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Cisco Secure Email vs Fortinet FortiMail comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.7
Cisco Secure Email enhances security, reduces costs, and boosts productivity, providing ROI similar to preventive insurance against breaches.
Sentiment score
7.1
Fortinet FortiMail enhances email safety, reduces costs, and improves efficiency, earning user trust with its cost-effective features.
It offers cost savings compared to Cisco, which was very expensive.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.3
Cisco Secure Email is praised for its knowledgeable, proactive support with quick resolutions, despite occasional delays for some users.
Sentiment score
6.3
Fortinet FortiMail's technical support is highly rated for quick, expert assistance, though some entry-level issues exist.
Cisco's tech support can be hit or miss, depending on the engineer you get.
The support is pretty decent, with a rating of eight out of ten.
I have direct communication with Kenyan system engineers and local support in Ethiopia, enabling good support.
Fortinet's technical support offers high-quality support.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Cisco Secure Email excels in scalability, supporting large enterprises seamlessly, with minor hardware challenges noted by some users.
Sentiment score
7.2
Fortinet FortiMail is scalable, effective for medium to enterprise businesses, but faces hardware and licensing limitations.
The on-premises hardware is not very scalable, but switching to the SaaS offering is expected to improve scalability.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Cisco Secure Email is praised for reliability, stability, and efficiency, outperforming rivals with minimal issues and high user ratings.
Sentiment score
8.3
Fortinet FortiMail is stable and reliable, offering strong performance, seamless integration, and high user satisfaction with minimal issues.
Based on my experience, the stability of Cisco Secure Email is very strong.
This stability is consistent across Fortinet products, including FortiGate firewall.
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Secure Email needs UI improvements, simplified pricing and deployment, enhanced features, and streamlined management for better user experience.
Fortinet FortiMail requires improvements in management, cost, integration, reporting, setup, documentation, content security, and user interface.
The solution should better analyze the actual content rather than only focusing on the email header or origin.
It would be beneficial to have the functionality of the Email Threat Defense integrated into the Email Security Gateway so customers don't have to buy two products for full email protection.
The transition from on-premises devices to virtual appliances may be necessary as more organizations migrate email services to the cloud.
Providing comprehensive documentation on how to deploy and configure would improve the solution.
The area that could use some improvement in Fortinet FortiMail is the integration process.
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Secure Email offers robust features and value, with prices varying based on services, usage, and licensing complexity.
Fortinet FortiMail pricing is capacity-based, seen as cost-effective by some, yet expensive due to features and stability.
Its cost is bundled with other Cisco products.
The licensing is a mess and needs sorting out.
The pricing structure is good as it is user-based or email client-based, which is positive for clients.
Fortinet FortiMail is considered overpriced by Indian rupee standards.
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Secure Email offers strong spam and malware protection, seamless Active Directory integration, and customizable security features for effective threat management.
Fortinet FortiMail offers user-friendly, scalable email security with anti-spam, antivirus, phishing protection, and seamless Fortinet product integration.
It is highly effective in catching phishing and spam emails.
It also possesses multiple modules for spam detection, malware detection, and threat intelligence, which are valuable in categorizing emails and determining actions.
It covers everything through email, like antivirus, IDS, and IPS.
Its threat detection capabilities have been beneficial.
The most valuable features are Fortinet FortiMail's ability to protect from advanced features of email-based attacks, including protection against ransomware and malware attacks.
Fortinet FortiMail offers capabilities like settings for mail delivery, mail filtering, spam controls, and email bursting prevention.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Secure Email
Ranking in Email Security
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
Cisco Security Portfolio (6th)
Fortinet FortiMail
Ranking in Email Security
7th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
65
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Cisco Secure Email is 6.2%, down from 8.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiMail is 4.6%, down from 6.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

Kostas Karidas - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps prevent security breaches but fails to improve in the area of AI
I have not noticed any impressive advanced threat protection mechanisms in the tool. I don't know if there are any AI features in the product. I don't know if there is any other technology embedded in the solution. Cisco Secure Email successfully mitigated potential email threats. My company has seen plenty of scenarios where Cisco Secure Email successfully mitigated potential email threats, spam emails, and fraudulent domains. The product is good for dealing with spam emails, and it can take care of more than 100 spam emails per day. A huge number of spam emails are monitored with the help of Cisco Secure Email. I would not recommend the product to other businesses because you need to have some kind of expertise in configuring and knowing a bit about the tool's GUI. The tool also lacks in the area of AI mechanics. If I would like to have an overview and review another solution, I would go for another product other than Cisco Secure Email. I can definitely suggest others to look at the product and review it, but I would also recommend that they compare it with the other solutions in the market. I wouldn't prioritize Cisco Secure Email over other tools. Either the support partner of the product or I take care of the tool's maintenance phase by looking into the configurations and doing some fine-tuning. I rate the tool a seven to eight out of ten.
MOHAN SUKUMAR - PeerSpot reviewer
Secure email management improves through advanced filtering and dynamic virus scanning
Fortinet FortiMail offers capabilities like settings for mail delivery, mail filtering, spam controls, and email bursting prevention. It also allows for email forwarding, dynamic filtering, and scanning based on virus signatures. I can set varying levels of security. The tool is flexible and provides essential features for mail security and management.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
21%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Educational Organization
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
13%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Secure Email?
Cisco Secure Email is a budget-friendly solution.
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.
What needs improvement with Cisco Secure Email?
The user interface of the Email Security Gateway ( /products/security-gateway-reviews ) should be improved. It would be beneficial to have the functionality of the Email Threat Defense integrated i...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiMail?
Fortinet FortiMail is considered overpriced by Indian rupee standards. My organization is not profit-making, and academic pricing is required, but it may not be available for security products like...
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiMail?
Fortinet FortiMail should keep pace with features offered by cloud-based services like Google and Microsoft Outlook. Additionally, the transition from on-premises devices to virtual appliances may ...
 

Also Known As

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

SUNY Old Westbury, CoxHealth, City of Fullerton, Indra
Magromer Cueros y Pieles S.A.
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Email vs. Fortinet FortiMail and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
861,524 professionals have used our research since 2012.