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Fortinet FortiClient vs Ivanti Connect Secure 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

Fortinet FortiClient
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
102
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (12th), Endpoint Compliance (1st)
Ivanti Connect Secure
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
9th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
SSL VPN (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiClient is 7.8%, down from 14.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Ivanti Connect Secure is 5.4%, down from 5.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiClient7.8%
Ivanti Connect Secure5.4%
Other86.8%
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Kaushlendra Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager - IT Infrastructure and Network at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Provides secure and simple remote access but needs improved reporting capabilities
Ivanti Connect Secure is simple and secure, making it valuable for our organization. Ivanti Connect Secure's access control feature provides global protect, which allows country-wise blocking. There are many access controls available, and policies can be created on a host basis and on the MAC address of assets that will connect. Firewall versions and OS versions can be defined, and only devices meeting these criteria can connect to the VPN. These features are effective, along with MFA. Ivanti Connect Secure is a client-based, agent-based solution, so if the agent is installed, users are able to connect to the network. Ivanti Connect Secure utilizes identity-based LDAP authentication. Ivanti Connect Secure is very effective for remote access for remote workers.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The EMS server gives us good control and central management."
"The initial setup is very good."
"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."
"It seems to be more scalable than we thought."
"It’s easy to use."
"The solution is stable, we have not had any issues in the time we have been using it."
"Installation was easy."
"We like its centralized administration, integration with Active Directory, deployment, and stability of the connection."
"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."
"The solution helps with principal decisions. It also helps with the security and configuration of many technologies."
"The most valuable features of the solution are reliability and uptime."
"This is a very secure and stable tool."
"Ivanti Connect Secure is simple and secure, making it valuable for our organization."
"The most valuable feature is being able to securely connect and use virtual desktops."
"The flexibility in their management is great."
"The most valuable features of Pulse Connect Secure are multi-factor authentications, and VPNs and SSL VPNs we are using."
 

Cons

"The reports could be easier to set up."
"The tool becomes slow occasionally, and this should be improved."
"The initial setup was probably more complex. The configuration was somewhat unclear."
"The quality and response time of the support team must be improved."
"I would like to see an improvement in the web filter, because I think it can be more user-friendly."
"In the next release, I would like to see an additional layer of security added."
"While we like patch management, it would be nice if it could handle patch management for other solutions, like Microsoft."
"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."
"At the moment, Pulse Connect Secure is a pretty good solution, and I don't see any issues with it. Currently, I'm not aware of a new or additional feature that's needed in Pulse Connect Secure, but it would be good if the team could look at how the speed of connection could be increased. Though it's quite seamless and I didn't face any problem with the speed, it would be better to improve the speed and keep going forward, especially as the industry's changing and people would love connections to be a lot faster."
"User experience and after-sales support could be better. For example, over the last couple of years, when this COVID scenario was going on, there were multiple attacks on these types of solutions. SQL has been attacked numerous times, and there were a lot of vulnerabilities, and our customers had to update and upgrade the devices every two weeks or every month. This was a headache. It could also be more scalable."
"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."
"Connection-wise, Pulse Connect Secure could be faster, and this is its area for improvement."
"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."
"There is room for improvement. I'm concerned about the frequent vulnerabilities identified. As a security product, the number of vulnerabilities is concerning."
"The stability could be better. There are sometimes bugs in the system."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If we pay for the yearly package that includes the FortiGate firewall, then the FortiClient VPN license is included with it."
"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."
"We are using the free version of this product."
"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."
"An annual license costs about 1.5 to 3,000 US dollars. There are no additional costs."
"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."
"FortiClient is costly."
"It is not that expensive. It was within the range. A dollar per user per month is nothing."
"The price of Pulse Connect Secure is expensive."
"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 pricing is quite nominal. We pay on a yearly basis."
"Pulse Connect Secure is relatively cost-effective."
"The cost of the product is high, but worth it because of the utility and great product support."
"A license is required for you to use Pulse Connect Secure, but I'm not aware of how much it costs."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business59
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise25
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise19
 

Questions from the Community

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 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?
The reporting capabilities of Ivanti Connect Secure are not strong; the format is simple, and obtaining a detailed report is difficult and requires manual work. Regarding points for improvement, th...
 

Also Known As

FortiClient
Pulse Connect Secure
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Axcient, Baloise Group, Cygate, Catholic University of America, Datec Inc, Revlon, Santa Monica Networks, 7-Eleven
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiClient vs. Ivanti Connect Secure and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,899 professionals have used our research since 2012.