Barracuda Web Security and Filtering vs Zscaler Internet Access comparison

Barracuda Networks and Zscaler are both solutions in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category. Barracuda Networks is ranked #27 with an average rating of 6.5, while Zscaler is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.5. Barracuda Networks holds a 0.8% mindshare in WSG, compared to Zscaler’s 14.2% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Barracuda Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of Zscaler users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 4, 2024

Barracuda Web Security and Filtering and Zscaler Internet Access are enterprise security solutions. Barracuda's cost-effectiveness and customer support are notable, while Zscaler provides a feature-rich experience justifying its premium pricing.

Features: Barracuda provides comprehensive threat protection, intuitive management, and is ideal for small to medium-sized businesses. It excels in application control, content filtering, and ease of use. Zscaler offers advanced cloud-based security, global scalability, and features like URL filtering, SSL inspection, and Cloud Sandbox, fitting for larger enterprises.

Room for Improvement: Barracuda could improve by expanding its feature set to cater to larger enterprise demands and enhancing its customization capabilities. The user interface might also benefit from updates to increase usability. Zscaler's complexity in deployment could be simplified, and its high pricing adjusted for more accessibility. Enhanced customer support accessibility, particularly during the initial implementation phase, would be beneficial.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Barracuda is known for its straightforward deployment and efficient customer service, making it accessible for smaller organizations. Zscaler, although more complex to deploy due to its comprehensive features, offers robust support with extensive resources that benefit large networks over time.

Pricing and ROI: Barracuda offers an affordable initial setup cost, appealing to budget-conscious businesses. Zscaler, while more expensive, delivers higher ROI through its advanced security features and efficiency in large-scale deployments. The financial investment in Zscaler is justified by its long-term benefits for companies seeking comprehensive solutions.

To learn more, read our detailed Barracuda Web Security and Filtering vs. Zscaler Internet Access Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Barracuda Web Security and Filtering vs. Zscaler Internet Access

September 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 872,655 peers since 2012

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

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category, the mindshare of iboss is 2.2%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Barracuda Web Security and Filtering is 0.8%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zscaler Internet Access is 14.2%, down from 16.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Secure Web Gateways (SWG) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Zscaler Internet Access	14.2%
iboss	2.2%
Barracuda Web Security and Filtering	0.8%
Other	82.8%

Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

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

Read full review

Wealie Antar

Manager, Systems, Information Technology at Icddr, b

It comes with useful policy creation features but needs to improve its outdated tech and poor support

Apart from that, considering other tier-one applications, like Next-Generation Firewall, they also have web security in-built within their appliances or applications. Barracuda is still lagging behind in features like that, so they need to update if they want to be in the top spot. Other features I'd like to see in Barracuda Features are ease-of-use for remote users. If you are a roaming user using an organization laptop, the organization has the right to apply the policy. When you are on-premises, you are opening the policy, not out-of-premises. The application that Barracuda Web Security Gateway provides is pretty clumsy and not very easy to work with, and they need to develop that. Either they provide a test platform that redirects the traffic or vice versa. Moreover, the database is pretty average. Barracuda needs to enhance the database to stop unsolicited traffic. Reporting also needs to be quicker than it is. Barracuda doesn't give you any flexibility to provide reports to higher management. Organizations like us need to do a lot of reporting. When we submit our quarterly report, other appliances allow us to customize or get the reports in a way Barracuda can't because it is rigid with its reporting. Barracuda needs to give users the flexibility to create their reports. The reports offered by the solution are just fine. Finally, acceleration. Right at this moment, most websites are dynamic. For example, organizational websites get updated once a month. If Barracuda can help reduce bandwidth usage and accelerate browsing performance by analyzing these sorts of sites and doing their catching technology work accordingly. Barracuda should also include DNSSEC, which offers strong protection for web security and is offered by competitors. Barracuda should also up their game for scanning and sandboxing. Likewise, their signatures need augmented intelligence or machine learning because you won't always be able to appraise things, and sometimes you have to go beyond that. You need to block it through its behavior.

Read full review

Mohan Janarthanan

Assosiate Vice President at Novac Technology Solutions

User access management and threat prevention are enhanced with user-friendly controls

The best features Zscaler Internet Access offers include application control, tenant segregation, and PoP center regions which have low availability zones. The internet access is very successful and bandwidth speed is excellent. It also has application-based control, URL-based control, and SSL inspection capabilities, which are very useful. Additionally, the in-depth CASB segregation is very beneficial to us. One unique feature I found helpful is the tenant level restrictions, which we use to only access our organization's tenant level mail IDs, drives, and specific tenant level access while restricting public access. Zscaler Internet Access has positively impacted our organization as we have noticed substantial outputs and income. It has improved our security environment control and endpoint protection. It prevents numerous web attacks through its AI/ML incorporated capability which identifies malware, threats, and viruses. It has a toggle button to enable features entirely at the tenant level for all users onboarded into Zscaler Internet Access, resulting in much better outcomes.

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

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

"I would rate the technical support of iboss a solid 10 without a shadow of a doubt."

"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."

"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."

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

"Its initial setup was straightforward."

"It was a very easy product to install. It can be deployed very fast."

"iboss is pretty scalable. They provide good support. The case managers you work with to coordinate what you need are pretty good."

More iboss pros

"I like that it does a lot of malicious content and is easy to manage. There are a lot of checkboxes, and you can add your own URLs or get it preconfigured."

"I have found the most valuable the ability to have insight into our web traffic and control its flow."

"The solution is very simple to use and implement."

"It is straightforward to deploy and manage."

"The ease of use. It's pretty easy to use and navigate the UI... to either block or whitelist a web address."

"Barracuda Web Security and Filtering efficiently blocks phishing emails and provides flexible policy settings."

"The support is fantastic."

"The most valuable features are Barracuda's policies for filtering various websites according to the organization's policies and blocking traffic for any P2P application like torrents."

"The URL filtering has been the most valuable feature."

"Zscaler Internet Access has helped us reduce the time that we spend managing security policies by about four hours a week. We can use this time to focus on other things, especially the IT team."

"The cloud proxy and integration are some of the key features. Since there is cloud waste, we can quickly provision it and start working on the configuration. On top of that, they have added a few more features. They have integrated CASB, and file sandboxing is part of it."

"The solution is stable and reliable."

"Overall, we're very happy with our product."

"The protection is most valuable."

"The most valuable feature of Zscaler Internet Access is that it is a consolidated solution, it comes with many features, such as DLP."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to drop packets."

More Zscaler Internet Access pros

Cons

"The reporting feature needs improvement."

"Sometimes when you call in support, you get someone who is just following a sheet. It feels like a runaround. You feel that you are running into that support wall."

"Its pricing could be better."

"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."

"Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern."

"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."

"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."

More iboss cons

"Considering other tier-one applications, like Next-Generation Firewall, they also have web security in-built within their appliances or applications. Barracuda is still lagging behind in features like that, so they need to update if they want to be in the top spot."

"Barracuda products are cheap."

"The price could be better."

"It doesn't allow adding DNS filtering for off-site clients."

"They need to provide a Sandbox to safely examine phishing links within emails without infecting our network. Also, I would like more end-to-end email tracing for a clearer understanding of why an email was blocked or not blocked."

"Our problem is that it's a virtual appliance and we're moving to a new platform and, for whatever reason, we can't move it as it is... When we were migrating our virtual machines from the old to the new system, we determined rather quickly that it wouldn't migrate over."

"The solution’s customer support should be improved."

More Barracuda Web Security and Filtering cons

"They should enhance the audit reporting feature."

"In terms of user experience, it could be better."

"Currently, the solution's interface is not that user-friendly."

"Zscaler does not provide dedicated IPs to each customer. Hence, they share a pool of IPs provided by Zscaler. There is a chance of blacklisting these IPs. I also do not like the multi-management portal."

"Zscaler Internet Access needs to integrate more ISPs. It is good to have more than three ISPs."

"They block Zscaler IPs when the traffic origin is from Zscaler IPs. They've been blocked by certain government organizations so the end users are not able to visit those websites unless we ask them to unblock those IP. This is a bit problematic."

"We'd like to have more plugins and integration."

"The solution can be improved by advancing some of the newer technologies such as the DLP feature, and adding email security."

More Zscaler Internet Access cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

"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."

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

"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."

"The pricing and licensing are comparatively reasonable."

"Barracuda products are cheap."

"The solution's pricing is neither cheap nor expensive."

"The price could be better. Barracuda started adding more features at the end of 2022. There was no price increase if you bought the maintenance package before the end of 2022. If you signed a three-year contract, you are lucky because there won't be a price increase on those features. Their pricing has increased if you wanted to install all of their features. But they are segmenting. You can buy the whole group, or you can get pieces. But it's tedious. The cost is getting higher than it should."

"It is a cost-effective solution."

"The price is competitive. It's not cheap and it's not expensive."

"Because it's a cloud solution, we pay on a yearly basis. It is affordable and includes tech support and all features."

"The price of Zscaler Internet Access should improve, it is expensive."

"We pay around 6,500 INR per user per year, which is very expensive. I would rate Zscaler's pricing one out of five."

"The pricing is fair based on its competitive market."

"Licenses are available on a per-host basis. Some features like sandboxing require an additional fee, but most standard features are included in the license."

"The pricing for Zscaler Internet Access could be made cheaper."

"If we need any extra features, the price will increase."

More Zscaler Internet Access pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Secure Web Gateways (SWG) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

872,655 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

13%

Government

10%

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Comms Service Provider

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	10
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	1

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	17
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	37

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 do you like most about Barracuda Web Security Gateway?

The solution is very simple to use and implement.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Barracuda Web Security Gateway?

They need to provide a Sandbox to safely examine phishing links within emails without infecting our network. Also, I ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Barracuda Web Security Gateway?

Mainly, I use it for blocking suspicious emails, such as malware or phishing emails, so they don't pass through our e...

See all answers

Which is the better security solution - Cisco Umbrella or Zscaler?

Cisco Umbrella and Zscaler Internet Access are two broad-spectrum Internet security solutions that I have tried. Zs...

See all answers

Which is better, Zscaler internet access or Netsckope CASB?

We researched Netskope but ultimately chose Zscaler. Netskope is a cloud access security broker that helps identify ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Zscaler Internet Access?

The solution has reduced cyberattacks.

See all answers

Comparisons

Netskope vs iboss

Compared 14% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs iboss

Compared 13% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs iboss

Compared 13% of the time

Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) vs iboss

Compared 8% of the time

Cloudflare One vs iboss

Compared 6% of the time

More iboss Competitors

Symantec WebFilter vs Barracuda Web Security and Filtering

Compared 32% of the time

Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway vs Barracuda Web Security and Filtering

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs Barracuda Web Security and Filtering

Compared 19% of the time

Check Point Web Gateway vs Barracuda Web Security and Filtering

Compared 15% of the time

More Barracuda Web Security and Filtering Competitors

Cisco Umbrella vs Zscaler Internet Access

Compared 21% of the time

Netskope vs Zscaler Internet Access

Compared 14% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Zscaler Internet Access

Compared 12% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs Zscaler Internet Access

Compared 7% of the time

Fortinet FortiProxy vs Zscaler Internet Access

Compared 1% of the time

More Zscaler Internet Access Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

October 2025

Download iboss product report

Buyer's Guide

Barracuda Web Security and Filtering

October 2025

Barracuda Web Security and Filtering report

Download Barracuda Web Security and Filtering product report

Buyer's Guide

Zscaler Internet Access

October 2025

Download Zscaler Internet Access product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

Barracuda Web Security Gateway, Barracuda Web Filter

ZIA

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

Barracuda Web Security Gateway lets organizations benefit from online applications and tools without exposure to web-borne malware and viruses, lost user productivity, and misused bandwidth. As a comprehensive solution for web security and management, it unites award-winning spyware, malware, and virus protection with a powerful policy and reporting engine. Advanced features ensure that organizations adapt to emerging requirements like social-network regulation, remote filtering, and visibility into SSL-encrypted traffic.

Unlimited remote user licenses are included to enforce content and access policies for mobile and desktop devices outside of the corporate network. Barracuda Web Security Gateway is also available as a virtual appliance.

Barracuda Networks

Zscaler Internet Access is a cloud-native security service edge (SSE) platform. Its main purpose is to provide AI-powered protection for all users, all applications, and all locations. The solution replaces other legacy network security solutions to stop advanced attacks and prevent data loss by using a comprehensive zero trust approach.

Zscaler Internet Access Features

Zscaler Internet Access has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Proxy (native SSL)
IPS and advanced protection
Cloud sandbox
DNS security
Cloud firewall
URL filtering
Bandwidth control
DNS filtering
Cloud DLP w/EDM and IDM
Cloud access security broker (CASB)
Cloud security posture management (CSPM)
CloudBrowser isolation
Cloud secure web gateway (SWG)
Zero trust network access (ZTNA)
Digital experience monitoring

Zscaler Internet Access Benefits

There are several benefits to implementing Zscaler Internet Access. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

Fast access with zero infrastructure: Zscaler Internet Access creates a fast, seamless user experience because of its direct-to-cloud architecture. With no infrastructure, Zscaler Internet Access helps you eliminate backhauling, which improves performance and simplifies network administration.

Threat intelligence: By using threat intelligence, Zscaler Internet Access can stop ransomware, zero-day malware, and advanced attacks via Inline inspection of all internet traffic, including SSL decryption, and a suite of AI-powered cloud security services.

Consistent security: With Zscaler Internet Access, your security policy goes everywhere your users go. When you move security to the cloud, all users, applications, devices, and locations remain protected and secure based on identity and context.

Hybrid workforce: Zscaler Internet Access enables secure access to all external and internal apps from anywhere, so remote work is not an issue. You can also enforce business policies that follow the user, making security identical regardless of location.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by Zscaler Internet Access users.

A Service Manager at a construction company says, "There are a bunch of different capabilities that are valuable within the platform. We use quite a lot of them, but not everything. The ones that are most important to us are the URL Filtering and the application control. For our needs, the cloud-native proxy architecture is a very good solution. This architecture helps with cyber threats because we inspect most of the traffic and we can see that a lot of threats are stopped directly in the secure web gateway."

Owen N., Security Architect at Claro Enterprise Solutions, explains that the solution’s most valuable features include “The integration of the gateway that inspects all ports and protocols. So, there is threat prevention; The cloud sandbox; VNS security; Access control that will protect URL filtering and the cloud firewall; Data protection that will protect your gateway, like your CASB or your cloud DLP; The capabilities of this will point your traffic to Zscaler Cloud.”

An Architecture Senior Manager at an insurance company mentions, "The data loss prevention feature is the most valuable. It stops our users from inadvertently leaking our customers' data to the Internet or anywhere else it shouldn't go." He also adds, “The solution provides quick access to cloud services, securing our data and allowing us to inspect all our traffic.”

Zscaler

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.

Citizen Farmers Finance, Osoyoos Credit Union, Supreme Services, Camden County Technical Schools, Frederick County Schools, Pine Belt Mental Healthcare, Paulsboro Public Schools, Dysart Unified School District, St. Michael's Grammar School, Southfield Schools District, Total Threat Protection - Wade Ford, Alain Pinel Realtors, Southfield Public Schools, Major League Baseball (MLB)

Ulster-Greene ARC, BanRegio, HDFC, Ralcorp Holdings Inc., British American Tobacco, Med America Billing Services Inc., Lanco Group, Aquafil, Telefonica, Swisscom, Brigade Group

Buyer's Guide

Barracuda Web Security and Filtering vs. Zscaler Internet Access

September 2025

Free Report: Barracuda Web Security and Filtering vs. Zscaler Internet Access

Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda Web Security and Filtering vs. Zscaler Internet Access and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

872,655 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Barracuda Web Security and Filtering vs. Zscaler Internet Access report.

See our list of best Secure Web Gateways (SWG) vendors.

We monitor all Secure Web Gateways (SWG) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.