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

Aruba ESP vs FortiSASE comparison

Sponsored
 

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

iboss
Sponsored
Ranking in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (6th), Internet Security (3rd), Web Content Filtering (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (6th), ZTNA as a Service (6th)
Aruba ESP
Ranking in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)
27th
Average Rating
0.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
FortiSASE
Ranking in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)
6th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) category, the mindshare of iboss is 3.3%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Aruba ESP is 1.1%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of FortiSASE is 5.4%, down from 7.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
FortiSASE5.4%
iboss3.3%
Aruba ESP1.1%
Other90.2%
Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)
 

Featured Reviews

Ashok Ananthula - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant Proxy Engineering at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Cloud gateway has strengthened remote web security and now needs better Mac and ISP support
The problem our organization had is that iboss failed for the Mac devices. It is not able to give a successful agent for the Mac agents. That is where in 2025, we had to migrate to the Palo Alto-based platform. If your use case is for just Windows laptops,you can consider this platform as an option One issue is the data center resiliency part. In India especially, they are not tied up with the Tier 1 ISPs like Tata or Airtel; they were having Tier 2 ISPs and encountered many issues reaching few major sites that my organization depends on, and they were having problems that they could not fix quickly. They also lack a mechanism to route that traffic within their data center; rather, they ask customers to make a pac file change to route it to Singapore explicitly. It would be better if they route from their backend , i mean even if I send it to India DC, they should be able to route it internally to make that work; however, they fail to do that and ask the customer to route it in the pac file. Another suggestion is that in China, they do not have the proper setup; they used to have numerous problems with slowness and lack of premium circuits in China as well. That leads to multiple sites working slowly with latency-related issues. So the main issue is the ISP-related problems that need to be solved.
SatishKumar13 - PeerSpot reviewer
Deputy Manager at Savex Technologies Pvt Ltd
Has improved remote connectivity with secure segmentation for traveling users
The scenario has totally changed after COVID. Earlier, people used to work from office culture, but now it has shifted to work from anywhere. Devices are not fixed either. Previously it was fixed asset, but now people are using smartphones, IoT devices, laptops, and other devices, connecting from anywhere. Segmenting network traffic is very difficult and complicated because putting a firewall across devices is very difficult and nearly impossible. EdgeConnect, which includes endpoint protection or SSE, is very agent-based. POPs are nearly reachable across the globe, so users can access services globally whenever they want to reach the data center or access the internet. It creates segregation, and after segregation, it comes with security functionality including CASB, web, anti-malware, and antivirus functionality. It protects the endpoint whenever connecting with unsecured networks. The first level post-check of security parameters matches all functionalities. Their segregation part allows us to define parameters through ZTNA functionality, Zero Trust Network Access where we can define postures, whether devices relate to corporate network or personal use, if antivirus is running, if OS is updated, and many more things. Based upon that, it helps customers protect the complete infrastructure, whether connecting with office network, unsecured network, or remote office.
WY Lim - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager at CTC Global Sdn Bhd
Unified cloud security has protected branches and remote users but needs broader integrations
I do not often communicate with the technical support of FortiSASE. I definitely use documentation officially provided by Fortinet for FortiSASE. My impression of this documentation is that it is quite similar and standard compared to other major security vendors such as Cisco or Palo Alto. At a high level, they deliver the intended information, but I still need their representatives, particularly sales engineers, to provide detailed explanations, as the documentation may not cover every area that all audiences might be looking for. I have no comment on whether the documentation should be improved to add more details, because if too many things are added to a white paper or data sheet, it can become messy. I am satisfied with the current arrangement.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We chose iboss for both zero trust and proxy (SWG) because their SWG was superior."
"I would say iboss is a very good product; its scalability is very good, and it's seamless for the user."
"The solution has massively improved our security posture, giving us full visibility into what our staff does online."
"iboss is easy to use despite its complexity. Multiple engineers manage it, but it's significantly more straightforward to administer than traditional VPNs and web proxies."
"Granular setup, which was able to set different levels of filters using the OUs in the AD."
"The console is cloud-based, which is something I really appreciate."
"Technical support is pretty sharp and very responsive."
"The iboss solution gives me the ability to scan the traffic through all the ports, through all the 131,000 PCP and UDP ports, and with this ability, we have the granularity also for consults over social media and applications on mobile, and this is an advantage that the customers are looking for right now."
"It provides a single umbrella for the complete network infrastructure, which is a very key differentiator from other products."
"Aruba ESP is a single place where you manage everything, and you have integrations with a lot of other vendors together on the same platform."
"I find Fortinet to be competitive with its firewalls."
"The best feature of FortiSASE is SD-WAN."
"We built a local node in Jordan, which is the main advantage, and the data is localized in-country, giving FortiSASE a significant edge compared to others where data is outside the country."
"It's very stable."
"The integration with the company's existing security infrastructure enhanced our security posture since it was a straightforward process."
"We utilize the web filtering part of FortiCASB for our network security."
"Its function is related to the licensing framework."
"Deep packet inspection is easier to deploy in the FortiSASE environment. It's much simpler to configure one-touch deployment. It was considerably more convoluted to get that to work using FortiClient. All that processing horsepower is happening in Fortinet's cloud infrastructure, reducing the load on our local routers and on-prem FortiGate firewalls."
 

Cons

"The area I would like to see improvement in is the ability with in the reporter to navigate directly to the content the user is traversing. It is kind of there, but it's not perfect. Quite frequently, I receive links that lead me to pages with error messages."
"I have heard they are doing DDoS filtering, but I am not certain if they are implementing it correctly."
"One thing I would like to see differently with their Zero Trust platform is that some of the AI aspects related to high-risk activities have more false positives."
"For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company ExxonMobil."
"Our biggest problem with their service was it did not recognize the device and filtering did not always work correctly."
"I appreciate that iboss's single pane of glass console gives centralized visibility into web traffic, user activity, security policies, and alerts from one dashboard, allowing us to quickly investigate incidents and monitor policy violations without switching between multiple tools, improving operational efficiency; however, the dashboard customization and reporting could be more flexible."
"The endpoint-type solution is an area that needs some improvement."
"The solution could be stronger on the integration side and offer more cloud applications like G Suite or Oracle."
"Aruba ESP should include more integrations with third-party vendors."
"Segmenting network traffic is very difficult and complicated because putting a firewall across devices is very difficult and nearly impossible."
"There were some difficulties with updating, and the solution is expensive."
"The GUI and connectivity, along with the support offered, are some of the areas of concern in the product where improvements are required."
"Security and support are two areas with certain shortcomings in the product where improvements are required."
"While connectivity from outside to inside is okay, inside to outside is not."
"I do not recommend FortiSASE for everyone."
"Stability issues persist."
"While stability is generally good, we faced some difficulties during updates."
"The main issue with Fortinet's technical support is the response time and resolution time."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 expensive compared to one of its competitors."
"It is probably in line with other solutions, but I do not deal with the financial side."
"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."
"The overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."
"Users need to pay a yearly license for three, five, seven, or ten years based on their requirements."
"I rate the product's price a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a three out of ten."
"I can only speak about the pricing for education users because we get discounts. Other users aren't going to get the same price, but FortiSASE is competitive with the other products out there. All the solutions came in at the same price, so it just came down to the product that works best for us."
"I rate the product price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is high price, and ten is low price."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solutions are best for your needs.
909,099 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
No data available
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise10
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?
I think iboss could be improved by making reporting and dashboard customization more flexible, and simplifying troubl...
What is your primary use case for iboss?
I use iboss as a cloud-based secure web gateway to provide secure internet access, web filtering, and protect remote ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?
My experience with iboss's pricing structure, setup cost, and licensing model has been positive, straightforward, and...
What needs improvement with Aruba ESP?
The scenario has totally changed after COVID. Earlier, people used to work from office culture, but now it has shifte...
What is your primary use case for Aruba ESP?
I am working for the SASE portfolio as a product manager, so I cannot give any comment on other products. If there ar...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FortiSASE ?
The pricing, licensing, and setup costs of FortiSASE are very advantageous if you are already a Fortinet customer. If...
What needs improvement with FortiSASE ?
I think Fortinet can improve FortiSASE in two main areas: one is enhancing the Secure Web Gateway module, and the sec...
What is your primary use case for FortiSASE ?
I would describe the use case for FortiSASE as replacing traditional SSL VPN with ZTNA, which enhances Zero Trust Net...
 

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform
No data available
No data available
 

Overview

 

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.
Information Not Available
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba ESP vs. FortiSASE and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
909,099 professionals have used our research since 2012.