Zscaler vs. Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access
You can’t secure the cloud and mobility with a legacy network approach. See why a purpose-built SSE protects users and data more effectively.
Digital transformation requires a zero trust architecture
Palo Alto Networks utilizes a legacy approach to security that leads to increased cost, complexity, security risk, and compromised user experience. Zscaler is a proven leader in SSE, with a true cloud native platform that reduces risk and complexity and improves the user experience.
Three reasons customers switch to Zscaler
Zscaler reduces the attack surface
Palo Alto Networks uses firewalls and VPNs with exposed IP addresses that can be found and exploited by attackers. Zscaler eliminates these vulnerabilities.
Zscaler stops compromise
Palo Alto Networks customers often have to limit their inspection of encrypted traffic due to throughput limitations, leaving them at risk. Zscaler can deliver full SSL inspection and inline protections at scale, securing 500 billion transactions per day at 160+ locations worldwide.
Zscaler eliminates lateral threat movement
Palo Alto Networks relies upon complex firewall-based microsegmentation to prevent lateral movement. Zscaler connects users directly to applications—not the network—for access control that is simpler, more consistent, and more granular.
Zscaler offers proven operational excellence
Zscaler inspects traffic without degrading performance
Palo Alto Networks backhauls traffic to single-tenant virtual machines that degrade performance and the user experience—especially when they turn on security features like TLS decryption. Zscaler’s multitenant proxy architecture delivers services at the edge, close to every user, and can deliver TLS decryption for 100% of customer traffic with zero performance degradation.
Zscaler ensures business continuity
Palo Alto Networks relies on hyperscalers to run core services, which complicates troubleshooting and recovery in the case of an outage. Their SLAs have exclusions related to scaling and high availability. Zscaler is built over resilient infrastructure that provides continuity during blackouts, brownouts, and catastrophic failure, with 99.999% availability SLAs.
Zscaler is the leader in SSE
Zscaler has a proven track record in Security Service Edge (SSE)
PAN boasts a large firewall customer base, but much less so with Prisma Access for SSE. Zscaler has 15+ years of experience in SSE and its component technologies, with its customers including 40% of the Fortune 500 and 30% of the Global 2000. Zscaler has been a 4-time leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for SSE as well as a 10-time Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for SWG, with a customer net promoter score of over 70.
Zscaler: A Leader in the 2025 Gartner®️ Magic Quadrant™️ for Security Service Edge (SSE)
CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORIES
