Zscaler Client Connector Reviews

Zscaler Client Connector is used as a VPN in our company, which includes solutions like Zscaler Deception and Zscaler Workload Communications. There is a collaboration with CrowdStrike, and we have good security. The policy for Zscaler Client Connector is that nobody can sign out of it, as this is the company policy in order to improve security.

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.

They could improve the reliability with lower connections, though I am not sure if this is from Zscaler or if it is a Microsoft service. Microsoft Office 365 applications say that they need low speed, so I do not know if Zscaler can do something about this. It is something complicated.

We have been using Zscaler Client Connector for three or four years probably.

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.

With Zscaler, we have a core Zscaler team. If we have a problem with Zscaler, then we escalate it with the Zscaler team.

Positive

We used to have Pulse in the past, but now we have Zscaler as our primary VPN, so this is our primary solution and we do not have something else.

I am not familiar with when it is purchased, regarding whether it was through AWS Marketplace or maybe through another vendor. 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 and useful to have a good analysis on the traffic. I believe it is not cheap, but for what we get, depending on what money you give, you get good quality. I would not say that it is cheap, neither expensive. It is in the middle. The review rating for this product is 9.

I’m not working directly for Zscaler; I work with a partner organization as a Systems Integrator. Our work is not limited to Zscaler—we support multiple security and networking products. This includes implementation, support, managed services, and consulting across the solutions we deliver.

We are a delivery-specialized partner for both Zscaler and Netskope, and we handle end-to-end implementations for all Zscaler products.

Regarding Zscaler Client Connector, my experience comes from delivering many customer projects. As a team, we’ve completed more than 50 implementations covering 170K+ client deployments. Many customers require secure access to their internal and external applications, and Zscaler Client Connector enables that capability.

If you’re referring to the endpoint agent specifically, then yes—that’s the component we deploy and configure as part of these engagements.

Organizations that deploy Zscaler Client Connector (formerly Z App) typically report benefits across security, user experience, and IT operations. Here are the most common positive impacts—framed as what “your organization” might observe in practice:

* Strong security posture

* Better user experience

* Simplified IT Operations

* Improved scalability

* Enhanced visibility and monitoring

Organizations typically see improved security, better performance for users, less complexity for IT, and more operational efficiency after adopting Zscaler Client Connector.

Zscaler Client Connector is a unified endpoint client designed to support multiple security and access functions. Its primary role is to provide secure internet access, but it also enables connectivity to internal applications, effectively replacing traditional VPNs through its Private Access capabilities. The same client can be activated for this purpose without requiring any additional software.

In addition, the Client Connector is used for endpoint Data Loss Prevention (DLP). Any data leaving the endpoint—regardless of channel—can be detected and enforced through Zscaler’s DLP policies, and all related activity is captured in detailed reports.

A recently introduced advanced capability is micro-segmentation. With Client Connector, organizations can implement granular micro-segmentation policies, enabling multiple security and access control use cases at the endpoint level.

Another powerful feature is real-time analytics through Zscaler Digital Experience (ZDX). ZDX provides deep visibility into issues affecting access to any resources—whether public websites, SaaS applications, or internal services. It identifies the root cause of performance degradation and offers actionable insights. These analytics and reports can be shared with relevant teams to accelerate troubleshooting and resolution. For example, if a user reports an inability to access an application, ZDX can determine whether the issue lies with Zscaler, the application, the network, or another component. This helps ensure faster, more accurate issue resolution and significantly enhances the end-user experience.

Overall, Zscaler Client Connector offers a comprehensive suite of capabilities that greatly benefits customers by improving security, access, and troubleshooting efficiency.

Zscaler continues to strengthen the Zscaler Client Connector by introducing new features and expanding the platform’s capabilities. Their roadmap is mature, and in many areas they are ahead of competitors. It is also encouraging to see that Zscaler is no longer focused solely on content security; the addition of endpoint and performance-related functionality has been especially valuable.

However, we have encountered challenges from a few customers regarding traffic routing visibility. End users typically have no clear indication of which Zscaler data center their traffic is being routed through—for example, when traffic shifts from the expected local data center to a different one, there is no notification/alert currently. This needs to be manually checked.

Recently, one of our customers experienced performance degradation because their traffic was routed to a more distant data center instead of the nearest available location. To address this, it would be highly beneficial to introduce an option within the Client Connector to notify end users when a data center change occurs. Additionally, displaying the preferred or nearest data center directly in the Client Connector details would provide helpful transparency.

This is not a major feature, but adopting it would greatly improve visibility into how traffic is being forwarded. It could also support compliance requirements—particularly in regions that are sensitive about ensuring traffic stays within local or in-country data centers. Enhancing visibility would therefore benefit both performance troubleshooting and regional compliance assurance.

I would rate the stability of the product at 8 out of 10. It can vary depending on the situation, so I wouldn’t say it’s consistently unstable or consistently excellent. Based on the feedback we’ve received, I would confidently place it in the 8 to 9 range.

The ability to expand is really great for Zscaler Client Connector. It is more flexible. Once it is deployed, there is nothing else to do with any other implementation on the client. You just start to log in to the console, make the required configurations, and enable it for the end users. Because Zscaler Client Connector is already running, it is just enabling features onto that.

Technical support from Zscaler is very good.

Positive

The initial setup for Zscaler Client Connector is not complex, but the dependency is on the customer. The customer needs to have deployment tools. Zscaler cannot deploy endpoints on their own. We deploy on the customer's deployment tools. There is a dependency on the customer's team itself. But technically speaking, from Zscaler's perspective, it is not complex.

1. Visibility and Control

• What it provides: Complete insight into user traffic, including applications, websites, and protocols being accessed.

• ROI impact:

  • Reduces security incidents by identifying risky behavior early.

  • Optimizes IT resources by focusing on legitimate business traffic.

• Example metrics:

  • Number of blocked malicious websites or applications per month.

  • Reduction in malware infections or security incidents.

2. Traffic Optimization

• What it provides: Ability to block non-essential traffic and prioritize business-critical applications.

• ROI impact:

  • Reduced bandwidth consumption → lower network costs.

  • Improved application performance → higher employee productivity.

• Example metrics:

  • Bandwidth savings (in Mbps or GB per month) after blocking non-business traffic.

  • Reduction in slowdowns or latency for business-critical apps.

3. Productivity Gains

• What it provides: Users focus on business-related tasks, avoiding distractions and non-productive sites.

• ROI impact:

  • Time saved can be converted to productive hours, directly impacting business output.

• Example metrics:

  • Estimated hours saved per employee per month by blocking non-business apps/sites.

  • Correlation between reduced non-business traffic and measurable business output.

4. Security & Compliance

• What it provides: Enforces policies consistently across all users, whether remote or on-premises.

• ROI impact:

  • Avoids compliance fines and potential data breach costs.

  • Reduces overhead of manual monitoring and incident response.

• Example metrics:

  • Number of compliance violations avoided.

  • Estimated cost savings from preventing potential breaches.

5. Simplified IT Management

• What it provides: Cloud-based enforcement reduces complexity of traditional network and security hardware.

• ROI impact:

  • Lower hardware and operational costs.

  • Faster deployment and less time spent troubleshooting.

• Example metrics:

  • Reduction in firewall and proxy hardware expenditures.

  • FTE (Full-Time Equivalent) hours saved in IT management.

Concrete Example from Industry

• A mid-sized company implemented Zscaler Client Connector for 2,500 remote users. Within 6 months:

  • Bandwidth optimization saved ~15% of monthly costs.

  • Malicious traffic reduction led to 30% fewer IT support tickets.

  • Productivity gains: Users spent ~1 hour/day less on non-business activities, translating into thousands of productive hours across the company.

Bottom line: The ROI from Zscaler Client Connector comes from cost savings in bandwidth, hardware, and IT operations, risk reduction, and productivity gains. While exact numbers vary by organization, these are measurable and directly attributable to the solution.

In my opinion, the main competitor for Zscaler Client Connector in the market is Netskope.

When comparing the two vendors, which solution is better depends on customer use cases. We cannot just generalize which is better as it again depends on customer use cases and scenarios. Based on that, customers can go with either Zscaler or Netskope.

Content filtering is a fundamental feature of any proxy solution. There are two aspects to it:

1. URL Filtering: This blocks irrelevant or unsafe websites. It is a basic feature offered by all proxy vendors, including Zscaler, and is not unique.

2. Data Protection: Beyond simple URL blocking, content filtering can also protect data using DLP (Data Loss Prevention) features. This enables more advanced use cases and is part of Zscaler’s content filtering suite. These features are standard and commonly provided to customers.

Cost and Packaging
Zscaler Client Connector is not a low-cost solution; it is positioned on the higher end of the market. However, Zscaler often bundles multiple products into a single offering. While a customer may need only one or two products, Zscaler may include additional features in the bundle, which can affect pricing and commercial discussions.

SIEM Integration
Zscaler Client Connector supports integration with SIEM solutions, whether on-premises or in the cloud:

• On-Premises SIEM: Integration is suggested to remain on-premises.

• Cloud SIEM: If the customer’s SIEM runs in the cloud, deployment can be flexible.
  Zscaler ensures compatibility with a wide range of platforms.

Other Zscaler Capabilities
Zscaler also provides:

• ZTNA: Zscaler Private Access

• Cloud IPS

• Cloud Firewall

• ZDX

• Cloud Connector: For any necessary integrations

Overall Rating: 9/10

My main use case of Zscaler Client Connector is to provide secure, seamless access to the internet and internal applications while enforcing Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) for remote and hybrid users. It serves as a replacement for a traditional VPN with an always-secure client while routing user traffic with ZIA and ZPA based on policy.

During a sudden VPN gateway outage, Zscaler Client Connector ensured that users could still access internal apps and ZPA without downtime, avoiding business disruptions in my day-to-day work.

My main use cases also include securing BYOD devices and remote employees, which helps maintain uniform security postures globally, along with WAF filtering, DLP solutions, and creating policies for those devices.

Zscaler Client Connector offers several best features, including ZPA for accessing internal applications with zero-trust access, with all traffic going through the tunnel method. It provides a fallback method in case anything goes wrong, a standby data center, and checks device postures before granting access to applications.

The device posture check works well and is a reliable feature generally available inside the GCC. There is no need for traditional VPN tunnels, as access is for specific applications rather than network-wide. The solution also has the unique and standout feature of auto-switching between networks such as home, Wi-Fi, and public without dropping sessions.

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.

For Zscaler Client Connector, I would appreciate more granular control over the client update rollout and slightly faster troubleshooting logs within the client. An intuitive GUI for non-technical users represents the main improvements I see.

The documentation is strong, but an advanced deployment guide could be more detailed. While support is good, it could be quicker for complex escalation cases, which would be more helpful.

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.

I have been using Zscaler Client Connector for approximately two years or more.

Zscaler Client Connector is stable, and its performance is more consistent.

From a scalability perspective, Zscaler Client Connector allows for the deployment of thousands of endpoints globally in a very simple manner through different third-party solutions.

Customer support is good, with no problems as I can easily open incidents and tickets and receive help according to the support level.

Before Zscaler Client Connector, I was considering solutions such as Cisco AnyConnect, Palo Alto GlobalProtect, and the Netskope client. I chose Zscaler Client Connector because my ecosystem is Zscaler, which makes integration easy with Zscaler ZIA, ZPA, and ZDX.

I had chosen Netskope before deciding on Zscaler Client Connector.

I have seen a return on investment. The reduced VPN infrastructure cost, which requires very little support, is the main ROI I can consider.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that the pricing is fair, though it is a bit costly. It operates on a subscription-based model that scales with the organization's growth, providing more scalability from the user's perspective.

Zscaler Client Connector is a strong, modern alternative to VPNs, delivering secure zero-trust access with minimal user friction, making it ideal for remote-first and cloud-centric organizations. I rate this product nine out of ten.

We use this solution to replace the VPN, specifically for remote office connectivity and remote user connectivity.

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. They get an in-office look and feel, so no matter where they go, they just plug in, re-authorize if they have to, and as long as they have an internet connection, they get through.

Zscaler Client Connector helps enhance our digital transformation efforts by providing application-level access, so as we migrate applications around, our clients don't have to worry about whether they are on the VPN when they go into the office. It has made it so our clients don't have to understand our infrastructure, allowing us the freedom to move resources around as we migrate to the cloud.

For example, we moved our file service to the cloud, and for them, it was totally transparent. We placed a connector in Azure and the service in Azure, and to them, nothing changed. This solution has taken the hardware away from their understanding, enabling us to move services around to different platforms.

The improvement of Zscaler Client Connector should include greater AI awareness, as everyone is concerned about AI products that hoover up data. We can block some of these things out, but as everybody's using AI now, we want to restrict the 8 million clients we may not know about each week that are hoovering up our data.

We have dealt with this solution for four years now.

There is a hard learning curve for Zscaler Client Connector; their support isn't the greatest all the time.

Rating their support is difficult because they provide very uneven support. I would give it a five only because they have some very good people and some very bad people. They're better than Microsoft, but that's not saying much.

Neutral

We used a variety of VPN solutions before choosing Zscaler Client Connector, and we switched over because there was no VPN with this one. The customer doesn't have to know anything; they just install the client, and that's it.

I wouldn't say the initial setup of Zscaler Client Connector is straightforward, but once I understand it, I don't know if it could be easier, but it's usable, and we've used it.

We purchased Zscaler Client Connector through Azure Marketplace, but not through AWS Marketplace.

We do use the real-time analytics feature with this product, but that's not among our main concerns, as we weren't as worried about what people were doing remotely compared to other companies.

The impact of Zscaler Client Connector's policy-based access controls on our security strategy is great, except for the extension of our security onto people's private devices, which they sometimes dislike, because we allow them to use Zscaler Client Connector, but we enforce our security. If they're connecting to our network, they can't see certain things.

Zscaler Client Connector enables us to give users access on a service basis rather than an IP basis. This represents a different level of security. In the past, once you connected to our network, your access was managed through secondary security. Now, users don't even get connected to those other services if they're not in the security profile.

The content filtering feature helps maintain compliance by ensuring no one can use our internet or devices to create incidents for the company, so we block certain sites we don't want them accessing with DLP, and users don't get access to offensive sites or can't post on certain sites. This protects the company from liability and provides a level of security we didn't have previously, where we can monitor where our data is going.

On a scale of 1-10, I rate Zscaler Client Connector a nine out of ten.

The primary use case for Zscaler Client Connector is acting as a proxy for security. It ensures a secure connection through Zscaler, integrating the proxy with the necessary security level for contemporary solutions. Additionally, I find that the Client Connector offers visibility with Zscaler DX to analyze issues in the client connection.

The Zscaler Client Connector helps by offering a secure connection to Zscaler. It allows our IT department to easily analyze any connection issues, providing insights into whether issues are caused by SaaS providers, client connections, or network elements.

The valuable features of Client Connector include the secure connection to Zscaler, the ability to push traffic directly to Zscaler IP addresses, and providing visibility through Zscaler DX for analyzing client issues. The solution operates in the background seamlessly without the user noticing.

There is room for improvement regarding the price of Zscaler Client Connector, as it is one of the most expensive solutions available. Additionally, more data centers are required globally to reduce latency, especially in areas like South America and Africa, though this does not directly relate to the Client Connector.

Client Connector has been used for over seven years. The initial deployment occurred around seven to nine years ago.

The product is generally very stable and reliable, ensuring a smooth user experience as it runs in the background.

Technical support from Zscaler is somewhat lacking, with the expansion causing some support shortcomings. I would rate the support around six and a half to seven out of ten.

The initial setup requires thorough preparation and communication but is otherwise technically straightforward.

The implementation team typically includes fewer than ten people, mainly engineers from the IT department to ensure automatic deployment across clients.

Zscaler Client Connector is notably costly, with pricing rated at five out of ten in terms of affordability, reflecting the premium pricing of the solution.

I recommend using Client Connector with Zscaler for a fully integrated and secure connection.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

Neutral