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Aruba VPN vs Fortinet FortiClient comparison

 

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
34th
Average Rating
5.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiClient
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
102
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (8th), Endpoint Compliance (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of Aruba VPN is 0.7%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiClient is 4.7%, down from 11.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiClient4.7%
Aruba VPN0.7%
Other94.6%
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
 

Featured Reviews

Zoltán Nagy - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Technology Infrastructure Manager at Provident Pénzügyi Zrt.
The appliance would crash because of the large number of connections, but its stability was fine
We purchased a relatively small Aruba VPN appliance. Unfortunately, it was not a well-designed VPN appliance product. I think the vendor did not provide us with the best solution. At that time, the world and our company faced the first COVID lockdown, and everybody had to work from home. During this time, the small VPN appliance was overwhelmed by the number of connections, and we experienced many issues. Firstly, it turned out that the firmware was buggy. 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. We had to escalate the issue to the manufacturer, and they had to release new firmware to resolve the problem, which took around one week. As you can imagine, during the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone had to work from home, and we were struggling to connect to the VPN because of the firmware bug. It took Aruba at least one week to resolve the issue. Another major pain point we faced was with the VPN client. At the time, we were using the Windows 7 operating system on the client machines. Unfortunately, we could not identify the precise circumstances in which the Aruba VPN client could not establish a connection. This was very, very disappointing for us and caused a lot of problems for our department. We had around 500 to 600 users who wanted to connect, and at least 50 to 60 users, or about 10% of the users, were unable to connect each day due to this anomaly. We were not able to identify the root cause of the problem. We collected and provided all the logs that the local support partner requested. Unfortunately, neither the Hungarian local support partner nor the Aruba headquarters could identify the root cause of how and why the Aruba VPN client could not establish a connection. So, it felt like a bad spot. Each day, users were praying to connect over the VPN and to be able to work that day. Aruba VPN sometimes worked, and sometimes it didn't. We were very disappointed and had to switch to a different supplier as soon as possible. We switched to a Cisco product and were very satisfied with the Cisco VPN.
KL
Senior Technical Manager at Flexaccel
Remote access has become seamless and secure while deployment remains simple for our users
Performance could be improved today. People are now moving toward SASE, which stands for Secure Access, Secure Edge Solution. Fortinet also has that offering, which would be easier since it operates through the cloud, acting as a first line of defense. When the user connects to the internet, they connect to the cloud first for posture assessment and monitoring before connecting to the outside world. The impact is significant because nowadays people are adopting SASE. During COVID time, many users were trying to connect back to their office, causing the performance or CPU utilization of the firewall to increase tremendously, which slowed down performance. I have not worked with endpoint telemetry in Fortinet FortiClient that could have been helpful for threat mitigation.

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."
"What I like the most about Aruba VPN is that it's great for companies with diverse network needs."
"Aruba VPN’s stability was okay."
"It's easy to use, easy to deploy, and I have more visibility over my network that shows which users are connected to the firewalls, which users are connected to the network, and what they're accessing."
"FortiClient's most valuable features are that it's fast and safe."
"Technical support is quite impressive and available 24/7."
"This is a solution that I recommend."
"We mainly use this solution because we have many Fortinet solutions like antivirus and SSL assessment."
"The most valuable feature of FortiClient is its user-friendly interface that allows easy navigation and access to all endpoint devices."
"I think the solution is highly scalable."
"The most valuable feature is the single pane of glass, single point of management."
 

Cons

"They could release product updates more frequently."
"It should address issues that are vital to maintaining the company's reputation."
"There is room for improvement from the solution's security point of view."
"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."
"The solution has some stability issues on the user side but is improving."
"Sometimes users stay on the old version of FortiClient. When new releases are not compatible, I need to reinstall newer versions, which can be problematic."
"I would like to see endpoint detection and response included."
"The software inventory part is not yet up-to-date. It doesn't have a great interface, which is a disadvantage. I wish we could leverage it, but we don't use it at all because it's not that reliable."
"It just needs to stay more up to date in catching the malware."
"Initially, the support was very poor."
"The connectivity could be improved."
"The cost of FortiClient could be better."
 

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."
"An annual license costs about 1.5 to 3,000 US dollars. There are no additional costs."
"Licensing was free up to ten users and after that, it was pretty reasonable."
"The price of the solution depends on the type of firewall you have from FortiGate. I am satisfied with the price of the solution."
"FortiClient is costly."
"The price is reasonable compared to competitors, it is very good."
"Fortinet FortiClient comes free with the purchase of the FortiGate solution. There is a license required for this solution. You later can upgrade from the free version which will allow more endpoints. The cost of the license subscription is based on how many endpoints you require."
"The solution is not expensive. We need more discounted rates in Pakistan. The price of the solution could be reduced to be more affordable for the solution."
"It is not that expensive. It was within the range. A dollar per user per month is nothing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business59
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise25
 

Questions from the Community

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How does Fortinet FortiClient compare with Open VPN Access Server?
Fortinet FortiClient is a feature-rich solution that is easy to use and deploy without sacrificing safety and security. It has a very fast connection rate and has a built-in VPN. With this solution...
What's the difference between Fortinet's FortiEDR and FortiClient?
I suggest Fortinet’s FortiEDR over FortiClient for several reasons. For starters, FortiEDR guarantees solid protection because it continually scans servers for emerging vulnerabilities, which gives...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiClient?
The solution is not cloud-based; it comes from the firewall itself.
 

Also Known As

No data available
FortiClient
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba VPN vs. Fortinet FortiClient and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.