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Cisco Secure Email vs Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense comparison

Why PeerSpot?
Cisco Secure Email and Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense are both solutions in the Email Security category. Cisco Secure Email is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.3, while Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense is ranked #22 with an average rating of 7.3. Cisco Secure Email holds a 4.7% mindshare in Email Security, compared to Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense’s 1.1% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Cisco Secure Email users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense users who would recommend it.
Cisco Secure Email
Read 63 Cisco Secure Email reviews
  • 14,503 Views
  • 12,763 Comparison Views
93% willing to recommend
Cisco Secure Email Threat D...
Read 16 Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense reviews
  • 2,890 Views
  • 2,890 Comparison Views
93% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 3, 2024

Cisco Secure Email and Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense provide advanced email security solutions. Cisco Secure Email is highlighted for its broad adaptability through numerous features, giving it a competitive edge in feature customization and management flexibility, whereas Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense excels in integrating with broader security ecosystems and offering advanced threat detection.

Features: Cisco Secure Email includes robust anti-spam measures, malware protection, and thorough integration with security protocols such as DKIM, DMARC, and AMP. It facilitates easy management and email customization, significantly reducing spam and improving filtering through Talos intelligence. Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense focuses on cloud-based threat intelligence and endpoint security integration with capabilities like Threat Grid and AMP that help identify and counteract malicious email threats proactively.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Secure Email requires better integration with third-party reporting tools and enhancements in CLI management. Users have noted challenges with rule-setting, desiring user interface improvements and better hardware reliability. Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense could enhance its collaboration with other tools, improve intuitive reporting, and develop a smarter search function. Both products would benefit from better phishing protection and additional sandboxing, along with cost reductions for broader accessibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Secure Email offers versatile deployment options, supporting on-premises, cloud, and hybrid configurations, with seamless setup praised by users alongside reliable technical support. Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense is optimized for private, hybrid, and public cloud deployments, which can limit on-premises flexibility. Both products are supported by strong service teams, but users appreciate Cisco Secure Email's flexible deployment and satisfaction with customer support.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Secure Email's pricing reflects its comprehensive features with costs varying by user numbers, though customers consider it worthwhile for its significant ROI in security and reduced email issues. Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense is seen as high-priced due to its premium features and support but is also viewed as a worthwhile investment for security and business continuity benefits. Potential users should balance premium costs with the specific benefits needed.

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To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Secure Email vs. Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense Report (Updated: November 2026).
Buyer's Guide
Cisco Secure Email vs. Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense
November 2026
Download the complete report
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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
Ranking in Email Security
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
63
Ranking in other categories
Cisco Security Portfolio (6th)
Cisco Secure Email Threat D...
Ranking in Email Security
22nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Cisco Secure Email is 4.7%, down from 5.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense is 1.1%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Secure Email4.7%
Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense1.1%
Other94.2%
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

KS
Karthik Sathivel
Technical Associate Network Security at Valuepoint Systems
Email security has protected financial data and provides clear tracking for every branch message
The areas of Cisco Secure Email that could be improved or enhanced are the slowness in the console. I don't think it was a database error or something, but we feel some slowness in configuring DLP and other content filters compared to other consoles. It may have been due to on-premises, but it was much noisy at some times while configuring DLP. When we tried to configure a DLP policy, the console became much slower. In that case, we cannot see what had happened in the mail which was blocked at that time. It may take nearly an hour to get back to normal while configuring policies. That is the major issue in the product.
Read full review
GC
Glenn-Camilien
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.
Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is very configurable. It has enabled us to configure some specific filters to stop emails that general configurations didn't stop. It's a powerful solution. It can analyze a lot of emails simultaneously, with no problems of capacity or system load."
"Cisco Secure Email is part of Cisco's extensive efforts and investments in technology, especially in the realm of cyber security. The product is one among many security solutions offered by Cisco."
"My favorite feature of Cisco Secure Email is the threat intelligence capabilities, particularly its integration with Cisco Talos."
"It has the ability to tell us, after an email has been delivered, where else it went, once it got inside. Maybe it's something we wanted it to stop and it didn't stop it, but it notified us later that it was something that it should have stopped. It can give us a trajectory of all the other places that it went internally and it can tell us what files were transferred as well."
"The most valuable features are Advanced Malware Protection, URL filtering, and of course Reputation Filtering."
"It provides good IT assistance."
"Comparing Microsoft Defender and Cisco's Email Secure service, partners have noted that while Microsoft Defender offers email security, the tool's additional layer of protection provides further defense against threats like spam and phishing emails."
"It's flexible. There are a lot of rules and policies that can be easily applied for certain employees or certain mailboxes."
More Cisco Secure Email pros
"I would say it's very comprehensive, with multiple antivirus OEMs, virus encrypt features, encryption, and more."
"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."
"Cisco Cloud Mailbox is used for copying emails, anti-spamming, and securing the company's email, and we really enjoy the anti-spamming capabilities as well as the rejecting of bulk emails, which we can customize by adjusting the variables, and it is very user-friendly."
"This solution is easy to use."
"Overall, it's certainly a very good idea to integrate another layer on top of Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection."
"Secure Email Threat Defense's scalability is good."
"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."
"It has an efficient email filtering feature."
More Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense pros
 

Cons

"There are some concerns in the way the architecture is set up, making it an area where improvements are required."
"Don't neglect that because if you just try to rely on Cisco support you're going to notice pretty consistent slowdowns."
"The configuration UI should be made more intuitive. Currently, it takes a while to understand how to do the basic configurations."
"Scalability has certain shortcomings and needs to be improved because there are service providers who provide better scalability.v"
"In future releases, I would like to see two main improvements come to mind. First, the current solution requires maintaining two separate operating systems for FTD, which can be cumbersome. I'd love to see a single operating system for the FTD box."
"The interface is dated. It has looked pretty much the same for 15 years or so."
"The hardware is not up to the mark. Two to three times a year we have complete downtime."
"If you are not a technical guy, it is hard to maneuver, but as soon as you work on it, it gets better and better. If there was a better way to know how to do things or how to find things, it would be good."
More Cisco Secure Email cons
"Customers will benefit greatly from monthly billing because the majority of customers today use the cloud, be it Office 365, or Google Cloud."
"The solution is a bit expensive. It could be cheaper."
"The search area has room for improvement."
"We encounter issues while searching for missing emails."
"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."
"This solution could be improved by integration with Sandbox."
"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 tool gives false positives and it needs to be more accurate. I would like to see AI as a new feature."
More Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing depends on your environment and which model you want to buy."
"I rate the product price as six on a scale of one to ten, where one means it is a very expensive tool."
"The license was not per user, the license model was per feature. You could choose anti-virus, anti-spam, etc. It was feature-based and charged yearly."
"Cisco Secure Email is more expensive than other products. I rate it a five out of ten. There are no additional costs. You only need to pay the subscription amounts."
"We do annual licensing for Cisco Secure Email Gatewayand SMA together, and possibly SmartNet support. Packaged together, the cost is just under $38,000."
"In my previous organization, avoiding four instances of CryptoLocker within an estimated six month period is approximately $600,000 in lost time and effort. Our five year cost was about a million dollars, and the four outages that we had equated to 65 percent of that five year cost."
"There were no other costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"It is a super big router that costs a few hundred thousand dollars."
More Cisco Secure Email pricing and cost advice
"It is expensive compared to other vendors."
"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."
"The feedback from vendors and customer is that it is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Marketing Services Firm
11%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business22
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise27
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

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.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Cisco Secure Email?
The areas of Cisco Secure Email that could be improved or enhanced are the slowness in the console. I don't think it was a database error or something, but we feel some slowness in configuring DLP ...
See all answers
What is your primary use case for Cisco Secure Email?
We are using Cisco Secure Email to monitor the outgoing and incoming mail traffic in our financial institute. We have nearly 900 branches all over India. We have an on-premises mail server in which...
See all answers
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.
See all answers
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...
See all answers
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.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

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Compared 33% of the time
Check Point Anti-Spam and Email Security Software Blade vs Cisco Secure Email Logo
Check Point Anti-Spam and Email Security Software Blade vs Cisco Secure Email
Compared 6% of the time
Proofpoint Email Protection vs Cisco Secure Email Logo
Proofpoint Email Protection vs Cisco Secure Email
Compared 5% of the time
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Cisco Secure Email Logo
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Cisco Secure Email
Compared 4% of the time
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) vs Cisco Secure Email Logo
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) vs Cisco Secure Email
Compared 2% of the time
More Cisco Secure Email Competitors
Check Point Anti-Spam and Email Security Software Blade vs Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense Logo
Check Point Anti-Spam and Email Security Software Blade vs Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense
Compared 18% of the time
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense Logo
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense
Compared 14% of the time
Kiteworks vs Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense Logo
Kiteworks vs Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense
Compared 10% of the time
Comodo Secure Email Gateway vs Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense Logo
Comodo Secure Email Gateway vs Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense
Compared 8% of the time
Proofpoint Email Protection vs Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense Logo
Proofpoint Email Protection vs Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense
Compared 5% of the time
More Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Cisco Secure Email
November 2026
Cisco Secure Email reportDownload Cisco Secure Email product report
Buyer's Guide
Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense
November 2026
Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense reportDownload Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense product report
 

Also Known As

Cisco Email Security, IronPort, Cisco Email Security, ESA, Email Security Appliances
Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox, Cisco CMD, Cisco Cloud Mailbox Defense
 

Overview

Cisco Secure Email safeguards email communications with advanced threat prevention, spam, and malware filtering empowered by Talos intelligence. It integrates seamlessly with Cisco products and offers diagnostic tools for efficient email management across on-premises, cloud, or hybrid environments.

Cisco Secure Email serves as a robust email gateway for both incoming and outgoing traffic, providing comprehensive protection against spam, phishing, and malware threats. With customizable policies and enhanced threat intelligence, it helps in managing email integrity while integrating efficiently with firewalls and Exchange Servers. Whether deployed on-premises, in the cloud, or as a hybrid, it maintains high-performance security without degrading system performance. Despite these strengths, improvements in user experience, integration with third-party tools, and better licensing terms are needed, alongside enhancements in tech support and documentation.

What are key features of Cisco Secure Email?
  • Talos-Powered Intelligence: Reputation filtering enhanced by Talos intelligence for accurate threat detection.
  • Customizable Policies: Flexible rule creation for tailored email security management.
  • Threat Prevention: Protects against phishing, ransomware, and spam with minimal impact on performance.
  • Integration Capabilities: Seamless integration with other Cisco solutions.
  • Diagnostics: Provides detailed logging for efficient troubleshooting.
What benefits should users consider in Cisco Secure Email?
  • Enhanced Security Posture: Improved email protection through advanced filtering and threat intelligence.
  • Efficient Management: Streamlined email handling and security policy management.
  • Integration Efficiency: Smooth compatibility with Cisco products and firewall integration.
  • Deployment Flexibility: Options for on-premises, cloud, or hybrid deployments.

Cisco Secure Email is widely implemented across industries to protect vital email communications. Financial institutions use it to secure sensitive client data, while healthcare organizations deploy it to maintain patient confidentiality. Educational institutions rely on its capability to avert phishing attacks and safeguard student and faculty information. In sectors like manufacturing, it ensures secure and uninterrupted communication flow across global operations.

Cisco

Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense offers robust email security with features like east-west traffic visibility and seamless SaaS deployment. It enhances cloud email protection by integrating Threat Grid sandboxing and AMP for malware defense, supported by Cisco Talos threat intelligence.

Enhancing email security for Microsoft 365 and cloud emails, Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense acts as an email gateway, blocking phishing, malware, and business email compromise. Users benefit from a centralized management console, efficient graymail administration, and strong filtering capabilities. Despite its strengths, it requires improvements in integration, spam detection accuracy, and enhances phishing protection.

What are the most important features of Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense?
  • East-West Traffic Visibility: Offers insight into email tenant interactions.
  • SaaS Application Deployment: Simplifies deployment processes.
  • Threat Grid Sandboxing: Provides advanced malware protection.
  • AMP Integration: Enhances malware defense capabilities.
  • Anti-Spam and Antivirus: Powered by Cisco Talos threat intelligence.
  • Cloud Mailbox Features: Includes robust email filtering and management.
What benefits or ROI should be evaluated in reviews?
  • Enhanced Security: Provides protection against advanced threats.
  • Operational Efficiency: Reduces reliance on help desk services.
  • User-Friendly Management: Streamlines email administration tasks.
  • Improved Email Filtering: Ensures effective threat blocking.

Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense is highly applicable in industries requiring stringent data protection, such as finance and healthcare. It serves cloud-based environments by closely monitoring email activity to prevent unauthorized access and breaches. Tailored deployment options cater to both on-premise and cloud architectures, allowing flexible integration in existing workflows.

Cisco
 

Sample Customers

SUNY Old Westbury, CoxHealth, City of Fullerton, Indra
Luiss University, Lone Star College, T-Systems, Magyar Telekom
Buyer's Guide
Cisco Secure Email vs. Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense
November 2026
Free Report: Cisco Secure Email vs. Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Email vs. Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
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