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Cisco Duo vs Cisco Secure Email comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.4
Cisco Duo enhances security, boosts staff morale, saves costs, and improves operations, despite perceived productivity impacts.
Sentiment score
6.4
Cisco Secure Email enhances ROI with robust security, reducing disruptions and downtime from cyber threats, despite perceived high costs.
I think Cisco Duo offers a good return on investment for startups, newer organizations, or those utilizing cloud-based applications.
I have not seen ROI with Cisco Duo; probably the opposite, because it impedes productivity time to be able to get into the system.
From my point of view, the biggest return on investment when using Cisco Duo is the security and the ease of setting it up.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.5
Cisco Duo's support is highly rated for expertise and solutions, but some users note delays and improvement needs.
Sentiment score
7.3
Cisco Secure Email support is praised for its responsiveness and expertise, though experiences can vary based on assigned engineers.
They got back to us quickly, were nice, and gave us what we needed.
Other support sections have failed miserably because of the lack of response time.
I would rate the technical service and customer support of Cisco Duo a ten out of ten.
Cisco's tech support can be hit or miss, depending on the engineer you get.
The support is pretty decent, with a rating of eight out of ten.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Cisco Duo is scalable, easily integrates across sites, and supports thousands of users without disruptions, adapting to various applications.
Sentiment score
7.2
Cisco Secure Email provides scalable solutions for seamless user migration and system growth, with reliable cloud service options.
I believe Cisco Duo is very scalable because it is cloud-based.
We started out with just the basics, getting a token, and then we changed to push, and now, we have added the offline mode.
It scales easily because it is just tied into our identity provider, and it grows along with that.
The on-premises hardware is not very scalable, but switching to the SaaS offering is expected to improve scalability.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
Cisco Duo is highly stable and reliable, with minimal downtime and quick issue resolution, maintaining productivity efficiently.
Sentiment score
8.0
Cisco Secure Email is praised for reliability, consistent performance, easy maintenance, and high user satisfaction with stable uptime.
When there is a bigger problem, we get notifications from Cisco Duo saying, 'Hey, we have a problem,' and that has helped us.
It is very reliable, easy to use, and I don't have too many issues with it.
There has been no downtime, crashes, or performance issues with Cisco Duo.
Based on my experience, the stability of Cisco Secure Email is very strong.
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Duo needs telephony credit, integration, deployment, and user interface improvements, plus better licensing, documentation, and older app compatibility.
Cisco Secure Email's high cost, complexity, poor interface, and limited integration impact usability, requiring AI and service enhancements.
Cisco should allow easier integration with third-party equipment because Cisco's own equipment is expensive.
There needs to be consideration for how to launch Cisco Duo with a handheld device that is not native, where you can install the application.
There has to be a way to make the whole process of push notifications easier, so that when I have my phone with me, I do not have to do anything.
The solution should better analyze the actual content rather than only focusing on the email header or origin.
It would be beneficial to have the functionality of the Email Threat Defense integrated into the Email Security Gateway so customers don't have to buy two products for full email protection.
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Duo's pricing is competitive, flexible, straightforward, and suited for large enterprises, with premium support and moderate setup costs.
Cisco Secure Email is priced higher, but users find its extensive features and security benefits justify the cost.
The approximate cost is around eighty dollars per user.
Licensing is straightforward and convenient for higher education because student populations are included.
I am pleased that the prices remained stable after Cisco acquired the solution.
Its cost is bundled with other Cisco products.
The licensing is a mess and needs sorting out.
The pricing structure is good as it is user-based or email client-based, which is positive for clients.
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Duo is praised for its versatile multi-factor authentication, integration, user-friendly interface, and adaptability to hybrid environments.
Cisco Secure Email provides comprehensive threat management with advanced filtering, intuitive management, and seamless integration, enhancing email security effectively.
From a management perspective, I appreciate that we can enroll or control devices on the back end for people who get a new phone and forget to handle Cisco Duo properly and need to add a new device.
The benefit of having a complete passwordless environment in our organization is that it's gotten people away from using the sticky note under their keyboard - which is a huge problem.
A valuable feature of the solution is its hybrid structure, which involves proxy agents running on-premises while other services are on the cloud.
It also possesses multiple modules for spam detection, malware detection, and threat intelligence, which are valuable in categorizing emails and determining actions.
It is highly effective in catching phishing and spam emails.
It covers everything through email, like antivirus, IDS, and IPS.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Duo
Ranking in Cisco Security Portfolio
4th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.9
Number of Reviews
74
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (4th), Authentication Systems (2nd), ZTNA as a Service (6th), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (2nd)
Cisco Secure Email
Ranking in Cisco Security Portfolio
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Cisco Security Portfolio category, the mindshare of Cisco Duo is 7.4%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Email is 2.0%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cisco Security Portfolio
 

Featured Reviews

Thomas Botts - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing security policies effectively with seamless authentication
The feature of Cisco Duo that I prefer the most is the policies, being able to control what we need to within the policies. You can get pretty granular. There isn't a lot of training that goes on in school districts. Email is an easy way where many people give out their credentials, so the level of protection is something that we definitely need in a school district. Cisco Duo's strong security authentication system has been easy when logging in, although the teachers don't appreciate it as much. We have it configured so users essentially just hit accept. If it sees any sort of built-in risk, then it steps up authentication. It's pretty easy. I appreciate it. I've encountered advantages with Cisco Duo in that it has stopped significant pushback from teachers. It has prevented credential sharing and unauthorized access. We've seen a huge decrease since we've rolled it out across the entire district.
Kostas Karidas - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps prevent security breaches but fails to improve in the area of AI
I have not noticed any impressive advanced threat protection mechanisms in the tool. I don't know if there are any AI features in the product. I don't know if there is any other technology embedded in the solution. Cisco Secure Email successfully mitigated potential email threats. My company has seen plenty of scenarios where Cisco Secure Email successfully mitigated potential email threats, spam emails, and fraudulent domains. The product is good for dealing with spam emails, and it can take care of more than 100 spam emails per day. A huge number of spam emails are monitored with the help of Cisco Secure Email. I would not recommend the product to other businesses because you need to have some kind of expertise in configuring and knowing a bit about the tool's GUI. The tool also lacks in the area of AI mechanics. If I would like to have an overview and review another solution, I would go for another product other than Cisco Secure Email. I can definitely suggest others to look at the product and review it, but I would also recommend that they compare it with the other solutions in the market. I wouldn't prioritize Cisco Secure Email over other tools. Either the support partner of the product or I take care of the tool's maintenance phase by looking into the configurations and doing some fine-tuning. I rate the tool a seven to eight out of ten.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
20%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does Duo Security compare with Microsoft Authenticator?
We switched to Duo Security for identity verification. We’d been using a competitor but got the chance to evaluate Duo for 30 days, and we could not be happier. Duo Security is easy to configure a...
What do you like most about Duo Security?
They are users who, as mentioned before, utilize RDPAP and MDPAP. It includes functionalities related to finance, specifically in single sign-on.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Duo Security?
My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of Cisco Duo is honestly above my pay grade. I don't know any of that.
What do you like most about Cisco Secure Email?
Cisco Secure Email is a budget-friendly solution.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Email?
The pricing structure is good as it is user-based or email client-based, which is positive for clients.
What needs improvement with Cisco Secure Email?
The user interface of the Email Security Gateway ( /products/security-gateway-reviews ) should be improved. It would be beneficial to have the functionality of the Email Threat Defense integrated i...
 

Also Known As

Duo Security
Cisco Email Security, IronPort, Cisco Email Security, ESA, Email Security Appliances
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
SUNY Old Westbury, CoxHealth, City of Fullerton, Indra
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Duo vs. Cisco Secure Email and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.