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Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs Tailscale 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
4.7
iboss offers significant ROI by saving bandwidth and enhancing security, despite increased costs from cloud migration and device pricing.
Sentiment score
6.9
Cisco Secure Client enhances remote connectivity with robust security, ease of use, and varied ROI experiences across organizations.
Sentiment score
5.0
Tailscale simplifies connectivity, reduces costs and incidents, and enhances efficiency by eliminating hardware and VPN-related issues.
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
With Cisco Secure Network Analytics implemented, we have achieved collaboration as an IT support team where we reached out to network-related members to understand how they work on Cisco Secure Network Analytics-related issues.
Intune Administrator at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Previously, networks with FortiGate were used, and that forced us to spend on hardware. With Tailscale, that type of investment is not necessary.
Devops Engineer at Allenta
We have seen clear return on investment since implementing Tailscale by eliminating VPN server infrastructure costs.
System Engineer at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees
With Tailscale, I set it up and forget it because it just works, allowing me to avoid worrying about the whole VPN aspect of my home network architecture.
Application Security Engineer at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.8
Iboss support is praised for responsiveness and knowledge, with some concerns about communication but generally favorable reviews.
Sentiment score
6.8
Cisco Secure Client provides reliable performance, with support generally quick and effective, though access sometimes requires contracts and has delays.
Sentiment score
6.4
Tailscale is highly rated for reliability, detailed documentation, responsive support, and helpful community resources, minimizing direct support needs.
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
Cisco offers very high-quality customer service.
Manager - Network Services at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Cisco technical support is difficult, and it requires lots of contracts.
Technical Manager at Gannexion BV
Over the years, there's been a decline in the quality, mainly in areas such as the experience level of support engineers and the time taken to address and escalate issues.
Director/ Senior Network Specialist at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Tailscale is that reliable, and their documentation answers any questions I have.
Application Security Engineer at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees
The user interface, documentation, and support for Tailscale are fabulous.
IT Support / Sysadmin
I would give it a ten out of ten.
DevOps Engineer at CloudKite.io
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Iboss efficiently scales to meet growing resource demands, supporting large user bases with robust support and adaptable infrastructure.
Sentiment score
7.3
Cisco Secure Client efficiently scales for organizations, providing secure access while integrating with existing infrastructures despite potential hardware challenges.
Sentiment score
6.8
Tailscale offers adaptable platform integration, easy device management, and scalability without speed issues, praised for cost-effectiveness and growth facilitation.
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
A smaller firewall can handle fewer sessions, while a larger one can handle tens of thousands of sessions.
Director/ Senior Network Specialist at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
The scalability of Cisco Secure Client depends on the hardware I choose.
Network Architect at Sysnet Solutions Bangladesh Limited
Regarding scalability, Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) rates as excellent because we can scale out by simply buying more licenses from the vendor.
Senior Network Engineer Specialist at Zenith Comp Co.,Ltd.
I would say it is really scalable, and I do not think I have ever experienced any downtime with Tailscale.
Software Engineer at Psycontech
As a free-tier user, I have tested my limits, connecting the maximum amount of devices, and everything performed great.
Application Security Engineer at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees
We have over 300 to 400 devices that use Tailscale that we connect with and utilize on a daily basis.
IT Support Engineer at a security firm with 11-50 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Iboss is generally stable with reliable support, despite initial deployment challenges, and is often praised for minimal downtime.
Sentiment score
8.0
Cisco Secure Client is praised for its stability and reliability, effectively handling remote connectivity despite minor flaws.
Sentiment score
8.4
Tailscale is stable and reliable, offering effortless scaling and direct device connections, though iOS upgrades need careful management.
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
I would rate the stability ten out of ten.
Sr. I&C Enginner at Reliance Industries Ltd
The stability is really good, and I would rate it up to nine.
Manager - Network Services at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Regarding the performance of Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect), I have not seen any issues because performance-wise it functions properly.
Manager - Projects at airtel
Tailscale is a SaaS platform, so Tailscale scales it themselves.
DevOps Engineer at CloudKite.io
Tailscale is stable; it has never given me downtime on their side.
Infrastructure Lead & Student Developer (also Head of Ops - FOSSCET) at College of Engineering Trivandrum
For what we use it for—interconnection and networks—it is very stable.
Devops Engineer at Allenta
 

Room For Improvement

Iboss struggles with Mac support, ISP integration in India, and needs improvements in security features and cloud integration.
Cisco Secure Client faces usability and integration challenges, including outdated support, cumbersome authentication, and issues with pricing and technical support.
Tailscale users recommend UI improvements, enhanced monitoring, simpler ACLs, better cloud integration, and more competitive pricing for small teams.
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.
I am using Intune for deployments, and it's not easy to create an automated deployment where users do not need to register server addresses.
Chief Technologies Officer at ASTORG PARTNERS
Vendors offer more features, such as a kill switch.
Technical Manager at Gannexion BV
Cisco's security portfolio, including Secure Client and the firewalls, is falling behind.
Director/ Senior Network Specialist at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Tailscale could be improved with more advanced network visibility and monitoring tools, cleaner pricing tiers for scaling teams, and enhanced built-in reporting for device posture and controls for enterprise environments.
System Engineer at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees
At my apartment, I can do 2-gig networking, but when I connect via the exit node, and I'm wired in somewhere else, and that place also has 2-gig networking, I'm at max getting half of my speed.
Software engineer
I would like Tailscale to provide more censorship-resistant options, such as Shadowsocks or VLESS, as fallback protocols.
IT Support / Sysadmin
 

Setup Cost

Iboss offers competitive, transparent pricing with valuable cloud solutions, appealing to enterprises for predictable budgeting and desired functionality.
Cisco Secure Client licensing offers flexible annual terms but is sometimes considered costly compared to Fortinet and Palo Alto.
Tailscale's pricing is cost-effective for small teams, but costs rise with advanced features and more users.
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
Palo Alto and Fortinet provide free VPN connections, but Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) requires a license purchase.
Senior Network Engineer Specialist at Zenith Comp Co.,Ltd.
I perceive the pricing to be a seven, however, I have perpetual licenses.
Technical Manager at Gannexion BV
The pricing seems to align equally with other competitors like Palo Alto during a competitive situation.
Director/ Senior Network Specialist at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Tailscale has definitely made it so I don't have to incur additional costs.
Senior Technical Support Specialist at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The setup has been straightforward and predictable with the per-user subscription model and no infrastructure or hardware setup cost, making the initial deployment inexpensive.
System Engineer at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees
I never used a license. I never purchased or bought anything more than the basic free license.
Field Service Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Valuable Features

Iboss provides comprehensive cloud security with advanced features, enhancing data protection and management efficiency for network security.
Cisco Secure Client provides reliable, cross-platform VPN access with multi-factor authentication and seamless Active Directory integration for enhanced security.
Tailscale offers a seamless, secure VPN solution with easy setup, MagicDNS, and ACLs, enhancing cross-platform connectivity and security.
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
Beneficial for businesses needing secure access outside the office.
Director/ Senior Network Specialist at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Additionally, it gives the user flexibility of working from anywhere, which is a major feature we are looking at.
Manager - Projects at airtel
Cisco Secure Network Analytics filled the gap between the monitoring and management side, allowing us to check end user activity clearly from the Cisco Secure Network Analytics console.
Intune Administrator at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
The security is valuable, as there are many providers available, but Tailscale fulfills the requirements that we had, allowing us to access and expose internal apps without exposing them to the general internet.
Software Engineer
The most valuable features are the Zero Trust architecture, peer-to-peer connectivity using WireGuard, easy deployment and setup, access control for granular permissions, single sign-on, subnet and routing, exit nodes, and cross-platform support.
System Engineer at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees
Tailscale's security is fabulous, especially the access control features and the ability to use existing OAuth accounts for access.
IT Support / Sysadmin
 

Categories and Ranking

iboss
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (5th), Internet Security (3rd), Web Content Filtering (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (7th), ZTNA as a Service (8th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (8th)
Cisco Secure Client (includ...
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
79
Ranking in other categories
SSL VPN (3rd), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (7th), ZTNA as a Service (13th), Cisco Security Portfolio (5th)
Tailscale
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (3rd), ZTNA (2nd)
 

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.
AS
Manager - Projects at airtel
Offers work-from-anywhere flexibility but navigates occasional proxy confusion
The analytics I downloaded from your site as a free download did not carry the information that was actually required. I was looking at the market segmentation and market share, along with some USPs which differentiated them from each other. The free download had two issues: many things were repetitive, and it was designed to not release any relevant information. Only headers were present, so I was not able to determine whether the final report would be worthwhile. I have not worked with enterprise tools that I could share feedback on for website publication. 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. On a scale of 1-10, I rate this solution a 7.
Adeniyi Stephen - PeerSpot reviewer
DevOps Engineer at CloudKite.io
Secure access has simplified hybrid connectivity and has unified multi-cluster workflows
I would say that in terms of Tailscale, if I have so many tailnets I need to connect to, there are some issues in the login process that need a little bit of attention from the Tailscale team. Sometimes, you would probably need to restart your entire system for it to connect. As a DevOps as a Service engineer, I have so many clients that are using Tailscale, and I would need to connect to maybe five different tailnets because they are different clients. Client A might have a Tailscale, Client B, Client C, and so on. When changing between tailnets, sometimes it hangs. Sometimes you might need to restart your entire system. This is a bit of a headache in that aspect. However, I believe if you are just using a particular tailnet, just one, then it is quite easy and there won't be any headache. For me, I think it can be improved in the aspect of having multiple tailnets to connect to. A good refresh on the Tailscale side and the backend side to refresh the connection anytime there is a new connection to be made would be helpful. Instead of needing to restart the system, it should be able to refresh itself. The connection side and connecting to multiple Tailscale instances can be problematic, and sometimes you have to restart your system when switching between them. The ACL sometimes is like another language on its own entirely. It is fine, but they need to make it in a YAML format instead of the current format because it is quite new and something you have to go and study. If they can make it like a YAML format, that would be better. Aside from the switching which I mentioned and the fact that you have to relearn their ACL, if the ACL could be in a YAML format instead of JSON format, that would be beneficial. I don't think there is much they can do about the switching of tailnets, but if they can have a YAML format of the ACL, that would be good. Every other thing is a ten out of ten. The connection-wise is easy to set up and easy to install. It is good to have things connected all together from on-premises, from so many environments, and even exit nodes as well. It is good overall. The pricing, I think Tailscale can be a little bit on the higher side. It is not for teams with just small users. If you want to set it up for small users and a small startup, I don't think you can afford it and might need to go to other open-source alternatives. It is good for teams that have maybe fifty plus users or one hundred users. In terms of pricing, I would say it is on the higher side, but it is worth it. The price is worth the functionality. As a user, I would say it is more on the higher side, but based on its functionality, it is worth the price.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
14%
University
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise49
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

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 ...
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 i...
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 usin...
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?
There are no features that I wish Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) had that it does not currently provide. ...
What is your primary use case for Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?
I primarily use Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) for VPN connections and network-related activities. We hav...
What needs improvement with Tailscale?
I would love to see two specific improvements brought to the Tailscale Android client, both of which are standard in ...
What is your primary use case for Tailscale?
I use Tailscale to connect to my home server for various tasks, such as checking its status and streaming movies or s...
What advice do you have for others considering Tailscale?
I am currently utilizing Tailscale's free tier, and it has performed flawlessly. For any individual, hobbyist, or sma...
 

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
Bamboo Health, Duolingo, Shiguredo, Instacart, Corelight, Machinify, Bolt, Mercari, Cobalt, Yugabyte, Jasper, VersaBank, Zego, Gini and Finter
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs. Tailscale and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.