How to Choose the Best CASB Vendor
With the growing trend towards more integrated security frameworks, such as Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), CASB functionality is often incorporated into broader security products.
But, many CASB vendors offer simpler, standalone solutions for organizations looking to monitor their cloud service use and ensure their data policies remain secure and compliant. With a ton of products to choose from, how do you narrow down your search and find the best CASB vendor for your business?
Let’s find out.
What is a CASB?
Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) solutions extend corporate security policies into the cloud, helping you to protect sensitive business data while using SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS products.
CASBs scan traffic between enterprise users and cloud platforms, delivering four main functions:
- Visibility into the cloud services in use across an organization to assess the risk of data being exposed from misconfigured or unsafe, unsanctioned applications (shadow IT).
- Data Security programs for cloud environments, including access controls, data loss prevention (DLP) measures, encryption, and quarantining.
- Threat Protection technologies (e.g., malware detection, browser isolation, URL filtering, etc.) to identify and block malicious activity or compromised accounts.
- Compliance and adherence to data protection regulations, even when using cloud applications and storage.
Evaluating Cloud Access Security Broker Vendors: 3 Key Factors
CASB vendors and their products vary significantly.
To successfully evaluate a CASB solution and learn whether it solves your security challenges, you need to consider these factors:
Architecture
CASB architecture and how the solution is deployed determines the functionality it offers. There are two main approaches:
- Inline CASB reroutes traffic through a proxy server to monitor data in transit
- API-based architecture. API CASB works directly with the cloud services API calls. This lets API CASB to also monitor data at rest and ensure protections don’t increase latency.
In contrast, inline CASB, particularly forward-proxy deployments, provides more comprehensive traffic monitoring.
Inspecting all of the data moving to and from the cloud, NOT just traffic for specific cloud services. The best solutions combine both architectures to deliver the benefits of each – this is known as multimode CASB.
Functionality
A good guide for considering the different functionalities you may need is using the four CASB pillars listed above: visibility, data security, threat protection, and compliance.
Examples of features to focus on include:
- Cloud Application Visibility and Control
- Shadow IT Discovery
- Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
- User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA)
- Malware Detection
- Encryption and Tokenization
- Access Control and Authentication
- Compliance and Regulatory Support
- Activity Monitoring and Auditing
- Policy Enforcement and Automation
Customer Support
Ensure you choose a CASB vendor with strong customer support both during integration and ongoing throughout the product life cycle. A good relationship between the IT team and the vendor helps maximize the impact of the product for the best possible implementation and protection.
The 5 Top Cloud Access Security Broker Vendors for 2025
Here are the top cloud access security broker vendors:
#1. Check Point
Check Point provides comprehensive cloud security across your network, applications, and workloads.
Powered by Check Point, an AI-powered cybersecurity platform, Check Point enables you to identify risks and block attacks throughout cloud environments with industry-leading block and catch rates:
- 99.7% block rate (Miercom)
- 99.8% catch rate of malware, ransomware, and other attack vectors (CyberRatings Cloud Security Lab)
- 169% ROI (Forrester’s Total Economic Impact Report)
Check Point Cloud Firewall delivers a cloud-native security gateway for next-generation threat prevention and simple security management across complex hybrid-cloud environments.
Key Features:
- Real-time visibility and detection of suspicious activity and malicious traffic.
- Protections including DLP, URL filtering, firewalling, antivirus, threat extraction, and threat emulation.
- Automated network security support.
- Unified security management from a single platform, including visibility, logging, control access, policy management and enforcement, and so much more.
#2. Palo Alto
The Palo Alto Next-Gen CASB aims to deliver comprehensive coverage, protecting data in the cloud through ML-powered technologies.The product offers functionality for fixing misconfigurations with cloud services and streamlining workflows to help customers manage complex configurations and remain secure and compliant.
Palo Alto’s solution also enables granular policies to manage cloud applications while providing DLP and threat detection capabilities. Plus, with a wide range of cybersecurity products, the Palo Alto Next-Gen CASB is designed to integrate with the company’s other services seamlessly.
This includes their NGFW, VM-series, and Prisma Access solutions. One potential drawback is the lengthy learning and implementation process required to get the most out of the CASB.
Key Features:
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- Simple remediation for misconfigurations.
- Comprehensive visibility of cloud traffic and the automated discovery of new services.
- Adaptive, context-aware DLP technologies that rely on deep learning, NLP, and OCR.
- Data security reporting is built into the platform for seamless compliance auditing.
#3. Cisco
Cisco Cloudlock is a fully API-based CASB solution offering a more straightforward method of controlling data access and managing security while working with cloud service providers.
It aims to provide comprehensive protections for:
- User Security: ML-powered anomaly detection based on a range of parameters.
- Data Security: DLP technology to monitor the cloud environment for the sharing of sensitive data and the implementation of customizable policies to prevent it.
- App Security: Discovery of cloud applications in use across the organization and tailored data controls for each based on the risk they pose.
Cloudlock, an open and automated solution, enables visibility into your cloud services for threat discovery and analysis.
Key Features:
- Automated detection of shadow IT to discover and block unsanctioned SaaS use.
- Customizable DLP policies that can automatically solve potential threats.
- Increased sensitivity to detect behavioral anomalies linked to compromised accounts using ML algorithms.
- Easy integration with the Cisco product range, including options for email or internet security.
#4. Zscaler
Zscaler CASB aims to combine extensive visibility and granular data protection while reducing the management burden placed on IT teams. A simple-to-deploy and user-friendly solution, Zscaler CASB has strong zero-trust features to ensure that users are authenticated, authorized, and continuously validated to access cloud services.
Data security and threat protection functionality include:
- API integrations to scan cloud apps
- Sandboxing to scan for malware
- Cloud browser isolation to protect against unsecured websites.
But, there are limitations when it comes to customizing the platform.
Key Features:
- Identifies shadow IT and misconfigured cloud service providers using a range of risk factors.
- Real-time ML-powered threat protection for data at rest and in transit using multimode CASB (inline and API CASB Architecture).
- A range of security functionality, including sandboxing and cloud browser isolation to reduce the impact of accessing risky sites.
- Compliance visibility to ensure organizations always adhere to regulatory requirements.
- Easy to use with simple dashboards and Zscaler training information available for new users.
#5. Netskope
Netskope prevents data loss and protects against threats while using cloud services. Netskope is known for delivering enhanced visibility and granular customization policies for DLP and compliance.
Users can design their own policies to meet the demands of their industry.
Utilizing the company’s patented Cloud XD technology, Netskope aims to eliminate blind spots and implement safeguards across thousands of cloud services.
Key Features:
- Deep visibility into cloud threats from a single dashboard using multimode CASB architecture.
- Threat protection features that react to a range of parameters to identify malicious traffic and spot anomalous user behavior.
- Enforceable rule-based access controls that fit the customer’s needs.
- Track data wherever it is on the cloud, including unsanctioned cloud storage services.
CASB Functionality in SASE Frameworks
While CASB offers many benefits for businesses utilizing cloud platforms, it remains a focused solution to a broad problem. With SASE products, like Check Point’s SASE, you can gain all the benefits of CASB as part of a comprehensive security framework covering your entire organization.
Schedule a demo today to see SASE in action and discover how it combines CASB functionality with other cutting-edge technologies for the best possible security posture.
