Cisco Secure Access vs Symantec Secure Web Gateway comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Cisco and Broadcom are both solutions in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category. Cisco is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.5, while Broadcom is ranked #27. Cisco holds a 3.1% mindshare in WSG, compared to Broadcom’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 57% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Secure Access and Symantec Secure Web Gateway based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Secure Web Gateways (SWG) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Secure Access vs. Symantec Secure Web Gateway Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Access vs. Symantec Secure Web Gateway

September 2026

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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 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 Cisco Secure Access is 3.1%, down from 3.2% 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
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cisco Secure Access	3.1%
iboss	3.2%
Symantec Secure Web Gateway	1.5%
Other	92.2%

Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

Featured Reviews

Ashok Ananthula

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.

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reviewer2788500

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.

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Kedar-Kulkarni

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.

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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 definitely very good in terms of service."

"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 solution has massively improved our security posture, giving us full visibility into what our staff does online."

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

"It was a very easy product to install. It can be deployed very fast."

"Deploying iboss leads to good return on investment, estimated around 70% to 80%."

"Technical support is pretty sharp and very responsive."

"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."

More iboss pros

"Cisco Secure Access allows us to get a little deeper into some of the things, and having everything on one platform definitely helps, so I do not have to log into fifteen different things to access our switches."

"I would rate the scalability a ten out of ten."

"Cisco Secure Access provides application-level access, removes the dependency of VPN, and user authentications are continuously based on identity, device, and risk, which is an add-on there."

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

"From my perspective, it was the right decision to move to that platform, as I expect the product to be ideal for having secure access to your network system, especially as we will see a transition from mostly on-premise to mostly cloud."

"The integrated capabilities of Cisco Secure Access deliver significant ROI through reduced mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to respond (MTTR), with resource efficiency notably improved as fewer personnel are needed for triage and system management."

"Based on ROI, Cisco Secure Access is worth the investment, as it is a core security product that allows customers to measure their ROI effectively."

"I find the posture checking feature of Cisco Secure Access the most valuable."

More Cisco Secure Access pros

"The most valuable feature is the endpoint security."

"The most valuable features are the website blocking capability and SSL interception."

"It offers an easy initial setup."

"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."

"We've tried other endpoint security solutions but this tool seems to be the best when specifically comparing the endpoint security features."

"Overall, this product is okay and it does the job that it is supposed to do."

"I find the product to be very straightforward."

"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."

More Symantec Secure Web Gateway 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 reporting feature needs improvement."

"Sometimes when you call in support, you get someone who is just following a sheet. It feels like a runaround. You feel that you are running into that support wall."

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

"I'd like to see them accelerate development on the security side, particularly around data loss prevention."

"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."

"iboss can be improved because the integration could be better; you need to import all the sites that you access today, and there are a few problems whenever you import thousands of websites, making the integration process messy for the users."

"The dashboards for local use could be better."

More iboss cons

"The licensing is confusing."

"In terms of negative aspects of Cisco Secure Access, it is not easy to manage everything in Cisco products."

"I would assess the stability and reliability of Cisco Secure Access as having the worst thing about it being the VAs and their requirement of a full reinstall anytime something unusual happens to them if they go stale or any such thing."

"This is my first time in healthcare after being in commercial space for a long time. It's always a challenge because we can't just turn stuff off as we could in the commercial space, since it may interfere with patient care. It takes longer to understand what's going on, so anything that could help give us a faster understanding of what's happening, why it's there, and if it's a risk to us would be helpful."

"I am not using the AI assistant feature of Cisco Secure Access much yet. I think it is a little bit limited right now."

"My advice to another organization considering using Cisco Secure Access is that there is a reason the cost is high, because of the security, but other than that, that is really it."

"I'm not sure of the improvements. From my point of view, it was the right decision to go to that platform."

"Having been associated with Cisco for more than fifteen to twenty years, I find it increasingly difficult to get tech support these days. Although Cisco is reliable, the process to raise a support ticket has become more complex, requiring specific user accounts and access to specialized platforms."

More Cisco Secure Access cons

"The interface could be made more user-friendly."

"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."

"The platform’s data center is not capable of managing most of the traffic."

"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."

"AI-driven security could be helpful, yet how effective it will be remains unclear."

"But that it causes catastrophic issues is unacceptable."

"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. That's the only problem I have with Broadcom. This is one of the reasons why we are switching to another solution. Another reason for switching is that we have a plan to adopt solutions in the cloud so that we can offload the administration efforts to the vendor. In future releases, they can improve its reporting and the process for rules creation. They can also improve Broadcom on things such as security information and event management so that from my same platform, I can carry out functions and probably block websites. Such a feature would be nice. Currently, Broadcom is integrated with McAfee to block access to certain sites automatically. It would be nice if they can expand their integration to IBM Resilient Security Orchestration and Automation Response."

"The reports could be better."

More Symantec Secure Web Gateway cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"We have not priced the solution recently, but they were competitive with other vendors in the past."

"It is expensive compared to one of its competitors."

"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."

"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."

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

"There is an additional charge for advanced security features."

"Pricing and licensing is stunted and licensing is expensive. We have many customers who are now thinking about other solutions due to the cost."

"Symantec Secure Web Gateway is less expensive than one of its competitors."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Construction Company

Outsourcing Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Construction Company

21%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Transportation Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	13
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	11

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	28
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	41

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	4

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...

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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 ...

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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...

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

The pricing is not too bad because it's per headcount with Cisco Secure Access. You check how many clients you have. ...

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What is your primary use case for Cisco Secure Access?

I am dealing with Cisco Secure Access products. As a consultant and reseller, I am using it myself with Cisco Secure ...

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

The AI element of Cisco Secure Access should have better guidance on the logs. To be honest, I can't think of anythin...

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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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

Comparisons

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs iboss

Compared 10% of the time

Netskope vs iboss

Compared 8% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs iboss

Compared 8% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs iboss

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs iboss

Compared 3% of the time

More iboss Competitors

Cisco Umbrella vs Cisco Secure Access

Compared 11% of the time

FortiSASE vs Cisco Secure Access

Compared 8% of the time

Netskope vs Cisco Secure Access

Compared 8% of the time

Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) vs Cisco Secure Access

Compared 5% of the time

Zscaler Internet Access vs Cisco Secure Access

Compared 2% of the time

More Cisco Secure Access Competitors

Zscaler Internet Access vs Symantec Secure Web Gateway

Compared 19% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs Symantec Secure Web Gateway

Compared 13% of the time

Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise vs Symantec Secure Web Gateway

Compared 12% of the time

Fortra's Clearswift Secure Web Gateway vs Symantec Secure Web Gateway

Compared 9% of the time

Skyhigh Security vs Symantec Secure Web Gateway

Compared 3% of the time

More Symantec Secure Web Gateway Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

September 2026

Download iboss product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Access

October 2026

Download Cisco Secure Access product report

Buyer's Guide

Symantec Secure Web Gateway

September 2026

Download Symantec Secure Web Gateway product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

No data available

Symantec Complete Website Security

Overview

iboss is the Zero Trust SASE platform that gives organizations complete visibility and governance over their AI, data, and applications through one unified platform, one console, one policy engine, and one data lake.

Your endpoints may already stop malware. Your data and application activity can still be invisible. iboss decrypts and understands every connection, then turns that signal into answers security leaders can act on.

The platform leads with three capabilities in this order: AI Security and Visibility, Data Security and Visibility, and App Visibility and Control. Zero Trust Network Access, VPN replacement, and SD-WAN sit underneath as the access fabric that carries those three. Trusted by global enterprises and government agencies.

What are the most important features of Iboss?

- AI Security and Visibility: conversation capture, shadow-AI discovery, AI DLP, and agent governance across Claude, Co-Work, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok, and emerging services.

- Data Security and Visibility: full SSL/TLS decryption, deep content inspection, MIP label compliance, and one-click compliance reporting.

- App Visibility and Control: signatureless CASB, dual risk scoring, in-app controls, and SSPM for major SaaS.

- Containerized Zero Trust SASE: dedicated containers, isolated SSL keys, one console, one policy engine, one data lake.

- Access fabric: ZTNA, VPN replacement, and SD-WAN under the same platform.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

- Complete visibility over AI, data, and applications from one platform instead of separate point tools.

- Encrypted traffic is inspected by default so data decisions use content and context together.

- Shadow SaaS and new web tools appear as they are used, with enforceable controls in one console.

- Native data sovereignty through dedicated containers, in-region inspection, and per-customer SSL key custody.

- Scale proven in published materials: 10M+ users, 100+ countries, 150B+ transactions, 2.5B+ threats blocked.

Economic buyers are CISOs, CIOs, and VPs of Security. Champions include security architects, network and infrastructure leaders, SecOps, and GRC. Primary segments: enterprise and business, financial services, government (including FedRAMP Gov Cloud), healthcare, manufacturing, legal and professional services, retail and hospitality, and MSP/MSSP partners. Education, including K-12, is one vertical among these.

iboss

Cisco Secure Access is a comprehensive Security Service Edge (SSE) solution (a key component of a SASE solution) that addresses the complexities of securing a hybrid enterprise. Cloud-delivered and grounded in zero trust, it delivers a unique blend of user simplicity and IT efficiency for frictionless, secure access to all applications—SaaS (with gen AI), private apps, and the internet—regardless of user location or device. Secure Access protects users, data, and devices against relentless, sophisticated, and constantly evolving threats including AI-driven attacks and identity breaches.

Provides all core SSE components (ZTNA, SWG, CASB, and FWaaS) plus extended capabilities.

Includes VPN-as-a-Service (VPNaaS), data loss prevention (DLP), AI Assistant, visibility/control/guardrails for generative AI use, digital experience monitoring (DEM), reserved IP, remote browser isolation (RBI), DNS-layer security, flexible security enforcement (in cloud or on-premises), policy verification, and more.
Protects users as they seamlessly access resources and apps with no extra steps needed, regardless of protocol, port, or level of customization
Simplifies IT operations through a single client, single dashboard, single license, and unified policies.
Lowers risk with least privilege, granular controls backed with unmatched threat intelligence of Cisco Talos.
Eases interoperability with other products from Cisco and third-party vendors with common administrative controls, data structures, and policy management.

Robust integrations

Integrates with Cisco Identity Intelligence to protect against the startling increase in identity-based attacks.
Integrates with many SAML Identity Providers (IDPs) such as AD, Azure AD, Okta, Ping, etc.
Integrates with Cisco offerings including SD-WAN, Splunk, XDR, Thousand Eyes, third party technologies such as Menlo RBI, Chrome Enterprise Browser, and AppOmni for SSPM.

Cisco

Symantec Secure Web Gateway provides robust endpoint security, offering seamless management, website blocking, and advanced threat protection, with cloud hosting and SSL interception.

Symantec Secure Web Gateway is designed to enhance web security through its endpoint security integration, effective website blocking, and SSL interception capabilities. Supporting numerous platforms, it allows swift deployment and comprehensive reporting, making it a preferred choice for companies seeking reliable antivirus protection and controlled internet access. Despite facing challenges with technical assistance and firewall functionalities, it stands out with its efficient threat-handling processes and user-friendly management features. Administrators benefit from straightforward URL filtering and a consistently active web-based cloud proxy, ideal for reducing infrastructure management issues.

What are the key features of Symantec Secure Web Gateway?

User-friendly interfaces and easy management allow for intuitive operation and administration.
Strong endpoint security integrates seamlessly with antivirus features and content filtering.
Website blocking offers controlled access to ensure safe browsing environments.
SSL interception ensures data protection and secure communication channels.
ICAP capability supports enhanced integration with other security appliances.
URL filtering applies customizable policies for secure, role-based internet access.

What benefits or ROI can be expected from Symantec Secure Web Gateway?

Streamlined deployment and management reduce time and resource investments.
Cloud hosting decreases infrastructure costs and maintenance requirements.
Caching boosts performance with faster load times and reduced bandwidth usage.
Easy initial setup minimizes configuration efforts and operational disruptions.

In industries where web security integration is vital, Symantec Secure Web Gateway manages client traffic, ensures seamless access control, and filters URLs with ease. Its capabilities, similar to Blue Coat's proxy services, offer less infrastructure management, making it ideal for sectors needing constant data protection.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

Trusted by global enterprises and government agencies.

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

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Access vs. Symantec Secure Web Gateway

September 2026

Free Report: Cisco Secure Access vs. Symantec Secure Web Gateway

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