MessageSolution Enterprise Email Archive

MessageSolution Enterprise Email Archive is a compliance-focused platform for capturing, retaining, searching and exporting business email. It is best suited to organizations that need litigation and retention controls across supported mail systems. Its capture and eDiscovery tools are strong, but custom pricing and possible engineering work make it a poor fit for buyers seeking a quick, low-cost archive.

Overview

The platform archives inbound and outbound email in real time through an existing journal mailbox, preserving messages before users can delete them. That makes it more suitable for governed retention than a backup process dependent on users keeping their own copies.

Deployment options include cloud, on-premise and hybrid; the software can also be installed on a server behind the customer’s firewall. Supported systems include Microsoft Exchange and Exchange Online, IBM Lotus Domino, Google Mail, Novell GroupWise, and Linux/UNIX email servers. Organizations with modified or nonstandard mail environments should allow for possible customization, which may take weeks or months and incur engineering fees.

Key features

• Search and export: A built-in full-text search engine and database support retrieval without requiring SQL Server. Messages can be exported in EML or native format, useful when responding to investigations or moving records into another workflow.
• Litigation support: eDiscovery and legal hold are joined by classification, tagging, annotation, message pathway analysis and authenticity verification. This breadth helps teams investigate and manage records in the archive rather than relying on search alone.
• Retention and oversight: Administrators can define retention, filtering, storage and stubbing policies, then review reports covering searches, archive access and archiving activity. These controls support ongoing governance, though they require administrators to set and maintain the policies.
• Access and security: Enterprise Suite supports access through a browser, Outlook, Lotus Notes, OWA or DWA, and offline access; the feature matrix also lists Mac and iOS archive access. Role-based controls restrict access, while tamper-proof binary storage and hidden back-end storage are intended to reduce alteration, accidental deletion and misuse.
• Storage reduction: The vendor says compression and single instance storage reduce email volumes by an average of more than 75%. That could ease storage pressure, but the claimed average should not be treated as a guaranteed result for every archive.

Pricing

Enterprise Email Archive is paid, with custom pricing based on organization size. Express, Suite and Upgrade editions are offered, but there are no separate published prices or feature breakdowns to compare; buyers should request a quote and confirm which edition covers their required access and controls. The maintenance minimum is $600 per year, an ongoing cost to include in the purchase decision.

Support is free for two months after purchase without a maintenance plan. After that, a basic support package costs $200 and includes three technical support emails and one 30-minute phone session. Organizations that expect frequent implementation or troubleshooting help should weigh that limited package against their support needs.

Platforms

Listed platforms are iOS, Linux, macOS, self-hosted, web and Windows. Archive access routes vary by edition, so organizations should confirm the relevant clients and offline access are included in their chosen configuration.

Who it's for

This is a strong candidate for enterprise and SME/SMB organizations that must preserve business email for compliance or litigation and want search, policy controls and legal hold in one archive. It may also suit integrators, resellers and hosting partners serving those customers. Buyers with unusual mail-server configurations, limited technical resources or a tight implementation schedule should look elsewhere unless they can accommodate potential customization work.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Journal capture preserves inbound and outbound mail before users can delete it, strengthening retention practices.
• Legal hold, eDiscovery, message analysis and authenticity verification provide more litigation support than search and storage alone.
• Multiple deployment models and broad mail-system support give organizations options for fitting an archive to existing infrastructure.
• Built-in search avoids a required SQL Server dependency, while policy and audit controls support administration.

Cons

• Custom pricing and a $600-per-year maintenance minimum make budgeting less straightforward.
• Customization for modified or nonstandard environments may take weeks or months and bring engineering fees.
• The basic $200 support package covers only three technical emails and one 30-minute phone session, which may not suit organizations needing regular assistance.

Alternatives

• Open Archiver Enterprise is worth considering if open-source self-hosting or a freemium entry point matters; its Enterprise Edition is priced at €14 per seat as a one-time payment.
• MailArchiva may suit buyers seeking a freemium option or an on-premise perpetual license, though its first-year support is mandatory and annual support follows.
• Jatheon Cloud is an alternative for buyers seeking cloud archiving with unlimited storage and no egress fees at exit; it uses per-user monthly pricing billed annually.
• OpenText Retain Unified Archiving is another paid unified archiving option.
• Proofpoint Email DLP and Encryption is a paid option for readers considering email DLP and encryption.
• Google Drive offers a free account with up to 15 GB of storage for buyers whose primary need is included cloud storage rather than a dedicated email archive.
• VM Backup has a free edition capped at two VMs per host and a 30-day fully featured trial; consider it when VM backup is the need instead of email archiving.
• AnyMeeting is a paid option for video meetings, rather than email archiving.
• See more options in Email Archiving Software.

Verdict

Choose MessageSolution Enterprise Email Archive if your organization needs journal-based preservation, retention governance and litigation tools across a supported mail environment. Its strongest case is combining capture, search and eDiscovery controls in one platform; look elsewhere if you need transparent pricing, predictable implementation or a lighter support commitment.