Zluri vs Trelica: Which SaaS Management Platform Is Better?

‍When organizations expand, their SaaS stack also grows, and managing it manually can be problematic. Fortunately, platforms like Zluri and Trelica are available to streamline the SaaS management process without any hassle. However, one SMP is enough to handle the entire process. So which one should you prefer? To help you decide, we’ve compared Zluri vs Trelica in detail.

Zluri and Trelica are widely-recognized SMPs designed to help your team — monitor SaaS usage, control SaaS spend, minimize SaaS app risks, and automate license/contract management. Although both offer similar functionalities, the methods and strategies they use differ. What are these differences? Which one is better- Zluri vs Trelica, for your organization? Let’s find out.

Zluri vs Trelica: Comparison Based On Different Parameters

Below, we’ve differentiated Zluri vs Trelica based on different parameters. These insights can help you determine which SaaS management platform is more appropriate for your organization's needs.

1: Zluri Vs Trelica: Methods Used For SaaS Application Discovery Comparision

SaaS management platforms make use of distinct discovery methods to detect SaaS applications in your organizations. So let’s find out which one among Zluri vs Trelica offers better discovering capabilities.

• Zluri’s SaaS management platform uses 9 distinct discovery methods to identify all the applications present within your SaaS ecosystem. It also provides real-time insights about your SaaS apps, such as whether they are managed or unmanaged (which means whether they are approved by IT teams or not), restricted, need review (not yet approved under observations), app owner, source, and more. 

In fact, all these SaaS apps are presented in a centralized location, making it easier for IT teams to gain 100% visibility into SaaS apps.

Here are the 9 discovery methods and how they work:

1: SSOs & IdPs: Zluri integrates with SSO and IdP systems such as Okta and Google Workspace and collects different data types. SSO serves as a centralized access point, providing all the data about which apps users access. 

Further, IdP maintains a record of user access permissions and interactions. By consolidating user identity information, IdP helps understand the organization's usage of SaaS apps. SSO and IdP contribute to SaaS discovery by providing a complete view of user logins, access permissions, and interactions. This integration allows your team to easily identify all the SaaS applications in use.

2: Finance & expense management systems: Zluri integrates with finance and expense management tools, such as Netsuite and QuickBooks, to collect data like — information about SaaS apps purchased by users using corporate cards or on their personal cards. These transaction details further help find out which applications are being purchased. 

Also, Zluri allows you to manually upload the transaction data by uploading a CSV file. However, the result will be generated based on the uploaded data. 

3: Direct integration (optional): Through direct integration, Zluri retrieves information directly from the source, capturing details about usage patterns, user access, and app usage. This direct integration allows your team to identify all SaaS apps in use, offering a comprehensive view of the organization's SaaS stack.

4: Desktop agents (optional): Through desktop agents, Zluri collects details such as apps installed, app sign-in and sign-out, and apps running in the background. Zluri's desktop agents, residing in the computer's toolbar, read SaaS usage and activities. They then transmit this data to the Zluri server for in-depth analysis, aiding in the identification of all SaaS apps used across the organization.

5: Browser agents: Zluri integrates with browser agents that contribute to SaaS app discovery by collecting data directly from web browsers. These methods track user interactions, capturing details such as visited websites, active browser tabs, and accessed SaaS apps. By analyzing browser activities, your team gains complete visibility into web-based tools and applications in use. 

6: MDM (Mobile Device Management) platforms: Zluri tracks the apps installed on mobile devices by integrating with MDM platforms. This discovery method helps identify the SaaS apps accessed via devices, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of the SaaS app landscape.

7: CASB (Cloud Access Security Broker) platforms: Zluri monitors data flows between your organization and its cloud services by integrating CASB platforms. This helps ensure everything is safe and follows the rules. Along the way, CASB platforms identify all the different SaaS apps users access. This provides a clear picture of what apps are being used in the cloud, helping your team keep track of them.

8: HRMS (Human Resource Management System) platforms: Zluri integrates with HRMS, which helps in SaaS app discovery by managing user data, including software access and usage information. By integrating with HRMS systems, your team gains insights into the apps users utilize. This helps identify SaaS apps associated with workforce productivity and collaboration.

9: Active Directories: Active Directory helps in SaaS app discovery by serving as a centralized directory for user data and permissions within an organization. It keeps a record of who has access to what. When Zluri integrates with Active Directory, it provides insights into user logins and access patterns. This helps your team identify which SaaS applications your users are using.

• Trelica relies on only 3 discovery methods to provide your team with SaaS app insights. These methods include:

1: Identity Providers & SSO integration: Trelica also integrates with identity providers like Okta and Microsoft Entra ID (Google Workspace) to gather SaaS app insights. But, even with this integration, they only provide information about — which SaaS apps are being accessed, by whom, and how often.

2: Finance system connectivity: It integrates with finance systems such as Sage Intacct, Expensify, and NetSuite and detects spend insights. Based on this spending data, it finds out which apps users are paying for, which further helps uncover apps being used within the organization.

3: Browser extension: This discovery method helps identify apps that users use in free trial versions and that are not yet linked to IdP.

Zluri’s discovery methods provide detailed information about your SaaS apps compared to Trelica.

2: Shadow IT Identification Procedure Comparison Of Zluri Vs Trelica

Shadow IT occurs when users use SaaS apps that IT teams are unaware of. This blind spot opens the door to security risks and disrupts the entire SaaS management process. Fortunately, tools like Zluri and Trelica help identify shadow IT, but they use different approaches. Let’s find out how the Zluri vs Trelica approach varies. 

• Zluri’s SaaS management solution is not restricted to detecting IT-approved SaaS applications only; it also helps identify shadow IT apps. With its intelligent discovery engine, Zluri’s SMP ensures that every single SaaS app within the organization is revealed – leaving no room for shadow IT to crawl around.
• Meanwhile, Trelica falls short when it comes to identifying shadow IT, as it relies on just 3 discovery methods. While these methods are useful, but not to that extent, as it does not uncover all the sources of shadow IT. This limited visibility further makes it difficult to properly manage SaaS apps and exposes them to major security risks.

3: Zluri Vs Trelica SaaS App Security & Compliance Management Difference

SaaS app security and compliance are two critical aspects that cannot be overlooked. These two key elements decide how safe your data is from breaches and whether you will face any compliance issues or non-compliance penalties. Let’s find out how Zluri vs Trelica helps with the security and compliance management of the SaaS app.

• Zluri uses distinct ways to protect your SaaS apps and data from security vulnerabilities. These methods include –

• Creates A Layer Of Protection For SaaS Applications 

Zluri ensures that only authorized users can access your SaaS apps and that their data remains secure. To do so, it enforces various access control security policies, such as role-based access control, the principle of least privilege, just-in-time access control, and more. It also ensures that whenever users try to access highly sensitive apps, they are verified by IT teams beforehand, leaving no scope for unauthorized access attempts.

Zluri immediately sends real-time alerts to IT teams if any unauthorized user tries to access apps. This allows IT teams to take preventive actions or strategic initiatives to safeguard SaaS apps from cyber attack.

• Shows the SaaS App’s Risk & Threat score

But that's not all. Zluri also considers the other way around—' what if a SaaS app is risky for the organization?'

Zluri's SMP addresses this issue by implementing a strategy: When applications are procured, it instantly assigns them a risk and threat score—the higher the score, the greater the risk. These scores show how risky an app can be and what level of threats it can pose. 

With these details, your team can further manage highly risky apps by restricting their use or giving a limited group of users access to them. This approach helps ensure that such applications don't jeopardize organizations' critical data.

• Show the SaaS App’s Compliance Status

This single platform also shows which compliance regulations each SaaS application meets. This way, you can ensure you only use SaaS apps that align with regulations, keeping your organization safe from compliance violations.

• Trelica, on the other hand, safeguards SaaS apps from potential breaches by mandating users to authenticate themselves using OAuth2, SAML2, username, or password prior to accessing any app. This helps ensure that only verified users gain access to apps, and no others can. In case any unauthorized user tries to access the SaaS apps and fails in their authentication attempts, Trelica shows this data in app audit logs. IT teams can later review these logs and restrict those users' access to prevent future breaches.

Although it is helpful, since it does not give instant alerts, IT teams can miss opportunities to take immediate action. This delay can further compromise SaaS app security.

Also, Trelica does not have a dedicated solution or tool that provides details about the risk score, threats score, and compliance status of SaaS apps, unlike Zluri.

4: Zluri Vs Trelica Management Of SaaS Licenses, Contracts, & Renewals Comparison

Every SaaS management platform has a unique way of managing SaaS licenses, contracts, and renewals differently. Let’s find out how Zluri vs Trelica management methods differ.

License & Contract Management

• Zluri’s SMP displays all the SaaS app license, subscriptions, and contracts and their details all in one centralized dashboard in an organized way. It provides information like — the total number of licenses, subscriptions, and contracts, its type, assigned license, unassigned license, their costs, vendor, and more. With the help of these deep insights, IT teams can further effectively manage SaaS licenses, subscriptions, and contracts. Apart from providing a detailed view, Zluri’s SMP also performs the following tasks:

• Rightsize To Suitable Tier

Zluri’s SMP accurately detects duplicate and underutilized app licenses. With the help of these findings, IT teams can further remove those licenses and downgrade to a suitable tier. This way, you can ensure you only pay for the license you genuinely need.

However, suppose you don’t want to perform this task manually. In that case, you can set actions, and Zluri’s auto-reclaim feature will automatically reclaim or downgrade the license based on predefined usage threshold policies. 

• Predicts Your License Needs

Zluri’s SMP makes use of powerful historical analysis and predictive models to estimate future license requirements. This prediction enables IT teams to proactively set budgets for SaaS licenses, minimizing uncertainties and ensuring optimal license allocation.

• Meanwhile, Trelica also organizes and displays all the SaaS license and contract details, such as the number of licenses and contracts, units, utilization (spare and unused licenses), total cost, and more, in one place.

However, unlike Zluri, it does not offer deeper insights, such as who the vendor is, what the cost of one license is, and what source it comes from. This means IT teams have to do their own research to get detailed insights about licenses and contracts to manage them effectively.

• Analyzes Actual Utilization Of Purchase License

Trelica leverages 100s of app connectors to analyze the actual utilization of purchase licenses. This analysis helps remove unused and underutilized SaaS licenses.

• Simplifies Contract Management Via AI-Powered Ability

In addition, to make contract management easier, it converts messy contractual data into structured and clear data with its AI-powered contract data extraction feature. This simplified data version helps your company understand more clearly what is allowed to do with a license, allowing your team to manage SaaS licenses more effectively.

SaaS Renewal Management

• Zluri’s SMP offers a ‘renewal calendar’ that presents all renewal information month-wise—like which license needs to be renewed and how much needs to be paid—in one place. It also notifies your assigned team via email or Slack about upcoming renewals well in advance, preventing any unexpected lapses in service.

By default, the system alerts you about contract renewals 30, 15, 7, and 1 day beforehand. For payments, you receive alerts 7 and 1 day prior to renewal (you can customize the alerts according to your needs). 

Auto-renewals can be convenient in certain solutions, but it’s crucial to review SaaS licenses that involve significant investment. So, Zluri’s SMP allows you to turn off the auto-renew option to give you control over your renewals. This way, your team can review each renewal properly before proceeding with payments.

• Trelica also offers a ‘calendar’ that displays all the renewal details month-wise, making it easier to manage renewals. It also notifies your teams about upcoming renewals via email and Slack. The only difference is that, by default, Trelica sends alerts  14, 60, and 90 days prior to the renewal date.

5: Zluri vs Trelica: Ways Used For SaaS Spend Optimization & Management Comparison

You need to optimize and manage your SaaS spend to get a return on investment. To help you do so, Zluri and Trelica offer unique solutions. Let’s find out what are these unique solutions and how Zluri vs Trelica’s solutions differ:

• Zluri’s SMP makes use of different tools and strategies to manage and optimize SaaS spend, some of which are mentioned below:

• Offers Optimization Summary 

Zluri’s SMP offers cost optimization summary functionality that shows you — how much you can potentially save, where you can save, and where you are spending your significant budget— all in a centralized location. Your teams can review these details and accordingly make informed decisions to optimize SaaS spend.

• Reveals Hidden Costs

Zluri’s SMP also helps identify hidden costs by providing your team with cost and actual spend (YTD) data. Your team just needs to calculate the difference between these two, and they will get the accurate hidden expense data automatically. With this expense data, your team can gain a better understanding of the overall expenses related to app usage across different departments.

• Reconcile True-Ups With Contract Costs

Zluri ensures that true-ups match the contracted costs based on actual usage, keeping everything in line with the contract terms at set intervals.

• Provides ROI Calculator

Zluri’s SMP also offers an ROI calculator that helps estimate the savings on SaaS spending, which can be made by discovering redundant and shadow IT apps and removing them.

• On the other hand, Trelica uses another set of strategies to save on SaaS spend. For example

• Identifies Overlapping Usage Of App

Trelica detects redundant applications (apps with similar features) and eliminates them to save on SaaS spend.

• Tracks Down Applications License Used By Inactive Users

It integrates with Identity Providers and HRIS to find licenses assigned to departing or inactive users. Using these insights, IT teams can reclaim their licenses or reassign them to new users to optimize SaaS spend.

• Provides Reports On Savings

Trelica generates reports demonstrating in real-time how much money has been saved and how the cost reductions were made. This gives you a clear picture of the return on investment (ROI) you are getting.

Opt For A SaaS Management Platform That Aligns With Your Evolving Needs

When choosing between Zluri vs Trelica SaaS management platforms, you must consider factors such as your budget, organization size, and specific requirements. 

For instance, if your top priority is to have complete visibility into your SaaS stack, Zluri’s SaaS management solution is perfect for you. On the other hand, if your focus is to clearly understand your SaaS contracts, then Trelica can be a better option. 

Nevertheless, both platforms (Zluri vs Trelica) excel in different areas, so it’s up to you to decide which one meets the criteria of your ideal SaaS management platform.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What Is The Difference Between SaaS App Licenses & SaaS App Subscriptions?

You just have to pay once to get a SaaS app license, and you will get permanent access to it; however, if there is an update, you might have to pay extra charges. Meanwhile, you need to pay a fee regularly (monthly or annually) to get a SaaS app subscription. As long as you pay the software subscription fee on time, you will be able to access the SaaS app without interruption. Also, updates and support fees are often included in the subscription fee, so you don’t have to worry about paying extra; they’re all included in the subscription fee.

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