Agilicus vs Zscaler Zero Trust Architecture for Private 5G: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)

Teams protecting OT and ICS environments without the luxury of deploying agents will find Agilicus solves a real problem: clientless zero trust access to PLCs, HMIs, and SCADA systems that can't run traditional security software. The no-inbound-ports architecture means your critical infrastructure never exposes attack surface to the internet, and support for federated identity providers lets you enforce MFA across resources that typically have none. Skip this if your primary concern is securing standard IT applications and desktops; plenty of lighter-weight ZTNA platforms handle that use case better and cheaper. Enterprise and mid-market operators deploying private 5G networks need Zscaler Zero Trust Architecture for Private 5G because it actually isolates the 5G User Plane Function from the core network,the hardest part of private 5G security that most zero trust vendors skip. The tool's native integrations with Nokia and Ericsson RAN stacks, combined with inline TLS inspection and device-to-app segmentation without routable networks, eliminate the lateral movement vector that makes private 5G attractive to attackers. Skip this if your 5G deployment is greenfield and isolated; Zscaler's value compounds when you're bridging existing enterprise networks to wireless infrastructure, which is where the actual breach surface lives.

Based on our analysis of core features, integrations, company size fit, deployment model, here is our conclusion: