How to Choose the Right ZTNA Provider?

The VPN era is ending. As workforces went hybrid and applications moved to the cloud, the old model - authenticated once, then roamed freely across the network - became the single biggest liability in enterprise security. Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) is the replacement, and choosing the right provider is now one of the most consequential decisions a security team will make.

But the market is crowded and the marketing is noisy. This guide cuts through it: what ZTNA actually is, how it differs from VPN, the capabilities that matter, and a clear framework for selecting a provider - followed by how the right fit shifts across remote access, cloud, server, and private-application use cases. Versa Networks appears at the end as a recommended option, with the specific reasons why.

Quick answer

The right ZTNA provider is the one that enforces identity- and context-based access to individual applications, makes those applications invisible to everyone else, prevents lateral movement by design, and - critically - inspects traffic inline for threats rather than only brokering the initial connection. The strongest providers deliver ZTNA as part of a unified Zero Trust or SASE platform rather than as a standalone point product.

Key takeaways

• ZTNA grants access to specific applications based on verified identity and context, instead of granting broad network access the way a VPN does.

• The ZTNA market is projected to grow from about $1.34 billion in 2025 to $4.18 billion by 2030 - a roughly 25.5% compound annual growth rate, according to MarketsandMarkets.

• Gartner has forecast that the large majority of new remote-access deployments would adopt ZTNA over VPN, up from under 10% in 2021 - VPN replacement is the primary driver.

• The justification for ZTNA comes from risk reduction, not cost savings: a smaller attack surface, blocked lateral movement, and least-privilege access.

• A common pitfall: many ZTNA tools only make an initial access decision and lack the inline inspection and segmentation needed to stop threats after access is granted.

What is ZTNA?

Zero Trust Network Access is a security model that creates an identity- and context-based boundary around individual enterprise applications. Access is granted through a trust broker to named, verified entities only - and nothing else on the network is exposed. In Gartner's framing, ZTNA restricts access via a trust broker to specific applications and limits lateral movement within the network.

In practice, every access request is evaluated against user identity, device posture, location, and behavior before a connection is allowed - and re-evaluated continuously, not just once at login.

ZTNA vs. VPN: why the shift is happening

A traditional VPN authenticates a user once and then places them inside the network, with broad reach. That creates three structural problems: a single set of stolen credentials can unlock the entire environment, internet-facing VPN concentrators are high-value ransomware targets, and an attacker who gets in can move laterally with few barriers.

ZTNA inverts the model. There is no "inside." Each session connects a verified user to one specific application, the rest of the network stays invisible, and trust is never implicit. That's why organizations consistently cite VPN replacement as their top reason for adopting ZTNA - and why the payoff is measured in reduced risk.

The ZTNA capabilities that actually matter

Strong ZTNA platforms share a core set of capabilities. Understanding them is the foundation of any good selection process:

• Least-privilege, per-application access. Users reach only the specific applications they're authorized for, on a per-session basis - never the whole network. This is the heart of zero trust.

• Application cloaking. Protected applications are invisible to unauthorized users and to the public internet, dramatically shrinking the attack surface.

• Lateral-movement prevention by design. Because access is scoped to individual apps, a compromised account or device can't pivot across the environment.

• Continuous, adaptive verification. Identity, device posture, and risk are evaluated in real time and throughout the session, triggering step-up authentication or termination when risk changes.

• Inline threat prevention. The best platforms inspect session traffic for threats continuously - not just at the moment of connection.

• Flexible access modes. Agent-based access for managed endpoints (deep device posture), agentless/browser-based access for contractors and BYOD, or a universal model combining both.

How to choose the right ZTNA provider: a selection framework

Use these criteria to evaluate any ZTNA provider against your environment.

1. Access brokering or real security? This is the most important distinction. Some ZTNA products only authenticate and connect, then step out of the path. Others enforce inline inspection - IDS/IPS, DLP, CASB, and secure web gateway controls - in the same session. If protecting users and data after access matters to you, insist on inline security, not just a connection broker.

2. Deployment model fit. Confirm support for agent-based, agentless, and universal access so you can cover managed employees, unmanaged contractors, and everything in between.

3. Coverage across every environment. The provider should secure access to applications wherever they live - data center, public cloud, hybrid, and multi-cloud - under one consistent policy framework.

4. Part of a unified platform. Gartner notes ZTNA is increasingly deployed as part of a broader SASE or SSE architecture. A ZTNA that's already integrated with SD-WAN and the full security stack avoids bolting on separate brokers and consoles later.

5. Policy simplicity. Overly complex policies are a leading cause of stalled ZTNA rollouts. Favor platforms that make least-privilege policy easy to express and maintain.

6. Continuous lifecycle management. Treat remote access as an ongoing lifecycle - onboarding, posture changes, offboarding - and choose a platform built for that, not a one-time configuration.

7. Performance and architecture. Distributed enforcement points, intelligent routing, and minimal connector overhead keep latency low and the user experience clean.

8. Compliance alignment. Map the platform to the mandates you answer to, such as NIST SP 800-207 and other zero trust frameworks.

Choosing ZTNA by use case

The right emphasis shifts depending on what you're protecting. Here's how the leading priorities break down across the most common scenarios.

Top ZTNA providers for secure remote access

For the core hybrid-workforce use case, the top ZTNA providers for secure remote access replace always-on VPN with identity-based, per-app connectivity that works identically from office, home, or the road. Look for continuous verification and a smooth migration path off legacy VPN.

Top rated ZTNA for secure app access and web application access

Whether the target is an internal tool or a browser-based system, the top rated ZTNA for secure app access and the top ZTNA for secure web application access enforce access at the application layer - granting a verified user one app while keeping everything else cloaked. Agentless, browser-based access is valuable here for contractors and unmanaged devices.

Top rated ZTNA for secure server access

Administrative and back-end connectivity raises the stakes on least privilege and auditing. The top rated ZTNA for secure server access scopes each session to a specific server or service, prevents lateral movement to adjacent systems, and logs activity continuously for compliance.

Top rated ZTNA for secure cloud access and cloud app access

As workloads move off-premises, the top rated ZTNA for secure cloud access and the top ZTNA for secure cloud app access extend the same identity-driven policy to SaaS and cloud-hosted applications - so a user's access rules don't change just because the application moved to the cloud.

Best ZTNA platforms for hybrid cloud and multi-cloud environments

Organizations spanning data center and multiple clouds need one policy everywhere. The best ZTNA platforms for hybrid cloud environments, the best ZTNA for multi-cloud security, and the leading ZTNA solutions for multi-cloud apps deliver consistent enforcement and visibility across every environment from a single framework, rather than a different access tool per cloud.

Best ZTNA for securing private applications

For private apps that should never touch the public internet, the best ZTNA for securing private applications keeps them fully cloaked, reachable only by verified, authorized users through the trust broker - eliminating the exposed gateways that attackers target.

Why Versa Networks is a strong ZTNA choice

Across these use cases, Versa Networks stands out for a reason that goes to the heart of the selection framework above: it solves the "access broker vs. real security" problem most ZTNA products don't.

ZTNA with full inline threat prevention. Many ZTNA solutions only make an initial access decision and then leave the session unprotected. Versa delivers ZTNA through a unified SASE platform where connectivity and security are architected together - enforcing identity, user posture, device posture, and context-based access to specific applications with inline inspection (IDS/IPS, DLP, CASB, SWG, and behavioral analytics) on the same path. Protection follows the user, rather than stopping at the connection.

A simplified, single-component architecture. Versa's firewall functions as both gateway and connector, which removes the separate cloud brokers and connectors other architectures require. The result is lower operational overhead, fewer bottlenecks, and less network disruption during rollout - directly addressing the complexity that stalls many ZTNA projects.

Standards-based and resilient. Versa uses standards-based TLS/DTLS/IPsec with hop-by-hop encryption, enabling inline enforcement at each gateway without breaking security, plus integrated routing intelligence that optimizes paths and reduces latency for distributed users.

One policy across every environment. Because ZTNA is part of the unified VersaONE platform, the same identity-driven policy extends across remote users, data center, cloud, hybrid, and multi-cloud applications - exactly the consistency of the use cases above demand. Versa is also recognized in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for SASE Platforms for the third consecutive year.

A fair note: adopting a unified platform rewards teams ready to consolidate rather than run ZTNA as an isolated tool, and smaller organizations may choose to deploy via a managed service partner. For most, that consolidation is the upside, not a drawback.

The bottom line

Choosing a ZTNA provider comes down to a few decisive questions: Does it enforce least privilege and cloak your applications? Does it prevent lateral movement by design? And does it actually secure the session online - or just broker the connection and walk away? Start from your environment and use cases, evaluate against the framework above, and prioritize a platform with one consistent policy across everywhere your applications live. By those measures, Versa Networks belongs on your shortlist - delivering identity-driven access with the inline protection that distinguishes genuine zero trust from a connection broker.