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Cisco Zero Trust network

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$3 per user per month
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What is Cisco Zero Trust network

Cisco Zero Trust network is Cisco’s set of security and networking capabilities used to implement zero trust access across users, devices, applications, and network segments. It targets enterprises that need to reduce implicit trust by enforcing identity-based access, continuous verification, and segmentation across campus, branch, data center, and cloud environments. The offering is typically delivered as an architecture that combines multiple Cisco products (for example, identity services, network access control, segmentation, and secure access) rather than a single standalone application. It is commonly used for workforce access, third-party access, and limiting lateral movement inside the network.

pros

Broad enterprise network coverage

Cisco’s zero trust approach maps to common enterprise environments, including campus/branch networks, data centers, and cloud connectivity. This helps organizations apply consistent access and segmentation controls across heterogeneous sites rather than treating zero trust as only a remote-access project. It also aligns well with organizations that already standardize on Cisco networking and security infrastructure.

Strong identity and policy integration

The architecture emphasizes identity-driven access decisions and policy enforcement, typically integrating identity, device posture, and network context. This supports use cases such as least-privilege access, conditional access, and micro-segmentation/segmentation based on roles and attributes. It can reduce reliance on static network location as the primary trust signal.

Ecosystem and deployment flexibility

Cisco supports multiple deployment patterns (on-prem, cloud-managed, and hybrid) depending on the specific components selected. This can be useful for regulated environments that require on-prem control planes as well as organizations moving toward cloud-managed operations. The approach also allows phased adoption by implementing identity, access, and segmentation capabilities incrementally.

cons

Not a single product

“Cisco Zero Trust” is an architectural bundle that typically requires combining several Cisco products and licenses to achieve end-to-end outcomes. This can make scoping, procurement, and ownership boundaries less straightforward than platforms delivered as a single service. Buyers often need careful design work to avoid gaps between components.

Complexity in policy operations

Implementing segmentation and continuous verification across many sites and applications can introduce operational complexity, particularly around policy design, exceptions, and troubleshooting. Organizations may need mature network/security operations processes to manage policy lifecycle and change control. Misconfigurations can lead to access disruptions or inconsistent enforcement.

Cisco-centric value realization

The strongest integration benefits generally appear when organizations use Cisco networking and security components broadly. In mixed-vendor environments, integration may require additional effort, and some capabilities may not be as unified as in a single-vendor stack. This can affect time-to-value for organizations that prefer vendor-neutral control planes.

Plan & Pricing

Cisco Zero Trust is a solution/architecture composed of multiple Cisco Secure products. Cisco does not publish a single, consolidated price for "Cisco Zero Trust" — pricing is product-specific. Findings from official Cisco product pages (only vendor sites used):

Duo (Cisco Duo) — Tiered plans (official, public):

Plan Price Key features & notes
Duo Free $0 per user/month (up to 10 users) Basic MFA for up to 10 users; permanently free tier.
Duo Essentials $3 per user/month Adds Duo Directory, Phishing-resistant MFA, SSO, passwordless, Trusted Endpoints.
Duo Advantage $6 per user/month Adds Cisco Identity Intelligence, risk-based auth, device health checks, ITDR capabilities.
Duo Premier $9 per user/month Full identity security package incl. Duo Network Gateway, VPN-less access, Duo Passport.

Other Cisco Secure / Zero-Trust components — official status on pricing & trials:

Product / component Price (publicly listed on vendor site?) Key features & notes
Cisco Umbrella / Secure Access (DNS, SSE) Contact sales / request a quote (no public unit price shown) Cisco Umbrella offers 14-day free trials; product packaging and guides available but public per-user prices are not published — purchasing/quotes via sales or partners.
Cisco Secure Endpoint (formerly AMP for Endpoints) Contact sales (licenses/packages listed; no public price) Secure Endpoint has 30-day free trial and package/ licensing tiers (Essentials/Advantage/Premier) described; pricing requires contact with Cisco or partner.
Cisco Secure Firewall Contact sales / request quote (no public unit price) Product pages and 30-day trials / demos available; licensing SKUs exist (ordering guides) but public prices not published.
Cisco Secure Workload / Tetration Contact sales (pricing components described: workload vs endpoint licenses; no public unit price) Product licensing model documented (workload/endpoint licensing, term options) but prices not published on product pages.
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) & other Secure portfolio items Contact sales / partner ISE, Secure Network Analytics, Secure Cloud Analytics, etc., have product pages and licensing info; public prices are not published and require sales/partner quotes.

Notes about trials & free tiers (official):

  • Duo: permanent free tier for up to 10 users; 30-day free trial available for paid editions.
  • Cisco Umbrella: 14-day free trial available.
  • Cisco Secure Endpoint: 30-day free trial available.
  • Several other Cisco Secure products provide 30-day trial/demos but do not show public per-user pricing; customers are directed to contact sales or use partner channels to get quotes.

Summary (minimum paid cost and availability):

  • Minimum published paid price (across Cisco Zero Trust-related products discovered on vendor sites): $3 per user/month (Duo Essentials). This is the lowest paid unit price publicly published on official product pages.

Seller details

Cisco Systems, Inc.
San Jose, California, USA
1984
Public
https://www.cisco.com/
https://x.com/Cisco
https://www.linkedin.com/company/cisco/

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