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Cisco Umbrella vs Zscaler Internet Access comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

iboss
Sponsored
Ranking in Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
5th
Ranking in Internet Security
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
Web Content Filtering (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (7th), ZTNA as a Service (8th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (8th)
Cisco Umbrella
Ranking in Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
1st
Ranking in Internet Security
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
123
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (2nd), Domain Name System (DNS) Security (1st), Cisco Security Portfolio (2nd)
Zscaler Internet Access
Ranking in Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
3rd
Ranking in Internet Security
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category, the mindshare of iboss is 2.8%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Umbrella is 10.9%, down from 19.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zscaler Internet Access is 10.9%, down from 15.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Umbrella10.9%
Zscaler Internet Access10.9%
iboss2.8%
Other75.4%
Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2701851 - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director
Enhances web security with a single pane of glass and flexible deployment
I don't see any need for improvement; one of the really good things about iboss as a company is that they listen to customer feedback. I have suggested enhancements, and they are responsive, making changes for the better, and they do a lot of testing. To improve iboss, although we haven't used it, we considered the VPN solution that comes with the highest tier licensing, which includes DLP and various other add-ons. We prefer using another product which automatically logs you back onto your network when turning on your PC. With iboss, the connection is manual, which doesn't meet our needs. Additionally, sizing can be tricky because, although the initial recommendations may seem adequate, actual usage may require more gateways than anticipated.
BB
Senior Network Engineer at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
Ensures comprehensive protection with seamless threat logging and efficient policy management
My favorite feature of Cisco Umbrella is probably just the DNS and the fact that when a security threat happens, all of that gets logged in their Umbrella portal, and it's very easy to find who's been accessing the site and how many people have accessed it, so that we can go to them and make sure they're not compromised. The features of Cisco Umbrella benefit my company by providing less time to search for things through logs, to look for what we need. It's just one place to go, and we just search for it, and we find it really fast. The fact that there's a virtual database that has all that information is great on our portal.
Mohan Janarthanan - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Vice President at Novac Technology Solutions
User access management and threat prevention are enhanced with user-friendly controls
The best features Zscaler Internet Access offers include application control, tenant segregation, and PoP center regions which have low availability zones. The internet access is very successful and bandwidth speed is excellent. It also has application-based control, URL-based control, and SSL inspection capabilities, which are very useful. Additionally, the in-depth CASB segregation is very beneficial to us. One unique feature I found helpful is the tenant level restrictions, which we use to only access our organization's tenant level mail IDs, drives, and specific tenant level access while restricting public access. Zscaler Internet Access has positively impacted our organization as we have noticed substantial outputs and income. It has improved our security environment control and endpoint protection. It prevents numerous web attacks through its AI/ML incorporated capability which identifies malware, threats, and viruses. It has a toggle button to enable features entirely at the tenant level for all users onboarded into Zscaler Internet Access, resulting in much better outcomes.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"iboss is among the few products providing inline filtering where no application is needed on the device."
"Technical support is pretty sharp and very responsive."
"The solution has massively improved our security posture, giving us full visibility into what our staff does online."
"From a use-case scenario, what I like the most is the plug-in. I like the fact that we can do the filtering of these devices offsite independent of the network they are connected to, and we do not have to have traffic coming back inside our network."
"I would definitely recommend iboss for web filtering purposes to other organizations or individuals."
"iboss is definitely very good in terms of service."
"We chose iboss for both zero trust and proxy (SWG) because their SWG was superior."
"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."
"OpenDNS is either a good complement to your existing web content filtering solution at the enterprise level, or it is a good free or easy-to-deploy alternative for home and SMB use."
"One of the great advantages of Umbrella DNS is that it's really simple to deploy. It's easy to install, the users do not notice that it's there, and it doesn't interfere with your work. The simplicity and transparency are great advantages of Cisco Umbrella."
"It provides centralized, device-agnostic management of the Internet experience."
"​They have a wealth of articles in their knowledge base. This has given me the freedom to troubleshoot on my own time. ​​"
"I had worked for Juniper support before and I worked for other tech support teams and I feel that Cisco's type of support is the best."
"It makes it really easy to accomplish content filtering. We don't have to do a lot of customization. You just click the box for the content category and it's up to date."
"Cisco Umbrella offers DNS layer security, a secure web gateway, and cloud access security broker functionality."
"ROI benefits both the reseller and the client in Managed Services because of its proactive approach to network security."
"Zscaler Internet Access's best feature is the granular policy controls."
"In summary, this is a good product and I completely recommend it."
"It is easy to set up the solution."
"Zscaler has helped protect our employees wherever they are working, by delivering safe web access."
"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 main benefit that we have seen is performance improvements based on not having to backhaul traffic and getting cloud services closer to the user."
"Zscaler Internet Access has helped us reduce the time that we spend managing security policies by about four hours a week. We can use this time to focus on other things, especially the IT team."
"We enjoy all of the proxy capabilities and the capability to integrate into the SIEM/SOC solution."
 

Cons

"It is stable, but due to growth, it can sometimes be less stable than wanted."
"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."
"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."
"File integrity monitoring would be very advantageous as an additional feature."
"The reporting feature needs improvement."
"Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern."
"The solution could be stronger on the integration side and offer more cloud applications like G Suite or Oracle."
"Sometimes the agent stops working in iboss, and we have to reinstall the agent."
"If I want to see which users access a website, I need an Active Directory registered on Umbrella's cloud."
"Actually, we recently switched over to Zscaler because it has more features and it's more scalable than Cisco Umbrella."
"In the way we are using the solution it would be good for us if they would do some simplification of the analytics. They need to improve this feature so they have analytics to show the content of the user activity."
"They can maybe simplify the configuration. For example, sometimes, the proxy part is quite difficult, and that's why we didn't deploy that."
"It would be useful if they had a malware protection engine running inside their own VM."
"I feel that the application needs other characteristics that are available with other applications in the market."
"Cisco Umbrella hasn't integrated customized reporting yet. With Cisco Secure Endpoint Hub, I can see a report on user downloads and set it up to constantly get an email alert. Based on my understanding, Cisco Umbrella can't do that. You can set it up with third parties, but it would be better if that were built into the platform."
"The different levels of security, such as backend security and internet security, need improvement."
"​When you have appliances, SSL inspection is always a headache due to poor performance and/or lack of ciphers implemented. ​"
"There are some performance issues when we add on additional controls."
"One feature I am missing is the ability to connect automatically to internal monitoring systems."
"The solution's technical support needs to be improved, especially by offering a better support structure for different geographical areas."
"The interface for administration could be better. They should upgrade the management portal."
"Zscaler should provide adjacent services, which would be complementary to their current offering that could be more pragmatic for a customer."
"There are many functionalities in Zscaler Internet Access that need improvements, such as an advanced firewall and logging capabilities to track calls."
"The deployment process of Zscaler Cloud Connector needs to be more user-friendly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is probably in line with other solutions, but I do not deal with the financial side."
"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."
"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."
"The product is pricey compared to Cisco Firepower."
"The price is fair, and the licensing cost is based on the number of users. We have seen a good ROI."
"The licensing fee is paid on a yearly basis."
"In my opinion, Cisco Umbrella now has a good price in the basic packages. When it comes to Cisco Umbrella SIG Essentials package and Cisco Umbrella Secure Internet Gateway (SIG) Advantage package, it depends on whether the project has a good price or not"
"We have a security Enterprise Agreement with Cisco, so the pricing is good."
"I am not sure, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I think it's $1.00 or so per device/month."
"In the region I'm from, that of EMAR, Europe, the Middle East, Eastern Asia and Africa, our organizations do not have many liquid cash assets, so the price could be better."
"Cisco uses subscription models for the pricing and there are three subscription plans."
"Price-wise, the tool is reasonable compared to the other products in the market but it is not a very low-priced tool. The solution does provide value for money."
"ZIA follows a subscription model pricing and charges you based on the number of users. I would say its price is good."
"The price is competitive. It's not cheap and it's not expensive."
"Our monthly fee is around R3000."
"Roughly, we might spend $70,000 a month on the solution. We don't pay for anything beyond the standard licensing fee."
"The pricing is fair based on its competitive market."
"Zscaler is an expensive solution, but it's worth the price. Their services are unmatched by competitors. Some may come with half the features that Zscaler can offer and be much cheaper. However, they do not have the global coverage that Zscaler has, and they will not provide the same low latencies and the same speeds that Zscaler can."
"There are multiple bundles: enterprise, business, and transformation. Transformation includes all the features, but recently I've seen a few more line items that are additional costs. Overall, it's expensive."
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Top Industries

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

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business50
Midsize Enterprise30
Large Enterprise51
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise37
 

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...
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...
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 Cisco Umbrella?
The pricing for Cisco Umbrella is fair compared to other platforms out there for DNS security. We acquired it as a bu...
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 ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zscaler Internet Access?
It is only for big companies currently and they only focus on that. That is one of the problems to get into the marke...
What needs improvement with Zscaler Internet Access?
The admin UI and documentation for Zscaler Internet Access could be more intuitive for new users, specifically during...
 

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform
OpenDNS
ZIA
 

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.
Chart Industries, City of Aspen, Eastern Mountain Sports, FLEXcon, George Washington University, Jackson Municipal Airport Authority, Ohio Public Library Information Network, PTC, Richland Community College, Smart Motors, Tulane University, VeriClaim
Ulster-Greene ARC, BanRegio, HDFC, Ralcorp Holdings Inc., British American Tobacco, Med America Billing Services Inc., Lanco Group, Aquafil, Telefonica, Swisscom, Brigade Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Umbrella vs. Zscaler Internet Access and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
886,906 professionals have used our research since 2012.