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

Check Point Harmony Browse vs Cisco Web Security Appliance comparison

Sponsored
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 4, 2024

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 Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
Internet Security (3rd), Web Content Filtering (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (7th), ZTNA as a Service (11th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (10th)
Check Point Harmony Browse
Ranking in Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
15th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Browsers (4th)
Cisco Web Security Appliance
Ranking in Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
14th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category, the mindshare of iboss is 2.1%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Check Point Harmony Browse is 0.7%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Web Security Appliance is 2.5%, down from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
 

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
Nasseer Qureshi - PeerSpot reviewer
Securing web browsing activities with effective threat prevention
There is room for improvement in Check Point Harmony Browse. While it is effective, the management portal could use some refinement. For instance, we would like to see more advanced filtering options and clearer reporting for policy violations. Although reporting exists, it sometimes isn't granular enough to quickly identify user-level activity. Another area of improvement is extension compatibility since it currently works best with Chrome and Edge, but having wider browser support for Firefox and Safari would be beneficial for mixed environments. I would also appreciate more flexible customization of policies, especially for different departments with varying needs, allowing for more granular rule-based policies directly from the dashboard. When we receive alerts, sometimes they turn out to be false positives. For example, we encountered a false positive recently and sought to fine-tune our policies to reduce these occurrences, but we didn't have options for that level of fine-tuning. I would like to see improvements in alert tuning that would help reduce unnecessary notifications, especially for low-risk events. Overall, it's a strong out-of-the-box solution, but a few enhancements would refine the experience and make it easier to scale.
Vusa Ndlovu - PeerSpot reviewer
Advanced protection features offer robust security while integration process presents challenges
With the WebAssign integration, it is not easy when I am integrating policies within the company, especially with NAND and wireless policies. The challenge arises when traffic is blocked from either wireless or wired connections. Although implementing it as a standalone is quicker, integrating BYOD with Cisco I and FTB can be tiring. Once it is done correctly, the functionality and reports become valuable, although the implementation part can still be challenging.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"First of all, the security policies are essential. I do not have to rely solely on Active Directory for our users."
"Our primary use case for this product is DLP,"
"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."
"It was a very easy product to install. It can be deployed very fast."
"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 solution has massively improved our security posture, giving us full visibility into what our staff does online."
"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."
"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."
"It completely restricts and blocks phishing attacks and any threat entry into the system and keeps the work pace fast and secure without showing any signs of lag or latency."
"It is easy to implement and has great security potential to avoid vulnerabilities through internet browsing."
"Among its most important features is the integration of its analytics."
"The installation process is simple. Once initiated, the process is quite straightforward and seamless, making it easy to complete."
"Its content filtering is great."
"The product enforces the privacy of the users, which is good."
"The product is stable."
"Its Nano Agent, which integrates with the browser, is incredibly invisible to the user and the computer since it does not require much performance."
"The product is stable."
"Great for assisting with connections to networks or apps."
"I would recommend this solution to others."
"What we liked best about it was the ability to apply policy to either a user ID or an IP-based network."
"This appliance gives me good visibility in the userbase and their activities."
"The most valuable feature is security."
"It also has high availability."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
 

Cons

"I'd like to see them accelerate development on the security side, particularly around data loss prevention."
"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."
"Our biggest problem with their service was it did not recognize the device and filtering did not always work correctly."
"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."
"Sometimes the agent stops working in iboss, and we have to reinstall the agent."
"Sometimes, obviously, there are bugs."
"The solution could be stronger on the integration side and offer more cloud applications like G Suite or Oracle."
"Something that is worth mentioning is the need for support in Spanish and better representation for teams in the Latin American area, where there is a growing demand for these IT services and new technologies."
"By default, on Harmony Browse there is no URL group which is commonly blocked worldwide."
"One of the new features I would like to see is the possibility that these tools can be brought to mobile devices such as tablets and cell phones in iOS or Android applications."
"The documentation of the most current applications is sometimes not so clear, and it is difficult to understand."
"Support must be faster in solving problems."
"Check Point Harmony Browse can be improved by reducing false positive reports."
"More strengthening and robustness are required in zero-day threat prevention to ensure its efficiency at 100%."
"There is always scope for improvement for Check Point Harmony Browse, particularly in the user interface and adding the IOC checklist or feature modifications."
"The transparent proxy is quite difficult to enforce on smartphones and tablets."
"They need a better graphical interface, and they need a better ISE mechanism."
"The support for this solution could be improved. We have experienced issues with their SMARTnet support system."
"The FTD 21 model's Firepower Threat Defense does not have the multi-instance feature for the virtualization with the physical equipment."
"Cisco lacks a GUI-based troubleshooting feature compared to products by other vendors."
"WSA is lacking firewall features."
"The solution is not very compatible with other products."
"We would like to see a security service head, where we can combine all the security into one solution."
 

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 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 overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."
"It is probably in line with other solutions, but I do not deal with the financial side."
"We have not priced the solution recently, but they were competitive with other vendors in the past."
"The product has a reasonable pricing."
"The price is not very expensive for our organisation, but for others, it might be a little expensive."
"At the time, licensing fees were paid on an annual basis."
"When you compare the price of this solution to the price of FortiGate, it's high."
"The licensing options begin with 100 users and this is a high threshold for smaller networks."
"The pricing is too high."
"This is an expensive solution."
"I rate Cisco WSA a seven out of ten since it is costly."
"Regarding Cisco price-wise, it is always on a bit on the higher side."
"The tool's licensing is yearly."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Secure Web Gateways (SWG) solutions are best for your needs.
859,129 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
31%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Security Firm
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Non Profit
8%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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?
For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company Exxon...
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...
What needs improvement with Check Point Harmony Browse?
There is always scope for improvement for Check Point Harmony Browse, particularly in the user interface and adding t...
What is your primary use case for Check Point Harmony Browse?
We are working in a SOC environment as an MSSP ( /categories/managed-security-services-providers-mssp ) SOC. Our clie...
What do you like most about Cisco Web Security Appliance?
The most valuable features of the solution are the functions of proxy for the users who use the internet and the secu...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Web Security Appliance?
Comparing with other products, Cisco has more functionality, but pricing is a challenge. Cisco is not a product for s...
What needs improvement with Cisco Web Security Appliance?
With the WebAssign integration, it is not easy when I am integrating policies within the company, especially with NAN...
 

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform
No data available
Cisco WSA, Cisco Web Security
 

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.
Information Not Available
New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Caixa Seguradora
Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point Harmony Browse vs. Cisco Web Security Appliance and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
859,129 professionals have used our research since 2012.