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Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense vs SonicWall Email Security comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 3, 2024

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...
Ranking in Email Security
23rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SonicWall Email Security
Ranking in Email Security
26th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense is 1.1%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall Email Security is 0.8%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense1.1%
SonicWall Email Security0.8%
Other98.1%
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

GC
Senior Cybersecurity Engineer at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
Provides robust email security features but requires improved modernization and complexity management
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 capabilities. The initial setup is not straightforward and requires expertise and time to master configurations such as spoofing and DLP. More control over backend functionalities and simplifying rule management could enhance user experience. The product's complexity at times results in redundant rule sets that are difficult to untangle, highlighting the need for streamlined management systems and a more user-centric approach to system configuration. Furthermore, the pricing might deter new users who could opt for alternative, more cost-effective solutions.
Swapnil Kulkarni - PeerSpot reviewer
System Administrator at Ador Powertron Ltd.
Has consistently supported security needs for mid-sized teams with affordable deployment
I do not work with Cloud Secure Edge, CSE, or SMA apart from SonicWall NSA. I am not satisfied with phishing protection, as it falls completely under the email domain security. The customizable policy configuration does not help to tailor email security overall because our systems are not integrated with SonicWall Email Security. We are not using reporting and analytics because it requires completely different software. While all required features are available in SonicWall Email Security for SMBs and startups, we lack analytics features. They provide an option to purchase a complete separate product for analytics, but despite initially having purchased the paper license, due to technical limitations or changes, we cannot use that product. Now they require additional fees to access the analytics feature.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I highly recommend it as one of the best choices."
"Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense's best features include user management of graymail, enhancing security awareness by allowing users to manage cold calls, sales-based items, and ensuring email compliance."
"I would say it's very comprehensive, with multiple antivirus OEMs, virus encrypt features, encryption, and more."
"The ability to see east-west traffic is its most valuable feature. Traditionally, email defense focuses on north-south, inbound-outbound, egress-ingress traffic. With Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox, it's able to quickly identify, track, tag, and categorize emails that are internal. That can typically give us visibility into if there's an internal compromised account (for example). Someone can then use that internal compromised account to email additional accounts with either malicious software or links, but internal within that Office tenant. Effectively, that email message never leaves the tenant. Any of the mail gateways really do not have any method or way of seeing this traffic since it's not leaving the environment."
"This solution is easy to use."
"It has an efficient email filtering feature."
"Cisco has a threat mechanism called cloud-based Talos, where all the threats are inbuilt."
"The features and functionalities are much better than Microsoft's in-built Defender plan, and this product has helped us to protect our organization from any malware attack in the past."
"The product is easy to manage in terms of configurations."
"It is a very scalable solution."
"There are no wasted extras and the interface is really simple."
"SonicWall Email Security has benefited the company by preventing attacks, protecting us from threats such as ransomware and phishing, and notifying the IT team when phishing emails have been blocked."
"The most valuable feature is that it protects from spam."
"Setup was easy. It took about 30 minutes."
"Behind the reason we chose SonicWall for my company is it has excellent packet analysis of normal and SSL encrypted traffic, application intelligence visualization and control, multiple Gigabit Ethernet LAN and WAN ports, flexible configuration and redundancy options."
"The most valuable features are the anti-spam, anti-phishing, anti-virus, and anti-spoofing."
 

Cons

"The tool gives false positives and it needs to be more accurate. I would like to see AI as a new feature."
"Cisco's multiple product lines and verticals made this just one of their many verticals, and we could see a shift in focus."
"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."
"From a technical point of view, Cisco is far behind in terms of cybersecurity, and it has to improve very much."
"The product's complexity at times results in redundant rule sets that are difficult to untangle, highlighting the need for streamlined management systems and a more user-centric approach to system configuration."
"The pricing could always be better."
"There is still room for improvement in terms of integrations with other Cisco tools and non-Cisco tools. There is also some room for improvement needed in terms of the reporting."
"The physical appliance has been discontinued, although the platform still exists."
"I am not satisfied with phishing protection, as it falls completely under the email domain security."
"The platform's control panel needs enhancement."
"They should integrate the solution with third-party platforms."
"The reporting needs improvement."
"The pricing could be improved."
"The after-sale support needs improvement. They don't have representation in my country."
"Other than that, really I think the features are perfect, but attachment controls are so important it hurts the usability of the product."
"Overall, this is a solution that provides good security but at a very high cost."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive compared to other vendors."
"The feedback from vendors and customer is that it is expensive."
"The solution’s pricing is manageable."
"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."
"Our customers purchase the solution's yearly license."
"The overall price of SonicWall Email Security should be reduced and there should be an option to purchase one or two licenses more instead of their current policy of bulk increases only. There should be more flexibility in the licensing model. Each license cost approximately $33 annually."
"I rate the application’s pricing a five out of ten."
"When compared with Cisco, it is very well priced. Cisco is very expensive."
"We have a two-year license subscription and the price is very high."
"The cost is cheaper than Sophos. I would rate it as five out of ten."
"The platform offers a yearly license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Marketing Services Firm
11%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Healthcare Company
8%
Construction Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Marketing Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Secure Email Threat Defense?
Comparatively with other products, the pricing of Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense is normal. As a technical guide, I am not very aware of the pricing details.
What needs improvement with Secure Email Threat Defense?
We have deployed Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense in two customer environments. It is still in development as a new product. Some customer requirements, such as sending logs to a Syslog server, ar...
What is your primary use case for Secure Email Threat Defense?
We are working with Cloud Mail Gateway and on-premise mail gateways. We have worked with Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense.
What needs improvement with SonicWall Email Security?
Policy deployment could be time consuming and represents an area for improvement in SonicWall Email Security.
What is your primary use case for SonicWall Email Security?
SonicWall Email Security was used for security purposes, which aligns with the product's core function.
 

Also Known As

Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox, Cisco CMD, Cisco Cloud Mailbox Defense
Dell SonicWALL Email Security Platform, SonicWall Hosted Email Security
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Luiss University, Lone Star College, T-Systems, Magyar Telekom
Star Kay White, Locala Community Partnerships
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense vs. SonicWall Email Security and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,630 professionals have used our research since 2012.