Microsoft 365 vs. SMTP Email Relay Solutions

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft 365
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) is a Microsoft Cloud subscription service that includes Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access). The software can be installed across multiple devices and ensures that users always have the most up-to-date version of the included Office applications.
$5
Per User Per Month
SMTP Email Relay Solutions
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
SMTP Email Relay Solutions is a transactional email service formerly from SharpSpring and now a J2 Global company.
$25
per month
Pricing
Microsoft 365SMTP Email Relay Solutions
Editions & Modules
Business Basic
$5.00
Per User Per Month
Individual
$5.84
*Per Month
Business - Apps
$8.25
Per User Per Month
Enterprise - F3
$10.00
Per User Per Month
Business Standard
$12.50
Per User Per Month
Business Premium
$20.00
Per User Per Month
Enterprise - E3
$32.00
Per User Per Month
Enterprise - E5
$57.00
Per User Per Month
ESSENTIAL
$25
per month
STARTER
$80
per month
GROWTH
$300
per month
BUSINESS
$500
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft 365SMTP Email Relay Solutions
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details*When billed annually.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft 365SMTP Email Relay Solutions
Considered Both Products
Microsoft 365

No answer on this topic

SMTP Email Relay Solutions
Chose SMTP Email Relay Solutions
Office 365 does use secure non-standard ports for SMTP connectivity causing a problem with older programs. SMTP Email Delivery from Exchange solves this problem by giving the network admin full control over ports and specific program connections. While we do use both Office …
Best Alternatives
Microsoft 365SMTP Email Relay Solutions
Small Businesses
Google Workspace
Google Workspace
Score 9.1 out of 10
Mailjet
Mailjet
Score 8.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Google Workspace
Google Workspace
Score 9.1 out of 10
Mailjet
Mailjet
Score 8.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Score 8.9 out of 10

No answers on this topic

All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Microsoft 365SMTP Email Relay Solutions
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(242 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.5
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.7
(13 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
8.9
(54 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft 365SMTP Email Relay Solutions
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
Microsoft 365 would be well suited for medium to large enterprises. This is where there are several hundreds or thousands of people. Since most everyone has used one of the applications the learning curve would be reduced. Another reason would be the ability to implement security measures to prevent access to sensitive data. This could justify the cost of an Enterprise license.
Read full review
Ziff Davis Inc
SMTP Email Relay Solutions is a great service if you are in a field where sending out bulk information, such as monthly statements to clients, invoices, or any back-to-back emails that would normally get flagged for "spam" is required.
Read full review
Pros
Microsoft
  • Chat with teams and the integrations with the other apps, and many more smaller ones, like to-dos, news, and the recent Outlook integration.
  • Easy embedding on SharePoint to broadcast all the content created in the different tools.
  • The office package is still robust with the good things from the past and new additions.
Read full review
Ziff Davis Inc
  • It allows us to send email through the secure email gateway.
  • We are able to track and scan all email communications
  • It provides a way for legacy and current applications to send out notification and mass email communications.
Read full review
Cons
Microsoft
  • Forms lack comprehensive features and parameters for detailed questioning for example cannot be directly linked with Power BI
  • Outlook email filters are not handy to use and require more detailing in terms of location past emails
  • Teams requires substantially large amounts of system resources which could be finetuned
Read full review
Ziff Davis Inc
  • As with any technology on a server, we sometimes see issues with downtime related to network changes or firewall updates.
  • It can be a challenge to work with some of our older applications when the TLS feature is used.
  • I wish there was a more direct way to reliably use SMTP for mass email sends without the fear of being blacklisted.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Microsoft
So far the Microsoft 365 platform provides features and tools that can cater to 100% of present organizations needs considering both technical and business necessities, however most features are not been effectively utilised at present. The current featureset is able to cover for most of the future needs of the business and technical functions.
Read full review
Ziff Davis Inc
No answers on this topic
Usability
Microsoft
Microsoft 365 is the gold standard for performing project tasks in a professional environment, enabling the quick transfer and exchange of files and ideas for team members who work locally and remotely. Its suite of tools is familiar and has evolved to being cloud based, allowing for files to be updated in real time from near and far.
Read full review
Ziff Davis Inc
I have yet to encounter any hiccups with their services. I send a large volume of emails monthly and have yet to experience any delay in my work.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Microsoft
To-date Microsoft 365 platform has offered an amazing uptime and availability percentage per year compared to all other products which provide the stability and overall business resilience of their ecosystem which is a great relief for information technology service entitites which heavy rely on Microsoft offerings as a whole to redeliver their own custom products
Read full review
Ziff Davis Inc
No answers on this topic
Performance
Microsoft
The Microsoft 365 tools expects and demands a substantial amount of system resources to operate at optimal level and even more when integrated with other applications which is a downside, however given that external supporting tech factors such as fibre/broadband speed bandwidth, high speed RAM and ample storage resources are allocated the tools work error free providing robust communication
Read full review
Ziff Davis Inc
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Microsoft
Over the past 8 years of using Microsoft 365, I have noticed that they change vendors often. This always leads to a poor experience in the beginning, then levels out after some time for the company to get things worked out. As a customer, it is really frustrating because I don't have time when something isn't working to have them "look into my issue" and get back with me. They have even closed a ticket I specifically told them to keep open. Your applications are only as good as the support.
Read full review
Ziff Davis Inc
No answers on this topic
In-Person Training
Microsoft
The resellers involved with selling Microsoft products are reluctant to provide in person specialist trainings to consumers due to the fact of costs of economies of scale and is not provided free of charge most of the time. In Person trainings needs to be agreed to at the initiation of projects and implementations for better ROI.
Read full review
Ziff Davis Inc
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Microsoft
The standard training offered with 3rd part resellers are fairly standard and covers the basic workability however the trainings needs to be specifically customised according to unique requirements of the organizations. for example an MSP would need to master specific communications verticals within Microsoft 365 whereas and online store using Microsoft 365 would needs to master a different set of tools within the suite to get the best ROI post implementation.
Read full review
Ziff Davis Inc
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Microsoft
The Microsoft support partners are more than capable of handling implementations and dealing with unprecedented errors during the implementations. Not part of the implementation though the setup was done with minimum misconfigurations which is evident with present live setup which works fine without any bugs and gaps at present context.
Read full review
Ziff Davis Inc
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Microsoft
Typically I prefer working with companies with Microsoft 365 as their main tool because they're usually a fast growing company with a global presence. I like using it for work because it's easy to collaborate, share, review, comment, reply in any of the tools. The mobile app for Outlook and Teams are lifesavers when we're constantly traveling and you can join meetings on the mobile Teams to never miss a beat.
Read full review
Ziff Davis Inc
Office 365 does use secure non-standard ports for SMTP connectivity causing a problem with older programs. SMTP Email Delivery from Exchange solves this problem by giving the network admin full control over ports and specific program connections. While we do use both Office 365 and the SMTP Email Delivery we find that a mix is needed in order to meet all expectations for our end users. The majority of our SMTP communications, for users, go through Office 365 while the majority of our applications and servers do go through the SMTP Email Delivery service.
Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Microsoft
Microsoft pricing is not very expensive and yet not very cheap as well, and it hovers in between the baseline. The charges are mostly based on the tier level partners who charge based on their individual reputation in the market. Power negotiation will lead to cost effective and attractive pricing
Read full review
Ziff Davis Inc
No answers on this topic
Scalability
Microsoft
Multiple tools within the same platform have been deployed successfully within different functional technical and non technical teams such as Devops, SOC, NOC, Shared services, Managed services, Global Information technology, Cloud operations, Finance, Administration, human resources and all these teams collaborate while maintaining central uniformity in terms of global standards who are dispersed in different geographical locations with ease
Read full review
Ziff Davis Inc
No answers on this topic
Professional Services
Microsoft
Have not directly obtained professional services from Microsoft but rather obtained specialized services such as implementations and configurations, setting up and integration support with Microsoft authorized suppliers, 3rd parties, and resellers, which has been a pleasant experience. Again the level of delivery quality on professional services is based on the level of hands on exposure of the 3rd party
Read full review
Ziff Davis Inc
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Microsoft
  • We have a lot of nonprofit users, so they have a good ROI.
  • I like the constant updates without having to purchase the software repeatedly.
  • I used to purchase each Office (insert year here) often, so the software was up to date and had the newest options and connectors. I think my return on investment would have been much better if Microsoft had updated those versions to keep them current; after all, we did pay for them.
  • Microsoft 365's offering a monthly fee or a discount for a year helps, and you can look at it as a free backup if you have everything set to back up to One Drive. (Cloud-based document filing you can access anywhere ( with an internet connection)—you Can't beat that!)
Read full review
Ziff Davis Inc
  • It's the easiest way to send mail out. No worries about complex configurations.
  • It can be finicky when used in a hybrid Office 365 environment to get the proper pathways secured and working.
  • I wish there were a better way to send out mass emails, on-site, without our domain or server IP being blacklisted.
Read full review
ScreenShots