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Cisco Secure Access vs Venn Software comparison

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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:
 

Categories and Ranking

iboss
Sponsored
Ranking in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (6th), Internet Security (3rd), Web Content Filtering (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (7th), ZTNA as a Service (6th)
Cisco Secure Access
Ranking in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
76
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (4th), Firewalls (12th), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (2nd), ZTNA (3rd), Domain Name System (DNS) Security (2nd)
Venn Software
Ranking in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)
28th
Average Rating
9.4
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Application Security Tools (56th), Remote Access (38th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) category, the mindshare of iboss is 3.2%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Access is 3.9%, up from 3.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Venn Software is 1.0%, up from 0.4% 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%
Venn Software1.0%
Other91.9%
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.
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.
reviewer2110356 - PeerSpot reviewer
Growth Specialist at Digitrends Soultions
Great for hybrid workers, minimizes latency and delivers great performance
We haven't encountered major issues with the solution. We are really happy that we decided to purchase Venn Software, although they are quite new. The initial setup is seamless. It's not overly complex. In our experience, for the most part, the solution is reliable. We haven't experienced any bugs or glitches. That said, the performance could be a bit better. We'd like to see a bit more done with the deployment capabilities. The solution needs to offer better local or regional support to cater to offshore users.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Valuable features: Within the filter: Controls (Web categories, applications, and Allow/Block list) and Network (local Subnets). Within the reporter: Logs (Event Log) and Reports."
"From a corporate perspective, I understand that it's important to keep the company data safe."
"Technical support is pretty sharp and very responsive."
"The iboss system is highly reliable. The false positive rates are small compared to some other systems we've experienced through other partner agencies who use competing solutions."
"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."
"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."
"We chose iboss for both zero trust and proxy (SWG) because their SWG was superior."
"iboss is definitely very good in terms of service."
"Using the VPN SaaS in Cisco has influenced us greatly because it gives you a seamless transition from your legacy systems to this new system that is available, so the transition has been seamless."
"After implementing Cisco Secure Access, I observed complete automation, a complete Zero Trust architecture, and complete automation of security."
"The biggest benefit of Cisco Secure Access, compared to Fortinet or other solutions from Palo Alto or Prisma, is its adaptability to different network environments."
"The move from Umbrella to Cisco Secure Access has been great, as Cisco Secure Access has more features available and provides a nice and easy migration from Umbrella to Cisco Secure Access."
"Cisco Secure Client is really efficient for all the users and mostly for the enterprise, so I would say Cisco Secure Client would be the primary one."
"I experience several benefits from Cisco Secure Access identity-based security measures, including all benefits since the administration is on the cloud, the facility for entry, and all other capabilities and features."
"Customers spend much less time troubleshooting VPNs because ZTNA works more stably, and therefore it has become a pretty good point of sales for us as a reseller to increase our revenue at the customer level, because it's an extra layer of security that you can add to an already existing networking solution."
"Our security posture has improved significantly with Cisco Secure Access."
"Since the software is launched directly from the computer, not remotely delivered, it has minimized latency and response time."
"We don't need to go to the physical office, and it only requires minimal supervision or assistance from our IT Team."
"It allows us to improve our security and prevent company files and data leaks."
 

Cons

"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."
"I have heard they are doing DDoS filtering, but I am not certain if they are implementing it 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."
"If they could implement an extra security layer preventing access to iboss from the open internet, it would be great."
"For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company ExxonMobil."
"Its pricing could be better."
"The solution could be stronger on the integration side and offer more cloud applications like G Suite or Oracle."
"The dashboards for local use could be better."
"I chose eight out of ten primarily due to only the PoP presence."
"There is one particular disadvantage of Cisco Secure Access, and the main thing is pricing."
"There are times when Cisco Secure Access feels slow; it takes multiple attempts to log in, which can definitely improve."
"My experience with the Experience Insight feature, called DEM, is not good. I find the integration between Cisco Secure Access and ThousandEyes does not work well and does not deliver what it is supposed to."
"I would assess the stability and reliability of Cisco Secure Access as having the worst thing about it being the VAs and their requirement of a full reinstall anytime something unusual happens to them if they go stale or any such thing."
"Cisco Secure Access can be improved with more integration; the more integrations, the better. There are always third-party products that you might have, such as Carbon Black."
"Having been associated with Cisco for more than fifteen to twenty years, I find it increasingly difficult to get tech support these days. Although Cisco is reliable, the process to raise a support ticket has become more complex, requiring specific user accounts and access to specialized platforms."
"For pricing, I consider this one of the few drawbacks of Cisco; Cisco is known for its high pricing, so I would give them a six."
"We'd like to see a bit more done with the deployment capabilities."
"Currently, Venn only uses two platforms/applications: Windows and Mac. It would be great if they could also add more platforms since some BYOD employees might be using an application other than Windows or Mac - for example, Linux."
"It would be better to have the back end more efficient."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive compared to one of its competitors."
"The overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."
"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."
"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."
"It is probably in line with other solutions, but I do not deal with the financial side."
"The pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Cisco Secure Access have been very competitive compared to other platforms. I believe that if Cisco continues to improve costs or offers something similar to a Cisco credit, it would attract more customers."
"For what you get, it's a fair price in comparison to other products."
"It is confusing. When you look at the prices, you have different licensing and years of licensing that you have to purchase. Additionally, it's unclear what service you get from those licenses regarding end-user support. We have a representative who has to walk me through it every time."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Construction Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
University
13%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Construction Company
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise15
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise41
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?
iboss could be improved by making the dashboard more user-friendly, providing more detailed real-time alerts, and imp...
What is your primary use case for iboss?
iboss is primarily used for cloud security, helping to protect users when they access websites and cloud applications...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?
The pricing and licensing for iboss were reasonable for the security features. The setup costs were manageable, thoug...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Access?
In my experience with the Experience Insights feature or Digital Experience Monitoring of Cisco Secure Access, Thousa...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Secure Access?
We use Cisco SD-WAN in our own company for our own needs, and we are also selling this to our customers while perform...
What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Secure Access?
Currently, AI Supply Chain Risk Management is not really an issue for us today. I would rate Cisco Secure Access a se...
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Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform
No data available
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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Trusted by global enterprises and government agencies.
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
Venn is currently being used by 700+ organizations. The newest version of our secure workspace is selling not only to our existing customer base but to new companies like Voya, ModSquad, TTech and many others.
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Access vs. Venn Software and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.