Avanan vs Cisco Secure Email comparison

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Microsoft Logo
12,858 views|10,247 comparisons
97% willing to recommend
Avanan Logo
3,085 views|1,899 comparisons
100% willing to recommend
Cisco Logo
9,348 views|6,215 comparisons
94% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on May 17, 2023

We performed a comparison between Cisco Secure Email and Avanan, based on PeerSpot users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: Cisco Secure Email and Avanan have different initial setup experiences. Cisco Secure Email can be easy or complex depending on the deployment model, while Avanan is described as easy, straightforward, and not complicated at all. Avanan is a cloud-based solution that is easy to implement and manage, with quick integration with other systems. Customization may be needed for specific cyber threats, but the overall setup process is manageable for both solutions.
  • Features: Cisco Secure Email has a wide range of customizable features, including Advanced Malware Protection, Email Protection, and Advanced Phishing Protection. The solution has a clear graphical interface and powerful tracking capabilities. Avanan excels in detecting and preventing advanced threats like phishing, malware, and ransomware attacks. Its administration and detection components are highly effective, with quick identification of anomalies in emails and links. The solution is accessible for non-technical users, has customizable rules, and provides 24/7 protection. Avanan's AI and machine learning are continuously improving, and it regularly updates its library to identify new threats. The software has prevented account takeovers, eliminated spam, and enhanced end-to-end security for data sharing. Its integration with existing applications is seamless, and its customer support services are reliable.

  • Pricing: Cisco Secure Email offers a variety of pricing options, but some users find it expensive, while Avanan's pricing is reasonable and negotiable based on the user base. Cisco Secure Email has no added costs beyond standard licensing fees, while Avanan offers SaaS-based pricing that allows for per-user charging and subscription as needed. Avanan's pricing and licensing terms are favorable to many enterprises, though some reviewers suggest customized plans for smaller organizations would be helpful. Cisco Secure Email is customizable to the customer environment, and customers are willing to invest more in it.
  • Service and Support: Cisco Secure Email and Avanan both have positive customer service experiences, with Cisco being described as knowledgeable, patient, and prompt, and Avanan being highly praised for their quick response, professional knowledge, and dedication to serving all customers. However, Avanan's customer service is considered the best due to their proactive and innovative approach to service delivery and their ability to work well with customers to maximize solution investment.
  • ROI: Avanan has proven to be more effective than Cisco Secure Email in terms of ROI, with a 60% annual increase in revenue growth and quick payback within a few months. Avanan offers protection for mobile devices and detailed explanations for blocked emails, which has helped maintain data protection. While Cisco Secure Email has also resulted in a positive ROI, there is no information in the reviews on the specific percentage or how it compares to Avanan's ROI.

Comparison Results: Avanan is the preferred product over Cisco Secure Email based on user reviews. Avanan excels in advanced threat detection and prevention, with AI and machine learning continuously improving and updating its library. Avanan also has the best customer service, with professional, helpful, and innovative staff. Both products have positive ROI, but Avanan has an edge in reducing the number of compromised email accounts and phishing attacks, helping protect mobile devices, and providing explicit details on why emails are blocked.

To learn more, read our detailed Avanan vs. Cisco Secure Email Report (Updated: March 2024).
768,857 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"I like its investigation capabilities, as that is what is most important to me. It is fairly simple with a user-friendly interface.""Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable feature is its performance.""The initial setup was easy.""Defender for 365 is a comprehensive cloud-based solution. The value of the cloud is that you aren't alone. Threat intelligence and analytics are shared in the cloud. We don't have to find the solution alone. If you face an unknown threat with traditional solutions like Trend Micro and Symantec, you need to open a case and send your information to them to analyze forensically and identify the source of the attack.""Some of the valuable features on the email side are anti-phishing, anti-malware, and Safe Links.""Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is a stable solution.""Threat Explorer is one of the features that I very much like because it is a real-time report that allows you to identify, analyze, and trace security attacks.""Microsoft Defender for Office 365 helps people to work remotely. It is a secure solution. We don't need to use our company's computers or get VPN connections to the networks. I can control how they share screens and what they send to the devices. It keeps our organizations confidential and sensitive information safe."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Pros →

"Email inspection has saved many employees from spam attacks and viruses from unauthorized sources.""I highly recommend this solution to any prospective buyer.""It can retract unsafe emails and remove them from the entire communication channel.""Email encryption enhances end to end security of any data before it passes through the networking system.""It can detect corrupted files and filters out documents with viruses.""The most valuable feature of Avanan is its Anti-Malware solution for Office 365, and box.com.""If we look at four to five years ago, we had close to six or eight people click a link in an email per month. Now, we are probably down to about five or six clicks a year, if not less.""The threat detection tools enable us to ascertain malware and phishing messages across the email network infrastructure."

More Avanan Pros →

"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.""The most valuable feature is the different content filters we are using, such as DKIM.""The solution works well.""The most significant enhancement we've gained is in terms of security through the upgrade we received.""It integrates with Active Directory and we can limit specific users to using specific applications.""The tech engineers are very knowledgeable.""What I find the most valuable about Cisco Secure Email is that the logs are not that difficult to see even if you're not used to them. The logs are reasonably readable and diagnosing the problem is not too hard with them.""Cisco Secure Email Cloud Gateway has allowed our users to be able to concentrate on the emails that they do receive. Previously, our users had to deal with nine million additional emails across the organization, which is nearly 1,000 emails per user to have to deal with a month. That's a massive amount for our staff to deal with and probably several hours of their time. We have a lot of clinical staff, being a hospital. We want to make our staff as productive as possible. By removing a lot of that spam and phishing type emails, this allows them to do their job."

More Cisco Secure Email Pros →

Cons
"We need a separate license and we don't know how to get the license that is required.""We are always looking for others tools to increase automation on tasks. There can be better integration with other solutions, such as PowerPoint and email.""We need to be able to whitelist data at the backend.""Microsoft should provide more documentation for users so they can self-educate. I would like to see more documentation for advanced security features.""Microsoft Defender for Office 365 should be more proactive.""One area for improvement is integration. For example, when it comes to external SaaS platforms, we were not able to get a lot of information on integrations with such apps for security and authentication.""I'd like some additional features any product can give me to protect our environment in a better way.""Microsoft Defender for Office 365 should improve the troubleshooting tools. It's unclear whether the device is blocked at the firewall level or at the device itself. The granularity needed for troubleshooting is currently lacking. From my perspective, Microsoft should address this issue to benefit many users who likely share the same sentiment."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Cons →

"It is complicated for new users unfamiliar with the modern cloud networking infrastructure.""Integration with various SaaS offerings, who are leading in the SaaS market.""They should come up with a mobile application so that it can be more flexible.""Familiarization with performance for new teams may take a long time.""When sending bulky emails, the system slows down and takes a long time before it responds effectively to our requests.""Being cloud first and because we are in the movie business, we use a lot of Macintoshes. So, there is absolutely no reason for us to have Active Directory whatsoever. However, if you are using Office 365, you must have Active Directory in order to reset passwords. Even though we have a single sign-on provider, we must have Azure Active Directory for Office 365, which is really stupid. As a cloud application, you would think that I don't need Active Directory, which I don't need for anything else except Office 365. We have one server inside that space to help us manage Active Directory just for Office 365. This is a very sore point, but it is what it is.""It should reduce the amount of time needed for thorough scanning.""It is very difficult to find the required documentation."

More Avanan Cons →

"Scalability has certain shortcomings and needs to be improved because there are service providers who provide better scalability.v""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 initial setup was complex because I have two sites with physical clusters.""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.""Better dashboards and more interactive overviews would be nice, but the current functionality is sufficient.""I would like more functionality and how to use it for Level 2 type staff. The biggest issue is it needs to be easier to use and navigate.""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.""The product's GUI for the dashboard needs improvement."

More Cisco Secure Email Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It's a user-base subscription."
  • "From the pricing point of view, like any other product in the market, there is scope for negotiation."
  • "Defender is a little bit more expensive as compared to others. We are in the manufacturing environment. So, we don't have a high budget for all of our endpoint devices. Its cost is a major concern for us."
  • "For licensing, it's usually a yearly package for customers who are subscribed to Office 365, but they can also pay on a monthly basis."
  • "Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is an add-on to the Office license. Many customers are purchasing this solution."
  • "Microsoft Defender for Office 365 comes with Microsoft Windows. It is free with the operating system."
  • "The solution saves money so we have seen a return on investment."
  • "Defender for 365 comes in various plans and licenses, along with other Microsoft security solutions. Purchasing this kind of package or security bundle gives good value for money, and that's what I recommend."
  • More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Good pricing arrangement as an SaaS offering."
  • "Having the flexibility and modeling to do the pricing that best fits the needs of the organization is incredibly ideal. That is what Avanan does. They know exactly how many users are using it, etc. We can tune the invoicing associated with how we are using the product so we can charge it back to the shows appropriately."
  • "We have a monthly license that is $4 to $8 per user."
  • "The pricing of Avanan is reasonable."
  • "The product is not the cheapest in the market."
  • "Avanan’s price is comparable to Barracuda."
  • More Avanan Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "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 addition to the standard licensing, there is a cost for SMARTnet as well."
  • "Pricing depends on your environment and which model you want to buy."
  • "Licensing costs depend on how many users there are. It could range between $5 and $7 per month, per user."
  • "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."
  • "There were no other costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
  • "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."
  • "It is not that costly. We pay for the solution through a contractor and pay an annual fee."
  • More Cisco Secure Email Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Threat Explorer is an invaluable tool for me, and it plays a crucial role in helping me discern the origins of various… more »
    Top Answer:The product must provide better malware detection. The detection algorithms don't perform the way I hope they would.
    Top Answer:Spam protection is the most valuable feature.
    Top Answer:Avanan doesn't cover certain tool segments. Barracuda provides backup and retention of emails and Microsoft 365’s backup… more »
    Top Answer:The product's initial setup phase was easy.
    Top Answer:The product's price falls on the higher side when compared to the other products on the market. Whether the product… more »
    Top Answer:There are some concerns in the way the architecture is set up, making it an area where improvements are required. When… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    MS Defender for Office 365
    Cisco Email Security, IronPort, Cisco Email Security, ESA, Email Security Appliances
    Learn More
    Overview

    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is a comprehensive security solution designed to protect organizations against advanced threats in their email, collaboration, and productivity environments. It combines the power of Microsoft's threat intelligence, machine learning, and behavioral analytics to provide real-time protection against phishing, malware, ransomware, and other malicious attacks.

    With Microsoft Defender for Office 365, organizations can safeguard their email communication by detecting and blocking malicious links, attachments, and unsafe email content. It employs advanced anti-phishing capabilities to identify and prevent sophisticated phishing attacks that attempt to steal sensitive information or compromise user credentials.

    This solution also offers robust protection against malware and ransomware. It leverages machine learning algorithms to analyze email attachments and URLs in real-time, identifying and blocking malicious content before it reaches users' inboxes. Additionally, it provides advanced threat-hunting capabilities, allowing security teams to proactively investigate and respond to potential threats.

    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 goes beyond email protection and extends its security features to other collaboration tools like SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams. It scans files and documents stored in these platforms, ensuring that they are free from malware and other malicious content. It also provides visibility into user activities, helping organizations detect and mitigate insider threats.

    Furthermore, this solution offers rich reporting and analytics capabilities, providing organizations with insights into their security posture and threat landscape. It enables security administrators to monitor and manage security incidents, track trends, and take proactive measures to enhance their overall security posture.

    Avanan is a comprehensive cloud security platform that protects organizations from advanced email and collaboration threats. With its multi-layered approach, Avanan provides real-time protection against phishing, malware, data leakage, and account takeover attacks. 

    By integrating with popular cloud applications such as Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Slack, Avanan ensures seamless security without disrupting user experience. Its advanced AI and machine learning algorithms analyze billions of data points to detect and block threats, while its granular policy controls allow organizations to customize their security settings. 

    Avanan also offers robust threat intelligence and incident response capabilities, enabling organizations to proactively identify and mitigate security risks. 

    With Avanan, organizations can confidently embrace the cloud while keeping their sensitive data and communications secure.

    Cisco Secure Email is an email security solution that provides advanced protection to safeguard inboxes. The solution includes comprehensive defense from the most damaging threats so your employees and organization can remain secure at all times. In addition, it includes advanced threat defense capabilities that detect, block, and remediate threats in incoming email faster. Simultaneously, it protects an organization’s brand, prevents data loss, and secures important information in transit with end-to-end encryption.

    Cisco Secure Email Features

    Cisco Secure Email has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Advanced threat analysis: Easily identify the malicious techniques used in attacks targeting your organization. Understand the specific business risks and categorize threats to gain insight into the parts of your organization that are most vulnerable to attack.
    • Robust, actionable threat data: The solution’s searchable threat analysis data provides critical contextual insight to the attack scope and breadth and expedites remediation.
    • Real-time URL analysis: With this feature, you can drop emails with risky links automatically or block access to newly infected sites with real-time URL analysis to protect against phishing.
    • Domain-based message authentication (DMARC): Users can prevent brand abuse from attackers using their organization’s domain to carry out phishing campaigns with automation of the domain-based message authentication (DMARC) process.
    • Data loss prevention (DLP): The solution enables users to protect sensitive content in outgoing emails.

    Cisco Secure Email Benefits

    There are many benefits to implementing Cisco Secure Email. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

    • Optimize your defenses: The solution is designed to protect your organization from threats that can come from multiple sources, including phishing, malware, and ransomware. It can defend against all of them with industry-leading threat intelligence that empowers you to act quickly.
    • More efficient processes: You can use the solution’s orchestration feature to simplify workflows, reduce the burden on your team, and focus on more strategic initiatives.
    • Easy-to-manage tools: The solution is built with tools that are user-friendly and help you spend less time managing alerts. They allow users to quickly detect emerging threats and quarantine suspected threats to prevent their spread.
    • Flexible license options: Cisco Secure Email provides three different license choices: Secure Email Essentials, Secure Email Advantage, and Secure Email Premier.
    • Increase spam catch rates: Cisco Secure Email blocks unwanted emails using a multilayered scanning architecture.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Cisco Secure Email is a solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Some of its major advantages are that it has an intuitive interface, reputation filtering, few false positives, and great protection features.

    Enrique J., Owner at Jolly Security Inc., says, "It has an intuitive, clear graphical interface where you can deploy your policies and understand the overall flow. The most valuable feature is reputation filtering.”

    The solution has a “low rate of false positives, good support, and it integrates well with other Cisco security products,” explains Mark R., IT Admin / Manager at a retailer.

    PeerSpot user Charles N., Network Security Engineer at Galaxy Backbone Ltd., mentions, “It is doing its work. It is doing what it was actually designed to do. They have a lot of features such as Advanced Malware Protection, Email Protection, Advanced Phishing Protection, Antispam, Antivirus, and Outbreak Filters.”

    Sample Customers
    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
    Bethel School District, ServiceSource, Capital Caring
    SUNY Old Westbury, CoxHealth, City of Fullerton, Indra
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Manufacturing Company16%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Financial Services Firm6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Government7%
    REVIEWERS
    Security Firm19%
    Recruiting/Hr Firm19%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Government6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization47%
    Computer Software Company8%
    Manufacturing Company5%
    Construction Company4%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company20%
    Energy/Utilities Company10%
    Retailer10%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Educational Organization16%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Government6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business42%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise42%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business30%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise51%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business33%
    Midsize Enterprise33%
    Large Enterprise33%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business19%
    Midsize Enterprise57%
    Large Enterprise24%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business32%
    Midsize Enterprise32%
    Large Enterprise37%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business23%
    Midsize Enterprise28%
    Large Enterprise49%
    Buyer's Guide
    Avanan vs. Cisco Secure Email
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Avanan vs. Cisco Secure Email and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    768,857 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Avanan is ranked 6th in Email Security with 21 reviews while Cisco Secure Email is ranked 2nd in Email Security with 55 reviews. Avanan is rated 9.2, while Cisco Secure Email is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Avanan writes "We've noticed a significant decline from people accidentally or intentionally clicking on things". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Cisco Secure Email writes "Has effortless spam control, improves security posture, and frees up our IT department's time". Avanan is most compared with Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration, IRONSCALES, Abnormal Security, Perception Point Advanced Email Security and Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP), whereas Cisco Secure Email is most compared with Trellix Collaboration Security, Fortinet FortiMail, Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP), Proofpoint Email Protection and Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense. See our Avanan vs. Cisco Secure Email report.

    See our list of best Email Security vendors.

    We monitor all Email Security reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.