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Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs Ivanti Connect Secure comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

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

Cisco IOS SSL VPN
Ranking in SSL VPN
3rd
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
9th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Ivanti Connect Secure
Ranking in SSL VPN
4th
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
13th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the SSL VPN category, the mindshare of Cisco IOS SSL VPN is 9.4%, down from 10.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Ivanti Connect Secure is 22.7%, up from 19.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
SSL VPN
 

Featured Reviews

Rupesh Kolhapurkar - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers easy setup phase but needs to improve connectivity
For our company's remote workforce connectivity, the tool was very useful during the COVID-19 situation. In general, the VPN functionality offered by the product was very useful during the COVID-19 situation. In terms of the product's ability to secure third-party access, the tool works very well. The most valuable feature of the product in terms of network security stems from the fact that the tool provides access to the whole network, and even if users give access to some special applications, it is still really helpful. The clientless access feature is not available for clients. My company installed the product for its clients. If the product offers a clientless access feature, then it is okay and can be very helpful for our company. I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. Cisco IOS SSL VPN is a reliable product. The product is very helpful for a work-from-home setup as the tool can be used to access our company's internal network, which Falls outside the network of our organization. I rate the tool a seven to eight out of ten.
Johan Derycke - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliable remote access and tunneling enhance work efficiency, but upgrade processes need improvement
Ivanti needs improvement in its seamless upgrade and migration procedures, particularly with the browser components, which are fragile and sometimes cause issues depending on the Windows version, the browser version, and the different modules being used. On the client side, browser-initiated sessions are complex and require a more robust approach for non-admin users.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is highly scalable, speedy, and reliable."
"It's a very stable solution and I'd say it works perfectly."
"I have found that Cisco IOS SSL VPN is stable."
"Cisco IOS SSL VPN is reasonably priced, and its technology is flexible."
"The product's setup phase was easy."
"It is stable."
"The product is great because it is easy and simple."
"The split panel functionality is much better in the Cisco IOS SSL VPN than in the Aruba VPN."
"The flexibility in their management is great."
"Pulse Connect Secure is a stable solution."
"The most valuable feature of Pulse Connect Secure is its ease of use."
"VPN tunneling is a very valuable feature of Pulse Connect Secure. I also like that it is straightforward to use, and you can see traffic logs on it."
"I like the host checker, which thoroughly checks the security posture of the machine before allowing access. I also like application-based access and its seamless operations."
"What I like the most about Pulse Connect Secure is that it's user-friendly. It's easy to use. You just need to connect, and that's it."
"This solution enables secure connections for our engineers to work from home or other locations."
"Ivanti Connect Secure provides the feature to check and ensure that employee devices are compliant before allowing them to access the VPN."
 

Cons

"Cisco has a history of problems with the area of web filtering, because of which my company sometimes had to change the vendor and the appliance."
"Cisco IOS SSL VPN doesn't support the configuration of multiple VPNs."
"The configuration must be improved."
"The pricing is a stumbling block to scaling our utilization of Cisco products and we would prefer to use more of them."
"The high price of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"The administration should be improved."
"The graphical interface is old and needs to improve."
"I believe Cisco could support easier configuration and having tools that allow for easier management and configuration, as Linksys switches are a little bit easier to manage and set up compared to Cisco switches."
"There is room for improvement. I'm concerned about the frequent vulnerabilities identified. As a security product, the number of vulnerabilities is concerning."
"We want to switch to another solution because there are some challenges with the support from Pulse. The quality of documentation is also not good. It is sometimes very hard to find documentation that provides a solution and describes how all this works."
"Ivanti Connect Secure needs to have faster connections. It also needs to improve the stability."
"The user experience has room for improvement."
"The solution must be more user-friendly."
"The support team of the product needs improvement. Sometimes we have issues with multiple authentications, but there is no help from the support team."
"Zero test FDP (Fraud Protection and Prevention) should be improved."
"The stability could be better. There are sometimes bugs in the system."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"FortiGate does not charge the client a licensing fee, although Cisco charges clients a couple of dollars per year for each license."
"The product costs less."
"The solution is reasonably priced, and we have around 50% to 60% discounts from Cisco."
"The licensing cost of the solution is on a yearly basis, and it is expensive compared to other solutions in the market."
"With Cisco, there is a free solution or a licensed version of the solution with a set of endpoint services."
"Cisco IOS SSL VPN comes with a cost-effective subscription."
"It is an expensive product."
"Price flexibility could be improved in comparison to other vendors."
"A license is required for you to use Pulse Connect Secure, but I'm not aware of how much it costs."
"The cost of the product is high, but worth it because of the utility and great product support."
"I rate the product price a six to seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."
"The pricing for Pulse Connect Secure is not low and not high, so it's good. It's a six out of ten for me, price-wise."
"The price of Pulse Connect Secure is expensive."
"The pricing is quite nominal. We pay on a yearly basis."
"Pulse Connect Secure is relatively cost-effective."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
23%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Healthcare Company
7%
Educational Organization
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco IOS SSL VPN?
The pricing for Cisco IOS SSL VPN is based on per user. For more than one hundred users, it costs about $60 per seat.
What needs improvement with Cisco IOS SSL VPN?
Compatibility can sometimes be a challenge. There have been issues with operating systems where newer updates cause problems with backward compatibility. For instance, Windows 11 ( /products/window...
What do you like most about Pulse Connect Secure?
From an end-user perspective, the setup phase is easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pulse Connect Secure?
Ivanti has always been known to be pricey, making it a rather high-cost solution.
What needs improvement with Pulse Connect Secure?
Ivanti needs improvement in its seamless upgrade and migration procedures, particularly with the browser components, which are fragile and sometimes cause issues depending on the Windows version, t...
 

Also Known As

Cisco SSL VPN
Pulse Connect Secure
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

MST Systems
Axcient, Baloise Group, Cygate, Catholic University of America, Datec Inc, Revlon, Santa Monica Networks, 7-Eleven
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs. Ivanti Connect Secure and other solutions. Updated: May 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.