Cisco Secure Access vs Prisma SD-WAN comparison

Cisco and Palo Alto Networks are both solutions in the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) category. Cisco is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.6, while Palo Alto Networks is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.3. Cisco holds a 2.5% mindshare in SASE, compared to Palo Alto Networks’s 2.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Palo Alto Networks users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 6, 2024

Prisma SD-WAN and Cisco Secure Access are prominent in network management and security. Prisma SD-WAN seems to have an advantage in pricing and simplicity, while Cisco Secure Access excels in comprehensive features and security.

Features: Prisma SD-WAN is praised for its intuitive setup, scalability, and user-friendly interface, which is particularly effective for businesses with changing network needs. Cisco Secure Access offers advanced security features, extensive integration capabilities, and a broad feature set, making it suitable for enterprises focused on robust security solutions.

Room for Improvement: Prisma SD-WAN could enhance its advanced security features, improve its threat protection, and expand reporting capabilities. Cisco Secure Access users suggest simplifying configurations, improving ease of use, and refining the management of complex network setups to enhance user experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Prisma SD-WAN is noted for its straightforward deployment and responsive support, beneficial for organizations with limited IT resources. Cisco Secure Access, while offering structured deployment models for complex networking, requires more initial setup effort but benefits from robust support mechanisms.

Pricing and ROI: Prisma SD-WAN is recognized for an accessible pricing structure, delivering favorable ROI to mid-sized businesses. Cisco Secure Access involves higher costs but offers substantial security and feature benefits, often seen as worth the investment by larger organizations prioritizing security and compliance.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Secure Access vs. Prisma SD-WAN Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Access vs. Prisma SD-WAN

July 2025

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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

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) category, the mindshare of iboss is 1.8%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Access is 2.5%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Prisma SD-WAN is 2.6%, down from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)

Featured Reviews

Matt Crockford

Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water

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

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Vasil Blagov

Manager, Network at Duracell International, Inc.

Easy management and security ensure reliable 24/7 connectivity

Zero Trust Network Access has helped my organization in securing standard applications because it's mandated to have it. It provides peace of mind knowing that we have that deployed in our network. Cisco Secure Access's ability to provide secure access via standard HTTP2, and optionally, QUIC protocol is good. It complies with the new standards. The impact of Cisco Secure Access on protecting my organization from phishing and ransomware threats has been good so far. We've been doing well with no threats.

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Engineerinfosec67

Presale Engineer at Westcon-Comstor

Centralized management streamlines global network traffic control

Prisma SD-WAN requires a more seamless integration with other Palo Alto solutions, like Prisma Access. Although there has been improvement, further steps can be taken. Additionally, it would be beneficial if the solution integrated the SD-WAN features of Prisma SD-WAN with the security features of Palo Alto's next-generation firewalls, as they currently do not align.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"iboss is easy to use despite its complexity. Multiple engineers manage it, but it's significantly more straightforward to administer than traditional VPNs and web proxies."

"iboss is pretty scalable. They provide good support. The case managers you work with to coordinate what you need are pretty good."

"The console is cloud-based, which is something I really appreciate."

"Our primary use case for this product is DLP,"

"I would rate the technical support of iboss a solid 10 without a shadow of a doubt."

"Its initial setup was straightforward."

"Content filtering is the most useful feature of iboss."

"Technical support is pretty sharp and very responsive."

More iboss pros

"Cisco Secure Access has had a positive impact on protecting our organization from threats such as phishing and ransomware."

"I rate the stability of Cisco Secure Access as ten out of ten."

"The firewall section for IDP is the most used for remote sites. It fits better with all the data we're collecting from the protection site and the information that we provide to another customer."

"Cisco Secure Access has benefited my organization by allowing people to connect 24/7, ensuring reliability."

"It works well. It hasn't broken. While I don't know enough about all the features yet, it hasn't caused us any problems."

"We have a dedicated account team, so we've got all the people we need to engage with if there's an issue."

"Cisco Secure Access has protected our company against threats such as phishing or ransomware, as we have seen it successfully address various cybersecurity vulnerabilities."

"The most valuable feature of Cisco Secure Access is the level of security it provides."

More Cisco Secure Access pros

"Prisma SD-WAN is an absolutely stable solution."

"Overall, I would rate Prisma SD-WAN an eight out of ten."

"I like the link monitoring and analytics. These are the features that set Prisma apart from other products. Prisma works well with large, complex networks. One of my clients is a top bank in the United States, and Prisma has performed well for that customer."

"The product provides efficient stability, security, and reliability features."

"The product's initial setup phase is straightforward."

"The most valuable feature is the single pane of glass, especially since we have Palo Alto firewalls."

"When it comes to supporting large, complex, network architectures, it's a very simple architecture. The main component is the fabric. It's very easy to troubleshoot if there is an issue happening in the underlying network."

"The biggest benefit for us is that we've seen a reduction in incidents."

More Prisma SD-WAN pros

Cons

"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 solution could be stronger on the integration side and offer more cloud applications like G Suite or Oracle."

"I am currently doing a PoC of the zero trust aspect of it. Compared to other similar solutions, it is hard to get around each feature. It takes a while to get used to it."

"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 reporting feature needs improvement."

"Our biggest problem with their service was it did not recognize the device and filtering did not always work correctly."

"To scale up, a new iboss Node Blade Chassis must be purchased."

"File integrity monitoring would be very advantageous as an additional feature."

More iboss cons

"The main issue with pricing is that it is higher compared to other competitors, making it challenging to work with customers unless they specifically request Cisco."

"In my opinion, Cisco Secure Access could be improved by potentially incorporating features that other brands have been using. I"

"The worst part was the migration from Umbrella to Cisco Secure Access; we experienced some difficulties during that process."

"I received support from the team for Cisco Secure Access related to web services. There were occasional delays of up to two working days."

"Cisco Secure Access can be improved with more integration; the more integrations, the better. There are always third-party products that you might have, such as Carbon Black."

"The licensing is confusing."

"In my opinion, Cisco Secure Access could be improved by potentially incorporating features that other brands have been using. I see benefits from features offered by competitors, which could enhance the Cisco experience if adapted thoughtfully."

"We don't have any good tools right now, which is a problem."

More Cisco Secure Access cons

"They could add more advanced security features to the product."

"We are incorporating their zone-based firewalls. Prisma SD-WAN has limited documentation on how it manipulates traffic, e.g., how it is interacting with TCP and UDP. We recently had some traffic that was black holing. We literally had to do packet captures to see that the new zone-based firewall, which runs on top of Prisma SD-WAN, was causing issues."

"Sometimes, during the product's initial setup phase, bypass pair or couple ports don't come up normally, and it requires an hour and a half to troubleshoot to reset the box from Prisma SD-WAN to factory default."

"The pricing for Prisma SD-WAN needs improvement."

"Prisma SD-WAN requires a more seamless integration with other Palo Alto solutions, like Prisma Access."

"Prisma SD-WAN should provide more flexibility and scalability on the hardware."

"Event correlation and analysis capabilities do not help minimize the number of alarms from a single event. That is the problem. We are getting a lot of incidents, and there is some issue with the correlation. That is still a drawback."

"There are two parallel things that we want Palo Alto to work on. First, customers want a unified appliance that does the work of all firewalls in addition to SD-WAN. Second, the cloud presence should be completely automated. If I purchase the SASE architecture, I shouldn't worry about deployments in Prisma Access or on Prisma SD-WAN. It should be deployed in one go."

More Prisma SD-WAN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."

"Prisma SD-WAN is a pretty expensive solution."

"It is more expensive than Fortinet."

"This solution stood out because it cost considerably less than the other SD-WAN solutions out there from Cisco."

"If you're already invested in a Palo Alto product, it would be logical to use this solution. If not, there might be some other solutions that are more viable in terms of pricing."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Construction Company

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?

For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company Exxon...

See all answers

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...

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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...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Access?

For what you get, it's a fair price in comparison to other products.

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What is your primary use case for Cisco Secure Access?

Our main use cases for Cisco Secure Access are security and managing access.

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What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Secure Access?

My advice to other organizations considering Cisco Secure Access is that they should definitely give it a try. It's o...

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What do you like most about Prisma SD-WAN?

The product's initial setup phase is straightforward.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Prisma SD-WAN?

The costs seem crazy to me since I'm relatively new to the pricing world of enterprise security solutions, but compar...

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What needs improvement with Prisma SD-WAN?

I used to have notes about areas that could be improved. It is widely known that Palo Alto is quite expensive. The li...

See all answers

Comparisons

Zscaler Internet Access vs iboss

Compared 15% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs iboss

Compared 14% of the time

Netskope vs iboss

Compared 13% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs iboss

Compared 11% of the time

Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) vs iboss

Compared 9% of the time

More iboss Competitors

Cisco Umbrella vs Cisco Secure Access

Compared 53% of the time

Netskope vs Cisco Secure Access

Compared 15% of the time

FortiSASE vs Cisco Secure Access

Compared 11% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Cisco Secure Access

Compared 7% of the time

Cloudflare One vs Cisco Secure Access

Compared 1% of the time

More Cisco Secure Access Competitors

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 20% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 19% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 16% of the time

Meraki SD-WAN vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 11% of the time

More Prisma SD-WAN Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

August 2025

Download iboss product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Access

August 2025

Download Cisco Secure Access product report

Buyer's Guide

Prisma SD-WAN

August 2025

Download Prisma SD-WAN product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

No data available

CloudGenix

Overview

iboss offers a comprehensive security platform designed for diverse use cases such as web filtering, data loss protection, corporate proxy services, and URL filtering.

iboss integrates advanced features to address dynamic security needs, leveraging its strength in SASE, ZTNA, AI initiatives, and cloud integration, while ensuring seamless operations for remote work. It excels in historical forensics, malware protection, and flexible cloud deployments. Users benefit from comprehensive traffic scanning, robust malware detection, and PaaS capabilities that reduce hardware management. An intuitive admin console ensures efficient management with content filtering and low false positives. SSL decryption enhances security, while DLP protects data in AI conversations. Deployment is rapid and scalable, allowing effortless integration with emerging technologies.

What features does iboss offer?

Granular Web Filtering: Provides precise control over web content access.
Traffic Scanning: Monitors data through multiple ports for security breaches.
Malware Detection: Ensures superior protection against malware threats.
PaaS Capabilities: Eliminates need for hardware management.
SSL Decryption: Enhances data protection by decrypting secure connections.
DLP Capabilities: Safeguards data during AI interactions.

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

Scalability: Adapts quickly to growing demands and emerging tech integration.
Rapid Deployment: Reduces time to implement security measures.
User-Friendly Admin Console: Facilitates efficient operations management.
Low False Positives: Increases accuracy of threat detection systems.

iboss finds significant application in sectors such as education, where web filtering for K-12 is crucial, and in corporate environments requiring robust proxy services and URL filtering for network security. Its adaptability is essential in scenarios demanding flexible, decentralized security frameworks, particularly for remote work setups.

iboss

Cisco Secure Access is a comprehensive solution that ensures secure access to networks and protects against unauthorized access. It is used for network authentication, enforcing access policies, managing user identities, securing remote access, and providing secure connectivity for devices. Users have praised its robust security measures, seamless integration with existing systems, user-friendly interface, and reliable network performance.

Cisco

Simplify management, enable app-defined SD-WAN policies and deliver a secure, cloud-delivered branch today with the Industry’s first next-generation SD-WAN.

Palo Alto Networks

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

Open Networking User Group, Columbia Sportswear Company, Coca Cola

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Access vs. Prisma SD-WAN

July 2025

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