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Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs Netskope Private Access comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 ZTNA as a Service
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (5th), Internet Security (3rd), Web Content Filtering (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (7th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (8th)
Cisco Secure Client (includ...
Ranking in ZTNA as a Service
10th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
77
Ranking in other categories
SSL VPN (1st), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (3rd), Cisco Security Portfolio (5th)
Netskope Private Access
Ranking in ZTNA as a Service
9th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

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 Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) is 3.6%, up from 3.3% 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
ProductMarket Share (%)
iboss2.4%
Netskope Private Access4.7%
Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect)3.6%
Other89.3%
ZTNA as a Service
 

Featured Reviews

Matt Crockford - PeerSpot reviewer
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
Wouter Beer - PeerSpot reviewer
Generates revenue through service offering while needing additional safety features
The primary use case for Cisco Secure Client, including AnyConnect, is as a VPN for remote access I use AnyConnect because I have Cisco infrastructure. It utilizes certificates, which allows for automatic setup. The security features are beneficial, and the whole idea of the app is that it should…
AshwaniTyagi - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Granular setup, which was able to set different levels of filters using the OUs in the AD."
"I would definitely recommend iboss for web filtering purposes to other organizations or individuals."
"We chose iboss for both zero trust and proxy (SWG) because their SWG was superior."
"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."
"The solution has massively improved our security posture, giving us full visibility into what our staff does online."
"iboss has significantly lowered the number of security incidents. It is crazy how much it blocks and how much it is aware of the outside danger."
"Our primary use case for this product is DLP,"
"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."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client is the one-click VPN connection. Additionally, the performance is good."
"The solution is very stable."
"The initial setup is very easy."
"This solution gives you double security because it uses both hard and soft tokens."
"The solution is stable and reliable."
"Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client is good for securing our connection. It is very easy to use, I click to use it and it works."
"Especially during the COVID pandemic, this solution has allowed us to work from home without security concerns."
"Advanced malware protection helps us to prevent any virus from contaminating computers. We also have DLP for prevention. And AnyConnect has a feature that lets us do some sandboxing to evaluate files that arrive from the outside. So before opening them, we can check them with the sandbox."
"The product's scalability is good."
"Even without extensive training, if you're a proficient IT professional, you can easily configure it."
"We can block and alert the ports and allow the public traffic software in our environment."
"In the VPN scenario, what was happening, the user would get back to the complete source. But in NPA, the application will go to the user. There is an outbound connection. There is no inbound. Storage providers are also not there. It's the best feature because it is the replacement of the VPN."
"The most valuable feature is being able to see who is accessing the application, whether it is a managed device or a bring-your-own-device published by Netskope."
"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution."
"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."
"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."
 

Cons

"Our iboss subscription access should be more secure with an OTP or VPN etc. It is easy to gain access if, for example, hackers obtain my username and password."
"To scale up, a new iboss Node Blade Chassis must be purchased."
"Sometimes, obviously, there are bugs."
"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."
"File integrity monitoring would be very advantageous as an additional feature."
"The reporting feature needs improvement. It doesn't give you the expected results. It is quite difficult to get the specific reports needed, and it is not as intuitive as the rest of the platform."
"Our biggest problem with their service was it did not recognize the device and filtering did not always work correctly."
"Whenever there's a drop in internet or a connection fluctuation, it gets disconnected automatically."
"The deployment of the agent software for the final customer could be simpler and more helpful."
"Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client would be perfect if it weren't for the fingerprint feature."
"I see benefits from using Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect). However, I would not recommend it because future adoptions will be towards Zscaler, as SSC is a better model than VPN."
"The most valuable feature of the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client is its ease of use and simple interface. It's always available as long as I have a good network connection."
"I believe that the authentication component may be enhanced. SAML, more specifically user authentication."
"The setup is a bit difficult to handle on the server-side."
"Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client could improve by optimizing the use of the system resources, it is heavy on the resources. Additionally, there could be more transparency."
"There could be an ability to access one server from another when we have console access to the first server."
"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."
"Netskope Private Access only supports TCP and UDP ports and does not support ICMP or ping."
"Netskope Private Access allows mapping only one DNS server. If a user uses a secondary DNS on-premises, Netskope fails to disconnect them. This is an issue that needs to be addressed."
"The ability to provide more security around agentless access has room for improvement."
"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 major problem that we are facing is if we deploy Netskope on the server level or if we get a new server in the EMEA factor, it will affect all the machines. Recently, this has caused us to fail some reviews."
"We faced certain issues with China users as it can be rather challenging for them due to the presence of Great Firewall."
 

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."
"It is expensive compared to one of its competitors."
"We have not priced the solution recently, but they were competitive with other vendors in the past."
"The overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."
"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."
"My company has a three-year or a four-year license. In scenarios attached to a solution where the product may be reaching an end-of-support or end-of-life phase, Cisco provides OS support in such environments."
"The licensing costs are reasonable."
"The price is okay."
"The solution is based on an annual licensing model and is expensive."
"The initial cost is the ASA and other items, but after that, it is relatively inexpensive."
"We pay for an annual subscription. Additionally to the subscription, we thought in order to connect this solution to the Active Directory we had to purchase a Cisco ACS, Access Control System. It turns out we did not actually need it."
"I would rate the pricing for the license of Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client around four to five out of ten. It's not the cheapest option, but it's also not overly expensive."
"Sometimes there is a problem with the number of licenses for the end-user. The number of concurrent users is limited due to a valid license."
"It is not the most expensive option, being more affordable than Zscaler, but it's also not the most budget-friendly choice available."
"The pricing of the solution is cheap."
"When it comes to pricing, Netskope Private Access is relatively cheap compared to other solutions."
"There was about 60% ROI, just in terms of savings. We had 40% to 60% reduction in monthly operational costs by using Netskope."
"I believe that the price for Netskope Private Access is included in the features or functionality my company purchased from NetSkope."
"The tool's price is normal. It is not very cheap but good compared to the competitors."
"It is significantly cost-effective compared to its contenders."
"It is not cheap, but the value of the solution is there. It's worth the investment."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
34%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Insurance Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business26
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise46
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise9
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?
For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company Exxon...
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...
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...
What do you like most about Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?
The tool is user-friendly, robust and easy to use in any environment.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?
Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) is somewhat expensive compared to others such as Fortinet or Palo Alto, wh...
What needs improvement with Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?
At times there is confusion regarding when to keep the proxy on or off, a problem faced by some users.
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.
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....
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...
 

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform
Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client
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.
MST, Molina Healthcare, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, Arup, New South Wales Rural FireService
Evalueserve, Stroock, Apria, Ather Energy
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs. Netskope Private Access and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.