Zscaler pricing 2026: ZIA, ZPA, and where the bill spirals
Zscaler is routinely described as a vendor that publishes nothing. That is not quite right, and the difference is worth real money in a negotiation. Zscaler has no per-user rate card on its own site, but Zscaler, Inc. is the seller of record on AWS Marketplace listings carrying firm fixed-seat prices, and its reseller catalogue on the UK G-Cloud framework is filed per user per year by SKU. This page uses only those published figures, then maps the add-on traps, the renewal cliff and the negotiation levers. Checked September 2026, with sources at the foot of the page.
Per-user rates filed on UK G-Cloud 15
Reseller CDW files a full Zscaler SKU catalogue on the UK government's G-Cloud 15 framework, metered per user per year. This is the most granular public Zscaler per-user pricing available. Note there is no SKU named Zscaler Internet Access: the ZIA capability set now sits inside the platform bundles.
| SKU | Product name as filed | Filed price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| ZS-PLATFORM | Zscaler Platform | $240 / user / yr | The full platform bundle. Carries the secure-internet-access capability set plus private access and data protection. |
| ZS-ESS-PLATFORM | Zscaler Essential Platform | $120 / user / yr | The entry platform bundle. This is where the ZIA secure web gateway capability now sits. |
| ZS-ZPA-PLATFORM | Zscaler Private Access Platform | $120 / user / yr | ZTNA for private applications. Identity-based access, app segmentation, no inbound exposure. |
| ZS-ZPA-1 | Zscaler Private Access | $60 / user / yr | The standalone ZPA line, below the ZPA platform bundle. ZS-ZPA-2 is filed at $114. |
| ZPA-CLIENTLESS-PLATFORM | ZPA Clientless Access | $86.40 / user / yr | Browser-based access to private apps without the device client. Useful for contractors and unmanaged devices. |
| ZDX-ADVANCED | ZDX Advanced | $60 / user / yr | Digital experience monitoring across the user-to-app path. ZDX Advanced Plus is filed at $120. |
| ZS-DP-1 / ZS-CTP-1 | Zscaler Data Protection / Inline Cyber Threat Protection | $60 / user / yr each | The DLP and inline threat-protection lines, priced separately from the base platform seat. |
Source: CDW Limited's filed pricing document for its Zscaler service on the UK G-Cloud 15 framework, column headed "GCloud 15 Partner Price $: 1 Year Term", meter "Per User Per Year", document dated 19 January 2026 and downloaded 26 September 2026. These are a reseller's framework prices, not Zscaler's own list, and they are quoted in US dollars in the filing. Browser-isolation SKUs are filed higher again: Zero Trust Browser Advance at $120 and Cyber Browser Isolation Unlimited at $180 per user per year.
Zscaler's own AWS Marketplace prices
Zscaler, Inc. is the seller of record on these listings, which makes them the closest thing to a vendor-published price. They are packaged fixed-seat editions, not per-module rates, and most enterprises negotiate a custom bundle below them.
| Listing dimension | Edition as published | Seats | Published 12-month price | Per user / year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZS_BIZ_ED_50 | Zscaler for Users Business Edition | 50 | $15,750 | $315 |
| (Zero Trust Platform) | Zscaler Zero Trust Platform | 50 | $20,000 | $400 |
| ZS_TFORM_ED_500 | Zscaler for Users Transformation Edition | 500 | $312,000 | $624 |
| ZPA_TFORM_500_ED | ZPA Transformation Edition | 500 min. | $155,000 | $310 |
Source: Zscaler's own AWS Marketplace listings, seller of record Zscaler, Inc., checked 26 September 2026. The 12-month prices and seat counts are as published; the per-user column is our arithmetic dividing each listing by its own stated seat count, shown so you can redo it. AWS shows no price-effective date, so the check date is the only provenance available. Packaged editions run higher per user than the single-module SKUs above because they bundle multiple products. Zscaler also publishes a term ladder on these listings: up to 10% off on 24 months and up to 17% off on 36 months.
Annual licensing at three sizes, from the filed rates
This is our arithmetic over the published G-Cloud per-user rates above, not a survey of what buyers pay. Every input is visible so you can change it and redo the sum.
| Seats | At $120 / user / yr (Essential Platform) | At $240 / user / yr (Zscaler Platform) |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | $12,000 | $24,000 |
| 500 | $60,000 | $120,000 |
| 2,000 | $240,000 | $480,000 |
Seats multiplied by the two filed platform rates from the G-Cloud table above. Nothing here is a survey of actual spend, and we make no claim about what Zscaler sells at: it is the published rate times a seat count, at list, before any negotiated discount. Add-on SKUs (data protection, threat protection, browser isolation, ZDX) are separate line items on top, and professional services are quoted separately again. Large estates negotiate materially below list, so treat the right-hand column as a ceiling.
Where the bill spirals
The per-user headline is rarely the whole bill. Four cost centres sit outside the base seat price and account for most quote-versus-renewal surprises.
Add-on modules. Cloud Sandbox, Advanced Threat Protection, DLP, CASB, Browser Isolation and threat intelligence are commonly priced on top of the base ZIA or ZPA seat. A quote that looks competitive on the base module can land well above a rival once the modules you actually need are added back in.
Bandwidth and inspection overages. Contracts assume a traffic volume. Exceed it and per-unit overage charges apply. High-inspection environments (full SSL decryption everywhere) consume more than planners expect.
The renewal cliff is structural. Zscaler publishes its own term ladder on AWS Marketplace, up to 10% off for 24 months and up to 17% off for 36 months, so the discount is explicitly bought with term length. That is the mechanism: the concession is front-loaded against a fixed term, and when the term ends the discount has nothing left to buy. Negotiate the renewal uplift cap into the original contract, not at renewal when you have lost leverage and the platform is embedded.
Services and engineering time. Deployment, tunnel configuration, policy migration from legacy proxies or VPN, and POP routing require professional services plus internal engineering hours that never appear on the per-user line.
Compare before you commit
Zscaler is a premium SSE platform. Depending on what you actually need, a focused ZTNA tool or an identity-led stack can cost materially less.
Zscaler pricing questions
How much does Zscaler cost per user?
What are Zscaler's bundles and editions?
Where does the Zscaler bill spiral?
Is Zscaler cheaper than running a VPN?
How do you negotiate Zscaler down?
Zscaler, ZIA and ZPA are trademarks of Zscaler, Inc. ZeroTrustCost.com is an independent pricing reference and is not affiliated with, authorised by, sponsored by, or endorsed by any vendor named on this page. Product and company names are used for identification, commentary and price comparison only (nominative fair use).
- AWS Marketplace, Zscaler Zero Trust Platform (sold by Zscaler, Inc.; ZS_BIZ_ED_50 at $15,750 and ZS_TFORM_ED_500 at $312,000 per 12 months, Zero Trust Platform 50 users at $20,000, plus the 24- and 36-month term-discount ladder). https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/prodview-fvp3rhgc5nvi6
- AWS Marketplace, Zscaler Private Access (sold by Zscaler, Inc.; ZPA_TFORM_500_ED Transformation Edition at $155,000 per 12-month contract, minimum 500 subscribed users). https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/prodview-337panuxzzx3o
- CDW Limited, UK G-Cloud 15 filed pricing document for Zscaler (per-user-per-year rates by SKU; column header GCloud 15 Partner Price $, 1 Year Term). https://www.applytosupply.digitalmarketplace.service.gov.uk/g-cloud/services/636203087846435
- Zscaler, official Pricing and Plans page (confirms Zscaler publishes no per-user rate card on its own site and routes buyers to a quote). https://www.zscaler.com/pricing-and-plans
Every price on this page was read off the linked marketplace listing or framework filing on 26 September 2026. Zscaler publishes no per-user rate card on its own website, but it does publish fixed-seat prices on AWS Marketplace as seller of record, and its reseller catalogue is filed per user per year on UK G-Cloud 15; this page uses those and nothing else. Figures are attributed to the surface they appear on, not to Zscaler as a selling price, and all of them move with negotiation, region, term and product mix.