Why does compliance carry weight?
A SASE service handles almost all of an organization's traffic. Auditors, regulators and customers will ask how that service is controlled. Published certifications are a quick way to narrow a shortlist, and for some buyers, such as U.S. federal agencies, one authorization decides the shortlist on its own.
What do the vendors list?
Netskope lists FedRAMP High Authorization for its GovCloud, AICPA SOC 2, C5, CSA STAR Level II and IRAP. Palo Alto Networks' trust center lists SOC 2+, Germany C5, PCI DSS, IRAP, FedRAMP and StateRAMP, among others, without stating which products each covers in the text we read. Cato's compliance page lists SOC 2 and SOC 3, PCI-DSS Level 1 Service Provider, five ISO/IEC standards, UK Cyber Essentials, CSA STAR Self-Assessment, GDPR and Spain ENS High; FedRAMP is not listed. Cisco states FedRAMP authorization for Secure Access. Fortinet's trust page states alignment with the ISO 27000 series and NIST 800-53. Zscaler's certifications are not stated on the pages we read.
Source: Netskope security, compliance and assurance
Source: Palo Alto Networks trust center certifications
Source: Cato security, compliance and privacy
Source: Cisco Secure Access
Source: Fortinet trust
What does a listing not tell you?
A logo on a trust page does not say which product, region or service tier is in scope. A FedRAMP authorization covers a specific cloud offering at a specific impact level. A SOC 2 report covers a period and a set of controls. A self-assessment, such as a CSA STAR Level 1 entry, is the vendor's own answer to a questionnaire, while Level II involves an outside assessor.
Which documents should you request?
Ask for the current SOC 2 Type II report and its bridge letter, the ISO 27001 certificate with its scope statement, the FedRAMP marketplace listing if you need it, and the penetration test summary. Ask where your logs and data are stored and processed, and whether you can choose the region.
How does this site score it?
Published compliance carries 10% of the total. It rewards a longer and more specific list, with FedRAMP and outside assessments counting for more than self-assessments. The weighting lab lets you require FedRAMP and see which platforms remain.
How should you weigh compliance against other criteria?
For most commercial buyers, a solid SOC 2 Type II report and ISO 27001 scope cover the basics, and compliance becomes one factor among several. For public sector and regulated buyers, a single authorization can rule a platform in or out before any other criterion is considered. Decide which group you are in first. If one authorization is mandatory, apply it as a must-have filter and compare the remaining platforms on everything else, rather than letting it move a weighted total.