News

SASE Market Report: Leaders Go Beyond 'Stitched-Together Offerings'

• By David Ramel
• 09/18/2025

The secure access service edge (SASE) space is evolving rapidly as enterprises confront emerging challenges and data risks, a new research report said. In response, market leaders are unifying platforms, extending controls to unmanaged devices, and leaning on data loss prevention (DLP) and AI to keep pace.

Forrester Research published "The Forrester Wave: Secure Access Service Edge Solutions, Q3 2025" in its trademarked format, evaluating eight vendors and how they stack up to guide enterprise buyers. Forrester evaluated vendors using materials provided through June 26, 2025.

SASE is a cloud-delivered architecture that converges SD-WAN networking with security services--such as secure web gateway, cloud access security broker, zero trust network access, and firewall-as-a-service--under unified, identity- and context-aware policy enforcement managed from a single console.

"While many vendors crowd the SASE market with stitched-together offerings -- combining security service edge (SSE), Zero Trust network access (ZTNA), and software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) through APIs and cross-launched consoles -- eight vendors have pulled ahead, forming a breakaway group that comprises the top tier of SASE innovation," the report says.

A blog post last week addressed the consolidation issue. "Over 20 vendors now offer all-in-one SASE platforms, converging networking and security capabilities -- like SD-WAN and firewall -- into cloud-delivered services." However, only eight had fully integrated SD-WAN, SSE, and ZTNA.

Forrester assessed SASE vendors across current offering and strategy, with customer feedback visualized as halos in the Wave graphic. The evaluation focuses on providers with broad enterprise support, a standalone SASE SKU, meaningful SASE revenue, and a single interface to manage networking and security services. The report's vendor list and inclusion criteria, along with methodology notes and the June 26, 2025 information cutoff, are detailed in the published study. The Leaders segment includes Netskope, Palo Alto Networks, and Zscaler.

Market Snapshot: From Stitched-Together to Unified Platforms
Forrester frames the state of SASE bluntly: while many providers still assemble SSE, ZTNA, and SD-WAN through APIs and cross-launched consoles, a cohort is advancing cohesive platforms and consoles. Those platforms extend controls to unmanaged devices (for example, enterprise browsers) and emphasize globally consistent service delivery to ensure "uniform policy enforcement and user experience regardless of location."

The aforementioned blog post provided a list of what has changed since the research firm's previous report on the SASE market (the descriptions are greatly shortened in summarizations):

• Platforms are winning -- Customers favor unified, single-console SASE to reduce integration complexity and costs.
• SSE vendors became SASE vendors -- Former SSE specialists now deliver full SASE, adding SD-WAN natively or via partners.
• Differentiation is shifting -- AI, DLP, and digital experience management now separate leaders beyond core SWG/CASB/SD-WAN/ZTNA
• SASE is moving closer to the edge -- Vendors extend Zero Trust to IoT, NAC, and unmanaged devices, pushing controls into SD-WAN and LAN gear.
• Networking vendors fell behind -- Traditional networking players lag due to fragmented consoles while security-first vendors set the pace.

What Leaders Are Doing Differently
Forrester highlights three areas where top platforms are consolidating and differentiating:

• Platforms: Unified consoles that adapt views and workflows for networking and security teams, reducing swivel-chair management and exposing a single source of truth.
• DLP: "DLP is the cornerstone of platform differentiation," with context-aware, identity-driven controls across cloud, web, and private apps to detect and prevent sensitive data movement.
• AI: GenAI features are appearing for policy creation, threat detection, traffic analysis, and identity governance, including natural-language interfaces for configuration and reporting.

Other Shifts to Watch
Beyond core SSE+ZTNA+SD-WAN convergence, the report notes movement toward enterprise browsers to extend controls to unmanaged devices; stronger, more uniform PoP delivery for predictable performance; and deeper analytics and observability built into the single management plane. Vendors also differ in backbone reach, localized services, and on-premises or remote hardware breadth, which affect service consistency at the edge.

Recommendations for Enterprises
Forrester's guidance for buyers centers on three pillars drawn from the report's evaluation lens:

• Prioritize platform cohesion: Seek unified consoles and workflows that let networking and security teams collaborate without jumping between tools.
• Treat DLP as a must-have: Favor platforms with advanced, context-aware DLP embedded natively for consistent policies across cloud, web, and private apps.
• Leverage AI where it helps operations: Evaluate natural-language policy, automated anomaly detection, and vector-driven correlation to reduce toil and accelerate response.

Vendor Snapshots
Short takes based on Forrester's vendor write-ups:

• Netskope -- Leader: Unified security cloud with strong data discovery/classification and threat visibility; NewEdge private network; pricing on the higher end.
• Palo Alto Networks -- Leader: Strata Cloud Manager oversees Prisma SASE; strong ZTNA via GlobalProtect and AI-assisted CASB/DLP; needs more backbone/PoP standardization; licensing complexity noted.
• Zscaler -- Leader: Unified ZTNA client routing through SWG/CASB/DEM; robust reporting; SD-WAN hardware added but broader networking options still limited; PoP saturation issues reported.
• Cato Networks -- Strong Performer: Single console (CMA) with consistent backbone/PoP service delivery; lags in enterprise browser and some DLP depth.
• Versa Networks -- Strong Performer: VOS embeds security in networking software with broad remote hardware choices; several advanced SWG/DLP features still on roadmap.
• Fortinet -- Strong Performer: Broad hardware portfolio and competitive pricing; consolidating management into FortiSASE; behind on DEX, data discovery/access controls, and unified UI maturity.
• Cloudflare -- Strong Performer: Large global backbone with China option, strong monitoring and performance features; lags in ZTNA agent maturity, DLP, DEM, and remote-site design flexibility.
• SonicWall -- Contender: Value-oriented for SMBs/education/public sector; Banyan Security acquisition underpinning ZTNA; dual consoles and SSE features trail peers.

Bottom Line
Forrester's SASE Wave indicates the market is consolidating around unified platforms with stronger DLP and emerging AI-assisted operations, while backbone reach, localized services, and edge hardware breadth remain key differentiators. Buyers should map these differences to their network footprint, data protection needs, and operating model.