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Check Point Harmony Browse vs Symantec Secure Web Gateway comparison

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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)
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
Internet Security (3rd), Web Content Filtering (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (6th), ZTNA as a Service (6th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (7th)
Check Point Harmony Browse
Ranking in Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
9th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Browsers (3rd)
Symantec Secure Web Gateway
Ranking in Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
27th
Average Rating
6.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category, the mindshare of iboss is 3.2%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Check Point Harmony Browse is 0.9%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Secure Web Gateway is 1.5%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
iboss3.2%
Check Point Harmony Browse0.9%
Symantec Secure Web Gateway1.5%
Other94.4%
Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
 

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.
AndreiBo - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Solution Architect at TD SYNNEX
Real-time threat intelligence enhances security and user confidence
At this point, I do not have any suggestions for improvements to Check Point Harmony Browse because I haven't encountered anything that would need changing. If a solution is installed correctly, it usually won't fail. It's hard to suggest new features for Check Point Harmony Browse because it's a sub-component of a larger Harmony Endpoint Security solution, which is handled separately under specific situations, and while it has many options, it already scans and delivers files efficiently. Regarding the scanning of large files in Check Point Harmony Browse, the process typically involves sending the file to Check Point cloud for scanning and returning the clean file to the user, which is inherently complex and I do not see how it could be optimized to be faster.
KK
Principal Consultant at CSaaS
Monitors traffic effectively but struggles with integration challenges
I find that the technical support is mediocre, at least for the Middle East. I frequently face challenges when contacting OpenStack through the distribution channel. It should be more straightforward. I notice that customers work with partners, not directly with Symantec, relying on local company integrators for support. Symantec becomes the level two or level three support, which requires navigating through a supply chain that is quite extensive.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution has massively improved our security posture, giving us full visibility into what our staff does online."
"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."
"Iboss is a solution that prevents advanced persistent threats, and has a zero tolerance for attacks."
"I would rate the technical support of iboss a solid 10 without a shadow of a doubt."
"As I mentioned, the return on investment is significant, as it saved our office locations' bandwidth because when you are working remotely at home, your internet traffic routes directly to iboss and will not go to your office building, saving bandwidth bottlenecks and ensuring that issues with our building internet circuits will not impact your internet connectivity because you are directly going to the iboss data center."
"Because of iboss, I did not have to assign web filtering tasks to my techs on a daily basis."
"The console is cloud-based, which is something I really appreciate."
"iboss is definitely very good in terms of service."
"We needed to provide advanced security to these teams with a reliable tool, which could help protect against phishing, malware, and especially ransomware - since it is one of the most damaging threats today, and this tool fulfills what we were looking for in an incredible way."
"Among its most important features is the integration of its analytics."
"This solution has improved my organization by providing enhanced web security."
"The product enforces the privacy of the users, which is good."
"Check Point Harmony Browse has positively impacted my organization by providing great enterprise-class security to our customers."
"Implementing Check Point Harmony Browse has significantly strengthened our company's web security by reducing exposure to phishing and malware attacks."
"It analyzes and verifies in detail how secure or insecure a file, document, or object is that is being downloaded."
"Its Nano Agent, which integrates with the browser, is incredibly invisible to the user and the computer since it does not require much performance."
"It is easy to manage. The graphical user interface is quite easy to navigate, and we don't have any difficulty in using it. It is a good solution."
"It has a faster implementation process compared to other products."
"We've tried other endpoint security solutions but this tool seems to be the best when specifically comparing the endpoint security features."
"I find the product to be very straightforward."
"In terms of most valuable features, I like the ICAP capability and URL filtering the most."
"As a proxy, there are many features available that benefit the customers, including caching, the security appliance, the cloud of service, and many other features."
"In terms of stability, it's fine, as we have never had downtime because availability is AWS' responsibility since it is hosted on their servers, so availability is not an issue."
"It offers an easy initial setup."
 

Cons

"To scale up, a new iboss Node Blade Chassis must be purchased."
"For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company ExxonMobil."
"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."
"File integrity monitoring would be very advantageous as an additional feature."
"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 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, and that is where in 2025 we had to migrate to the Palo Alto-based platform."
"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."
"The solution could be stronger on the integration side and offer more cloud applications like G Suite or Oracle."
"Having local support everywhere in the world would be helpful."
"security solution for users Devices and Access" What is our primary use case? The application is good as its lightweight and its functions are really similar to a browser extension. It offers real-time protection for internet users by addressing active concerns. Moreover, it incorporates a reputation feature to ensure swift access to websites within a second. The effectiveness of Harmony Browse’s capabilities is really an advantage. What is most valuable? The installation process is simple. Once initiated, the process is quite straightforward and seamless, making it easy to complete. What needs improvement? Regarding the Harmony Browse, I call it "Kuna" which is accurate. The quantum product serves as my primary focus due to its project cost, and I aim to introduce support in this area. This is because firewall implementation holds significant importance for organizations. I want to improve more on the quantum losses. There's a concept I'd like to include in Harmony Browse, known as automatic catching. This mechanism comes into play when an individual closes their browser while possessing sensitive information, like monetary data. To counteract potential risks, we employ a browser cache-clearing process to minimize the cache's accumulation. This action ensures that malicious entities can't exploit the cached data for attacks. To enhance this further, there's potential for the implementation of a self-cleaning technology. For instance, when a user exits the browser, an automatic action could be initiated to clear the browser cache, serving as an additional layer of security. This can be helpful if added."
"There is always scope for improvement for Check Point Harmony Browse, particularly in the user interface and adding the IOC checklist or feature modifications."
"They should focus on new areas of product. In the last year, they have not released any updates with improvements or extra options."
"I believe that more granular customization, improved user feedback, expanded integration, and performance optimization would improve Check Point Harmony Browse."
"The solution needs greater automation to reduce the need for manual configuration and management."
"It seems to us that the performance in some opportunities of Check Point Infinity and the administration web portal is slow."
"One suggestion for improvement is if the Check Point Browse team can add more plugins to support more third-party browsers such as Opera and Safari."
"The reports could be better."
"The platform’s data center is not capable of managing most of the traffic."
"The problem with Complete Website Security is with the dot com transition and dealing with Symantec is becoming a problem right now."
"But that it causes catastrophic issues is unacceptable."
"One of the problems with using Symantec is that it's widely known and the people who are making malware have designed to circumvent it."
"Depending on the severity of the issue, I think they can be a bit slow - a few days for the low severity cases, but for the severe cases normally they contact you back in a couple of hours."
"I find that the technical support is mediocre, at least for the Middle East. I frequently face challenges when contacting OpenStack through the distribution channel."
"The major challenge is their support; the support from Broadcom is quite poor, it takes forever for them to get back to you, and when they get back to you, they ask you for so much information, which makes it more difficult."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive compared to one of its competitors."
"The overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."
"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 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."
"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 price is not very expensive for our organisation, but for others, it might be a little expensive."
"The product has a reasonable pricing."
"Pricing and licensing is stunted and licensing is expensive. We have many customers who are now thinking about other solutions due to the cost."
"There is an additional charge for advanced security features."
"Symantec Secure Web Gateway is less expensive than one of its competitors."
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Secure Web Gateways (SWG) solutions are best for your needs.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Construction Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Construction Company
11%
Security Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Construction Company
21%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Transportation Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?
I think iboss could be improved by making reporting and dashboard customization more flexible, and simplifying troubl...
What is your primary use case for iboss?
I use iboss as a cloud-based secure web gateway to provide secure internet access, web filtering, and protect remote ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?
My experience with iboss's pricing structure, setup cost, and licensing model has been positive, straightforward, and...
What needs improvement with Check Point Harmony Browse?
The browsing speed of Check Point Harmony Browse can be improved. The user interface and compatibility are good, but ...
What is your primary use case for Check Point Harmony Browse?
Check Point Harmony Browse serves as our primary browser. Since browsers are the first point of contact for any issue...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Check Point Harmony Browse?
The pricing and setup cost of Check Point Harmony Browse are affordable for my organization.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Symantec Secure Web Gateway?
I believe that pricing is on par with peers. Symantec and other vendors offer discounts when cutting a deal with a cu...
What needs improvement with Symantec Secure Web Gateway?
AI-driven security could be helpful, yet how effective it will be remains unclear. I plan to evaluate whatever new fe...
What is your primary use case for Symantec Secure Web Gateway?
I find the product to be very straightforward. I just install it and forget it as it continuously monitors traffic. I...
 

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform
No data available
Symantec Complete Website Security
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Trusted by global enterprises and government agencies.
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Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point Harmony Browse vs. Symantec Secure Web Gateway and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.