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USM Anywhere vs Zscaler Client Connector comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

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

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...
Sponsored
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
110
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (4th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (5th), Ransomware Protection (2nd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (1st)
USM Anywhere
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
41st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
115
Ranking in other categories
Log Management (33rd), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (28th), Compliance Management (13th)
Zscaler Client Connector
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
24th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category, the mindshare of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is 3.4%, down from 4.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of USM Anywhere is 1.0%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zscaler Client Connector is 0.7%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks3.4%
Zscaler Client Connector0.7%
USM Anywhere1.0%
Other94.9%
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
 

Featured Reviews

ABHISHEK_SINGH - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Process Expert at A.P. Moller - Maersk
Gained full visibility and streamlined threat detection through behavior-based insights and AI integration
Initially, we got to have a lot of false positives when we onboarded, but nowadays it's quite smooth. We have fine-tuned our security policies and allowed different levels of policies to get rid of those false positives. Currently, we are getting a fairly good amount of incidents that are not false positives or benign, but actionable items. The process is streamlined. In the initial days, the operations used to get involved in a lot of benign and other activities, but now the process is streamlined. We are leveraging the auto-detection and remediation plans. The operations teams are now more involved in other business roles as well, not just looking into the logs and fetching out what's happening there. They have fixed a lot of things. Initially, they didn't have IAC code drift detection, cloud posture management, or security posture management, but they have those now. They purchased different vendors and did a merger with that. They have now Prisma Cloud that gets integrated and now they are working with Cortex Cloud. Everything that was negative has now been addressed, and the product altogether looks to be in a very better and mature shape now. Currently, it's more or less detecting the workloads with AI-based best practices. Since most organizations are consuming AI agents and other things, we are looking forward to seeing what other feature enhancements Palo Alto can support in that.
Kris Nawani - PeerSpot reviewer
Co-Founder/Director at Bangkok MSP Company Limited
Offers complete coverage without the need to install additional software
USM Anywhere is used for threat detection and investigation. It provides a solution with built-in threat intelligence and various other investigation tools The solution offers complete coverage without the need to install additional software, as it is maintained by the vendor. It helps in saving…
DA
IT Support Admin at Kuehne & Nagel Inc.
Client activity has been monitored efficiently through in-depth log analysis and traffic filtering
I use the Zscaler speed test, and it is very nice. We use some logs from Zscaler Client Connector to collect data and see what is happening, such as if there is an interruption or something. There is a specific tunnel version that we have to use because, depending on the internet provider, some of them have lower speed, so we have some issues. This is because of the provider, not from Zscaler. We use Office 365 services and Office applications, and because some connections are slow and they do not have full coverage from the internet provider, we have some issues. If the speed is slow for Zscaler Client Connector connection, then we have issues because if the speed is not good, then Zscaler Client Connector goes down. This may be because they put some policy. Of course, if you use Office 365 services such as Outlook, the minimum bandwidth is 5 megabits and more, so this causes issues if the users do not have a good remote connection. This depends on the companies and the users, so they need to fix it. This is not from us or our company. It is very useful, and the logs are very helpful. When we go to logs, we understand what is happening.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I've found the solution to be highly scalable for enterprises."
"Cortex is a very good total solution on the endpoints."
"We use it for malicious connections from malicious websites, to identify payloads that might be inside the traffic, to identify malicious processes or bugs that are running on the network, and any activities that tend to lead to data infiltration."
"Palo Alto is constantly adding new features."
"We switched because there were a lot of added features with Palo Alto that Check Point didn't have, and it was an upgrade for us."
"The stability is pretty good except for one or two cases, and based on the performance, it's been okay with pretty high performance, no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze."
"The main benefit of using Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks while employing Palo Alto Firewall at the internet edge is that it improves security on our endpoint devices, integrating seamlessly with Palo Alto Firewalls to deliver comprehensive network, analyst, and security details all in a single dashboard, which allows us to manage everything from our network devices."
"The dashboard is customizable."
"The pricing and licensing are at its best in the market when compared with other vendor's SIEM products."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the ease of deployment that it provides to users. The integrations that the product has with third-party applications are useful."
"Any unusual behaviour, we can monitor. We have alerts set up to be sent when we receive signs of any unusual behaviour."
"Every activity on the firewall is recorded, and notifications are sent with this solution."
"As it includes a logger feature for gathering all logs from all devices (network devices, servers, hosts etc.) it has basically become the only software that we look at when we have a problem."
"It helps to monitor the entire office in in a single point."
"AlienVault has helped us in improving our visualization and incident response during cybersecurity situations."
"AlienVault is a full featured cost effective SIEM that provides quality threat intelligence for a lot less than the competition."
"The best features of Zscaler Client Connector are that it gives the client a much more transparent experience, as they don't have to worry about connecting to a VPN."
"It is very useful, and the logs are very helpful; when we go to logs, we understand what is happening."
"The solution operates in the background seamlessly without the user noticing."
"It is very important to see what is happening between the user and the applications that we have, and to filter the traffic from outbound traffic and inside traffic."
"It is very important to see what is happening between the user and the applications that we have, and to filter the traffic from outbound traffic and inside traffic."
"It is very useful, and the logs are very helpful; when we go to logs, we understand what is happening."
"Zscaler Client Connector has eliminated VPN bottlenecks and outages, improved user productivity with instant secure access, and reduced help desk tickets related to VPN issues, overcoming 60% of VPN-related problems while allowing faster onboarding of remote users and better enforcement of zero-trust security policies."
"Zscaler Client Connector is quite scalable, and I would rate its scalability as nine or ten out of ten."
 

Cons

"It'll help if customization was easier."
"Whenever the tool releases a new version when deploying the product across the organization, I feel like there are some disturbances in the CPU usage after upgrading the tool to the latest version."
"Cortex does not offer an on-premises solution. However, some customers would prefer not to be on the cloud. It would be ideal if it could offer something on-prem as well."
"It's very time-consuming to log support issues and the people that answer the tickets aren't very knowledgeable."
"The solution needs better reports. I think they should let the customer go in and customize the reports."
"Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks can improve mobile integration to allow access to the console."
"The onboarding process could be better."
"Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks could improve its user interface, which is more complicated compared to competitors such as SentinelOne."
"The next release will include cloud security and it will support a hybrid IT environment, furthermore the OTX has a great added value but it will help when there is more OTX information in the database."
"I would like to see it be able to run on any hardware via just an installer."
"They should improve the reporting capabilities. Different functions to customize reports should be added."
"Customer service is 4/10 - they need to provide faster responses to emails."
"The vulnerability scanning feature is one of the areas where the product has certain shortcomings and needs to improve. The tool has vulnerability scanning, but it is not that efficient."
"I think they need to broaden their compliance management to cover more areas of compliance."
"There are scalability issues due to a 60 TB limit, which restricts its use for large customers like banks."
"The solution already has quite good tools, however, they need better integration tools for linking with Office 365, Google Suite, and so on."
"Zscaler Client Connector is not low in cost; it is definitely on the higher side."
"If the speed is slow for Zscaler Client Connector connection, then we have issues because if the speed is not good, then Zscaler Client Connector goes down."
"I rate this product nine out of ten because I have seen some minor instability issues after updates and some room for UI improvement for deeper analytics, with instances of major issues after updating the GCC that required rollbacks."
"There is room for improvement regarding the price of Zscaler Client Connector, as it is one of the most expensive solutions available."
"If the speed is slow for Zscaler Client Connector connection, then we have issues because if the speed is not good, then Zscaler Client Connector goes down."
"There is room for improvement regarding the price of Zscaler Client Connector, as it is one of the most expensive solutions available."
"If the speed is slow for Zscaler Client Connector connection, then we have issues because if the speed is not good, then Zscaler Client Connector goes down."
"There is a hard learning curve for Zscaler Client Connector; their support isn't the greatest all the time."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is a little high. It is per user per year."
"The price of the product is not very economical."
"In terms of the cost Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is very expensive because we are a Mexican company and when you translate dollars to pesos the cost is very high. The solution is very expensive for Mexican companies. I understand that they have international prices, but I do not think it offsets the price enough for many companies in countries, such as Mexico. The amount it is reduced is not a massive percentage."
"The solution is expensive. It's pricing is on a yearly-basis."
"Our license will require renewal in August, after which the maintenance will continue as usual."
"I don't have any issues with the pricing. We are satisfied with the price."
"I don't recall what the cost was, but it wasn't really that expensive."
"Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is quite an expensive solution."
"The price for this solution is very good, but since the features do not work the price is expensive."
"Its price is in the medium to upper range."
"Use the AlienVault team. They are helpful and the documentation that they provide is second to none."
"Pricing is very competitive with other products and you get much more functionality from AlienVault."
"We pay around $12,000 a year including storage."
"It is affordable, and it also has many features that the premium products such as ArcSight and QRadar have. It is a very good platform for a SIEM solution. Everything is included in the price."
"It's saved security costs."
"Its price is much lower than McAfee ESM."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Construction Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
21%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
21%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
10%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise48
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business65
Midsize Enterprise29
Large Enterprise25
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. Sentinel One
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. SentinelOne SentinelOne offers very detailed specifics with regard to risks or attacks. ...
Comparing CrowdStrike Falcon to Cortex XDR (Palo Alto)
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. CrowdStrike Falcon Both Cortex XDR and Crowd Strike Falcon offer cloud-based solutions th...
How is Cortex XDR compared with Microsoft Defender?
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a cloud-delivered endpoint security solution. The tool reduces the attack surface,...
What needs improvement with AT&T AlienVault USM?
There are scalability issues due to a 60 TB limit, which restricts its use for large customers like banks. It is also...
What is your primary use case for AT&T AlienVault USM?
USM Anywhere is used for threat detection and investigation. It provides a solution with built-in threat intelligence...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zscaler Client Connector?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that the pricing is fair, though it is a bit costly. It oper...
What needs improvement with Zscaler Client Connector?
For Zscaler Client Connector, I would appreciate more granular control over the client update rollout and slightly fa...
What is your primary use case for Zscaler Client Connector?
My main use case of Zscaler Client Connector is to provide secure, seamless access to the internet and internal appli...
 

Also Known As

Cyvera, Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Traps
AT&T AlienVault USM, AlienVault, AlienVault USM, Alienvault Cybersecurity
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank
Abel & Cole, Bank of Ireland, Bluegrass Cellular, CareerBuilder, Claire's, Hays Medical Center, Hope International, McCurrach, McKinsey & Company, Party Delights, Pepco Holdings, Richland School District, Ricoh, SaveMart, Shake Shack, Steelcase, TaxAct, Taylor Morrison, Vonage and Zoom
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about USM Anywhere vs. Zscaler Client Connector and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.