Sentaro is the best anti-phishing software for business email on Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. Phishing in 2026 is less often a bad attachment and more often a clean-looking message: a QR code in a PDF, a credential page on a new domain, an AI-written request from a “supplier”. Anti-phishing software has to judge intent and destination, not just reputation. Sentaro publishes this list and ranks itself first; scores use the method below and public vendor documentation as of 21 October 2026.
- Why Sentaro wins
- Every inbound message is scored before interaction on header signals, sender history and content intent (see /en/platform). QR codes are decoded and their destinations evaluated like any URL. Payload-free phishing and BEC are a core design target. Consent-phishing lures are blocked before the OAuth grant lands. It connects over API in four minutes for $6 per protected account per month (see /en/pricing).
- Choose Sentaro if
- You run Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, your users already see few bulk phishing emails thanks to native filtering, and the ones that get through are targeted, credential-harvesting or invoice-related.
- Keep Defender on
- Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 is a strong baseline for Microsoft 365, and Sentaro is designed to run alongside it rather than replace it.
- Add Cofense, KnowBe4 or Push only if
- You need simulation and reported-phish triage for a SOC, or browser-level protection against adversary-in-the-middle login pages. Those are different layers from inbox detection.
Quick picks
- Best overall anti-phishing for business emailSentaro Our pickIntent and destination analysis before interaction, QR decoding, payload-free BEC and consent phishing, $6 per account.
- Best native option for Microsoft 365Microsoft Defender for Office 365Safe Links, Safe Attachments and impersonation protection from $2 per user per month.
- Best for large enterprisesAbnormal AIBehavioral baselines for every employee and vendor, broad compliance portfolio, quote-based.
- Best inline prevention over APICheck Point Harmony EmailConfigurable inline blocking before the inbox, plus Teams, Slack and file-sharing apps.
- Best for reported-phish triageCofenseUser-reported and AI-detected phish triaged and removed, paired with simulation training.
- Best for browser-based phishingPush SecurityBlocks adversary-in-the-middle and cloned login pages in the browser, whatever channel the link came from.
At a glance
- What we compared
- Anti-phishing software for business email: native protection, API-based (ICES) tools, gateways, reporting and training platforms, and one browser-layer tool
- Not included
- Consumer antivirus, and brand-protection or takedown services such as Netcraft, which protect your domain outside your tenant (see below)
- Tools ranked
- 10
- Audience
- Organizations on Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, from lean IT teams to mid-market, many in regulated EU sectors
- Method
- Seven weighted criteria (below), scored 0 to 10 from public vendor documentation; overall score is the weighted average
- Last verified
- 21 October 2026
- Who wrote it
- Sentaro, which makes one of the ranked tools. Sentaro publishes this list and ranks itself first.
Anti-phishing software compared
Sentaro first, then by overall score. QR column: what the vendor documents, not a test result.
| Capability | Layer | QR-code phishing | Payload-free BEC | Price | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sentaro (our pick)[1] | Inbox, via API | YesDecoded; destination analyzed | YesCore design target | $6 per account/month | 8.1 |
| Microsoft Defender for Office 365[6] | Inbox, native | YesSafe Links (Plan 1) | PartialImpersonation protection | Plan 1 $2, Plan 2 $5 | 7.6 |
| Abnormal AI[7] | Inbox, via API | Yes“Block quishing threats” | YesBEC and vendor fraud | Quote | 7.3 |
| Check Point Harmony Email[9] | Inbox, API with inline option | Not publicly documented | YesBEC stated | Quote | 7.1 |
| IRONSCALES[11] | Inbox, via API | Yes“QR lures” | YesBEC and VIP impersonation | Quote | 7.0 |
| Proofpoint[14] | Gateway or API | YesCore Email Protection API | YesBEC and supplier threats | Quote | 6.9 |
| Mimecast[15] | Gateway or API | Yes“QR code phishing” named | YesBEC featured | Quote | 6.8 |
| KnowBe4 Defend (Egress)[16] | Inbox, Microsoft 365 integration | Not publicly documented | YesBEC named | Quote | 6.0 |
| Cofense[18] | Post-delivery reporting and removal | Not publicly documented | Not publicly documented | Quote | 5.3 |
| Push Security[20] | Browser extension | NoDoes not filter email | NoDoes not filter email | $5 per employee/month (annual) | 4.9 |
“Not publicly documented” means we found no vendor statement, not that the capability is missing. Checked 21 October 2026.
- Yes
- Partial
- No
- On roadmap
- Paid add-on
- Not publicly documented
How we evaluated anti-phishing software
The weights favour what decides phishing outcomes on Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace today: how many lure types a tool understands, whether it catches phishing with no payload, and whether it acts before a click. Training and reporting get their own criterion, where specialists beat Sentaro.
| Criterion | Weight | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Lure coverage | 20% | Links, attachments, QR codes and credential-harvest pages. Documented destination analysis and QR decoding score highest. |
| Payload-free phishing and BEC | 20% | Phishing with no link or file: invoice and supplier fraud, CEO impersonation, thread hijacking. Behavioral and intent models score above rule-based impersonation checks. |
| Action before interaction | 15% | Blocking or labeling before a user clicks beats clawing back after delivery. Inline and native tools score highest; post-delivery-only tools lower. |
| Deployment effort | 15% | Time to protection and risk to mail flow. API connections without MX changes score highest. |
| Consent and browser phishing | 10% | OAuth consent phishing and adversary-in-the-middle login pages, which bypass passwords and MFA. |
| Published price | 10% | A public per-user price lets lean teams budget without a sales cycle. |
| User reporting and training | 10% | Simulations, report buttons and reported-phish triage. Specialists win here; Sentaro does not offer training by design. |
Editorial scores using the criteria and weights above; based on public documentation, not lab tests. No detection rates are compared: no independent test covers all ten tools.
The 10 best anti-phishing tools for business
Ranked by weighted score. Each entry notes which layer the tool works at (inbox, gateway, reporting or browser), because that decides which phishing it can see.
Sentaro
Our pickOverall score: 8.1out of 10Best for: Organizations on Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace that need protection from targeted, QR, credential and payload-free phishing without a gateway project.
Sentaro is an API-based email and SaaS security platform for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. Its Message vector scores every inbound and internal message before interaction, reading intent and language (payment redirects, credential prompts, artificial deadlines), sender identity and infrastructure (display-name mismatches, newly registered and lookalike domains, SPF, DKIM and DMARC posture), thread context, and links, attachments and QR codes by destination analysis rather than reputation lookups alone. Malicious messages are removed or quarantined automatically, and similar messages across all mailboxes can be remediated in one action.[1]
- Lure coverage
- 9.0
- Payload-free phishing and BEC
- 9.0
- Action before interaction
- 8.0
- Deployment effort
- 10.0
- Consent and browser phishing
- 7.0
- Published price
- 9.0
- User reporting and training
- 2.0
Pros
- QR codes decoded and their destinations evaluated like any URL, with credential-harvest patterns and domain age weighed in.
- Built for payload-free phishing: supplier bank-detail changes, CEO impersonation, thread hijacking, AI-written lures.
- Consent-phishing lures blocked before the OAuth grant lands; every app and grant inventoried.
- Four-minute API connection; no MX change, runs alongside Defender or Gmail filtering.
- Published price: $6 per protected account per month; first account free (prices in USD).
Cons
- No phishing simulation or awareness training.
- Inbox-level: it does not sit in the browser, so it does not see links that arrive by SMS or chat apps outside Slack and Teams.
- Adversary-in-the-middle session detection belongs to the Behavioral vector, which reaches general availability in Q4 2026.
- SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certification in progress.
- Pricing
- $6 per protected account per month, or $68 per account per year; the first account is free. Prices in USD.
- Deployment
- API via the Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace admin SDKs; no MX change
- Platforms
- Microsoft 365, Google Workspace; email, Slack and Teams
- Hosting
- Hosted in Sweden on Microsoft Azure; subprocessors in the DPA
Microsoft Defender for Office 365
Best nativeOverall score: 7.6out of 10Best for: Microsoft 365 organizations, as the baseline every other tool runs on top of.
Defender for Office 365 is native to Exchange Online. Plan 1 adds user and domain impersonation protection, mailbox intelligence, Safe Attachments and Safe Links in email, Office and Teams; Microsoft’s June 2026 blog says Safe Links blocks malicious destinations “including QR code-based attacks”. Plan 2 adds attack simulation training, Threat Explorer and automated investigation and response. Plan 1 costs $2 per user per month and is included in Business Premium and, from 2026, in Microsoft 365 and Office 365 E3.[4]
- Lure coverage
- 8.0
- Payload-free phishing and BEC
- 6.0
- Action before interaction
- 9.0
- Deployment effort
- 9.0
- Consent and browser phishing
- 3.0
- Published price
- 10.0
- User reporting and training
- 8.0
Pros
- Native in the mail flow; acts before delivery.
- Safe Links covers QR-code destinations, per Microsoft.
- Attack simulation training in Plan 2.
- Low, published price, often already licensed.
Cons
- Microsoft 365 only.
- Microsoft documents its BEC protection as impersonation policies and mailbox intelligence.
- Consent-phishing and OAuth governance are in a separate product.
- Pricing
- Plan 1 $2, Plan 2 $5 per user per month (annual)
- Deployment
- Native to Exchange Online
- Platforms
- Microsoft 365 only
- Hosting
- EU Data Boundary for EU/EFTA tenants (Multi-Geo excluded)
Abnormal AI
Overall score: 7.3out of 10Best for: Large enterprises that want behavioral email security plus account takeover and SaaS coverage from one established vendor.
Abnormal AI connects over API with no MX change and says it deploys “in 60 seconds”. It builds a behavioral baseline for every employee and vendor and flags deviations using identity, behavioral and content signals; it names BEC, vendor fraud and quishing. Account Takeover Protection and the AI Phishing Coach are separate products. Abnormal’s trust center lists ISO 27001 and other ISO certificates, a SOC 2 report and FedRAMP Moderate. Pricing is not published.[7]
- Lure coverage
- 8.0
- Payload-free phishing and BEC
- 9.0
- Action before interaction
- 6.0
- Deployment effort
- 10.0
- Consent and browser phishing
- 5.0
- Published price
- 3.0
- User reporting and training
- 7.0
Pros
- Behavioral detection for BEC and vendor fraud.
- Very fast API deployment, no MX change.
- Broad certification portfolio, including FedRAMP Moderate.
Cons
- No published price.
- Pre-delivery blocking is not stated by the vendor.
- EU (Ireland) hosting is a subscription choice; the US is the other listed location.
- Pricing
- Quote-based
- Deployment
- API (ICES); no MX change
- Platforms
- Microsoft 365, Google Workspace
- Hosting
- AWS in the US or EU (Ireland), by subscription (subprocessor list)
Check Point Harmony Email
Best inline via APIOverall score: 7.1out of 10Best for: Organizations that want messages stopped before the inbox and phishing scanned in Teams, Slack and file-sharing apps too.
Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration, formerly Avanan, connects over API and can be configured from monitor mode to inline prevention, inspecting messages before they reach the inbox. Check Point describes 50+ AI engines, URL emulation, sandboxing, attachment sanitization and click-time URL protection, and it scans Teams, Slack, OneDrive, SharePoint, Google Drive, Box and Dropbox. Shadow IT detection is in all tiers. QR-code phishing was not named on the pages we checked, and prices are quote-based.[9]
- Lure coverage
- 7.0
- Payload-free phishing and BEC
- 7.0
- Action before interaction
- 9.0
- Deployment effort
- 9.0
- Consent and browser phishing
- 7.0
- Published price
- 3.0
- User reporting and training
- 6.0
Pros
- Inline prevention without an MX change.
- Phishing coverage across collaboration and file-sharing apps.
- Data residency regions include Ireland.
Cons
- No published prices.
- QR-code phishing not named on the pages checked.
- Training is an add-on.
- Pricing
- Quote-based; four published tiers
- Deployment
- API with configurable inline prevention; no MX change
- Platforms
- Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, plus collaboration apps
- Hosting
- Data residency regions include Ireland (EMEA)
IRONSCALES
Overall score: 7.0out of 10Best for: Mid-market teams and MSPs that want detection, reported-phish handling and simulation in one platform.
IRONSCALES protects at mailbox level over API alongside any gateway and says it “deploys in minutes, no MX changes”. It combines per-mailbox behavioral baselines with crowdsourced intelligence from users’ reports across its community, names BEC, VIP impersonation and QR lures, and remediates after delivery. Human Risk Management adds phishing simulation and training, and it offers deepfake protection for Microsoft Teams meetings. Tiers are published; prices are on quote.[11]
- Lure coverage
- 8.0
- Payload-free phishing and BEC
- 8.0
- Action before interaction
- 6.0
- Deployment effort
- 8.0
- Consent and browser phishing
- 4.0
- Published price
- 4.0
- User reporting and training
- 9.0
Pros
- Reported-phish intelligence shared across its community.
- QR lures named; simulation and training in the same platform.
- API deployment alongside any gateway.
Cons
- Remediation is mostly post-delivery.
- No published prices.
- Subprocessor list names AWS in both the USA and Germany without saying which customers are hosted where.
- Pricing
- Quote-based; tiers published
- Deployment
- API at mailbox level
- Platforms
- Microsoft 365, Google Workspace
- Hosting
- Subprocessor list names AWS in the USA and AWS Europe (Germany)
Proofpoint
Overall score: 6.9out of 10Best for: Large enterprises that want a gateway or API deployment and the deepest add-on catalogue.
Proofpoint Core Email Protection deploys inline as a gateway or via the Microsoft Graph API without MX changes. Proofpoint describes multi-model behavioral AI tied to its Nexus threat intelligence and sandboxing of URLs and attachments; its API product page names QR-code threats and account takeover. DMARC (Email Fraud Defense), DLP, archiving and ZenGuide awareness training are add-ons. Proofpoint gives several setup times: 48 hours on the product page, 24 hours in a brief, “minutes” in a buyer’s guide.[13]
- Lure coverage
- 8.0
- Payload-free phishing and BEC
- 8.0
- Action before interaction
- 9.0
- Deployment effort
- 6.0
- Consent and browser phishing
- 4.0
- Published price
- 3.0
- User reporting and training
- 7.0
Pros
- Choice of inline gateway or API deployment.
- Large threat-intelligence base and deep add-on catalogue.
- QR and account-takeover coverage named on the API product.
Cons
- No published prices; most capabilities are add-ons.
- Setup claims range from minutes to 48 hours.
- Some email data may be processed and stored in the US even for EU tenants, per its API privacy sheet (July 2026).
- Pricing
- Quote-based
- Deployment
- API (Microsoft Graph) or inline gateway
- Platforms
- Microsoft 365, Google Workspace
- Hosting
- Core Email Protection API: EU or US data centre; some processing and storage in the US (privacy sheet, July 2026)
Mimecast
Overall score: 6.8out of 10Best for: Organizations that need a gateway or API choice plus archiving, or still run on-premises Exchange.
Mimecast offers a Cloud Gateway (MX) and Cloud Integrated (API) for Microsoft 365, and supports on-premises and hybrid Exchange. It describes multiple detection engines, social graphing, sandboxing, on-click URL protection and computer vision for brand and login-page impersonation, and names QR-code phishing. Archiving is a core product; DMARC Analyzer and awareness training are add-ons. Mimecast says Cloud Integrated connects via API in minutes. Prices are not published.[15]
- Lure coverage
- 8.0
- Payload-free phishing and BEC
- 7.0
- Action before interaction
- 9.0
- Deployment effort
- 7.0
- Consent and browser phishing
- 4.0
- Published price
- 3.0
- User reporting and training
- 7.0
Pros
- Gateway or API in one vendor; supports on-premises Exchange.
- Login-page impersonation detection with computer vision.
- Long archiving heritage.
Cons
- No published prices.
- Account-takeover coverage not mentioned on the product page.
- Current EU data-centre footprint not re-confirmed since 2018.
- Pricing
- Quote-based
- Deployment
- Cloud Gateway (MX) or Cloud Integrated (API)
- Platforms
- Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, on-premises and hybrid Exchange
- Hosting
- Frankfurt data centres announced in 2018; current footprint not re-confirmed
KnowBe4 Defend (Egress)
Overall score: 6.0out of 10Best for: KnowBe4 training customers on Microsoft 365 that want inbound protection and outbound misdirected-email prevention from the same vendor.
KnowBe4 bought Egress in 2024 and sells its cloud email security as Defend (inbound), Prevent (outbound and misdirected email) and Protect (encryption), integrated with Microsoft 365 with no extra infrastructure. Defend uses behavioral AI and self-learning threat models and names BEC. KnowBe4 is best known for security awareness training, which is where it scores highest here. Google Workspace support for Defend is not mentioned, and prices are not published.[16]
- Lure coverage
- 6.0
- Payload-free phishing and BEC
- 7.0
- Action before interaction
- 5.0
- Deployment effort
- 7.0
- Consent and browser phishing
- 3.0
- Published price
- 3.0
- User reporting and training
- 10.0
Pros
- Category-leading awareness training in the same vendor.
- Outbound misdirected-email prevention and encryption.
- Automated abuse mailbox for user reports.
Cons
- Google Workspace not mentioned for Defend.
- Deployment mode (inline or API) not specified.
- No published prices.
- Pricing
- Quote-based
- Deployment
- Integrated with Microsoft 365, no extra infrastructure
- Platforms
- Microsoft 365 (Google Workspace not confirmed)
- Hosting
- Customer may choose main storage in the US, Ireland, Germany, the UK or Canada (DTIA, October 2026)
Cofense
Overall score: 5.3out of 10Best for: Enterprise SOCs that want user-reported phishing triaged and removed fast, paired with simulation.
Cofense, formerly PhishMe, works after delivery: it triages user-reported and AI-detected phishing and removes it from mailboxes, which it says happens “in under one minute”, with human analysts validating its models. Its PhishMe simulations are the training side, and Cofense Protect MSP extends it to Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace for MSPs. It does not position itself as a pre-delivery filter, and prices are not published.[18]
- Lure coverage
- 6.0
- Payload-free phishing and BEC
- 4.0
- Action before interaction
- 5.0
- Deployment effort
- 7.0
- Consent and browser phishing
- 2.0
- Published price
- 3.0
- User reporting and training
- 10.0
Pros
- Fast removal of reported phishing across mailboxes.
- Human-validated, crowd-sourced reported-phish intelligence.
- Simulation training built in.
Cons
- Post-delivery: relies on reports and detection after the message lands.
- BEC and QR coverage not stated.
- No published prices.
- Pricing
- Quote-based
- Deployment
- Post-delivery reporting and remediation via API
- Platforms
- Microsoft 365, Google Workspace (Protect MSP)
- Hosting
- Not publicly documented
Push Security
Best browser layerOverall score: 4.9out of 10Best for: Teams that want phishing pages blocked in the browser, whatever channel the link arrived through.
Push Security is a browser extension, not an email filter. It detects and blocks phishing in the browser, including adversary-in-the-middle reverse proxies, cloned login pages, browser-in-the-browser and ClickFix, and controls OAuth consents at click time. Pricing is public at $5 per employee per month on annual billing for up to 500 employees, and Push says all platform data is stored in the EU. It complements an inbox tool rather than replacing one.[20]
- Lure coverage
- 5.0
- Payload-free phishing and BEC
- 1.0
- Action before interaction
- 4.0
- Deployment effort
- 6.0
- Consent and browser phishing
- 10.0
- Published price
- 9.0
- User reporting and training
- 3.0
Pros
- Stops adversary-in-the-middle login pages that defeat MFA.
- Works regardless of whether the link came by email, chat or SMS.
- Public price and documented EU data storage.
Cons
- Does not filter email at all.
- Needs an extension on every managed browser.
- No help against payload-free fraud such as fake invoices.
- Pricing
- $5 per employee per month (annual), $6 monthly, up to 500 employees
- Deployment
- Browser extension via MDM or self-enrolment
- Platforms
- Browsers; integrates with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and Okta
- Hosting
- Vendor: all platform data stored in the EU (Dublin, backup in Paris)
Does anti-phishing software stop QR-code phishing (quishing)?
QR-code phishing hides the link in an image, often inside a PDF or a fake MFA or document-sharing notice, so a filter that only checks link text sees nothing. The user scans it with a phone, which is usually outside corporate controls, and lands on a credential page. Anti-phishing software handles it only if it decodes the image and then evaluates the destination.
Sentaro decodes QR codes and evaluates their destinations like any URL, checking lookalike domains, credential-harvest patterns and infrastructure age, and weighs the surrounding intent, such as urgent MFA or password framing, into the verdict. This is part of the live Message vector. More detail is on /en/solutions/qr-code-phishing.
| Tool | What the vendor documents about QR codes |
|---|---|
| Sentaro | QR codes decoded; destinations evaluated like any URL; surrounding intent weighed in |
| Microsoft Defender for Office 365 | Safe Links blocks malicious destinations “including QR code-based attacks” (Microsoft blog, June 2026) |
| Abnormal AI | “Block quishing threats” |
| IRONSCALES | “QR lures” named |
| Mimecast | “QR code phishing” named |
| Proofpoint | QR code threats named on the Core Email Protection API page |
| Sublime Security | Open detection rules cover QR-code lures |
| Fortra Cloud Email Protection | A July 2024 Fortra press release announced QR code detection (we could not re-open the page on 21 October 2026) |
| Check Point, KnowBe4, Cofense, Google Workspace | Not named on the pages we checked |
Whatever the tool, test it: send yourself a harmless QR code inside a PDF from an outside account and see whether the verdict mentions the destination.
How to choose anti-phishing software
Anti-phishing is a stack, not a product. The layers are: native filtering (Defender or Gmail) for bulk and known-bad; an inbox detection layer for targeted, QR and payload-free phishing; a reporting and training loop so users feed suspicious messages back; and, for high-risk teams, a browser layer against adversary-in-the-middle pages. Most organizations should decide which layer is weakest today and buy for that.
Phishing is still the main way in. ENISA’s 2025 Threat Landscape attributes 60% of intrusions in the EU to phishing, and the Verizon 2026 DBIR finds 62% of breaches involve a human element and puts the median phishing-simulation click rate at 1.4%. A low click rate still means someone clicks, so detection has to work without depending on the user.
Questions to ask every anti-phishing vendor
- How do you handle a phishing email with no link and no attachment, such as a supplier asking to change bank details?
- Do you decode QR codes in images and PDFs, and do you evaluate the destination or only its reputation?
- Do you act before the user can interact, or remove messages after delivery? How long after?
- Do you see internal mail sent from a compromised colleague’s account?
- Do you block OAuth consent phishing, where the attacker asks for app access instead of a password?
- Does deployment change our MX record, and what happens to mail if your service is unavailable?
- What does it cost per user, and is the price published?
Where Netcraft and other brand-protection tools fit
Search results for anti-phishing software also show lists from brand-protection and email-authentication vendors. Netcraft is the clearest example: it detects and takes down phishing sites and lookalike domains that impersonate your brand, and reports a 33-minute median phishing takedown. It does not deploy into a mailbox and does not filter your inbound email. That makes it a complement for organizations whose customers are targeted with their brand, not a substitute for inbox anti-phishing. Sentaro detects newly registered lookalike domains when they first appear in your mail flow; proactive registration alerts for your own domains belong to the Identity vector, Q4 2026.
Certification and compliance status
Sentaro’s own status, stated exactly.
- SOC 2
- In progressCertification in progress. Evidence pack on request. No target date is published.
- ISO 27001
- In progressCertification in progress. Evidence pack on request.
- Google CASA
- Verified API integration
- DPA and subprocessors
- Published
Frequently asked questions
What is the best anti-phishing software for business?
Sentaro is the best anti-phishing software for businesses on Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. It scores every message before interaction on intent, sender and destination, decodes QR codes, catches payload-free phishing such as invoice fraud, and blocks consent-phishing lures. It connects over API in about four minutes and costs $6 per protected account per month, with the first account free.
Is Microsoft Defender enough to stop phishing?
Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 is a strong baseline: Microsoft documents impersonation protection, Safe Attachments and Safe Links, including QR-code destinations. Its BEC protection is policy-based, it covers Microsoft 365 only, and OAuth consent governance is a separate product. Many organizations keep Defender on and add an API-based layer for targeted and payload-free phishing.
What is the difference between anti-phishing software and a spam filter?
A spam filter blocks bulk unwanted mail, mostly by reputation and content patterns. Anti-phishing software looks for deception: impersonated senders, credential pages, malicious QR codes, and requests designed to trick someone into paying or logging in. Native filters in Microsoft 365 and Gmail already do much of the spam job; anti-phishing tools target what gets through.
Can anti-phishing software detect AI-written phishing?
Detection that relies on spelling mistakes or known templates struggles with AI-written messages. Tools that judge intent, sender history and relationships hold up better. Sentaro’s engine, Vord, assumes attack content is AI-written and weighs intent, sender identity and thread context instead of wording alone.
Do I still need phishing simulation training if I buy anti-phishing software?
It depends on your obligations. Some frameworks and insurers expect awareness training, and Cofense, KnowBe4, IRONSCALES and Defender Plan 2 provide it. Sentaro does not offer training by design: its aim is to stop phishing before it depends on a user’s judgment. The Verizon 2026 DBIR puts the median simulation click rate at 1.4%.
Is Netcraft anti-phishing software?
Netcraft is a brand-protection and takedown service: it finds and removes phishing sites and lookalike domains that impersonate your organization. It does not filter your inbound email. It complements inbox anti-phishing, such as Sentaro or Defender, for organizations whose customers are targeted with their brand.
How do I protect users from QR-code phishing?
Use email protection that decodes QR codes and evaluates the destination, not just the sender. Sentaro, Defender for Office 365, Abnormal, IRONSCALES, Mimecast and Proofpoint document QR coverage. Add phishing-resistant MFA, since QR lures usually aim at Microsoft or Google logins, and tell staff that a QR code asking them to re-authenticate is a red flag.
Sources and method
Sentaro publishes this list and ranks itself first; scores use the method above and public vendor documentation as of 21 October 2026. Product capabilities and prices change; check each vendor’s current documentation. Trademarks belong to their owners. Corrections: contact Sentaro.
- Sentaro platform: Message vector and deployment
- Sentaro pricing
- Sentaro Data Processing Agreement and subprocessor list
- Microsoft Learn: Why do I need Microsoft Defender for Office 365? (accessed 2026-10-18)
- Microsoft: Defender for Office 365 pricing (accessed 2026-10-18)
- Microsoft Tech Community: Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 rolling out to Microsoft 365 E3 (2026-06-17)
- Abnormal AI: Inbound Email Security (accessed 2026-10-18)
- Abnormal AI: Trust center (certifications)
- Check Point: Harmony Email & Collaboration (accessed 2026-10-18)
- Check Point: Harmony Email & Collaboration pricing tiers (accessed 2026-10-18)
- IRONSCALES: Home page (accessed 2026-10-18)
- IRONSCALES: Pricing (accessed 2026-10-18)
- Proofpoint: Core Email Protection (accessed 2026-10-18)
- Proofpoint: Core Email Protection API (accessed 2026-10-21)
- Mimecast: Email Security (accessed 2026-10-18)
- KnowBe4: Cloud Email Security (accessed 2026-10-18)
- KnowBe4: To acquire Egress (April 2024)
- Cofense: Home page (accessed 2026-10-21)
- Business Wire: Cofense launches Cofense Protect MSP (July 2021)
- Push Security: Pricing (accessed 2026-10-21)
- Netcraft: Home page (accessed 2026-10-21)
- Fortra: Cloud Email Protection adds QR code detection (July 2024)
- GitHub: sublime-security/sublime-rules detection rules
- Google Workspace Admin Help: Advanced phishing and malware protection
- ENISA Threat Landscape 2025
- Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report 2026
- Abnormal AI: Subprocessors (updated 31 July 2026; accessed 2026-10-21)
- IRONSCALES: List of current sub-processors (PDF, December 2024; accessed 2026-10-21)
- Proofpoint: Data privacy information sheet, Core Email Protection API (updated 24 July 2026; accessed 2026-10-21)
- KnowBe4: Data Transfer Impact Assessment (updated 13 October 2026)