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

Barracuda SecureEdge vs Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) comparison

Sponsored
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 19, 2026

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 Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (6th), Internet Security (3rd), Web Content Filtering (1st), ZTNA as a Service (7th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (7th)
Barracuda SecureEdge
Ranking in Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
17th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
ZTNA as a Service (21st), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (20th)
Zscaler Private Access (ZPA)
Ranking in Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
10th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) category, the mindshare of iboss is 4.5%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Barracuda SecureEdge is 1.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) is 2.1%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
iboss4.5%
Zscaler Private Access (ZPA)2.1%
Barracuda SecureEdge1.5%
Other91.9%
Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
 

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.
karan rathod - PeerSpot reviewer
network security engineer at a outsourcing company with 11-50 employees
Centralized security management has simplified remote access and improved network visibility
Overall, my experience with Barracuda SecureEdge has been positive, but there are always areas for improvement. One area where I believe the product could be enhanced is in reporting and analytics, with more customizable dashboards and deeper insight for security and performance monitoring. Additionally, having more advanced troubleshooting tools and diagnostic information directly within the platform would help administrators resolve issues even faster. While the interface is generally easy to use, some advanced configurations could be simplified further to reduce the learning curve for new administrators. The platform already provides strong security, centralized management, and reliable connection for our organization. One enhancement our team would appreciate regarding Barracuda SecureEdge is more advanced customization options for reporting and dashboards, allowing us to create role-specific views and more detailed analytics. We would also appreciate additional automation capability for routing administrative tasks and policy management, which could further reduce operational effort and streamline security operations. While the platform already provides strong visibility and management capability, having more built-in troubleshooting and diagnostic tools would help analyze issues when they occur. Nothing major comes to mind about improving Barracuda SecureEdge. If I had to suggest something, I would like to see more customizable reporting and a few additional troubleshooting tools. Overall, the platform meets our requirements well and has been easy to manage.
BasilJiji - PeerSpot reviewer
System engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Zero trust access has secured hybrid work and now provides seamless app connectivity
Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) has significantly reduced our attack surface by making our internal apps invisible to the internet. It effectively eliminates lateral movement as users are only connected to the specific application they are authorized to use rather than the entire network segment. Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) is highly stable. The architecture uses a global mesh of service edges with built-in fault tolerance and redundancy, providing an always-on experience that is far more reliable than our old hardware-based VPN concentrator. Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) is elastically scalable because it is a software-defined perimeter and not an appliance-based solution. I can instantly scale to support thousands of additional users without needing to upgrade any physical hardware.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"iboss has significantly lowered the number of security incidents. It is crazy how much it blocks and how much it is aware of the outside danger."
"From a corporate perspective, I understand that it's important to keep the company data safe."
"The console is cloud-based, which is something I really appreciate."
"Content filtering is the most useful feature of iboss."
"I would rate the technical support of iboss a solid 10 without a shadow of a doubt."
"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."
"This product is solid, fairly easy to use, and reliable."
"First of all, the security policies are essential. I do not have to rely solely on Active Directory for our users."
"Barracuda SecureEdge has provided a good balance of security, connectivity and ease of management."
"Overall, it has strengthened our security posture and improved the business's operational efficiency significantly."
"I have seen specific outcomes since using Barracuda SecureEdge, such as tool consolidation that combines multiple tools like VPN, firewall, secure web gateway, and SD-WAN into one solution, resulting in around a twenty to thirty percent reduction in security tool costs, improved operational efficiency, and increased efficiency around twenty-five to forty percent."
"Overall, it has improved productivity for both our IT team and end-users while strengthening our organization's security and network management capabilities."
"Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) is the most mature compared to other vendors in terms of features and stability."
"The features I appreciate the most about Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) are that it is very easy to use, and we have Terraform for it, which makes it even easier and very straightforward."
"Overall, I would rate it a nine out of ten."
"Zscaler Private Access helps by resolving network choke issues, allowing application access from public networks without needing to integrate with internal networks."
"Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) is more secure than these particular VPN solutions."
"It provides security and has a great service user experience."
"Zscaler has allowed an easy, secure way for us to access our internal resources from outside."
"I would assess the security level achieved with Zscaler Private Access (ZPA)'s Zero Trust architecture as inherent to the system."
 

Cons

"The reporting feature needs improvement."
"It is stable, but due to growth, it can sometimes be less stable than wanted."
"To scale up, a new iboss Node Blade Chassis must be purchased."
"File integrity monitoring would be very advantageous as an additional feature."
"Its pricing could be better."
"Iboss is growing so fast that it is often hard for them to keep up with the challenges."
"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."
"Our iboss subscription access should be more secure with an OTP or VPN etc. It is easy to gain access if, for example, hackers obtain my username and password."
"Compared to leading SASE vendors, Barracuda SecureEdge is still evolving and lacks some advanced features and integration depth that may require evaluating for large and global enterprises."
"The main area for improvement for Barracuda SecureEdge would be more advanced reporting and analytics, additional documentation for complex deployments and further simplification for some advanced configuration workflows."
"Nothing major comes to mind about improving Barracuda SecureEdge. If I had to suggest something, I would like to see more customizable reporting and a few additional troubleshooting tools."
"The training costs associated with Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) are very high, and there are few resources available online."
"Sometimes connection errors occur when users are unable to connect to the particular cloud."
"The solution is not scalable; we deploy it in a high-availability environment, but it's not automated."
"There are some bugs in the solution."
"Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) could be improved by making troubleshooting for specific mobile devices such as iPhones more intuitive, as identifying the root cause for mobile connectivity issues can sometimes be complex."
"One area for improvement is setting posture profiles for vendor machines."
"The current pain points we sometimes experience relate to the additional security applications we have on the laptops, and sometimes I don't know if I didn't get any notification from the application because it's an agent problem or something security-wise blocking this."
"I am not happy with the technical support from Zscaler Private Access (ZPA), particularly in India, where reachability is an issue with salespersons."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"The overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."
"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."
Information not available
Information not available
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) solutions are best for your needs.
902,894 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%
Outsourcing Company
16%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Insurance Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise9
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?
The problem our organization had is that iboss failed for the Mac devices. It is not able to give a successful agent ...
What is your primary use case for iboss?
We used iBoss mainly for Internet Access by having an Agent on Windows laptops Primarily because when we try to use i...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?
I am not involved in pricing, but as per the information I have, during that time, the Blue Coat proxies we were usin...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Barracuda SecureEdge?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is acceptable. I do not see any complications compared to other...
What needs improvement with Barracuda SecureEdge?
Compared to leading SASE vendors, Barracuda SecureEdge is still evolving and lacks some advanced features and integra...
What is your primary use case for Barracuda SecureEdge?
My main use case for Barracuda SecureEdge is a particular consolidation approach where different branch locations hav...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zscaler Private Access (ZPA)?
Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Zscaler Private Access (ZPA), while it is not the cheapest solution...
What needs improvement with Zscaler Private Access (ZPA)?
After deploying Zscaler Private Access (ZPA), I notice a reduction in VPN-related support tickets, particularly durin...
What is your primary use case for Zscaler Private Access (ZPA)?
My primary use case for Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) is securing application-level access to internal applications wi...
 

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform
Barracuda CloudGen Access
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 Barracuda SecureEdge vs. Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,894 professionals have used our research since 2012.