Forcepoint ONE vs Zscaler Internet Access comparison

Forcepoint and Zscaler are both solutions in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category. Forcepoint is ranked #19 with an average rating of 7.4, while Zscaler is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.2. Forcepoint holds a 1.7% mindshare in WSG, compared to Zscaler’s 15.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Forcepoint users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of Zscaler users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 4, 2024

Zscaler Internet Access and Forcepoint ONE compete in the cybersecurity domain, focusing on secure internet access solutions. Zscaler has the edge with better integration capabilities and threat protection, whereas Forcepoint ONE excels in data protection features.

Features: Zscaler Internet Access is known for its cloud-native architecture, offering seamless integration and scalability, comprehensive threat detection with Advanced Threat Security, and fast internet access. Forcepoint ONE provides strong compliance features, advanced data loss prevention, and detailed data analysis, catering to specific security policies and enhancing data security measures.

Room for Improvement: Zscaler could benefit from enhancing its user interface for more accessibility, improving latency management, and expanding training resources for users. Forcepoint ONE might work on streamlining its deployment process, speeding up customer support response times, and simplifying its detailed configurations to ease user burden.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zscaler boasts easy deployment with a focus on cloud-based infrastructures, requiring minimal on-premises equipment. Its customer support provides ready technical expertise. Forcepoint ONE, in contrast, has a complex deployment due to detailed configurations, and while thorough, its customer support may be slower to respond.

Pricing and ROI: Zscaler demands a higher upfront investment but promises long-term savings and improved ROI due to its scalable cloud infrastructure. Forcepoint ONE offers lower initial costs but may incur higher ongoing expenses from complex maintenance needs. The choice hinges on Zscaler's higher initial cost for better long-term savings versus Forcepoint's upfront affordability with potential future costs.

To learn more, read our detailed Forcepoint ONE vs. Zscaler Internet Access Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Forcepoint ONE vs. Zscaler Internet Access

March 2025

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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

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category, the mindshare of iboss is 2.0%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Forcepoint ONE is 1.7%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zscaler Internet Access is 15.6%, down from 17.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

Featured Reviews

Matt Crockford

Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water

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

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Edwin Eze-Osiago

Regional Solutions Manager Sub Saharan Africa at Infodata Professional Services Limited

Easy to deploy, stable, and scalable

Bitglass integration with some IDP providers needs improvement. Currently, the solution is not compatible with Azure AD for third-party authentication. The fraud proxy in the SmartEdge agent is not compatible with Forcepoint DLP or a web hybrid agent. I would like the developers to consolidate multiple agents across systems for better integration.

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ShanavasVK

Consultant at Essentra PIC

Helps maintain a consistent posture of internet security while getting rid of VPN and hovering into zero trust

There could be a better way for the tool to categorize the traffic. For example, the tool does exceptions and everything overall. If I want to give guest access or provide access to guest users or any other internet access and if it does not go through the SSL inspection because, in our company, we can't have the root certificate on a device that we don't manage, which can be called out as an exception or an exclusion, but that doesn't provide a proper reflection of the picture of what is happening in the environment. There are granularities bringing it down. The tool I used or still have is Zscaler Cloud Connector to protect the cloud environment, which can have a bit more user-friendly installation and setup, and it would help a lot. The deployment process of Zscaler Cloud Connector needs to be more user-friendly. Improvements are required in the exception category. For example, suppose I report on a monthly basis what the breaches and traffic violating the SSL inspection area are coming from. In that case, I may find that half of them may be coming through some guest network, meaning the tool doesn't differentiate between the guest or normal networks or the corporate networks. Having options to differentiate different networks would be ideal so that it can show a true picture of things to users, as half of the things in the tool are not in our control and are not of our concern.

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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."

"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."

"Content filtering is the most useful feature of iboss."

"The solution has massively improved our security posture, giving us full visibility into what our staff does online."

"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."

"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."

More iboss pros

"The initial setup was straightforward, which was a huge win. That mostly goes to the fact that they are agentless. We didn't have to sit there deploying thousands of agents and all the things that go along with that type of deployment. We were up and running very quickly."

"We are able to verify what is getting saved out onto the cloud. It allows us to have some DLP rules, since we have to be HIPAA compliant. If some personal health information has been uploaded to Office 365, then we are able to detect that sort of thing and account for it. We have set up rules to prevent people from doing that."

"The most valuable features of Forcepoint include Zero Trust Network Access and remote user protection for private applications."

"The solution is very good when it comes to securing us against data leakage, because of the other proxy. It also has API scanning or data at rest. It inspects data in motion, which is the proxy, and then it has the data at rest, which is the API scanning. We can inspect for anything we want: file fingerprinting, PHI-sensitive data, PCI-sensitive data. It does not matter. We can usually find it and block it in transit and do our remediation with it. It could either be block, encrypt, or allow and watermark the file to follow it and see where it goes. It allows for those different scenarios."

"By default without a policy, Bitglass has the capability to notify the admin of multiple or simultaneous logins across a wide range of geographical regions."

"The most valuable feature was the website blocking capability, which allowed me to quickly block any dodgy websites."

"The control of web access by category is very effective."

"The solution’s AJAX-VM provides constant reverse proxy uptime. It has been very positive for our security operations. When people are trying to access the SaaS solution, it protects us from downloading any of that data and experiencing any type of attacks"

More Forcepoint ONE pros

"One feature that is valuable to me from an implementation point of view is that it's very easy to implement."

"In terms of management and visibility, there is a single panel where you can configure the policies for your entire organisation worldwide."

"The most valuable features of Zscaler Internet Access are it's on the cloud, high network performance, and the interception of users is very easy."

"Zscaler Internet Access's roaming user feature is most valuable and is much better compared to other secure web gateways."

"The protection is most valuable."

"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine and a half out of ten...The setup phase was easy."

"We use ZIA for outbound internet connectivity. The internet traffic of on-prem users will be directed to the ZIA cloud for security checks and web filtering."

"The security is excellent."

More Zscaler Internet Access pros

Cons

"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."

"Iboss is growing so fast that it is often hard for them to keep up with the challenges."

"Sometimes the agent stops working in iboss, and we have to reinstall the agent."

"Its pricing could be better."

"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."

"File integrity monitoring would be very advantageous as an additional feature."

"The area I would like to see improvement in is the ability with in the reporter to navigate directly to the content the user is traversing. It is kind of there, but it's not perfect. Quite frequently, I receive links that lead me to pages with error messages."

"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."

More iboss cons

"We encounter challenges in determining whether certain features for blocking certain file types or preventing automatic downloads are functioning correctly."

"In our environment, when an Active Directory password changes, we tend to have some latency issues with access. It takes about 15 minutes before that password is accessible through Bitglass after the change. That would be the major thing I see as a negative."

"Bitglass integration with some IDP providers needs improvement."

"Integration into different multi-factor authentication tools. On their page, they tout Duo, but I don't use Duo. I use another vendor. Not that they don't interact, but it takes a little bit more doing. Any amount of efficiencies here would help."

"I need control over access to web WhatsApp, which the solution cannot resolve yet."

"The solution's integration with other products needs improvement."

"Initially, we had some challenges that Bitglass resolved quickly. The challenges were around communication. There didn't seem like there was the right level of communication within the Bitglass organization. Once we brought the issues up at a higher level, then they were resolved."

"I wish they would advance more into the endpoint DLP solution. Currently they do not do anything around endpoint, they're still strictly cloud-based. The forward proxy is really the only thing they do. What I would like to see them do is to scan machines, workstations and servers, for information we might not want on those machines. That would be huge."

More Forcepoint ONE cons

"The solution can be improved by advancing some of the newer technologies such as the DLP feature, and adding email security."

"An improvement would be if they could provide an out-of-the-box experience, like 20 to 30 features all ready to go. In comparison, LogRhythm offers out-of-the-box features. With Zscaler Internet Access, there is firewall IPS, multiple security services, filtering, DLP, and CASB browser isolation. These are things that all users are going to be using. However, when an administrator or architect would start building this, I would definitely need to engage professional services to help clients do it."

"Zscale is providing a proxy IP, and most government sites will block traffic from a proxy. Also, we see some performance issues on the cloud side during DC failover."

"Zscaler should continue to make the user interface better. They should also improve the backup network and continue to expand it so that it can handle larger numbers of customers."

"The price of the solution could be improved."

"I would like to see the ability to choose a pool of IPs for my company, set up rules based on them, and know that those IPs are not used by other companies."

"When you have appliances, SSL inspection is always a headache due to poor performance and/or lack of ciphers implemented. "

"The deployment process of Zscaler Cloud Connector needs to be more user-friendly."

More Zscaler Internet Access cons

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."

"It is probably in line with other solutions, but I do not deal with the financial side."

"We have not priced the solution recently, but they were competitive with other vendors in the past."

"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 product is reasonably priced compared to other vendors. I rate the pricing a two or three."

"The licensing cost for Forcepoint ONE would depend on the features, but the pricing is very competitive here in Brazil. The solution offers a good price, and I would rate it a three or a four in terms of pricing. I don't have information on whether there are additional costs apart from the standard licensing fees for Forcepoint ONE."

"When considering only the cost, the solution may appear to be costly; however, when evaluated in terms of commercial value, Bitglass is not expensive."

"There is training involved. If you're going to add more people to it, such as cross train more of your group, there's a cost. Other than that, that's it. We have paid exactly what the invoices have said. We signed a three-year contract and not gone above it."

"We have our pricing by user. We do our pricing agreements annually. There are also additional costs for maintenance."

"Typically, the longer you price forward, the better off you're going to be. They have been very willing to work with us on pricing."

"It is costlier than other solutions."

"Roughly, we might spend $70,000 a month on the solution. We don't pay for anything beyond the standard licensing fee."

"Zscaler is transparent about its pricing model."

"The solution is a little bit expensive. On a scale of one to five, I would rate it as a three."

"We have found the solution to be expensive."

"If we need any extra features, the price will increase."

"The tool is moderately priced."

"We pay around 6,500 INR per user per year, which is very expensive. I would rate Zscaler's pricing one out of five."

More Zscaler Internet Access pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

24%

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about iboss?

Content filtering is the most useful feature of iboss.

See all answers

What needs improvement with iboss?

I have the same complaint about them that I have about other software companies. Sometimes when you call in support, ...

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What is your primary use case for iboss?

We are a PreK-12 public school district, and we use iboss to filter internet content for our students at home and sta...

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What do you like most about Forcepoint ONE?

The platform's feature that has been most beneficial for our web security is its capability to replicate rules.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Forcepoint ONE?

The pricing is very good and cheaper than other solutions like Netskope and Forcepoint.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Forcepoint ONE?

I have some requirements that the solution cannot currently fulfill. For example, I need control over access to web W...

See all answers

Which is the better security solution - Cisco Umbrella or Zscaler?

Cisco Umbrella and Zscaler Internet Access are two broad-spectrum Internet security solutions that I have tried. Zs...

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Which is better, Zscaler internet access or Netsckope CASB?

We researched Netskope but ultimately chose Zscaler. Netskope is a cloud access security broker that helps identify ...

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What do you like most about Zscaler Internet Access?

The solution has reduced cyberattacks.

See all answers

Comparisons

Cisco Umbrella vs iboss

Compared 15% of the time

Netskope vs iboss

Compared 13% of the time

Cloudflare One vs iboss

Compared 11% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs iboss

Compared 9% of the time

More iboss Competitors

Netskope vs Forcepoint ONE

Compared 20% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Forcepoint ONE

Compared 16% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs Forcepoint ONE

Compared 14% of the time

Fortinet FortiProxy vs Forcepoint ONE

Compared 7% of the time

Forcepoint CASB vs Forcepoint ONE

Compared 3% of the time

More Forcepoint ONE Competitors

Cisco Umbrella vs Zscaler Internet Access

Compared 23% of the time

Netskope vs Zscaler Internet Access

Compared 14% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs Zscaler Internet Access

Compared 11% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Zscaler Internet Access

Compared 8% of the time

Fortinet FortiProxy vs Zscaler Internet Access

Compared 1% of the time

More Zscaler Internet Access Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

March 2025

Download iboss product report

Buyer's Guide

Forcepoint ONE

March 2025

Download Forcepoint ONE product report

Buyer's Guide

Zscaler Internet Access

March 2025

Download Zscaler Internet Access product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

Bitglass

ZIA

Overview

iboss offers a comprehensive security platform designed for diverse use cases such as web filtering, data loss protection, corporate proxy services, and URL filtering.

iboss integrates advanced features to address dynamic security needs, leveraging its strength in SASE, ZTNA, AI initiatives, and cloud integration, while ensuring seamless operations for remote work. It excels in historical forensics, malware protection, and flexible cloud deployments. Users benefit from comprehensive traffic scanning, robust malware detection, and PaaS capabilities that reduce hardware management. An intuitive admin console ensures efficient management with content filtering and low false positives. SSL decryption enhances security, while DLP protects data in AI conversations. Deployment is rapid and scalable, allowing effortless integration with emerging technologies.

What features does iboss offer?

Granular Web Filtering: Provides precise control over web content access.
Traffic Scanning: Monitors data through multiple ports for security breaches.
Malware Detection: Ensures superior protection against malware threats.
PaaS Capabilities: Eliminates need for hardware management.
SSL Decryption: Enhances data protection by decrypting secure connections.
DLP Capabilities: Safeguards data during AI interactions.

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

Scalability: Adapts quickly to growing demands and emerging tech integration.
Rapid Deployment: Reduces time to implement security measures.
User-Friendly Admin Console: Facilitates efficient operations management.
Low False Positives: Increases accuracy of threat detection systems.

iboss finds significant application in sectors such as education, where web filtering for K-12 is crucial, and in corporate environments requiring robust proxy services and URL filtering for network security. Its adaptability is essential in scenarios demanding flexible, decentralized security frameworks, particularly for remote work setups.

iboss

Forcepoint ONE is a comprehensive cybersecurity platform that provides organizations with a unified approach to protecting their critical data and assets. It offers a range of solutions that cover everything from network security and cloud security to data protection and insider threat prevention.

With Forcepoint ONE, organizations can gain complete visibility into their security posture, identify potential threats, and take proactive measures to mitigate risks.

One of the key features of Forcepoint ONE is its ability to provide real-time visibility into user behavior across all endpoints, networks, and cloud environments. This allows organizations to quickly identify and respond to potential threats, such as insider threats or malicious activity from external actors. Additionally, Forcepoint ONE offers advanced threat intelligence capabilities that leverage machine learning and AI to detect and respond to emerging threats. Another important aspect of Forcepoint ONE is its data protection capabilities.

The platform offers a range of solutions for protecting sensitive data, including data loss prevention (DLP), encryption, and secure web gateways. These solutions help organizations ensure that their critical data is protected both at rest and in transit, regardless of where it is stored or accessed.

Forcepoint ONE is a powerful cybersecurity platform that offers a comprehensive set of solutions for protecting organizations against a wide range of threats. With its advanced threat intelligence capabilities, real-time visibility into user behavior, and robust data protection features, Forcepoint ONE is an ideal choice for organizations looking to take a proactive approach to cybersecurity.

Forcepoint

Zscaler Internet Access is a cloud-native security service edge (SSE) platform. Its main purpose is to provide AI-powered protection for all users, all applications, and all locations. The solution replaces other legacy network security solutions to stop advanced attacks and prevent data loss by using a comprehensive zero trust approach.

Zscaler Internet Access Features

Zscaler Internet Access has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Proxy (native SSL)
IPS and advanced protection
Cloud sandbox
DNS security
Cloud firewall
URL filtering
Bandwidth control
DNS filtering
Cloud DLP w/EDM and IDM
Cloud access security broker (CASB)
Cloud security posture management (CSPM)
CloudBrowser isolation
Cloud secure web gateway (SWG)
Zero trust network access (ZTNA)
Digital experience monitoring

Zscaler Internet Access Benefits

There are several benefits to implementing Zscaler Internet Access. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

Fast access with zero infrastructure: Zscaler Internet Access creates a fast, seamless user experience because of its direct-to-cloud architecture. With no infrastructure, Zscaler Internet Access helps you eliminate backhauling, which improves performance and simplifies network administration.

Threat intelligence: By using threat intelligence, Zscaler Internet Access can stop ransomware, zero-day malware, and advanced attacks via Inline inspection of all internet traffic, including SSL decryption, and a suite of AI-powered cloud security services.

Consistent security: With Zscaler Internet Access, your security policy goes everywhere your users go. When you move security to the cloud, all users, applications, devices, and locations remain protected and secure based on identity and context.

Hybrid workforce: Zscaler Internet Access enables secure access to all external and internal apps from anywhere, so remote work is not an issue. You can also enforce business policies that follow the user, making security identical regardless of location.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by Zscaler Internet Access users.

A Service Manager at a construction company says, "There are a bunch of different capabilities that are valuable within the platform. We use quite a lot of them, but not everything. The ones that are most important to us are the URL Filtering and the application control. For our needs, the cloud-native proxy architecture is a very good solution. This architecture helps with cyber threats because we inspect most of the traffic and we can see that a lot of threats are stopped directly in the secure web gateway."

Owen N., Security Architect at Claro Enterprise Solutions, explains that the solution’s most valuable features include “The integration of the gateway that inspects all ports and protocols. So, there is threat prevention; The cloud sandbox; VNS security; Access control that will protect URL filtering and the cloud firewall; Data protection that will protect your gateway, like your CASB or your cloud DLP; The capabilities of this will point your traffic to Zscaler Cloud.”

An Architecture Senior Manager at an insurance company mentions, "The data loss prevention feature is the most valuable. It stops our users from inadvertently leaking our customers' data to the Internet or anywhere else it shouldn't go." He also adds, “The solution provides quick access to cloud services, securing our data and allowing us to inspect all our traffic.”

Zscaler

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.

UNC-Charlotte

Ulster-Greene ARC, BanRegio, HDFC, Ralcorp Holdings Inc., British American Tobacco, Med America Billing Services Inc., Lanco Group, Aquafil, Telefonica, Swisscom, Brigade Group

Buyer's Guide

Forcepoint ONE vs. Zscaler Internet Access

March 2025

Free Report: Forcepoint ONE vs. Zscaler Internet Access

Find out what your peers are saying about Forcepoint ONE vs. Zscaler Internet Access and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.

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