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Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) vs Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 15, 2025

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 ZTNA as a Service
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (5th), Internet Security (3rd), Web Content Filtering (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (7th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (8th)
Check Point Harmony SASE (f...
Ranking in ZTNA as a Service
4th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (7th), Firewalls (16th), Anti-Malware Tools (6th), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (7th), ZTNA (3rd), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (5th)
Cisco Secure Client (includ...
Ranking in ZTNA as a Service
10th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
77
Ranking in other categories
SSL VPN (1st), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (3rd), Cisco Security Portfolio (5th)
 

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
Delivers seamless and secure remote access while enhancing security posture
Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) offers strong features, but there are areas that could be improved. One area for improvement is integration with third-party identity providers. It works with standard SAML and SSO, but we would prefer deeper integrations with solutions such as Ping for more advanced identity-based policies. Additionally, a mobile-specific client or lightweight agent would be helpful for securing access from smartphones, especially in BYOD environments. We would appreciate more granular reporting and analytics, including better drill-down capabilities to investigate specific users or app activity. The logs are comprehensive, but filtering them can sometimes feel messy. The user interface on the management portal could be more intuitive, especially when managing multiple sites or remote offices. Some of the policy configuration steps are nested and could be streamlined.
Thatchapon Wongsri - PeerSpot reviewer
Smooth integration enhances user experience and boosts productivity
Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) is sufficient now after the update to version five or later, and I believe there's nothing to improve. I would prefer the cost to be reduced by about 20% because the vendor increases the price every year, so if they increase it, they should add more features.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"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 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 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."
"Granular setup, which was able to set different levels of filters using the OUs in the AD."
"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."
"Valuable features: Within the filter: Controls (Web categories, applications, and Allow/Block list) and Network (local Subnets). Within the reporter: Logs (Event Log) and Reports."
"The scalability is good, and I'd give it an eight out of ten."
"The feature that I have found to be most valuable is the reputation that the company has regarding privacy. Nowadays, this is critical, especially when you do all of your work online."
"Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) has positively impacted my organization by being very easy to integrate with other technologies, and it's not impactful on the traffic, so it can do its job without being heavy on the traffic."
"While the higher cost and complexity may pose challenges for smaller companies without extensive IT resources, the value provided by Check Point's advanced capabilities and excellent 24/7 support justifies the investment. Overall, it is highly recommended that insurance firms prioritize data security and regulatory compliance, especially medium to large companies with the resources to manage and fully utilize its features."
"The solution provides us with an easy way to configure and join the VPN with Perimeter 81."
"Perimeter 81 is very pretty."
"The Harmony Connect solution helped by unifying in a single portal all the necessary accesses for the company's internal employees, such as RDP, SSH, bank access databases, and even internal portals, bringing security and organization to the entire environment and facilitating employee access with a single, centralized login to the entire environment."
"One of the most valuable features found using Harmony is being able to monitor in a simple and orderly way."
"Easy to deploy and has good NAC integration."
"This solution is stable. There have been no technical issues."
"For our company's needs, AnyConnect is sufficient and very easy to use."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is that it works all of the time."
"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."
"The solution is quite stable."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"The product is easy to use."
 

Cons

"Sometimes the agent stops working in iboss, and we have to reinstall the agent."
"The dashboards for local use could be better."
"Iboss is growing so fast that it is often hard for them to keep up with the challenges."
"Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern."
"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 reporting feature needs improvement."
"If they could implement an extra security layer preventing access to iboss from the open internet, it would be great."
"Its pricing could be better."
"Check Point Harmony SASE needs improvement as it is a very new product that lacks very basic features, and it can start working more with the customer for better implementation."
"They should work towards the WAN intergration."
"If Harmony SASE supported bidirectional traffic and the UDP protocol, it would be better."
"If I were to be nitpicky, I would ask that Perimeter 81 offer the option for us to change the color of the graphical user interface, like maybe pink or green or so on."
"Support is one of the points of improvement."
"There is an issue when installing the Check Point client."
"I don't know if it is technically feasible, however, if the Desktop App could be used as a Web App or a Chrome Extension it would be very nice."
"In order to be able to invite users, send the agent and implement it, the user input must be generated manually."
"The deployment of the agent software for the final customer could be simpler and more helpful."
"All Cisco equipment tends to be expensive compared to newer options from other vendors."
"In general, it's always a good idea to improve scalability and stability."
"The deployment process should be improved, specifically making it easier. Fully automated deployments are quite challenging."
"Sometimes when you are on the VPN, it can be a little bit slow."
"Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client can be improved by having better speed and reliability. However, the speed and reliability are already really good."
"The security could be improved."
"The security of the product has certain shortcomings, making it an area where improvements are required."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"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."
"The overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."
"It is expensive compared to one of its competitors."
"The product is neither cheap nor expensive."
"The solution is priced appropriately considering its uses. For an essential license, a user pays only 30 USD per month. For an enterprise version, the prices can be negotiated with the company."
"I would rate Harmony Connect's pricing at six out of ten. It wasn't particularly expensive, but it wasn't super cheap either."
"Regarding pricing, I can say that the more the number of users, the less they have to pay."
"I consider the product to be a medium-priced solution. There are no additional costs attached to the tool."
"Annual licenses cost $30 to $40 each."
"The product is reasonably priced."
"Perimeter 81 charges separately for gateways and VPN connectivity, but compared to Azure, it seemed more reasonable."
"We have yearly licensing and it's very affordable."
"The price is okay."
"It is not a free solution and the user needs to buy license."
"We are in the North African region, and Cisco products are expensive for us. On a scale from one to ten with one being very affordable and ten being expensive, I'd rate the price at eight."
"It costs around 80,000 Indian rupees for a hundred licenses, so approximately $1,020 USD."
"The solution is reasonably priced and costs $600 for a five-year license in our scenario."
"The licensing costs are reasonable."
"Sometimes there is a problem with the number of licenses for the end-user. The number of concurrent users is limited due to a valid license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
34%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business52
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise15
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business27
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise45
 

Questions from the Community

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 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...
What do you like most about Harmony Connect?
The product's initial setup phase is very simple.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Harmony Connect?
I am not aware of the pricing, setup cost, and licensing, but I would say the setup cost is our resource, and we have...
What needs improvement with Harmony Connect?
Check Point Harmony SASE needs improvement as it is a very new product that lacks very basic features, and it can sta...
What do you like most about Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?
The tool is user-friendly, robust and easy to use in any environment.
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?
At times there is confusion regarding when to keep the proxy on or off, a problem faced by some users.
 

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform
Check Point Quantum SASE
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.
Aqua Security, Cognito, Multipoint, Kustomer, Postman, Meredith
MST, Molina Healthcare, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, Arup, New South Wales Rural FireService
Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) vs. Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
872,837 professionals have used our research since 2012.