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January 5, 2026
Email security has changed dramatically, but many secure email gateways were not designed for the threats organizations face today. Business email compromise, vendor impersonation, QR phishing, and AI-generated social engineering routinely bypass legacy controls that rely on static rules and centralized detection models. The rise of generative AI has accelerated this gap even further, giving attackers the ability to rapidly create highly contextual, linguistically polished, and personalized lures at scale. These GenAI-driven attacks often contain no malware or obvious indicators, making them especially effective at evading traditional email security architectures.
As a result, many organizations are re-evaluating Proofpoint and comparing Proofpoint competitors that offer greater transparency, faster adaptation, and lower operational overhead. This guide explains what to look for in a Proofpoint alternative and reviews ten of the best Proofpoint alternatives heading into 2026.
Security teams need to understand why an email was flagged or allowed. Platforms that rely on opaque scoring models make investigation, tuning, and audit review unnecessarily difficult. Strong alternatives surface detection logic, contributing signals, and relevant context so analysts can validate and trust automated decisions.
Many of today’s most damaging email attacks do not contain malware or malicious attachments. Effective Proofpoint replacements must consistently detect business email compromise, vendor impersonation, invoice fraud, QR phishing, and thread hijacking rather than focusing primarily on spam and commodity malware.
Attackers iterate quickly, often faster than vendor release cycles. A viable alternative to Proofpoint should allow detection logic to evolve rapidly after a miss, without forcing teams into ticket-based workflows where fixes arrive days, weeks, or even months later. Just as important, security teams need a way to verify and audit those changes themselves. Relying on opaque vendor updates that must be blindly trusted leaves organizations exposed when the next variation inevitably appears.
Email security often fails at the operational layer. Look for platforms that automate triage of user-reported emails, eliminate duplicate investigations, and accelerate remediation while ensuring those investigations directly improve future detection. At Sublime, this feedback loop is handled by the Autonomous Detection Engineer (ADÉ), which turns validated misses and high-confidence user reports into new, organization-specific detection coverage without ticketing or manual rule development. Paired with agentic triage that filters out low-risk spam, graymail, and benign reports, this approach removes low-value analyst work while allowing defenses to adapt continuously as attacker tactics evolve.
Email telemetry is most valuable when it integrates cleanly with SIEM, SOAR, and case management systems. Platforms should provide event-level visibility and APIs that fit existing workflows rather than forcing teams into isolated consoles.
Some organizations prefer API-based email security, while others require inline, single-tenant, or self-hosted deployments due to regulatory or architectural constraints. The right platform should adapt to your environment rather than impose rigid limitations.
High false positive rates erode analyst trust and slow response. Evaluate how each platform balances detection sensitivity with precision, and how easily teams can correct false positives when they occur.
The following platforms are commonly evaluated as Proofpoint competitors. Each offers a different balance of deployment model, detection approach, and operational control.
G2 rating: 5 out of 5
Sublime Security is frequently selected by organizations replacing or augmenting Proofpoint due to its combination of adaptive detection, full transparency, and deep automation. Like other modern API-native platforms, Sublime delivers new functionality natively rather than through loosely integrated acquisitions, avoiding the operational and technical debt that often accumulates in legacy email security suites. The platform uses multiple specialized AI agents that operate within the customer environment to detect threats, triage user-reported emails, and continuously improve coverage.
All detections are fully explainable and auditable, giving analysts confidence in automated actions and enabling rapid iteration when attacks change. Sublime integrates directly with SIEM and SOAR platforms and supports SaaS, single-tenant, and fully self-hosted deployments for regulated environments.
Why teams choose Sublime over Proofpoint
G2 rating: Approximately 4.8 out of 5
Abnormal Security focuses on behavioral analysis to detect phishing and business email compromise. It deploys via API and does not require mail flow changes, which makes adoption straightforward in cloud environments.
The platform performs well for common impersonation scenarios, but its centralized detection model limits customization and detailed explainability for teams that want fine-grained control.
G2 rating: Approximately 4.4 out of 5
Mimecast provides a broad email security suite that includes threat protection, archiving, and continuity. It is widely used by organizations with strong compliance and retention requirements.
Detection logic is largely vendor managed, which can reduce flexibility for teams that want faster changes or deeper insight into how decisions are made.
G2 rating: Approximately 4.5 out of 5
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 delivers native email protection for Microsoft environments and is often used as a baseline control due to its tight integration and simple deployment.
While effective against common threats, many organizations layer an additional platform on top of Defender to improve detection of targeted social engineering and gain more operational control.
G2 rating: Approximately 4.2 out of 5
Google Workspace includes built-in phishing detection, spam filtering, and basic content inspection. These controls work well for smaller organizations seeking low-maintenance protection.
As threat complexity increases, larger teams often adopt an additional solution that offers deeper investigation workflows and stronger automation.
G2 rating: Approximately 4.7 out of 5
Avanan uses an API-based model to secure Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace environments. It provides real-time scanning for phishing, malware, and internal threats without requiring MX record changes.
Organizations frequently cite fast deployment as a key benefit, though advanced impersonation tuning can vary by environment.
G2 rating: Approximately 4.6 out of 5
CrowdStrike extends its Falcon platform into email security using threat intelligence and behavioral signals from its broader ecosystem.
The email product continues to mature, particularly around explainability and detection of complex business email compromise scenarios.
G2 rating: Approximately 4.4 out of 5
Trend Micro offers email protection that includes malware scanning, phishing detection, and data loss prevention integrations. It benefits from long-standing threat intelligence across endpoint and network security.
Customization and detection transparency are more limited compared to platforms built specifically for modern email attacks.
G2 rating: Approximately 4.5 out of 5
Cisco Secure Email combines phishing and malware protection with Cisco Talos intelligence. It is often selected by organizations standardizing on Cisco security tooling.
The platform is powerful but can introduce operational complexity for teams seeking lighter-weight or automation-first solutions.
G2 rating: Approximately 4.4 out of 5
Barracuda provides cloud-based email security with spam filtering, phishing protection, and account takeover defense. It is commonly chosen for affordability and ease of management.
While effective against common threats, it offers fewer advanced capabilities for highly targeted or rapidly evolving attacks.
Proofpoint remains a capable platform for organizations with legacy gateway requirements or heavy compliance needs. However, the modern email threat landscape increasingly favors solutions that prioritize adaptability, transparency, and automation.
Among today’s Proofpoint alternatives, Sublime Security stands out by delivering environment-specific protection, explainable detections, and automated workflows that reduce analyst workload while improving coverage. Other vendors in this list are widely adopted and effective in specific scenarios, but few combine speed of adaptation and operational clarity at the same level.
Why do organizations look for Proofpoint alternatives?
Teams often explore Proofpoint competitors due to missed targeted attacks, limited visibility into detection decisions, high operational overhead, or slow adaptation to new threat techniques.
Is it difficult to replace Proofpoint?
Most modern email security platforms deploy via API, which makes migration relatively straightforward. Complexity depends on existing workflows, integrations, and compliance requirements.
Do organizations still need a secure email gateway?
Not always. Many teams now rely on API-based email security. Inline gateways are still used in some environments, but deployment model alone does not determine detection quality.
Can Proofpoint be augmented instead of replaced?
Yes. Some organizations deploy an additional platform alongside Proofpoint to improve detection, automation, or transparency while maintaining existing gateway or compliance tooling.
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