Mimecast vs Zscaler: What are the differences?

Introduction:

Mimecast and Zscaler are both prominent companies in the cybersecurity industry, each offering unique solutions to protect organizations from various threats. Below are the key differences between Mimecast and Zscaler.

1. Focus on Email Security: Mimecast specializes in email security, providing solutions for email filtering, archiving, continuity, and threat intelligence. It offers advanced protection against email-based threats such as phishing attacks, ransomware, and malware. On the other hand, Zscaler focuses on cloud security, offering services that secure web traffic, applications, and user access to the internet. While both companies prioritize security, Mimecast's primary focus is on securing email communications.

2. Deployment Method: Mimecast typically requires an on-premise gateway or server to filter and protect email traffic, which can be integrated with cloud-based services for additional security layers. In contrast, Zscaler's solutions are cloud-native, allowing organizations to direct their internet traffic through Zscaler's platform for inspection and security enforcement. This difference in deployment method can impact the scalability, performance, and management of security solutions.

3. Comprehensive Security Offerings: Mimecast offers a broad range of email security services, including spam filtering, data loss prevention, encryption, and threat intelligence. It aims to provide a holistic approach to securing email communications within an organization. On the other hand, Zscaler offers a comprehensive suite of cloud security services, including web security, cloud application control, and zero trust network access. While both companies offer robust security solutions, Mimecast focuses more on email-specific threats, whereas Zscaler covers a wider range of security needs.

4. Security Architecture: Mimecast's security architecture is focused on protecting email communications, with features such as URL rewriting, attachment sandboxing, and email encryption. It aims to secure the entire email ecosystem, from inbound and outbound messages to internal communications. In comparison, Zscaler's security architecture is designed to secure internet traffic, leveraging a cloud-native platform for real-time threat analysis, policy enforcement, and data protection. This difference in security architecture reflects the specific security priorities of each company.

5. User Experience and Interface: Mimecast provides a user-friendly interface for managing email security policies, monitoring threats, and accessing archived messages. Its platform is intuitive and designed for easy navigation by security administrators and end users. Zscaler, on the other hand, offers a centralized dashboard for managing cloud security policies, viewing security alerts, and analyzing network traffic. The user experience of each platform may vary based on the specific security needs and preferences of organizations.

6. Scalability and Integration: Mimecast's solutions are scalable and can be integrated with existing email systems, such as Microsoft Exchange and Office 365, to provide seamless security and compliance capabilities. Zscaler's cloud security platform is also scalable and can integrate with various applications and network infrastructure to enforce security policies consistently. The scalability and integration capabilities of each company's solutions can impact the ease of deployment and management for organizations.

In Summary, Mimecast focuses on email security with on-premise deployment, comprehensive email-specific security offerings, specific security architecture, user-friendly interface, while Zscaler specializes in cloud security with cloud-native solutions, broader security services, internet traffic security architecture, centralized dashboard, and scalable integration capabilities.