# Email security: what AI models recommend, September 2026 Gane Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "email security platform" and as "phishing and email threat protection tool", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/security/email-security/2026-09 This is the permanent record of the September 2026 Edition, published September 17, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/security/email-security/index.md **Standing:** Microsoft Defender for Office 365 leads with 32% of first choices; verdict contested. 57 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts. ## First-choice share | Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels | |---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | [Microsoft Defender for Office 365](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/microsoft-defender-for-office-365/index.md) | 32% | 9% | 47 | | 2 | [Abnormal AI](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/abnormal-ai/index.md) | 12% | 4% | 45 | | 3 | [Proofpoint Email Protection](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/proofpoint-email-protection/index.md) | 12% | 12% | 50 | | 4 | [Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/check-point-harmony-email-collaboration/index.md) | 11% | 7% | 28 | | 5 | [IRONSCALES](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/ironscales/index.md) | 9% | 0% | 29 | | 6 | [Mimecast Email Security](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/mimecast-email-security/index.md) | 7% | 13% | 45 | | 7 | [Barracuda Email Protection](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/barracuda-email-protection/index.md) | 7% | 6% | 34 | | 8 | [SpamTitan](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/spamtitan/index.md) | 5% | 7% | 15 | | 9 | [Sublime Security](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sublime-security/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 10 | | 18 | [Cisco Secure Email](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-secure-email/index.md) | 0% | 27% | 11 | Rank is by share of first choices among all 61 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels. ## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt - Claude Haiku 4.5: Barracuda Email Protection; alternatives Abnormal AI, Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration - GPT-5.4 mini: Microsoft Defender for Office 365; alternatives Proofpoint Email Protection - Gemini 3.5 Flash: Abnormal AI, Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration; alternatives IRONSCALES, Sophos Email, Sublime Security - Perplexity Sonar: Mimecast Email Security; alternatives Proofpoint Email Protection - Grok 4.20: Mimecast Email Security, Proofpoint Email Protection; alternatives Abnormal AI, Barracuda Email Protection - Mistral Small: Barracuda Email Protection, Proofpoint Email Protection; alternatives Abnormal AI, Mimecast Email Security - DeepSeek V4 Flash: Abnormal AI, Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration, IRONSCALES; alternatives Barracuda Email Protection, Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Proofpoint Email Protection - Llama 4 Maverick: Barracuda Email Protection; alternatives IRONSCALES, Proofpoint Email Protection, SpamTitan - Qwen 3.7 Flash: Microsoft Defender for Office 365; alternatives Abnormal AI, Barracuda Email Protection, Mimecast Email Security, Proofpoint Email Protection - Kimi K2: Abnormal AI, IRONSCALES; alternatives Barracuda Email Protection, Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Mimecast Email Security - GLM 4.7 FlashX: Mimecast Email Security; alternatives Abnormal AI, Barracuda Email Protection, Egress, IRONSCALES - MiniMax M2.5: Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Proofpoint Email Protection; alternatives Abnormal AI, Mimecast Email Security ## Sources the answers cite 64 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers: - gartner.com: 47 answers, 53 citations - expertinsights.com: 30 answers, 39 citations - sublime.security: 26 answers, 32 citations - cybervendorguide.com: 23 answers, 23 citations - ironscales.com: 22 answers, 25 citations - kaseya.com: 20 answers, 20 citations - barracuda.com: 19 answers, 21 citations - proofpoint.com: 17 answers, 25 citations Pages named in the most answers: - https://gartner.com/reviews/market/email-security (43 answers) - https://cybervendorguide.com/guides/email-security (23 answers) - https://kaseya.com/blog/best-email-security-solutions (20 answers) - https://ironscales.com/blog/the-best-email-security-companies-rankings-and-reviews (18 answers) - https://learn.g2.com/best-cloud-email-security-platforms (17 answers) - https://barracuda.com/support/glossary/best-email-security-companies (15 answers) - https://expertinsights.com/email-security/top-email-security-gateways (15 answers) - https://flamingo.run/blog/email-security-solutions (13 answers) - https://sublime.security/articles/top-email-security-companies (13 answers) - https://checkpoint.com/comparison/best-email-security-companies (11 answers) ## Warned against - Mimecast Email Security: 6 of 45 labels negative. "it has experienced security breaches in the past, including a certificate compromise... This has led some organizations to approach Mimecast with caution." (Mistral Small, negative prompt) - AOL Mail: 4 of 4 labels negative. "Yahoo Mail and AOL Mail are considered to be insecure and should be avoided" (Llama 4 Maverick, negative prompt) - Proofpoint Email Protection: 6 of 50 labels negative. "Proofpoint is priced and configured for enterprise environments with significant operational complexity... it just may not be suitable for smaller organizations." (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt) - Yahoo Mail: 3 of 3 labels negative. "Yahoo Mail and AOL Mail are considered to be insecure and should be avoided due to their history of data breaches" (Llama 4 Maverick, negative prompt) ## Record - Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology - License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, September 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.