Microsoft Purview is the compliance and governance platform built into Microsoft 365. If you're evaluating Purview alternatives, this page will guide you through comparing Microsoft Purview and Comma Compliance across architecture, channel coverage, and exam readiness.
Purview is built for Microsoft. It governs Exchange email, Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive well.
But the SEC's enforcement actions since 2021 haven't been about Teams or Exchange. They've been about WhatsApp, iMessage, and Signal.
Purview's connectors for those channels routed through TeleMessage: the same platform that was breached in May 2025 and has not resumed service as of 2026.
Comma Compliance was built for exactly the channels where the fines are happening, with point-of-delivery capture, open-source transparency, and all 30+ channels included at a flat price.
Feature
Comma Compliance
Purview
Architecture
End-to-end — capture, archive, supervision, policy matching, and exam-ready case management, with open source transparency.
Microsoft 365-native governance platform — strong for Exchange, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive; non-Microsoft channel capture requires third-party connectors
Built-in archive
Yes — included in platform
Yes
iMessage capture method
Point-of-delivery — not iCloud-dependent
Via third-party connector. Previously routed through TeleMessage infrastructure
WhatsApp capture
Captures both WhatsApp Business and personal WhatsApp
Via TeleMessage connector
Transparency
WhatsApp and Signal capture code published openly on GitHub — no NDA, no request required
Proprietary
Channels supported
30+ channels where conversatiosn happen: iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal, SMS, Voice, Microsoft 365, Teams, Exchange, OneDrive, Gmail, Google Workspace, Slack, Zoom, Webex, Bloomberg Chat, Salesforce, Telegram, and more.
Exchange, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Yammer, Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Non-Microsoft channels require third-party connectors; many mobile/messaging connectors.
Pricing model
Flat monthly pricing, all platforms included, no per-connector fees, free unlimited exports
Bundled with Microsoft 365 E3/E5 licensing; Communication Compliance requires E5 or add-on; third-party connector costs additional
Free trial
Yes
Via Microsoft 365 trial
Personal vs. business separation
Automatic contact-based filtering
Not natively supported for non-Microsoft channels
Policy processing
Yes — built in
Yes
Custom policy matching
Yes
Yes
Case management
Exam-ready — built for regulatory examination prep
Oriented toward litigation, legal hold, and internal investigations
AI compliance monitoring
Real-time policy scanning; human validation before escalation; no client data used for training without consent
Yes
Data ownership
Client retains full ownership; never sold or shared outside authorized sub-processors
Data governed by Microsoft's data processing terms; subject to Microsoft 365 data residency policies
Infrastructure
AWS and Azure, multi-AZ clustering
Microsoft Azure global infrastructure
Communication Compliance (the supervision piece of Purview) requires Microsoft 365 E5 licensing or a separate add-on. E5 is Microsoft's premium enterprise tier, typically priced at $57–$66/user/month. Organizations on E3 or below need to purchase Communication Compliance separately.
Comma Compliance includes supervision, policy matching, and exam-ready case management at a flat price. All channels. No add-ons.
Purview governs Exchange, Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive natively and well. For organizations whose compliance exposure lives entirely within Microsoft 365, it's a logical choice.
But financial services enforcement has concentrated on WhatsApp, iMessage, and Signal — not Exchange. Purview's connectors for those channels routed through TeleMessage, which was breached in May 2025 and remains non-functional as of 2026.
Comma Compliance captures iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal, and 30+ other channels natively, no TeleMessage dependency, no connector gap.
Book a Demo or learn more here.
Due Diligence
01
Where exactly is the message first captured — at the point of delivery, or after a backup or sync cycle?
02
What conditions must be true for a message to be captured? What happens if any of those conditions aren't met?
03
If a user edits or deletes a message before capture occurs, what version gets archived?
04
Can you show documentation — architecture diagrams, code, or an independent audit — of how your capture actually works?
05
Where are encryption keys stored, and who controls them?
06
Are all channels included in the base price, or are there per-connector fees?
07
Are there export or egress fees?
08
Does your case management workflow support regulatory examination prep?
09
Can cases be opened directly from flagged message threads?
10
Is any client data used to train your models? Under what conditions?
11
Can we adjust, refine, or contribute feedback to my policy models? (e.g., different languages, customer-complaint responses)
Also compare
[One-line description — key gap or trade-off vs. Comma.]
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