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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
68
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 June 2026, in the Application Control category, the mindshare of VMware Carbon Black App Control is 10.3%, down from 22.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform is 11.9%, up from 9.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Control Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform11.9%
VMware Carbon Black App Control10.3%
Other77.8%
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
Technical Team Lead - 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

"Overall, this is a good product and one that I recommend."
"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 visibility, reporting, and the ability to stop or prevent malicious or undesired applications from being installed are the most valuable features."
"The visibility is valuable."
"The effectiveness of application whitelisting is very good."
"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."
"All the functions within VMware Carbon Black App Control are valuable."
"I use the console to check for threats and I find it to be very user-friendly."
"It is a stable solution."
"It is a very scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The user interface of Zscaler Private Access is excellent. With proper knowledge and expertise, one can efficiently handle intricate enterprise environments without feeling overwhelmed. This leads to exceptional productivity for managed service providers. The user experience is remarkably streamlined, enabling the management of even the most complex enterprise setups without any excessive complications."
"With SASE, we have a single platform that covers multiple task services with which we need to control access. All the features are equally valuable."
"The Live Logs are a cool feature. We can directly identify issues and divert user traffic."
"The agent's versatility is notable, used for digital experience monitoring to collect valuable endpoint metrics for troubleshooting."
"Overall, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform, especially Zscaler Private Access, has been a strong and reliable solution for enabling secure access without any need for traditional VPNs."
"The most valuable feature is its seamless integration capabilities, streamlining the process by eliminating the need for extensive installations."
 

Cons

"I rate App Control six out of 10 for scalability."
"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. Genuine processes like Adobe and Chrome can get blocked. so that needs to be improved."
"The solution should have overhead in keeping lists of applications that you want don't want to run."
"Carbon Black does not use the database for identifying the file, the fields, or malware."
"I would like to see the addition of some more features that are in other, similar solutions."
"The initial setup is somewhat complex."
"The reporting is not good and needs to be improved."
"Its initial setup is very complex. We got help from their implementation team because if it is not set up properly, you can really hinder the operation of your environment and things won't execute or run."
"Occasionally, issues arise in the LogStack by a third party, particularly for government websites accessed by numerous users."
"The DX layer could be better if it had improved visibility."
"There is some issue while accessing the portal. It takes too long."
"Setup is a bit complex because there are many steps that need to be taken before onboarding and activating the solution."
"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 stability could be improved."
"Those folks will likely have some issues."
"It has massive room for improvement. The Zscaler product itself is okay, but it doesn't give enough granularity for us as an organization to stipulate rules or processes, especially for data-driven services. For instance, we can stick on SSL inspection, but it's just a click box. It doesn't allow us to go any further into the detail of the SSL inspection. We also can't pull it out without having an additional logging server. It just doesn't give us enough granularity. They should give us more control over the interfaces because it is all backend. They weren't very open to discussing their backend architecture with us in terms of their own data centers. They can maybe a little bit more open about what components are there and how the backend infrastructure works alongside Zscaler. Its licensing can be better. Some of the additional licensing costs are quite high, and they should have certain features ready and available as a baseline rather than having to purchase additional licenses for it. Their support should also be improved. I initially had a consultant from Zscaler for its deployment, but the support that I had throughout the deployment of the project wasn't the best."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay a fee for support, which is renewed annually."
"Its price is reasonable and what is expected for these types of products."
"The pricing for this product is competitive and our customers who told us that often, Carbon Back is the cheaper 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."
"The price is competitive."
"Pricing for Zscaler Private Access is moderate. It's acceptable, though I can't give you the exact price currently. It's not too expensive, and on a scale of one to five, I would rate it a four out of five in terms of pricing."
"The solution is expensive."
"The pricing is quite high, especially when it comes to the gateway."
"The product has reasonable pricing."
"It is an auto-renewal subscription service."
"Zscaler Private Access is extremely expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Construction 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 Enterprise46
 

Questions from the Community

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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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zscaler Cloud DLP?
It's an affordable solution. I would rate the pricing a six out of ten. Once after deployment, you start bundling up additional components, the cost significantly increases. When compared to the co...
What is your primary use case for Zscaler Cloud DLP?
In Qatar industries, the legacy systems like the Bluecoat Proxy is still being used, these solutions work at a limited capacity. For instance, one of our organization's customers is in the Oil &amp...
 

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: June 2026.
900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.