Cisco Secure Email vs Fortinet FortiMail Cloud comparison

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12,736 views|10,031 comparisons
97% willing to recommend
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9,331 views|6,017 comparisons
94% willing to recommend
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214 views|141 comparisons
89% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Secure Email and Fortinet FortiMail Cloud based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Email Security solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Secure Email vs. Fortinet FortiMail Cloud Report (Updated: January 2024).
772,679 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
"The product's scalability is good.""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.""The deployment capability is a great feature.""The technical support is good and quick to resolve issues.""Defender for Office 365 has helped eliminate having to look at multiple dashboards and that is the aspect I like most about it. It is simpler, effective, and convenient. The users like the process efficiency.""The initial setup is straightforward. You just add the license, click it, and then you can set up the rules. It is quite simple.""Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable features are safe attachments and safe links.""Since we have started using the solution, there have been fewer compromises."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Pros →

"It blocks bulk marketing messages, graymail, spam, and provides advanced malware protection.""The solution works well.""It integrates with Active Directory and we can limit specific users to using specific applications.""Cisco Secure Email is a budget-friendly solution.""I can customize the configuration and policies.""It sends us reports, where we can see if there have been attacks, e.g. DDoS. If so, we can switch to a clean IP.""The user interface was quite friendly, it was quite easy to use, unlike some other Cisco products. Anybody could use it. You don't have to be familiar with IT to be able to handle navigating it.""At one point, there was a zero-day attack. The Cisco appliance detected it and stopped it, helping us out. We avoided the attack and potential damage."

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"The deployment is simple.""The product's initial setup is straightforward and simple, making it an easy-to-use tool.""The most valuable features are filtering and sandboxing.""The most valuable features are the low price and its ability to integrate with other Fortinet products.""The most valuable feature is the advanced threat protection.""This solution is easy to install. The deployment takes about forty-five minutes.""This is a solid email monitoring and security system that learns and maintains a two-way dialog with email system administrators.""Content disarming and analysis are essential features in our email security setup"

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Cons
"There is room for improvement with the UI.""We need to be able to whitelist data at the backend.""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.""The XDR dashboard has room for improvement.""You should be able to deploy Defender for every subscription without the need to add servers.""This product's effectiveness could be improved, in terms of detecting unwanted spam or even malware between the emails, compared to other products.""One area for improvement is support, in terms of being able to reach them and, especially, technical support for configuration.""Microsoft Defender for Office 365 must improve the overall management style, including the GUI. It also needs to change the filters so that it is easy to whitelist and blacklist data."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Cons →

"It is not user-friendly, and it is quite complicated. So, it should be more user-friendly.""Scalability has certain shortcomings and needs to be improved because there are service providers who provide better scalability.v""The tool's pricing can be improved.""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 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.""We have been struggling in the last month with Cisco encryption and with the S/MIME encryption. I don't know if it is an issue on our side or if these features of the solution are not working very well.""There are some concerns in the way the architecture is set up, making it an area where improvements are required."

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"This ease of use and user-friendliness is something we believe could be improved in FortiMail.""The URL filtering and handling should be enhanced because it doesn't support all languages. I believe that this would be easy to enhance in the future.""The product could be improved by extending reporting tools and adding options for notification.""Networking should be simplified.""This solution is slow and it should be made faster.""The downside of this solution is that it is difficult to implement policies on FortiMail.""Its GUI needs improvement.""They could look at strengthening anti-spam with the newly observed domains."

More Fortinet FortiMail Cloud 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 →

  • "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 →

  • "It's on a subscribed basis."
  • "When we're talking about pricing, other products have about the same price. That is normal."
  • "The price of this solution could be more competitive."
  • "It should cost around $60,000. We bought it as a bundle, so everything comes together in the license. That is standard."
  • "A license for our company using FortiMail and FortiCare (filtering and support) was $4000."
  • "The licensing is for three years. In the beginning, we did not pay monthly, it was paid once for three years."
  • "You only have to purchase one license for multiple participants."
  • "I see how manageable and flexible the licenses are."
  • More Fortinet FortiMail Cloud 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:Cisco Secure Email is a budget-friendly solution.
    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:I am not satisfied with the solution's reporting and logging.
    Top Answer:Content disarming and analysis are essential features in our email security setup
    Top Answer:The pricing depends on various factors, including the type of licenses and subscriptions you have procured. The cost… more »
    Top Answer:During our deployment and in our day-to-day operations, we've encountered certain challenges with our email security… 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.

    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.”

    Fortinet FortiMail Cloud is a comprehensive email security solution that protects organizations from advanced threats and ensures secure email communication. It offers robust features such as anti-spam, anti-malware, and data loss prevention to safeguard against email-borne attacks. With its cloud-based deployment, FortiMail Cloud provides scalable and flexible email security without the need for additional hardware or software. 

    It offers real-time threat intelligence and advanced analytics to detect and block sophisticated threats, including zero-day attacks. FortiMail Cloud also includes encryption capabilities to secure sensitive data and comply with regulatory requirements. With its user-friendly interface and centralized management, organizations can easily configure and monitor email security policies across multiple domains. 

    FortiMail Cloud provides comprehensive protection against email threats, ensuring business continuity and peace of mind.

    Sample Customers
    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
    SUNY Old Westbury, CoxHealth, City of Fullerton, Indra
    Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company17%
    Computer Software Company17%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Logistics Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Government7%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company19%
    Energy/Utilities Company10%
    Retailer10%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Educational Organization17%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Government6%
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider25%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Non Profit13%
    Real Estate/Law Firm13%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company19%
    Comms Service Provider9%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Construction Company7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business45%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise40%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business30%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise51%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business31%
    Midsize Enterprise32%
    Large Enterprise37%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business23%
    Midsize Enterprise28%
    Large Enterprise48%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business68%
    Midsize Enterprise21%
    Large Enterprise11%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business36%
    Midsize Enterprise24%
    Large Enterprise40%
    Buyer's Guide
    Cisco Secure Email vs. Fortinet FortiMail Cloud
    January 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Email vs. Fortinet FortiMail Cloud and other solutions. Updated: January 2024.
    772,679 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Cisco Secure Email is ranked 2nd in Email Security with 56 reviews while Fortinet FortiMail Cloud is ranked 6th in Cloud Email with 18 reviews. Cisco Secure Email is rated 8.4, while Fortinet FortiMail Cloud is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Cisco Secure Email writes "Has effortless spam control, improves security posture, and frees up our IT department's time". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Fortinet FortiMail Cloud writes "A reliable email security solution with deep integration capabilities and exceptionally strong support". Cisco Secure Email is most compared with Trellix Collaboration Security, Fortinet FortiMail, Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP), Proofpoint Email Protection and Trend Micro Email Security, whereas Fortinet FortiMail Cloud is most compared with Fortinet FortiMail, Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration, Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP), Proofpoint Email Protection and SendGrid. See our Cisco Secure Email vs. Fortinet FortiMail Cloud report.

    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.