks.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    Implementation/conversion can be quite complex and, unless you have certified Exchange administrators in-house, you should strongly consider a 3rd party consultant for this implementation.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Proofpoint
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    Microsoft Exchange Product The best cloud-based enterprise-grade archiving platform with a host of features that enable files to be securely archived and retrieved with advanced search options. This tool is very easy to use and has a User-friendly interface. It is a highly reliable platform that allows all employees to automatically store their data without any limitations. It offers a cost-effective solution with customized policy management. We are happy that the customer support team is always fast and concerned, and the product's uninterrupted service experience. It is very good that it stores data in real-time without losing it, even in the event of a disaster. The cost-effective solution and integration with other tools are seamless.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Proofpoint
    We previously used halon anti-spam, which lasted us well until our organization really started to grow and it was not able to keep up with the amount of mail we were receiving. The support is also nothing compared to Proofpoint's professional services offering. Halon was also not able to have the complex rules that Proofpoint can offer.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    The only time Exchange has failed us is when we did something to cause the failure.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Proofpoint
    You can add a lot of agents to your environment if you need them. And you can operate hardware appliances and virtual appliances in the same cluster.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • Reduction in IT operational costs
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • It has been an important factor in allowing seamless communication with clients and scheduling business meetings, which in turn works in the company's favor.
    • Haven't noticed any negative impact Exchange has had on our ROI. The support team is also responsive and helpful.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Proofpoint
    • Having easy-to-reach backups of all employee emails has made Proofpoint worth it by itself. That plus the countless times that spam/malicious emails did not make it through to the intended person that could have potentially cost the organization a lot of money.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots