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Vectra AI vs Zscaler Cloud IPS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 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

Vectra AI
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
48
Ranking in other categories
Network Detection and Response (NDR) (3rd), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (20th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (10th), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (10th)
Zscaler Cloud IPS
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
20th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category, the mindshare of Vectra AI is 6.2%, down from 8.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zscaler Cloud IPS is 2.1%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Vectra AI6.2%
Zscaler Cloud IPS2.1%
Other91.7%
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
 

Featured Reviews

RR
Consultant at a retailer with 5,001-10,000 employees
Threat detection has improved and malicious emails are now identified quickly
Vectra AI offers artificial intelligence capabilities with visibility that can be integrated into our day-to-day operations and other tools, including malware detection tools and cyber threat tools. Vectra AI has positively impacted my organization. Last year while using it, we received many malicious email threats and virus incidents, including a trojan virus that had reportedly been deployed by someone. Our company used Vectra AI to detect the malicious threats and viruses before they could cause more damage, and we successfully stopped the threats. Using Vectra AI, I notice that server downtime has decreased significantly. We now experience only two to three hours of downtime, whereas without Vectra AI and other tools, our downtime would exceed 48 to 72 hours.
Utpal Sinha - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Network Engineer at Momentive
Stable product with valuable SSL inspection features
We use Zscaler Cloud IPS for threat protection, full SSL inspection, and data center scalability. It integrates with multiple products, including cloud firewalls, cloud sandboxing, Cloud Security Broker (CSB), and Data Loss Prevention (DLP). It helps us allow or block specific TCP or UDP ports…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One of the core features is that Vectra AI triages threats and correlates them with compromised host devices. From a visibility perspective, we can better track the threat across the network. Instead of us potentially finding one device that has been impacted without Vectra AI, it will give us the visibility of everywhere that threat went. Therefore, visibility has increased for us."
"We particularly like the user experience around the dashboard, which we find to be much more straightforward than the dashboard of some of the competitive products... Vectra is a really easy system to understand and use to prioritize where we need to focus our security resources."
"I can't even explain how happy we are with the amount of time it has saved us."
"We do see a return on investment because it's a good tool that we're using well and it's helping us to keep the company secure."
"Using this tool for automation has provided more benefits to our processes."
"It has also increased our security efficiency."
"After we deployed the solution it instantly began to add value to our security operations."
"We often use the new feature to create PCAP files from the whole data traffic. It makes it much easier to find network problems such as whether the server is responding to a request. It has nothing to do with security, but it helps a lot to find other problems."
"The best feature is that Zscaler allows for a separation between cloud applications and URL filtering. For example, under the cloud application segment, I can bypass Microsoft Office 365 without the need to add URLs manually. It's one click, so that's handy."
"The initial setup is straightforward and easy in comparison with other solutions."
"Cloud IPS integration is seamless, and it uses a Zero Trust model, and it also simplifies overall user access management."
"The product's most valuable feature is complete SSL inspection."
"The initial setup process is easy."
 

Cons

"Neither Vectra nor Darktrace have a function like a status health check on my log sources and traffic sources."
"The solution has not reduced the security analyst workload in our organization because we still need to SIEM."
"Some of the customization could be improved. Everything is provided for you as an easy solution to use, but working with it and doing specific development could be worked on a bit more in the scope of an incident response team."
"The rules for threats are not always precise and Vectra AI should improve this."
"The solution's marketing is not good."
"Integration with other security components needs improvement. It should have true integration as opposed to just being a separate pane of glass."
"We have had a few issues with the integration of Vectra AI with EDR. Some filters have not been working. We've also had issues with the brain not being powerful enough."
"I would like to see a bit more strategic metrics instead of technical data. Information that I could show to my executive management team or board would be valuable."
"We encounter issues sharing IP addresses with other companies using the software."
"They have given limited free access for a year. Instead, they should increase the file size and give limited free access for around two months. It will allow engineers to evaluate the product."
"We recently had a significant issue with Zscaler. I think they have too many customers and some of their connection edge nodes went down because there were too many requests. I think they aren't scaling enough to keep up with the demand in some areas. That's one thing they should improve."
"There is always room for improvement."
"When it comes to scalability, the IPsec could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Their licensing model is antiquated. I'm not a fan of their licensing model. We have to pay for licensing based on four different things. You have to pay based on the number of unique IPs, the number of logs that we send through Recall and Stream, and the size of our environment. They need to simplify their licensing down to just one thing. It should be based on the amount of data, the number of devices, or something else, but there should be just one thing for everything. That's what they need to base their licensing on. Cost-wise, they're not cheap. They were definitely the most expensive option, but you get what you pay for. They're not the cheapest option."
"My company pays for the Vectra AI licensing fee yearly. I know the figure because my company recently renewed the license, and it's okay, at least for the financial sector."
"The solution's pricing was 50 percent lower than the other vendors shortlisted."
"Vectra's pricing is too high. All schools will not be able to afford it. Vectra will only end up targeting higher education and higher value independence purely because of the price. A lot of schools would love to have a product like Vectra AI, but they simply can't because they struggle to even pay the high E5 licensing from Microsoft. When you're up against that, Vectra AI is never going to be within the sector's price range."
"At the time of purchase, we found the pricing acceptable. We had an urgency to get something in place because we had a minor breach that occurred at the tail end of 2016 to the beginning of 2017. This indicated we had a lack of ability to detect things on the network. Hence, why we moved quickly to get into the tool in place. We found things like Bitcoin mining and botnets which we closed quickly. In that regard, it was worth the money."
"It is an expensive solution, but it's not the most expensive we've seen. We also know how much we're going to pay, unlike with some other providers where all of a sudden our license explodes."
"The pricing is high."
"From a pricing perspective, they are very commercially competitive. From a licensing perspective, just be conscious that some of their future cloud solutions come with additional subscriptions. Also, if you're outside of the US, you will get charged freight for the device back to your country."
"The product is not affordable for small and medium enterprises."
"Zscaler has so far been solely responsible for all the sales we have done with it, so it would be more suited than us to address any issues concerning the pricing."
"The software has become more expensive at present."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
7%
Healthcare Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Construction Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise29
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Vectra AI?
I find the pricing of Vectra AI to be one of the best we have seen as feedback from customers and partners indicates it is very competitive for an EDR solution.
What needs improvement with Vectra AI?
I think one area that could be improved about Vectra AI is their marketing. One of the aspects that Darktrace excels at is their marketing, and I do not feel Vectra AI is on that level yet, leading...
What is your primary use case for Vectra AI?
I primarily use Vectra AI for customers, and I only provide Vectra AI.
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Also Known As

Vectra Networks, Vectra AI NDR
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Tribune Media Group, Barry University, Aruba Networks, Good Technology, Riverbed, Santa Clara University, Securities Exchange, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association
Zenith Live, Azure, Carlsberg Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Vectra AI vs. Zscaler Cloud IPS and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,099 professionals have used our research since 2012.