Fortinet FortiProxy vs Fortra's Clearswift Secure Web Gateway comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Fortinet and Fortra are both solutions in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category. Fortinet is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.0, while Fortra is ranked #34. Fortinet holds a 2.1% mindshare in WSG, compared to Fortra’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Fortinet users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Fortra users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiProxy and Fortra's Clearswift Secure Web Gateway based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Fortinet, Zscaler and others in Secure Web Gateways (SWG).

To learn more, read our detailed Secure Web Gateways (SWG) Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

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 Fortinet FortiProxy is 2.1%, down from 4.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortra's Clearswift Secure Web Gateway is 0.7%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Secure Web Gateways (SWG) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
iboss	3.2%
Fortinet FortiProxy	2.1%
Fortra's Clearswift Secure Web Gateway	0.7%
Other	94.0%

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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Emmanuel Dasho

Cyber Security Engineer | Network/Security at GCET

Ease of configuration and seamless integration enhance operational efficiency

The App Control feature in the Fortinet FortiProx * Deep Packet Inspection (DPI): FortiProxy analyzes traffic at the application layer to detect applications even if they use non-standard ports or are encrypted. * Application Signatures: Uses FortiGuard’s application signature database (constantly updated) to recognize thousands of applications. * Policy Enforcement: You can create policies to Allow, Block, Monitor, or Shape (QoS) based on application type, category, or specific apps.

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Koffi Martial Assouman

Pre-Sales Support Engineer at GTN (Groupe de Technologies et de Negoce)

I would say the solution is stable. We've deployed it here for one year, and for the moment, we've had no issues

I would rate the product as seven out of 10. The product needs maintenance only if something is wrong with the configuration. If so, we are always available to reconfigure or make some adjustments, and the app system numbers are very available. Anytime we need them, they're there for us. The last time I called the engineer in charge of the product, he told me everything was fine apart from the setup. They want to add more ports about a dedicated service that he cannot do for us. I asked him to take a snapshot and send it to me so I can forward it to the system group. The solution can be deployed in companies of any size. One thing I would recommend to anyone contemplating implementing the product would be, don't be put off because Clearswift Secure Web Gateway is not at the top on Gartner. That does not mean it's not a good solution. I think all the solutions are equal. It all depends on how you deploy the solution and where you put it.

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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 has significantly lowered the number of security incidents. It is crazy how much it blocks and how much it is aware of the outside danger."

"From a corporate perspective, I understand that it's important to keep the company data safe."

"iboss is among the few products providing inline filtering where no application is needed on the device. It operates on the network side and is not device-based. This feature was one of the main reasons why we stayed with them for so long."

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

"The security aspect of the solution, particularly the malware behind it, is excellent."

"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."

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

"This product is solid, fairly easy to use, and reliable."

More iboss pros

"The App Control feature in the Fortinet FortiProxy Deep Packet Inspection (DPI): FortiProxy analyzes traffic at the application layer to detect applications even if they use non-standard ports or are encrypted."

"The tool's most valuable feature is traffic inspections."

"It seamlessly integrates with various security products, enhancing threat intelligence and improving indicators of compromise."

"It helps to secure the networks at the DNA level and ensure proper identification and filtering of DNS traffic."

"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiProxy are its simplicity and performance."

"The solution's stability is good."

"I liked the tool's ability to provide detailed access control. For example, we could allow users to watch YouTube videos but not post comments. This level of control wasn't available in FortiGate."

"The most valuable feature is intrusion prevention (IPS) and antivirus profiles. These features help control user activity, ensuring that they access only permitted websites and protects from downloading viruses."

More Fortinet FortiProxy pros

"With the Clearswift Secure Web Gateway, we have three antivirus engines searching the cloud web for any heuristics, malware, and viruses that may be contained on a URL or in a document attached to your emails or your traffic."

Cons

"Sometimes the agent stops working in iboss, and we have to reinstall the agent."

"The dashboards for local use could be better."

"I would like to see simpler dashboards, more detailed reporting, and faster performance in iboss."

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

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

"I appreciate that iboss's single pane of glass console gives centralized visibility into web traffic, user activity, security policies, and alerts from one dashboard, allowing us to quickly investigate incidents and monitor policy violations without switching between multiple tools, improving operational efficiency; however, the dashboard customization and reporting could be more flexible."

"The reporting feature needs improvement. It doesn't give you the expected results. It is quite difficult to get the specific reports needed, and it is not as intuitive as the rest of the platform."

"Our iboss subscription access should be more secure with an OTP or VPN etc. It is easy to gain access if, for example, hackers obtain my username and password."

More iboss cons

"I see that the solution's interface is not in French...It would be good for our company if we could have the tool interface in French."

"Its power supply process for some of the proxies needs improvement."

"Fortinet FortiProxy should improve by adding more documentation and guides."

"For IT administrators and managers, the reporting features are the main issues that should be addressed in order to improve the performance, security, and effective utilization of the product."

"The hardware version is stable, but the VM version is not stable and contains bugs that cause issues."

"Fortinet FortiProxy should integrate AI/ML technologies. Its pricing needs to be more flexible."

"The tool's most valuable feature is its granular access control. For example, users can browse the main site if you allow access to Amazon, but it stops them from visiting secondary Amazon websites without specific permission. This granular control is really helpful."

"Its web filtering capabilities could be improved."

More Fortinet FortiProxy cons

"if we could add a firewall policy to this process, it would be better."

"Most of our clients want to use a web proxy integrated with other functionalities, like reverse proxies, and if we could add a firewall policy to this process, it would be better."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is probably in line with other solutions, but I do not deal with the financial side."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"The tool's pricing is in the middle."

"It is a cost-effective solution."

"It can be considered expensive, with a limited lifespan and support that eventually requires updating to newer solutions."

"The solution is neither too expensive nor very cheap."

"Price-wise, Fortinet FortiProxy is moderate - not the highest among competitors, but not cheap either."

"It offers a more cost-effective solution than alternatives like FortiMail, FortiGate, and various Barracuda devices."

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

Construction Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	12

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	3

No data available

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?

I think iboss could be improved by emphasizing the modular function even more during sales presentations and demonstr...

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What is your primary use case for iboss?

iboss is primarily used for content filtering within school districts and public K-12 school districts, and it can al...

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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 needs improvement with Fortinet FortiProxy?

For me it may be the wildcards for urls whitelist or blacklist, somehow the page loads. Aside from that there no other..

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What advice do you have for others considering Fortinet FortiProxy?

My advice to others who are considering Fortinet FortiProxy is that it is seamless, easy to use, and quite straightfo...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiProxy?

Fortinet FortiProxy is much cheaper compared to other products like Cisco, Palo Alto, and others. It is reasonably pr...

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Comparisons

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Compared 10% of the time

Netskope vs iboss

Compared 8% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs iboss

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Cisco Umbrella vs iboss

Compared 6% of the time

FortiSASE vs iboss

Compared 6% of the time

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Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway vs Fortinet FortiProxy

Compared 17% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs Fortinet FortiProxy

Compared 16% of the time

Cisco Web Security Appliance vs Fortinet FortiProxy

Compared 11% of the time

McAfee Web Gateway Cloud Service vs Fortinet FortiProxy

Compared 6% of the time

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Cyren WebSecurity vs Fortra's Clearswift Secure Web Gateway

Compared 27% of the time

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

Compared 21% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs Fortra's Clearswift Secure Web Gateway

Compared 20% of the time

Symantec Proxy vs Fortra's Clearswift Secure Web Gateway

Compared 11% of the time

More Fortra's Clearswift Secure Web Gateway Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

October 2026

Download iboss product report

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiProxy

October 2026

Download Fortinet FortiProxy product report

Buyer's Guide

Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

September 2026

Fortra's Clearswift Secure Web Gateway report

Download Fortra's Clearswift Secure Web Gateway product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

FortiProxy

No data available

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

Fortinet FortiProxy provides simplicity and high performance with notable traffic inspections and user-friendly features. It integrates with security products to enhance threat intelligence, ensuring secure and efficient network management.

Fortinet FortiProxy is designed to enhance network security through exceptional traffic inspections, intrusion prevention, and antivirus capabilities. Its user-friendly nature allows for granular application and DNS control, deep packet inspection, and detailed access control. Administrators can implement precise policies to manage web access, integrating seamlessly with other security solutions. Offering proactive alarms and caching capabilities, FortiProxy optimizes bandwidth usage while ensuring robust network defense.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiProxy?

Traffic Inspections: High-performance inspection to secure web traffic.
Intrusion Prevention: Proactively detects and blocks threats.
Antivirus Profiles: Offers robust protection against viruses.
Application and DNS Control: Provides detailed control over applications and DNS settings.
Deep Packet Inspection: Ensures comprehensive inspection of packet content.
Access Control: Enables precise management of user access.

What benefits or ROI should users investigate?

Security Enhancement: Improved protection from web-based threats.
Network Efficiency: Optimized bandwidth through effective caching.
Integration Capabilities: Seamless interaction with other security products.
User-Friendly Management: Simplified administration with granular controls.

In industries focused on maintaining high-level internet security, Fortinet FortiProxy is employed for comprehensive traffic inspections and segmentation. It supports antivirus additions and secure connectivity, serving as a robust web security gateway. Organizations benefit from seamless authentication using Fortinet Single Sign-On, crucial for protecting users from threats and enabling efficient network operations.

Fortinet

Fortra's Clearswift Secure Web Gateway provides a robust solution for threat prevention and data protection, ensuring secure internet access while maintaining compliance. Companies looking to enhance their web security posture can benefit from its advanced features.

Designed for comprehensive web protection, Fortra's Clearswift Secure Web Gateway combines deep content inspection with adaptive data loss prevention technologies. It effectively mitigates threats through real-time analysis and custom policy implementation, catering to precise security requirements. Integration flexibility allows seamless incorporation into existing IT environments, optimizing security without compromising performance.

What are the key features of Fortra's Clearswift Secure Web Gateway?

Deep Content Inspection: Analyzes web traffic to identify and mitigate sophisticated threats.
Adaptive Data Loss Prevention: Prevents unauthorized data sharing with flexible policy tools.
Granular Policy Control: Offers personalized security management protocols.
Advanced Threat Protection: Shields against malware and phishing with proactive measures.
Seamless Integration: Fits within any IT infrastructure for enhanced protection without performance loss.

What are the benefits and ROI of Fortra's Clearswift Secure Web Gateway?

Enhanced Security: Mitigates advanced threats ensuring robust data protection.
Compliance Support: Helps meet regulatory requirements through adaptive policy management.
Operational Efficiency: Streamlines security processes, reducing IT workload.
Cost-Effectiveness: Offers value through comprehensive threat mitigation.

Fortra's Clearswift Secure Web Gateway is widely implemented across diverse industries such as finance, healthcare, and education. Its ability to seamlessly integrate within industry-specific regulatory environments while providing strong data protection makes it an ideal choice for organizations seeking reliable web security.

Fortra

Sample Customers

Trusted by global enterprises and government agencies.

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

September 2026

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