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VMware Carbon Black App Control vs Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform comparison

 

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

VMware Carbon Black App Con...
Ranking in Application Control
7th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange...
Ranking in Application Control
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
67
Ranking in other categories
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (5th), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (8th), ZTNA as a Service (1st), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (2nd), Remote Browser Isolation (RBI) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Application Control category, the mindshare of VMware Carbon Black App Control is 11.0%, down from 24.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform is 11.1%, up from 8.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Control Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform11.1%
VMware Carbon Black App Control11.0%
Other77.9%
Application Control
 

Featured Reviews

AS
Security Administrator at EJADA
We can isolate problem machines and limit their access
We use App Control to scan the network for virtual machines that have unauthorized applications. We can isolate the problem VMs and control application access.  More than two years. I rate Carbon Black App Control 10 out of 10 for stability. I rate App Control six out of 10 for scalability.…
Vibin Thomas - PeerSpot reviewer
Team Lead, Technical Content Security at Valuepoint Systems
Zero trust access has transformed remote connectivity and now simplifies secure app usage
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform, especially Zscaler Private Access, is very strong, though there are a few areas where improvements can be made. One challenge observed is around initial troubleshooting and visibility. While Zscaler Private Access provides logs, it can sometimes take time to pinpoint the exact cause of access issues, especially in complex environments with multiple policies and identity integration. Another area is the dependency on identity and connector health. Since Zscaler Private Access is heavily reliant on app connectors and identity providers, any issues with these components can impact user access, making proper monitoring critical. During the initial setup, policy configuration and application onboarding require careful planning, especially for larger environments with many applications. These challenges are manageable with proper design and monitoring. Overall, the platform delivers strong security and user experience. I would recommend a few improvements, especially around user interface, reporting, and troubleshooting experience. From a user interface perspective, while the platform is powerful, the policy configuration and navigation can feel complex, especially for new users. A more simplified and intuitive layout for policy mapping and application access would help reduce the learning curve. In terms of reporting, Zscaler Private Access provides logs, but having more built-in customizable dashboards and analytics would be very helpful. Better visibility into user access patterns, application performance, and real-time troubleshooting insights would improve operational efficiency. From a support and troubleshooting standpoint, it would be beneficial to have more granular centralized visibility, allowing for quick end-to-end tracing of a user request from authentication to application access without switching between multiple views. These improvements would make the platform even more efficient, especially for large-scale enterprise environments.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The effectiveness of application whitelisting is very good."
"We have been dealing with VMware Carbon Black App Control for one year, and during this time we have already made sure that this is the best solution to protect our user machines and servers."
"I use the console to check for threats and I find it to be very user-friendly."
"It offers a sense of security where anything that comes in, regardless of what it is, unless you approve it manually, it's not going to run."
"The visibility is valuable."
"Overall, this is a good product and one that I recommend."
"All the functions within VMware Carbon Black App Control are valuable."
"Carbon Black offers a total lockdown solution; it shows us the attacks that are being attempted against our infrastructure and how we are being protected."
"The scalability is pretty good."
"It's one of the easier products on the market as far as set-ups and deployments, and even across their whole product suite, they've made it pretty simple."
"The VPN is great for the stability on offer and for the cloud updates and insights you can get."
"We don't need to connect anymore. It is automatically connected when you log on in Windows."
"I like its ease of use. It has a single pane of glass for the ZIA and ZPA pieces. It is very manageable. It is also very easy to deploy for secure access, and it gives half-decent coverage for visibility in terms of what the users use and what data is being proxied through the access gateway."
"The product’s most valuable features are inbound and outbound scanning and API control."
"Has a good zero trust feature."
"The most valuable aspect of Zscaler Cloud DLP is its automatic DLP feature."
 

Cons

"Another issue is that even sometimes if you approve, for example, Adobe as a publisher, you say any product or anything that's from Adobe has to run. It generally runs, but especially in a large environment and with a lot of users, sometimes, due to some certification validation issues or some other issue, it might stop the process from running."
"The initial setup is somewhat complex."
"Carbon Black does not use the database for identifying the file, the fields, or malware."
"Carbon Black does not use the database for identifying the file, the fields, or malware."
"The reporting is not good and needs to be improved."
"The solution should have overhead in keeping lists of applications that you want don't want to run."
"The initial setup is somewhat complex."
"Its setup is very complex, and it requires guidance from the support team, but it is well worth the effort."
"The menu for the ZIA portal could be organized a little bit differently. The most-used modules should be at the top of the menus, not somewhere near the bottom, some of them are not organized well in my opinion."
"The solution needs to improve a lot of aspects."
"More on-prem infrastructure is required when Zscaler Private Access is to be implemented as a single point of entry."
"Users report application access or latency issues with Zscaler Private Access."
"I rate it a seven because I am still working through some kinks from a performance and a support perspective."
"We would like to extend the SASE applications for Zscaler."
"The only issue with Zscaler Cloud DLP is that it only gives you DLP protection from web traffic, which is flowing out, while a full-blown DLP solution such as Forcepoint or Symantec gives you DLP coverage for multiple channels. Zscaler Cloud DLP doesn't give you coverage for email, fax, and USB channels, and this is the only challenge or room for improvement in the solution. It's just an extension on top of what you're buying on the proxy, so it's just an added layer, and it doesn't cover DLP on a very broad level. I'm unsure if Zcaler is in the business of competing with a full-blown DLP solution, and if there's a plan to expand the features of Zscaler Cloud DLP beyond the web channel because you'll have to deploy a full-blown agent for it. I'm unsure if this is on the cards because the solution is just an added layer that you get with your proxy. I've asked the Zcaler team whether there's a plan to go full DLP in the future, but I didn't get a positive response. There isn't any feature I'd like added to Zscaler Cloud DLP currently, because anything you could think of that should be in cloud or SaaS solutions is already there, except for machine learning, as it's the only functionality that seems to be lacking in the solution. Machine learning is an additional policy available in other DLP solutions in the market, but my team didn't find it in Zscaler Cloud DLP."
"Zscaler Private Access's reporting is poor. We should have more insight into the reports regarding what is blocked and allowed."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay a fee for support, which is renewed annually."
"The pricing for this product is competitive and our customers who told us that often, Carbon Back is the cheaper solution."
"Its price is reasonable and what is expected for these types of products."
"Zscaler DLP solution is expensive, with a fixed pricing structure that is billed annually and monthly. There are no additional costs for licenses."
"My company is a Zscaler Private Access partner, so the customers pay for the license fees."
"Zscaler Private Access can be an expensive solution, depending on the license type you will purchase."
"The pricing is quite high, especially when it comes to the gateway."
"The solution has increased prices this year."
"The product is a bit expensive."
"As per industry leads, Zscaler CASB is an expensive solution."
"The licensing model for Zscaler Cloud DLP allows you to only buy what you need. You don't need to buy it as a whole, so it's good."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
23%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Insurance Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise45
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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 access service edge (SASE) designed to deliver network security in a cloud-deliver...
What needs improvement with Zscaler SASE?
The solution needs to improve a lot of aspects.
What is your primary use case for Zscaler SASE?
We are using Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange for its Zscaler Internet Access service. It provides web security, DLP, data protection, prevention, and lots more features.
 

Also Known As

CB Protection, Carbon Black CB Protection
Zscaler SASE, Zscaler DLP, Zscaler CASB, Zscaler CSPM, Zscaler Browser Isolation, Zscaler Posture Control
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Kaas Tailored, Core-Mark, Indeed, Hologic, Landmark Credit Union, Project Worldwide
Siemens, AutoNation, GE, NOV
Find out what your peers are saying about VMware Carbon Black App Control vs. Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.