Cybersecurity · head to head
Proofpoint vs Ring Neighbors
Proofpoint
Cybersecurity
Email security and data protection suite from a private company owned by Thoma Bravo, licensed per user with modules sold separately.
- From
- $6/month
- Free plan
- No
The short version
- Only Ring Neighbors has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Proofpoint licensing is per user per year with each capability as a separate stock item, so the platform shown in a proof of concept is normally several products, and adding awareness training, data loss prevention or insider threat monitoring later is a fresh negotiation rather than enabling a feature.; Ring Neighbors neighbors by Ring is a free app only available in the US, per the vendor's own page (Internet Archive capture, 1 January 2023)
- They diverge on capability: Proofpoint covers Inline secure email gateway, Ring Neighbors covers Video Request Portal.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Proofpoint and Ring Neighbors actually diverge.
| Attribute | Proofpoint | Ring Neighbors |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $6/month | Free |
| Pricing model | subscription | freemium |
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| Platforms | Email, Cloud, Web | Web, Ios, Android |
| Category | Cybersecurity | Government |
| Founded | 2002 | 2013 |
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Proofpoint
- Inline secure email gateway
- Attachment sandboxing
- URL rewriting and click-time analysis
- Threat Response Auto-Pull
- Email Fraud Defense
- Security awareness training
- Insider Threat Management
- Enterprise DLP
Only in Ring Neighbors
- Video Request Portal
- Community Alerts
- Geographic Requests
- Case Management
- Resident Opt-in
- Ring Devices
- CAD Systems
- Social Media
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Proofpoint
- A regulated organisation that needs a filtering layer, DMARC enforcement and archiving with an auditable trail across all threenot Ring Neighbors
- An organisation that suffered a business email compromise and must show its board a control that stops delivery rather than remediating afterwardsnot Ring Neighbors
- Concentrating stronger controls and training on the specific individuals who actually receive targeted attacks rather than applying uniform policynot Ring Neighbors
- Retracting a phishing message from thousands of mailboxes after the verdict changes, including copies that were forwarded internallynot Ring Neighbors
Ring Neighbors
- Citizen Servicesnot Proofpoint
- Records Managementnot Proofpoint
- Public Safetynot Proofpoint
- Civic Engagementnot Proofpoint
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Proofpoint
- Licensing is per user per year with each capability as a separate stock item, so the platform shown in a proof of concept is normally several products, and adding awareness training, data loss prevention or insider threat monitoring later is a fresh negotiation rather than enabling a feature.
- It sits inline with MX records pointed at it, so any service degradation is a mail outage for the entire organisation, and both migrating on and migrating off are cutovers with queueing, rollback planning and a real risk of message loss.
- Most customers on Microsoft 365 E5 or Google Workspace Enterprise are already paying for native filtering, so Proofpoint is a second licence layered over a capability the organisation owns, and that comparison is raised by finance at every single renewal.
- The administration console carries a decade of acquisitions: the classic gateway policy routes and filters do not share a model with the newer module interfaces, rule evaluation is order-sensitive in ways that surprise untrained administrators, and mistakes there silently change what is delivered.
- Quarantine management is a standing helpdesk workload because legitimate bulk mail, invoices and supplier notifications are held, and unless end-user digests are configured and users are taught to use them, the security team becomes the mail release desk.
Ring Neighbors
- Neighbors by Ring is a free app only available in the US, per the vendor's own page (Internet Archive capture, 1 January 2023)
Pricing, plan by plan
Proofpoint
$6/month- Email Protection$6/month
- Per user
- Advanced threat detection
- Data loss prevention
- Compliance$8/month
- All Email Protection
- Archive & search
- eDiscovery
- Advanced Threat$10/month
- All Compliance features
- Targeted attack detection
- Behavior analytics
Ring Neighbors
Free- Public Safety PortalFree
- Video Requests
- Community Alerts
- Case Management
Which should you pick?
Choose Proofpoint if
- You need inline secure email gateway.
- You work on Email, Cloud, Web.
- You also want attachment sandboxing.
Choose Ring Neighbors if
- You need video request portal.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Ios, Android.
- You also want community alerts.
Questions people ask
- Is Proofpoint or Ring Neighbors better?
- Neither clearly leads. Proofpoint starts at $6/month and Ring Neighbors at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Proofpoint or Ring Neighbors?
- Ring Neighbors has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $6/month for Proofpoint and Free for Ring Neighbors.
- Does Proofpoint or Ring Neighbors run on more platforms?
- Proofpoint runs on Email, Cloud, Web. Ring Neighbors runs on Web, Ios, Android.
- Can I use Ring Neighbors for free?
- Yes. Ring Neighbors has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Proofpoint starts at $6/month.
- What is Proofpoint best used for?
- Proofpoint is most often used for a regulated organisation that needs a filtering layer, dmarc enforcement and archiving with an auditable trail across all three, an organisation that suffered a business email compromise and must show its board a control that stops delivery rather than remediating afterwards, concentrating stronger controls and training on the specific individuals who actually receive targeted attacks rather than applying uniform policy, retracting a phishing message from thousands of mailboxes after the verdict changes, including copies that were forwarded internally. Of those, a regulated organisation that needs a filtering layer, dmarc enforcement and archiving with an auditable trail across all three and an organisation that suffered a business email compromise and must show its board a control that stops delivery rather than remediating afterwards are not what Ring Neighbors is typically brought in for.
- What can Proofpoint do that Ring Neighbors cannot?
- Proofpoint covers Inline secure email gateway, Attachment sandboxing, URL rewriting and click-time analysis, Threat Response Auto-Pull. Ring Neighbors covers Video Request Portal, Community Alerts, Geographic Requests, Case Management.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Proofpoint: Does it replace Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Functionally it overlaps heavily, and running both means paying twice for filtering. Most Proofpoint customers on Microsoft 365 keep Defender licensed because it is bundled in E5 and use Proofpoint as the inline gateway. Expect to justify that duplication annually.
Proofpoint: Who owns Proofpoint?
Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm, which took the company private in 2021. It has continued to acquire since, including Tessian, Normalyze and Hornetsecurity, which is why the portfolio spans so many adjacent categories.
Proofpoint: Do I have to change my MX records?
For the gateway, yes. That is what makes it inline and able to block before delivery. Some newer capabilities integrate through the mailbox API instead, but the core protection model is MX-level.
Proofpoint: Is security awareness training included?
No, it is a separate subscription. It integrates well with the threat data, so training can target the users actually being attacked, but it is a distinct line item on the quote.
Proofpoint: What does Threat Response Auto-Pull actually do?
It removes messages from mailboxes after delivery when the verdict changes, including copies that users forwarded internally. It is the answer to the case where a link was clean at delivery and weaponised an hour later.
Related pages
More on Ring Neighbors
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- Ring Neighbors vs 1Password
- Ring Neighbors vs LastPass
- Ring Neighbors vs Trend Micro Vision One
- Ring Neighbors vs Mimecast
- Ring Neighbors vs Qualys VMDR
- Ring Neighbors vs Zscaler Internet Access
- Ring Neighbors vs IBM QRadar
- Ring Neighbors vs Varonis Data Security Platform
- Ring Neighbors vs VMware Carbon Black
- Ring Neighbors vs Sysdig
- Ring Neighbors vs Dahua Technology
- Ring Neighbors vs Descope
- Ring Neighbors vs Drata
- Ring Neighbors vs DTiQ
- Ring Neighbors vs ESET NOD32 Antivirus
- Ring Neighbors vs ExpressVPN
- Ring Neighbors vs Accela
- Ring Neighbors vs CivicPlus
- Ring Neighbors vs Granicus
- Ring Neighbors vs DocuWare
- Ring Neighbors vs CentralSquare
- Ring Neighbors vs Axon Records
- Ring Neighbors vs IAPro
- Ring Neighbors vs Mark43
- Ring Neighbors vs SafeCity
- Ring Neighbors vs Citizen
- Ring Neighbors vs ShotSpotter
- Ring Neighbors vs Tyler Brazos
- Ring Neighbors vs NEXGEN Asset Management
- Ring Neighbors vs NextRequest
- Ring Neighbors vs Trimble Unity Maintain
- Ring Neighbors vs VUEWorks
- Ring Neighbors vs American Legal Publishing
- Ring Neighbors vs ArchiveSocial