Cisco Duo vs Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform comparison

Cisco Duo vs. Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform

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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 2026, in the ZTNA as a Service category, the mindshare of iboss is 2.6%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Duo is 2.4%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform is 13.9%, down from 17.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

ZTNA as a Service Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform	13.9%
Cisco Duo	2.4%
iboss	2.6%
Other	81.1%

ZTNA as a Service

Featured Reviews

Ashok Ananthula

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.

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Charles Slaustas

Information Technology Contractor at Insight global

Supports seamless authentication for users across multiple organizations and personal portals

The features I use in Cisco Duo include Duo Pushes to confirm my identity to the device, and eventually as MFA security was increased, I actually had to use exchange passcodes. Sometimes, I have to go into the site and get into Cisco Duo to retrieve the passcode, and many of them have been two-factor, where the sites send a passcode that I have to enter into Cisco Duo. It has been more of the latter. I have not seen issues with lagging or crashing on Cisco Duo's end; it was usually on the client end, often because someone set up a bad upgrade or there were connection issues with the Cisco Duo cloud through the administrative site.

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Vibin Thomas

Team Lead, Technical Content Security at Valuepoint Systems

Zero trust access has transformed remote connectivity and now simplifies secure app usage

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform, especially Zscaler Private Access, is very strong, though there are a few areas where improvements can be made. One challenge observed is around initial troubleshooting and visibility. While Zscaler Private Access provides logs, it can sometimes take time to pinpoint the exact cause of access issues, especially in complex environments with multiple policies and identity integration. Another area is the dependency on identity and connector health. Since Zscaler Private Access is heavily reliant on app connectors and identity providers, any issues with these components can impact user access, making proper monitoring critical. During the initial setup, policy configuration and application onboarding require careful planning, especially for larger environments with many applications. These challenges are manageable with proper design and monitoring. Overall, the platform delivers strong security and user experience. I would recommend a few improvements, especially around user interface, reporting, and troubleshooting experience. From a user interface perspective, while the platform is powerful, the policy configuration and navigation can feel complex, especially for new users. A more simplified and intuitive layout for policy mapping and application access would help reduce the learning curve. In terms of reporting, Zscaler Private Access provides logs, but having more built-in customizable dashboards and analytics would be very helpful. Better visibility into user access patterns, application performance, and real-time troubleshooting insights would improve operational efficiency. From a support and troubleshooting standpoint, it would be beneficial to have more granular centralized visibility, allowing for quick end-to-end tracing of a user request from authentication to application access without switching between multiple views. These improvements would make the platform even more efficient, especially for large-scale enterprise environments.

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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

"Technical support is pretty sharp and very responsive."

"The iboss solution gives me the ability to scan the traffic through all the ports, through all the 131,000 PCP and UDP ports, and with this ability, we have the granularity also for consults over social media and applications on mobile, and this is an advantage that the customers are looking for right now."

"Technical support is pretty sharp and very responsive."

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

"iboss is among the few products providing inline filtering where no application is needed on the device."

"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."

"Its initial setup was straightforward."

"I would rate the technical support of iboss a solid 10 without a shadow of a doubt."

More iboss pros

"The single pane of glass management is very important and it is part of the reason we went with Duo. Anything we can do to save time for our administrators, help desk staff, and engineers, is valuable to us."

"Documentation is the most valuable feature, and if you ever have to reach out to them with a question, their support is also fantastic."

"By deploying Duo, we have virtually eliminated the risk of direct deposit redirection as a result of credentials that have been compromised via phishing."

"As a former employee, I think it's top-notch when it comes to protecting internal and external threats and preventing unauthorized access to the network."

"The multi-factor authentication process and the geo-locking features are great."

"The Verified Duo Push feature is valuable. It gives an extra level of security beyond just the regular push."

"For one of my clients, the ROI was somewhere between 25 to 27 percent in year one."

"From the front end, it's very fast and it hasn't missed a beat, so to say."

More Cisco Duo pros

"The most valuable feature of Zscaler Private Access is we do not have to connect to a VPN, it is seamless."

"The most valuable feature is its ability to establish connectivity for remote users and remote endpoints. It offers a high level of granularity compared to typical VPNs, which also encapsulate a lot of I/O."

"The product provides a seamless user experience."

"It is a stable solution."

"The initial setup is easy."

"The product's most valuable features are cloud-based services and secure internet access. We don't have to set up any physical appliances."

"Has a good zero trust feature."

"I would recommend Zscaler Cloud DLP to others because it's the best proxy product in the market at the moment."

More Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform pros

Cons

"Sometimes, obviously, there are bugs."

"Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern."

"Our biggest problem with their service was it did not recognize the device and filtering did not always work correctly."

"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."

"For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company ExxonMobil."

"The endpoint-type solution is an area that needs some improvement."

"To scale up, a new iboss Node Blade Chassis must be purchased."

"The dashboards for local use could be better."

More iboss cons

"I wouldn't mind seeing some options for remembering a device for a short period of time or a specific login, particularly for administrative engineering staff, as we may be logging in to four or five different services."

"Cisco Duo can be improved by exploring a way to make it a more seamless integration and by deploying an in-house server."

"It could be a little bit more intuitive when it comes to the sign-up process."

"Cisco Duo is stable, but occasionally there are emails about incidents that affect some services temporarily."

"For the back-end, there could be a few more security features applied."

"Cisco Duo has not helped my company reduce its overall authentication-related costs, as it is a cost above what we already have."

"Cisco Duo could be improved by building the agent with the many agents we already use, such as Cisco AMP and Cisco Secure Client, which would simplify our environment by eliminating the need for a third agent for secure applications."

"I evaluate the stability and reliability of the solution as somewhat tricky. Cisco Duo Access Gateway is mostly VM-based, and while I'm not sure whether there is an on-premises hardware-based solution, having this VM-based solution can be buggy."

More Cisco Duo cons

"The product must allow users to check logs for an entire year in the local console."

"It has a limitation, if you are creating a rule or something for a web application or something, you could only add five users, not more than that. Five or four users are only included in a rule. If you want to create a rule for more than five or four users, you have to go through other methods, not particularly with the application. Working within the application with this method would be quite easy as compared to listing a URL or a normal IP address."

"The solution needs to improve a lot of aspects."

"More on-prem infrastructure is required when Zscaler Private Access is to be implemented as a single point of entry."

"You won't find anything that can help you with the configuration part and other areas related to the product if you search for proper or exact details of Zscaler Cloud DLP online in very easy language."

"There could be additional ways to define proximity. Additionally, they should provide some exclusion options for specific policies and an ability to control the DLP engine."

"There are latency issues with the solution. They are small, however, they are there when you compare it to other vendors."

"This is a great solution, I'm just searching for an alternative because the costing or the commercials for this type of solution tends to be a little high, although we have been using it for a year already."

More Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 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 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."

"From a business perspective, it is a little bit costly. The licensing is on a per-user basis."

"The licensing is very good because it does not cost a lot of money. It's affordable for all-sized customers, including enterprises. There is an additional cost for premium support."

"The pricing was a lot more than what we were paying for our previous solution."

"Our licensing fee is currently on an annual basis."

"Price-wise, the solution has been very, very reasonable...Licensing is the last thing I think about Duo Security because it's so easy, and I had no problems with it."

"I haven't seen any information on the pricing in four years, so I can't comment on that."

"Cisco's licensing is always a bit complicated to understand, but the price is fair. It could be more expensive than others, but the way they integrate everything, it has a fair price."

"From a reseller perspective, it's still challenging to explain the whole license strategy to a client, so we really have to be ahead of that for all the true forward conversations."

More Cisco Duo pricing and cost advice

"Zscaler Private Access is extremely expensive."

"The product is a bit expensive."

"The pricing is quite high, especially when it comes to the gateway."

"It's an affordable solution"

"The price is competitive."

"In terms of market positioning, I would describe Zscaler Private Access as offering optimal pricing. Based on our experience, Cato Networks tends to be slightly more expensive."

"The pricing is expensive and on the higher end. Honestly, in my opinion, it is not worth the price."

"It's expensive currently. But when purchasing for a large number of users, there's room to negotiate. It's really up to the procurement team."

More Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Educational Organization

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	8

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	42
Midsize Enterprise	24
Large Enterprise	57

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	12
Large Enterprise	44

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?

iboss can increase security in cyberspace. I have heard they are doing DDoS filtering, but I am not certain if they a...

What is your primary use case for iboss?

I use iboss for corporate VPN and all the corporate VRF, with basically all user traffic proxying to the internet.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?

Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern. There are cheaper alte...

How does Duo Security compare with Microsoft Authenticator?

We switched to Duo Security for identity verification. We’d been using a competitor but got the chance to evaluate Du...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Duo Security?

I cannot speak to the financial planning of the organization, but I can confirm that Cisco Duo falls within the secur...

What needs improvement with Duo Security?

Areas that have room for improvement in Cisco Duo include pricing, as Cisco is quite expensive, and the fact that Cis...

What is the better solution - Prisma Access or Zscaler Private Access?

We looked into Prisma Access before choosing Zscaler Private Access (ZPA). Palo Alto’s Prisma Access is a secure ac...

What needs improvement with Zscaler SASE?

The solution needs to improve a lot of aspects.

What is your primary use case for Zscaler SASE?

We are using Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange for its Zscaler Internet Access service. It provides web security, DLP, data...

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs iboss

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Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

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More Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform Competitors

Product Reports

iboss

Download iboss product report

Cisco Duo

Download Cisco Duo product report

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform

March 2026

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform report

Download Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

Duo Security

Zscaler SASE, Zscaler DLP, Zscaler CASB, Zscaler CSPM, Zscaler Browser Isolation, Zscaler Posture Control

Overview

Iboss offers a comprehensive cloud-based security platform valued for its scalability and autonomous features, ensuring robust security with easy deployment and management capabilities.

Renowned for its robust security architecture, Iboss integrates seamlessly within diverse networks, delivering efficient granular filtering and advanced content categorization. Its single pane of glass console provides ease of management, allowing rapid scalability suitable for rapidly deploying environments. Operates in BYOD setups due to inline filtering without device installation. Integration with cloud-based applications enhances user control, and features like SASE, SSL inspection, and ChatGPT risk protection stand as highlights. Despite its strengths, users have pointed out areas for enhancement like direct navigation in reports, SSL decryption, and better cloud integration while having room to improve data loss prevention.

What are the most important features of Iboss?

Scalability: Supports rapid deployment across diverse networks.
SASE: A consolidated approach to secure access.
SSL Inspection: Ensures safe data transmission.
Granular Filtering: Detailed control over accessible content.
Single Pane Management: Unifies control through a centralized console.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Cost-effectiveness: Offers competitive pricing with robust features.
Autonomous Operation: Reduces management overhead.
Responsive Support: Provides assistance when needed.
Flexible Deployment: Available for both cloud and on-premises environments.

The usage of Iboss spans educational institutions, specifically K-12, to enforce internet policies, protect data, and support remote work environments. It provides web filtering and security frameworks to ensure safe browsing. Its platform-as-a-service model offers flexibility for both cloud-based and on-premises requirements, integrating seamlessly to deliver enhanced security features suitable for various deployment needs including zero trust, CASB, and network security for work-from-home setups.

iboss

Cisco Duo is a cloud-based identity security platform safeguarding critical resources for any user and device worldwide. Known for its ease of use, Duo offers seamless protection across multi-cloud, hybrid, and on-premises environments.

Cisco Duo is designed to secure access with identity-first protection and provides extensive visibility throughout an organization's identity ecosystem. Offering multi-factor authentication, Duo facilitates easy integration and management, allowing teams to protect data effectively on VPNs, applications, and networks. Its single-pane management improves security processes while enhancing trust, making it suitable for diverse IT infrastructures.

What are the key features of Cisco Duo?

Multi-factor Authentication: Strengthens user verification with multiple methods.
Push Notifications: Simplifies authentication with quick approvals.
Single Sign-On: Enhances convenience by allowing one set of credentials.
VPN Access: Secures remote connections with reliable authentication.
User Activity Visibility: Offers comprehensive insights into access patterns.

Which benefits and ROI should users consider?

Quick Deployment: Facilitates rapid integration within existing systems.
Effective Management: Streamlines IT operations with centralized control.
Regulatory Compliance: Aids in meeting industry standards for data protection.
Enhanced Trust: Strengthens security posture across networks.
User-friendly Approach: Simplifies authentication for non-technical users.

In industries like education and finance, Cisco Duo is widely employed to secure multi-factor authentication across platforms such as email, databases, and servers. Its integration capabilities with Microsoft 365, Active Directory, and VPNs like AnyConnect are instrumental in verifying user identities using mobile apps or OTPs, catering effectively to both remote and on-premise environments.

Cisco

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange enhances security with seamless cloud-based connectivity and VPN-less operation, offering integration with multiple identity providers and advanced security features, suitable for remote work environments.

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange provides secure, adaptive connectivity without traditional VPNs, allowing organizations to replace legacy systems and bolster remote work security. The platform offers cloud-based protection, single sign-on, dynamic URL categorization, and scalable solutions. While advanced security features like DLP and threat protection enhance data protection, users may face issues with speed, connectivity, and some customization options. Integration challenges, latency due to multi-tenant hosting, reporting delays, and licensing costs require consideration. It supports secure internet access and private application security, ensuring traffic control and data compliance.

What are the key features of Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange?

VPN-less Connectivity: Enables secure remote access without traditional VPNs.
Cloud-based Security: Offers scalable protection utilizing cloud infrastructure.
Single Sign-On: Integrates with multiple identity providers for streamlined access.
Dynamic URL Categorization: Provides real-time URL filtering to enhance security.
Advanced Threat Protection: Detects and mitigates sophisticated threats effectively.
Customizable Policies: Allows tailored security protocols to fit unique requirements.
Comprehensive DLP: Protects sensitive data through robust data loss prevention.
Integration Capabilities: Connects seamlessly with cloud services and applications.

What are the benefits of using Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange?

Enhanced Security: Delivers consistent protection regardless of user location.
Improved Compliance: Ensures adherence to data protection regulations.
Streamlined Access: Simplifies connectivity to private and cloud applications.
Scalability: Supports expanding organizational demands with cloud scalability.
Real-time Visibility: Provides instant insights into security incidents and network traffic.

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange is deployed across industries to secure remote access and enforce zero trust principles. Organizations in finance, healthcare, and technology sectors utilize it for secure internet access and visibility into cloud applications, enhancing performance and compliance in dynamic environments.

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.

Information Not Available

Siemens, AutoNation, GE, NOV

Cisco Duo vs. Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform