Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Cisco Secure Access comparison

Cato Networks and Cisco are both solutions in the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) category. Cato Networks is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.9, while Cisco is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.4. Cato Networks holds a 11.7% mindshare in SASE, compared to Cisco’s 3.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Cato Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 6, 2024

Cato SASE Cloud Platform and Cisco Secure Access are competitors in the network security and access control market. Users tend to favor Cato for its pricing and customer support, whereas Cisco is praised for its extensive features.

Features: Cato SASE Cloud Platform offers an integrated approach and comprehensive security features that facilitate a seamless cloud experience. Cisco Secure Access is noted for its sophisticated network security capabilities and adaptability across various environments. Users prefer Cisco for its broad feature range, while Cato is hailed for ease of integration.

Room for Improvement: Cato SASE Cloud Platform could enhance customization options and expand technical support. Cisco Secure Access should simplify management and reduce complexity in deployment. Feedback suggests opportunities for Cato to improve technical support and Cisco to streamline its configuration processes.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cato SASE Cloud Platform is known for rapid deployment and valuable customer service. Cisco Secure Access, though requiring a complex setup, is backed by reliable customer service. Cato is recognized for faster deployment, while Cisco is noted for comprehensive support despite the intricate setup.

Pricing and ROI: Cato SASE Cloud Platform is attractive for its cost-effectiveness and prompt ROI. Cisco Secure Access, although more expensive upfront, is seen as a worthwhile investment due to its enhanced features. Cato shines with competitive pricing, while Cisco's strength lies in perceived long-term value.

To learn more, read our detailed Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Cisco Secure Access Report (Updated: October 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Cisco Secure Access

October 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 Cisco Secure Access is 3.1%, up from 0.3% 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%
iboss	2.1%
Cisco Secure Access	3.1%
Other	83.1%

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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Vasil Blagov

Manager, Network at Duracell International, Inc.

Easy management and security ensure reliable 24/7 connectivity

Zero Trust Network Access has helped my organization in securing standard applications because it's mandated to have it. It provides peace of mind knowing that we have that deployed in our network. Cisco Secure Access's ability to provide secure access via standard HTTP2, and optionally, QUIC protocol is good. It complies with the new standards. The impact of Cisco Secure Access on protecting my organization from phishing and ransomware threats has been good so far. We've been doing well with no threats.

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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

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

"Our primary use case for this product is DLP,"

"From a use-case scenario, what I like the most is the plug-in. I like the fact that we can do the filtering of these devices offsite independent of the network they are connected to, and we do not have to have traffic coming back inside our network."

"Granular setup, which was able to set different levels of filters using the OUs in the AD."

"The solution has massively improved our security posture, giving us full visibility into what our staff does online."

"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."

"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."

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

More iboss pros

"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."

"When I first encountered Cato, I didn't know how to use it, but after a week of training, I could onboard our systems to it, so the solution was easy to learn and navigate."

"Cato SASE Cloud Platform's self-healing model is the most valuable feature."

"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."

"It is quite simple and easy to use."

"I rate Cato SASE Cloud Platform at 9.5 out of 10."

"The visibility control and security aspects are amazing."

"Additionally, Cato has a global point of presence, which means instead of using other technologies to connect branches and provide access for a retail organization or any organization with branches, we can utilize Cato's backbone. Furthermore, by consolidating different technologies into one solution, there are additional cost savings from that perspective."

More Cato SASE Cloud Platform pros

"The main feature of interest to me and the customers is DNS security and Integrated Secure Web Control (ISWC)."

"I rate the stability of Cisco Secure Access as ten out of ten."

"Cisco Secure Access has had a positive impact on protecting our organization from threats such as phishing and ransomware."

"We have a dedicated account team, so we've got all the people we need to engage with if there's an issue."

"Cisco Secure Access has benefited my organization by allowing people to connect 24/7, ensuring reliability."

"It works well. It hasn't broken. While I don't know enough about all the features yet, it hasn't caused us any problems."

"The most valuable feature of Cisco Secure Access is the level of security it provides."

"They've protected us from threats like phishing and ransomware."

More Cisco Secure Access pros

Cons

"Sometimes, obviously, there are bugs."

"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."

"The reporting feature needs improvement."

"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."

"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."

"The reporting feature needs improvement. It doesn't give you the expected results. It is quite difficult to get the specific reports needed, and it is not as intuitive as the rest of the platform."

"The solution could be stronger on the integration side and offer more cloud applications like G Suite or Oracle."

More iboss cons

"I would like to see better integration with identity providers."

"We would like the product to continue to improve its security."

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

"The solution could be made more user friendly for the administrator to use the portal. It is difficult to use it for people who are not experienced with Cato Networks."

"They can't do one-to-one NAT (Network Address Translation) in AP (their access point), and that is something that Palo Alto can do."

"The solution is not cheap."

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

"The platform lacks strong security features on the edge. All security features are on the cloud."

More Cato SASE Cloud Platform cons

"In my opinion, Cisco Secure Access could be improved by potentially incorporating features that other brands have been using. I see benefits from features offered by competitors, which could enhance the Cisco experience if adapted thoughtfully."

"Cisco is not well accepted in the market since they are somewhat behind their competitors."

"We don't have any good tools right now, which is a problem."

"This is my first time in healthcare after being in commercial space for a long time. It's always a challenge because we can't just turn stuff off as we could in the commercial space, since it may interfere with patient care. It takes longer to understand what's going on, so anything that could help give us a faster understanding of what's happening, why it's there, and if it's a risk to us would be helpful."

"Throughout my experience with Cisco Secure Access, I have had some stability and reliability issues, including lagging when accessing the portal."

"The main issue with pricing is that it is higher compared to other competitors, making it challenging to work with customers unless they specifically request Cisco."

"Cisco Secure Access can be improved with more integration; the more integrations, the better. There are always third-party products that you might have, such as Carbon Black."

"The worst part was the migration from Umbrella to Cisco Secure Access; we experienced some difficulties during that process."

More Cisco Secure Access cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

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

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

"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 solution is reasonably priced since Cato Networks provides features like SASE and monitoring, which I am very happy with currently."

"The price is not an issue for us, as it is priced more competitively than some other vendors."

"You pay yearly based on the speed of your network. If you increase the speed of your network, you increase the cost for your throughput. It is by bandwidth for the most part and then licenses for VPN. There is some per-seat licensing for VPN access, but the majority of it is minimal. It is like $30 a year per client. The rest is based on how much bandwidth you'll use. You pay for that upfront for the year, and if you have to increase it, you increase it, and then they let you send more data through. There are no additional costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."

"I'd rate Cato SASE Cloud Platform's pricing as about five or six out of ten. It's not the cheapest solution, but it is cheaper than Palo Alto and even VeloCloud. We've been working with them for a while and have significant discounts. Our licensing costs vary because we keep adding sites, but it's about 280 per month per site. This includes additional features beyond the base product, starting at around 200."

"If you compare with VeloCloud, the price is the same or even cheaper."

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

"Cato Networks seems more expensive than Cisco Meraki."

More Cato SASE Cloud Platform pricing and cost advice

"The pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Cisco Secure Access have been very competitive compared to other platforms. I believe that if Cisco continues to improve costs or offers something similar to a Cisco credit, it would attract more customers."

"It is confusing. When you look at the prices, you have different licensing and years of licensing that you have to purchase. Additionally, it's unclear what service you get from those licenses regarding end-user support. We have a representative who has to walk me through it every time."

"For what you get, it's a fair price in comparison to other products."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

19%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

Construction Company

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	6
Large Enterprise	7

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...

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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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Access?

Price-wise, we get a significant discount with Cisco. I actually prefer Juniper products. From a professional perspec...

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What is your primary use case for Cisco Secure Access?

I support the US government. From a customer perspective, the use cases tend to be where we are guarding edge devices...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Secure Access?

Because we operate with what could only be called a skeleton crew, a monitoring solution to the extent possible is de...

See all answers

Comparisons

Netskope vs iboss

Compared 14% of the time

Zscaler Internet Access vs iboss

Compared 13% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs iboss

Compared 13% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs iboss

Compared 13% of the time

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform vs iboss

Compared 4% of the time

More iboss Competitors

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

FortiSASE vs Cato SASE Cloud Platform

Compared 2% of the time

More Cato SASE Cloud Platform Competitors

Cisco Umbrella vs Cisco Secure Access

Compared 49% of the time

Netskope vs Cisco Secure Access

Compared 13% of the time

FortiSASE vs Cisco Secure Access

Compared 12% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Cisco Secure Access

Compared 8% of the time

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform vs Cisco Secure Access

Compared 5% of the time

More Cisco Secure Access Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

October 2025

Download iboss product report

Buyer's Guide

Cato SASE Cloud Platform

October 2025

Download Cato SASE Cloud Platform product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Access

October 2025

Download Cisco Secure Access product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

Cato Networks

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

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

Cisco Secure Access is a comprehensive Security Service Edge (SSE) solution (a key component of a SASE solution) that addresses the complexities of securing a hybrid enterprise. Cloud-delivered and grounded in zero trust, it delivers a unique blend of user simplicity and IT efficiency for frictionless, secure access to all applications—SaaS (with gen AI), private apps, and the internet—regardless of user location or device. Secure Access protects users, data, and devices against relentless, sophisticated, and constantly evolving threats including AI-driven attacks and identity breaches.

Provides all core SSE components (ZTNA, SWG, CASB, and FWaaS) plus extended capabilities.

Includes VPN-as-a-Service (VPNaaS), data loss prevention (DLP), AI Assistant, visibility/control/guardrails for generative AI use, digital experience monitoring (DEM), reserved IP, remote browser isolation (RBI), DNS-layer security, flexible security enforcement (in cloud or on-premises), policy verification, and more.
Protects users as they seamlessly access resources and apps with no extra steps needed, regardless of protocol, port, or level of customization
Simplifies IT operations through a single client, single dashboard, single license, and unified policies.
Lowers risk with least privilege, granular controls backed with unmatched threat intelligence of Cisco Talos.
Eases interoperability with other products from Cisco and third-party vendors with common administrative controls, data structures, and policy management.

Robust integrations

Integrates with Cisco Identity Intelligence to protect against the startling increase in identity-based attacks.
Integrates with many SAML Identity Providers (IDPs) such as AD, Azure AD, Okta, Ping, etc.
Integrates with Cisco offerings including SD-WAN, Splunk, XDR, Thousand Eyes, third party technologies such as Menlo RBI, Chrome Enterprise Browser, and AppOmni for SSPM.

Cisco

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

1. IBM 2. Microsoft 3. Amazon 4. Google 5. Apple 6. Cisco Systems 7. Oracle 8. Intel 9. HP Inc. 10. Dell Technologies 11. Verizon Communications 12. AT&T 13. Comcast 14. T-Mobile 15. Sprint 16. Vodafone 17. Orange 18. BT Group 19. Deutsche Telekom 20. Telefonica 21. Nokia 22. Ericsson 23. Samsung Electronics 24. Sony 25. Panasonic 26. LG Electronics 27. Siemens 28. General Electric 29. Ford Motor Company 30. General Motors 31. Toyota Motor Corporation 32. Volkswagen Group

Buyer's Guide

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Cisco Secure Access

October 2025

Free Report: Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Cisco Secure Access

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We monitor all Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) 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.