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Cisco Secure Email vs Trend Micro ScanMail 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
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (5th), Cisco Security Portfolio (6th)
Trend Micro ScanMail
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
Anti-Malware Tools (19th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Secure Email and Trend Micro ScanMail aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Cisco Secure Email is designed for Email Security and holds a mindshare of 5.5%, down 7.6% compared to last year.
Trend Micro ScanMail, on the other hand, focuses on Anti-Malware Tools, holds 0.6% mindshare, down 0.8% since last year.
Email Security Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Secure Email5.5%
Microsoft Defender for Office 36510.9%
Proofpoint Email Protection7.8%
Other75.8%
Email Security
Anti-Malware Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Trend Micro ScanMail0.6%
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint12.2%
F-Secure Total5.5%
Other81.7%
Anti-Malware Tools
 

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.
Jaffar Ali - PeerSpot reviewer
Ensures continuous protection with real-time scanning of emails and mailboxes
ScanMail needs improvement in its reporting, as it is currently weak in some areas. Additionally, the response time of their technical support is slow and needs enhancement. Overall, Trend Micro's technical support has deteriorated, and pricing is another area that requires attention. The list pricing is high, and we lose deals against competitors because of this. Trend Micro should consider reducing their prices, especially for large customers.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The system enables end users to manage their own whitelists/blacklists."
"The product's initial setup phase was easy."
"The most significant enhancement we've gained is in terms of security through the upgrade we received."
"We rely heavily on antivirus protection, email content filtering, and authentication mechanisms to ensure compliance with email security. Regarding phishing attempts, while phishing protection features are crucial, we also emphasize user education as a critical defence. The intelligence services Cisco provides, such as the Cisco Intelligence Center, play a significant role in analyzing and validating threats, including phishing attempts, in our email security practices."
"It is doing its work. It is doing what it was actually designed to do. It has ensured we don't have business email compromises, and it has also ensured that our brand Galaxy is unique all year round."
"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."
"It blocks bulk marketing messages, graymail, spam, and provides advanced malware protection."
"I love the Advanced Malware Protection feature. It works very well... The appliance has more security such as SDF, DKIM, DMARC, and encryption."
"The most effective feature of ScanMail is its real-time antivirus behaviors, particularly when it scans URLs."
"The pricing of Trend Micro ScanMail is average, which is fine."
"Its integration with mail platforms is valuable."
"What I like the most about Trend Micro ScanMail is its easiness."
"It does the job. Even when our clients have a very high rate of emails per second, there has been no problem."
"The analysis part is good."
"I like that Trend Micro ScanMail is very effective and quite strong."
"The most effective feature of ScanMail is its real-time antivirus behaviors, particularly when it scans URLs."
 

Cons

"I am not satisfied with the solution's reporting and logging."
"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 discontinuation of physical hardware solutions is a significant area for improvement in Cisco Email Security Appliance. This decision has posed challenges as virtual appliances are now the only option, which may not be suitable for all industries. The uncertainty regarding the future of the hardware aspect of the solution is a notable concern."
"The solution needs to improve its advanced phishing filters. It is very good at filtering things which have bad reputations. However, when phishing or malicious emails are new or coming from a legitimate source, we don't feel that the solution is working."
"It would be nice to have an easier way to check on the health of the system, how stressed these appliances are. Sure, you can do it, but it would be helpful to have an easier way to do it, maybe even at a glance."
"It is not user-friendly, and it is quite complicated. So, it should be more user-friendly."
"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."
"Cisco Email Secure's pricing needs to be less. We have vendors who provide cheaper solutions with the same features."
"ScanMail needs improvement in its reporting, as it is currently weak in some areas."
"The sandboxing part can be improved."
"Even Trend Micro ScanMail support staff are not familiar with this product."
"The weaknesses of Trend Micro ScanMail are that it doesn't fully protect ad-based web access and lacks proper security for Outlook, iOS, and web browser access."
"The price could be better. I think it's pretty good compared to other solutions as far as the features are concerned. It basically covers most of the stuff which we require for email security. But it would be better if they made it a little cheaper and more cost-effective. That would make it easier for us to sell it."
"ScanMail needs improvement in its reporting, as it is currently weak in some areas."
"I believe there is room for improvement in better signatures, better reporting features, and more insight into the spam emails database."
"ScanMail was one of the best solutions a few years ago, but it is no longer the best solution because of its old-fashioned management console. Customers associate it with something that is old because there is no change in the management console. It has old icons, and it is not fresh enough. It is also not easy to use or play with. The report engine is also old-fashioned. Customers want something easier, quicker, and cleaner."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"It is not that costly. We pay for the solution through a contractor and pay an annual fee."
"As per market availability, this solution is more expensive than other vendors."
"We were using Proofpoint and then we switched to Cisco... reportability was one of the main reasons we switched, but the biggest one was cost. If you can get an equivalent functionality for a better price it's wise to do so. That's what our primary decision came down to: We could get equivalent functionality at a lower price point."
"In addition to the standard licensing, there is a cost for SMARTnet as well."
"The licensing was all transferred."
"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."
"Compared to Cisco's on-prem service, the cost is the same, but you don't have to pay for the hardware and you don't have to maintain the system, as far as upgrades and hardware failures are concerned. It is cheaper to operate on their cloud service than it is to operate with their on-prem service."
"Its price is okay. It is not too high."
"It is an expensive solution. I rate the pricing a seven out of ten."
"It's a yearly subscription, but the price could be better."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business22
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise25
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise2
 

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 ScanMail?
The pricing of Trend Micro ScanMail is average, which is fine. Pricing doesn't have anything to do with this; their pricing is standard.
What needs improvement with Trend Micro ScanMail?
The major limitation of this product is that their documentation is very poor; their documentation is extremely poor. Their support is very poor for this product, and the solution is average. To be...
What advice do you have for others considering Trend Micro ScanMail?
I work as a security consultant in Bangladesh Election Commission, a government organization. I have limited experience with Trend Micro ScanMail but can provide some insights. I purchased it from ...
 

Also Known As

Cisco Email Security, IronPort, Cisco Email Security, ESA, Email Security Appliances
ScanMail
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

SUNY Old Westbury, CoxHealth, City of Fullerton, Indra
L&T Chiyoda, Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, Atlanta Gastroenterology Associates, Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, Bishop Luffa School, Brooks Rehabilitation, CHR de la Citadelle, CHRU de Nancy
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Abnormal AI, Proofpoint and others in Email Security. Updated: November 2025.
873,085 professionals have used our research since 2012.