No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Aruba VPN vs Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Aruba VPN
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
33rd
Average Rating
5.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Secure Client (includ...
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
79
Ranking in other categories
SSL VPN (3rd), ZTNA as a Service (13th), Cisco Security Portfolio (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of Aruba VPN is 0.8%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) is 5.1%, down from 6.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect)5.1%
Aruba VPN0.8%
Other94.1%
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
 

Featured Reviews

Prashant-Patel - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Presales Consultant - Networking Solutions at Mannai
A highly scalable solution that can be used to access corporate resources anywhere in the world
Currently, the connections on Aruba VPN are robust and the fastest. As it is a lighter client, it does not put any pressure or heavy connections. It's all about how much internet connection you have. Your VPN connection will work faster based on your internet connection. The authentication with Aruba VPN is faster and takes around five milliseconds. You need two or three engineers to deploy and maintain the solution at the start of a project. However, once it is set up, only one person is needed to do it. I would recommend Aruba VPN to other users. If someone has a workforce working from home or traveling, then Aruba VPN is the right solution for them. Overall, I rate Aruba VPN ten out of ten.
AS
Manager - Projects at airtel
Offers work-from-anywhere flexibility but navigates occasional proxy confusion
The analytics I downloaded from your site as a free download did not carry the information that was actually required. I was looking at the market segmentation and market share, along with some USPs which differentiated them from each other. The free download had two issues: many things were repetitive, and it was designed to not release any relevant information. Only headers were present, so I was not able to determine whether the final report would be worthwhile. I have not worked with enterprise tools that I could share feedback on for website publication. I see benefits from using Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect). However, I would not recommend it because future adoptions will be towards Zscaler, as SSC is a better model than VPN. On a scale of 1-10, I rate this solution a 7.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The initial setup was straightforward."
"Aruba VPN is lighter on machines, and users don't feel any difference in having these items installed on their PCs or laptops."
"Aruba VPN’s stability was okay."
"What I like the most about Aruba VPN is that it's great for companies with diverse network needs."
"The solution provides seamless connectivity to the VPN without delay when you have a good internet connection."
"Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client is an excellent tool, easy to configure, and adapted to different devices, such as PCs, phones, tablets, etc., from both the IT administrator and the end user's perspective."
"The installation process is not difficult."
"The multifactor authentication enhances security posture, and integrating our internal application for authentication was easy."
"It utilizes certificates, which allows for automatic setup."
"AnyConnect is more stable than any other VPN connection, in my experience."
"The solution is stable and reliable."
"I like the ability to share the connections or simply to be able to pass the credentials for a connection to other colleagues without bothering too much about the connection being tracked or about security, because each and every user will require a secret password, so I don't really care about sending the details; it is very secure."
 

Cons

"There is room for improvement from the solution's security point of view."
"They could release product updates more frequently."
"When around 100 to 300 users tried to connect at the beginning of the day, the appliance would crash, and the users would not be able to connect."
"It should address issues that are vital to maintaining the company's reputation."
"Behavior analytics and other newer technologies should be integrated into the solution."
"Setting up Cisco Secure Client, especially when using certificates, is quite a job and complicated."
"Complicated scenarios are difficult to deploy. On a scale from one to ten, with one being the most difficult, I'd give a rating of between two and three for the initial setup."
"Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client can be improved by having better speed and reliability. However, the speed and reliability are already really good."
"It should implement something like a kill switch."
"All Cisco equipment tends to be expensive compared to newer options from other vendors."
"The cost could always be a bit less."
"Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client would be perfect if it weren't for the fingerprint feature."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Customers need to buy a VPN client license."
"We do not have to purchase a separate license for Aruba VPN; it is included in the ClearPass package."
"The solution is reasonably priced and costs $600 for a five-year license in our scenario."
"I am using a paid version of Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client."
"We pay for an annual subscription. Additionally to the subscription, we thought in order to connect this solution to the Active Directory we had to purchase a Cisco ACS, Access Control System. It turns out we did not actually need it."
"The initial cost is the ASA and other items, but after that, it is relatively inexpensive."
"I would rate the pricing for the license of Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client around four to five out of ten. It's not the cheapest option, but it's also not overly expensive."
"Sometimes there is a problem with the number of licenses for the end-user. The number of concurrent users is limited due to a valid license."
"There is a license needed to use this solution. There are different licensing models available, such as a three-year license."
"We are in the North African region, and Cisco products are expensive for us. On a scale from one to ten with one being very affordable and ten being expensive, I'd rate the price at eight."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Enterprise Infrastructure VPN solutions are best for your needs.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise49
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?
Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) is somewhat expensive compared to others such as Fortinet or Palo Alto, which provide free VPN when the firewall is purchased. Palo Alto and Fortinet prov...
What needs improvement with Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?
There are no features that I wish Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) had that it does not currently provide. If I could change one thing about it, I would have no changes to suggest.
What is your primary use case for Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?
I primarily use Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) for VPN connections and network-related activities. We have Cisco APIs and Cisco VPN that serve as the foundation for our operations. As a...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
MST, Molina Healthcare, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, Arup, New South Wales Rural FireService
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba VPN vs. Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.