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Cisco Web Security Appliance vs GoodAccess comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 4, 2024

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
5.4
Implementing iboss boosted efficiency and security, offering high ROI despite increased per-device fees, through enhanced productivity and reduced VPN dependency.
Sentiment score
6.7
Cisco Web Security Appliance provides valuable security with positive ROI, especially during heightened threats, justifying the investment.
Sentiment score
7.4
GoodAccess ROI timelines vary, offering immediate to long-term returns, with benefits in efficiency, security, and access control.
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
Deploying iboss leads to good return on investment, estimated around 70% to 80%.
Manager at Cyvogenix
I have seen some cost effectiveness from iboss; it has reduced certain support requirements, making it a more hands-off solution.
Managing Director
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.6
Iboss support is praised for responsiveness and knowledge but faces challenges with response times and communication during outages.
Sentiment score
6.4
Cisco Web Security support feedback is mixed, with varied satisfaction based on responsiveness and technician expertise across different tiers.
Sentiment score
7.5
GoodAccess support is praised for its responsiveness, 24/7 availability, quick issue resolution, and helpful communication, despite occasional delays.
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
Generally, the response time for resolving issues is getting slower.
Security Solution Architect at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Customer support has been pretty good for GoodAccess so far.
Cyber and IT Support at a healthcare company with 51-200 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
iboss offers scalable, containerized cloud architecture, efficiently expanding resources and swiftly resolving performance issues during traffic spikes.
Sentiment score
7.5
Cisco Web Security Appliance scales well, integrates with devices, supports virtual environments, and suits large organizations despite clustering issues.
Sentiment score
7.7
GoodAccess provides scalable, adaptable solutions for growing teams, with quick user licensing adjustments and responsive support, despite occasional bandwidth issues.
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
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
iboss is praised for stability, quick support, and reliability despite occasional minor challenges or growth-related fluctuations.
Sentiment score
7.8
Cisco Web Security Appliance is stable and reliable, though potential issues arise from infrastructure complexity and power management.
Sentiment score
8.7
GoodAccess offers excellent stability and reliability, with minimal outages and downtime, supported by responsive customer service and frequent updates.
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
It is very stable, a product that I put on the network, and it will run for a very long time.
Security Solution Architect at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Concerns include pricing, agent reliability, security, integration complexities, slow reporting, limited cloud integration, and improved support and presentations.
Cisco Web Security Appliance requires better UI, automation, pricing flexibility, tech support, integration, mobile compatibility, and enhanced features.
GoodAccess could improve pricing, app features, threat detection, and expand server regions while enhancing device compatibility and administrative control.
It is not as intuitive as the rest of the platform.
Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water
iboss's single pane of glass console gives centralized visibility into web traffic, user activity, security policies, and alerts from one dashboard.
Manager at Cyvogenix
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
Once it is done correctly, the functionality and reports become valuable, although the implementation part can still be challenging.
Security Solution Architect at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
I would like to see more options and more granular controls for users who know what they are doing as an administrator.
Director, Information Technology at Veriheal
A next tier would make a big difference for us on bundling for a better and more succinct price point or business model.
Cyber and IT Support at a healthcare company with 51-200 employees
 

Setup Cost

Iboss offers competitive, transparent pricing and simplicity, but costs may increase with usage compared to ZScaler and Check Point.
Cisco Web Security Appliance is costly, suitable for larger enterprises, and aligns with market trends for robust security features.
Enterprise buyers praise GoodAccess for its straightforward pricing, scalability, and strong support, though basic plan costs may rise later.
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
Cisco is not a product for small companies due to its pricing.
Security Solution Architect at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

iboss excels with cloud-native security features, centralized management, zero trust access, and reliable, seamless integration for enhanced efficiency.
Cisco Web Security Appliance offers strong web protection, user-friendly operation, scalability, and seamless integration for enterprise security needs.
GoodAccess offers secure, reliable, user-friendly remote access with encryption, global gateways, easy management, and excellent customer support.
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
When I integrate these three products, it efficiently prevents malware, showing which endpoint is affected and providing a comprehensive view of the endpoint connections.
Security Solution Architect at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
GoodAccess has positively impacted my organization as we have fewer IPs to whitelist and limited access for anybody outside of our organization into our internal systems.
Director, Information Technology at Veriheal
The gateways and the connection history, as well as data packets and traffic encrypted details, really support my efforts to maintain a secure network.
Cyber and IT Support at a healthcare company with 51-200 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

iboss
Sponsored
Ranking in Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
Internet Security (3rd), Web Content Filtering (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (6th), ZTNA as a Service (6th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (7th)
Cisco Web Security Appliance
Ranking in Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
20th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
GoodAccess
Ranking in Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
22nd
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (20th), ZTNA (14th)
 

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 Web Security Appliance is 2.2%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GoodAccess is 1.0%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
iboss3.2%
Cisco Web Security Appliance2.2%
GoodAccess1.0%
Other93.6%
Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
 

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.
Vusa Ndlovu - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Solution Architect at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Advanced protection features offer robust security while integration process presents challenges
With the WebAssign integration, it is not easy when I am integrating policies within the company, especially with NAND and wireless policies. The challenge arises when traffic is blocked from either wireless or wired connections. Although implementing it as a standalone is quicker, integrating BYOD with Cisco I and FTB can be tiring. Once it is done correctly, the functionality and reports become valuable, although the implementation part can still be challenging.
reviewer2893848 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cyber and IT Support at a healthcare company with 51-200 employees
Centralized access control has strengthened secure remote work and simplified admin oversight
GoodAccess acts as our virtual private network host, as well as part of my endpoint security, network profiling, and dashboard integrations in my daily work. GoodAccess has made ease and use a staple part of the profile that I have. As an administrator with the rights, the gateways and the connection history, as well as data packets and traffic encrypted details, really support my efforts to maintain a secure network. The best features GoodAccess offers include multiple and various concise gateways that are maintained by an excellent team, and it seems to me that I have almost no reduction or latency in operations from servers to endpoints to mobile use. Gateway management, which is part of the package that was purchased, certainly stands out for me as it is easy and convenient to hit West Coast, East Coast, and multiple global hotspots for our entire dev team. Additionally, the low latency really makes a difference in push and pull for data packets, large transfers, and a lot of our video teleconferencing. GoodAccess has positively impacted my organization through the price point, the ease of use, the service and account management team, as well as some of the supplemental training opportunities and the long list of available files and referenceable traffic data, which really helps me maintain a secure network.
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915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Construction Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
25%
Construction Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
15%
Healthcare Company
14%
Outsourcing Company
11%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise12
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business22
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise1
 

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...
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 ...
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Web Security Appliance?
Comparing with other products, Cisco has more functionality, but pricing is a challenge. Cisco is not a product for s...
What needs improvement with Cisco Web Security Appliance?
With the WebAssign integration, it is not easy when I am integrating policies within the company, especially with NAN...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Web Security Appliance?
The user interface that I usually provide for the web app includes malware protection, URL filtering, data loss preve...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for GoodAccess?
I am unsure about whether my organization evaluated other options before choosing GoodAccess. This contract has been ...
What needs improvement with GoodAccess?
GoodAccess has some great standard features. If they decided to bundle a little bit more, they may be able to bring d...
What is your primary use case for GoodAccess?
My main use case for GoodAccess is maintaining the administrator responsibilities for the gateways, connections, endp...
 

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform
Cisco WSA, Cisco Web Security
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Trusted by global enterprises and government agencies.
New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Caixa Seguradora
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Web Security Appliance vs. GoodAccess and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.