Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway comparison

The compared Cato Networks and Netskope solutions aren't in the same category. Cato Networks is ranked #4 in SASE , with an average rating of 8.8, and holds a 11.8% mindshare in the category. Netskope is ranked #18 in WSG , with an average rating of 8.8, and holds a 2.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Cato Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Netskope users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cato SASE Cloud Platform and Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway Report (Updated: September 2022).

Buyer's Guide

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway

September 2022

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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

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)

Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

Featured Reviews

Matt Crockford

Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water

It's easy to roll out, and their understanding of our business made it seamless

One aspect we value about iboss is its simplicity. Their customer service is brilliant, and they are super responsive and knowledgeable. It's easy to roll out, and their understanding of our business made it seamless. 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. The user interface is highly intuitive. Our IT team picked it up with minimal training. It's arranged so that it's easy to find where things are. Another advantage is the single pane of glass console, which gives you visibility into what's happening. We're not fully there yet because we haven't implemented zero trust, but we're excited about the possibilities from the demos we've seen. We launched a POC of iboss' ChatGPT Risk Protection feature two weeks ago. AI is a great tool, but you need to be careful what you put into it. My biggest fear is employees inputting sensitive corporate information or customer PII data into one of these chatbots. I was impressed by our trial of the feature. It's exactly what we wanted. Now, when a user goes to ChatGPT, there's a banner warning them not to share information, and we can block conversations containing customer data like bank details and email addresses. I don't want to stop people from using it, but we need visibility. We've only tried it on a test group of 15 people. You can configure it to look for specific keywords or integrate it with your DLP policy if you have that configured

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Alexander Azikov

It Manager at Diamond Braces

Provide a seamless experience for end users with internet duplication feature

The setup and onboarding process is very straightforward - I'd rate it a ten out of ten for ease. We use CatoCloud as our cloud provider. They have points of presence, and we connect to the nearest one to our physical location. All the routing, inspection, and logic for what to route, block, or allow happens in the cloud, not on the local device. Our deployment took a couple of weeks because we installed the sites manually. If we had a team to help switch locally, it could have been done in a week. The deployment process is straightforward. We set up all the sites in their cloud system; then, they ship the sockets directly to the location or our main office. We connect the device to the internet, it gets activated, we assign it to a specific site inside the cloud, and it's online and ready to use. It's very easy.

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Ernst (Eric) Goldman

Owner at Antares Joint Development

Designed to enforce architecture governance, ensuring traceable SaaS traffic

Netskope provides vigorous policy enforcement for SaaS platforms based on how we configure it, but its vulnerability management and threat intelligence capabilities could be stronger. We rely on external sources to become aware of vulnerabilities in major SaaS platforms, which highlights a gap. It would be beneficial if Netskope offered more robust vulnerability management or integrated threat intelligence through in-house development or partnerships. This would allow for a better policy setup without needing external threat intelligence to configure Netskope. Adding these features would enhance its overall value. I would suggest making some minor improvements to the interface to make it more intuitive, but those are primarily cosmetic. In terms of actual features, the only significant enhancement I could think of, besides better threat intelligence, would be for Netskope to assess the general SaaS landscape. This could include a scorecard showing the security posture of various SaaS platforms based on their track record with breaches and vulnerabilities. I understand this could create friction with SaaS providers if some receive poor scores, which might impact their relationship with Netskope. If Netskope were to harness machine learning more effectively and share those models transparently with enterprise customers, this could include making traffic data they already collect available for deeper analytics, allowing customers to gain better insights into employee traffic patterns. It could also assist with network operations by helping to fine-tune performance based on traffic flow, even though the primary purpose of analyzing that data is security-related. Providing more advanced analytics using existing data could significantly enhance its value to enterprises.

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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

"Because of iboss, I did not have to assign web filtering tasks to my techs on a daily basis."

"iboss is among the few products providing inline filtering where no application is needed on the device."

"It was a very easy product to install. It can be deployed very fast."

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

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

"Its initial setup was straightforward."

"From a use-case scenario, what I like the most is the plug-in. I like the fact that we can do the filtering of these devices offsite independent of the network they are connected to, and we do not have to have traffic coming back inside our network."

"The solution has massively improved our security posture, giving us full visibility into what our staff does online."

More iboss pros

"The product is efficient and easy to use."

"The most valuable feature of Cato Networks is the CASB and the documentation is useful."

"Additionally, Cato has a global point of presence, which means instead of using other technologies to connect branches and provide access for a retail organization or any organization with branches, we can utilize Cato's backbone. Furthermore, by consolidating different technologies into one solution, there are additional cost savings from that perspective."

"The query and the SD-WAN are useful features of the solution."

"The visibility control and security aspects are amazing."

"We appreciate the optimization and acceleration of the performance of SDP users."

"The scalability is quite good."

"The Cato SASE Cloud Platform is a remarkable solution for managing and controlling all aspects of Zero Trust network access functions through its SASE capabilities. It's designed with an exquisite and practical architecture, making it a worthwhile investment for organizations looking to optimize IT spending and streamline management processes."

More Cato SASE Cloud Platform pros

"The solution has some useful features, such as microservices. They have sandboxing that allows the prevention, encryption, and remote browser isolation."

"Overall, the product is nice, and I like the URL filtering, CASB, and other security stacks like threat prevention."

"The solution's CASB, DLP, and threat protection features are very good."

"One of the valuable features of the solution is that everything is on the cloud. It has no on-premise hardware to deal with."

"There are a lot of features, but the groups that are created for the policy groups available with Netskope are already relevant to any industry. So grouping the policies is the easiest part and a valuable feature."

"Prevents data leakage and protects data."

"The most valuable features of the solution are its three modules, which are SWG, ZTNA, and CASB."

"It is for secure web trafficking, and it is doing what it needs to do. It allows customers to consolidate and eliminate multiple technologies onto Netskope and just kind of turn the dial and use more features, such as CASB, VPN. SWG is another feature. You can monitor and govern all the traffic."

More Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway pros

Cons

"One thing I would like to see differently with their Zero Trust platform is that some of the AI aspects related to high-risk activities have more false positives."

"SSL decryption: We had issues with learners using apps instead of using web browsers. This type of encryption is tough for any appliance in a BYOD environment."

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

"For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company ExxonMobil."

"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."

"If they could implement an extra security layer preventing access to iboss from the open internet, it would be great."

"Fold that in with the risk intelligence they're getting from all of the different subscriptions they are a part of. Now, these security companies subscribe to things like emerging threats, databases, etc. You can fold all this intelligence to decide what's happening on an endpoint. I would love to see them start moving into that space. That would compete directly with Microsoft. Maybe that's why they haven't. Having that ability native within the solution would be great. The other area in which I would love to see improvement is more detailed descriptions of why they block websites."

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

More iboss cons

"For a packaged solution, needing external intervention or a system integrator to get other features not offered by Cato Networks could be an area for improvement. Cato Networks does what it's meant to do and is even overstretching capabilities when introducing new features. The product can only have very few features added on top of what its currently doing. Managed service providers can deliver the extra features you'd need. It's a set of managed services, and what Cato Networks does is very comprehensive. So, for the time being, when the actual incarnation of the SASE solution is deployed, Cato Networks is a very effective product. Naturally, technology will evolve, so everybody knows that in three, four, or five years, there will be a new kid on the block, a new game. Still, at the moment, Cato Networks only needs to improve a little regarding SASE delivery. The product is doing very well, but one feature the Cato Networks team is doing right is preparing for the future through deploying the SSE 360, so the security service is at that edge. It's an excellent strategy to prepare for the future. SSE 360 is what Cato Networks should invest in the most to keep prospering."

"They should include a web application firewall feature in the solution."

"I am located in South Korea, and I can say that most people here have no idea about Cato Networks. I think Cato Networks should promote its network services in various countries."

"The product's technical support could be more responsive."

"It could expand its reach into other sectors like professional services and finance, requiringmore specialized tools beyond Cato's current offerings. This includes better integration with third-party providers for more sophisticated tools such as intrusion prevention systems, anti-malware, and data loss prevention. Additionally, enhancing network speed and optimizing last-mile connectivity for managed service providers like us would be beneficial."

"I'd rate Cato SASE Cloud Platform's pricing as about five or six out of ten. It's not the cheapest solution, but it is cheaper than Palo Alto and even VeloCloud."

"Web application firewalling (WAF) is a feature we would like to have in this solution and does not exist yet."

"I would like to see better integration with identity providers."

More Cato SASE Cloud Platform cons

"The accuracy could be improved."

"Since they have the Netskope client, adding some functionality in the endpoint would be good."

"The stability of the solution to be very good. It is not the best and could improve but it is better than other solutions, such as Forcepoint."

"The initial setup is a bit complex in that it takes a lot of time. In order to get the product to work as you need it to, there is a lot of configuration required."

"Cost competitiveness is its area of improvement. They will have to figure out how can they strategically price it because there are a few players in the game who have been doing it for a long time. They will have to figure out how to go to market on the pricing."

"The solution needs to improve its on-premise detection technique."

"The solution could improve the features for Zero Trust Network Access. They should add more security components to that module."

"There is room for improvement in streamlining policies. So what happens is that when you apply a specific Netskope policy, you never know the kind of content it will automatically block, or it will allow."

More Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"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."

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

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

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

"The pricing is on the higher side, almost an eight out of ten."

"The price is not an issue for us, as it is priced more competitively than some other vendors."

"Cato Networks is an expensive product, but it works out of the box, so that's the usual trade-off, make versus buy. If you decide to buy a product that doesn't require much programming, then you'd want to go for Cato Networks, which will work naturally, and immediately without any complex setup. However, the product is a little bit more expensive than the competitors. On a scale of one to five, I'd rate the pricing for Cato Networks as four."

"The solution has reasonable pricing. It has a yearly subscription. The pricing depends on the permit to code. Sometimes, we need to increase the permit, and the cost will automatically change. There's no fixed cost. Unless we request additional modules such as DNS security, ELP, and decent features, there will be no additional cost."

"The pricing of the solution depends upon the bandwidth required for different branches"

"The platform is expensive."

"You pay yearly based on the speed of your network. If you increase the speed of your network, you increase the cost for your throughput. It is by bandwidth for the most part and then licenses for VPN. There is some per-seat licensing for VPN access, but the majority of it is minimal. It is like $30 a year per client. The rest is based on how much bandwidth you'll use. You pay for that upfront for the year, and if you have to increase it, you increase it, and then they let you send more data through. There are no additional costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."

"Cato Networks seems more expensive than Cisco Meraki."

More Cato SASE Cloud Platform pricing and cost advice

"The product is cheap."

"The solution's overall cost is cheaper than regular web security solutions."

"The price is average. Because the license is user-based, you can increase it as per the user quantity."

"The license model is based on the number of users. You have the possibility to have 10,000 users if you wish."

"We pay a licensing fee of $10,000 on a yearly basis."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

22%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?

For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company Exxon...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for iboss?

Previously when I used iboss, we did the POC for iboss for ExxonMobil. Four or five people wanted to move from our ol...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?

Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern. There are cheaper alte...

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What do you like most about Cato Networks?

The solution is a simple WAN solution. We've onboarded the socket on the Cato platform, and it provides connectivity....

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Cato Networks?

In construction, we have a company in the steel industries, where we are doing the POCs currently, and we have one ex...

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What advice do you have for others considering Cato Networks?

I am also a partner with Cato SASE Cloud Platform. Mentioning the bypassing feature and traffic engineering would be ...

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Which lesser known firewall product has the best chance at unseating the market leaders?

Netscope, Zscaler if they continue route they are on now. FIrewalls needs great deal of automation on each end, datac...

See all answers

Which lesser known firewall product has the best chance at unseating the market leaders?

Those firewalls that allow extend the perimeter. Nowadays, there is a issue with the static perimeter and all is goin...

See all answers

What do you like most about Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway?

There are a lot of features, but the groups that are created for the policy groups available with Netskope are alread...

See all answers

Comparisons

Zscaler Internet Access vs iboss

Compared 15% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs iboss

Compared 14% of the time

Netskope vs iboss

Compared 13% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs iboss

Compared 11% of the time

Infoblox BloxOne Threat Defense vs iboss

Compared 3% of the time

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Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform vs Cato SASE Cloud Platform

Compared 15% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Cato SASE Cloud Platform

Compared 12% of the time

Netskope vs Cato SASE Cloud Platform

Compared 10% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs Cato SASE Cloud Platform

Compared 8% of the time

Cloudflare One vs Cato SASE Cloud Platform

Compared 8% of the time

More Cato SASE Cloud Platform Competitors

Zscaler Internet Access vs Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway

Compared 16% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway

Compared 14% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway

Compared 13% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway

Compared 11% of the time

More Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

August 2025

Download iboss product report

Buyer's Guide

Cato SASE Cloud Platform

August 2025

Download Cato SASE Cloud Platform product report

Buyer's Guide

Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway

August 2025

Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway report

Download Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

Cato Networks

No data available

Overview

iboss offers a comprehensive security platform designed for diverse use cases such as web filtering, data loss protection, corporate proxy services, and URL filtering.

iboss integrates advanced features to address dynamic security needs, leveraging its strength in SASE, ZTNA, AI initiatives, and cloud integration, while ensuring seamless operations for remote work. It excels in historical forensics, malware protection, and flexible cloud deployments. Users benefit from comprehensive traffic scanning, robust malware detection, and PaaS capabilities that reduce hardware management. An intuitive admin console ensures efficient management with content filtering and low false positives. SSL decryption enhances security, while DLP protects data in AI conversations. Deployment is rapid and scalable, allowing effortless integration with emerging technologies.

What features does iboss offer?

Granular Web Filtering: Provides precise control over web content access.
Traffic Scanning: Monitors data through multiple ports for security breaches.
Malware Detection: Ensures superior protection against malware threats.
PaaS Capabilities: Eliminates need for hardware management.
SSL Decryption: Enhances data protection by decrypting secure connections.
DLP Capabilities: Safeguards data during AI interactions.

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

Scalability: Adapts quickly to growing demands and emerging tech integration.
Rapid Deployment: Reduces time to implement security measures.
User-Friendly Admin Console: Facilitates efficient operations management.
Low False Positives: Increases accuracy of threat detection systems.

iboss finds significant application in sectors such as education, where web filtering for K-12 is crucial, and in corporate environments requiring robust proxy services and URL filtering for network security. Its adaptability is essential in scenarios demanding flexible, decentralized security frameworks, particularly for remote work setups.

iboss

Cato Networks is a leading SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) platform, combining SD-WAN and network security to obtain a cloud-native service. Cato Networks optimizes and secures application access for users and identities. The platform delivers a next-generation secure networking architecture that minimizes legacy IT infrastructures’ complexity, costs, and risks. The goal of Cato Suite is to connect any user to any application securely and optimally.

Cato Suite runs on a private global network of more than 65 PoPs (points of presence) connected via SLA-backed network providers. The service can connect branches, data centers, users, and clouds. Cato can be deployed in stages to augment legacy network services.

Cato Suite delivers end-to-end route optimization for WAN and cloud traffic. The architecture is self-healing, enabling a high service uptime.

Cato Features

Cato Cloud has a global backbone to deliver a reliable, global network. Here are some key SD-WAN features of Cato Cloud.

Optimizes traffic flows: The Cato Suite can individually optimize traffic flows in the last mile - from the customer’s location to the point of presence, and also between PoPs. This feature eliminates the need for internet providers to hand off traffic to each other, avoiding the resulting latency and congestion.
Controls and manages bandwidth: The software-defined overlay is encrypted across the entire cloud infrastructure. This overlay uses application-aware routing, analyzing latency and loss data to choose the best route according to network conditions. These features, like protocol priority marking, enable the system to ensure the performance of real-time applications.
Delivers redundancy and failover: By connecting the points of presence with multiple Tier-1 IPs, Cato builds the redundancy needed to ensure security and highly available service.
Cloud-native: Cato is built as a scalable, resilient, and elastic cloud service.
Converged: The platform converges SD-WAN and network security into a single infrastructure framework.
Secures all edges: Cato Network can secure and optimize traffic from all users, locations, applications, and clouds.

What challenges does Cato Network solve?

Migration to SD-WAN

MPLS (multi-protocol label switching) networks are usually expensive and limited in their capacity. Cato simplifies migrating to a faster, higher-capacity internet and SASE cloud. Cato SD-WAN appliances enable customers to improve usable capacity and resiliency.

Global connectivity optimization

Customers who suffer from the challenge of high latency and network inconsistency can use Cato to deliver a consistent connection and user experience to access on-premises and cloud applications.

Securing branch internet access

Cato’s complete network security stack connects all branch locations to the Cato cloud, therefore protecting all traffic, both internet-bound and WAN, with enterprise-grade, cloud-based security services. This capability avoids having to backhaul internet traffic to a data center or hub or having to implement stand-alone cloud security solutions.

Cloud acceleration and control

Organizations using Cato notice an acceleration of cloud traffic. Cato achieves this by routing all traffic from the edges to the PoP closest to the data center. Because of the close distance between the two, the latency is near zero.

Reviews from Real Users

An IT manager/project coordinator at a healthcare company says that “[Cato is] a cloud-based solution that integrates well with everything. They are the classic SaaS solution.”

Yeong-Gi L., a network engineer at Snetsystems, notes that “The solution is very stable. The scalability is quite good. Technical support was always helpful and responsive. The integration capabilities are not a problem at all.”

"The most valuable feature is that it also works as a next-gen firewall because it has security features," says Lorenzo S., senior solutions consultant Lead at MDI.

Cato Networks

Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway is a comprehensive cloud-based security solution that provides advanced threat protection, data loss prevention, and web filtering capabilities. It offers real-time visibility and control over web traffic, enabling organizations to enforce policies and protect against web-based threats. The solution uses machine learning and behavioral analysis to detect and block advanced threats, including malware, phishing, and ransomware. It also provides granular control over web access, allowing organizations to block or allow specific websites and applications based on user, group, or location. With Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway, organizations can ensure compliance with industry regulations and protect sensitive data from unauthorized access or exfiltration. The solution is easy to deploy and manage, with a user-friendly interface and centralized policy management.

Netskope

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.

Paysafe, AdRoll, Pet Lovers Centre, Arlington Orthopedics, Humphreys & Partners Architects

Arrow, Cloudrise, Sainsbury, Evalueserve, Stroock, Apria, Ather Energy, CSA, AVX Corporation Nuna, City of San Diego Case, Genomic Health Case Study, Oak Hill Advisors, MaRS Discovery District.

Buyer's Guide

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway

September 2022

Free Report: Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway

Find out what your peers are saying about Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway and other solutions. Updated: September 2022.

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