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Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense vs Mimecast Advanced Email Security comparison

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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
22nd
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
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (1st), Office 365 Protection (2nd), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 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 3.9%, down from 5.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Mimecast Advanced Email Security3.9%
Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense1.1%
Other95.0%
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."
"Cisco has a threat mechanism called cloud-based Talos, where all the threats are inbuilt."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"On ease of use, it rates very high. It's something that I was able to get into without really looking at any documentation. I wanted to see what it felt like before I started looking at any documentation on how to use it, and it was very easy to use. It works very smoothly. The user experience is very intuitive. They did an amazing job on that."
"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."
"Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense's best features include user management of graymail, enhancing security awareness by allowing users to manage cold calls, sales-based items, and ensuring email compliance."
"Mimecast has been in the market for a long time; it's a good tool if you want to simplify your operations and a good tool for removing on-prem appliances that otherwise you would need to do with the protection that Mimecast provides."
"What I like about the integration is that it is directly into Microsoft 365, users can use their Microsoft 365 credentials to log into the portal and access their mail."
"The positive impact of Mimecast Advanced Email Security on our organization is evident in how it has drastically reduced spam emails and improved our data security."
"Mimecast Mailbox Continuity helps companies continue to move."
"Mimecast Advanced Email Security is a good product and is very stable."
"The reviewer gave Mimecast Email Security a rating of 10 out of 10."
"We're now certain business-critical mail is perfectly protected in multiple ways."
"The solution is stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze."
 

Cons

"The physical appliance has been discontinued, although the platform still exists."
"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."
"Cisco's multiple product lines and verticals made this just one of their many verticals, and we could see a shift in focus."
"The solution is a bit expensive. It could be cheaper."
"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."
"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."
"I wouldn't recommend Cisco to others because I think Fortinet is better."
"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."
"Their support should be improved. They are notorious for sending you to knowledge-based articles rather than actually talking to you about the problem you're reporting."
"Moving forward, there is concern about AI and security."
"The solution is complex and not easy to use."
"The system is not user-friendly because you have to create policies that are mapped in a dictionary."
"The interface and the documentation could be improved. They can also include some more training resources and content like video. While setting things up, I had to search for the information quite a bit. It took me time to find the correct way to do something. The information is there, but it is sort of all over the place. They can create a better help knowledge base or help portal. It retains your email for 45 days. They can maybe increase this duration."
"As an area of improvement for Mimecast Advanced Email Security, I would like to see enhancements in capabilities to eliminate false positives even before emails hit the mailbox, leveraging AI functionalities."
"I did have a problem with Mimecast. That is why I was looking for an alternative solution because their sender IP address gets poorly rated by Microsoft."
"The differentiation between bulk spam mail and campaign-related mail could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"It is expensive compared to other vendors."
"The solution’s pricing is manageable."
"The feedback from vendors and customer is that it is expensive."
"It is a bit 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."
"The licensing costs are per-user for the product that you get with them."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the pricing a ten."
"The price of Mimecast Mailbox Continuity is expensive."
"It's an expensive solution."
"Compared to the other solutions in the market, Mimecast Email Security with Targeted Threat Protection's pricing is fine."
"The customers can select the license packages as per their requirements."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Marketing Services Firm
11%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing 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 Business23
Midsize Enterprise12
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: November 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.