Microsoft Exchange vs. Mimecast Advanced Email Security

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft Exchange
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft 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
Mimecast Advanced Email Security
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
The Mimecast Secure Email Gateway is a messaging security option with anti-spam / anti-malware, data loss prevention, large file send, and other features, from UK company Mimecast.N/A
Pricing
Microsoft ExchangeMimecast Advanced Email Security
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft ExchangeMimecast Advanced Email Security
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft ExchangeMimecast Advanced Email Security
Considered Both Products
Microsoft Exchange
Chose Microsoft Exchange
Google Workspace has much more limited functionality compared to Exchange. I believe it is a bit cheaper on the most basic subscription tier but that's about the only reason to consider using it. It may also be worth considering if you have other workloads using Google Cloud …
Chose Microsoft Exchange
Given all businesses I have worked for used Windows OS and Microsoft applications, it makes sense to stick with Microsoft Exchange. It's a given that if you use Microsoft applications you should use Microsoft Exchange.
Mimecast Advanced Email Security
Chose Mimecast Advanced Email Security
In my opinion, Mimecast Advanced Email Security outpaces Microsoft in terms of usability and reduction of spam and phishing emails. Mimecast Advanced Email Security was cheaper than Proofpoint, but I suspect Proofpoint is doing better on staying current with trends than …
Chose Mimecast Advanced Email Security
Abnormal isn't a gateway, but instead performs similar security features via M365 apis. It is very "identity" focused which helps with more modern scams.

M365 has some email security tools, but they are not as customizable or reportable. Mimecast tools far exceed them.
Chose Mimecast Advanced Email Security
It stacks up very well against it as it offers much more functionality and better detection.
Chose Mimecast Advanced Email Security
Mimecast Secure Email Gateway has a bit more features to use with its out of the box service.
Chose Mimecast Advanced Email Security
Barracuda - We've previously used barracuda and this has been much more powerful of a product with much more granularity. We also considered IronPort and Trustpoint
Features
Microsoft ExchangeMimecast Advanced Email Security
Secure Email Gateway
Comparison of Secure Email Gateway features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Exchange
7.3
84 Ratings
14% below category average
Mimecast Advanced Email Security
7.9
82 Ratings
6% below category average
Anti-malware6.567 Ratings8.479 Ratings
Customizability8.079 Ratings8.181 Ratings
Data Loss Protection8.368 Ratings6.565 Ratings
Threat Detection6.566 Ratings8.177 Ratings
Sandboxing7.444 Ratings7.970 Ratings
End-to-End Encryption6.767 Ratings8.767 Ratings
Management Tools8.080 Ratings7.678 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Microsoft ExchangeMimecast Advanced Email Security
Small Businesses
Zoho Mail
Zoho Mail
Score 9.4 out of 10
Zoho Mail
Zoho Mail
Score 9.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Avanan
Avanan
Score 9.8 out of 10
Avanan
Avanan
Score 9.8 out of 10
Enterprises
Avanan
Avanan
Score 9.8 out of 10
Avanan
Avanan
Score 9.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Microsoft ExchangeMimecast Advanced Email Security
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(102 ratings)
8.0
(94 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(4 ratings)
8.8
(3 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(6 ratings)
7.8
(69 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
9.9
(12 ratings)
6.0
(8 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Configurability
7.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
5.0
(1 ratings)
7.6
(35 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
5.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft ExchangeMimecast Advanced Email Security
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
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Mimecast
Mimecast's advanced email security remains the number one security tool available for any organization. You will be ahead of the game before anything gets in and users start clicking. Users are often the ones who can disclose sensitive data and compromise the organization and its brand.
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Pros
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.
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Mimecast
  • Simplicity: Once set up, Mimecast Advanced Email Security is easy to use, intuitive, and simple. This reduces onboarding time with new employees.
  • Robust Audit Trail: Being able to see what happened with specific emails, why things happened, and who was responsible for them helps to reduce troubleshooting time as well as improving overall email observability.
  • Clean Interface: Mimecast Advanced Email Security is a Swiss-Army-Knife of email security. There are many different configurations and complex rules that can be implemented. To make this manageable Mimecast Advanced Email Security has implemented a simple and clean UI. Being able to favorite commonly used features makes a huge difference in usability.
  • Simple SSO Integration: This seems like a no-brainer, but its odd to see how many SaaS products either don't support SSO, or make it so complicated and convoluted that setup and maintenance becomes a fully time job.
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Cons
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.
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Mimecast
  • I would like to see some additional improvement around the attachment protection, specifically what may be getting caught and what types of files are attempting to be delivered via email by impersonators.
  • The Targeted Threat Protection is a great product, and I wish there was a dashboard for this service where we could easily see the types of emails and/or links that have been caught as part of the protection module that could be shared with executives.
  • Finally, I feel that the phishing protection is great and honestly don't believe there should be much improvement needed there.
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Likelihood to Renew
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.
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Mimecast
There is no question as to the value of the product to the business and the disruption of changing vendors would not be worth any savings possibly achieved by switching.
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Usability
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.
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Mimecast
The console is nice, but it could use some improvements for day to day activities for Admins. I find I am jumping around all over to get what I need (always searching for the right area). Being able to customize a Dashboard or having a central typical activities dashboard will be helpful to save more time.
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Reliability and Availability
Microsoft
Exchange is setup with multiple servers behind load balancers to provide high availability.
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Mimecast
Overall, it's very good, but I do remember a few times in the past year we have seen some availability issues.
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Performance
Microsoft
I would say it's the best email product I've experienced.
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Mimecast
Pages need to consistently load quickly. Sometimes good, sometimes not.
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Support Rating
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.
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Mimecast
When calling them you get best in the world customer services but as previously mentioned their online community and capabilities are a bit lacking. They want you to log into their portal to see updates on issues (vs. using a public facing service) and I rarely find the answers to my issues in electronic format. Their online presence is only helpful with the simplest of issues.
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In-Person Training
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Mimecast
We did not have in-person training. All was done through meetings and on phone.
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Online Training
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Mimecast
Training was good from Mimecast as well as the Mimecast knowledgebase.
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Implementation Rating
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.
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Mimecast
Easy to set up and configure, but did have Mimecast assistance.
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Alternatives Considered
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.
Read full review
Mimecast
In my opinion, Mimecast Advanced Email Security outpaces Microsoft in terms of usability and reduction of spam and phishing emails. Mimecast Advanced Email Security was cheaper than Proofpoint, but I suspect Proofpoint is doing better on staying current with trends than Mimecast Advanced Email Security. I think Abnormal offers the best incoming email security, but does not offer outgoing email data loss prevention or encryption, which is a key use cast for us.
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Scalability
Microsoft
The only time Exchange has failed us is when we did something to cause the failure.
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Mimecast
The solution continues to grow and add features.
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Professional Services
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Mimecast
Professional services for our setup was excellent, quick and knowledgeable.
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Return on Investment
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.
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Mimecast
  • Enhanced email security across the business.
  • This product has reduced the risk of being hit by malware/phishing; Mimecast has been holding emails efficiently after reviewing emails.
  • The reporting side is practical, helps create a business case for the product, and shows its worth.
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