MailStore Review: Email Archiving Features & Competitors

Email archiving sounds about as exciting as sorting socks. But it matters. A lot. If your company uses email every day, you need a safe place for old messages. You also need a fast way to find them. That is where MailStore enters the chat.

What Is MailStore?

MailStore is email archiving software. It copies and stores emails in a central archive. Users can then search, open, restore, and export messages when needed.

Think of it like a giant, neat email vault. Not a dusty basement. More like a smart robot librarian with excellent memory.

MailStore has different products. The main one for businesses is MailStore Server. There is also MailStore Service Provider Edition for managed service providers. And yes, there is MailStore Home for personal use, though this review focuses on business archiving.

Why Email Archiving Matters

Email is not just chat. It is contracts. Invoices. HR talks. Customer requests. Project history. Sometimes it is also proof.

If messages are deleted, lost, or scattered across old mailboxes, trouble follows. Archiving helps with:

• Compliance: Keep messages for the right amount of time.
• Legal discovery: Find emails during audits or disputes.
• Storage control: Reduce pressure on mail servers.
• Productivity: Let users search old mail by themselves.
• Backup support: Add another layer of protection.

It is not the same as backup. A backup restores systems after disaster. An archive stores email for long term access and rules. The two are friends, not twins.

MailStore Core Features

1. Central Email Archive

MailStore gathers emails from many sources and stores them in one archive. It supports Microsoft 365, Exchange Server, Google Workspace, IMAP mailboxes, PST files, and more.

This is handy if your company has mail living everywhere. Old laptop? Random PST file? Former employee mailbox? MailStore can help bring order to the mess.

2. Fast Search

This is one of MailStore’s best tricks. Search is quick and simple. Users can search by sender, recipient, subject, date, attachment name, or full text.

Need the quote Bob sent in 2021? Type a few words. Boom. There it is. Bob cannot hide anymore.

3. Outlook Add In and Web Access

Users can access archived email from an Outlook add in or a web browser. This makes it feel familiar. People do not need to learn a huge new system.

That matters. If software feels like a spaceship cockpit, users avoid it. MailStore keeps things more down to earth.

4. Retention Policies

MailStore lets admins set retention rules. This means emails can be kept for a set number of years. After that, they can be deleted if policy allows.

This is useful for compliance. It also stops archives from becoming endless digital junk drawers.

5. Legal Hold and eDiscovery Support

MailStore includes features for legal and audit needs. Admins can search across archives and export messages. They can also help preserve relevant emails.

It may not be as advanced as big enterprise legal platforms. But for many small and mid sized businesses, it covers the basics well.

6. Tamper Proof Storage

MailStore focuses on keeping archived emails unchanged. This is important. If archived mail can be changed, it loses trust.

The system uses checks and controls to help prove that messages are authentic. In plain English: no sneaky edits.

What MailStore Does Well

MailStore has a lot of practical strengths. It is not flashy. It is not trying to be a superhero suite. It does one job and does it well.

• Easy setup: Many teams can get started without a huge project.
• Clear interface: Admins and users can understand it quickly.
• Great search: Finding old email is fast.
• Good compatibility: It works with many mail systems.
• Fair for small teams: It is often a good fit for SMB budgets.
• Local control: Companies can keep archives on their own infrastructure.

For businesses that want control and simplicity, this is a big win.

Where MailStore Could Be Better

No tool is perfect. Not even the toaster. MailStore has limits too.

• Security stack: It is not a full email security platform.
• Cloud first feel: Some newer tools feel more native to cloud environments.
• Advanced legal tools: Large enterprises may need deeper eDiscovery workflows.
• Interface style: It is clean, but not especially modern or flashy.
• Depends on setup: Storage planning and admin choices still matter.

If you want spam filtering, phishing defense, encryption, and archiving in one huge package, MailStore may not be enough by itself.

Who Should Use MailStore?

MailStore is a smart choice for businesses that want reliable archiving without too much drama.

It fits well for:

• Small and mid sized businesses.
• IT teams that want simple management.
• Companies using Microsoft 365, Exchange, or Google Workspace.
• Organizations with compliance duties.
• Businesses that need to import old PST files.
• Teams that want users to find old mail without calling IT.

Here is a simple scenario. A 40 person accounting firm must keep client email for seven years. Staff often need old tax documents and approval messages. With MailStore, they can search the archive themselves. IT gets fewer tickets. Everyone gets fewer headaches. Even Gary from finance smiles. Briefly.

MailStore Competitors

MailStore is good. But it is not alone. The email archiving space has many strong players.

Mimecast

Mimecast is a popular cloud platform for email security, continuity, and archiving. It is strong for companies that want one system for protection and storage.

Compared with MailStore, Mimecast is broader. It includes more security features. But it can also be more complex and costly.

Proofpoint

Proofpoint is known for enterprise email security. It also offers archiving and compliance tools. It is powerful and built for larger organizations.

If your main issue is advanced threat protection plus archiving, Proofpoint is worth a look. If you just need clean archiving, it may feel like buying a race car for grocery runs.

Microsoft Purview

Microsoft Purview is a natural option for Microsoft 365 users. It includes retention, eDiscovery, compliance, and data governance tools.

The benefit is deep Microsoft integration. The downside is complexity. Many teams need time and expertise to configure it well.

Google Vault

Google Vault is built for Google Workspace. It handles retention, search, legal holds, and exports.

It is convenient for Google based teams. But it is tied closely to the Google ecosystem. MailStore may offer more flexible archiving across mixed environments.

Barracuda

Barracuda offers email protection, backup, and archiving products. It is a strong choice for businesses that want cloud based tools with security add ons.

Compared with MailStore, Barracuda may offer a wider bundle. MailStore may feel simpler if archiving is the main goal.

Jatheon

Jatheon focuses heavily on email archiving and compliance. It offers cloud and appliance based options.

This makes it a direct competitor. Jatheon can be strong for regulated industries. MailStore may win with simpler setup and broader SMB appeal.

MailStore vs Competitors: Quick View

• Best simple archiving: MailStore.
• Best email security bundle: Mimecast or Proofpoint.
• Best for Microsoft heavy companies: Microsoft Purview.
• Best for Google Workspace only: Google Vault.
• Best for regulated archiving focus: Jatheon.

The right choice depends on your needs. Do you want a focused archive? Or a giant platform with many controls? Both can be right. Just not for the same team.

Final Verdict

MailStore is a dependable, practical, and easy to understand email archiving tool. It is especially good for small and mid sized businesses that want strong search, compliance support, and control over archived messages.

It is not the biggest platform. It is not the flashiest. But it does the important things well. It helps you keep email safe. It helps people find old messages fast. It helps IT sleep better.

If your inbox history feels like a haunted attic, MailStore can turn it into a tidy library. And honestly, that is a pretty nice upgrade.