Microsoft Exchange vs. Sophos Email

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft Exchange
Score 9.2 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
Sophos Email
Score 7.5 out of 10
N/A
Sophos Email is presented as Predictive Cloud Email Security Powered by Artificial Intelligence designed to block spam and malware, as well as protect employees and block phishing attempts.N/A
Pricing
Microsoft ExchangeSophos Email
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft ExchangeSophos Email
Free Trial
NoNo
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 ExchangeSophos Email
Features
Microsoft ExchangeSophos Email
Secure Email Gateway
Comparison of Secure Email Gateway features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Exchange
8.1
Ratings
3% below category average
Sophos Email
7.3
Ratings
14% below category average
Anti-malware8.10 Ratings7.50 Ratings
Customizability7.90 Ratings7.20 Ratings
Data Loss Protection8.60 Ratings7.50 Ratings
Threat Detection8.00 Ratings7.10 Ratings
Sandboxing7.40 Ratings7.80 Ratings
End-to-End Encryption8.30 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Management Tools8.40 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Microsoft ExchangeSophos Email
Small Businesses
Zoho Mail
Zoho Mail
Score 9.3 out of 10
Zoho Mail
Zoho Mail
Score 9.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Avanan
Avanan
Score 9.4 out of 10
Avanan
Avanan
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Avanan
Avanan
Score 9.4 out of 10
Avanan
Avanan
Score 9.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Microsoft ExchangeSophos Email
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(0 ratings)
7.5
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(0 ratings)
1.1
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.9
(0 ratings)
2.8
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
7.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
5.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
5.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft ExchangeSophos Email
Likelihood to Recommend
For our clients, the switch to an entirely independent (parallel processing) Microsoft Exchange Server was a lifesaver because previous software versions frequently crashed. The clever viva add-on informs me of any things that are still uncompleted in my large email to-do lists. Migrating to Office 365 has never been easier because to the meticulous preparation that has gone into it. Web applications will load more quickly.
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I strongly believe that if you are looking for a product that does what it says on the box and has the capacity to keep your company safe, you should look at Sophos. They have consistently been at the top of their game and continue to provide a product that meets the ever-changing needs of the threat landscape.
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Pros
  • An in-built calendar to manage your daily work schedule. Let's you create events, invite a particular group of people, accept invitations, and remind you of your upcoming meetings and tasks.
  • I also like the daily emails we get from Exchange that ask you to set aside time for yourself or your other hobbies to take a short break from monotonous work.
  • The email categorization feature is pretty good, especially the sort/search filtering option to navigate through your emails, which can also go through your deleted emails.
  • It has an excellent spam-filtering feature which greatly reduces the chance of malware and spam. I have hardly seen spam emails get through their filter. On the other hand, it also recognizes emails from external organizations that may be spam, but are important work emails.
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  • We could customize it to have a certain level of workflow. We manage to enforce certain email (based on key-phrases) to be quarantined before send it to the recipient. And the email needs to be approved (manually) before being released.
  • For certain type (using regex) of email, we will encrypt it if it's sent outside our organization domain.
  • Scalable
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Cons
  • 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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  • Reporting could be more granular, it's the most glaring weakness of the product.
  • The ability to drill down into data from the dashboard would be very helpful for reporting as well.
  • Reverse AD sync so when active directory users are removed, they are removed from Sophos as well would be helpful.
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Likelihood to Renew
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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It was easy to use and easy to implement. You don't need previous knowledge on the products, after we got this up and running, it took us hours to put everything together. The transition was easy and seamless.
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Usability
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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The solution is very scalable, with a possibility to be customized; which means that Sophos Email can be configured depending on our own situation and context not on a general way. On the other hand, Sophos Email has a broad feature set; I mean, along with core spam and malware protection, Sophos offers advanced features such as real-time
link following, threat isolation, spoof protection, etc.
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Reliability and Availability
Exchange is setup with multiple servers behind load balancers to provide high availability.
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No answers on this topic
Performance
I would say it's the best email product I've experienced.
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
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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I have always found the answers I have needed in the documentation or online, and have not needed to contact Sophos Secure Email Gateways' support team. This, I think, bodes well for how their software is easy to use and has good documentation when you cannot find what you need in the basic interface.
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Implementation Rating
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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Alternatives Considered
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.
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Many other solutions are a complicated setup and take a lot of time for the configuration. With Sophos email we were setup and seeing data/emails within an hour. As I have described the ease of use from a high-level for someone like me a Director just peeking into the system or an analyst that can do a deep dive is one of the best users interfaces I have seen for any product.
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Scalability
The only time Exchange has failed us is when we did something to cause the failure.
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No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • After testing I found Exchange very good at removing/quarantining malware.
  • The Global Address List is great for finding the correct person within the organization to deal with.
  • The Clutter feature is terrible. Sometimes putting important emails into that folder for no discernible reason.
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  • We have prevented several cases of employees tried to steal organization's information; this has a great effect on the ROI not only in dollars but also in our reputation.
  • We have used it for more than 4 years, which is more than typical technology adoption we usually do; and this is the result of the above causes (prevention of internal fraud).
  • Need to have an expert of regex to accommodate more advanced DLP function/requirements
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ScreenShots