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Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365 comparison

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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

Cloudflare One
Sponsored
Ranking in Email Security
20th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (12th), Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (21st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (13th), Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection (8th), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (12th), Access Management (11th), Bot Management (3rd), ZTNA as a Service (9th), ZTNA (4th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (10th), Remote Browser Isolation (RBI) (3rd)
Cisco Secure Email Threat D...
Ranking in Email Security
19th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Defender for Offi...
Ranking in Email Security
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (2nd), Microsoft Security Suite (8th), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Cloudflare One is 1.6%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense is 1.1%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 6.3%, down from 12.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Office 3656.3%
Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense1.1%
Cloudflare One1.6%
Other91.0%
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

CV
Network Architect at IP Dimension
Cloud security has improved remote access and has reduced costs for smaller client sites
I have used Cloudflare One's Identity-Aware Proxy, and it is quite straightforward from what I have seen so far. The app registration on the Azure side integrates fully into Cloudflare, and I am very satisfied with that part because it is easy to set up. The integration of Cloudflare One's Secure Web Gateway and Zero Trust Network Access works without any issues. That part is pretty automatic, and if you complete the rest of the setup, it comes together by itself with no issues from my side. What makes it nice is that we can actually start replacing on-site firewalls at this stage for the smaller clients because it does not matter if they go to a coffee shop or work from home; they are still secured by the same connection. The hops get shorter and you get better latency. We have done testing to see if it is better. One thing that we did notice with our proof of concept with our current client is that they have people connecting from the UK. When they used their previous VPN solution, uploading CAD drawings and other files to the server took a long time. They mentioned that it is much quicker on Cloudflare One's solution. I definitely believe that is part of the improved performance, and I am satisfied with that as well. What is nice about Cloudflare One is that it makes the setup easier and also easier to train technicians to maintain it. Compared to legacy systems, we do not need to get fancy firewalls in place that are costly. That is definitely also a cost-saver with Cloudflare One.
GC
Senior Cybersecurity Engineer at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
Provides robust email security features but requires improved modernization and complexity management
Modernization is an area that could be improved for Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense, as some features have lagged behind newer competitors, potentially offering more advanced analysis capabilities. The initial setup is not straightforward and requires expertise and time to master configurations such as spoofing and DLP. More control over backend functionalities and simplifying rule management could enhance user experience. The product's complexity at times results in redundant rule sets that are difficult to untangle, highlighting the need for streamlined management systems and a more user-centric approach to system configuration. Furthermore, the pricing might deter new users who could opt for alternative, more cost-effective solutions.
Emeka Ndulu - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Improves threat visibility and response while reducing manual tasks and training users against phishing
I appreciate the attack simulation feature whereby I get to train users and educate them on how to identify phishing emails and spam emails, as well as the anti-spam protection. It gives me visibility into my threat environment and threat landscape to ensure that I am one step ahead of any likelihood of threats within my environment. I get to detect it and respond, so the threat intelligence is very effective. Microsoft security solutions save my time. It saves money because once I protect my environment, I don't lose money. It has decreased my detection time and my time to respond.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The simplicity of the solution is its valuable features as almost no effort was needed to learn the configurations. It is also one of the cheapest firewalls available in this category."
"The blocking feature is very good."
"I'm very satisfied with the environment and the dashboard."
"We mostly use Cloudflare WAF, and gets basic Cloudflaire DDoS, caching as extra bonus . We like the factor these features are all integrated into 1 console, simple to manage."
"The tool also offers good scalability, and the dashboard, along with real-time analytics, is very good."
"Cloudflare Access is a stable solution."
"It is a stable solution."
"The best feature is rate limiting. If I'm expecting 500 visits per hour, Cloudflare will limit the requests if I suddenly get 50,000."
"Cisco Cloud Mailbox is used for copying emails, anti-spamming, and securing the company's email, and we really enjoy the anti-spamming capabilities as well as the rejecting of bulk emails, which we can customize by adjusting the variables, and it is very user-friendly."
"It's very easy to deploy and configure."
"Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox can handle a complete portfolio, which is required to protect any kind of attack coming from emails. However, it does not have advanced phishing, but it is available through Cisco. If you compare Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox with the competition, in the competition you have to have one or two solutions together to address the customer's requirement, whereas Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox is addressing everything, such as web domain and email protection. If there is any kind of challenge it will come across through email."
"Cisco has a threat mechanism called cloud-based Talos, where all the threats are inbuilt."
"Secure Email Threat Defense's scalability is good."
"This solution is easy to use."
"The solution is stable."
"The advanced threat analytics and URL filtering in threat detection are good features that are working well."
"The most valuable feature is the integration; it's a single console, so we don't have to switch around between multiple products, and another valuable feature is the ease of operations and maintenance."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 has decreased my time to detection and time to respond by one hundred percent."
"Microsoft so far has been good; we haven't faced any kind of disruption or anything else, it's a good product and good platform, I must say, and overall it's a good product and good service and we haven't dealt with bugs or glitches."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 saves me time; it does save a lot of time, especially with the automation."
"The solution is very easy to use. All you have to do is to assign the license to the end-user and it's done. The customer will only have the feature activated, and the solution will monitor the emails to determine if they are a threat or not."
"Safe attachments, safe links, policies, and the ability to protect from zero-day threats are the most valuable features."
"The most valuable feature is protection against malicious links, fishing, and impersonation. You can train people to be aware of these threats, but they're not always careful. When they're using their phones between meetings, they click on a link, and it's game over."
"With Defender for Office 365, we have been able to increase the security posture across our organization."
 

Cons

"Our subscription plan for the solution has a limitation of bot signatures."
"They don't have a person to provide support for customers using the solution under their free plan."
"I would like them to include a VPN feature to provide a secure connection to the data center."
"Our customers no longer use Cloudflare because its service is subpar."
"The free plan has limitations. For example, I can only set up three rules, and the application firewall is unavailable."
"The software has automated alerts, but the automated alerts are not available in the mobile app."
"The tool should provide on-premise versions. Currently, all versions are cloud-based."
"Cloudflare DDoS has poor technical support."
"Cisco's multiple product lines and verticals made this just one of their many verticals, and we could see a shift in focus."
"From a technical point of view, Cisco is far behind in terms of cybersecurity, and it has to improve very much."
"The tool gives false positives and it needs to be more accurate. I would like to see AI as a new feature."
"The behavioral analysis capability of Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense is not particularly helpful for identifying new, evolving threats within my company, as it keeps flagging legitimate emails as malicious."
"The product's complexity at times results in redundant rule sets that are difficult to untangle, highlighting the need for streamlined management systems and a more user-centric approach to system configuration."
"This solution could be improved by integration with Sandbox."
"The learning curve shows that in the beginning, there are numerous false positives. For one month, we had to reclassify the false positives manually until the system learned."
"The pricing could always be better."
"They have moved features from one console to another. Things have been moved around in the interface and it takes me time to find where certain features are."
"Microsoft sometimes has downtime, and we'll get several incidents coming in back to back. We have a huge backlog of notifications, many of which may be false positives. However, there might be serious alerts, so we can't risk dismissing all of them at once."
"About eight months ago, we started to measure the quantity of phishing and spam that we have been receiving, and it has been increasing a lot. That means that protection for our email is not as good as we were expecting."
"From a development point of view, if I wanted to do development on my actual machine where Defender is, the organization can set certain policies or Defender makes that prohibitive."
"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 noticed that from time to time, Microsoft's stability does have problems. Sometimes the service goes up and down. Sometimes they change without prior notice."
"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."
"The changes to customer service, specifically the new model for support agreements, are not favorable."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's pricing lacks transparency."
"Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform's pricing is good."
"The solution is not that expensive."
"The pricing is somewhere in the middle. I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten."
"The pricing of the solution is cheap. The licensing cost is also very low. I rate the cost and pricing a three out of ten."
"The price tag is no longer $200,000, but rather $300,000 to $400,000. It's twice."
"My company has to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the solution. There are no hidden charges apart from the licensing costs of the solution."
"The prices are slightly expensive."
"It is expensive compared to other vendors."
"The solution’s pricing is manageable."
"Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox does not have any competition with Sophos, Trend Micro, or other vendors of the world. However, there is a pricing premium for the solution. One has to look at it from that angle that while they are buying Cisco, there will be a premium, and Cisco justifies that premium value. That's why they're charging a high price."
"The feedback from vendors and customer is that it is expensive."
"For large enterprise organizations, they can definitely afford it, but for small and medium organizations, they might struggle to cover the expenses."
"I was working in the government and it was too expensive for us to use our Microsoft products."
"The product is expensive."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 comes with Microsoft Windows. It is free with the operating system."
"The pricing is normal. Considering its popularity, it's not overpriced."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is an add-on to the Office license. Many customers are purchasing this solution."
"Compared to other brands, Microsoft Defender for Office 365's pricing is competitive."
"The solution could be better by simplifying the business model of their licensing. It was hard to figure out how to get the licensing done for the environment, initially."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
19%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Marketing Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise12
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise32
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform?
In my opinion, Cloudflare One can be improved mainly through compatibility, as the integration should be much simpler...
What is your primary use case for Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform?
Cloudflare One's primary use case for my organization is to protect servers and to provide remote access with the VPN...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Secure Email Threat Defense?
Comparatively with other products, the pricing of Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense is normal. As a technical guide, ...
What needs improvement with Secure Email Threat Defense?
We have deployed Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense in two customer environments. It is still in development as a new ...
What is your primary use case for Secure Email Threat Defense?
We are working with Cloud Mail Gateway and on-premise mail gateways. We have worked with Cisco Secure Email Threat De...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
My experience with pricing, setup, and licensing is that it's actually quite reasonable even on the licensing side as...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
I think Microsoft Defender for Office 365 can be improved by creating more educational pieces about not just looking ...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
My main use cases for Microsoft Defender for Office 365 include email hygiene.
 

Also Known As

Cloudflare Area 1 Email Security, Cloudflare Bot Management, Cloudflare Gateway, Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform, Cloudflare DDoS, Cloudflare SASE & SSE Platform
Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox, Cisco CMD, Cisco Cloud Mailbox Defense
MS Defender for Office 365
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

23andMe
Luiss University, Lone Star College, T-Systems, Magyar Telekom
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense vs. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,270 professionals have used our research since 2012.