Cisco Secure Email vs Mimecast Email and Collaboration Threat Protection comparison

The compared Cisco and Mimecast solutions aren't in the same category. Cisco is ranked #5 in Email Security , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 5.2% mindshare in the category. Mimecast is ranked #3 in SEG , with an average rating of 8.3, and holds a 17.1% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Mimecast users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

Cisco Secure Email and Mimecast Email and Collaboration Threat Protection compete in the email security category. Cisco seems to have the upper hand with its strong integration capabilities and comprehensive security features that outweigh Mimecast's streamlined approach.

Features: Cisco Secure Email offers anti-spam and anti-malware capabilities backed by AMP and threat intelligence. It integrates seamlessly with solutions like IBM QRadar and Active Directory. Mimecast provides URL protection, sandboxing, and robust identity protection, with seamless integration into Microsoft 365.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Secure Email needs a better console performance, a more intuitive user interface, and improved scalability. Mimecast requires a reduction in false positives, a more streamlined administration panel, better API integrations, enhanced identity protection, and improvements in support responsiveness.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Secure Email supports versatile deployment options, making it complex for small businesses but comes with highly rated technical support. Mimecast, operating mainly on public cloud infrastructure, ensures easier deployment. However, it may lack deployment flexibility, and customer service improvements are noted.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Secure Email is considered expensive but offers a solid ROI through robust security features and flexible licensing. Mimecast, similarly priced, may not offer as compelling an ROI for organizations already using enhanced security suites like Microsoft's. Both solutions are premium-priced, with protection and reduced downtime justifying the cost.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Secure Email vs. Mimecast Email and Collaboration Threat Protection Report (Updated: January 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Email vs. Mimecast Email and Collaboration Threat Protection

January 2024

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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

Mindshare comparison

Email Security Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cisco Secure Email	5.2%
Microsoft Defender for Office 365	8.8%
Proofpoint Email Protection	8.1%
Other	77.9%

Email Security

Secure Email Gateway (SEG) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Mimecast Email and Collaboration Threat Protection	17.1%
Proofpoint Email Protection	21.1%
Microsoft Defender for Office 365	19.9%
Other	41.9%

Secure Email Gateway (SEG)

Featured Reviews

Cobe Van Coller

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.

Read full review

Karthik Sathivel

Technical Associate Network Security at Valuepoint Systems

Email security has protected financial data and provides clear tracking for every branch message

The areas of Cisco Secure Email that could be improved or enhanced are the slowness in the console. I don't think it was a database error or something, but we feel some slowness in configuring DLP and other content filters compared to other consoles. It may have been due to on-premises, but it was much noisy at some times while configuring DLP. When we tried to configure a DLP policy, the console became much slower. In that case, we cannot see what had happened in the mail which was blocked at that time. It may take nearly an hour to get back to normal while configuring policies. That is the major issue in the product.

Read full review

Test Logix

Email Security Engineer at Logic Infosecurity

Experience high detection and user-friendly policies with reliable email security implementation

The system is not user-friendly because you have to create policies that are mapped in a dictionary. As an IT engineer, I understand how it works, but explaining it to another IT person can be difficult. Having more user-friendly dashboards would improve the work experience. In Mimecast Email Security, checking policies in the dictionary or gateway is very complicated, and not everyone understands this process. If you examine the Check Point portal, it's user-friendly with easily accessible tabs that anyone can explore. With Mimecast Email Security, making changes might impact existing mailboxes. The portal is complicated compared to Check Point's user-friendly interface.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Enables me to work from two locations."

"It's a perfect solution from my perspective; it's easy to understand and easy to configure."

"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."

"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."

"I'm very satisfied with the environment and the dashboard."

"It's the endpoint exposition. We don't need to expose our VPN server to the internet and need a zero-test solution. I can apply some conditional access to the endpoint that's connecting to our network to check their security policies or the security condition of their workstation. Once the workstation is trying to connect to my internal network, then I would like to check the discrete condition of these endpoints that are trying to access my internal network. We created some conditional access. We have CrowdStrike, to check if the CrowdStrike is installed, to check if it's updated, and to check for Windows updates. We created some conditional policies to check it."

"Cloudflare Access is a stable solution."

"Cloudflare DDoS mitigates DDoS attacks."

More Cloudflare One pros

"It's definitely worth looking at Cisco's cloud email security offering; it's surprisingly simple to get going with, it really is easier to use than the on-prem because of everything they have built into it, and it is surprisingly cost-effective."

"We chose Cisco Iron Port as it delivers strong email security protection and our company needed it to protect the company's email systems from spam, email viruses, .exe files, unwanted email from unwanted sender etc."

"The solution works well."

"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."

"ATP has been the most valuable in improving our email security posture."

"We like the in-built features, like the email filtering based on the IP and domain. Cisco has its own blacklisted domains and IPs, which is very good. This filters around 70 percent of emails from spam, and we are seeing fewer false positives with this."

"The advanced phishing protection and the integration with the awareness tool that Cisco has embedded into the solution to bring awareness to the customers about the dangers of phishing attacks and other things that come from email are the most valuable features."

"The most valuable features are Advanced Malware Protection, URL filtering, and of course Reputation Filtering."

More Cisco Secure Email pros

"It does a good job for us, and its admin console is easy to use."

"The solution is scalable."

"In the current environment that the world is in, everyone is trying to hack everyone else, so Project+ definitely helps a lot there."

"I would rate Mimecast Email Security a nine out of ten."

"The solution is pretty straightforward to use and easy to set up."

"The reviewer gave Mimecast Email Security a rating of 10 out of 10."

"The security is pretty good, and that's why we're going to upgrade to an even more advanced package. We used it when we had a power issue, and it works. It has been pretty reliable, and the support has been quite good."

"URL inspection works pretty well."

More Mimecast Email and Collaboration Threat Protection pros

Cons

"Our subscription plan for the solution has a limitation of bot signatures."

"I would like them to include a VPN feature to provide a secure connection to the data center."

"From a logging perspective, it is still a bit difficult to see exactly what users are being blocked with the current views."

"The pricing is an area that can be improved. Pricing, as far as I recall, was the source of our problems."

"Lacks a VPN feature to provide a secure connection to the data center."

"The pricing is an area that can be improved. Pricing, as far as I recall, was the source of our problems."

"The free plan has limitations. For example, I can only set up three rules, and the application firewall is unavailable."

"For the topic of improvement, providing some training material is one of my suggestions."

More Cloudflare One cons

"The user interface needs massive improvement. While the device works fine and it's not complicated to write policies, renaming menu items and showing policy flow in conjunction with the application could help."

"I use the search all the time. Sometimes, it is hard to search for things and things are hard to find."

"Cisco Email Secure's pricing needs to be less. We have vendors who provide cheaper solutions with the same features."

"They can do it better with web links, with the URLs. They have a technology called Outbreak but it doesn't work as well as we would like."

"I would like more functionality and how to use it for Level 2 type staff."

"There are some concerns in the way the architecture is set up, making it an area where improvements are required."

"The scalability must be improved."

"The area of license renewal should be improved. We normally renew our license every year. There is a feature called smart licensing, and I switched from the legacy mode to the smart licensing mode because of what I thought smart licensing does. I thought it would make licensing renewal seamless and very swift, but ever since I've switched to smart licensing, each time I want to renew my license, it is a whole lot of headache. The process is not smooth, and I had to keep calling Cisco TAC to see how the issue can be resolved. At one point, I wanted to revert back to the legacy mode, but I can't revert. Once you switch from the legacy mode to the smart licensing mode, you can't revert. They should improve on the visibility of the smart licensing mode so that it can indeed be smart and easier to use for the license renewal every year. That is one challenge."

More Cisco Secure Email cons

"Its pricing can be improved. It is a bit expensive."

"From an administrative point of view, Mimecast is a little bit cumbersome and difficult."

"I'd like to have better support from the product in the future."

"The solution's console interface was recently changed for the admins, but the previous one was much better because we could open tabs on it."

"The feature that should be included is to remove the block on the encrypted files."

"External security features need improvement."

"Lately, Mimecast's outbound mail servers have been regularly blocklisted by spam filters. That didn't happen a few years back, but it seems to be a more frequent problem these days. When a server is blocklisted, it means all of my outgoing mail ends up in the recipient's junk mail. That affects my reputation and business confidence."

"The detection rates are an area for improvement."

More Mimecast Email and Collaboration Threat Protection cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform's pricing is good."

"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 prices are slightly expensive."

"The solution is not that expensive."

"The pricing is somewhere in the middle. I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten."

"The solution's pricing lacks transparency."

"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 price tag is no longer $200,000, but rather $300,000 to $400,000. It's twice."

"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."

"I don't have the insights into it, but compared to different products, it seems to have a medium level of pricing."

"The pricing for the Cisco Email Security Appliance involves recurring costs for licenses based on the contracted time frame, such as one year, three years, or five years. Renewals are required after the license expires."

"Cisco Secure Email is more expensive than other products. I rate it a five out of ten. There are no additional costs. You only need to pay the subscription amounts."

"It is a reasonably priced solution."

"There were no other costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."

"Cisco Secure Email is not expensive, and licensing costs are yearly."

"It is expensive. I would rate it 2 out of 10, where 1 is the most expensive and 10 is the cheapest."

More Cisco Secure Email pricing and cost advice

"I'm always going to say the price needs to be lower, but it's reasonable."

"For what it is, the product is overpriced."

"Compared to the other products in the market, it is neither cheap but nor very expensive. I would rate it somewhere in the middle, 5 out of 10."

"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."

"The product has good pricing in terms of return on investment."

"Its price is in the middle range. It is a structured licensing model where there are various components that you can add or choose to add or not."

"It is a bit expensive."

More Mimecast Email and Collaboration Threat Protection pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	11

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	22
Midsize Enterprise	18
Large Enterprise	26

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	13

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cloudflare Access?

Cloudflare Access has strong integration with Microsoft, among other platforms. However, when it comes to Kaspersky, ...

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What is your primary use case for Cloudflare Access?

Cloudflare Access provides secure access to internal applications for employees, external members of the organization...

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What advice do you have for others considering Cloudflare Access?

Cloudflare Access is one of the best integrations available. While about two hundred vendors offer similar services, ...

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What do you like most about Cisco Secure Email?

Cisco Secure Email is a budget-friendly solution.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Email?

The pricing structure is good as it is user-based or email client-based, which is positive for clients.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco Secure Email?

The areas of Cisco Secure Email that could be improved or enhanced are the slowness in the console. I don't think it ...

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What do you like most about Mimecast Email Security with Targeted Threat Protection?

The interface of this solution is very easy to navigate and user-friendly. There is no delivery in email and other co...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Mimecast Email Security with Targeted Threat Protection?

Do you know anything about the pricing and cost of the Mimecast Email Security?

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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 w...

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cloudflare One

March 2026

Download Cloudflare One product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Email

March 2026

Download Cisco Secure Email product report

Buyer's Guide

Mimecast Email and Collaboration Threat Protection

March 2026

Mimecast Email and Collaboration Threat Protection report

Download Mimecast Email and Collaboration Threat Protection product report

Also Known As

Cloudflare Area 1 Email Security, Cloudflare Bot Management, Cloudflare Gateway, Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform, Cloudflare DDoS, Cloudflare SASE & SSE Platform

Cisco Email Security, IronPort, Cisco Email Security, ESA, Email Security Appliances

Mimecast Email Security with Targeted Threat Protection, Mimecast Web Security, Mimecast Mailbox Continuity, Mimecast Advanced Email Security

Overview

Cloudflare One is a comprehensive platform for security, performance, and connectivity. It provides features like rate limiting, DDoS protection, and application access, tailored to enhance user experience while securing internet access and accelerating communications.

Designed to integrate security measures with ease of use and scalability, Cloudflare One offers a secure web gateway and zero trust network access. These features ensure seamless setup and operation, making connectivity reliable and protected. Users appreciate its integrated console, intuitive interface, and the ability to manage risk effectively. It offers straightforward deployment, improves latency, and boasts cost-effectiveness. While its onboarding process and documentation need enhancement, its value in content delivery and application shielding is notable. Despite challenges in integrating Cloudflare Access with existing VPNs and the need for better automation and support, it remains vital for DNS and infrastructure protection.

What features make Cloudflare One stand out?

Rate Limiting: Controls the traffic rate to prevent abuse.
DDoS Protection: Shields applications from distributed denial-of-service attacks.
Secure Web Gateway: Provides secure internet access with seamless operation.
Zero Trust Network Access: Ensures secure, application-based connectivity without relying on traditional VPNs.
Access for Connectivity: Facilitates access to internal applications securely.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Security: Robust measures for DNS and browsing protection.
Performance: Enhanced site accessibility and communication speed.
Cost-Effectiveness: Offers competitive pricing for its features.
Ease of Deployment: Straightforward and efficient setup process.

In industries like finance, retail, and technology, Cloudflare One is crucial for enabling secure remote access and protecting web applications against dynamic threats. It supports compliance access policies and enhances content delivery, playing a key role in safeguarding digital infrastructure.

Cloudflare

Cisco Secure Email provides email security with advanced threat protection, spam filtering, and easy integration with Cisco Talos, ensuring comprehensive protection against cyber threats like phishing and malware.

Cisco Secure Email offers a comprehensive platform for organizations seeking robust email security. With advanced threat protection and seamless integration with Cisco Talos, it enhances threat intelligence. The tool provides easy-to-use spam blocking and granular policy customization. Effective ransomware, phishing, and malware protection ensures stable network performance. It includes logging and reporting features, along with Active Directory integration, delivering enhanced security without extra hardware. Although it addresses threats efficiently, improvements in synchronization with reporting tools and phishing detection are needed. Organizations find cost and licensing complexities challenging for smaller networks and seek more intuitive configuration, advanced AI threat detection, and comprehensive reporting. Enhanced support, documentation, and cross-platform compatibility are desirable for better management and scalability.

What are the most important features?

Advanced Threat Protection: Guards against cyber threats like malware and phishing
Spam Blocking: Efficiently filters unwanted emails to maintain inbox integrity
Policy Customization: Allows granular control over email security policies
Integration with Cisco Talos: Enhances threat intelligence with global insights
Active Directory Integration: Simplifies user management and enhances security

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

Ease of Use: Intuitive interface provides a straightforward user experience
Network Performance: Maintains speed and reliability while securing emails
Comprehensive Reporting: Offers detailed insights into email threats and responses
No Additional Hardware: Provides complete email security without hardware costs
Enhanced Email Security: Protects against a wide range of email-based threats

In industries like finance, healthcare, and IT, Cisco Secure Email is key to securing email communications. It serves as the primary email gateway in datacenters, scanning and filtering emails to defend against phishing, malware, and spam. Many organizations integrate it with Sophos Antivirus and Talos Threat Intelligence for heightened protection. It plays a crucial role in outbound message control and data loss prevention, ensuring compliance with security policies.

Cisco

Mimecast Advanced Email Security offers advanced features like sandboxing, email archiving, and phishing protection. It's known for integration with Microsoft 365 and user-friendly admin management, making it a robust choice for secure communications.

Focused on safeguarding emails, Mimecast Advanced Email Security integrates seamlessly with Microsoft 365, providing features such as sandboxing, spam filtering, and email archiving. It delivers comprehensive protection against phishing, identity threats, and impersonation attempts. Administrators benefit from the ability to monitor external communications and customize configurations, enhancing email security. Users appreciate the intuitive admin console and responsive support team. Although it faces challenges in threat detection rates and administration complexity, its capabilities in email monitoring, spam filtering, and URL inspection remain valued by enterprises seeking reliable email security that supports compliance needs.

What key features should users explore?

Sandboxing: Analyzes attachments in a secure environment to detect threats.
Email Archiving: Provides secure long-term storage of emails for compliance.
Spam Filtering: Prevents unsolicited emails from clogging the inbox.
URL Inspection: Checks links in emails for malicious content.
Phishing Protection: Guards against deceptive tactics to protect sensitive data.

What benefits can impact ROI?

Regulatory Compliance: Facilitates adherence to standards such as HIPAA.
Integration: Enhances existing systems with seamless Microsoft 365 integration.
Support: Offers a responsive support team to resolve issues promptly.
Email Security: Improves threat prevention with effective spam and phishing protections.

Mimecast Advanced Email Security is implemented across industries to protect against email threats like phishing, spam, and malicious attachments. It serves as both a gateway and an archiving tool, supporting compliance in healthcare and finance by offering features like URL protection and data loss prevention. Enterprises leverage its capabilities to secure inbound and outbound communications effectively.

Mimecast

Sample Customers

23andMe

SUNY Old Westbury, CoxHealth, City of Fullerton, Indra

Azizi Developments, Affinity Credit Union, Aftercare, Al Abbar Group

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Email vs. Mimecast Email and Collaboration Threat Protection

January 2024

Free Report: Cisco Secure Email vs. Mimecast Email and Collaboration Threat Protection

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Email vs. Mimecast Email and Collaboration Threat Protection and other solutions. Updated: January 2024.

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