Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Prisma SD-WAN comparison

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks and Prisma SD-WAN are both solutions in the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) category. Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.2, while Prisma SD-WAN is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.4. Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks holds a 15.3% mindshare in SASE, compared to Prisma SD-WAN’s 2.7% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Prisma SD-WAN users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 6, 2024

Prisma SD-WAN and Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks compete in the networking solutions category, enhancing connectivity and security. Prisma Access has an advantage due to its feature richness, while Prisma SD-WAN stands out for cost-effectiveness and support.

Features: Prisma SD-WAN offers robust network performance, ease of integration, and effective traffic management capabilities. Prisma Access provides comprehensive security features, global access scalability, and threat prevention, making it favored for advanced functionality.

Room for Improvement: Prisma SD-WAN users note needs for better user experience, enhanced scalability, and more customization options. Prisma Access users seek improvements in streamlined management, reduced complexity, and faster configuration updates.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Prisma SD-WAN is known for straightforward deployment and responsive customer service, supported by intuitive setup and available support. Prisma Access, while backed by positive customer service, is seen as more challenging to deploy due to advanced configurations.

Pricing and ROI: Prisma SD-WAN is praised for affordable setup and quicker ROI, aligning well with budget constraints. Prisma Access involves higher upfront costs, justified by its extensive security features, suggesting a longer ROI period.

To learn more, read our detailed Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs. Prisma SD-WAN Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs. Prisma SD-WAN

September 2025

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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 2025, in the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) category, the mindshare of iboss is 2.1%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks is 15.3%, down from 18.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Prisma SD-WAN is 2.7%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks	15.3%
Prisma SD-WAN	2.7%
iboss	2.1%
Other	79.9%

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)

Featured Reviews

Matt Crockford

Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water

It's easy to roll out, and their understanding of our business made it seamless

One aspect we value about iboss is its simplicity. Their customer service is brilliant, and they are super responsive and knowledgeable. It's easy to roll out, and their understanding of our business made it seamless. 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 user interface is highly intuitive. Our IT team picked it up with minimal training. It's arranged so that it's easy to find where things are. Another advantage is the single pane of glass console, which gives you visibility into what's happening. We're not fully there yet because we haven't implemented zero trust, but we're excited about the possibilities from the demos we've seen. We launched a POC of iboss' ChatGPT Risk Protection feature two weeks ago. AI is a great tool, but you need to be careful what you put into it. My biggest fear is employees inputting sensitive corporate information or customer PII data into one of these chatbots. I was impressed by our trial of the feature. It's exactly what we wanted. Now, when a user goes to ChatGPT, there's a banner warning them not to share information, and we can block conversations containing customer data like bank details and email addresses. I don't want to stop people from using it, but we need visibility. We've only tried it on a test group of 15 people. You can configure it to look for specific keywords or integrate it with your DLP policy if you have that configured

Read full review

Roberto Pastorino

Network and Cybersecurity Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Have supported client adoption of security solutions but need more control over infrastructure

It's a working solution. It's not the easiest, but no DLP solution is easy. With Netskope, the whole infrastructure is proprietary. Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks is using a service in AWS, and it's not totally a proprietary infrastructure. Sometimes a third-party outage could impact the whole operability. I'm not certain if the vendor is moving towards sovereignty of infrastructure at this moment, but from what I saw in the past, there was this reliance on third parties for the infrastructure: AWS, GCP, Oracle, and others. This is one point of attention for me. I would prefer more proprietary infrastructure.

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Engineerinfosec67

Presale Engineer at Westcon-Comstor

Centralized management streamlines global network traffic control

Prisma SD-WAN requires a more seamless integration with other Palo Alto solutions, like Prisma Access. Although there has been improvement, further steps can be taken. Additionally, it would be beneficial if the solution integrated the SD-WAN features of Prisma SD-WAN with the security features of Palo Alto's next-generation firewalls, as they currently do not align.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Its initial setup was straightforward."

"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."

"Content filtering is the most useful feature of iboss."

"We chose iboss for both zero trust and proxy (SWG) because their SWG was superior."

"Granular setup, which was able to set different levels of filters using the OUs in the AD."

"Technical support is pretty sharp and very responsive."

"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 use-case scenario, what I like the most is the plug-in. I like the fact that we can do the filtering of these devices offsite independent of the network they are connected to, and we do not have to have traffic coming back inside our network."

More iboss pros

"The solution also provides traffic analysis, threat prevention, URL filtering, and segmentation. That combination is important because it enhances the protection and makes the traffic more secure. It also keeps things more up-to-date, enabling us to deal with more of the current threats."

"Overall, the cost savings, ease of deployment, and better VPN user experience and performance are valuable."

"Palo Alto Firewall is one of the best firewalls in the world."

"The protection for web-based applications was helpful for my colleagues who didn't want a particular application on their devices. And the non-web access protection was more for our developers because they were writing and building code on their computers. Prisma Access was able to protect them."

"The solution improved the consistency of our security controls and the BCP. There has been a 20 percent reduction in TCO. Prisma Access also enabled us to deliver better applications by centralizing security management."

"Prisma integrates well with Cortex XDR and Cortex Data Lake. My company has been also using Prisma Access in-house for nearly a year, and it integrates seamlessly."

"Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks is a seamless solution."

"It's much faster and more secure than legacy solutions. It is also quite stable and scalable as well. We are able to see all the traffic in one place."

More Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks pros

"The product provides efficient stability, security, and reliability features."

"Prisma SD-WAN is an absolutely stable solution."

"Prisma SD-WAN offers capabilities such as path selection based on Layer 7 attributes and application quality of service at the application level."

"I like the link monitoring and analytics. These are the features that set Prisma apart from other products. Prisma works well with large, complex networks. One of my clients is a top bank in the United States, and Prisma has performed well for that customer."

"The implementation of the solution is easy."

"Centralized management improves network visibility because if I want to configure multiple branches and firewalls, it could be quite complicated, but when I have the centralized system, it's easier for users to access branches and manage all the firewalls in the branches."

"From the main controller, we can administer the customer's devices, QoS, network, and traffic. We can monitor it and we can change and create policies as well as upgrade the software. We can totally control a customer's network from one site, the Prisma SD-WAN portal."

"The solution's most valuable feature is the visibility of the logs."

More Prisma SD-WAN pros

Cons

"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."

"Our biggest problem with their service was it did not recognize the device and filtering did not always work correctly."

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

"If they could implement an extra security layer preventing access to iboss from the open internet, it would be great."

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

"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."

"The solution could be stronger on the integration side and offer more cloud applications like G Suite or Oracle."

"Iboss is growing so fast that it is often hard for them to keep up with the challenges."

More iboss cons

"The solution’s stability could be improved."

"The Cloud Management application has room for improvement. There are a lot of things on the roadmap for that application; things are going to happen soon."

"The solution needs to be more compatible with other solutions. This is specifically a problem for us when it comes to healthcare applications. They have proprietary connection types and things of that nature that make compatibility a challenge sometimes."

"Sometimes, we encountered a portal crash. When we told Palo Alto they said it might be the browser or cache, but I think they need to improve it on their side."

"It applies commits to the firewalls slowly. There isn't an API you can use for anything. We've previously had trouble with the egress IP addresses though we expressed to engineering that those mustn't change. They changed several times without warning, causing a lot of headaches."

"Palo Alto Prisma 10 came out over a year ago. Palo Alto added this identity management feature. The legacy way Palo Alto selected which user is sitting on an IP address it passes through has been clunky."

"It's not really Prisma's fault, but when you try to create exceptions you don't really have those abilities. You cannot say, on the management platform, "Hey, for these users I want to create these exceptions." That is one thing that I have gotten some complaints about, and we have faced some challenges there."

"I haven't seen any SD-WAN configuration capability. If Prisma Access would support SD-WAN, that would help... SD-WAN devices should be able to reach Prisma Access, and Palo Alto should support different, vendor-specific devices, not just Palo Alto devices, for SD-WAN configuration."

More Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks cons

"If Palo Alto could open the platform to manage other SD-WANs, it would be beneficial."

"Prisma could be a little cheaper."

"The only con is the pricing because it's more premium."

"It is widely known that Palo Alto is quite expensive. The licensing model is pretty expensive, which would be the only downside to Palo Alto, but regarding the features of the box, it does what it needs to do."

"Sometimes, during the product's initial setup phase, bypass pair or couple ports don't come up normally, and it requires an hour and a half to troubleshoot to reset the box from Prisma SD-WAN to factory default."

"Prisma SD-WAN requires a more seamless integration with other Palo Alto solutions, like Prisma Access."

"The product could be a bit cheaper for the services it provides."

More Prisma SD-WAN 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."

"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."

"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."

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

"The solution requires a license and the technical support has extra costs. The licensing model could improve."

"I'm still comparing, but the solution is quite expensive."

"Prisma is in the middle of the road. It's not the most expensive, but it's not the cheapest. There aren't any additional costs, to my knowledge. I know they have some extra modules, but we didn't use them."

"Prisma Access is one of the best compared to other products on the market. The cost is favorable, and Palo Alto provides a simple architecture, so I recommend the solution to anyone using a different product. There are no hidden costs besides the license; what you see is what you get."

"It is pretty expensive. We have to balance the cost of some features. They need to work on some of the services and products, price-wise."

"The pricing for this solution is on the higher end."

"Based on what I have heard from others, it is a pricey solution as compared to its peers, but I am not sure. However, considering the features that it offers, it is a break-even point. You get whatever they are promising."

"Prisma SaaS is more expensive than similar solutions but I think it's worth it."

More Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks pricing and cost advice

"It is more expensive than Fortinet."

"Prisma SD-WAN is a pretty expensive solution."

"If you're already invested in a Palo Alto product, it would be logical to use this solution. If not, there might be some other solutions that are more viable in terms of pricing."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."

"This solution stood out because it cost considerably less than the other SD-WAN solutions out there from Cisco."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Legal Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	23
Midsize Enterprise	21
Large Enterprise	27

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	13

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?

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

See all answers

What is your primary use case for iboss?

Previously when I used iboss, we did the POC for iboss for ExxonMobil. Four or five people wanted to move from our ol...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?

Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern. There are cheaper alte...

See all answers

What is the better solution - Prisma Access or Zscaler Private Access?

We looked into Prisma Access before choosing Zscaler Private Access (ZPA). Palo Alto’s Prisma Access is a secure ac...

See all answers

What do you like most about Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks?

The most valuable features of the solution are in the areas of the secure remote access it provides while also being ...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks?

From my experience, Palo Alto is more expensive compared to solutions like Netskope and Triscale.

See all answers

What do you like most about Prisma SD-WAN?

The product's initial setup phase is straightforward.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Prisma SD-WAN?

Regarding whether Prisma SD-WAN is an expensive solution, I would say the price is competitively high. Everything dep...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Prisma SD-WAN?

I am still working on what should be improved in Prisma SD-WAN to make this product better, and I cannot give any upd...

See all answers

Comparisons

Netskope vs iboss

Compared 14% of the time

Zscaler Internet Access vs iboss

Compared 13% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs iboss

Compared 13% of the time

Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) vs iboss

Compared 8% of the time

Cloudflare One vs iboss

Compared 6% of the time

More iboss Competitors

Netskope vs Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 13% of the time

Zscaler Internet Access vs Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 11% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 8% of the time

FortiSASE vs Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 2% of the time

More Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks Competitors

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 18% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 15% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 10% of the time

Meraki SD-WAN vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 10% of the time

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 7% of the time

More Prisma SD-WAN Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

October 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks

October 2025

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks report

Download Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks product report

Buyer's Guide

Prisma SD-WAN

October 2025

Download Prisma SD-WAN product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access, Prisma Access, GlobalProtect, Palo Alto GlobalProtect Mobile Security Manager, Prisma SaaS by Palo Alto Networks, Prisma Access

CloudGenix

Overview

Iboss offers a comprehensive cloud-based security platform valued for its scalability and autonomous features, ensuring robust security with easy deployment and management capabilities.

Renowned for its robust security architecture, Iboss integrates seamlessly within diverse networks, delivering efficient granular filtering and advanced content categorization. Its single pane of glass console provides ease of management, allowing rapid scalability suitable for rapidly deploying environments. Operates in BYOD setups due to inline filtering without device installation. Integration with cloud-based applications enhances user control, and features like SASE, SSL inspection, and ChatGPT risk protection stand as highlights. Despite its strengths, users have pointed out areas for enhancement like direct navigation in reports, SSL decryption, and better cloud integration while having room to improve data loss prevention.

What are the most important features of Iboss?

Scalability: Supports rapid deployment across diverse networks.
SASE: A consolidated approach to secure access.
SSL Inspection: Ensures safe data transmission.
Granular Filtering: Detailed control over accessible content.
Single Pane Management: Unifies control through a centralized console.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Cost-effectiveness: Offers competitive pricing with robust features.
Autonomous Operation: Reduces management overhead.
Responsive Support: Provides assistance when needed.
Flexible Deployment: Available for both cloud and on-premises environments.

The usage of Iboss spans educational institutions, specifically K-12, to enforce internet policies, protect data, and support remote work environments. It provides web filtering and security frameworks to ensure safe browsing. Its platform-as-a-service model offers flexibility for both cloud-based and on-premises requirements, integrating seamlessly to deliver enhanced security features suitable for various deployment needs including zero trust, CASB, and network security for work-from-home setups.

iboss

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks provides consistent security for all users and applications across your remote networks. Prisma Access grants users safe access to the cloud and data center applications and the internet as well. In addition, the solution combines all of your security and networking capabilities into a single cloud-delivered platform, enabling flexible hybrid workforces.

Prisma Access can be managed two ways:

Cloud Managed
Panorama Managed

Prisma Access delivers both networking and security services, including:

SD-WAN
VPN
Zero Trust network access (ZTNA)
Quality of service (QoS)
Clean Pipe
Firewall as a service (FWaaS)
DNS Security
Threat Prevention
Cloud secure web gateway (SWG)
Data loss prevention (DLP)
Cloud access security broker (CASB)

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks Features

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks has many valuable key features including: App-ID, User-ID, Device-ID, SSL Decryption, Dynamic User Group (DUG) Monitoring, AI/ML-Based Detection, IoT Security, Reporting, URL Filtering, Enterprise Data Loss Prevention (DLP), Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM)*, Logging, Policy Automation, Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), and many more.

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks Benefits

Some of the benefits of using Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks include:

Security: Prisma Access gives you consistent security to protect against cyberattacks, with enforcement of policy at every location. By implementing Prisma Access, you also gain protection that works to prevent known and unknown malware, exploits, credential theft, command and control, and many other attack vectors across all ports and protocols.
Global connectivity: Prisma Access provides global coverage through use of its connectivity layer.
Scalability: With Prisma Access, scaling is automatically managed and is scalable, flexible, and agile.
Instant deployment: Deployment is fast, eliminating wasted time that may otherwise be associated with setting up a solution, operating it, or shipping hardware in order to get started.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics

users who are currently using the solution.

PeerSpot user Partha D., Global Network Tech Lead at a computer software company, speaks about his experience using the product, saying, "It protects all app traffic so that users can gain access to all apps. Unlike other solutions that only work from ports 80 and 443, which are predominantly for web traffic, Prisma Access covers all protocols and works on all traffic patterns... The most sophisticated attacks can arise from sources that are not behind 80/443."

Tejas J., a Sr. Cloud Security Architect at a computer software company, mentions that "it is geographically dispersed, and it sits on top of Google and AWS platforms. Therefore, you don't face the standard issues, such as latency or bandwidth issues, that you usually face in the case of on-prem data centers.”

Another PeerSpot reviewer, Max I., Associate Director at Cognizant, comments that "Security is absolutely spot-on, really top-notch. It's the result of all the components that come together, such as the HIP [Host Information Profile] and components like Forcepoint, providing end-user content inspection, and antivirus. It incorporates DLP features and that's fantastic because Prisma Access makes sure that all of the essential prerequisites are in place before a user can log in or can be tunneled into."

Palo Alto Networks

Simplify management, enable app-defined SD-WAN policies and deliver a secure, cloud-delivered branch today with the Industry’s first next-generation SD-WAN.

Palo Alto Networks

Sample Customers

More than 4,000 global enterprises trust the iboss Cloud Platform to support their modern workforces, including a large number of Fortune 50 companies.

Concord Hospital, State of Colorado, Essilor International, RheinLand Versicherungsgruppe, University of Westminster, Universidade Nove de Julho, SPAR Austria, CAME Group, ZipRealty, Greenhill & Co., IKT Agder, Aviva Stadium, Animal Logic, Management & Training Corporation, Brigham Young University Hawaii, School District of Chilliwack

Open Networking User Group, Columbia Sportswear Company, Coca Cola

Buyer's Guide

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs. Prisma SD-WAN

September 2025

Free Report: Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs. Prisma SD-WAN

Find out what your peers are saying about Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs. Prisma SD-WAN and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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