Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs Appgate SDP comparison

Akamai and Appgate are both solutions in the Microsegmentation Software category. Akamai is ranked #3 with an average rating of 7.8, while Appgate is ranked #7 with an average rating of 9.0. Additionally, 87% of Akamai users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Appgate users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

Appgate SDP and Akamai Guardicore Segmentation are competing in the network security market, with each product having its unique strengths. Appgate SDP stands out for its ease of deployment and superior customer service, while Akamai Guardicore Segmentation has the upper hand in pricing and ROI due to its advanced features justifying the investment.

Features: Appgate SDP offers software-defined perimeter capabilities with adaptive, identity-centric access control and dynamic network segmentation. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation provides granular micro-segmentation, visibility into network traffic, and centralized policy enforcement.

Room for Improvement: Appgate SDP could enhance its pricing structure to appeal to cost-conscious buyers and improve documentation accessibility. There is also potential for more comprehensive integration options. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation could simplify its initial deployment process and optimize its user interface for ease of use. Additionally, expanding its customer support capabilities in various regions would be beneficial.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Appgate SDP is noted for a straightforward deployment process and robust customer support, ensuring smooth integration for enterprises. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, while efficient, involves a more complex deployment but offers extensive documentation and support to alleviate setup challenges.

Pricing and ROI: Appgate SDP tends to have higher setup costs, but its ROI is seen as justified through efficiency in reducing security risks. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation offers a competitive pricing model and promises high ROI through its advanced features, despite a more significant initial investment required for deployment.

To learn more, read our detailed Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs. Appgate SDP Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs. Appgate SDP

September 2025

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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

iboss

Featured Reviews

Matt Crockford

Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water

It's easy to roll out, and their understanding of our business made it seamless

One aspect we value about iboss is its simplicity. Their customer service is brilliant, and they are super responsive and knowledgeable. It's easy to roll out, and their understanding of our business made it seamless. We were impressed by the solution's mental health function, which can detect if someone needs help. It scans what users are browsing and flags warning signs so we can check to see if they are okay. We've had to use it a couple of times. The user interface is highly intuitive. Our IT team picked it up with minimal training. It's arranged so that it's easy to find where things are. Another advantage is the single pane of glass console, which gives you visibility into what's happening. We're not fully there yet because we haven't implemented zero trust, but we're excited about the possibilities from the demos we've seen. We launched a POC of iboss' ChatGPT Risk Protection feature two weeks ago. AI is a great tool, but you need to be careful what you put into it. My biggest fear is employees inputting sensitive corporate information or customer PII data into one of these chatbots. I was impressed by our trial of the feature. It's exactly what we wanted. Now, when a user goes to ChatGPT, there's a banner warning them not to share information, and we can block conversations containing customer data like bank details and email addresses. I don't want to stop people from using it, but we need visibility. We've only tried it on a test group of 15 people. You can configure it to look for specific keywords or integrate it with your DLP policy if you have that configured

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Uday Varma

Solution Architecht at Inspira Enterprise

Offers granular control and ease of policy creation with features like telemetry and micro-segmentation but incident tagging is missing

Our customers use the solution for micro-segmentation within the data center or cloud environments. One customer uses it for their on-premises infrastructure, deployed at the code level across their massive network. Another customer uses it in a data center to monitor microsegmentation for their 500-node workload. Moreover, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation has helped our customers manage and secure traffic between different applications or workloads. Earlier, they were using VMware NSX-v, which offered good logging for distributed services on an analytical level. However, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation provides them with better overall visibility and granular control over-segmentation, even for inter-application and inter-routing traffic.

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IgnitiusMolepo

Senior IP Network Defense at MTN

Helps us manage traffic-related issues and streamlines access management for the network

Appgate SDP has significantly streamlined our access management, providing a notably efficient solution compared to traditional VPNs. The simplicity of the SDP platform is a standout feature; instead of navigating through intricate details, users can seamlessly connect to the company's network or switch to the internet with minimal effort, unlike VPNs which often involve waiting for connection handling and unblocking. Recognizing the robustness of SDP, we made strategic decisions to minimize reliance on VPNs, reserving only two for administrative purposes. In a scenario where Appgate SDP significantly improved our network security posture, the platform played a crucial role in fortifying defenses against major threats. The encryption algorithms utilized by SDP provide a high level of security to our network architecture. Compared to Cisco, SDP proves to be most critical in protecting resources with the help of role-based policies. It only provides selective access to the application. The dynamic policy engine significantly enhances our access control mechanisms. It has single sign-on and multifactor authentication features. It makes processes faster and easier. It has helped our IT team to manage the workload with ease. It gives an intelligent solution whenever they face traffic-related problems. I rate it a nine out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"iboss is among the few products providing inline filtering where no application is needed on the device. It operates on the network side and is not device-based. This feature was one of the main reasons why we stayed with them for so long."

"We chose iboss for both zero trust and proxy (SWG) because their SWG was superior."

"Content filtering is the most useful feature of iboss."

"Because of iboss, I did not have to assign web filtering tasks to my techs on a daily basis."

"First of all, the security policies are essential. I do not have to rely solely on Active Directory for our users."

"The security aspect of the solution, particularly the malware behind it, is excellent. That's something that really helped us out. It's not just a simple proxy that just blocks the insights of potential threats that come on behind it. They do malware detection and that helps us a lot."

"Iboss is a solution that prevents advanced persistent threats, and has a zero tolerance for attacks."

"The console is cloud-based, which is something I really appreciate."

More iboss pros

"The real bonus is the fact that we can secure applications, all the way down to the individual services, on each host. It's actually more granular security than we can get out of a traditional firewall."

"Its deception features are great, providing a rich telemetry of lured origins, and are a great resource for any active defense strategy."

"The tool's most valuable feature is its visibility."

"Guardicore makes its own rule set automatically, so we can work fast when creating a rule set."

"We like the centralized management of the firewalls. Until we installed Guardicore Centra, we managed all our firewalls individually, so making changes was complicated, difficult, and time-consuming."

"Application Ring-Fencing and Deception Server, which is basically like a honeypot, are pretty useful features."

"The most valuable feature is the visibility of processes and connections."

"The label-based segmentation is the most valuable feature."

More Akamai Guardicore Segmentation pros

"One of the most important features is stopping lateral movement across our network."

"The interface is really friendly. It's simple to understand."

"It is a scalable solution...The support answers your questions very fast."

"It is pretty stable."

"The flexibility of the tool is valuable. It is very robust. It has a very robust configuration capability."

"The simplicity of the SDP platform is a standout feature; instead of navigating through intricate details, users can seamlessly connect to the company's network or switch to the internet with minimal effort."

Cons

"Fold that in with the risk intelligence they're getting from all of the different subscriptions they are a part of. Now, these security companies subscribe to things like emerging threats, databases, etc. You can fold all this intelligence to decide what's happening on an endpoint. I would love to see them start moving into that space. That would compete directly with Microsoft. Maybe that's why they haven't. Having that ability native within the solution would be great. The other area in which I would love to see improvement is more detailed descriptions of why they block websites."

"Their on-premise hardware's network interface is capped at one gigabit, which is sort of a problem. If you stand a filter up where all traffic flows through that, according to them, in order to go above a gigabit, you have to have multiple devices, which in today's IT seems a little bit silly. They could easily put in an SFP port into their device that could accommodate 10 gigs or at least offer a box."

"Its pricing could be better."

"SSL decryption: We had issues with learners using apps instead of using web browsers. This type of encryption is tough for any appliance in a BYOD environment."

"I am currently doing a PoC of the zero trust aspect of it. Compared to other similar solutions, it is hard to get around each feature. It takes a while to get used to it."

"Sometimes, obviously, there are bugs."

"The dashboards for local use could be better."

"File integrity monitoring would be very advantageous as an additional feature."

More iboss cons

"In our version, when using the terminal server, we cannot exclude user tasks for each session."

"Needs more customization of honeypots and a vaster catalog of systems able to be mimicked."

"They can maybe improve their customer service just because they are kind of a small organization, and customer service isn't as big as others such as VMware."

"The long-term management of the security policies could be improved with some kind of automation platform, something like Chef or Puppet or Ansible, to help you manage the policies after day-one... to then manage the policies and changes to those policies, going forward, through some type of automation process is not turning out to be really easy."

"It would be very helpful for beginners if the solution had more windows to help with the terms inside instead of going to the documentation."

"Clients would like to see that the security policies of GuardiCore can continue to be comparable to all the major firewall players out there."

"The maps could go a bit faster. They are useful but slightly slow."

"Supports become difficult when it's for a big organization. For a small organization, medium organization, it still makes sense, however, for a big organization, it makes life difficult."

More Akamai Guardicore Segmentation cons

"On the cloud, when you make some changes, it may be difficult."

"One limitation is that it's harder to provide access to multiple applications in the company with Appgate, but that's probably because of poor management."

"They could provide a single-box solution to manage tools for 4000 users. Additionally, they could add extra features to enhance remote micro connection."

"The user interface should be improved as it is not very easy to work with the updates."

"It would be better to connect to an application portal from any device. Documentation and support could be better."

"One thing that kind of sticks out to me is the ability to do a proper non-split tunnel. VPN tunnel-wise, it is not really a true unsplit tunnel, but I think that's just because of the way it's designed. A split VPN basically allows your system to talk to other systems without being forced down the tunnel. A VPN running in a non-split tunnel mode forces all the traffic down the tunnel to wherever you're VPNing to. It forces the traffic down so that the traffic is subject to the firewall and rules that you have in your corporate environment and such. It helps to prevent remote malicious folks that may be talking directly to that box from piggybacking into the corporate environment through it. They do it partially, but it would be nice to see more of an enterprise-level solution there."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."

"It is expensive compared to one of its competitors."

"We had the cost of purchasing a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs. However, the following year, the cost of just licensing was similar to what was paid the previous year for a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs."

"We have not priced the solution recently, but they were competitive with other vendors in the past."

"It is not expensive, and it is also not cheap. iboss is priced right in the sweet spot for the number of features it offers."

"It is probably in line with other solutions, but I do not deal with the financial side."

"GuardiCore has made some new changes to the license now. We've seen monthly and annual licenses based on a subscription. We have a few clients that pay anywhere from $25,000 a year."

"Compared to the pricing we were seeing from both Illumio and Edgewise, Guardicore was very competitive."

"The pricing is too high."

"The customer would complain about the cost."

"The price is the same as other products in the market. There's no price argument to choose one or the other product, it will cost the customer approximately the same."

"The solution is reasonably priced and I would rate it a six out of ten. The tool's licensing costs are yearly."

"This is not a cheap solution but you have to consider the bigger picture, which is what it is giving you."

"Guardicore Centra provides better value for money than NSX, was the other solution that we looked at, which was too expensive for what it does."

More Akamai Guardicore Segmentation pricing and cost advice

"It is a pretty expensive tool. It is maybe about $20,000 per year for a hundred users or so."

"We pay $100 per user per month. One license for the site is around $17."

"The pricing is according to the market price. It is not a very cheap solution. They have some very aggressive promotions to sell the product in the market."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	9

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?

For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company Exxon...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for iboss?

Previously when I used iboss, we did the POC for iboss for ExxonMobil. Four or five people wanted to move from our ol...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?

Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern. There are cheaper alte...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Guardicore Centra?

I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive. I know other micro-segmentation t...

See all answers

What do you like most about Guardicore Infection Monkey?

Initially, I liked the telemetry part. But later, we used the microsegmentation features that we were able to deploy ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Guardicore Infection Monkey?

When we have more than one interface, we can only have one policy for both interfaces. Normally, you have assets with...

See all answers

What do you like most about Appgate SDP?

The simplicity of the SDP platform is a standout feature; instead of navigating through intricate details, users can ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Appgate SDP?

They could provide a single-box solution to manage tools for 4000 users. Additionally, they could add extra features ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Appgate SDP?

We use Appgate SDP as a substitute for traditional VPN.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 14% of the time

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Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs iboss

Compared 13% of the time

Twingate vs iboss

Compared 3% of the time

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Illumio vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 45% of the time

VMware NSX vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 10% of the time

Cisco Secure Workload vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 9% of the time

Zero Networks vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 3% of the time

Trend Micro Deep Security vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 3% of the time

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Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Appgate SDP

Compared 9% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs Appgate SDP

Compared 8% of the time

Zscaler Internet Access vs Appgate SDP

Compared 8% of the time

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Appgate SDP

Compared 6% of the time

Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) vs Appgate SDP

Compared 3% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

October 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

October 2025

Download Akamai Guardicore Segmentation product report

Buyer's Guide

ZTNA

September 2025

Download Appgate SDP product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

Guardicore Centra, GuardiCore

No data available

Overview

Iboss offers a comprehensive cloud-based security platform valued for its scalability and autonomous features, ensuring robust security with easy deployment and management capabilities.

Renowned for its robust security architecture, Iboss integrates seamlessly within diverse networks, delivering efficient granular filtering and advanced content categorization. Its single pane of glass console provides ease of management, allowing rapid scalability suitable for rapidly deploying environments. Operates in BYOD setups due to inline filtering without device installation. Integration with cloud-based applications enhances user control, and features like SASE, SSL inspection, and ChatGPT risk protection stand as highlights. Despite its strengths, users have pointed out areas for enhancement like direct navigation in reports, SSL decryption, and better cloud integration while having room to improve data loss prevention.

What are the most important features of Iboss?

Scalability: Supports rapid deployment across diverse networks.
SASE: A consolidated approach to secure access.
SSL Inspection: Ensures safe data transmission.
Granular Filtering: Detailed control over accessible content.
Single Pane Management: Unifies control through a centralized console.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Cost-effectiveness: Offers competitive pricing with robust features.
Autonomous Operation: Reduces management overhead.
Responsive Support: Provides assistance when needed.
Flexible Deployment: Available for both cloud and on-premises environments.

The usage of Iboss spans educational institutions, specifically K-12, to enforce internet policies, protect data, and support remote work environments. It provides web filtering and security frameworks to ensure safe browsing. Its platform-as-a-service model offers flexibility for both cloud-based and on-premises requirements, integrating seamlessly to deliver enhanced security features suitable for various deployment needs including zero trust, CASB, and network security for work-from-home setups.

iboss

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is a software-based microsegmentation solution that provides the simplest, fastest, and most intuitive way to enforce Zero Trust principles. It enables you to prevent malicious lateral movement in your network through precise segmentation policies, visuals of activity within your IT environment, and network security alerts. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation works across your data centers, multicloud environments, and endpoints. It is faster to deploy than infrastructure segmentation approaches and provides you with unparalleled visibility and control of your network.

Akamai

Appgate SDP is a network access control tool for local and remote access, multifactor authentication, and micro-segmentation. It is a flexible, robust, and configurable tool with good documentation, interface improvements, and ease of deployment.

It helps organizations prevent lateral movement across networks and servers and provides a more granular access control structure than traditional VPNs. Appgate SDP's valuable features include the ability to hide servers, good support, stability, scalability, and stopping lateral movement. It is currently being used as the main VPN solution for many companies.

Appgate

Sample Customers

More than 4,000 global enterprises trust the iboss Cloud Platform to support their modern workforces, including a large number of Fortune 50 companies.

Santander, Frontier Airlines, OpenLink, Intermountain Healthcare, Cellcom, BancoBASE

United States Air Force FINRA Weight Watchers Rackspace DataDog SageNet Verdant Norwegian Cruise Line VoiceBase The Third Floor

Buyer's Guide

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs. Appgate SDP

September 2025

Free Report: Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs. Appgate SDP

Find out what your peers are saying about Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs. Appgate SDP and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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