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Cisco Secure Email vs Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector comparison

 

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
Ranking in Email Security
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
Cisco Security Portfolio (7th)
Trend Micro Deep Discovery ...
Ranking in Email Security
20th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Cisco Secure Email is 6.1%, down from 8.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector is 0.5%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Bilal Saleem - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliability and threat intelligence make this solution competitive, but AI improvements can further enhance its effectiveness
The best features of Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector include its reliability. The second valuable feature is its built-in sandbox feature, allowing for inspection of incoming emails and attachments. The sandbox is an appliance that opens any attachment in an enclosed environment to assess its impact and potential for viruses. This protects the network from harmful threats. Trend Micro has a very large R&D team with excellent threat intel, allowing them to provide better solutions than some competitors. They understand emerging threats based on the information from their EDR. The key strengths can be summarized as reliability, a good integrated one-box solution that includes a sandbox, and their R&D capabilities and good ratings, which lead to better threat intelligence. The detailed threat intelligence provided by Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector is valuable in understanding the behavior and tactics of potential email threats.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features are protection against ransomware and spam."
"It's flexible. There are a lot of rules and policies that can be easily applied for certain employees or certain mailboxes."
"The technical support from Cisco is perfect."
"The added value of it is that every migration to a new version is initiated by the Cisco version itself, so that is a bunch of work that you don't have to do on the Cisco ESA system on-premise. As it becomes a safe platform, you don't need to invest anything in your own data center or in your upgrade path."
"It does a great job of preventing spam, malware, and ransomware. I can only go by what people have told me and what I've seen, but I have not seen spam in a year and a half to two years in my own company mailbox. And there are not a lot of catches where it's catching something that should have gotten through, either."
"The tool's most valuable feature in preventing security breaches revolves around the area of malware protection that the product provides."
"We like the in-built features, like the email filtering based on the IP and domain. Cisco has its own blacklisted domains and IPs, which is very good. This filters around 70 percent of emails from spam, and we are seeing fewer false positives with this."
"The tool has a DLP solution which we can implement. Its database is updated regularly."
"The best features of Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector include its reliability."
"I would rate the solution's stability at ten out of ten."
"Trend Micro is a very good product."
"I highly recommend Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector due to its security and scalability features."
"It can effectively monitor outbound and inbound devices."
"The most valuable feature of Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector is the simple analysis of phishing emails."
"I like that it is very user-friendly and easy to install."
"The solution's most valuable features include visibility into the network and fast sandboxing technology for alerts, though response time can vary."
 

Cons

"The interface is dated. It has looked pretty much the same for 15 years or so. It would be helpful to be able to do everything from one spot. The centralized quarantine and reporting are completely separate from policy administration."
"Licensing is quite complicated for a number of customers, including ourselves."
"The Forged Email Detection feature needs improvement, particularly with domain. The sensors are not that good and the rules sets are unclear."
"Many smaller businesses opt for more cost-effective solutions, such as Gmail or Hotmail accounts, instead of investing in Cisco Secure Email, given its higher cost."
"The management features of the product are not up to date."
"My opinion on the licensing of this solution is that it is a mess that needs sorting out. I am not particularly bothered by pricing as I administer it and make recommendations for people to buy or not to buy."
"The product's GUI for the dashboard needs improvement."
"The user interface needs massive improvement. While the device works fine and it's not complicated to write policies, renaming menu items and showing policy flow in conjunction with the application could help."
"The product's feature for message processing and blocking devices for bulk emails needs improvement."
"It could be more user-friendly, easier to install, and lighter on the network. I would say that for all products because you do not need technical expertise to take care of it. When you have a user-friendly solution, it makes it easier for the vendors or companies like us. We do not have to go to the client's site to attend to issues all the time. Because it is user-friendly, they can take care of it after some training."
"Trend Micro's technical support has room for improvement."
"To improve Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector, it should have updates with better AI and ML-based integration."
"I would like to be able to send emails to a specific sandbox. This is a feature I would like to see added to the next release."
"The dashboard could be improved to match the quality of Check Point Harmony's dashboard."
"Trend Micro's technical support has room for improvement. More efficient support should be provided, especially for standard support."
"Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector could improve by making it easier to use. Microsoft solutions are easier to use."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"At times, we feel the pricing is a bit too high, but then, there is also room for discounts. We enjoy a lot of discounts, and that is why we are still with them. There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"There were no other costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"Cisco Secure Email is expensive, but we get what we pay for."
"The solution is expensive."
"I would rate the pricing a ten out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"It is expensive. I would rate it 2 out of 10, where 1 is the most expensive and 10 is the cheapest."
"The pricing for the Cisco Email Security Appliance involves recurring costs for licenses based on the contracted time frame, such as one year, three years, or five years. Renewals are required after the license expires."
"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 pay for an annual subscription for this email security solution."
"The price of Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector is less expensive than Microsoft solutions."
"It's an expensive solution, and you may not see a return on investment in a short period of time. However, you will see a return over a long period of time."
"The solution's pricing is high, and I would rate it an eight out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
20%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
12%
Performing Arts
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
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 be beneficial to have the functionality of the Email Threat Defense integrated i...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector?
On the pricing side, Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector is not the cheapest, but it's not the highest either. Its prices are around 80%, which is lesser than some vendors but higher than most.
What needs improvement with Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector?
To improve Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector, it should have updates with better AI and ML-based integration. While it has some capabilities in this area, focusing more on this aspect coul...
 

Also Known As

Cisco Email Security, IronPort, Cisco Email Security, ESA, Email Security Appliances
Deep Discovery Email Inspector
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

SUNY Old Westbury, CoxHealth, City of Fullerton, Indra
Bank Saint Petersburg, CEITEC S.A., Dar Al-Handasah, Mitsubishi Electric Information Systems, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, OKWAVE, Oman Arab Bank, VakifBank
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Email vs. Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,140 professionals have used our research since 2012.