Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise vs Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Akamai and Forcepoint are both solutions in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category. Akamai is ranked #19 with an average rating of 8.0, while Forcepoint is ranked #10 with an average rating of 7.3. Akamai holds a 1.4% mindshare in WSG, compared to Forcepoint’s 2.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Akamai users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 82% of Forcepoint users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise and Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Secure Web Gateways (SWG) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise vs. Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway Report (Updated: November 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise vs. Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway

November 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 Web Gateways (SWG) category, the mindshare of iboss is 3.2%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise is 1.4%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is 2.9%, down from 3.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Secure Web Gateways (SWG) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
iboss	3.2%
Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway	2.9%
Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise	1.4%
Other	92.5%

Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

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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Denis Burnaev

Infrastructure Securiy & Cyber Engineer at El Al

Protects internet access through proxy while newer options offer more flexibility

Our organization does not utilize the internet access feature of Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise because our company routes internet traffic through our public ISPs rather than through Akamai. We use a firewall at the perimeter, which is a straightforward approach used by most companies. From my perspective, the internet access feature would not be the most accurate feature to review for our use case. From a financial standpoint, I do not believe Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise is cost-effective when compared to other solutions available in the industry. More affordable and accessible solutions exist, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses. Competing SASE platforms from Check Point, Palo Alto, and Zscaler offer cheaper alternatives that are more readily deployed. While I cannot speak to all capabilities since we are not fully utilizing Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise, routing clients through Akamai as a proxy does provide enhanced security benefits. Organizations can mask their public IPs behind Akamai's infrastructure, which provides additional security. However, the market currently offers many excellent alternative solutions. We are using all the features of the SaaS offering for Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise. My overall rating for this product is seven out of ten.

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reviewer1047669

PS & Technical Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Has faced usability challenges while managing integrated components

We are working with web gateway and full endpoint security. URL filter is a notable feature. While it is not specifically related to Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway alone, if you have the complete Forcepoint solution, it can integrate with other Forcepoint products, such as DLP solution and email gateway. The URL filter of Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is good for web gateway. Clients and consumers do not prefer it because the interface is not good. When using FSM with DLP, web gateway, and email gateway, upgrades cannot be performed simultaneously since Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway might need an upgrade while email gateway does not, despite having the same manager controlling them. Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway works well with banking and small companies. Email gateway is less needed as everything is moving to the cloud.

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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

"Granular setup, which was able to set different levels of filters using the OUs in the AD."

"Iboss is a solution that prevents advanced persistent threats, and has a zero tolerance for attacks."

"Content filtering is the most useful feature of iboss."

"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."

"From a corporate perspective, I understand that it's important to keep the company data safe."

"We were impressed by the solution's mental health function, which can detect if someone needs help. It scans what users are browsing and flags warning signs so we can check to see if they are okay. We've had to use it a couple of times."

"iboss is among the few products providing inline filtering where no application is needed on the device. It operates on the network side and is not device-based. This feature was one of the main reasons why we stayed with them for so long."

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

More iboss pros

"Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise is a product which has very good features and capabilities."

"The threat intelligence feature is particularly valuable when used with another product of Akamai, as their researchers continuously update this threat feed database, making it an effective tool for defending against and blocking bad actors, public malicious IPs, harmful hashes, and malicious URLs."

"The best feature of Akamai SPS Threat Avert is that it's very user-friendly compared to other technologies."

"It efficiently categorizes which sites should not be accessed during work hours."

"They have well-integrated web security and have the enterprise DLP included in the cloud as well."

"Secure Web Gateway's most valuable features are firewall blocking and anti-malware scanning."

"It is fairly easy to setup and use."

"SWG allows me to track internet usage patterns, helping optimize bandwidth and understand how much time each employee spends online."

"In terms of performance, Forcepoint stands out because it is more scalable than any other solution. It can extend to different types of boxes and integrate well with other platforms and vendors. And it doesn't need to have the same kind of box or throughput to have high availability."

"Reporting and automatic updates of website categorization."

"It helps constantly with phishing and cryptolocker attacks."

More Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway pros

Cons

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

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

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

"The reporting feature needs improvement. It doesn't give you the expected results. It is quite difficult to get the specific reports needed, and it is not as intuitive as the rest of the platform."

"I would rate iboss an eight out of ten because it provides strong cloud-based security threat protection, centralized policy management, and visibility into web traffic. I would give it a higher rating if automation, reporting, and troubleshooting capabilities could be improved further."

"File integrity monitoring would be very advantageous as an additional feature."

"The dashboards for local use could be better."

"It is stable, but due to growth, it can sometimes be less stable than wanted."

More iboss cons

"Their support response time needs improvement. They take on average one week to respond, which is not satisfactory given how critical applications are to the organization."

"Akamai SPS Threat Avert's pricing could be improved because it's a very expensive enterprise solution."

"From a financial standpoint, I do not believe Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise is cost-effective when compared to other solutions available in the industry."

"The product needs to have more mobility."

"AD authentication is buggy and not very effective."

"The reporting must be improved."

"Ease of use could be improved."

"The initial setup was complex."

"It has a problem with tablets and the iPhone. It's not filtering on these platforms. It filters on Windows but not iOS or Android."

"I have been in contact with technical support several times, and I am not happy with them."

"There should be more hardware models available and the application control could improve."

More Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

"It is probably in line with other solutions, but I do not deal with the financial side."

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

"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 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."

"Provided the features Akamai SPS Threat Avert provides, it is bound to be expensive."

"Compared to the other products in the market, Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway can be a cost-effective tool."

"The solution's pricing is competitive."

"The price of this solution is reasonable."

"It is quite expensive."

"The pricing depends upon the number of users."

"The solution is priced a little high compare to similar solutions."

"The licensing is not expensive."

"The solution's price is good."

More Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

13%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Construction Company

Outsourcing Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

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	23
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	29

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 needs improvement with Akamai SPS Threat Avert?

Since Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise is not being used in our campus environment, as our users do not route...

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What is your primary use case for Akamai SPS Threat Avert?

Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise is designed to protect users' access to the internet.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Akamai SPS Threat Avert?

Our organization does not utilize the internet access feature of Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise because our...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway?

I would rate pricing for Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway a two out of ten. It's really expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway?

Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is not endpoint security. If we have a chance to change, we would change it because it ...

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What is your primary use case for Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway?

We have no big project, but we are trying to sell it in the market here. We are working with Forcepoint because there...

See all answers

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

FortiSASE vs iboss

Compared 6% of the time

More iboss Competitors

Symantec Proxy vs Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise

Compared 13% of the time

Symantec Secure Web Gateway vs Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise

Compared 12% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise

Compared 10% of the time

Zscaler Internet Access vs Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise

Compared 8% of the time

Infoblox BloxOne Threat Defense vs Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise

Compared 3% of the time

More Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise Competitors

Fortinet FortiProxy vs Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway

Compared 11% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway

Compared 8% of the time

Zscaler Internet Access vs Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway

Compared 6% of the time

Quad9 vs Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway

Compared 2% of the time

More Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

October 2026

Download iboss product report

Buyer's Guide

Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

October 2026

Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise report

Download Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise product report

Buyer's Guide

Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway

November 2026

Download Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

Akamai Enterprise Threat Protector, Akamai ETP, Akamai SPS Threat Avert

Forcepoint SWG, Websense Web Security, Forcepoint TRITON

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

Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise offers robust cybersecurity to protect organizations from threats and provides seamless cloud-based connectivity to safeguard remote work operations.

Designed with a focus on high-performance security, Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise efficiently manages web and internet traffic, transforming traditional network defenses into sophisticated security architectures. Its intelligent threat detection capabilities ensure that malicious attacks are identified and neutralized before they can cause harm, providing peace of mind for IT teams.

What are the key features?

Threat Intelligence: Continuously updated threat intelligence to stay ahead of emerging threats.
Secure Web Gateway: Comprehensive security for web access to block malicious content.
Centralized Management: Simplified management through a unified interface for easy control.
Cloud-Based Architecture: Scalability and flexibility to accommodate changing organizational demands.

What benefits should users expect?

Increased Security: Enhanced protection for sensitive data and business operations.
Cost Efficiency: Reduced infrastructure costs with cloud-based solutions.
Enhanced Productivity: Seamless and secure access for remote and office workers.
Compliance Support: Helps maintain compliance with industry regulations.

In the financial sector, for example, Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise is employed to balance stringent compliance needs with agile internet access. Healthcare industries utilize it to protect patient data without compromising connectivity, demonstrating its versatility across fields.

Akamai

Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway ensures secure internet access with features like URL filtering and real-time analytics. It's known for robust security, scalability, and integration capabilities, making it ideal for managing web traffic and preventing data loss.

Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is designed to provide comprehensive protection for web traffic while enabling organizations to maintain security and productivity. By integrating well with Forcepoint offerings like DLP and CASB, it offers added functionality. The gateway equips users with tools such as SSL inspection and Shadow IT visibility. Despite its complex setup and challenges with updates, the platform is recognized for its flexibility, performance reliability, and ability to deliver granular policy control. Customers in demanding environments benefit from its extensive IP-based protection and robust report customization capabilities.

What are the standout features?

URL and Content Filtering: Blocks or allows access to websites based on predefined rules.
Real-time Analytics: Provides immediate insights into web traffic and user activity.
Report Customization: Allows tailoring of reports to meet specific needs.
SSL Inspection: Inspects encrypted traffic to ensure security without compromising privacy.
Shadow IT Visibility: Identifies and manages unauthorized applications used by employees.

What benefits can users expect?

Enhanced Security: Protects against advanced malware and data breaches.
Increased Productivity: Blocks undesired websites to keep users focused.
Scalability: Adapts to growing organizational needs efficiently.
Integration with DLP and CASB: Offers expanded protection capabilities.

Government agencies and professional services deploy Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway in on-premises and hybrid cloud setups for enhanced web security. By monitoring and controlling user activity, these entities maintain productivity and protect sensitive data. The gateway effectively manages internal and external web traffic, ensuring cyber threats are minimized. Specific industry needs are addressed with robust security frameworks tailored to maintain data integrity and efficiency.

Forcepoint

Sample Customers

Trusted by global enterprises and government agencies.

MCNC, Educational Testing Service

Adventist Health, Alphawest, Amadori, Anoka County, Compartamos Banco, Davies Turner, EverBank, iGATE, Karlstad Municipality, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Scavolini, Smurfit Kappa, Toyota

Buyer's Guide

Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise vs. Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway

November 2026

Free Report: Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise vs. Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway

Find out what your peers are saying about Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise vs. Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.

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