Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) comparison

Sponsored
 

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:
 

Categories and Ranking

iboss
Sponsored
Ranking in Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (10th), Internet Security (4th), Web Content Filtering (3rd), ZTNA as a Service (11th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (10th)
Cato SASE Cloud Platform
Ranking in Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
6th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
WAN Optimization (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (4th), WAN Edge (4th), ZTNA as a Service (4th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (5th)
Zscaler Private Access (ZPA)
Ranking in Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
14th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Matt Crockford - PeerSpot reviewer
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
Alexander Azikov - PeerSpot reviewer
Provide a seamless experience for end users with internet duplication feature
The setup and onboarding process is very straightforward - I'd rate it a ten out of ten for ease. We use CatoCloud as our cloud provider. They have points of presence, and we connect to the nearest one to our physical location. All the routing, inspection, and logic for what to route, block, or allow happens in the cloud, not on the local device. Our deployment took a couple of weeks because we installed the sites manually. If we had a team to help switch locally, it could have been done in a week. The deployment process is straightforward. We set up all the sites in their cloud system; then, they ship the sockets directly to the location or our main office. We connect the device to the internet, it gets activated, we assign it to a specific site inside the cloud, and it's online and ready to use. It's very easy.
Martin Partridge - PeerSpot reviewer
User access is simplified and secured through central core functionalities
The simplicity and logical structure of Zscaler make it easy to use and administer. It allows grouping, enabling en masse access conveniently. Unlike the BlueCoat proxy, which was more prescriptive and individual-focused, Zscaler offers group access. Additionally, Zscaler's modern tools enhance the network architecture by passing everything through a central core of security, ensuring everything is secure before accessing the internet.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Our primary use case for this product is DLP,"
"First of all, the security policies are essential. I do not have to rely solely on Active Directory for our users."
"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."
"Granular setup, which was able to set different levels of filters using the OUs in the AD."
"I would definitely recommend iboss for web filtering purposes to other organizations or individuals."
"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."
"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."
"Iboss is a solution that prevents advanced persistent threats, and has a zero tolerance for attacks."
"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."
"The most valuable feature of Cato Networks is the CASB and the documentation is useful."
"I haven't had any trouble, and practically forget that I'm using it."
"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 product is efficient and easy to use."
"The query and the SD-WAN are useful features of the solution."
"We appreciate the optimization and acceleration of the performance of SDP users."
"The most valuable feature is that it also works as a next-gen firewall because it has security features."
"Zscaler Private Access helps by resolving network choke issues, allowing application access from public networks without needing to integrate with internal networks."
"It provides security and has a great service user experience."
"Zscaler Private Access helps by resolving network choke issues, allowing application access from public networks without needing to integrate with internal networks."
"Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) is the most mature compared to other vendors in terms of features and stability."
"Zscaler ZPA is easy to administer and is organized in a straightforward and logical manner."
"Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) is much more secure than VPN because users are only allowed to access specific applications rather than the whole network."
"Overall, I would rate it a nine out of ten."
"The scalability is amazing. Whenever we need to upgrade the users, it increases immediately."
 

Cons

"I'd like to see them accelerate development on the security side, particularly around data loss prevention."
"Fold that in with the risk intelligence they're getting from all of the different subscriptions they are a part of. Now, these security companies subscribe to things like emerging threats, databases, etc. You can fold all this intelligence to decide what's happening on an endpoint. I would love to see them start moving into that space. That would compete directly with Microsoft. Maybe that's why they haven't. Having that ability native within the solution would be great. The other area in which I would love to see improvement is more detailed descriptions of why they block websites."
"The dashboards for local use could be better."
"The solution could be stronger on the integration side and offer more cloud applications like G Suite or Oracle."
"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."
"Iboss is growing so fast that it is often hard for them to keep up with the challenges."
"SSL decryption: We had issues with learners using apps instead of using web browsers. This type of encryption is tough for any appliance in a BYOD environment."
"Their on-premise hardware's network interface is capped at one gigabit, which is sort of a problem. If you stand a filter up where all traffic flows through that, according to them, in order to go above a gigabit, you have to have multiple devices, which in today's IT seems a little bit silly. They could easily put in an SFP port into their device that could accommodate 10 gigs or at least offer a box."
"They should include a web application firewall feature in the solution."
"There isn't much to improve as we have a close relationship with them, providing information for research and development."
"A little tweaking or improvement of the UI in terms of logging when troubleshooting would be an improvement because it's very detailed."
"The price could be better."
"I would like to see better integration with identity providers."
"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."
"The product must evolve into the endpoint domain."
"There's no principal in Malaysia, only a distributor."
"The rollout process could be much easier, and the configuration of identity providers like Azure is more complicated than with other zero trust network providers. This can be a pain point."
"Zscaler restricts customization to a maximum of 256 customizable rules, which can be a limitation for us."
"Customer service and support are rated seven or eight out of ten, needing improvement in quality and response time."
"There are some bugs in the solution."
"The price is a concern as it increases every year and becomes more expensive, driving customers and other vendors to look for alternatives."
"The lack of control over the 700+ external IPs through which traffic exits Zscaler is problematic."
"There are some bugs in the solution, which they are clearly working on, and they are still not resolving them. So it's taking some time."
"One area for improvement is setting posture profiles for vendor machines."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"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 expensive compared to one of its competitors."
"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."
"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 platform is expensive."
"Cato Networks seems more expensive than Cisco Meraki."
"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."
"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 rate the price of Cato Networks a four out of five."
"The price is not an issue for us, as it is priced more competitively than some other vendors."
Information not available
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) solutions are best for your needs.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
26%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
5%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about iboss?
Content filtering is the most useful feature of iboss.
What needs improvement with iboss?
Our biggest problem with their service was it did not recognize the device and filtering did not always work correctl...
What is your primary use case for iboss?
We used it for student and faculty filtering on campus.
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....
What is your primary use case for Cato Networks?
We have been using Cato Networks as a solution for firewall and secure web gateway.
What advice do you have for others considering Cato Networks?
I would definitely recommend Cato Networks to other users. I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zscaler Private Access (ZPA)?
The pricing of ZPA is rated five out of ten, which I consider to be in the middle. I believe it is justified for the ...
What needs improvement with Zscaler Private Access (ZPA)?
The rollout process could be much easier, and the configuration of identity providers like Azure is more complicated ...
What is your primary use case for Zscaler Private Access (ZPA)?
The main use case is to access the local network or the customer network, the servers, and applications. This is the ...
 

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform
Cato Networks
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

More than 4,000 global enterprises trust the iboss Cloud Platform to support their modern workforces, including a large number of Fortune 50 companies.
Paysafe, AdRoll, Pet Lovers Centre, Arlington Orthopedics, Humphreys & Partners Architects
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.