Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) comparison

Cato Networks and Check Point Software Technologies are both solutions in the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) category. Cato Networks is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.9, while Check Point Software Technologies is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.5. Cato Networks holds a 11.7% mindshare in SASE, compared to Check Point Software Technologies’s 3.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Cato Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Check Point Software Technologies users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 12, 2025

Cato SASE Cloud Platform and Check Point Harmony SASE compete in the secure access service edge (SASE) market. Cato SASE Cloud Platform is favored for its cost-effective global deployment capabilities, while Harmony SASE is preferred for its comprehensive security features like Zero Trust Network Access and centralized management.

Features: Cato SASE Cloud Platform offers advanced next-gen firewall capabilities, bandwidth aggregation, and seamless cloud integration to effectively manage IT networks. Harmony SASE provides Zero Trust Network Access, secure VPN connectivity, and a comprehensive management console that ensures in-depth threat prevention.

Room for Improvement: Users of Cato SASE Cloud Platform suggest enhancing its Web Application Firewall features, improving the user interface for administrators, and extending language options. Check Point Harmony SASE could benefit from simplifying initial configurations, enhancing third-party identity provider integration, and improving analytic capabilities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cato SASE Cloud Platform is praised for its easy deployment across various environments and responsive support. Customers appreciate technical assistance during setup and ongoing proactive support. Harmony SASE is also noted for its ease of deployment, particularly in cloud-friendly hybrid environments, with effective support services though improvements in configuration guidance are suggested.

Pricing and ROI: Cato SASE Cloud Platform provides competitive pricing, particularly for global implementations with robust bandwidth, offering efficient ROI via reduced downtime and reliable connectivity. Check Point Harmony SASE is more expensive but offers value through comprehensive security solutions and flexibility with user licenses, which can justify the higher initial investment.

To learn more, read our detailed Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81)

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

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) category, the mindshare of iboss is 2.1%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cato SASE Cloud Platform is 11.7%, up from 9.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) is 3.9%, down from 4.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cato SASE Cloud Platform	11.7%
Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81)	3.9%
iboss	2.1%
Other	82.3%

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)

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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YOGESHSINGH

Chief Architect at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees

Have streamlined policy configuration and improved network adaptability with some need for better reporting and observability

I may not be that equipped now, but there are certainly growth areas for them, especially around how they provide reporting and monitoring and then flexibility of combining it with an observability part attached to it. This would remove the need to integrate another specialist tool for observability or monitoring part. They would certainly employ AI, especially agentic AI. I think that should be already part of their roadmap as a transversal. But certainly, the kind of integrations they offer today, in the future, I would think they would add more and more feature sets, especially around where they remove the dependency of having specialist solutions on a typical monitoring side. I think it's a fair price. It's positioned very well in the market. It's not low or very high. In the future, I hope that with more services being bundled as part of the solution on the cloud side, they should reduce the price being, provide bundle service. I think in the future they will come up with reduced pricing, more competitive pricing. But today it's fair. It's not very low or very high.

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Nasseer Qureshi

Pre Sales Consultant at Redington Group

Delivers seamless and secure remote access while enhancing security posture

Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) offers strong features, but there are areas that could be improved. One area for improvement is integration with third-party identity providers. It works with standard SAML and SSO, but we would prefer deeper integrations with solutions such as Ping for more advanced identity-based policies. Additionally, a mobile-specific client or lightweight agent would be helpful for securing access from smartphones, especially in BYOD environments. We would appreciate more granular reporting and analytics, including better drill-down capabilities to investigate specific users or app activity. The logs are comprehensive, but filtering them can sometimes feel messy. The user interface on the management portal could be more intuitive, especially when managing multiple sites or remote offices. Some of the policy configuration steps are nested and could be streamlined.

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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

"Valuable features: Within the filter: Controls (Web categories, applications, and Allow/Block list) and Network (local Subnets). Within the reporter: Logs (Event Log) and Reports."

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

"The iboss system is highly reliable. The false positive rates are small compared to some other systems we've experienced through other partner agencies who use competing solutions."

"I would definitely recommend iboss for web filtering purposes to other organizations or individuals."

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

"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."

"Its initial setup was straightforward."

"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."

More iboss pros

"The main features we use are the firewall and secure web gateway."

"What I found most helpful in Cato Networks is that it works out of the box. One of its main advantages is that it's a simple product to deploy. You subscribe, and you're ready to run."

"The tool's advantage is that it provides a hassle-free solution that is easy to manage across all customers. For instance, we have a few customers with as few as 50 users, including one with a branch in Vietnam and others with thousands of users."

"The product is efficient and easy to use."

"The Cato SASE Cloud Platform supports my customers' needs for connectivity and security by removing the throttling from the headquarters and putting a firewall in the cloud, instead of having to use a costly MPLS network to perform security inspection on all traffic from various branches."

"The Cato SASE Cloud Platform is a remarkable solution for managing and controlling all aspects of Zero Trust network access functions through its SASE capabilities. It's designed with an exquisite and practical architecture, making it a worthwhile investment for organizations looking to optimize IT spending and streamline management processes."

"The visibility control and security aspects are amazing."

"The product's most valuable features include advanced firewall capabilities for robust security, a secure gateway for safe data transmission, and next-generation anti-malware for threat prevention."

More Cato SASE Cloud Platform pros

"HTTPS decryption is a valuable service and not always found in cloud-based secure web gateways."

"I find it very easy to implement and deploy in the organization."

"The solution provides high performance along with ATP prevention, policy management, remote activity, and IoT support."

"Scaling Perimeter 81 was easy to do."

"I rate the overall product as ten out of ten."

"It helps to quickly get access to the pages I need."

"Distributing the agent was very simple, allowing us to enforce security posture on our devices (i.e. S1, Disk-encryption, etc.)."

"The best key features of Harmony are stabilization, private access, and Internet access."

More Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) pros

Cons

"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."

"Our biggest problem with their service was it did not recognize the device and filtering did not always work correctly."

"The reporting feature needs improvement."

"Iboss is growing so fast that it is often hard for them to keep up with the challenges."

"Sometimes the agent stops working in iboss, and we have to reinstall the agent."

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

"If they could implement an extra security layer preventing access to iboss from the open internet, it would be great."

"To scale up, a new iboss Node Blade Chassis must be purchased."

More iboss cons

"Cato Networks could improve their intrusion detection. There is not a lot in place."

"They should add more sophisticated security features. It should also be integrated into the cloud."

"Modifying or incorporating Cato Network to work with a third-party platform, such as Microsoft, or other Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings would be beneficial. Having more integration partners would help the users implement the solution."

"Web application firewalling (WAF) is a feature we would like to have in this solution and does not exist yet."

"There should be a Web Application Firewall feature in the product nodes."

"There's no principal in Malaysia, only a distributor."

"They provide very good technical support, but their professional services are very expensive."

"There isn't much to improve as we have a close relationship with them, providing information for research and development."

More Cato SASE Cloud Platform cons

"In order to be able to invite users, send the agent and implement it, the user input must be generated manually."

"The platform still lacks relevant dashboards and the ability to customize them based on our needs."

"In order to have to bypass the login using the website, a good feature for Perimeter 81 to have is a login instance in the Perimeter 81 application. I'm using a Mac and we don't have that functionality."

"Sometimes downloading PDF files can be slow."

"There is an issue when installing the Check Point client."

"Perimeter 81 could enhance its reporting and analytics capabilities to provide more detailed insights into network activity."

"Harmony lacks this ability when anything more than a vanilla access policy is used (we use layers and source user objects in our policy which make this impossible according to Check Point)."

"There is a very small amount of downtime."

More Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"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."

"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."

"The solution has reasonable pricing. It has a yearly subscription. The pricing depends on the permit to code. Sometimes, we need to increase the permit, and the cost will automatically change. There's no fixed cost. Unless we request additional modules such as DNS security, ELP, and decent features, there will be no additional cost."

"The platform is expensive."

"The pricing of this solution depends on what you need. It is based on bandwidth."

"I rate the price of Cato Networks a four out of five."

"The pricing is on the higher side, almost an eight out of ten."

"The price of Cato Networks is in the middle range compared to other solutions. NetFoundry is a less expensive solution than Cato Networks."

"The solution's pricing is flexible."

"The pricing of the solution depends upon the bandwidth required for different branches"

More Cato SASE Cloud Platform pricing and cost advice

"Perimeter 81 charges separately for gateways and VPN connectivity, but compared to Azure, it seemed more reasonable."

"The pricing is good, especially when you compare it to other firewall or UTM solutions from FortiGate or SonicWall, where you would have to invest about four hundred thousand rupees for 100 users over a three-year period."

"Annual licenses cost $30 to $40 each."

"I consider the product to be a medium-priced solution. There are no additional costs attached to the tool."

"Regarding pricing, I can say that the more the number of users, the less they have to pay."

"The solution is priced appropriately considering its uses. For an essential license, a user pays only 30 USD per month. For an enterprise version, the prices can be negotiated with the company."

"Overall I am very happy with the solution’s flexibility and pricing."

"The product is neither cheap nor expensive."

More Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

19%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

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	14
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	10

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	53
Midsize Enterprise	18
Large Enterprise	15

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?

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

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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...

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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...

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What do you like most about Cato Networks?

The solution is a simple WAN solution. We've onboarded the socket on the Cato platform, and it provides connectivity....

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What is your primary use case for Cato Networks?

Actually, we propose Moogsoft as a solution. Previously we were using the solution for our customer, and we were basi...

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What advice do you have for others considering Cato Networks?

My experience would be four out of five. I personally need to understand it more deeply. But it appears good at this ...

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What do you like most about Perimeter 81?

Even after restarting, it tries to quickly reestablish connection which is very helpful.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Perimeter 81?

It's essential to consider the organization's specific requirements and budget. Here are some general recommendations...

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What needs improvement with Perimeter 81?

In terms of improvement, Perimeter 81 could enhance its reporting and analytics capabilities to provide more detailed...

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

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform vs iboss

Compared 4% of the time

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Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform vs Cato SASE Cloud Platform

Compared 15% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Cato SASE Cloud Platform

Compared 11% of the time

Netskope vs Cato SASE Cloud Platform

Compared 10% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs Cato SASE Cloud Platform

Compared 9% of the time

Prisma SD-WAN vs Cato SASE Cloud Platform

Compared 2% of the time

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Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform vs Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81)

Compared 10% of the time

Netskope vs Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81)

Compared 10% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81)

Compared 8% of the time

OpenVPN Access Server vs Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81)

Compared 8% of the time

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81)

Compared 4% of the time

More Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

October 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Cato SASE Cloud Platform

October 2025

Download Cato SASE Cloud Platform product report

Buyer's Guide

Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81)

October 2025

Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) report

Download Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

Cato Networks

Check Point Quantum SASE

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

Cato Networks is a leading SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) platform, combining SD-WAN and network security to obtain a cloud-native service. Cato Networks optimizes and secures application access for users and identities. The platform delivers a next-generation secure networking architecture that minimizes legacy IT infrastructures’ complexity, costs, and risks. The goal of Cato Suite is to connect any user to any application securely and optimally.

Cato Suite runs on a private global network of more than 65 PoPs (points of presence) connected via SLA-backed network providers. The service can connect branches, data centers, users, and clouds. Cato can be deployed in stages to augment legacy network services.

Cato Suite delivers end-to-end route optimization for WAN and cloud traffic. The architecture is self-healing, enabling a high service uptime.

Cato Features

Cato Cloud has a global backbone to deliver a reliable, global network. Here are some key SD-WAN features of Cato Cloud.

Optimizes traffic flows: The Cato Suite can individually optimize traffic flows in the last mile - from the customer’s location to the point of presence, and also between PoPs. This feature eliminates the need for internet providers to hand off traffic to each other, avoiding the resulting latency and congestion.
Controls and manages bandwidth: The software-defined overlay is encrypted across the entire cloud infrastructure. This overlay uses application-aware routing, analyzing latency and loss data to choose the best route according to network conditions. These features, like protocol priority marking, enable the system to ensure the performance of real-time applications.
Delivers redundancy and failover: By connecting the points of presence with multiple Tier-1 IPs, Cato builds the redundancy needed to ensure security and highly available service.
Cloud-native: Cato is built as a scalable, resilient, and elastic cloud service.
Converged: The platform converges SD-WAN and network security into a single infrastructure framework.
Secures all edges: Cato Network can secure and optimize traffic from all users, locations, applications, and clouds.

What challenges does Cato Network solve?

Migration to SD-WAN

MPLS (multi-protocol label switching) networks are usually expensive and limited in their capacity. Cato simplifies migrating to a faster, higher-capacity internet and SASE cloud. Cato SD-WAN appliances enable customers to improve usable capacity and resiliency.

Global connectivity optimization

Customers who suffer from the challenge of high latency and network inconsistency can use Cato to deliver a consistent connection and user experience to access on-premises and cloud applications.

Securing branch internet access

Cato’s complete network security stack connects all branch locations to the Cato cloud, therefore protecting all traffic, both internet-bound and WAN, with enterprise-grade, cloud-based security services. This capability avoids having to backhaul internet traffic to a data center or hub or having to implement stand-alone cloud security solutions.

Cloud acceleration and control

Organizations using Cato notice an acceleration of cloud traffic. Cato achieves this by routing all traffic from the edges to the PoP closest to the data center. Because of the close distance between the two, the latency is near zero.

Reviews from Real Users

An IT manager/project coordinator at a healthcare company says that “[Cato is] a cloud-based solution that integrates well with everything. They are the classic SaaS solution.”

Yeong-Gi L., a network engineer at Snetsystems, notes that “The solution is very stable. The scalability is quite good. Technical support was always helpful and responsive. The integration capabilities are not a problem at all.”

"The most valuable feature is that it also works as a next-gen firewall because it has security features," says Lorenzo S., senior solutions consultant Lead at MDI.

Cato Networks

Check Point Harmony SASE, formerly Perimeter 81, offers robust security features like split tunneling, MFA, and Zero Trust Network Access focused on secure remote access and optimized connectivity for remote teams.

Check Point Harmony SASE delivers advanced security through a user-friendly interface, efficient VPN connections, and a centralized management console. It enhances security with real-time threat intelligence from ThreatCloud and traffic management via built-in optimization. Firewall as a Service and Secure Web Gateway safeguard against unauthorized access and phishing. While users seek enhanced networking customizations and better integration with identity providers, there's an emphasis on improving reporting, real-time analytics, and policy management. Requests also include a Chrome extension, traffic balancing, and simplified configuration to address some resource-intensive aspects.

What are the key features of Check Point Harmony SASE?

Split Tunneling: Manages internet traffic more efficiently by routing only necessary data through the VPN.
MFA: Provides an additional layer of security through multi-factor authentication.
Zero Trust Network Access: Ensures secure connections by validating every user and device.
ThreatCloud: Enhances protection with real-time threat intelligence.
Firewall as a Service: Protects against unauthorized access and threats.
Secure Web Gateway: Prevents phishing attacks and unauthorized internet access.

How can organizations benefit from using Check Point Harmony SASE?

Improved Security: Real-time threat intelligence and robust authentication minimize risks.
Centralized Management: Simplifies control over network security and policies.
Optimized Connectivity: Efficient traffic routing enhances user experience.
Flexible Integration: Seamlessly integrates with existing IT infrastructure, enhancing strategic security deployment.

Check Point Harmony SASE is used across industries for secure remote access and connectivity, protecting sensitive data, and managing access to corporate resources. It is ideal for those with hybrid cloud models and requires comprehensive security measures combined with existing IT infrastructures to meet specific industry demands.

Check Point Software Technologies

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.

Paysafe, AdRoll, Pet Lovers Centre, Arlington Orthopedics, Humphreys & Partners Architects

Aqua Security, Cognito, Multipoint, Kustomer, Postman, Meredith

Buyer's Guide

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81)

September 2025

Free Report: Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81)

Find out what your peers are saying about Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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