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Cisco Secure Access vs Idira Secure Cloud Access comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 2, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
4.7
iboss offers significant ROI by saving bandwidth and enhancing security, despite increased costs from cloud migration and device pricing.
Sentiment score
5.1
Cisco Secure Access offers significant ROI by consolidating services, reducing costs, and enhancing efficiency and integration with existing products.
Sentiment score
4.0
Idira Secure Cloud Access delivered 70% ROI by 2024, reducing costs, workforce needs, and minimizing cyber threats effectively.
With iboss, whenever you turn on your laptop, the iboss agent automatically connects to the iboss cloud, enforcing all security policies. So with respect to the security side, it strengthens measures.
Senior Consultant Proxy Engineering at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
I have seen some cost effectiveness from iboss; it has reduced certain support requirements, making it a more hands-off solution.
Managing Director
At Amazon, we knew exactly how much it would cost if a fulfillment center was down for an hour.
Director, Network Services at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
The AI features further contribute by expediting threat detection and incident response, ensuring tangible returns through operational savings.
Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
It is one of those tools that needs to work right out of the box, and thankfully, it does; it is reliable, and the setup time was quick and straightforward.
Cyber Security Manager at a non-profit with 501-1,000 employees
We have reduced approximately 70 to 75 percent of our time when accessing resources through CyberArk Secure Cloud Access.
IT platform engin8 at Infosys
Additionally, we have money saved in the long run on infrastructure costs.
Associate Technology Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I have seen a return on investment; from a security point of view, it helps us in terms of time as well as manpower.
Solution Architect at Dhanyaayai enterprise private limited
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.8
Iboss support is praised for responsiveness and knowledge, with some concerns about communication but generally favorable reviews.
Sentiment score
7.0
Cisco's Secure Access support is praised for its efficiency and expertise, despite some challenges with ticket complexity and delays.
Sentiment score
7.2
Idira Secure Cloud Access is praised for responsive support, despite some delays, with generally positive evaluations from customers.
They are very fast, responsive, and knowledgeable.
Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water
The quality of the support is fantastic.
Educational Technology Coordinator at a performing arts with 201-500 employees
We had promising discussions about resolving these issues, but no real action followed.
Network Administrator at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
Cisco TAC is very competent.
Network Operations Engineer at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
With our established point of contact within Cisco, our experience has greatly improved; we no longer log all issues through technical cases, as we can go directly to our account managers or customer service team, which expedites resolution.
Cyber Security Manager at a non-profit with 501-1,000 employees
I would rate the technical support ten out of ten. Hands down.
Senior Network Administrator at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
They adhere to SLAs, and most issues are resolved effectively.
Works at Airtel Africa PLC
As long as you have a license from them, the support is available during deployment.
Head Of IT at NetPulse Limited
They are helpful and provide enterprise-level support with knowledgeable engineers and ample documentation, especially during setup and critical issue handling.
CTO at Fraoula
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Iboss efficiently scales to meet growing resource demands, supporting large user bases with robust support and adaptable infrastructure.
Sentiment score
5.4
Cisco Secure Access efficiently scales with infrastructure growth, offering seamless integration and adaptability despite some multi-organizational challenges.
Sentiment score
7.0
CyberArk Secure Cloud Access offers high scalability, enhancing access control and reducing manual tasks with cloud-native design and API support.
They are also able to meet on-demand requirements based on your contract with them, and can easily provide adequate resources and scalability.
Senior Consultant Proxy Engineering at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
I would rate it a nine out of ten for scalability.
If I start seeing sluggishness or anything like that, I just reach out to my rep, and they connect with their dev team, typically resolving it the same day.
Educational Technology Coordinator at a performing arts with 201-500 employees
We turn the traffic to the Cisco Secure Access cloud, and we can manage and apply the policies that are necessary, making it very easy to scale the solution.
System Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Cisco has a great benefit in that you can integrate with other solutions in an easy way because it has a lot of protocols to integrate with others and sophisticated steps that we can apply for integration.
IT Manager at Bavaria Egypt S.A.E.
I would rate scalability at eight to nine out of ten.
Pre-Sales Solution Partner at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
If you have a small to medium-sized enterprise, you can typically complete your deployment in roughly a week.
Head Of IT at NetPulse Limited
When it comes to performance, I am definitely satisfied with CyberArk Secure Cloud Access on the IT estate.
Head Of Network Security Strategy And Architecture at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Ensuring that users can only access servers with the proper multi-factor authentication and manager approval.
Infrastrecture Engineer at TechMahindra
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Iboss is generally stable with reliable support, despite initial deployment challenges, and is often praised for minimal downtime.
Sentiment score
7.8
Cisco Secure Access is praised for stable operations and reliability despite minor Linux or SSL decryption issues.
Sentiment score
7.8
Idira Secure Cloud Access offers reliable, stable cloud services with real-time monitoring, high availability, and strong security despite upgrade complexities.
It's been pretty solid; I've never had an outage with them, and if I ever had, it's only been once out of the seven years.
Educational Technology Coordinator at a performing arts with 201-500 employees
We've experienced zero downtime.
Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water
Our biggest problem with their service was it did not recognize the device despite our ClearPass sending information to the iboss box.
Network Administrator at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
Cisco is renowned for their reliability, and their products perform well under high data usage.
Network Operations Engineer at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I rate the stability of Cisco Secure Access as ten out of ten.
General Manager at Datasoft Comnet
The solution is stable enough, and I did not experience any latency or performance issues.
Director -Digital Transformation at Convergence
The platform achieves strong uptime and stability amongst enterprise-level security.
Infrastrecture Engineer at TechMahindra
If CyberArk Secure Cloud Access is down, you cannot access anything, which is a double-edged sword.
Head Of IT at NetPulse Limited
The stability from a security perspective is quite good.
CTO at Fraoula
 

Room For Improvement

Iboss struggles with Mac support, ISP integration in India, and needs improvements in security features and cloud integration.
Cisco Secure Access requires better integration, licensing, pricing, AI development, management interface, third-party integrations, and global cloud coverage.
Idira Secure Cloud Access needs upgrades in deployment, integration, costs, user experience, and real-time monitoring for better usability.
It is not as intuitive as the rest of the platform.
Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water
We also had a problem with a transition when we upgraded from one appliance of theirs to another, but their engineer lost a good deal of our data.
Network Administrator at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
Our iboss subscription access should be more secure with an OTP or VPN etc.
Modernization is needed, specifically in the enhancement of security features and functionality.
Pre-Sales Solution Partner at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
It was challenging to learn because it has a significant learning curve and requires considerable training to become proficient.
Network Operations Engineer at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The granular access issue is coming from the product limitation at the moment, as it does not offer us the option to tell it that a particular role can only manage websites, allowed sites, and blocked sites.
Technical Product Owner at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It is important for critical support to respond within fifteen to twenty minutes to minimize business impact.
Works at Airtel Africa PLC
You need to understand every component because the least mistake results in being completely locked out of the system.
Head Of IT at NetPulse Limited
More guided deployment wizards, better automated onboarding templates, improved UI/UX experiences, simplified policy management, and enhanced reporting and troubleshooting would be beneficial.
Infrastrecture Engineer at TechMahindra
 

Setup Cost

Iboss offers competitive, transparent pricing with valuable cloud solutions, appealing to enterprises for predictable budgeting and desired functionality.
Cisco Secure Access has complex pricing, offering good value for Cisco users, but licensing confusion and pricing flexibility issues exist.
Idira Secure Cloud Access offers scalable, enterprise pricing with complex licensing and higher initial costs, providing long-term value for large firms.
It offers the same features you would get from a vendor that charges 250,000 British pounds for a fraction of the price.
Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water
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.
Network Administrator at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern.
Managing Director
The solution is cheaper than premium options such as Palo Alto, existing Cisco licenses facilitate replacing previous solutions with Cisco Secure Access smoothly and affordably.
Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
It is good because you want to push Cisco Secure Access, and regarding the price, it is very much below other products.
Junior Information Technology Consultant Security at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Improvement on the pricing will help in expanding the market for Cisco Secure Access and then it can be affordable to much more number of companies than what it is right now.
Technical Manager at Ledorbis Solutions
I am not directly involved in pricing aspects, but I am aware that CyberArk is considered costly compared to other products.
Works at Airtel Africa PLC
The setup cost initially will be higher as it needs to be integrated with different applications that the organization has.
Associate Technology Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The pricing for CyberArk Secure Cloud Access is quite high, especially the initial implementation cost, as it requires skilled engineers for deployment, configuration, and integration with various tools.
Infrastrecture Engineer at TechMahindra
 

Valuable Features

Iboss provides comprehensive cloud security with advanced features, enhancing data protection and management efficiency for network security.
Cisco Secure Access provides cloud-based security tools, AI-driven enhancements, and seamless integration, ensuring efficient management and robust threat detection.
Idira Secure Cloud Access enhances security and productivity with dynamic access controls, real-time monitoring, and multi-cloud integration.
The solution's mental health function can detect if someone needs help.
Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water
It's given us a lot more visibility into our computer assets that may be infected with viruses and also shows us people who have unusually large uploads or might be engaging in high-risk activities, such as searches or going to sites not categorized by their web crawler.
Educational Technology Coordinator at a performing arts with 201-500 employees
iboss was the best solution for us because, no matter what domain you were in, everything is under a single pane of glass, which is exactly what we wanted.
Managing Director
It eliminates the hassle of switching on VPNs and provides a direct connection to resources via Cisco Secure Access.
General Manager at Datasoft Comnet
They are sending the traffic encrypted and categorizing the traffic based on the type, whether web traffic or internet traffic, and doing the security mechanism that is needed for the traffic type.
Solution Architect at Velocis Systems
Using ZTNA in Cisco Secure Access has positively affected my transition and my clients' transition to Zero Trust and least privilege principles, reinforcing the security posture.
Ts Senior Technical Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The solution provides robust security features essential for financial and banking sectors to avoid network and connectivity issues or security breaches.
Works at Airtel Africa PLC
Dynamic role-based access helps you identify which user is accessing what, with what device, at what time, and the level of access the person has for doing what they are doing.
Head Of IT at NetPulse Limited
This new approach is particularly effective for dynamic environments where traditional PAM requires significant effort to detect accounts, onboard accounts, and provide access rights.
Security Consultant at Clico
 

Categories and Ranking

iboss
Sponsored
Ranking in Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (6th), Internet Security (3rd), Web Content Filtering (1st), ZTNA as a Service (7th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (7th)
Cisco Secure Access
Ranking in Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
69
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (5th), Firewalls (10th), ZTNA (6th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (4th), Domain Name System (DNS) Security (2nd)
Idira Secure Cloud Access
Ranking in Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
11th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) category, the mindshare of iboss is 4.5%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Access is 5.3%, up from 4.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Idira Secure Cloud Access is 0.8%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Secure Access5.3%
iboss4.5%
Idira Secure Cloud Access0.8%
Other89.4%
Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
 

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.
reviewer2788500 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Operations Engineer at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
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.
Manojkumar Reddy - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Technology Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Centralized cloud access has strengthened identity control and simplified keyless logins
The best feature of CyberArk Secure Cloud Access is that private keys can be configured once and users can log in using CyberArk credentials. Instead of providing the private key every time into the system, it is not needed. With CyberArk, we do not require it and can directly use CyberArk credentials to access the virtual machines or run the pipelines. Using CyberArk credentials instead of private keys has made things easier for our team because previously every user had to remember the private key and store it somewhere else and insert it whenever they attempted to log into the server. This was cumbersome. Instead, organizations use CyberArk to configure the private keys, which helps because it is no longer required for users to store it on their system or somewhere else to maintain security. This additionally prevents users without access to the server from logging in. This feature of CyberArk Secure Cloud Access also reduces time and dependency on other people. Once a user is given access, they can be tracked anytime and anywhere. Access is revocable whenever people leave the organization. CyberArk Secure Cloud Access has positively impacted our organization because we have observed many changes. One significant impact is that since implementing it, the dependency on people has drastically been reduced. Additionally, we do not need to log in or store the private keys every time as they can be automatically configured.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Media Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise9
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise34
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?
The problem our organization had is that iboss failed for the Mac devices. It is not able to give a successful agent ...
What is your primary use case for iboss?
We used iBoss mainly for Internet Access by having an Agent on Windows laptops Primarily because when we try to use i...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?
I am not involved in pricing, but as per the information I have, during that time, the Blue Coat proxies we were usin...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Access?
Pricing for Cisco Secure Access has been very reasonable in the context of the entire world of SASE solutions. Setup ...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Secure Access?
Our main use case for Cisco Secure Access is providing security for hybrid and mobile workforces. One of the big chal...
What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Secure Access?
One of the things about policy verification is with Cisco Secure Access and modern security products in general, poli...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CyberArk Secure Cloud Access?
The pricing for CyberArk Secure Cloud Access is quite high, especially the initial implementation cost, as it require...
What needs improvement with CyberArk Secure Cloud Access?
CyberArk Secure Cloud Access can be improved as there is initial complexity and it is somewhat expensive. I would ela...
What is your primary use case for CyberArk Secure Cloud Access?
My main use case for CyberArk Secure Cloud Access is that we have multiple clusters. We use CyberArk Secure Cloud Acc...
 

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform
No data available
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.
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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Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Access vs. Idira Secure Cloud Access and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,894 professionals have used our research since 2012.