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Fortra's Clearswift Secure Web Gateway vs Symantec Secure Web Gateway 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

iboss
Sponsored
Ranking in Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
Internet Security (3rd), Web Content Filtering (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (6th), ZTNA as a Service (6th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (7th)
Fortra's Clearswift Secure ...
Ranking in Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
34th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
0
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Symantec Secure Web Gateway
Ranking in Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
27th
Average Rating
6.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category, the mindshare of iboss is 3.2%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortra's Clearswift Secure Web Gateway is 0.7%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Secure Web Gateway is 1.5%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
iboss3.2%
Symantec Secure Web Gateway1.5%
Fortra's Clearswift Secure Web Gateway0.7%
Other94.6%
Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
 

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.
KM
Pre-Sales Support Engineer at GTN (Groupe de Technologies et de Negoce)
I would say the solution is stable. We've deployed it here for one year, and for the moment, we've had no issues
I would rate the product as seven out of 10. The product needs maintenance only if something is wrong with the configuration. If so, we are always available to reconfigure or make some adjustments, and the app system numbers are very available. Anytime we need them, they're there for us. The last time I called the engineer in charge of the product, he told me everything was fine apart from the setup. They want to add more ports about a dedicated service that he cannot do for us. I asked him to take a snapshot and send it to me so I can forward it to the system group. The solution can be deployed in companies of any size. One thing I would recommend to anyone contemplating implementing the product would be, don't be put off because Clearswift Secure Web Gateway is not at the top on Gartner. That does not mean it's not a good solution. I think all the solutions are equal. It all depends on how you deploy the solution and where you put it.
KK
Principal Consultant at CSaaS
Monitors traffic effectively but struggles with integration challenges
I find that the technical support is mediocre, at least for the Middle East. I frequently face challenges when contacting OpenStack through the distribution channel. It should be more straightforward. I notice that customers work with partners, not directly with Symantec, relying on local company integrators for support. Symantec becomes the level two or level three support, which requires navigating through a supply chain that is quite extensive.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"iboss is definitely very good in terms of service."
"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."
"As I mentioned, the return on investment is significant, as it saved our office locations' bandwidth because when you are working remotely at home, your internet traffic routes directly to iboss and will not go to your office building, saving bandwidth bottlenecks and ensuring that issues with our building internet circuits will not impact your internet connectivity because you are directly going to the iboss data center."
"Granular setup, which was able to set different levels of filters using the OUs in the AD."
"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."
"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 is pretty scalable. They provide good support. The case managers you work with to coordinate what you need are pretty good."
"It was a very easy product to install. It can be deployed very fast."
"With the Clearswift Secure Web Gateway, we have three antivirus engines searching the cloud web for any heuristics, malware, and viruses that may be contained on a URL or in a document attached to your emails or your traffic."
"Typically, Symantec is more or less like any other platform that performs proxy functions."
"We've tried other endpoint security solutions but this tool seems to be the best when specifically comparing the endpoint security features."
"It is easy to manage. The graphical user interface is quite easy to navigate, and we don't have any difficulty in using it. It is a good solution."
"The most valuable feature is the endpoint security."
"The most valuable features are the website blocking capability and SSL interception."
"It's nice to have it in the cloud where we can pull the reporting together for it so we can see what's happening in machines at different locations."
"I find the product to be very straightforward."
"It has a faster implementation process compared to other products."
 

Cons

"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, and that is where in 2025 we had to migrate to the Palo Alto-based platform."
"To scale up, a new iboss Node Blade Chassis must be purchased."
"I appreciate that iboss's single pane of glass console gives centralized visibility into web traffic, user activity, security policies, and alerts from one dashboard, allowing us to quickly investigate incidents and monitor policy violations without switching between multiple tools, improving operational efficiency; however, the dashboard customization and reporting could be more flexible."
"The dashboards for local use could be better."
"The reporting feature needs improvement."
"Sometimes, obviously, there are bugs."
"I'd like to see them accelerate development on the security side, particularly around data loss prevention."
"If they could implement an extra security layer preventing access to iboss from the open internet, it would be great."
"Most of our clients want to use a web proxy integrated with other functionalities, like reverse proxies, and if we could add a firewall policy to this process, it would be better."
"if we could add a firewall policy to this process, it would be better."
"The platform’s data center is not capable of managing most of the traffic."
"I think the worst thing that we're experiencing is very poor and inadequate technical support."
"There's a need for increased firewall functionality and capabilities. I'm not seeing a competitive Symantec cloud product. Specifically, functionalities with security as filtering from the cloud. I am aware that there is a product, a proxy in the cloud but I have compared it with other vendors and I don't find it that powerful. I think the worst thing that we're experiencing is very poor and inadequate technical support. It seems to me that tech support engineers aren't qualified to fulfill their job duties."
"One of the problems with using Symantec is that it's widely known and the people who are making malware have designed to circumvent it."
"AI-driven security could be helpful, yet how effective it will be remains unclear."
"Depending on the severity of the issue, I think they can be a bit slow - a few days for the low severity cases, but for the severe cases normally they contact you back in a couple of hours."
"The cost has risen and it is more expensive than it used to be."
"The major challenge is their support; the support from Broadcom is quite poor, it takes forever for them to get back to you, and when they get back to you, they ask you for so much information, which makes it more difficult."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive compared to one of its competitors."
"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."
"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 overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."
"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."
Information not available
"Symantec Secure Web Gateway is less expensive than one of its competitors."
"Pricing and licensing is stunted and licensing is expensive. We have many customers who are now thinking about other solutions due to the cost."
"There is an additional charge for advanced security features."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Construction Company
7%
No data available
Construction Company
21%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Transportation Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise11
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?
I think iboss could be improved by making reporting and dashboard customization more flexible, and simplifying troubl...
What is your primary use case for iboss?
I use iboss as a cloud-based secure web gateway to provide secure internet access, web filtering, and protect remote ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?
My experience with iboss's pricing structure, setup cost, and licensing model has been positive, straightforward, and...
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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Symantec Secure Web Gateway?
I believe that pricing is on par with peers. Symantec and other vendors offer discounts when cutting a deal with a cu...
What needs improvement with Symantec Secure Web Gateway?
AI-driven security could be helpful, yet how effective it will be remains unclear. I plan to evaluate whatever new fe...
What is your primary use case for Symantec Secure Web Gateway?
I find the product to be very straightforward. I just install it and forget it as it continuously monitors traffic. I...
 

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform
No data available
Symantec Complete Website Security
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Trusted by global enterprises and government agencies.
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Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Fortinet, Zscaler and others in Secure Web Gateways (SWG). Updated: September 2026.
915,287 professionals have used our research since 2012.