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Cisco Secure Access vs Forcepoint ZTNA comparison

 

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

Cisco Secure Access
Ranking in ZTNA
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
46
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (5th), Firewalls (10th), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (3rd), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (5th), Domain Name System (DNS) Security (2nd)
Forcepoint ZTNA
Ranking in ZTNA
21st
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the ZTNA category, the mindshare of Cisco Secure Access is 3.2%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Forcepoint ZTNA is 1.5%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
ZTNA Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Secure Access3.2%
Forcepoint ZTNA1.5%
Other95.3%
ZTNA
 

Featured Reviews

Kartik Amin - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Operations Engineer at Redex IT Limited
Secure access has unified zero trust and web protection while AI assistance automates tasks
From a feature perspective, I have not experienced any issues, drawbacks, or shortcomings. However, the cost of Cisco's products and licensing is high. My clients usually prefer cheaper options if possible. Mid-size or smaller businesses typically cannot afford Cisco Secure Access. Additionally, there is a steep learning curve, as it is very intensive. Someone with significant knowledge can work on it, but a new professional would have to spend considerable time to get accustomed to it. It is hard to find engineers who can work on it. Overall, we get what we pay for, as it is a pretty good feature and service. The pricing of Cisco's products and licensing is higher than competitors. If they could be more reasonable, that would help. The support offered for two years also has higher costs. Overall, the client's IT budget gets affected. It was challenging to learn because, as mentioned, it has a significant learning curve and requires considerable training to become proficient.
AR
Business Development Management at a computer retailer with 501-1,000 employees
You can add multiple features on a single agent, but it's an expensive product, and its marketing approach should be more aggressive
Forcepoint ZTNA isn't well-known in the market. Right now, it's a novice, so an area for improvement in it is making the product known. Forcepoint should create more awareness about Forcepoint ZTNA because a distributor like me still needs to promote it more to customers. Forcepoint has to capitalize on, focus on, or highlight its overall approaches to Forcepoint ZTNA marketing, such as SASE or SSE, to sell the whole bundle rather than as a standalone product. Today, most customers move to the cloud, so the whole SSE or SASE approach makes better sense. Forcepoint needs to look at the whole picture. I suggest being more aggressive in marketing to boost customer awareness of Forcepoint ZTNA.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I would say that over the last 15 years, Cisco Secure Access is the best solution for remote access because I work with other companies as well, but Cisco Secure Access is the best one."
"What I appreciate about Cisco is that everything they do is precise and works well without any issues."
"Cisco Secure Access has helped my organization significantly, especially when we went through a cyber event and lost all our previous remote access, and we were able to get Cisco Secure Access up within seven days and roll it out to all our people to get everybody back online."
"I would rate the scalability a ten out of ten."
"From my experience, Cisco Secure Access is very stable and has not crashed."
"The features of Cisco Secure Access that I most prefer are easy management or manageability, and overall security."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco Secure Access is the VPN, which I find very easy to use."
"It has not only been a better solution overall, but also been cost saving, which is unusual—too good to be true at one point, but it has delivered."
"What I like about Forcepoint ZTNA is that you could use it as a starting point because you have one agent that allows you to add more features. Other technologies require one agent per solution, so you'll end up with multiple agents."
 

Cons

"My experience with the Experience Insight feature, called DEM, is not good. I find the integration between Cisco Secure Access and ThousandEyes does not work well and does not deliver what it is supposed to."
"The way that we're using Cisco Secure Access today, it doesn't scale with the growing needs of our organization, however, if we leveraged more of the cloud services, it would fit better."
"However, the cost of Cisco's products and licensing is high, and mid-size or smaller businesses typically cannot afford Cisco Secure Access."
"The license model can be simplified; it is a bit tricky to understand exactly which licenses you need."
"The licensing is confusing."
"In general, what can be improved about this solution is to not change the name of everything every year, as Cisco marketing are experts at making changes to everything, and I don't understand what this is; that was the AnyConnect VPN, and now it's Cisco Secure Access, and what's tomorrow?"
"The worst part was the migration from Umbrella to Cisco Secure Access; we experienced some difficulties during that process."
"My experience with customer support for Cisco Secure Access has been okay, but it is not very fast."
"Forcepoint ZTNA isn't well-known in the market. Right now, it's a novice, so an area for improvement in it is making the product known. Forcepoint should create more awareness about Forcepoint ZTNA because a distributor like me still needs to promote it more to customers."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For what you get, it's a fair price in comparison to other products."
"It is confusing. When you look at the prices, you have different licensing and years of licensing that you have to purchase. Additionally, it's unclear what service you get from those licenses regarding end-user support. We have a representative who has to walk me through it every time."
"The pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Cisco Secure Access have been very competitive compared to other platforms. I believe that if Cisco continues to improve costs or offers something similar to a Cisco credit, it would attract more customers."
"Ninety percent of the feedback I received from company partners is that Forcepoint ZTNA is an expensive product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise27
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Access?
Regarding affordability, I find the product to be reasonably priced, as we have access to a partner portal where we, as Cisco partners, can view GLP prices. From this portal, we can assess costing ...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Secure Access?
I evaluate Cisco Secure Access's AI Access feature for providing deep visibility and control over AI applications as something we have just started using, with not much experience yet. The Canva fe...
What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Secure Access?
I am using Cisco Secure Access's Hybrid Private Access feature for varying the enforcement location for ZTNA private traffic.I have integrated Cisco Identity Intelligence with Cisco Secure Access, ...
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Overview

 

Sample Customers

1. IBM 2. Microsoft 3. Amazon 4. Google 5. Apple 6. Cisco Systems 7. Oracle 8. Intel 9. HP Inc. 10. Dell Technologies 11. Verizon Communications 12. AT&T 13. Comcast 14. T-Mobile 15. Sprint 16. Vodafone 17. Orange 18. BT Group 19. Deutsche Telekom 20. Telefonica 21. Nokia 22. Ericsson 23. Samsung Electronics 24. Sony 25. Panasonic 26. LG Electronics 27. Siemens 28. General Electric 29. Ford Motor Company 30. General Motors 31. Toyota Motor Corporation 32. Volkswagen Group
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