BMC Helix Client Management vs Fortinet FortiClient comparison

BMC Helix Client Management vs. Fortinet FortiClient

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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

BMC Helix Client Management

Ranking in Endpoint Compliance

6th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Mobile Device Management (MDM) (7th)

Fortinet FortiClient

Ranking in Endpoint Compliance

1st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

102

Ranking in other categories

Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (12th), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2025, in the Endpoint Compliance category, the mindshare of BMC Helix Client Management is 6.4%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiClient is 21.3%, down from 31.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Endpoint Compliance Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Fortinet FortiClient	21.3%
BMC Helix Client Management	6.4%
Other	72.3%

Endpoint Compliance

Featured Reviews

Ahmad ADNAN

Senior Account Executive at FDS

Efficient remote control capabilities; compliance features greatly reduced customers' licensing costs

The on-premises version of BMC Client Management has powerful remote control functionality and decent compliance features, but these features both rely on the discovery tool in order to gain a complete set of insights about the endpoint's environment. Now, BMC's discovery solution depends on having an agent installed in each endpoint and sometimes the agent doesn't work properly, making it difficult to get an accurate understanding of the environment (including special topologies) even with BMC's discovery tool. This can be a pain when it comes to the area of compliance, since you might not have full access to everything running in the organization, including important infrastructural components such as servers and databases. For example, some endpoints may have gotten their software updates from servers not visible to the discovery tool, and this can further impact operations when it comes to patch management. Compare this scenario with the way Red Hat handles patch management: their software is always updated from the main patch providers, so you will always know what is running on the endpoints in this kind of environment. Although their endpoint management has its pros and cons, this is where BMC Client Management is at a bit of a disadvantage and I believe they need to improve on this area. Another area BMC could look into improving is the mobile device side of client management. It has lots of support for Microsoft products in terms of client management, but lacks comprehensive mobile device management support, such as for Android devices.

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Kok Keong-Low

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.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"BMC Client Management is a stable solution and one of the best in the market. It allows me to manage all recipe endpoints, including iOS, Android, Linux, Unix, and Windows, all within the same solution."

"The support from BMC Client Management is very good."

"The most valuable features of the solution are its patching capabilities and the help it offers when it comes to use cases, like prompting for the reboot after a certain period of time."

"One feature I like, that was especially valuable during the pandemic, is remote control. Remote control grants administrators and support personnel access to the laptops and PCs of employees (who might be working from home) in order to fix any issues that come up as and when they come up, even without having to wait for a support request."

"It's a scalable solution. We have deployed it for customers using 3000 nodes to those using 300,000 nodes."

"The inventory and patch management tools are very valuable."

"The most valuable features of the solution are patch management and software license management."

"Starting from FortiGate and from the EMS server, you have to begin at the endpoint, and that's the most useful thing about using FortiClient."

"Fortinet FortiClient is not disruptive, and its interface is great. It has an in-built VPN, which is very useful."

"It seems to be more scalable than we thought."

"The most valuable features of FortiClient are its VPN capabilities and its use as an anti-malware and anti-spam solution."

"From my perspective as an end user, it's consistently stable, and I would rate the stability as a nine out of ten."

"The centralized management dashboard is also a good feature."

"The most valuable features are malware detection, integrates well with other solutions, and ease of use for all users."

"This solution makes it easier to work from home."

More Fortinet FortiClient pros

Cons

"The solution does not offer the functionality of remote access to users."

"It would be good if BMC Client Management can perform vulnerability assessment scanning at the endpoint on its own and mitigate that. Then, we wouldn't have to rely on a third party VA tool. I would like to see this application move to being a web-based one."

"The solution needs to add whitelisting because many customers request it."

"The on-premises version of BMC Client Management has powerful remote control functionality and decent compliance features, but these features both rely on the discovery tool in order to gain a complete set of insights about the endpoint's environment. Now, BMC's discovery solution depends on having an agent installed in each endpoint and sometimes the agent doesn't work properly, making it difficult to get an accurate understanding of the environment (including special topologies) even with BMC's discovery tool."

"BMC Client Management could improve in the area of integration."

"In BMC Client Management, I would like to see more features for executing commands remotely. For example, with SAP, there isn't the capability to execute all the commands available in the console. The latest version includes more endpoints, but they do not cover everything the operations team needs. Additionally, I think improving the hierarchy for managing endpoints is crucial. Extending the endpoint capabilities would be highly beneficial."

"BMC Client Management supports only iOS devices. It would be good if they would support Android as well."

"I don't think FortiClient is bad, but it's very buggy. We ran into some issues with the EMS, which amounted to more than 10 cases last year."

"The tool becomes slow occasionally, and this should be improved."

"The solution has some issues with stability on the user side."

"FortiClient is not communicating with the new version of the firewall."

"The pricing is not cheaper compared to competitors. For price satisfaction, it rates at seven out of ten and could be improved."

"The user interface is a bit sluggish and needs improvement."

"It would be interesting if the solution offered a way to try to investigate and create a use case to trace vectors."

"The quality and response time of the support team must be improved."

More Fortinet FortiClient cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"BMC Client Management is a very affordable solution. There is one main server license which I believe is around $1,000 per year, and then there is the license for the actual solution. With the solution license, you can opt for a suite license where you get access to all the features and benefits, or alternatively you can buy any of the five main components of the suite license individually."

"BMC Client Management is a high-priced solution, but given its performance and capabilities, I think it offers great value. I don't have the exact number for the yearly licensing costs. I believe there is an additional cost of around two hundred dollars."

"The solution is low cost."

"To use BMC Client Management they charge annually per node."

"Fortinet requires you to buy a lot of product in order for you to have proper protection."

"The solution is more cost efficient than Cisco, as FortiGate tends not to charge for the client license, which allows one to make free use of whatever is supported on the device."

"The price of the solution depends on the type of firewall you have from FortiGate. I am satisfied with the price of the solution."

"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 pricing is good because you get and end-to-end security solution in one package price."

"FortiClient is quite reasonably priced."

"FortiClient is costly."

"Its pricing is good. One thing that has always attracted us to the Fortinet range of products is that their pricing is very competitive. Our particular licensing is on a yearly basis. However, as part of this project, we did pre-purchase three years of maintenance and support at a fairly significant discount."

More Fortinet FortiClient pricing and cost advice

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879,371 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

14%

Retailer

12%

Government

12%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	59
Midsize Enterprise	23
Large Enterprise	25

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BMC Client Management?

BMC Client Management is a high-priced solution, but given its performance and capabilities, I think it offers great value. I don't have the exact number for the yearly licensing costs. I believe t...

What needs improvement with BMC Client Management?

In BMC Client Management, I would like to see more features for executing commands remotely. For example, with SAP, there isn't the capability to execute all the commands available in the console. ...

What is your primary use case for BMC Client Management?

The most common use cases for BMC Client Management among my clients include managing inventory and deployment of a software package.

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 do you like most about Fortinet FortiClient?

The product is user-friendly.

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Product Reports

Mobile Device Management (MDM)

Download BMC Helix Client Management product report

Fortinet FortiClient

Download Fortinet FortiClient product report

Also Known As

BMC Helix Client Management, Helix Client Management, BMC Fromdistance Mobile Device Management

FortiClient

Overview

BMC Helix Client Management offers robust systems management capabilities, focusing on patch management, software licensing, and remote administrative access, crucial for compliance and security.

BMC Helix Client Management enables efficient endpoint management across diverse systems with features like software deployment, inventory control, and compliance management. Offering stable performance, the SaaS version excels in supporting IT managers in regulatory compliance while managing thousands of endpoints. Users find the remote control feature exceptionally useful in remote work settings, facilitating updates and issue resolution seamlessly. There is a growing demand for enhancements such as Linux and Android support, improved integration, and mobile device management. Additionally, clients suggest the inclusion of vulnerability assessment, better agent reliability, application whitelisting, and refined remote command execution capabilities.

What are the key features of BMC Helix Client Management?

Patch Management: Streamlines deployment and updates to ensure security compliance.
Software License Management: Optimizes usage and adheres to licensing agreements.
Remote Control Access: Facilitates remote troubleshooting and updates without delays.
Inventory Management: Provides comprehensive oversight of software assets.
Compliance Management: Assists in maintaining regulatory standards across endpoints.

What benefits should users expect from BMC Helix Client Management?

Cost Reduction: Enhances operational efficiency and license use, leading to cost savings.
Management Efficiency: Simplifies overseeing large endpoint environments.
Security Enhancement: Ensures strict compliance with security protocols, reducing risk.
Improved Support for Remote Work: Seamless updates and troubleshooting improve remote productivity.

In the tech-savvy industry, BMC Helix Client Management proves invaluable for IT managers tasked with software deployment and comprehensive endpoint oversight. Users in heavily regulated sectors leverage its capabilities for ensuring compliance and optimizing resource usage, ultimately driving management efficiency and reducing operational costs.

BMC Helix

FortiClient is a fabric agent that delivers endpoint protection, endpoint compliance, and secure access in a single, lightweight, lightweight client, providing visibility, information, and control to your endpoints. In addition, it enables secure, remote connectivity to the security fabric. It also integrates network and endpoint with segmentation and automation. FortiClient enables unified endpoint awareness by sharing endpoint telemetry with the security fabric. It is compatible with third-party EDR (endpoint detection and response and anti-malware solutions.

The FortiClient fabric agent can:

• Report on the status of a device, including firmware version and applications running.
• Send all suspicious files to a fabric sandbox.
• Enforce USB control, application control, URL filtering, and firmware upgrade policies.
• Provide application firewall service and malware protection.
• Enable devices to connect securely to the security fabric over either ZTNA tunnels or VPN (IPsec or SSL), both encrypted. The connection to the security fabric can be either a SASE service or a FortiGate next-generation firewall.

You can purchase FortiClient with one of three levels of capability:

Zero Trust security - The ZTNA edition enables both VPN and ZTNA encrypted tunnels, as well as USB device control and URL filtering.
Endpoint security - The EPP/APT edition adds AI-based NGAV (next-generation antivirus), application firewall, endpoint quarantine, and support for cloud sandbox.
Cloud-based endpoint security

Benefits and Features

• Fabric agent leverages integrations and provides telemetry information to the rest of the Fortinet security fabric.
• SAAS control and web/content filtering
• Dynamic access control helps with automation and simplifies compliance.
• Software inventory management enables visibility as well as management of licenses.
• Automated response detects and isolates any endpoints that may be compromised.
• ZTNA delivers better remote access and consistent application access policies
• Managed endpoint security services remotely assist with setup, configuration, deployment, vulnerability monitoring, and overall monitoring of endpoint security.

Reviews from Real Users:

PeerSpot users like that FortiClient is easy to use and integrates well with other solutions. They also appreciate the richness of its features and find it to be inexpensive in comparison to other products that require separate purchases for separate features.

Fortinet

Sample Customers

Charter Manufacturing

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data

BMC Helix Client Management vs. Fortinet FortiClient