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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
2nd
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
13th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
SSL VPN (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiClient is 6.8%, down from 14.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Ivanti Connect Secure is 5.2%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiClient6.8%
Ivanti Connect Secure5.2%
Other88.0%
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

"EMS central reporting with fabric connectivity to FortiGate and FortiAnalyser is great and has seamless integration which makes managing 3000 devices a breeze."
"I strongly recommend this solution, especially for Fortinet customers who use FortiGate or other Fortinet products, as they can easily integrate these features and exchange information seamlessly."
"Fortinet FortiClient offers easy deployment and ease of use, unlike other solutions where significant installations on the user computer are sometimes required."
"The setup for FortiClient is really straightforward."
"Fortinet FortiClient helped me reduce the attack surface by providing the ability to centrally view what is happening, allowing me to view everything from a single pane of glass, making it very easy now to react or respond based on what I'm seeing on the network."
"The product's initial setup phase is easy."
"The return on investment was very reasonable. It was low cost and it functioned, so the return on investment was excellent."
"We find the VPN features valuable."
"The most valuable features of the solution are reliability and uptime."
"It's quite stable."
"Pulse Connect Secure is a stable solution."
"Ivanti secures access to the corporate network from various devices and locations."
"The new UI that they are providing right now is very good."
"The product is easy to use."
"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 stability of the product is its most valuable feature."
 

Cons

"The licensing feature of the product requires improvement since whenever the license expires, the tool logs out its users automatically, irrespective of whether they are on the network or not, which can be problematic for me."
"One area for improvement in FortiClient is the speed of connectivity."
"The user interface on the central server could be improved."
"The solution could improve by providing analytics or detailed reports."
"We'd like to be able to properly encrypt the data more effectively."
"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."
"Occasionally, the solution may provide a slow connection. In addition, there may be initialization and authorization issues that one may need to take care of while using the solution."
"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."
"The support team of the product needs improvement. Sometimes we have issues with multiple authentications, but there is no help from the support team."
"The most valuable features of Pulse Connect Secure are the user-friendly connection and interconnecting."
"I would like the solution to be more secure and compatible. It also needs to improve integration with other systems."
"The stability could be better. There are sometimes bugs in the system."
"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."
"An area for improvement in Pulse Connect Secure is the concurrent connections, particularly needing a license if you want to use Pulse Connect Secure with your Microsoft or Windows machine."
"I don't have any downsides to report about the product at this time."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the product's pricing a seven out of ten."
"The pricing is a six out of ten."
"FortiClient is quite reasonably priced."
"The solution's scalability is inexpensive."
"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 licensing fee varies with what one is trying to accomplish. It can range from being free to costing several hundred thousand dollars per year."
"The cost per port is very less as compared to the other technologies."
"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."
"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."
"Pulse Connect Secure is relatively cost-effective."
"The pricing is quite nominal. We pay on a yearly basis."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
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 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...
What is your primary use case for Pulse Connect Secure?
Ivanti Connect Secure is used for both applications and for the RDP of our server.
 

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: February 2026.
884,108 professionals have used our research since 2012.