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Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense vs Fortinet FortiMail Cloud 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Secure Email Threat D...
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (26th)
Fortinet FortiMail Cloud
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Email (6th), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Messaging and Collaboration solutions, they serve different purposes. Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense is designed for Email Security and holds a mindshare of 1.1%, up 1.0% compared to last year.
Fortinet FortiMail Cloud, on the other hand, focuses on Cloud Email, holds 3.2% mindshare, up 1.9% since last year.
Email Security
Cloud Email
 

Featured Reviews

Enrique-Diaz Jolly - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides comprehensive threat protection with suggestions for modernizing controls
I use the email gateway as the core of the email exchange between the Internet and our domain. The email gateway serves as the email exchanger The product offers protection, email security, anti-spam, and antivirus. It includes threat intelligence with advanced malware protection and many…
Pravin Mandlik - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides enhanced email security with potential agent compatibility issues
There are definitely features that Fortinet should work on. I'm not the right person to implement those features. For a portable cloud solution, a customer has more affinity towards a solution where endpoint security is already in place. In endpoint security, they are not at the latest quadrant. That is why a customer with existing endpoint security solutions like Trend Micro might prefer a main security solution from that vendor. If we go for FortiMail Cloud and have a separate endpoint security solution, there are two agents that have to sit on a customer endpoint. From that perspective, Fortinet policies add an extra load to the endpoint. Maybe other solutions have an advantage when it comes to Fortinet.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This solution is easy to use."
"Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox can handle a complete portfolio, which is required to protect any kind of attack coming from emails. However, it does not have advanced phishing, but it is available through Cisco. If you compare Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox with the competition, in the competition you have to have one or two solutions together to address the customer's requirement, whereas Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox is addressing everything, such as web domain and email protection. If there is any kind of challenge it will come across through email."
"Cisco has a threat mechanism called cloud-based Talos, where all the threats are inbuilt."
"I would say it's very comprehensive, with multiple antivirus OEMs, virus encrypt features, encryption, and more."
"The solution is stable."
"On ease of use, it rates very high. It's something that I was able to get into without really looking at any documentation. I wanted to see what it felt like before I started looking at any documentation on how to use it, and it was very easy to use. It works very smoothly. The user experience is very intuitive. They did an amazing job on that."
"I highly recommend it as one of the best choices."
"The features and functionalities are much better than Microsoft's in-built Defender plan."
"It has the best feature for processed mail analysis."
"The product's initial setup is straightforward and simple, making it an easy-to-use tool."
"Cost-wise, it's a bit expensive, but it's totally worth it."
"The implementation was very professional. There are a lot of features I can get through Fortinet and FortiMail, such as security. FortiGuard is the most reliable and professional mitigation center to handle incidents and risk that I have to face."
"Overall, it is a comprehensive and reliable solution."
"The deployment is simple."
"Fortinet's support is really good."
"This is a solid email monitoring and security system that learns and maintains a two-way dialog with email system administrators."
 

Cons

"The tool gives false positives and it needs to be more accurate. I would like to see AI as a new feature."
"We encounter issues while searching for missing emails."
"Customers will benefit greatly from monthly billing because the majority of customers today use the cloud, be it Office 365, or Google Cloud."
"The search area has room for improvement. When you go to the next page, it remains at the bottom of the current page that you're on. Also, under the reports section, it allows you to see any "convictions," but if you want to search for those convictions you have to remember when they all came in and go back and edit the search accordingly. You cannot click on the list of convictions to actually see if you had a spike at a certain time."
"The behavioral analysis capability of Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense is not particularly helpful for identifying new, evolving threats within my company, as it keeps flagging legitimate emails as malicious."
"The solution is a bit expensive."
"Cisco's multiple product lines and verticals made this just one of their many verticals, and we could see a shift in focus."
"Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox can improve by adding advanced phishing, then the solution would become the best in the market. However, this could increase the price even more. Additionally, if CES with domain protection could be added it would be an even better solution."
"Fortimail Cloud should include more advanced AI features that can analyze every traffic type."
"They could look at strengthening anti-spam with the newly observed domains."
"I would like to see more advanced sandbox features, where you can actually download to a machine where you can test."
"It is slightly difficult to configure FortiMail in the cloud with Exchange on-premise, especially the quarantine mailbox access for end-users."
"This ease of use and user-friendliness is something we believe could be improved in FortiMail."
"Its GUI needs improvement."
"The URL filtering and handling should be enhanced because it doesn't support all languages. I believe that this would be easy to enhance in the future."
"The customer service and technical support from Fortinet could improve. While they rate between seven and eight, reaching support can sometimes be challenging and time-consuming."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive compared to other vendors."
"The solution’s pricing is manageable."
"The feedback from vendors and customer is that it is expensive."
"Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox does not have any competition with Sophos, Trend Micro, or other vendors of the world. However, there is a pricing premium for the solution. One has to look at it from that angle that while they are buying Cisco, there will be a premium, and Cisco justifies that premium value. That's why they're charging a high price."
"I rate the price of Fortinet FortiMail Cloud a five on a one to ten scale, where one is the low price, and ten is the high price. It is an averagely priced product."
"The product's price is reasonable."
"The price of this solution could be more competitive."
"When we're talking about pricing, other products have about the same price. That is normal."
"The licensing is for three years. In the beginning, we did not pay monthly, it was paid once for three years."
"You only have to purchase one license for multiple participants."
"The pricing depends on various factors, including the type of licenses and subscriptions you have procured"
"It should cost around $60,000. We bought it as a bundle, so everything comes together in the license. That is standard."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
23%
Healthcare Company
8%
Government
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
10%
University
7%
Non Profit
6%
Hospitality Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Secure Email Threat Defense?
The pricing for Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense is relatively high. For an organization that already has the legacy system, it makes sense to continue hosting it. However, new organizations might...
What needs improvement with Secure Email Threat Defense?
Modernization is an area that could be improved for Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense, as some features have lagged behind newer competitors, potentially offering more advanced analysis capabilitie...
What is your primary use case for Secure Email Threat Defense?
The main use case for Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense is as a gateway for email traffic into and out of the organization. It serves as the primary conduit for emails, providing content filtering,...
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiMail Cloud?
Content disarming and analysis are essential features in our email security setup
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiMail Cloud?
The price of Fortinet FortiMail Cloud in Egypt is very competitive against other products, including the setup cost and licensing of this solution.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiMail Cloud?
The improvement in Fortinet FortiMail Cloud can be made regarding the classification process itself because it has some false positives.
 

Also Known As

Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox, Cisco CMD, Cisco Cloud Mailbox Defense
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Luiss University, Lone Star College, T-Systems, Magyar Telekom
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense vs. Fortinet FortiMail Cloud and other solutions. Updated: January 2024.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.