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Cisco Secure Access vs iboss comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 6, 2024

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
5.3
Cisco Secure Access improves security, reduces costs, and boosts efficiency, yielding substantial savings and decreased administrative burdens.
Sentiment score
4.7
iboss improved bandwidth and security for remote work, but per-device fees and Mac agent delays prompted vendor alternatives.
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.
Sr. Cloud Security 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
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
I have seen some cost effectiveness from iboss; it has reduced certain support requirements, making it a more hands-off solution.
Managing Director
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.6
Cisco Secure Access support is effective and responsive, but escalation and first-level support need improvement for complex cases.
Sentiment score
7.8
Iboss customer service receives mixed reviews, with praise for responsiveness and criticism for communication and resolution delays.
Cisco TAC is very competent.
Network Operations Engineer at Redex IT Limited
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
This stems from their original business in networking, integrating router and switch operations, as well as security devices.
Pre-Sales Solution Partner at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
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
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
5.5
Cisco Secure Access is scalable, adaptable to growth, supports diverse users, integrates well, and suits businesses of all sizes.
Sentiment score
7.3
Iboss exhibits reliable scalability with easy resource expansion, accommodating high demand smoothly while maintaining performance and flexibility.
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
I would rate scalability at eight to nine out of ten.
Pre-Sales Solution Partner at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Cisco Secure Access scales with the growing needs of our company.
Senior Architect at Sempra
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
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Cisco Secure Access is stable and reliable, with minor Linux and SSL decryption issues, ensuring dependable connectivity.
Sentiment score
7.6
iboss is highly stable with 99% uptime, minor deployment challenges, and receives strong performance ratings of 7-9 out of 10.
Cisco is renowned for their reliability, and their products perform well under high data usage.
Network Operations Engineer at Redex IT Limited
I rate the stability of Cisco Secure Access as ten out of ten.
General Manager at Datasoft Comnet
The solution is stable enough, and I did not experience any latency or performance issues.
Director -Digital Transformation at Convergence
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
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Secure Access needs better licensing clarity, integration, global coverage, role-based access, IPv6 support, and user-friendly communication.
iboss struggles with Mac support, integration issues, performance limitations, and needs improvements in security features and user configurations.
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 Redex IT Limited
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
It is not as intuitive as the rest of the platform.
Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water
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
Our iboss subscription access should be more secure with an OTP or VPN etc.
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Secure Access pricing offers value via existing relationships but can be seen as expensive and complex without discounts.
Iboss offers competitive and transparent pricing, often cheaper than Broadcom and Check Point, despite annual cost increases.
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.
Sr. Cloud Security 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
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
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Secure Access offers scalable VPN services with cloud integration, AI management, and enhances security with Zero Trust principles.
iboss provides advanced security features, seamless cloud management, and scalability with user-friendly integration and robust threat protection capabilities.
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 Velocis Systems
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
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
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Secure Access
Ranking in Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
5th
Ranking in Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
3rd
Ranking in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
46
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (10th), ZTNA (6th), Domain Name System (DNS) Security (2nd)
iboss
Ranking in Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
6th
Ranking in Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
7th
Ranking in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Internet Security (3rd), Web Content Filtering (1st), ZTNA as a Service (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) category, the mindshare of Cisco Secure Access is 3.7%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of iboss is 3.0%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Secure Access3.7%
iboss3.0%
Other93.3%
Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)
 

Featured Reviews

Kartik Amin - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Operations Engineer at Redex IT Limited
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.
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.
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893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise27
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Access?
Regarding affordability, I find the product to be reasonably priced, as we have access to a partner portal where we, as Cisco partners, can view GLP prices. From this portal, we can assess costing ...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Secure Access?
I evaluate Cisco Secure Access's AI Access feature for providing deep visibility and control over AI applications as something we have just started using, with not much experience yet. The Canva fe...
What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Secure Access?
I am using Cisco Secure Access's Hybrid Private Access feature for varying the enforcement location for ZTNA private traffic.I have integrated Cisco Identity Intelligence with Cisco Secure Access, ...
What needs improvement with iboss?
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-ba...
What is your primary use case for iboss?
We used iBoss mainly for Internet Access by having an Agent on Windows laptops Primarily because when we try to use it on Mac systems, it does not work as expected. On the Windows system, around 45...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?
I am not involved in pricing, but as per the information I have, during that time, the Blue Coat proxies we were using were costly, as Blue Coat was acquired by Symantec, and then Symantec was acqu...
 

Also Known As

No data available
iBoss Cloud Platform
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
More than 4,000 global enterprises trust the iboss Cloud Platform to support their modern workforces, including a large number of Fortune 50 companies.
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Access vs. iboss and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.