Mimecast

What is Mimecast?

Mimecast is a cloud-based cybersecurity platform that helps organizations protect against email and collaboration threats like phishing, ransomware, and business email compromise. It combines AI-powered threat detection, data protection, and risk management into a single system, offering features like email security, archiving, compliance, insider risk management, and business continuity. The platform continuously analyzes signals and user behavior to identify risks, block attacks, and ensure secure communication, helping businesses reduce human error and maintain resilience against evolving cyber threats.

Founded in 2003 by Peter Bauer and Neil Murray in London, United Kingdom, Mimecast was acquired in 2022 by private equity firm Permira for $5.8 billion to accelerate its cloud innovation and product platform expansion. Led by Chief Executive Officer Marc van Zadelhoff, Mimecast protects over 42,000 organizations and 27 million users across 100+ countries. Analyzing more than 24 trillion behavioral signals annually with over two decades of messaging telemetry baselines, Mimecast defends global enterprises against zero-day malware, sophisticated impersonation fraud, credential theft, and cloud data leaks.

• Founder / Leadership: Peter Bauer & Neil Murray (Co-founders); Marc van Zadelhoff (Chief Executive Officer)
• Launch Year: 2003 (Acquired by Permira for $5.8B in 2022)

Use Cases:

• Blocking advanced spear-phishing, supply chain impersonations, and executive wire-transfer fraud with behavioral AI detection
• Ensuring uninterrupted email communication and productivity during Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace outages via 100% SLA Mailbox Continuity
• Retaining corporate communications in an immutable, tamper-proof 7-to-10-year cloud archive with sub-second e-discovery search
• Preventing internal data theft, source code leakage, and intellectual property exfiltration across departing employee devices via Incydr

Technology:

• Multi-layered email inspection pipeline pairing inline MX gateway routing with native cloud API integration for deep behavioral analysis
• Mimecast Human Risk Management (HRM) platform correlating employee risk scores, training efficacy, and real-time threat telemetry
• Cloud-native immutable storage cluster indexing petabytes of email data with cryptographically verified chain of custody

Target Users:

• Enterprise CISOs and corporate messaging leads managing hybrid Microsoft 365, Exchange, and Google Workspace environments
• Legal teams and compliance officers fulfilling strict regulatory mandates (SEC, FINRA, HIPAA, GDPR) with automated legal hold archiving
• Security Operations Center (SOC) teams looking to automate malicious URL re-writing and post-delivery email clawback
• Content creators using writing tools to draft corporate cybersecurity policies, incident disclosure memos, and employee awareness training modules

Corporate Entity: Operates as Mimecast Limited / Permira (London, UK & Lexington, MA, USA)

Key features of Mimecast

Mimecast's key features are

• Targeted Threat Protection (TTP): Comprehensive URL Protect, Attachment Protect, and Impersonation Protect inspecting inbound and outbound email links in real time with dynamic sandboxing.
• Advanced AI BEC & Impersonation Defense: Evaluates domain anomalies, display-name spoofing, sender communication histories, and natural-language intent to neutralize zero-payload executive and supplier fraud.
• 100% SLA Mailbox Continuity: In the event of a Microsoft 365 or on-premise Exchange downtime, employees continue sending and receiving email seamlessly via Outlook plug-ins, webmail, or mobile apps.
• Cloud Archiving & E-Discovery: Centralized, immutable 7-to-10-year email archive delivering sub-second search speeds, litigation hold enforcement, and compliance export pipelines.
• Human Risk Management (HRM): Synthesizes real attack telemetry, user click behavior, and training completion into individual employee risk profiles with contextual nudges.
• Mimecast Engage (Awareness Training): Engaging video-based micro-learning modules and automated real-world phishing simulations designed to build lasting security habits.
• Insider Threat & Data Leak Defense (Code42 Incydr): Detects, investigates, and responds to unauthorized data exfiltration, source code theft, and file movements to unapproved clouds or USB devices.
• Brand Exploit Protect & DMARC Analyzer: Identifies fraudulent lookalike domains and simplifies DMARC enforcement to shield corporate domain reputation from brand spoofing.

Mimecast Pricing

Mimecast operates on a per-user annual subscription model packaged into tiered capability bundles, alongside modular add-ons for archiving, security training, and insider risk management.

Core Email Security Bundles (Annual per User):

• Critical / Protect Bundle: Typically ranges from approximately $3.50 to $5.00 per user/month (~$42 to $60/user/year; includes gateway antispam, antivirus, URL and attachment protection)
• Advanced Email Security: Typically ranges from approximately $4.00 to $7.20 per user/month (~$48 to $86/user/year; adds advanced impersonation defense, email continuity, and internal email protection)
• Premium Security Suite: Typically ranges from approximately $6.00 to $10.00+ per user/month (~$72 to $120+/user/year; adds full threat intelligence, advanced DLP, comprehensive continuity, and priority SLAs)

Modular Add-Ons:

• Mimecast Cloud Archiving: Typically ranges from $3.00 to $8.00 per user/month depending on retention duration and e-discovery depth
• Mimecast Engage (Security Training): Typically ranges from $2.00 to $4.00 per user/month
• Mimecast Incydr (Insider Risk Defense): Custom enterprise quote based on monitored workstations and repositories

Disclaimer: Mimecast licenses are distributed through certified channel partners and direct enterprise sales with volume discounting above 500+ users. Implementation and migration fees may apply. Visit mimecast.com for official custom quotes.

Who is using Mimecast?

Mimecast is designed for organizations where email reliability, compliance archiving, and threat defense are mission critical, including

• Legal & Professional Services Firms: Safeguarding attorney-client privileged correspondence and relying on sub-second e-discovery searches for litigation hold management
• Commercial Banks & Financial Services: Preventing wire-transfer BEC fraud and enforcing strict FINRA/SEC regulatory email compliance archiving
• Healthcare Providers & Hospitals: Ensuring HIPAA-compliant email encryption, preventing ransomware delivery, and maintaining communication during cloud outages
• Large Multi-National Enterprises: Protecting global workforces across Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace from targeted nation-state spear-phishing
• Content Creators: Using writing tools to draft corporate cybersecurity policies, incident disclosure memos, and employee awareness training modules
• Managed Service Providers (MSPs): Delivering unified email protection, continuity, and archiving across multiple client tenants

Best Mimecast Alternatives

Some of the strongest Mimecast alternatives include

• Proofpoint
• Microsoft Defender for Office 365
• Abnormal Security
• Barracuda Networks (Email Protection)
• Cisco Secure Email
• Ironscales

Pros and Cons of Mimecast

Pros

• Unrivaled 100% SLA email continuity keeps business operations communicating even during major Microsoft 365 service failures
• Immutable cloud archive provides lightning-fast e-discovery and automated legal holds with verified audit logs
• Proven threat detection engine analyzing over 24 trillion behavioral signals annually with deep impersonation heuristics
• Integrated Human Risk Management (HRM) platform tailors security training and real-time warnings to actual employee risk levels
• Acquisition of Code42 Incydr bridges communication security with robust data loss prevention and insider threat visibility

Cons

• The administration console features extensive multi-module menus that present a learning curve for junior IT staff
• Inline gateway deployment (MX record rerouting) requires initial DNS planning compared to simple API-only plugins
• Enterprise bundles and standalone archiving add-ons command a higher total cost of ownership than native entry-level filters
• Complex archive data migrations from legacy on-premises vaults can require dedicated professional implementation services

Why Choose Mimecast?

Mimecast is the premier choice for organizations that require an all-in-one email security, mailbox continuity, and legal compliance archiving platform that keeps communication online no matter what happens.

• Guarantees zero email downtime with seamless 100% SLA mailbox continuity during cloud outages
• Combines enterprise email defense with immutable 10-year archiving and sub-second e-discovery
• Neutralizes executive impersonation, wire fraud, and spear-phishing with advanced behavioral AI
• Protects against insider data leakage with integrated Code42 Incydr technology
• Trusted by over 42,000 organizations and backed by 20+ years of enterprise messaging defense experience

Mimecast vs. Competitors

The main difference between Mimecast, Proofpoint, Microsoft Defender for Office 365, and Abnormal Security is that Mimecast combines advanced threat security with 100% SLA mailbox continuity and immutable compliance archiving, whereas Proofpoint specializes in deep people-centric VAP risk modeling and unified enterprise DLP, Microsoft Defender for Office 365 provides native cloud integration inside existing M365 licensing, and Abnormal Security operates purely as an API-first behavioral detection layer without gateway routing or continuity services. Mimecast stands out for its high-availability email continuity, legal archiving speed, and integrated human risk management.

How do we rate Mimecast?

Mimecast Review

Mimecast provides one of the most reliable and complete communication protection architectures in modern cybersecurity. While many email filtering tools focus exclusively on catching spam and phishing links, Mimecast understood early on that operational continuity and compliance archiving are equally vital to enterprise resilience. If Microsoft 365 or an internal Exchange server experiences an unexpected outage, Mimecast Mailbox Continuity immediately steps in, allowing staff to send and receive business emails without downtime. Its sub-second search archive eliminates the pain of multi-week legal discovery requests, while the integration of Code42 Incydr ensures that sensitive corporate intellectual property does not walk out the door. For enterprises seeking guaranteed email uptime, airtight compliance, and premier threat mitigation, Mimecast is an exceptional platform.

Conclusion

Mimecast is an industry-leading cloud email security, continuity, and compliance archiving platform that redefines how organizations protect corporate communications and human data. By combining multi-layered targeted threat protection, behavioral AI impersonation defense, 100% SLA mailbox continuity, sub-second e-discovery archiving, and insider risk monitoring into a unified ecosystem, it eliminates the operational vulnerabilities of modern cloud collaboration. While organizations must plan for gateway DNS routing and multi-module administrative management, Mimecast’s zero-downtime reliability, compliance strength, and battle-tested threat efficacy make it an indispensable enterprise security platform.