Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs NetFoundry Platform comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Cisco and NetFoundry are both solutions in the ZTNA as a Service category. Cisco is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.1, while NetFoundry is ranked #23. Cisco holds a 2.8% mindshare in ZaaS, compared to NetFoundry’s 2.0% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of NetFoundry users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 22, 2026

NetFoundry Platform and Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) are leading products competing in the secure network solutions category. While Cisco Secure Client maintains a lead with its comprehensive features and robust security protocols, NetFoundry stands out for its flexibility and cloud-native integration.

Features: NetFoundry Platform offers zero trust networking, dynamic scaling, and seamless integration with cloud services, which suit flexible and agile environments. Cisco Secure Client provides multi-factor authentication, VPN capabilities, and extensive network security features, making it ideal for organizations focusing on security and reliable remote access.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: NetFoundry's deployment is straightforward, with its cloud-native design simplifying setup. It is supported by responsive customer service. Cisco Secure Client requires a more traditional deployment process but benefits from comprehensive documentation and well-established support channels.

Pricing and ROI: NetFoundry Platform generally offers lower initial costs and attractive ROI for businesses favoring cloud-centric solutions. Cisco Secure Client may require higher upfront investment; however, its extensive security features and long-term reliability can justify the expense.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs. NetFoundry Platform Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs. NetFoundry Platform

September 2026

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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 October 2026, in the ZTNA as a Service category, the mindshare of iboss is 3.5%, up from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) is 2.8%, down from 3.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetFoundry Platform is 2.0%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

ZTNA as a Service Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
iboss	3.5%
Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect)	2.8%
NetFoundry Platform	2.0%
Other	91.7%

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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AJAY SARPAL

Manager - Projects at airtel

Offers work-from-anywhere flexibility but navigates occasional proxy confusion

The analytics I downloaded from your site as a free download did not carry the information that was actually required. I was looking at the market segmentation and market share, along with some USPs which differentiated them from each other. The free download had two issues: many things were repetitive, and it was designed to not release any relevant information. Only headers were present, so I was not able to determine whether the final report would be worthwhile. I have not worked with enterprise tools that I could share feedback on for website publication. I see benefits from using Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect). However, I would not recommend it because future adoptions will be towards Zscaler, as SSC is a better model than VPN. On a scale of 1-10, I rate this solution a 7.

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Sureshot

Cybersecurity Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Easy to set up, stable, and helpful for integrating the systems that require a fast and reliable connection

They can provide hardware for specific use cases because some of the NetFoundry solutions don't have the hardware. Currently, they're more into software, but some of the clients want a single brand instead of having multiple vendors. So, if they can offer hardware as well, it would be good. If they have a firewall capability, that would be good. Currently, because they don't have a firewall, we are required to put another layer of control on top of their solution. A built-in firewall would be quite good. Their technical support can be improved. There should be a better handover of a case from one support person to another.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The security aspect of the solution, particularly the malware behind it, is excellent."

"The students were always protected, and the content filtering worked very well, seeming to work better than other products we had tried previously."

"The main advantage of iboss is its cloud-based security centralized policy management, which helps organizations protect users working from different locations, secure access to cloud applications, and reduce security risks."

"The iboss system is highly reliable. The false positive rates are small compared to some other systems we've experienced through other partner agencies who use competing solutions."

"First of all, the security policies are essential. I do not have to rely solely on Active Directory for our users."

"iboss is among the few products providing inline filtering where no application is needed on the device. It operates on the network side and is not device-based. This feature was one of the main reasons why we stayed with them for so long."

"iboss is pretty scalable. They provide good support. The case managers you work with to coordinate what you need are pretty good."

"We chose iboss for both zero trust and proxy (SWG) because their SWG was superior."

More iboss pros

"The solution is secure and has a lot of benefits."

"The most valuable feature is AnyConnect's reliability."

"AnyConnect is extremely useful because we are working from home and need to connect to various systems within the organization."

"This solution is stable. There have been no technical issues."

"I like the ability to share the connections or simply to be able to pass the credentials for a connection to other colleagues without bothering too much about the connection being tracked or about security, because each and every user will require a secret password, so I don't really care about sending the details; it is very secure."

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

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

"It is easy to handle, you can have it on Windows, Mac, and Linux."

More Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) pros

"The Network as a Service that they offer is most valuable."

"It is quite stable; we don't have a problem, and in terms of reliability, we haven't encountered or heard of any issues from our customers."

"The price is very reasonable compared to others and the cloud service is free."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is in the cloud."

Cons

"Their on-premise hardware's network interface is capped at one gigabit, which is sort of a problem. If you stand a filter up where all traffic flows through that, according to them, in order to go above a gigabit, you have to have multiple devices, which in today's IT seems a little bit silly. They could easily put in an SFP port into their device that could accommodate 10 gigs or at least offer a box."

"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."

"I would like to see simpler dashboards, more detailed reporting, and faster performance in iboss."

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

"iboss can be improved because the integration could be better; you need to import all the sites that you access today, and there are a few problems whenever you import thousands of websites, making the integration process messy for the users."

"File integrity monitoring would be very advantageous as an additional feature."

"Sometimes the agent stops working in iboss, and we have to reinstall the agent."

"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."

More iboss cons

"There are times the WiFi connectivity has disruptions and you have disconnections."

"If they could simplify connections via other machines, like Linux or Mac OS X, it would be helpful."

"Every two weeks there was a new version to install which was annoying for the users."

"As with most Cisco products, standing by itself, this solution is not perfect."

"The only problem is that if you want to download it somewhere else, you cannot; you cannot download it unless you have a valid Cisco account."

"I would like to see improvements in regards to the connectivity speed."

"The setup could be simplified for solutions engineers with a wizard."

"I haven't found there are any shortcomings in the product. For how I use it, it works well."

More Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) cons

"The solution could provide internet access control."

"If they have a firewall capability, that would be good. Currently, because they don't have a firewall, we are required to put another layer of control on top of their solution. A built-in firewall would be quite good."

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."

"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."

"It is expensive compared to one of its competitors."

"We have not priced the solution recently, but they were competitive with other vendors in the past."

"The overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."

"The solution is reasonably priced and costs $600 for a five-year license in our scenario."

"The licensing costs are reasonable."

"It costs around 80,000 Indian rupees for a hundred licenses, so approximately $1,020 USD."

"One thing I've noticed is the price in comparison to other VPNs."

"Sometimes there is a problem with the number of licenses for the end-user. The number of concurrent users is limited due to a valid 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."

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

"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."

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

"I don't have the cost, but in terms of its management viability, it is acceptable for most of our clients. It seems quite fair."

"The price is very reasonable compared to others and the cloud service is free."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Outsourcing Company

Government

Manufacturing Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

16%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	14

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	28
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	49

No data available

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?

I think iboss could be improved by emphasizing the modular function even more during sales presentations and demonstr...

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What is your primary use case for iboss?

iboss is primarily used for content filtering within school districts and public K-12 school districts, and it can al...

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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 Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) is somewhat expensive compared to others such as Fortinet or Palo Alto, wh...

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What needs improvement with Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?

There are no features that I wish Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) had that it does not currently provide. ...

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What is your primary use case for Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?

I primarily use Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) for VPN connections and network-related activities. We hav...

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Comparisons

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs iboss

Compared 10% of the time

Netskope vs iboss

Compared 8% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs iboss

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs iboss

Compared 6% of the time

FortiSASE vs iboss

Compared 6% of the time

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OpenVPN Access Server vs Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect)

Compared 6% of the time

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform vs Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect)

Compared 4% of the time

Tailscale vs Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect)

Compared 4% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect)

Compared 4% of the time

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect)

Compared 4% of the time

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Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform vs NetFoundry Platform

Compared 16% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs NetFoundry Platform

Compared 14% of the time

Zscaler B2B vs NetFoundry Platform

Compared 7% of the time

Google Cloud Identity-Aware Proxy vs NetFoundry Platform

Compared 5% of the time

Okta Platform vs NetFoundry Platform

Compared 3% of the time

More NetFoundry Platform Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

October 2026

Download iboss product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect)

October 2026

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) report

Download Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) product report

Buyer's Guide

ZTNA as a Service

September 2026

Download NetFoundry Platform product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client

NetFoundry Edge Router

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

iboss

Demo not available

Cisco

NetFoundry

Overview

iboss is the Zero Trust SASE platform that gives organizations complete visibility and governance over their AI, data, and applications through one unified platform, one console, one policy engine, and one data lake.

Your endpoints may already stop malware. Your data and application activity can still be invisible. iboss decrypts and understands every connection, then turns that signal into answers security leaders can act on.

The platform leads with three capabilities in this order: AI Security and Visibility, Data Security and Visibility, and App Visibility and Control. Zero Trust Network Access, VPN replacement, and SD-WAN sit underneath as the access fabric that carries those three. Trusted by global enterprises and government agencies.

What are the most important features of Iboss?

- AI Security and Visibility: conversation capture, shadow-AI discovery, AI DLP, and agent governance across Claude, Co-Work, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok, and emerging services.

- Data Security and Visibility: full SSL/TLS decryption, deep content inspection, MIP label compliance, and one-click compliance reporting.

- App Visibility and Control: signatureless CASB, dual risk scoring, in-app controls, and SSPM for major SaaS.

- Containerized Zero Trust SASE: dedicated containers, isolated SSL keys, one console, one policy engine, one data lake.

- Access fabric: ZTNA, VPN replacement, and SD-WAN under the same platform.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

- Complete visibility over AI, data, and applications from one platform instead of separate point tools.

- Encrypted traffic is inspected by default so data decisions use content and context together.

- Shadow SaaS and new web tools appear as they are used, with enforceable controls in one console.

- Native data sovereignty through dedicated containers, in-region inspection, and per-customer SSL key custody.

- Scale proven in published materials: 10M+ users, 100+ countries, 150B+ transactions, 2.5B+ threats blocked.

Economic buyers are CISOs, CIOs, and VPs of Security. Champions include security architects, network and infrastructure leaders, SecOps, and GRC. Primary segments: enterprise and business, financial services, government (including FedRAMP Gov Cloud), healthcare, manufacturing, legal and professional services, retail and hospitality, and MSP/MSSP partners. Education, including K-12, is one vertical among these.

iboss

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) delivers reliable, stable connectivity and seamless integration with Active Directory, ensuring secure remote access through a one-click VPN capability. It's lightweight, user-friendly, and supports major operating systems, enhancing remote work flexibility.

Cisco Secure Client, including AnyConnect, is designed for secure remote connectivity, offering multi-factor authentication, advanced malware protection, and automatic error diagnostics. Compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux, it provides an intuitive setup and a clean interface. While it excels in ease of use, issues such as the outdated Linux build and the need for modern UI enhancements persist. Users also face connectivity challenges with frequent updates and high prices, alongside the need for better endpoint security and system integration. Popular for remote work, it facilitates secure access to corporate networks, allowing seamless interactions with resources like emails, documents, and applications.

What key features does Cisco Secure Client offer?

Reliable Connectivity: Provides stable, dependable VPN access with a one-click connection.
Multi-Factor Authentication: Enhances security through additional user verification steps.
Advanced Malware Protection: Safeguards against threats with proactive protection measures.
Automatic Error Diagnostics: Identifies and fixes errors promptly.
Cross-Platform Support: Compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux for broad accessibility.

What benefits or ROI can users expect?

Increased Remote Work Efficiency: Facilitates secure, fast access to necessary resources.
Improved Network Security: Provides robust protection against external threats.
Ease of Use: Features simple setup and user-friendly interface for quick deployment.
Enhanced Data Protection: Keeps sensitive information secure through encryption and authentication.
Cost-Effectiveness: Offers a good balance of features against pricing, though further improvements could enhance value.

Cisco Secure Client is widely implemented across industries for secure remote connectivity, especially in sectors requiring constant access to servers, data centers, and research labs. It supports remote work by enabling employees in diverse fields to access internal resources efficiently, maintaining productivity and security.

Cisco

NetFoundry is the leader in Zero Trust Workload Connectivity, trusted to securely connect enterprise’s most critical workloads, within and across any environment.

As the only identity-first fabric for every AI, API, site, container, and machine interaction, NetFoundry customers deploy their workloads with greater speed, security and scalability.

Its Identity-First Reachability™ eliminates the reachable attack surface that attackers exploit and defenders struggle to secure, by removing open inbound ports, VPNs and firewall rule changes. By design, it enables security to adapt to the environment, not force the environment to adapt to security, so teams can secure one workload at a time without the high cost of firewall management or redesigning the network.

Customers use NetFoundry to:

Govern AI agent, model and tool access to cut risks, costs, and time to deploy.
Stop lateral movement through microsegmentation
Protect difficult to patch assets and crown jewel systems with a compensating control
Securely connect any system (IT/OT/IoT) or API wherever it operates

Founded by the inventors and maintainers of OpenZiti, the world’s most widely used open source Zero Trust platform, NetFoundry secures billions of sessions for critical infrastructure on three continents and supports Fortune 10 companies across regulated industries including healthcare, financial services, and energy.

NetFoundry

Sample Customers

Trusted by global enterprises and government agencies.

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

Ominimo, Rhapsody, TZ, LVT, CERM, Digibee

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs. NetFoundry Platform

September 2026

Free Report: Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs. NetFoundry Platform

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs. NetFoundry Platform and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

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