VMware SASE vs Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Broadcom and Zscaler are both solutions in the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) category. Broadcom is ranked #22, while Zscaler is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.3. Broadcom holds a 1.4% mindshare in SASE, compared to Zscaler’s 8.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Broadcom users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of Zscaler users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 8, 2026

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform and VMware SASE are competing solutions in the realm of secure network architecture. Zscaler is often preferred for its strong emphasis on a cloud-native approach, while VMware stands out for seamless integration with existing infrastructures and flexibility.

Features: Zscaler focuses on robust security measures, facilitating secure direct internet access, and strict policy enforcement across global locations. It emphasizes a cloud-first strategy with continuous monitoring and real-time threat prevention. VMware SASE integrates well within hybrid environments and incorporates strong SD-WAN capabilities that enhance network performance. Key distinctions lie in Zscaler's pioneering cloud security features compared to VMware’s comprehensive network performance optimization.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zscaler is praised for its straightforward initial setup and efficient scalability, easing adoption. Support services are typically responsive, aiding in rapid deployment. VMware offers a detailed setup process designed for complex networks, providing flexibility but requiring more initial configuration effort. Its customer service is known for in-depth expertise, especially crucial for intricate deployments.

Pricing and ROI: In terms of investment, Zscaler's pricing model is typically competitive, offering high ROI through its effective security and minimal maintenance costs. VMware SASE's investment is higher upfront due to sophisticated capabilities, positioning it as a premium option. However, it justifies the cost with comprehensive features that cater to complex enterprise needs, often delivering significant long-term value.

To learn more, read our detailed Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Report (Updated: October 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)

October 2026

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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 November 2026, in the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) category, the mindshare of iboss is 3.2%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware SASE is 1.4%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform is 8.6%, down from 11.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform	8.6%
iboss	3.2%
VMware SASE	1.4%
Other	86.8%

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)

Featured Reviews

Ashok Ananthula

Senior Consultant Proxy Engineering at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Cloud gateway has strengthened remote web security and now needs better Mac and ISP support

The problem our organization had is that iboss failed for the Mac devices. It is not able to give a successful agent for the Mac agents. That is where in 2025, we had to migrate to the Palo Alto-based platform. If your use case is for just Windows laptops,you can consider this platform as an option One issue is the data center resiliency part. In India especially, they are not tied up with the Tier 1 ISPs like Tata or Airtel; they were having Tier 2 ISPs and encountered many issues reaching few major sites that my organization depends on, and they were having problems that they could not fix quickly. They also lack a mechanism to route that traffic within their data center; rather, they ask customers to make a pac file change to route it to Singapore explicitly. It would be better if they route from their backend , i mean even if I send it to India DC, they should be able to route it internally to make that work; however, they fail to do that and ask the customer to route it in the pac file. Another suggestion is that in China, they do not have the proper setup; they used to have numerous problems with slowness and lack of premium circuits in China as well. That leads to multiple sites working slowly with latency-related issues. So the main issue is the ISP-related problems that need to be solved.

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Murat-Alici

System Executive at Huawei

A stable solution that can be deployed in less than an hour

The solution's technical support is not good enough. The support offered by VMware for end customers is not enough. Support from VMware should be made available to our company with just one email or call since VMware currently has a very complex website. I rate the technical support an eight out of ten.

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Zaheer_Khan

Cybersecurity Senior Program Manager at Dayforce

Secure access has improved remote work and has reduced vulnerabilities across our workforce

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform probably needs to be more efficient because scanning takes a lot of time. Some vulnerabilities create issues, and when we wanted to identify the source of the vulnerabilities, specifically focusing on mobile ID and related areas, it was unable to provide assistance. However, according to discussions with Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform, they said that by the end of mid-2026, they are exploring these features, and probably those features can be incorporated or embedded into this particular system. That is the only major negative point.In terms of responses, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform is good. In terms of controlling vulnerability, it is good. The only cons I have noticed is that it is a bit slower, and sometimes it is unable to identify the source. These are the key areas for improvement.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Deploying iboss leads to good return on investment, estimated around 70% to 80%."

"I would definitely recommend iboss for web filtering purposes to other organizations or individuals."

"Its initial setup was straightforward."

"The security aspect of the solution, particularly the malware behind it, is excellent."

"iboss is pretty scalable. They provide good support. The case managers you work with to coordinate what you need are pretty good."

"The iboss system is highly reliable. The false positive rates are small compared to some other systems we've experienced through other partner agencies who use competing solutions."

"The iboss solution gives me the ability to scan the traffic through all the ports, through all the 131,000 PCP and UDP ports, and with this ability, we have the granularity also for consults over social media and applications on mobile, and this is an advantage that the customers are looking for right now."

"The security aspect of the solution, particularly the malware behind it, is excellent. That's something that really helped us out. It's not just a simple proxy that just blocks the insights of potential threats that come on behind it. They do malware detection and that helps us a lot."

More iboss pros

"It is a stable solution."

"The most valuable features of Zscaler Private Access are reliability, scalability, and availability."

"The Live Logs are a cool feature. We can directly identify issues and divert user traffic."

"This is a product that I recommend for anybody who wants a scalable, cloud-based solution."

"The most valuable feature is its ability to establish connectivity for remote users and remote endpoints. It offers a high level of granularity compared to typical VPNs, which also encapsulate a lot of I/O."

"The most valuable features of Zscaler CASB are API integration and DLP."

"The scalability of the solution is great."

"You can close your data protection gaps with Zscaler. You can quickly find all the classified, sensitive data across the cloud."

"The in-line DLP feature is one of the most vital features"

More Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform pros

Cons

"The dashboards for local use could be better."

"The easiest device I have set up was the Barracuda line of products."

"The area I would like to see improvement in is the ability with in the reporter to navigate directly to the content the user is traversing. It is kind of there, but it's not perfect. Quite frequently, I receive links that lead me to pages with error messages."

"I have heard they are doing DDoS filtering, but I am not certain if they are implementing it correctly."

"iboss could improve by making alert noises lower, adding clearer setup steps, and speeding up support response times."

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

"To scale up, a new iboss Node Blade Chassis must be purchased."

"Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern."

More iboss cons

"The upgrade feature of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."

"It needs to offer SSO, single sign-on, and items of that nature."

"From a user interface perspective, while the platform is powerful, the policy configuration and navigation can feel complex, especially for new users."

"Zscaler CASB should include integrations with other SaaS applications."

"There are latency issues with the solution. They are small, however, they are there when you compare it to other vendors."

"The product must allow users to check logs for an entire year in the local console."

"The solution needs to improve a lot of aspects."

"Users report application access or latency issues with Zscaler Private Access."

"An area for improvement would be the ease of configuration."

More Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform 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."

"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."

"We have not priced the solution recently, but they were competitive with other vendors in the past."

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

"The overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."

Information not available

"Zscaler Private Access is extremely expensive."

"The solution is expensive."

"The product is a bit expensive."

"Zscaler Private Access can be an expensive solution, depending on the license type you will purchase."

"It is an auto-renewal subscription service."

"In the long run, cloud services are not inherently costly."

"My company is a Zscaler Private Access partner, so the customers pay for the license fees."

"Zscaler DLP solution is expensive, with a fixed pricing structure that is billed annually and monthly. There are no additional costs for licenses."

More Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Construction Company

No data available

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	16

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	17
Midsize Enterprise	12
Large Enterprise	45

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?

iboss could be improved by making the dashboard more user-friendly, providing more detailed real-time alerts, and imp...

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What is your primary use case for iboss?

iboss is primarily used for cloud security, helping to protect users when they access websites and cloud applications...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?

The pricing and licensing for iboss were reasonable for the security features. The setup costs were manageable, thoug...

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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 ac...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zscaler Cloud Protection?

This is an area where I have candid feedback from our organization regarding pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Z...

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What needs improvement with Zscaler Cloud Protection?

After three years of working with Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform, I do have genuine feedback on areas where I f...

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Comparisons

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs iboss

Compared 10% of the time

Netskope vs iboss

Compared 8% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs iboss

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs iboss

Compared 6% of the time

Okta Platform vs iboss

Compared 3% of the time

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Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs VMware SASE

Compared 21% of the time

Aruba ESP vs VMware SASE

Compared 18% of the time

Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform vs VMware SASE

Compared 6% of the time

FortiSASE vs VMware SASE

Compared 6% of the time

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs VMware SASE

Compared 3% of the time

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Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform

Compared 4% of the time

Akamai Enterprise Application Access vs Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform

Compared 3% of the time

Cloudflare One vs Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform

Compared 3% of the time

Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) vs Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform

Compared 3% of the time

NetFoundry Platform vs Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform

Compared 2% of the time

More Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

October 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)

October 2026

Download VMware SASE product report

Buyer's Guide

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform

October 2026

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform report

Download Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

No data available

Zscaler SASE, Zscaler DLP, Zscaler CASB, Zscaler CSPM, Zscaler Browser Isolation, Zscaler Posture Control

Overview

iboss is the Zero Trust SASE platform that gives organizations complete visibility and governance over their AI, data, and applications through one unified platform, one console, one policy engine, and one data lake.

Your endpoints may already stop malware. Your data and application activity can still be invisible. iboss decrypts and understands every connection, then turns that signal into answers security leaders can act on.

The platform leads with three capabilities in this order: AI Security and Visibility, Data Security and Visibility, and App Visibility and Control. Zero Trust Network Access, VPN replacement, and SD-WAN sit underneath as the access fabric that carries those three. Trusted by global enterprises and government agencies.

What are the most important features of Iboss?

- AI Security and Visibility: conversation capture, shadow-AI discovery, AI DLP, and agent governance across Claude, Co-Work, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok, and emerging services.

- Data Security and Visibility: full SSL/TLS decryption, deep content inspection, MIP label compliance, and one-click compliance reporting.

- App Visibility and Control: signatureless CASB, dual risk scoring, in-app controls, and SSPM for major SaaS.

- Containerized Zero Trust SASE: dedicated containers, isolated SSL keys, one console, one policy engine, one data lake.

- Access fabric: ZTNA, VPN replacement, and SD-WAN under the same platform.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

- Complete visibility over AI, data, and applications from one platform instead of separate point tools.

- Encrypted traffic is inspected by default so data decisions use content and context together.

- Shadow SaaS and new web tools appear as they are used, with enforceable controls in one console.

- Native data sovereignty through dedicated containers, in-region inspection, and per-customer SSL key custody.

- Scale proven in published materials: 10M+ users, 100+ countries, 150B+ transactions, 2.5B+ threats blocked.

Economic buyers are CISOs, CIOs, and VPs of Security. Champions include security architects, network and infrastructure leaders, SecOps, and GRC. Primary segments: enterprise and business, financial services, government (including FedRAMP Gov Cloud), healthcare, manufacturing, legal and professional services, retail and hospitality, and MSP/MSSP partners. Education, including K-12, is one vertical among these.

iboss

VMware SASE seamlessly integrates networking and security in a cloud-based framework, ensuring efficient and secure connectivity for modern enterprises.

VMware SASE caters to distributed businesses by combining SD-WAN capabilities with robust security protocols. As organizations evolve, maintaining secure and reliable network connectivity becomes critical. VMware SASE addresses this with its intelligent use of cloud-native solutions, supporting uninterrupted connection while reducing complexities.

What are the most important features of VMware SASE?

SD-WAN Integration: Offers flexible and reliable network access through smart SD-WAN technologies.
Zero Trust Security: Implements a stringent security approach, verifying users and devices before granting access.
Cloud Access Security Broker: Ensures safe cloud application usage by monitoring and controlling security policies.
Edge Network Intelligence: Provides insights into network performance and helps optimize resource allocation.

What benefits and ROI should be considered?

Cost Efficiency: Reduces total cost of ownership by consolidating networking and security services.
Improved Connectivity: Enhances network performance leading to a better user experience.
Enhanced Security: Proactively protects against threats, minimizing risk exposure.
Scalability: Adapts to changing demands, allowing seamless growth.

In industries such as finance and healthcare, VMware SASE has been implemented to ensure compliance with strict data security regulations while maintaining high-speed connectivity. Retail sectors leverage it to boost customer experience by ensuring secure and reliable connections across branches.

Broadcom

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange enhances security with seamless cloud-based connectivity and VPN-less operation, offering integration with multiple identity providers and advanced security features, suitable for remote work environments.

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange provides secure, adaptive connectivity without traditional VPNs, allowing organizations to replace legacy systems and bolster remote work security. The platform offers cloud-based protection, single sign-on, dynamic URL categorization, and scalable solutions. While advanced security features like DLP and threat protection enhance data protection, users may face issues with speed, connectivity, and some customization options. Integration challenges, latency due to multi-tenant hosting, reporting delays, and licensing costs require consideration. It supports secure internet access and private application security, ensuring traffic control and data compliance.

What are the key features of Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange?

VPN-less Connectivity: Enables secure remote access without traditional VPNs.
Cloud-based Security: Offers scalable protection utilizing cloud infrastructure.
Single Sign-On: Integrates with multiple identity providers for streamlined access.
Dynamic URL Categorization: Provides real-time URL filtering to enhance security.
Advanced Threat Protection: Detects and mitigates sophisticated threats effectively.
Customizable Policies: Allows tailored security protocols to fit unique requirements.
Comprehensive DLP: Protects sensitive data through robust data loss prevention.
Integration Capabilities: Connects seamlessly with cloud services and applications.

What are the benefits of using Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange?

Enhanced Security: Delivers consistent protection regardless of user location.
Improved Compliance: Ensures adherence to data protection regulations.
Streamlined Access: Simplifies connectivity to private and cloud applications.
Scalability: Supports expanding organizational demands with cloud scalability.
Real-time Visibility: Provides instant insights into security incidents and network traffic.

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange is deployed across industries to secure remote access and enforce zero trust principles. Organizations in finance, healthcare, and technology sectors utilize it for secure internet access and visibility into cloud applications, enhancing performance and compliance in dynamic environments.

Zscaler

Sample Customers

Trusted by global enterprises and government agencies.

Information Not Available

Siemens, AutoNation, GE, NOV

Buyer's Guide

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)

October 2026

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