Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Netskope Private Access comparison

Cato Networks and Netskope are both solutions in the ZTNA as a Service category. Cato Networks is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.9, while Netskope is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.5. Cato Networks holds a 12.5% mindshare in ZaaS, compared to Netskope’s 4.7% 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 SummaryUpdated on Aug 11, 2024

Cato SASE Cloud Platform and Netskope Private Access are leading solutions in the secure access service edge (SASE) category. Cato SASE Cloud Platform appears to have the upper hand in pricing and support, while Netskope Private Access is noted for its feature set.

What features are offered by Cato SASE Cloud Platform in comparison to Netskope Private Access?

Cato SASE Cloud Platform offers comprehensive security, network optimization, and ease of management. Netskope Private Access provides granular data control, robust security policies, and seamless integration with various applications.

What areas of improvement can be found in Cato SASE Cloud Platform in comparison to Netskope Private Access?

Cato SASE Cloud Platform needs enhancements in analytic capabilities and policy configurations. Netskope Private Access users suggest improvements in stability during peak loads and expanding customizability.

How is the ease of deployment and customer service of Cato SASE Cloud Platform in comparison to Netskope Private Access?

Cato SASE Cloud Platform is noted for straightforward deployment and responsive support. Netskope Private Access also earns praise for deployment but receives mixed feedback on customer service responsiveness.

What setup costs and ROI can be seen with Cato SASE Cloud Platform in comparison to Netskope Private Access?

Cato SASE Cloud Platform is competitively priced with a favorable ROI. Netskope Private Access is seen as more expensive but justified by its advanced features.

To learn more, read our detailed Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Netskope Private Access Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Netskope Private Access

September 2025

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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 October 2025, in the ZTNA as a Service category, the mindshare of iboss is 2.4%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cato SASE Cloud Platform is 12.5%, up from 8.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Netskope Private Access is 4.7%, up from 4.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

ZTNA as a Service Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cato SASE Cloud Platform	12.5%
iboss	2.4%
Netskope Private Access	4.7%
Other	80.4%

ZTNA as a Service

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

Read full review

YOGESHSINGH

Chief Architect at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees

Have streamlined policy configuration and improved network adaptability with some need for better reporting and observability

I may not be that equipped now, but there are certainly growth areas for them, especially around how they provide reporting and monitoring and then flexibility of combining it with an observability part attached to it. This would remove the need to integrate another specialist tool for observability or monitoring part. They would certainly employ AI, especially agentic AI. I think that should be already part of their roadmap as a transversal. But certainly, the kind of integrations they offer today, in the future, I would think they would add more and more feature sets, especially around where they remove the dependency of having specialist solutions on a typical monitoring side. I think it's a fair price. It's positioned very well in the market. It's not low or very high. In the future, I hope that with more services being bundled as part of the solution on the cloud side, they should reduce the price being, provide bundle service. I think in the future they will come up with reduced pricing, more competitive pricing. But today it's fair. It's not very low or very high.

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AshwaniTyagi

Regional Manager at Orange

Enhanced security management supports mobile workforce efficiently

If we compare it with Zscaler, Netskope Private Access requires more configuration for setup of the overall solution. This is an area they can improve upon. Considering the competitive landscape we have today, they can further optimize the recurring subscription they offer as part of the proposal. This would give a better return on investment for customers.

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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

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

"Technical support is pretty sharp and very responsive."

"iboss is easy to use despite its complexity. Multiple engineers manage it, but it's significantly more straightforward to administer than traditional VPNs and web proxies."

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

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

"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."

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

"First of all, the security policies are essential. I do not have to rely solely on Active Directory for our users."

More iboss pros

"It is a stable solution...it is a scalable solution."

"The solution is stable."

"The scalability is quite good."

"The platform offers more than 400 different types of interfaces, allowing you to bring this solution as part of a bigger solution if you need various different components on your network."

"The main features we use are the firewall and secure web gateway."

"The product's most valuable features include advanced firewall capabilities for robust security, a secure gateway for safe data transmission, and next-generation anti-malware for threat prevention."

"What I found most helpful in Cato Networks is that it works out of the box. One of its main advantages is that it's a simple product to deploy. You subscribe, and you're ready to run."

"The visibility control and security aspects are amazing."

More Cato SASE Cloud Platform pros

"With private access or next-gen VPN, they are able to keep you secure, but they are invisible in terms of how they do it. Anybody working from home and trying to bring up VPN quickly can pretty much get VPN up and running in a matter of minutes because this doesn't require any VPN technology on-prem. All the VPN technologies that you're using to access applications on-premise can be eliminated by using their software. If you're accessing Microsoft 365 or salesforce.com, you can go straight out from your home office or home internet to that application rather than having to come through a VPN. It still has all the policies enforced, and it mitigates any business risks in terms of how that user is accessing that application and what they're doing inside of it. VPN piece is really critical, especially at this time of Covid, and your latency also goes down. Your latency gets better by using the platform because they're intercepting your traffic, routing it through their local data center, and then sending it to whichever SaaS service or whatever you're going to. It does it better, faster, and quicker with all your governance policies enforced, rather than you having to go through your data center. So, all the traffic gets hauls there, and then that traffic has got to route somewhere else, and then it has got to go up to the cloud. Your latency actually goes down. They can guarantee 15 milliseconds or less pretty much across anywhere on the planet for about 95% or 90% of it."

"There are several valuable features, like advanced security protections, especially the DLP (Data Loss Protection), and there's also browser and web filtering, or content filtering for our users to protect them when accessing certain links or websites, ensuring their security and permission."

"Netskope enables users to securely access private applications remotely without a VPN."

"Even without extensive training, if you're a proficient IT professional, you can easily configure it."

"The initial setup of Netskope Private Access is pretty simple and straightforward."

"Netskope Private Access covers a wide range of use cases with solutions for client-server and server-to-client connectivity patterns."

"The base features have been fantastic. The ability to be able to granularly assign application access to end-users has been really good."

"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution."

More Netskope Private Access pros

Cons

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

"Sometimes when you call in support, you get someone who is just following a sheet. It feels like a runaround. You feel that you are running into that support wall."

"The solution could be stronger on the integration side and offer more cloud applications like G Suite or Oracle."

"Our biggest problem with their service was it did not recognize the device and filtering did not always work correctly."

"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."

"Our biggest problem with their service was it did not recognize the device and filtering did not always work correctly."

"I am currently doing a PoC of the zero trust aspect of it. Compared to other similar solutions, it is hard to get around each feature. It takes a while to get used to it."

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

More iboss cons

"The product must evolve into the endpoint domain."

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

"The product may be complex for users with few years of experience."

"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."

"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."

"The tool needs to be more granular. Its reports are not very in-depth."

"Its functionality is a bit limited in some areas as compared to a Cisco solution. It is not as granular. It doesn't have the manageability, feature set, and capabilities of a larger or an enterprise-level solution. It just needs a more robust feature set and granularity."

"The price could be better."

More Cato SASE Cloud Platform cons

"I would like to see them go down the path of including SD-WAN. Currently, they don't do SD-WAN. If they could somehow natively do that inside of the platform, that would be amazing. I don't know if they're going to do it, but it would be amazing if they do."

"The product is not easy to use."

"Netskope needs to provide some kind of data protection strategy as well because, currently, if you connect through private access, we don't have any data protection policies or implementation."

"We faced certain issues with China users as it can be rather challenging for them due to the presence of Great Firewall."

"Netskope detects certain data or contents, but there are some limitations on how we can customize those policies for DLP."

"The ability to provide more security around agentless access has room for improvement."

"Netskope Private Access could improve by enhancing visibility of user performance and application performance. It should also integrate wider DLP and inspection engines on private access traffic."

"There could be an ability to access one server from another when we have console access to the first server."

More Netskope Private Access cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We had the cost of purchasing a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs. However, the following year, the cost of just licensing was similar to what was paid the previous year for a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs."

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

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

"It is not expensive, and it is also not cheap. iboss is priced right in the sweet spot for the number of features it offers."

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

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

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

"If you compare with VeloCloud, the price is the same or even cheaper."

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

"I rate the price of Cato Networks a four out of five."

"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 price of Cato Networks is in the middle range compared to other solutions. NetFoundry is a less expensive solution than Cato Networks."

"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."

"The platform is expensive."

More Cato SASE Cloud Platform pricing and cost advice

"The pricing of the solution is cheap."

"The tool's price is normal. It is not very cheap but good compared to the competitors."

"There was about 60% ROI, just in terms of savings. We had 40% to 60% reduction in monthly operational costs by using Netskope."

"It is not cheap, but the value of the solution is there. It's worth the investment."

"It is not the most expensive option, being more affordable than Zscaler, but it's also not the most budget-friendly choice available."

"It is significantly cost-effective compared to its contenders."

"Netskope Private Access is more inexpensive than other products."

"When it comes to pricing, Netskope Private Access is relatively cheap compared to other solutions."

More Netskope Private Access pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

20%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	10

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	9

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Netskope Private Access?

Even without extensive training, if you're a proficient IT professional, you can easily configure it.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Netskope Private Access?

If we compare it with Zscaler, Netskope Private Access requires more configuration for setup of the overall solution....

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Netskope Private Access?

That is good for a very simplified way, especially in Netskope Private Access. Since we have this single client which...

See all answers

Comparisons

Zscaler Internet Access vs iboss

Compared 14% of the time

Netskope vs iboss

Compared 14% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs iboss

Compared 14% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs iboss

Compared 13% of the time

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform vs iboss

Compared 4% of the time

More iboss Competitors

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 11% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs Cato SASE Cloud Platform

Compared 9% of the time

Cloudflare One vs Cato SASE Cloud Platform

Compared 7% of the time

More Cato SASE Cloud Platform Competitors

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform vs Netskope Private Access

Compared 38% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Netskope Private Access

Compared 21% of the time

Cloudflare One vs Netskope Private Access

Compared 10% of the time

Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) vs Netskope Private Access

Compared 7% of the time

Jamf Connect vs Netskope Private Access

Compared 6% of the time

More Netskope Private Access Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

September 2025

Download iboss product report

Buyer's Guide

Cato SASE Cloud Platform

October 2025

Download Cato SASE Cloud Platform product report

Buyer's Guide

Netskope Private Access

September 2025

Download Netskope Private Access 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 Private Access is an integral component of the Netskope Security Cloud platform that provides zero-trust secure access to enterprise applications and data in hybrid IT (public cloud and data center) environments. It offers comprehensive policy management, compliance assessment, and supports any application, protocol, and device to reduce risk and simplify security operations.

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

Evalueserve, Stroock, Apria, Ather Energy

Buyer's Guide

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Netskope Private Access

September 2025

Free Report: Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Netskope Private Access

Find out what your peers are saying about Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Netskope Private Access and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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