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Cisco Secure Email vs Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway vs Fortinet FortiMail 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
6.4
Cisco Secure Email enhances ROI with robust security, reducing disruptions and downtime from cyber threats, despite perceived high costs.
Sentiment score
5.8
Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway provides significant ROI, enhancing security while reducing hardware and staffing needs for organizations.
Sentiment score
7.1
Fortinet FortiMail enhances email safety, reduces costs, and improves efficiency, earning user trust with its cost-effective features.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.3
Cisco Secure Email support is praised for its responsiveness and expertise, though experiences can vary based on assigned engineers.
Sentiment score
6.3
Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway's support varies in responsiveness and expertise, with premium options offering quicker service but higher costs.
Sentiment score
6.3
Fortinet FortiMail's technical support is highly rated for quick, expert assistance, though some entry-level issues exist.
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.
There are instances where both the response time and technical support quality need improvement.
I have direct communication with Kenyan system engineers and local support in Ethiopia, enabling good support.
Fortinet's technical support offers high-quality support.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
Cisco Secure Email provides scalable solutions for seamless user migration and system growth, with reliable cloud service options.
Sentiment score
7.2
Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is scalable and flexible but may require adjustments for optimal performance in larger implementations.
Sentiment score
7.2
Fortinet FortiMail is scalable, effective for medium to enterprise businesses, but faces hardware and licensing limitations.
The on-premises hardware is not very scalable, but switching to the SaaS offering is expected to improve scalability.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Cisco Secure Email is praised for reliability, consistent performance, easy maintenance, and high user satisfaction with stable uptime.
Sentiment score
7.1
Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is stable with high ratings, minor latency, and occasional outages affecting stability perceptions.
Sentiment score
8.3
Fortinet FortiMail is stable and reliable, offering strong performance, seamless integration, and high user satisfaction with minimal issues.
Based on my experience, the stability of Cisco Secure Email is very strong.
This stability is consistent across Fortinet products, including FortiGate firewall.
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Secure Email's high cost, complexity, poor interface, and limited integration impact usability, requiring AI and service enhancements.
Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway requires improvements in authentication, malware filtering, feature integration, support, and new technology adoption.
Fortinet FortiMail requires improvements in management, cost, integration, reporting, setup, documentation, content security, and user interface.
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.
They need to enhance their CASB solutions since currently, the cloud index support is low compared to competitors.
The transition from on-premises devices to virtual appliances may be necessary as more organizations migrate email services to the cloud.
Providing comprehensive documentation on how to deploy and configure would improve the solution.
The area that could use some improvement in Fortinet FortiMail is the integration process.
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Secure Email is priced higher, but users find its extensive features and security benefits justify the cost.
Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is competitively priced, yet some find it less affordable than alternatives due to feature costs.
Fortinet FortiMail pricing is capacity-based, seen as cost-effective by some, yet expensive due to features and stability.
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.
It's really expensive.
Fortinet FortiMail is considered overpriced by Indian rupee standards.
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Secure Email provides comprehensive threat management with advanced filtering, intuitive management, and seamless integration, enhancing email security effectively.
Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway provides robust security with easy setup, customization, and centralized management for secure web access and monitoring.
Fortinet FortiMail offers user-friendly, scalable email security with anti-spam, antivirus, phishing protection, and seamless Fortinet product integration.
It is highly effective in catching phishing and spam emails.
It also possesses multiple modules for spam detection, malware detection, and threat intelligence, which are valuable in categorizing emails and determining actions.
It covers everything through email, like antivirus, IDS, and IPS.
As organizations move away from legacy applications and data centers, the SASE architecture and ZTNA-based operations become essential.
Its threat detection capabilities have been beneficial.
Fortinet FortiMail offers capabilities like settings for mail delivery, mail filtering, spam controls, and email bursting prevention.
The most valuable features are Fortinet FortiMail's ability to protect from advanced features of email-based attacks, including protection against ransomware and malware attacks.
 

Mindshare comparison

Email Security
Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

PaulGiles - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides good visibility into the traffic, valuable reporting, and secure remote access
A lot of our customers use another Cisco product already, so they have confidence in Cisco products. The firewalls they are currently deploying and using have evolved from their older ASA products. They are now moving to the new Firepower Threat Defense, which incorporates many more features and allows them to get the latest ALOFT download and feeds for any security vulnerabilities and they're able to react very quickly to any vulnerabilities that have been highlighted. Initially, when the firewalls were first marketed and came onto the market, the visibility wasn't very good. But as the software evolved over time, that visibility has increased a lot more, and that is giving customers a lot more competence in the traffic and the traffic flows that they're seeing through the actual devices, so they can better understand the types of applications that they have on their network. The good thing about the actual firewall itself is that it can integrate with other Cisco products, such as Cisco ISE so that it allows full end-to-end visibility of connectivity. It gives very good visibility. It's that integration with other products, not just what that individual firewall can do itself. Talos is obviously fundamental to the actual firewall, reporting on vulnerabilities that are happening day to day. And the regular downloads, obviously, give customers confidence that their products are as secure as they can actually be.
AhmedHawana - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient user access control enhances productivity and browsing experience
Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is mainly used to prevent employees from accessing certain sites and allow others to access specific websites. Based on Forcepoint's insights, we block some sites for classification purposes. It efficiently categorizes which sites should not be accessed during work hours. Additionally, Forcepoint does not affect traffic flow, ensuring a smooth browsing experience.
MOHAN SUKUMAR - PeerSpot reviewer
Secure email management improves through advanced filtering and dynamic virus scanning
Fortinet FortiMail offers capabilities like settings for mail delivery, mail filtering, spam controls, and email bursting prevention. It also allows for email forwarding, dynamic filtering, and scanning based on virus signatures. I can set varying levels of security. The tool is flexible and provides essential features for mail security and management.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
21%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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 ...
What do you like most about Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway?
The product's user management is an area where my company does not face any challenges.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway?
The price for Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is normal, rated around five to six out of ten.
What needs improvement with Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway?
Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway ( /products/forcepoint-secure-web-gateway-reviews ) could be improved by offering a Saa...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiMail?
Fortinet FortiMail is considered overpriced by Indian rupee standards. My organization is not profit-making, and acad...
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiMail?
It can be somewhat difficult to prepare precise or very deep rules to improve security, though the product is very good.
 

Also Known As

Cisco Email Security, IronPort, Cisco Email Security, ESA, Email Security Appliances
Forcepoint SWG, Websense Web Security, Forcepoint TRITON
FortiMail
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

SUNY Old Westbury, CoxHealth, City of Fullerton, Indra
Adventist Health, Alphawest, Amadori, Anoka County, Compartamos Banco, Davies Turner, EverBank, iGATE, Karlstad Municipality, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Scavolini, Smurfit Kappa, Toyota
Magromer Cueros y Pieles S.A.
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Proofpoint, Abnormal Security and others in Email Security. Updated: July 2025.
864,574 professionals have used our research since 2012.