Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs Cisco Secure Workload comparison

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs. Cisco Secure Workload

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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

Cisco Secure Client (includ...

Ranking in Cisco Security Portfolio

3rd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

SSL VPN (3rd), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (4th), ZTNA as a Service (8th)

Cisco Secure Workload

Ranking in Cisco Security Portfolio

9th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud and Data Center Security (7th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (14th), Microsegmentation Software (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Cisco Security Portfolio category, the mindshare of Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) is 9.8%, down from 10.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Workload is 8.2%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cisco Security Portfolio

Featured Reviews

Wouter Beer

Technical Manager at Gannexion BV

Generates revenue through service offering while needing additional safety features

The primary use case for Cisco Secure Client, including AnyConnect, is as a VPN for remote access I use AnyConnect because I have Cisco infrastructure. It utilizes certificates, which allows for automatic setup. The security features are beneficial, and the whole idea of the app is that it should…

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Raj Metkar

Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA

Discover internal application dependencies and create a dependency map

We actively seek improvements in integrating the Infoblox DDI platform with Cisco Secure Workload. This integration allows Cisco Secure Workload to learn about our networks and network tags, providing valuable insights into vulnerabilities related to the operating system and various applications installed on our servers. Recently, Cisco announced a new product called HyperShield, an AI-based autonomous micro-segmentation solution. While Cisco has not stated that HyperShield will replace Cisco Secure Workload, it represents a natural evolution for the company. HyperShield features dynamic policy discovery and enforcement; however, once policies are enforced, they do not change until a discovery occurs, requiring a re-enforcement process. This new platform operates autonomously, minimizing the need for user or security engineer intervention. I would have expected Cisco to incorporate more automatic discovery and enforcement features within the existing Cisco Secure Workload product. Instead of enhancing the current product, they have introduced a new solution. Cisco plans to honor existing Tetration licenses, allowing users to transition to HyperShield without additional costs, reflecting the investment enterprises have already made. From Cisco’s perspective, this represents a natural progression in their product line. While the product name changes, it seems more of a rebranding effort. The enhancements are greater autonomy, improved discovery, and automatic enforcement, which are now being introduced in HyperShield. Cisco Secure Workload offers automatic policy enforcement but cannot adjust policies dynamically as the application needs to change. Having used the platform for the past five years, the recent announcement has been reassuring. Cisco has confirmed that our investment in the platform will not go to waste. They will honor our existing licenses, providing a natural migration path to the new solution without any disruption

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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

"Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client provides a secure way for users to access our systems remotely."

"Cisco Secure Client's AnyConnect VPN's reliability has been absolutely wonderful, as well as the ability to connect from any network, regardless of location."

"For our company's needs, AnyConnect is sufficient and very easy to use."

"The most valuable feature of Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client is the one-click VPN connection. Additionally, the performance is good."

"Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client is good for securing our connection. It is very easy to use, I click to use it and it works."

"The system is reliable, simple and secure."

"It is stable. We haven't had issues so far."

"You can use it from anywhere."

More Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) pros

"By using Tetration insight, we are able to get the latency on our level accounts and we can determine whatever the issue is with the application latency itself."

"The most valuable feature is micro-segmentation, which is the most important with respect to visibility."

"Scalability is its most valuable feature."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that we don't have to do packet captures on the network."

"Generally speaking, Cisco support is considered one of the best in the networking products and stack."

"Secure Workload's best feature is that it's an end-to-end offering from Cisco."

"It's stable."

"The product provides multiple-device integration."

More Cisco Secure Workload pros

Cons

"The most valuable feature of the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client is its ease of use and simple interface. It's always available as long as I have a good network connection."

"The setup is a bit difficult to handle on the server-side."

"All Cisco equipment tends to be expensive compared to newer options from other vendors."

"It would be useful to have an automatic install process where if you connect and you don't have the latest version, it should be automatically done."

"Usability could be improved, as the look and feel of it is somewhat dated. More generally, Cisco's security portfolio, including Secure Client and the firewalls, is falling behind."

"The configuration from the client-side would be useful. Right now, it's not centralized. There should be a lock so that it can only be configured from one place."

"In terms of areas for improvement in Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client, from my point of view, the solution works well and right now I don't see the need to improve it. Probably a better user interface could be created for Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client, but its core is VPN creation, and that works well, though I'm not a VPN specialist, and I'm not an expert on how to create a VPN, how the VPN gateway works, how it's implemented, and what's the architecture behind it. A two-factor authentication feature was recently added to the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client. In the past, you only needed to log in with your username and password, but now, there's a token, and the user interface for that token isn't that good. That's another area for improvement. Cisco should also make the two-factor authentication better in the solution. What I'd like added to the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client in its next release is a better two-factor authentication, in particular, the validity of the code being shorter because sometimes when I get the code and I add it to the client, it's invalid, though I'm unsure if it's centrally set up that way or if its a characteristic of the product. Making the interface of the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client more user-friendly is also what I'd like to see in the next release of the solution."

"Setting up Cisco Secure Client, especially when using certificates, is quite a job and complicated."

More Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) cons

"There's room for improvement when it comes to Cisco Secure Workload. A couple of internal areas could be refined a little bit. They are trying to solve it, depending on where you suppose the agent is. Suppose you have the agent on both the server and the client, which could be the front-end server or web server connecting to the. In that case, if those two are communicating on RPC, the server can look into its configuration. It could go down and find the configuration file on the FTP server and then set the policies to it. But there are a lot of different FTP servers out there. It's also a complex case for the tool to support all FTP servers."

"Secure Workload is a little complicated to use, and the dashboard isn't intuitive, so it takes a while to learn how to use it."

"The multi-tenancy, redundancy, backup and restore functionalities, as well as the monitoring aspects of the solution, need improvement. The solution offers virtually no enterprise-grade possibility for monitoring."

"There is some overlap between Cisco Tetration and AppDynamics and I need to have a single pane of glass, rather than have to jump between different tools."

"The emailed notifications are either hard to find or they are not available. Search capabilities can be improved."

"It has an uninviting interface."

"The integration could be better, especially with different types of solutions."

"There was a controversy when Cisco reduced the amount of data they kept, and the solution became quite cost-intensive, which made its adoption challenging….Although they have modified it now, I preferred the previous version, and I wish all the functionality were back under the same product."

More Cisco Secure Workload cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a license needed to use this solution. There are different licensing models available, such as a three-year license."

"We are in the North African region, and Cisco products are expensive for us. On a scale from one to ten with one being very affordable and ten being expensive, I'd rate the price at eight."

"The initial cost is the ASA and other items, but after that, it is relatively inexpensive."

"It is not a free solution and the user needs to buy license."

"We pay for an annual subscription. Additionally to the subscription, we thought in order to connect this solution to the Active Directory we had to purchase a Cisco ACS, Access Control System. It turns out we did not actually need it."

"The pricing depends on the requirement, so proper planning and an RF analysis help to properly size the solution and get the best pricing."

"My company has a three-year or a four-year license. In scenarios attached to a solution where the product may be reaching an end-of-support or end-of-life phase, Cisco provides OS support in such environments."

"I am using a paid version of Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client."

More Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) pricing and cost advice

"The price is based on how many computers you're going to install it on."

"The pricing is a bit higher than we anticipated."

"Regarding price, Cisco Secure Workload can be expensive if you don't have a budget. If you're not doing micro-segmentation, every extra security measure or enforcement you're putting on top of your existing environment will be an extra cost. It's not a cheap solution at all. But from my point of view, if you need to do micro-segmentation, this is one of the best tools I've seen for it. I can't compare that to Microsoft's solution because I haven't looked into it. I've looked into VMware and Cisco. Those are the only two that I know of. I didn't know that Microsoft could do micro-segmentation at all. Maybe they can, but I haven't heard anything about it."

"The price is outrageous. If you have money to throw at the product, then do it."

"It is not cheap and pricing may limit scalability."

"Pricing depends on the scope of the application and the features. Larger installations save more."

"The cost for the hardware is around 300k."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

44%

Computer Software Company

20%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

26%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?

The tool is user-friendly, robust and easy to use in any environment.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?

The price of Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) is acceptable. I do not have detailed information about the cost per user or per year.

What needs improvement with Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?

The deployment process should be improved, specifically making it easier. Fully automated deployments are quite challenging. I am using Intune ( /products/microsoft-intune-reviews ) for deployments...

What do you like most about Cisco Secure Workload?

The product provides multiple-device integration.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Workload?

CloudStrike offers antivirus capabilities and firewall features for servers and VDI but lacks automatic policy discovery. This raises questions about the resources required to discover and write po...

What needs improvement with Cisco Secure Workload?

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Comparisons

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Check Point Remote Access VPN vs Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect)

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Ivanti Connect Secure vs Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect)

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VMware NSX vs Cisco Secure Workload

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Product Reports

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect)

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Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) report

Cisco Secure Workload

Download Cisco Secure Workload product report

Also Known As

Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client

Cisco Tetration

Overview

Cisco Secure Client, including AnyConnect, provides secure remote access, enabling employees to connect to company networks from different locations. It offers reliable connections, strong encryption, and multi-platform support, making it suitable for secure and efficient remote work.

Cisco Secure Client, including AnyConnect, is crucial for organizations seeking secure remote access. Its reliable connectivity, combined with robust encryption and multi-platform support, ensures employees can access company resources seamlessly. Users benefit from its easy-to-use interface, seamless integration with existing infrastructure, and enhanced security features like endpoint protection and network visibility. This client helps maintain operational efficiency and safeguards sensitive data, making it highly valued in diverse professional settings. Despite its benefits, some users report disconnection issues, a complex configuration process, and high resource consumption.

What are the most important features?

Reliable Connectivity: Ensures stable remote access with minimal disruptions.
Robust Security: Strong encryption and endpoint protection enhance data safety.
Multi-Platform Support: Compatible with various devices for seamless access.
Easy Deployment: Intuitive setup process simplifies installation.
Efficient VPN Capabilities: Provides secure and efficient virtual private networking.
Integration with Cisco Products: Works well with other Cisco solutions for unified management.
Customizable Policies: Allows detailed administrative control over access settings.
Minimal Disruption: Stability during updates prevents workflow interruptions.

What benefits and ROI should users expect?

Enhanced Security: Protects sensitive data with powerful encryption and endpoint security.
Operational Efficiency: Improves productivity with reliable remote access.
Flexibility: Supports multiple devices, facilitating remote work.
Cost-Effective: Reduces the need for additional security tools through comprehensive features.

Cisco Secure Client, including AnyConnect, is widely adopted across industries such as healthcare, finance, and education for its secure remote access capabilities. Healthcare organizations use it to protect patient data while providing remote care. Financial institutions rely on its encryption standards to secure sensitive transactions. Educational institutions integrate it to provide secure access to online learning resources, ensuring data privacy for students and staff.

Cisco

Cisco Secure Workload is a cloud and data security solution that offers a zero-trust policy of keeping an organization’s application workloads safe and secure throughout the entire on-premise and cloud data center ecosystems.

Cisco Secure Workload will consistently provide protection by discovering workload process anomalies, stopping threats immediately, minimizing the risk threat surface, and aborting any lateral movement.

Today’s ecosystems are very elastic, and in the application-focused dynamic of today’s aggressive marketplace, Cisco Secure Workload delivers a robust security solution that works effectively with today’s most popular applications. The solution uniquely surrounds each and every workload to ensure organizations are able to keep their data, network, and applications safe and secure at all times. Cisco Secure Workload ensures that enterprise organizations can maintain secure applications by consistently building firewalls around every workload level throughout the entire ecosystem. The solution can manage applications that are deployed on containers, virtual machines, or bare-metal servers.

Cisco Secure workload is able to meet an organization's busy needs and offers flexible options such as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and on-premises options. Using the Secure Workload SaaS options, users receive all the benefits of Cisco Secure Workload protection without the hassle of having to deploy and maintain the platform on premises. Users are responsible for acquiring the necessary software licensing and deploying software agents. Using SaaS, Secure Workload runs in the cloud and is operated and maintained by Cisco. This option offers the ability to scale easily and is a popular choice for SaaS-first and SaaS-only clients. Many organizations find they get the best TCO and achieve the best productivity and profitability using the SaaS options.

When choosing on-premises options, organizations choose between hardware-based appliance models (large or small form factors). Platform selection is dependent on scalability goals, the desired fidelity level of flow telemetry, and the actual number of workloads. When a user chooses to configure Cisco Secure Workload for a conversation-only flow telemetry for all workloads, each platform has the capability to scale up vertically twice the default platform scale. Additionally, with Secure Workload, it is possible for the platform to be scaled horizontally in order to satisfy the demands of extra large widely distributed enterprise environments using federation capabilities.

Cisco Secure Workload also provides a robust disaster recovery (DR) tool, which helps to make it a complete, comprehensive solution. The DR allows for continuous restore and backup capabilities that enable users to quickly remediate operations and data to a standby cluster in the event of a drastic failure or disaster.

Reviews from Real Users

“The solution offers 100% telemetry coverage. The telemetry you collect is not sampled, it's not intermittent. It's complete. You see everything in it, including full visibility of all activities on your endpoints and in your network. Other valuable features include vast support for annotations, flexible user applications, machine learning, automatic classification, and hierarchical policies.” - CTO at a tech vendor

Cisco

Sample Customers

MST, Molina Healthcare, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, Arup, New South Wales Rural FireService

ADP, University of North Carolina Charlotte (UNCC)

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs. Cisco Secure Workload