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Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) 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
7.2
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps enhances security, reduces costs, and optimizes resources with seamless integration and proactive monitoring.
Sentiment score
6.2
Zscaler Private Access improves cloud migration flexibility and reduces costs, with enterprises seeing up to 289% ROI over three years.
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
The biggest return on investment so far has been visibility, knowing what we have in our environment.
Cloud and data protection engineer at a university with 10,001+ employees
As a small team, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps allowed us to manage systems with just one or two people.
Manager, Information Technology Security Compliance at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees
We have at least saved the costs we had from the Netskope solution this year.
Security and Continuity Manager at Rolinco NV
The ROI is often cited around 289% over the three years of typical enterprises.
System engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
I have found Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) to be very effective at providing operational flexibility during my organization's transition to cloud environments.
DevOps at My Heritage
Since we have a very small team, the ROI is around 20% to 30%.
Senior IT Specialist Network and Security at a marketing services firm with 201-500 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
6.6
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps support has mixed reviews, with high technical proficiency but inconsistent responsiveness and communication delays.
Sentiment score
6.5
Zscaler Private Access support varies in quality, with mixed reviews on availability, response times, and communication challenges.
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
Their customer service is pretty good, but it's frustrating to go through three or four channels before reaching the right person.
Cloud and data protection engineer at a university with 10,001+ employees
The support is excellent, and the speed of response is commendable.
Solutions Architect at a university with 51-200 employees
There were instances where the engineers were knowledgeable and helpful, but at other times it felt like a ping pong game, with unnecessary transfers until the right person was found.
Manager, Information Technology Security Compliance at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees
The technical support for ZPA is excellent, rated ten out of ten.
Technical management of Network Security - Network Hub at a comms service provider with 5,001-10,000 employees
We had regular calls, and the team was open and willing to assist us whenever required.
Solutions Architect at Direct Line Group
We lack specific root causes, and it's tough to relay information to users, considering multiple contributors such as phone numbers and internet service providers.
Senior IT Specialist Network and Security at a marketing services firm with 201-500 employees
 

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
7.5
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps offers scalable, cloud-native security but may require extra resources for large-scale policy management.
Sentiment score
6.6
Zscaler Private Access offers scalability and efficiency via cloud-based capabilities, benefiting organizations with rapid onboarding and no hardware upgrades.
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
For what I know about the log collector and how much data it can take in, it is super scalable and capable of handling high workloads.
Cloud and data protection engineer at a university with 10,001+ employees
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is very scalable, provided you have the right subscription.
Solutions Architect at a university with 51-200 employees
In my experience, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is good enough for small to medium businesses.
Manager, Information Technology Security Compliance at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees
Zscaler ZPA has excellent scalability.
Solutions Architect at Direct Line Group
I rate the scalability of ZPA as ten out of ten because it's a cloud service and can scale as needed.
Technical management of Network Security - Network Hub at a comms service provider with 5,001-10,000 employees
We need to deploy it and ensure it will be available in two different Availability Zones, but it's not something that can be done with automation, such as auto-scaling.
DevOps Team Member at a computer software company with 201-500 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
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is stable and reliable, with minimal downtime and continuous improvements praised by users.
Sentiment score
7.4
Zscaler Private Access is praised for stability and resilience, though minor bugs and post-rollout issues are noted by users.
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 it a ten because I have not experienced any stability issues so far with Defender for Cloud Apps.
Head of Security Operations at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
I would assess the stability and reliability of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps as stable
Network Engineer at Apexon
My impression on the stability and reliability of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is that it is very stable.
Security and Continuity Manager at Rolinco NV
Even during peak usage or mass remote access events, performance remains consistent, which is critical for an enterprise environment handling business-critical applications.
Senior Network Engineer at Anthology
The architecture uses a global mesh of service edges with built-in fault tolerance and redundancy, providing an always-on experience.
System engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
We implemented a resilient solution with load balance to ensure stability, which has proven effective thus far.
Solutions Architect at Direct Line Group
 

Room For Improvement

Iboss struggles with Mac support, ISP integration in India, and needs improvements in security features and cloud integration.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps needs improvements in pricing, interface, integrations, alert precision, documentation, and multi-cloud support.
Zscaler Private Access needs scalability, flexible rules, better pricing, ease of configuration, vendor integration, and intuitive troubleshooting.
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.
For data loss prevention, it would be useful to be able to drill down into the kind of data being transferred over CloudApp.
Head of Security Operations at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Defender typically connects to Entra ID, but we have local users on the cloud for database access, SSH, or RDS, and there is nothing produced by Defender regarding those local IAM users.
Network Engineer at Apexon
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps would benefit if Microsoft allows users to fine-tune false positives, enabling us to dismiss alerts or make adjustments so that such things don't trigger multiple times in the future.
Security delivery analyst at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It complicates whitelisting, as we cannot determine which IP will be used, posing a challenge when needing to integrate with third parties.
Solutions Architect at Direct Line Group
I would appreciate seeing dynamic scaling implemented because it would be beneficial if an instance goes down to automatically start another one.
DevOps Team Member at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
While Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) wants users to utilize their infrastructure for scale benefits, regulated environments such as government and investment banks need on-premises processing for regulations and low latency requirements.
Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Setup Cost

Iboss offers competitive, transparent pricing with valuable cloud solutions, appealing to enterprises for predictable budgeting and desired functionality.
Enterprise users find Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps affordable within bundles but expensive standalone, desiring more pricing transparency.
Zscaler Private Access offers premium, per-user pricing, justified by security features and cost-effectiveness within an 11-month payback period.
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
The pricing for Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is acceptable.
Solutions Architect at a university with 51-200 employees
My organization is currently revisiting pricing, but previously, the cost was a bit expensive, yet comparable to other solutions with similar functionalities and features.
Manager, Information Technology Security Compliance at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees
It's not the cheapest, but also not the most expensive, placing it in the mid-level range.
IT Architect at a logistics company with 10,001+ employees
It is expensive.
architect at Tata Consultancy
Although the solution is costly, its features justify the price for securing the organization from various access types.
Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
While it is a premium investment, the short payback period of about 11 months and consolidation of multiple point products make it very cost-effective in the long run.
System engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

Iboss provides comprehensive cloud security with advanced features, enhancing data protection and management efficiency for network security.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps offers seamless integration, real-time threat detection, and robust security features for comprehensive cloud protection.
Zscaler Private Access offers secure, scalable app access with Zero Trust, enhancing security and flexibility, especially in cloud environments.
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
It provides excellent suggestions and options for configuration; for example, it can track suspicious files getting uploaded to cloud resources on Azure based on their signatures, generating alerts for those files.
Security delivery analyst at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The product recommends things that need to be blocked and allows for dynamic configuration, which cuts down on potential issues that might arise from going through lists and understanding what needs to be blocked.
Partner & Chief Executive Officer at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
The ability to sanction unsanctioned apps using Secure Score benchmarking, included in Cloud, is also beneficial.
Head of Security Operations at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Zscaler pre-tests websites and authorizes safe access, giving us a layer of security that we rely on.
Solutions Architect at Direct Line Group
Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) is much more secure than VPN because users are only allowed to access specific applications rather than the whole network.
Technical management of Network Security - Network Hub at a comms service provider with 5,001-10,000 employees
Zscaler has allowed an easy, secure way for us to access our internal resources from outside.
DevOps Team Member at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

iboss
Sponsored
Ranking in Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (6th), Internet Security (3rd), Web Content Filtering (1st), ZTNA as a Service (8th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (8th)
Microsoft Defender for Clou...
Ranking in Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (13th), Microsoft Security Suite (10th)
Zscaler Private Access (ZPA)
Ranking in Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
9th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) category, the mindshare of iboss is 4.0%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is 5.6%, down from 9.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) is 2.2%, up from 0.6% 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 Apps5.6%
iboss4.0%
Zscaler Private Access (ZPA)2.2%
Other88.2%
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.
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.
BasilJiji - PeerSpot reviewer
System engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Zero trust access has secured hybrid work and now provides seamless app connectivity
Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) has significantly reduced our attack surface by making our internal apps invisible to the internet. It effectively eliminates lateral movement as users are only connected to the specific application they are authorized to use rather than the entire network segment. Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) is highly stable. The architecture uses a global mesh of service edges with built-in fault tolerance and redundancy, providing an always-on experience that is far more reliable than our old hardware-based VPN concentrator. Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) is elastically scalable because it is a software-defined perimeter and not an appliance-based solution. I can instantly scale to support thousands of additional users without needing to upgrade any physical hardware.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) solutions are best for your needs.
896,298 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Insurance Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise19
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise7
 

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...
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zscaler Private Access (ZPA)?
Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Zscaler Private Access (ZPA), while it is not the cheapest solution...
What needs improvement with Zscaler Private Access (ZPA)?
After deploying Zscaler Private Access (ZPA), I notice a reduction in VPN-related support tickets, particularly durin...
What is your primary use case for Zscaler Private Access (ZPA)?
My primary use case for Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) is securing application-level access to internal applications wi...
 

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform
MS Cloud App Security, Microsoft Cloud App Security
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.
Customers for Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps include Accenture, St. Luke’s University Health Network, Ansell, and Nakilat.
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Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs. Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
896,298 professionals have used our research since 2012.