


Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform and Cisco Secure Client compete in the secure remote access category. Zscaler appears to have the upper hand due to its cloud-based scalability and zero-trust approach, providing superior integration and security features.
Features: Zscaler offers single sign-on, advanced data loss prevention, and seamless VPN connectivity, all powered by its cloud-based infrastructure. Its scalability eliminates traditional VPN hassles, ensuring a smoother experience for users. Cisco Secure Client boasts a one-click VPN connection, reliable two-factor authentication, and efficient integration with existing network systems, prioritizing user-friendly deployment and reliable security.
Room for Improvement: Zscaler could improve speed and bandwidth support for legacy systems and network layers to boost performance. Concerns also exist about its multi-tenant nature and licensing costs. Cisco Secure Client, meanwhile, could benefit from a more modern interface and reduced reliance on token-based authentication. Simplifying cross-platform connectivity and minimizing frequent updates would enhance user experience.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zscaler excels in cloud environments with seamless integration and scalability, though its technical support varies in responsiveness. Cisco Secure Client offers straightforward deployment in on-premises and hybrid settings but has slower support response times. Zscaler's adaptability in cloud deployment contrasts with Cisco's proven on-premises record.
Pricing and ROI: Zscaler is viewed as expensive but justifiable due to its comprehensive features and cloud-first approach, with scalable pricing that benefits larger deployments. Cisco Secure Client also has a high price, particularly when not bundled with Cisco products, but provides competitive licensing options and demonstrates significant endpoint security ROI.
Centralized security management allows our team to monitor users, manage policies, and investigate security events from one place.
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.
Deploying iboss leads to good return on investment, estimated around 70% to 80%.
With Cisco Secure Network Analytics implemented, we have achieved collaboration as an IT support team where we reached out to network-related members to understand how they work on Cisco Secure Network Analytics-related issues.
When I see that I am trying to cut costs, for example, even when replacing Prisma, we have managed to save about over half a million dollars a year.
In terms of time savings, since users no longer manually connect to the VPN, access became seamless, improving user productivity, especially for remote users.
We don't have to purchase many components such as load balancers and proxy servers that were necessary in traditional setups.
The quality of the support is fantastic.
We had promising discussions about resolving these issues, but no real action followed.
They do not always reply promptly, but they do try and genuinely want to help us.
Cisco offers very high-quality customer service.
Cisco technical support is difficult, and it requires lots of contracts.
Over the years, there's been a decline in the quality, mainly in areas such as the experience level of support engineers and the time taken to address and escalate issues.
The support engineers are technically knowledgeable, particularly for Zscaler Private Access related issues, providing clear guidance and documentation for troubleshooting.
Sometimes, support takes time since the solution has some bugs that need fixing.
They have provided the numbers and contact supports, and it is almost immediate.
They are also able to meet on-demand requirements based on your contract with them, and can easily provide adequate resources and scalability.
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.
A smaller firewall can handle fewer sessions, while a larger one can handle tens of thousands of sessions.
The scalability of Cisco Secure Client depends on the hardware I choose.
Regarding scalability, Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) rates as excellent because we can scale out by simply buying more licenses from the vendor.
The only limitation I was mentioning is that it was unable to identify the sources of vulnerability, which they are going to embed by the mid of this year.
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform is highly scalable, primarily because it is built on a cloud-native, globally distributed architecture.
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.
Our biggest problem with their service was it did not recognize the device despite our ClearPass sending information to the iboss box.
I give them full marks for presales and support during the pilot phase, as well as support when we actually went live.
I would rate the stability ten out of ten.
The stability is really good, and I would rate it up to nine.
Regarding the performance of Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect), I have not seen any issues because performance-wise it functions properly.
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform is very stable, especially in enterprise environments.
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform is very stable.
iboss's single pane of glass console gives centralized visibility into web traffic, user activity, security policies, and alerts from one dashboard.
Better onboarding documents would make the first week easier for new users.
Enhanced policy management, providing smart alerts with root cause context, and improving support with better troubleshooting documents are crucial areas.
I am using Intune for deployments, and it's not easy to create an automated deployment where users do not need to register server addresses.
Vendors offer more features, such as a kill switch.
Cisco's security portfolio, including Secure Client and the firewalls, is falling behind.
It would be beneficial to have more granular centralized visibility, allowing for quick end-to-end tracing of a user request from authentication to application access without switching between multiple views.
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform probably needs to be more efficient because scanning takes a lot of time.
They might be able to identify if something is missing with Zscaler.
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.
Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern.
during that time, the Blue Coat proxies we were using were costly, as Blue Coat was acquired by Symantec, and then Symantec was acquired by Broadcom, which increased costs.
Palo Alto and Fortinet provide free VPN connections, but Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) requires a license purchase.
I perceive the pricing to be a seven, however, I have perpetual licenses.
The pricing seems to align equally with other competitors like Palo Alto during a competitive situation.
There is minimal setup cost since it is a cloud-delivered platform, eliminating the need to invest in additional hardware such as VPN gateways or maintain infrastructure.
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform is much, much cheaper when comparing price.
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.
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.
Because of the points of presence, there is no downtime for us. I can move users to different points of presence, so I experience minimal to zero downtime.
Beneficial for businesses needing secure access outside the office.
Additionally, it gives the user flexibility of working from anywhere, which is a major feature we are looking at.
Cisco Secure Network Analytics filled the gap between the monitoring and management side, allowing us to check end user activity clearly from the Cisco Secure Network Analytics console.
The solution is cloud-based with the latest inspection engines, which I find to be amazing.
We have excellent account management, smooth marketplace engagement, and processing in how my team or organization uses Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform.
Since we started using Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform, it has auto-configuration, and wherever we have deployed the auto-configuration, we have not encountered any problem.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform | 12.1% |
| iboss | 3.4% |
| Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) | 2.7% |
| Other | 81.8% |


| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 15 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 8 |
| Large Enterprise | 16 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 28 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 10 |
| Large Enterprise | 49 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 17 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 12 |
| Large Enterprise | 45 |
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.
Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) provides reliable, secure VPN connectivity for remote access, integrating seamlessly with existing enterprise infrastructure and offering quick setup and scalability.
Cisco Secure Client, featuring AnyConnect, is recognized for its robust VPN capabilities, enabling secure remote access from anywhere, thanks to strong encryption and multifactor authentication. It offers seamless integration with Active Directory and other vendors for enhanced security and protection. Users value its scalability, whether for small teams or large enterprises, along with ease of setup. However, feedback suggests improvements are needed in auto-connection to VPNs, better licensing visibility, and simplified authentication processes. Modernizing its interface and configuration along with less frequent updates are also highlighted.
What are the key features of Cisco Secure Client?In industries such as finance, healthcare, and technology, Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) is implemented to facilitate secure remote work environments. It ensures healthcare data confidentiality, supports financial services' compliance requirements, and maintains secure, consistent connectivity for tech companies' global operations. Organizations rely on its integration capabilities to work alongside firewalls, enhance security measures, and ensure secure access to critical resources, tools vital for productive collaboration and communication.
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange enhances security with seamless cloud-based connectivity and VPN-less operation, offering integration with multiple identity providers and advanced security features, suitable for remote work environments.
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange provides secure, adaptive connectivity without traditional VPNs, allowing organizations to replace legacy systems and bolster remote work security. The platform offers cloud-based protection, single sign-on, dynamic URL categorization, and scalable solutions. While advanced security features like DLP and threat protection enhance data protection, users may face issues with speed, connectivity, and some customization options. Integration challenges, latency due to multi-tenant hosting, reporting delays, and licensing costs require consideration. It supports secure internet access and private application security, ensuring traffic control and data compliance.
What are the key features of Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange?
What are the benefits of using Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange?
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange is deployed across industries to secure remote access and enforce zero trust principles. Organizations in finance, healthcare, and technology sectors utilize it for secure internet access and visibility into cloud applications, enhancing performance and compliance in dynamic environments.
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