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Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
4.7
iboss offers significant ROI by saving bandwidth and enhancing security, despite increased costs from cloud migration and device pricing.
Sentiment score
7.1
Cato SASE Cloud Platform reduces costs and enhances efficiency with improved reliability, optimized traffic, and decreased maintenance expenses.
Sentiment score
6.9
Cisco Secure Client enhances remote connectivity with robust security, ease of use, and varied ROI experiences across organizations.
With iboss, whenever you turn on your laptop, the iboss agent automatically connects to the iboss cloud, enforcing all security policies. So with respect to the security side, it strengthens measures.
Senior Consultant Proxy Engineering at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
I have seen some cost effectiveness from iboss; it has reduced certain support requirements, making it a more hands-off solution.
Managing Director
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.8
Iboss support is praised for responsiveness and knowledge, with some concerns about communication but generally favorable reviews.
Sentiment score
7.5
Cato SASE Cloud's customer support is responsive, efficient, 24/7, with high user satisfaction and occasional concerns about sales communication.
Sentiment score
6.8
Cisco Secure Client provides reliable performance, with support generally quick and effective, though access sometimes requires contracts and has delays.
They are very fast, responsive, and knowledgeable.
Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water
The quality of the support is fantastic.
Educational Technology Coordinator at a performing arts with 201-500 employees
We had promising discussions about resolving these issues, but no real action followed.
Network Administrator at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
Their knowledge portal and Cato Academy portal are excellent resources.
Product Lifecycle manager at Air Spring
Our customer service experience is excellent
Vice President at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I think the technical support by Cato SASE Cloud Platform is quite good.
Product & Services Integrator at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Cisco offers very high-quality customer service.
Manager - Network Services at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Cisco technical support is difficult, and it requires lots of contracts.
Technical Manager at Gannexion BV
Over the years, there's been a decline in the quality, mainly in areas such as the experience level of support engineers and the time taken to address and escalate issues.
Director/ Senior Network Specialist at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Iboss efficiently scales to meet growing resource demands, supporting large user bases with robust support and adaptable infrastructure.
Sentiment score
8.0
Cato SASE Cloud Platform excels in scalability, supporting enterprises globally with efficient management and eliminating frequent hardware upgrades.
Sentiment score
7.3
Cisco Secure Client efficiently scales for organizations, providing secure access while integrating with existing infrastructures despite potential hardware challenges.
They are also able to meet on-demand requirements based on your contract with them, and can easily provide adequate resources and scalability.
Senior Consultant Proxy Engineering at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
I would rate it a nine out of ten for scalability.
If I start seeing sluggishness or anything like that, I just reach out to my rep, and they connect with their dev team, typically resolving it the same day.
Educational Technology Coordinator at a performing arts with 201-500 employees
As an MSSP, we find it scalable for end users across EPP platforms, network, and cloud sides.
Product Lifecycle manager at Air Spring
A smaller firewall can handle fewer sessions, while a larger one can handle tens of thousands of sessions.
Director/ Senior Network Specialist at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
The scalability of Cisco Secure Client depends on the hardware I choose.
Network Architect at Sysnet Solutions Bangladesh Limited
Regarding scalability, Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) rates as excellent because we can scale out by simply buying more licenses from the vendor.
Senior Network Engineer Specialist at Zenith Comp Co.,Ltd.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Iboss is generally stable with reliable support, despite initial deployment challenges, and is often praised for minimal downtime.
Sentiment score
8.3
Users praise Cato SASE Cloud Platform for its stable, reliable performance, high availability, and smooth operation across global deployments.
Sentiment score
8.0
Cisco Secure Client is praised for its stability and reliability, effectively handling remote connectivity despite minor flaws.
It's been pretty solid; I've never had an outage with them, and if I ever had, it's only been once out of the seven years.
Educational Technology Coordinator at a performing arts with 201-500 employees
We've experienced zero downtime.
Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water
Our biggest problem with their service was it did not recognize the device despite our ClearPass sending information to the iboss box.
Network Administrator at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
I would rate the stability of the solution as ten on a scale of one to ten.
Vice President at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I find Cato SASE Cloud Platform overall stable.
Product & Services Integrator at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
I would rate the stability ten out of ten.
Sr. I&C Enginner at Reliance Industries Ltd
The stability is really good, and I would rate it up to nine.
Manager - Network Services at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Regarding the performance of Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect), I have not seen any issues because performance-wise it functions properly.
Manager - Projects at airtel
 

Room For Improvement

Iboss struggles with Mac support, ISP integration in India, and needs improvements in security features and cloud integration.
Enhancing identity integration, security features, interface, third-party compatibility, and sector-specific tools would boost Cato SASE Cloud's appeal.
Cisco Secure Client faces usability and integration challenges, including outdated support, cumbersome authentication, and issues with pricing and technical support.
It is not as intuitive as the rest of the platform.
Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water
We also had a problem with a transition when we upgraded from one appliance of theirs to another, but their engineer lost a good deal of our data.
Network Administrator at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
Our iboss subscription access should be more secure with an OTP or VPN etc.
The platform lacks strong security features on the edge.
Product Lifecycle manager at Air Spring
To improve Cato SASE Cloud Platform, I think they sometimes need more built-in features for security in larger networks when doing local authentication.
Product & Services Integrator at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
I am using Intune for deployments, and it's not easy to create an automated deployment where users do not need to register server addresses.
Chief Technologies Officer at ASTORG PARTNERS
Vendors offer more features, such as a kill switch.
Technical Manager at Gannexion BV
Cisco's security portfolio, including Secure Client and the firewalls, is falling behind.
Director/ Senior Network Specialist at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Setup Cost

Iboss offers competitive, transparent pricing with valuable cloud solutions, appealing to enterprises for predictable budgeting and desired functionality.
Cato SASE Cloud offers competitive, flexible bandwidth-based pricing, with user-rated cost-effectiveness and discounts through partnerships for yearly licensing.
Cisco Secure Client licensing offers flexible annual terms but is sometimes considered costly compared to Fortinet and Palo Alto.
It offers the same features you would get from a vendor that charges 250,000 British pounds for a fraction of the price.
Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water
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.
Network Administrator at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern.
Managing Director
I do not find it particularly expensive, but for some companies, they may not have the budget to be at that level of security for their networks.
Product & Services Integrator at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
The pricing is flexible due to our special partnership with Cato Networks.
Vice President at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Palo Alto and Fortinet provide free VPN connections, but Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) requires a license purchase.
Senior Network Engineer Specialist at Zenith Comp Co.,Ltd.
I perceive the pricing to be a seven, however, I have perpetual licenses.
Technical Manager at Gannexion BV
The pricing seems to align equally with other competitors like Palo Alto during a competitive situation.
Director/ Senior Network Specialist at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Valuable Features

Iboss provides comprehensive cloud security with advanced features, enhancing data protection and management efficiency for network security.
Cato SASE Cloud Platform enhances network performance with advanced security, traffic optimization, centralized management, and cost-effective global SD-WAN capabilities.
Cisco Secure Client provides reliable, cross-platform VPN access with multi-factor authentication and seamless Active Directory integration for enhanced security.
The solution's mental health function can detect if someone needs help.
Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water
It's given us a lot more visibility into our computer assets that may be infected with viruses and also shows us people who have unusually large uploads or might be engaging in high-risk activities, such as searches or going to sites not categorized by their web crawler.
Educational Technology Coordinator at a performing arts with 201-500 employees
iboss was the best solution for us because, no matter what domain you were in, everything is under a single pane of glass, which is exactly what we wanted.
Managing Director
It is scalable for end users across network and cloud sides and saves operational costs.
Product Lifecycle manager at Air Spring
The single-pass architecture has improved user experience with Cato SASE Cloud Platform as it provides security teams in companies a platform where they can easily obtain information if there are breaches or security issues.
Product & Services Integrator at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Beneficial for businesses needing secure access outside the office.
Director/ Senior Network Specialist at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Additionally, it gives the user flexibility of working from anywhere, which is a major feature we are looking at.
Manager - Projects at airtel
Cisco Secure Client's AnyConnect VPN's reliability has been absolutely wonderful, as well as the ability to connect from any network, regardless of location.
Sr. I&C Enginner at Reliance Industries Ltd
 

Categories and Ranking

iboss
Sponsored
Ranking in ZTNA as a Service
8th
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), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (7th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (8th)
Cato SASE Cloud Platform
Ranking in ZTNA as a Service
7th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
WAN Optimization (2nd), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (11th), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (6th), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (4th), WAN Edge (6th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (3rd), Remote Browser Isolation (RBI) (2nd)
Cisco Secure Client (includ...
Ranking in ZTNA as a Service
12th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
78
Ranking in other categories
SSL VPN (3rd), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (8th), Cisco Security Portfolio (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the ZTNA as a Service category, the mindshare of iboss is 3.2%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cato SASE Cloud Platform is 9.2%, down from 11.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) is 3.1%, down from 3.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
ZTNA as a Service Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cato SASE Cloud Platform9.2%
iboss3.2%
Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect)3.1%
Other84.5%
ZTNA as a Service
 

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.
reviewer2697738 - PeerSpot reviewer
Product & Services Integrator at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Cloud security has unified global network design and has simplified threat visibility
I think all of the functionalities, such as the secure web gateway feature, are quite good. I also believe Cato SASE Cloud Platform is one of the only solutions that has not only a software firewall solution but also a physical software solution where you can change the company's firewalls and put in sockets from Cato SASE Cloud Platform, which I see as an advantage for them. The single-pass architecture has improved user experience with Cato SASE Cloud Platform as it provides security teams in companies a platform where they can easily obtain information if there are breaches or security issues. I assess the benefit of integrating WAN optimization as good. There is ease in making rules between WAN optimization, especially when it comes to global connections because of all their points of presence that are spread over the world. I think the real-time threat protection of Cato SASE Cloud Platform is also good. Their points of presence are quite efficient, and I do not see any delays in that area.
AS
Manager - Projects at airtel
Offers work-from-anywhere flexibility but navigates occasional proxy confusion
The analytics I downloaded from your site as a free download did not carry the information that was actually required. I was looking at the market segmentation and market share, along with some USPs which differentiated them from each other. The free download had two issues: many things were repetitive, and it was designed to not release any relevant information. Only headers were present, so I was not able to determine whether the final report would be worthwhile. I have not worked with enterprise tools that I could share feedback on for website publication. I see benefits from using Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect). However, I would not recommend it because future adoptions will be towards Zscaler, as SSC is a better model than VPN. On a scale of 1-10, I rate this solution a 7.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Construction Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business27
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise46
 

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 primary use case for Cato Networks?
I can see that I am a consultant at a reseller and I am the architect of Cato SASE Cloud Platform designs. In the bas...
What advice do you have for others considering Cato Networks?
It is difficult to find types of companies I would not recommend Cato SASE Cloud Platform to, and I believe you can u...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cato Networks?
I do not find it particularly expensive, but for some companies, they may not have the budget to be at that level of ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?
Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) is somewhat expensive compared to others such as Fortinet or Palo Alto, wh...
What needs improvement with Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?
Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) can be made better, as the product for me has not changed in the last year...
What is your primary use case for Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?
Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) is used to make a VPN connection to work, specifically for a VPN and inter...
 

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform
Cato Networks
Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client
 

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.
Paysafe, AdRoll, Pet Lovers Centre, Arlington Orthopedics, Humphreys & Partners Architects
MST, Molina Healthcare, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, Arup, New South Wales Rural FireService
Find out what your peers are saying about Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.