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Forcepoint CASB vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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 Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (6th), Internet Security (3rd), Web Content Filtering (1st), ZTNA as a Service (6th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (6th)
Forcepoint CASB
Ranking in Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
18th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Defender for Clou...
Ranking in Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (17th), Microsoft Security Suite (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) category, the mindshare of iboss is 4.5%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Forcepoint CASB is 1.7%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is 5.8%, down from 8.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps5.8%
iboss4.5%
Forcepoint CASB1.7%
Other88.0%
Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
 

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.
AlexOgbalu - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at LiveFromSpace Limited
Improving support responsiveness has remained critical while access monitoring and compliance needs have been fully addressed
We have the enterprise licenses for the scanning of the codes, both at runtime and in development, and we also have access to Veracode's e-learning platform as well as a bundle from Veracode.All that has been mentioned is the main benefits Forcepoint CASB provides to us, and it helps us to meet compliance requirements that are necessary in our industry. It's important for enterprises considering Forcepoint to work with very good system integrators and value-added resellers because a lot of things needed go beyond just getting the licenses. You need someone skilled to do all those configurations, write all the rules, and make sure you achieve a very stable environment. I am giving this review an overall rating of eight.
Abdulrahman Muhammadi - PeerSpot reviewer
information Security and IT Manager at Discover Dollar Technologies Pvt Ltd.
Integration with existing cloud workflows has simplified compliance and threat detection
Licensing cost is a significant concern. With Defender Plan 1, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps comes with a pay-per-use model. Each feature has its own pricing when activated on VMs. For example, the vulnerability assessment has separate pricing, the base model including encryptions has separate pricing, and the compliance features have separate pricing. This applies to each VM and Azure resource individually. It is not straightforward where you can take one license and apply it to everything. Each feature has its own pricing model which can be tedious, as the costs keep accumulating. The only lacking feature currently is XDR (extended detection and response). Apart from that, I have only positive experiences with the whole Microsoft suite, except for the pricing structure.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"iboss is among the few products providing inline filtering where no application is needed on the device. It operates on the network side and is not device-based. This feature was one of the main reasons why we stayed with them for so long."
"Technical support is pretty sharp and very responsive."
"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."
"I would say iboss is a very good product; its scalability is very good, and it's seamless for the user."
"Its initial setup was straightforward."
"We chose iboss for both zero trust and proxy (SWG) because their SWG was superior."
"Granular setup, which was able to set different levels of filters using the OUs in the AD."
"Our primary use case for this product is DLP,"
"The most valuable aspect for us is the fact that the product seamlessly integrates with the Forcepoint DLP."
"It gives you value for your investment."
"Most of the features are valuable, primarily for the firewalls, the proxy, and Forcepoint CASB products."
"As it is based on AWS, it is not a problem."
"The visibility around the usage of cloud applications within my tenant is the most valuable aspect of the solution, as the administrator gets visibility and control of these applications for users whether on-premise or not and whether using pocket devices or their IOD."
"The tool's most valuable feature is its management ease."
"The product offers several advantageous features including real-time control and monitoring capabilities, helping identify and manage various activities including shadow IT activities."
"Forcepoint CASB ensures that access to cloud applications is properly vetted and monitored, helping us unify access across the board regardless of device or location, while advanced notifications and behavior analytics make it easy to detect unknown connections or baseline changes."
"The impact of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps on our organization's ability to assess and manage app related risks has been significant because we have more visibility."
"On-demand scanning is the most valuable feature. In addition, it's a fairly fluid product. It syncs back to the cloud and provides metrics. It's pretty intelligent."
"From what I've seen, it's a good product."
"The most effective features for data protection are data loss prevention (DLP) and data classification."
"The most valuable feature is its policy implementation."
"The raw logs that come directly from Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps contain all the data I need, and the ability to track activities happening on cloud applications and the alerts provided is an interesting aspect."
"There are a lot of features with benefits, including discovery, investigation, and putting controls around things. You can't say that you like the investigation part but not the discovery. Everything is correlated; that's how the tool works."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is its monitoring."
 

Cons

"I have heard they are doing DDoS filtering, but I am not certain if they are implementing it correctly."
"File integrity monitoring would be very advantageous as an additional feature."
"Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern."
"To scale up, a new iboss Node Blade Chassis must be purchased."
"Sometimes the agent stops working in iboss, and we have to reinstall the agent."
"Their on-premise hardware's network interface is capped at one gigabit, which is sort of a problem. If you stand a filter up where all traffic flows through that, according to them, in order to go above a gigabit, you have to have multiple devices, which in today's IT seems a little bit silly. They could easily put in an SFP port into their device that could accommodate 10 gigs or at least offer a box."
"The dashboards for local use could be better."
"It is stable, but due to growth, it can sometimes be less stable than wanted."
"The solution needs to be easier to install, and they need to clean up the backend, so stuff doesn't break."
"There are various modules to secure a public cloud, such as Cloud Security Posture Management. You might have seen these features available if you've reviewed solutions like Zscaler or Netskope. A full-fledged CASB should be manageable. However, the tool does not seem to offer complete public cloud visibility. While it provides some cloud visibility and can manage API traffic for Web 2.0, it lacks a specific module for securing public cloud environments."
"I'd like to see different ways to authenticate users, perhaps different types of authentication."
"If I was to sell a CASB product brand new to somebody, I would sell them Netskope. I wouldn't sell them Forcepoint."
"Forcepoint CASB is mature and performing its function, but it is not easy to manage and not as fully-featured as competitors."
"Integration is an area of the solution that needs to be improved."
"We are not happy with the solution."
"Forcepoint technical support in general could improve in this area."
"The areas of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps that need improvement are related to IAM, as they do not provide much support for local users."
"Sometimes, we'll get false positive alarms. For example, when a SharePoint path has no file sharing, but there is an external user, it will trigger an alarm that the file has been shared with an external user... the alerting mechanism should be more precise when giving you an alert about what activity has been done with the file..."
"I believe it's only set to be integrated with Microsoft Defender for identity and identity protection. I would like to see it available for use with something like Office 365 Defender. I don't think it's integrated with that yet."
"There are challenges with detection and there are challenges with false-positive rates."
"This service would be better if it had a separate license, only for this service, that could be used to track usage."
"There have been instances where the alerts generated have been false positives."
"Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps’s technical support services needs improvement."
"I want them to enhance in-session policy."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"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 expensive compared to one of its competitors."
"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."
"The solution is not that expensive compared to Zscaler. Netskope is between Forcepoint CASB and Zscaler in terms of cost. Forcepoint CASB would be the first choice because it negotiates well and offers a perpetual license, though it may seem subscription-based. I rate its pricing a six out of ten."
"The pricing really depends on the size of the customer's business because it is price-relevant to the environment."
"It has fair pricing. You pay for what you get. As far as I know, there are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fee."
"We utilize the Microsoft E5 licensing, which encompasses the entire Microsoft suite; however, it is costly."
"The product's pricing seems fair."
"We are an MST and we do not pay for the solution. However, the price of the solution could be better."
"The E5 license offers everything bundled. People are moving to Microsoft because you buy one license and it gives you everything."
"The pricing is a little bit high but right now, we are okay with it because of the compatibility with Office 365, Teams, and Azure AD."
"The cost could be improved when you need to pay for anything. For example, refreshing files takes time to load, though it may be my Internet. To improve the refresh time, Microsoft says that we need to pay for a Premium license, and I don't like paying for things that help make a solution better."
"Our clients normally use the Microsoft E1 licensing, which is renewed yearly."
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Top Industries

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

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise19
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?
I think iboss could be improved by making reporting and dashboard customization more flexible, and simplifying troubl...
What is your primary use case for iboss?
I use iboss as a cloud-based secure web gateway to provide secure internet access, web filtering, and protect remote ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?
My experience with iboss's pricing structure, setup cost, and licensing model has been positive, straightforward, and...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Forcepoint CASB?
I would put the pricing of Forcepoint CASB at a five, closer to a four. I don't think it's very expensive, but it's a...
What needs improvement with Forcepoint CASB?
From a functionality perspective, I don't have any recommendations, but in terms of support, the speed of support is ...
What is your primary use case for Forcepoint CASB?
Forcepoint CASB ensures that access to cloud applications is properly vetted and monitored. We have a lot of remote a...
Which is the better security solution - Cisco Umbrella or Microsoft Cloud App Security?
Cisco Umbrella is an integral component of the Cisco SASE architecture. It integrates security in a single, cloud-nat...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Cloud App Security?
At the time of implementation, when the size of our organization was small, it was a more affordable product. Since a...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Cloud App Security?
The fidelity of the signal in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps has been a challenge in some areas. There have been i...
 

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform
Imperva Skyfence
MS Cloud App Security, Microsoft Cloud App Security
 

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.
Zions Bank, GE Healthcare, HomeAway, Logitech, Universal, California National Resources Agency and many mor
Customers for Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps include Accenture, St. Luke’s University Health Network, Ansell, and Nakilat.
Find out what your peers are saying about Forcepoint CASB vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,806 professionals have used our research since 2012.