Check Point Harmony Email alternative: an honest comparison

The short answer

Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration suits Microsoft 365 and Gmail organizations that want threat protection inside the tenant: sandboxing, attachment cleaning, click-time URL checks, account takeover detection and, on the higher package, data loss prevention, plus coverage for Teams, Slack, OneDrive and other collaboration apps. iBlockSpam suits businesses that want inbound filtering in front of any mail server, with a flat per-domain price, unlimited mailboxes, flexible quarantine digests, free DNS tools and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

They're built differently. Check Point's main model connects by API and applies its own mail flow rules and connectors in your tenant; iBlockSpam sits at your MX and delivers clean mail to your server. Our guide to secure email gateways vs API email security explains the two designs.

Competitor details below were checked on Check Point's own pages and admin guides in October 2026.

Side by side

What it costs at 10 and 50 mailboxes

Assumptions: one domain, published prices only, USD, excluding tax.

The comparison isn't like for like. Check Point's packages include sandboxing, click-time URL protection, account takeover detection and collaboration-app coverage, which iBlockSpam doesn't offer. Because Check Point counts licensed users, its cost will follow your headcount; iBlockSpam's follows your number of domains. See per-domain vs per-user pricing for worked examples.

When Check Point Harmony Email is the better choice

• You want protection inside Microsoft 365 or Gmail, not in front of it. In inline mode, Check Point inspects mail in the tenant before it reaches the inbox, and its 2021 acquisition announcement says the technology inspects internal as well as external mail.
• You want sandboxing, attachment cleaning and click-time URL checks. Both packages include them. iBlockSpam doesn't sandbox or rewrite links.
• You also need to protect Teams, Slack, OneDrive or SharePoint. The Email & Collaboration package covers them; iBlockSpam only filters email.
• You need data loss prevention or long-term archiving from the same vendor. Complete Protect adds DLP, and the archiving add-on keeps mail for up to 10 years.
• You'd rather not change MX at all. The API deployment leaves your MX record where it is.
• You already run Check Point for other security and want one console and one vendor.

When iBlockSpam is the better choice

• Your mail isn't on Microsoft 365 or Gmail. iBlockSpam filters in front of cPanel/WHM, Exchange and other mail servers, not just the two big cloud platforms.
• You want prices you can read without a quote. Prices and per-domain limits are on the pricing page, and a domain's first annual subscription has a 30-day money-back guarantee.
• You have many users, shared mailboxes or aliases. One price per domain covers unlimited mailboxes and domain aliases, with 100,000 inbound messages a month.
• You'd rather not grant a security vendor admin roles in your tenant. iBlockSpam needs an MX change and platform steps such as a Microsoft 365 inbound connector, not API access to mailboxes.
• You want mail held if your server goes down. Outage spooling keeps inbound mail for up to 5 days.
• You want users to manage their own held mail. Every user gets a personal quarantine with digests as often as hourly, plus domain monitoring for DNS drift.

How to switch from Check Point Harmony Email

1. Note what you rely on beyond spam filtering, such as DLP, collaboration-app scanning, archived mail or click-time URL protection, and decide how you'll cover it.
2. Export allow and block lists and any custom policies so you can recreate them.
3. Save your current DNS with the Email Health Check and lower the MX TTL a day or two ahead.
4. Add your domain in iBlockSpam and follow the guided setup for your platform, such as the Microsoft 365 inbound connector with Enhanced Filtering for Connectors, or the Google Workspace inbound gateway.
5. Change MX, send test messages and check the headers with the Email Header Analyzer.
6. Once mail flows through iBlockSpam, deactivate Check Point's Office 365 Mail or Gmail connection using its admin guide, then confirm in your tenant that none of the mail flow rules, connectors or journal rules it added remain.

Our migration plan covers each step and the rollback. The vendor-neutral guide to switching spam filter providers explains why mail goes missing during a cutover and how to avoid it.

Check Point, Harmony and Avanan are trademarks of their owner; iBlockSpam is not affiliated with Check Point Software Technologies.

Sources

Checked October 2026.

• Check Point: Email Security product page (deploys through API without changing MX records, monitor mode to inline prevention, supported apps, trial and demo)
• Check Point: Email Security plans and packages (Email Only and Email & Collaboration, Advanced Protect and Complete Protect, sandbox, CDR, URL rewriting, DLP, archiving add-on up to 10 years, "Get a Quote")
• Check Point admin guide: introduction to Email Security (API-based inline protection service, Exchange Online and Gmail, collaboration apps)
• Check Point admin guide: licensing the product (packages, add-ons, 14-day trial for unlimited users)
• Check Point admin guide: managing licences (per-user counting, shared mailboxes, purchase through sales, MSP pay-as-you-go)
• Check Point admin guide: activating Office 365 Mail (Privileged Role Administrator, Exchange Administrator role)
• Check Point admin guide: Microsoft 365 footprint (mail flow rules, connectors, journal rules, groups)
• Check Point admin guide: deactivating Office 365 Mail (stopping the app, removing leftover mail flow rules and the enterprise application)
• Check Point Cloud SEG overview (MX routed to Check Point, inbound only, supported destinations, enabled through Support)
• Check Point press release: definitive agreement to acquire Avanan, 30 August 2021 (patented API solution, inline protection, internal and external email)