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Barracuda SecureEdge vs Cisco Secure Access comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 19, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.4
Implementing iboss boosted efficiency and security, offering high ROI despite increased per-device fees, through enhanced productivity and reduced VPN dependency.
Sentiment score
7.5
Barracuda SecureEdge delivers ROI by reducing costs, streamlining management, and enhancing security with easy setup and centralized controls.
Sentiment score
5.1
Cisco Secure Access streamlines operations, enhances security, and cuts costs by consolidating platforms, centralizing policies, and automating processes.
With iboss, whenever you turn on your laptop, the iboss agent automatically connects to the iboss cloud, enforcing all security policies. So with respect to the security side, it strengthens measures.
Senior Consultant Proxy Engineering at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Deploying iboss leads to good return on investment, estimated around 70% to 80%.
Manager at Cyvogenix
I have seen some cost effectiveness from iboss; it has reduced certain support requirements, making it a more hands-off solution.
Managing Director
Considering the security features and centralized management capability it provides, we feel it offers good value for the investment.
network security engineer at a outsourcing company with 11-50 employees
It has enhanced visibility into user activity and helped enforce consistent security policies across different locations.
Senior Technical Support Executive at digital track
I estimate that routing network administration and policy management activities require roughly 30 to 40% less effort than before, allowing our team to focus on higher priority projects rather than day-to-day maintenance.
Network engineer at a outsourcing company with 11-50 employees
At Amazon, we knew exactly how much it would cost if a fulfillment center was down for an hour.
Director, Network Services at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
The AI features further contribute by expediting threat detection and incident response, ensuring tangible returns through operational savings.
Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
It is one of those tools that needs to work right out of the box, and thankfully, it does; it is reliable, and the setup time was quick and straightforward.
Cyber Security Manager at a non-profit with 501-1,000 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.6
Iboss support is praised for responsiveness and knowledge but faces challenges with response times and communication during outages.
Sentiment score
6.7
Barracuda SecureEdge's customer service is efficient, knowledgeable, and responsive, consistently resolving user queries quickly with high satisfaction.
Sentiment score
6.9
Cisco Secure Access support is praised for responsiveness and reliability, despite occasional delays, with high user satisfaction ratings.
They are very fast, responsive, and knowledgeable.
Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water
The quality of the support is fantastic.
Educational Technology Coordinator at a performing arts with 201-500 employees
We had promising discussions about resolving these issues, but no real action followed.
Network Administrator at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
The support team for Barracuda SecureEdge is responsive, knowledgeable, and helpful when troubleshooting issues.
network security engineer at a outsourcing company with 11-50 employees
The engineers have been able to provide useful guidance during troubleshooting and implementation activities.
Network engineer at a outsourcing company with 11-50 employees
The ticketing system is very efficient, and they provide support promptly.
OT Cybersecurity Analyst at a government with 10,001+ employees
Cisco TAC is very competent.
Network Operations Engineer at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
With our established point of contact within Cisco, our experience has greatly improved; we no longer log all issues through technical cases, as we can go directly to our account managers or customer service team, which expedites resolution.
Cyber Security Manager at a non-profit with 501-1,000 employees
I would rate the technical support ten out of ten. Hands down.
Senior Network Administrator at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
iboss offers scalable, containerized cloud architecture, efficiently expanding resources and swiftly resolving performance issues during traffic spikes.
Sentiment score
6.7
Barracuda SecureEdge offers scalable, cloud-based management, enabling effortless expansion and administration for growing companies with minimal effort.
Sentiment score
5.4
Cisco Secure Access effectively expands infrastructure, integrates robustly, supports growth, and meets management needs with user-friendly scalability.
They are also able to meet on-demand requirements based on your contract with them, and can easily provide adequate resources and scalability.
Senior Consultant Proxy Engineering at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
I would rate it a nine out of ten for scalability.
If I start seeing sluggishness or anything like that, I just reach out to my rep, and they connect with their dev team, typically resolving it the same day.
Educational Technology Coordinator at a performing arts with 201-500 employees
The centralized management platform makes it easy to manage growth without significantly increasing administrative effort.
network security engineer at a outsourcing company with 11-50 employees
The centralized cloud management makes it easy to support additional users, locations and security requirements.
Network engineer at a outsourcing company with 11-50 employees
Barracuda SecureEdge has good scalability because it is a cloud-based solution.
Security Practitioner at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
We turn the traffic to the Cisco Secure Access cloud, and we can manage and apply the policies that are necessary, making it very easy to scale the solution.
System Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Cisco has a great benefit in that you can integrate with other solutions in an easy way because it has a lot of protocols to integrate with others and sophisticated steps that we can apply for integration.
IT Manager at Bavaria Egypt S.A.E.
Performance has remained consistent, usage has increased, and we have not experienced scalability-related limitations.
Manager at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
iboss is praised for stability, quick support, and reliability despite occasional minor challenges or growth-related fluctuations.
Sentiment score
8.4
Barracuda SecureEdge is stable and reliable, performing consistently for security management and remote access without major issues.
Sentiment score
7.8
Cisco Secure Access is praised for 99.9% uptime, reliability, cloud-native design, and quick resolution of minor issues.
It's been pretty solid; I've never had an outage with them, and if I ever had, it's only been once out of the seven years.
Educational Technology Coordinator at a performing arts with 201-500 employees
We've experienced zero downtime.
Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water
Our biggest problem with their service was it did not recognize the device despite our ClearPass sending information to the iboss box.
Network Administrator at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
The platform has provided consistent performance for both security management and remote connectivity.
network security engineer at a outsourcing company with 11-50 employees
It has improved consistent performance for security connectivity and remote access.
Network engineer at a outsourcing company with 11-50 employees
Cisco is renowned for their reliability, and their products perform well under high data usage.
Network Operations Engineer at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The service consistently provides secure connectivity for remote users, contractors, and hybrid environments with minimal disruption.
Manager at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
I rate the stability of Cisco Secure Access as ten out of ten.
General Manager at Datasoft Comnet
 

Room For Improvement

Concerns include pricing, agent reliability, security, integration complexities, slow reporting, limited cloud integration, and improved support and presentations.
Barracuda SecureEdge needs upgrades in reporting, integration, interface, and security features for enhanced enterprise functionality and efficiency.
Cisco Secure Access needs enhanced AI, improved integration, user-friendly interfaces, and simplified management to address pricing and complexity issues.
It is not as intuitive as the rest of the platform.
Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water
iboss's single pane of glass console gives centralized visibility into web traffic, user activity, security policies, and alerts from one dashboard.
Manager at Cyvogenix
We also had a problem with a transition when we upgraded from one appliance of theirs to another, but their engineer lost a good deal of our data.
Network Administrator at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
If Barracuda's security team could provide some use cases on how to secure the remote access of contractors and remote users who are facilitating utilities like energy sectors and water treatment plants, it would give a very good edge to Barracuda's security team.
OT Cybersecurity Analyst at a government with 10,001+ employees
Compared to leading SASE vendors, Barracuda SecureEdge is still evolving and lacks some advanced features and integration depth that may require evaluating for large and global enterprises.
Security Practitioner at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
One area where I believe the product could be enhanced is in reporting and analytics, with more customizable dashboards and deeper insight for security and performance monitoring.
network security engineer at a outsourcing company with 11-50 employees
Modernization is needed, specifically in the enhancement of security features and functionality.
Pre-Sales Solution Partner at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
It was challenging to learn because it has a significant learning curve and requires considerable training to become proficient.
Network Operations Engineer at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The granular access issue is coming from the product limitation at the moment, as it does not offer us the option to tell it that a particular role can only manage websites, allowed sites, and blocked sites.
Technical Product Owner at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Iboss offers competitive, transparent pricing and simplicity, but costs may increase with usage compared to ZScaler and Check Point.
Cisco Secure Access is a premium solution offering strong security, though it's sometimes pricey and involves complex licensing.
It offers the same features you would get from a vendor that charges 250,000 British pounds for a fraction of the price.
Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water
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.
Network Administrator at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern.
Managing Director
My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Barracuda SecureEdge has been good, as our director dealt with it, and we received a good package with our current system because we were also using Barracuda cloud backup.
Infrastructure & Support Senior Specialist at a retailer with 51-200 employees
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is acceptable.
Security Practitioner at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The solution is cheaper than premium options such as Palo Alto, existing Cisco licenses facilitate replacing previous solutions with Cisco Secure Access smoothly and affordably.
Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
It is good because you want to push Cisco Secure Access, and regarding the price, it is very much below other products.
Junior Information Technology Consultant Security at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Improvement on the pricing will help in expanding the market for Cisco Secure Access and then it can be affordable to much more number of companies than what it is right now.
Technical Manager at Ledorbis Solutions
 

Valuable Features

iboss excels with cloud-native security features, centralized management, zero trust access, and reliable, seamless integration for enhanced efficiency.
Barracuda SecureEdge provides integrated security features enhancing operational efficiency and connectivity with intuitive management and advanced threat detection.
Cisco Secure Access provides centralized security management, enhanced visibility, and seamless integration, ensuring robust, user-friendly protection and scalability.
The solution's mental health function can detect if someone needs help.
Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water
It's given us a lot more visibility into our computer assets that may be infected with viruses and also shows us people who have unusually large uploads or might be engaging in high-risk activities, such as searches or going to sites not categorized by their web crawler.
Educational Technology Coordinator at a performing arts with 201-500 employees
iboss was the best solution for us because, no matter what domain you were in, everything is under a single pane of glass, which is exactly what we wanted.
Managing Director
The best features that Barracuda SecureEdge offers, in my experience, start with a Secure Web Gateway for internet traffic protection, Zero Trust Network Access, SD-WAN integration, Firewall as a Service, centralized policy and management, remote user security, work-from-home capabilities, branch connectivities plus cloud security, and application-level access control.
Security Practitioner at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It simplified policy management, reduced the time spent on administration and gave us better visibility across all locations.
Network engineer at a outsourcing company with 11-50 employees
The best features Barracuda SecureEdge offers are its centralized cloud-based management, secure remote access capabilities, and ease of deployment.
network security engineer at a outsourcing company with 11-50 employees
It eliminates the hassle of switching on VPNs and provides a direct connection to resources via Cisco Secure Access.
General Manager at Datasoft Comnet
They are sending the traffic encrypted and categorizing the traffic based on the type, whether web traffic or internet traffic, and doing the security mechanism that is needed for the traffic type.
Solution Architect at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Using ZTNA in Cisco Secure Access has positively affected my transition and my clients' transition to Zero Trust and least privilege principles, reinforcing the security posture.
Ts Senior Technical Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Categories and Ranking

iboss
Sponsored
Ranking in Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
6th
Ranking in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (6th), Internet Security (3rd), Web Content Filtering (1st), ZTNA as a Service (6th)
Barracuda SecureEdge
Ranking in Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
14th
Ranking in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)
13th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
ZTNA as a Service (14th)
Cisco Secure Access
Ranking in Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
3rd
Ranking in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
73
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (4th), Firewalls (9th), ZTNA (5th), Domain Name System (DNS) Security (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) category, the mindshare of iboss is 3.2%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Barracuda SecureEdge is 1.5%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Access is 3.9%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Secure Access3.9%
iboss3.2%
Barracuda SecureEdge1.5%
Other91.4%
Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)
 

Featured Reviews

Ashok Ananthula - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Esther Sultaana - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Consultant Storage at Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Centralized security has protected global cloud access and now simplifies rapid office onboarding
I cannot think of anything off the top of my head for improving Barracuda SecureEdge; it just needs some fine-tuning. In my experience working with it, it has features that deal with cyber threats and unintentional cyber threats with the sandboxing to prevent users from possibly clicking on suspicious links, and single pane management gives you your centralized dashboard to manage security rules and review threats while tracking network performance on a global scale. The only small improvement I can think of for Barracuda SecureEdge is if it were free, but that is more of a joke. I really do appreciate the product, and at the moment, I cannot think of anything that I have a complaint about. I cannot think of any improvements needed for Barracuda SecureEdge; the upgrades or rather additions they made were really solid, showing they are on top of it, which further impresses me about Barracuda, as they address emerging needs in the cyber world effectively.
reviewer2788500 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Operations Engineer at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Secure access has unified zero trust and web protection while AI assistance automates tasks
From a feature perspective, I have not experienced any issues, drawbacks, or shortcomings. However, the cost of Cisco's products and licensing is high. My clients usually prefer cheaper options if possible. Mid-size or smaller businesses typically cannot afford Cisco Secure Access. Additionally, there is a steep learning curve, as it is very intensive. Someone with significant knowledge can work on it, but a new professional would have to spend considerable time to get accustomed to it. It is hard to find engineers who can work on it. Overall, we get what we pay for, as it is a pretty good feature and service. The pricing of Cisco's products and licensing is higher than competitors. If they could be more reasonable, that would help. The support offered for two years also has higher costs. Overall, the client's IT budget gets affected. It was challenging to learn because, as mentioned, it has a significant learning curve and requires considerable training to become proficient.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solutions are best for your needs.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
19%
Retailer
14%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise39
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?
I think iboss could be improved by making reporting and dashboard customization more flexible, and simplifying troubl...
What is your primary use case for iboss?
I use iboss as a cloud-based secure web gateway to provide secure internet access, web filtering, and protect remote ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?
My experience with iboss's pricing structure, setup cost, and licensing model has been positive, straightforward, and...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Barracuda SecureEdge?
I'm not directly involved in the purchasing decision, so I cannot comment on exact pricing figures. However, from an ...
What needs improvement with Barracuda SecureEdge?
I cannot think of anything off the top of my head for improving Barracuda SecureEdge; it just needs some fine-tuning....
What is your primary use case for Barracuda SecureEdge?
My main use case for Barracuda SecureEdge is for Microsoft 365, as it secures user access to applications like Salesf...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Access?
The pricing is not too bad because it's per headcount with Cisco Secure Access. You check how many clients you have. ...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Secure Access?
I am dealing with Cisco Secure Access products. As a consultant and reseller, I am using it myself with Cisco Secure ...
What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Secure Access?
The AI element of Cisco Secure Access should have better guidance on the logs. To be honest, I can't think of anythin...
 

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform
Barracuda CloudGen Access
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

More than 4,000 global enterprises trust the iboss Cloud Platform to support their modern workforces, including a large number of Fortune 50 companies.
Information Not Available
1. IBM 2. Microsoft 3. Amazon 4. Google 5. Apple 6. Cisco Systems 7. Oracle 8. Intel 9. HP Inc. 10. Dell Technologies 11. Verizon Communications 12. AT&T 13. Comcast 14. T-Mobile 15. Sprint 16. Vodafone 17. Orange 18. BT Group 19. Deutsche Telekom 20. Telefonica 21. Nokia 22. Ericsson 23. Samsung Electronics 24. Sony 25. Panasonic 26. LG Electronics 27. Siemens 28. General Electric 29. Ford Motor Company 30. General Motors 31. Toyota Motor Corporation 32. Volkswagen Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda SecureEdge vs. Cisco Secure Access and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,806 professionals have used our research since 2012.