Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs Cisco Secure Workload comparison

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs. Cisco Secure Workload

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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

Cisco Secure Client (includ...

Ranking in Cisco Security Portfolio

5th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

SSL VPN (1st), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (3rd), ZTNA as a Service (10th)

Cisco Secure Workload

Ranking in Cisco Security Portfolio

9th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud and Data Center Security (8th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (13th), Microsegmentation Software (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Cisco Security Portfolio category, the mindshare of Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) is 11.0%, up from 9.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Workload is 8.6%, up from 3.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cisco Security Portfolio

Featured Reviews

Wouter Beer

Technical Manager at Gannexion BV

Generates revenue through service offering while needing additional safety features

The primary use case for Cisco Secure Client, including AnyConnect, is as a VPN for remote access I use AnyConnect because I have Cisco infrastructure. It utilizes certificates, which allows for automatic setup. The security features are beneficial, and the whole idea of the app is that it should…

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Raj Metkar

Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA

Discover internal application dependencies and create a dependency map

We actively seek improvements in integrating the Infoblox DDI platform with Cisco Secure Workload. This integration allows Cisco Secure Workload to learn about our networks and network tags, providing valuable insights into vulnerabilities related to the operating system and various applications installed on our servers. Recently, Cisco announced a new product called HyperShield, an AI-based autonomous micro-segmentation solution. While Cisco has not stated that HyperShield will replace Cisco Secure Workload, it represents a natural evolution for the company. HyperShield features dynamic policy discovery and enforcement; however, once policies are enforced, they do not change until a discovery occurs, requiring a re-enforcement process. This new platform operates autonomously, minimizing the need for user or security engineer intervention. I would have expected Cisco to incorporate more automatic discovery and enforcement features within the existing Cisco Secure Workload product. Instead of enhancing the current product, they have introduced a new solution. Cisco plans to honor existing Tetration licenses, allowing users to transition to HyperShield without additional costs, reflecting the investment enterprises have already made. From Cisco’s perspective, this represents a natural progression in their product line. While the product name changes, it seems more of a rebranding effort. The enhancements are greater autonomy, improved discovery, and automatic enforcement, which are now being introduced in HyperShield. Cisco Secure Workload offers automatic policy enforcement but cannot adjust policies dynamically as the application needs to change. Having used the platform for the past five years, the recent announcement has been reassuring. Cisco has confirmed that our investment in the platform will not go to waste. They will honor our existing licenses, providing a natural migration path to the new solution without any disruption

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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

"The most valuable feature of Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client is the consistency, I have not had any issues with the performance."

"The solution certainly simplifies processes for a remote workforce by ensuring secure and efficient connectivity."

"The product is easy to use."

"You don't have to think about it very much. It just works."

"It is an easy system to set up."

"Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client is very stable."

"The initial setup is easy."

"The initial setup is straightforward."

More Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) pros

"The product offers great visibility into the network so we can enforce security measures."

"The only use case I can see that makes sense is micro-segmentation. I think there are other use cases for it. The main purpose of the product is to do micro-segmentation by collecting IP. That could be done by installing an agent, and then you have all the communication coming in and out. You could also use some flow sensors installed in the network that receive a copy of the traffic and then report that back to the system."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that we don't have to do packet captures on the network."

"The product provides multiple-device integration."

"Scalability is its most valuable feature."

"The most valuable feature is micro-segmentation, which is the most important with respect to visibility."

"A complete and powerful micro-segmentation solution."

"Instead of proving that all the access control lists are in place and all the EPGs are correct, we can just point the auditor to a dashboard and point out that there aren't any escaped conversations. It saves an enormous, enormous amount of time."

More Cisco Secure Workload pros

Cons

"In terms of areas for improvement in Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client, from my point of view, the solution works well and right now I don't see the need to improve it. Probably a better user interface could be created for Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client, but its core is VPN creation, and that works well, though I'm not a VPN specialist, and I'm not an expert on how to create a VPN, how the VPN gateway works, how it's implemented, and what's the architecture behind it. A two-factor authentication feature was recently added to the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client. In the past, you only needed to log in with your username and password, but now, there's a token, and the user interface for that token isn't that good. That's another area for improvement. Cisco should also make the two-factor authentication better in the solution. What I'd like added to the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client in its next release is a better two-factor authentication, in particular, the validity of the code being shorter because sometimes when I get the code and I add it to the client, it's invalid, though I'm unsure if it's centrally set up that way or if its a characteristic of the product. Making the interface of the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client more user-friendly is also what I'd like to see in the next release of the solution."

"I have been working with the same interface for the last ten years. I would say that it needs some improvements made."

"Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client can be improved by having better speed and reliability. However, the speed and reliability are already really good."

"Behavior analytics and other newer technologies should be integrated into the solution."

"The setup could be simplified for solutions engineers with a wizard."

"Usability could be improved, as the look and feel of it is somewhat dated. More generally, Cisco's security portfolio, including Secure Client and the firewalls, is falling behind."

"We'd like the product to be cheaper."

"Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client would be perfect if it weren't for the fingerprint feature."

More Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) cons

"Secure Workload is a little complicated to use, and the dashboard isn't intuitive, so it takes a while to learn how to use it."

"There is some overlap between Cisco Tetration and AppDynamics and I need to have a single pane of glass, rather than have to jump between different tools."

"There was a controversy when Cisco reduced the amount of data they kept, and the solution became quite cost-intensive, which made its adoption challenging….Although they have modified it now, I preferred the previous version, and I wish all the functionality were back under the same product."

"I'd like to see better documentation for advanced features. The documentation is fairly basic. I would also like to see better integration with other applications."

"It has an uninviting interface."

"The multi-tenancy, redundancy, backup and restore functionalities, as well as the monitoring aspects of the solution, need improvement. The solution offers virtually no enterprise-grade possibility for monitoring."

"It is not so easy to use and configure. It needs a bunch of further resources to work, which is mainly the biggest downside of it. The deployment is huge."

"It is highly scalable, but there is a limitation that it is only available on Cisco devices."

More Cisco Secure Workload cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay for an annual subscription. Additionally to the subscription, we thought in order to connect this solution to the Active Directory we had to purchase a Cisco ACS, Access Control System. It turns out we did not actually need it."

"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."

"It costs around 80,000 Indian rupees for a hundred licenses, so approximately $1,020 USD."

"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."

"The licensing costs are reasonable."

"The pricing depends on the requirement, so proper planning and an RF analysis help to properly size the solution and get the best pricing."

"One thing I've noticed is the price in comparison to other VPNs."

"The initial cost is the ASA and other items, but after that, it is relatively inexpensive."

More Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) pricing and cost advice

"The price is based on how many computers you're going to install it on."

"The pricing is a bit higher than we anticipated."

"It is not cheap and pricing may limit scalability."

"Regarding price, Cisco Secure Workload can be expensive if you don't have a budget. If you're not doing micro-segmentation, every extra security measure or enforcement you're putting on top of your existing environment will be an extra cost. It's not a cheap solution at all. But from my point of view, if you need to do micro-segmentation, this is one of the best tools I've seen for it. I can't compare that to Microsoft's solution because I haven't looked into it. I've looked into VMware and Cisco. Those are the only two that I know of. I didn't know that Microsoft could do micro-segmentation at all. Maybe they can, but I haven't heard anything about it."

"The cost for the hardware is around 300k."

"Pricing depends on the scope of the application and the features. Larger installations save more."

"The price is outrageous. If you have money to throw at the product, then do it."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

27%

Educational Organization

23%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

24%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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, which provide free VPN when the firewall is purchased. Palo Alto and Fortinet prov...

What needs improvement with Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?

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% ...

What do you like most about Cisco Secure Workload?

The product provides multiple-device integration.

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

CloudStrike offers antivirus capabilities and firewall features for servers and VDI but lacks automatic policy discovery. This raises questions about the resources required to discover and write po...

What needs improvement with Cisco Secure Workload?

Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway vs Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect)

Comparisons

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Compared 8% of the time

Ivanti Connect Secure vs Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect)

Compared 8% of the time

Check Point Remote Access VPN vs Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect)

Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 21% of the time

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 17% of the time

Illumio vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 16% of the time

Cisco ACI vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 10% of the time

VMware NSX vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 9% of the time

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Product Reports

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect)

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Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) report

Cisco Secure Workload

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Also Known As

Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client

Cisco Tetration

Overview

Cisco Secure Client, including AnyConnect, provides secure remote access, enabling employees to connect to company networks from different locations. It offers reliable connections, strong encryption, and multi-platform support, making it suitable for secure and efficient remote work.

Cisco Secure Client, including AnyConnect, is crucial for organizations seeking secure remote access. Its reliable connectivity, combined with robust encryption and multi-platform support, ensures employees can access company resources seamlessly. Users benefit from its easy-to-use interface, seamless integration with existing infrastructure, and enhanced security features like endpoint protection and network visibility. This client helps maintain operational efficiency and safeguards sensitive data, making it highly valued in diverse professional settings. Despite its benefits, some users report disconnection issues, a complex configuration process, and high resource consumption.

What are the most important features?

Reliable Connectivity: Ensures stable remote access with minimal disruptions.
Robust Security: Strong encryption and endpoint protection enhance data safety.
Multi-Platform Support: Compatible with various devices for seamless access.
Easy Deployment: Intuitive setup process simplifies installation.
Efficient VPN Capabilities: Provides secure and efficient virtual private networking.
Integration with Cisco Products: Works well with other Cisco solutions for unified management.
Customizable Policies: Allows detailed administrative control over access settings.
Minimal Disruption: Stability during updates prevents workflow interruptions.

What benefits and ROI should users expect?

Enhanced Security: Protects sensitive data with powerful encryption and endpoint security.
Operational Efficiency: Improves productivity with reliable remote access.
Flexibility: Supports multiple devices, facilitating remote work.
Cost-Effective: Reduces the need for additional security tools through comprehensive features.

Cisco Secure Client, including AnyConnect, is widely adopted across industries such as healthcare, finance, and education for its secure remote access capabilities. Healthcare organizations use it to protect patient data while providing remote care. Financial institutions rely on its encryption standards to secure sensitive transactions. Educational institutions integrate it to provide secure access to online learning resources, ensuring data privacy for students and staff.

Cisco

Cisco Secure Workload is a cloud and data security solution that offers a zero-trust policy of keeping an organization’s application workloads safe and secure throughout the entire on-premise and cloud data center ecosystems.

Cisco Secure Workload will consistently provide protection by discovering workload process anomalies, stopping threats immediately, minimizing the risk threat surface, and aborting any lateral movement.

Today’s ecosystems are very elastic, and in the application-focused dynamic of today’s aggressive marketplace, Cisco Secure Workload delivers a robust security solution that works effectively with today’s most popular applications. The solution uniquely surrounds each and every workload to ensure organizations are able to keep their data, network, and applications safe and secure at all times. Cisco Secure Workload ensures that enterprise organizations can maintain secure applications by consistently building firewalls around every workload level throughout the entire ecosystem. The solution can manage applications that are deployed on containers, virtual machines, or bare-metal servers.

Cisco Secure workload is able to meet an organization's busy needs and offers flexible options such as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and on-premises options. Using the Secure Workload SaaS options, users receive all the benefits of Cisco Secure Workload protection without the hassle of having to deploy and maintain the platform on premises. Users are responsible for acquiring the necessary software licensing and deploying software agents. Using SaaS, Secure Workload runs in the cloud and is operated and maintained by Cisco. This option offers the ability to scale easily and is a popular choice for SaaS-first and SaaS-only clients. Many organizations find they get the best TCO and achieve the best productivity and profitability using the SaaS options.

When choosing on-premises options, organizations choose between hardware-based appliance models (large or small form factors). Platform selection is dependent on scalability goals, the desired fidelity level of flow telemetry, and the actual number of workloads. When a user chooses to configure Cisco Secure Workload for a conversation-only flow telemetry for all workloads, each platform has the capability to scale up vertically twice the default platform scale. Additionally, with Secure Workload, it is possible for the platform to be scaled horizontally in order to satisfy the demands of extra large widely distributed enterprise environments using federation capabilities.

Cisco Secure Workload also provides a robust disaster recovery (DR) tool, which helps to make it a complete, comprehensive solution. The DR allows for continuous restore and backup capabilities that enable users to quickly remediate operations and data to a standby cluster in the event of a drastic failure or disaster.

Reviews from Real Users

“The solution offers 100% telemetry coverage. The telemetry you collect is not sampled, it's not intermittent. It's complete. You see everything in it, including full visibility of all activities on your endpoints and in your network. Other valuable features include vast support for annotations, flexible user applications, machine learning, automatic classification, and hierarchical policies.” - CTO at a tech vendor

Cisco

Sample Customers

MST, Molina Healthcare, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, Arup, New South Wales Rural FireService

ADP, University of North Carolina Charlotte (UNCC)

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs. Cisco Secure Workload