No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense vs Mimecast Advanced Email Security comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

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 Threat D...
Ranking in Email Security
23rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Mimecast Advanced Email Sec...
Ranking in Email Security
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
48
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (2nd), Office 365 Protection (2nd), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense is 1.1%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Mimecast Advanced Email Security is 3.8%, down from 5.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Mimecast Advanced Email Security3.8%
Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense1.1%
Other95.1%
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Avinash Mishra - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager - EUC at Finthrive
Advanced email filtering has blocked massive spam volumes and prevents unauthorized data leaks
Improvements for Mimecast Advanced Email Security include enhancing the user interface and accessibility, particularly regarding admin capabilities to add or modify user accounts. Streamlining this could improve overall usability and security management for users. Reporting is another area needing improvement in Mimecast Advanced Email Security, as the reports provided are not very easy to decipher. With artificial intelligence being integrated into various tools including Mimecast Advanced Email Security, I believe there is potential to enhance functionality, enabling users to ask specific questions and retrieve concise answers instead of overwhelming data. I choose a nine for Mimecast Advanced Email Security because improvements such as better user interface and artificial intelligence integration features would greatly enhance its usability. While no tool is perfect, these adjustments could greatly elevate Mimecast Advanced Email Security's capabilities.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I would say it's very comprehensive, with multiple antivirus OEMs, virus encrypt features, encryption, and more."
"The features and functionalities are much better than Microsoft's in-built Defender plan, and this product has helped us to protect our organization from any malware attack in the past."
"The ability to see east-west traffic is its most valuable feature. Traditionally, email defense focuses on north-south, inbound-outbound, egress-ingress traffic. With Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox, it's able to quickly identify, track, tag, and categorize emails that are internal. That can typically give us visibility into if there's an internal compromised account (for example). Someone can then use that internal compromised account to email additional accounts with either malicious software or links, but internal within that Office tenant. Effectively, that email message never leaves the tenant. Any of the mail gateways really do not have any method or way of seeing this traffic since it's not leaving the environment."
"It's very easy to deploy and configure."
"Currently, the ease of deployment is the low-hanging fruit for Cisco email security."
"This solution is easy to use."
"Overall, it's certainly a very good idea to integrate another layer on top of Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection."
"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."
"If you want the ease of use, then Mimecast, or at least a cloud solution, is the way to go."
"The solution is stable and reliable; there are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze."
"I would rate Mimecast Email Security a nine out of ten."
"Due to our specialized use case, that HIPAA dictionary really comes in handy."
"It does a good job for us, and its admin console is easy to use."
"Mimecast Advanced Email Security has positively impacted our organization by securing our environment better than before compared to what we used to configure earlier to deliver the email."
"Based on overall experience, Mimecast Email Security is the best solution for traditional gateways."
"The security on offer is very good."
 

Cons

"Customers will benefit greatly from monthly billing because the majority of customers today use the cloud, be it Office 365, or Google Cloud."
"This solution could be improved by integration with Sandbox."
"Cisco's multiple product lines and verticals made this just one of their many verticals, and we could see a shift in focus."
"The tool gives false positives and it needs to be more accurate. I would like to see AI as a new feature."
"The physical appliance has been discontinued, although the platform still exists."
"The solution is a bit expensive. It could be cheaper."
"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."
"There is still room for improvement in terms of integrations with other Cisco tools and non-Cisco tools. There is also some room for improvement needed in terms of the reporting."
"We discussed the phishing aspect, the DNS system, and the key rotation."
"The filtering needs more flexibility."
"Mimecast need to ensure that the body text format is correctly handled and that images are properly embedded in the body text."
"As a user, the user interface of the management console could be upgraded, for example."
"Their support should be improved. They are notorious for sending you to knowledge-based articles rather than actually talking to you, but that is, unfortunately, kind of becoming a trend with everything. In terms of features, I haven't had any complaints. However, I don't like the fact they moved to a paid training subscription model. They used to have a lot of free webinars for training, but they have started to charge for them in the past year."
"Mimecast Advanced Email Security needs to improve in this area because they are only focusing on a particular set of problems which is on email and human risk, whereas companies that need a slightly bigger picture will look elsewhere."
"Certainly, the primary area needing improvement is Mimecast's customer support. Our experience as Mimecast customers has been less than satisfactory. Even when raising a priority ticket, the response time is unacceptably long, often taking around five to six hours. This level of service is disappointing. Additionally, there have been recurring service disruptions in the UK region, leading to extended email delays due to various service issues. This year alone, we've encountered such problems on approximately four occasions."
"They should improve the cookies management feature."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The feedback from vendors and customer is that it is expensive."
"It is expensive compared to other vendors."
"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 solution’s pricing is manageable."
"For what it is, the product is overpriced."
"It is a bit expensive."
"The solution is expensive."
"It's an expensive solution."
"I'm always going to say the price needs to be lower, but it's reasonable."
"The price of Mimecast Mailbox Continuity is expensive."
"Two subscription options are currently offered: monthly and yearly. My suggestion is to opt for the yearly subscription as it can give some discount. The pricing isn't high as other cloud solutions are pricier than Microsoft's offerings."
"Compared to the other solutions in the market, Mimecast Email Security with Targeted Threat Protection's pricing is fine."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Email Security solutions are best for your needs.
913,806 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Marketing Services Firm
11%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Healthcare Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise23
 

Questions from the Community

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, I am not very aware of the pricing details.
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 product. Some customer requirements, such as sending logs to a Syslog server, ar...
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 Defense.
What needs improvement with Mimecast Email Security with Targeted Threat Protection?
There is room for improvement since new threats are emerging. Considering the availability of new features would be worthwhile. Mimecast Email Security is somewhat expensive compared to the competi...
 

Also Known As

Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox, Cisco CMD, Cisco Cloud Mailbox Defense
Mimecast Email Security with Targeted Threat Protection, Mimecast Web Security, Mimecast Mailbox Continuity, Email and Collaboration Threat Protection
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Luiss University, Lone Star College, T-Systems, Magyar Telekom
Hewlett-Packard Company (HP), Cushman and Wakefield, PIB Group, Swissport
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense vs. Mimecast Advanced Email Security and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,806 professionals have used our research since 2012.