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Hillstone E-Series vs Ivanti Connect Secure comparison

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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

Hillstone E-Series
Ranking in SSL VPN
10th
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
24th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (40th)
Ivanti Connect Secure
Ranking in SSL VPN
2nd
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
11th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the SSL VPN category, the mindshare of Hillstone E-Series is 4.7%, up from 3.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Ivanti Connect Secure is 13.2%, down from 20.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
SSL VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Ivanti Connect Secure13.2%
Hillstone E-Series4.7%
Other82.1%
SSL VPN
 

Featured Reviews

TahirMahmood - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at Zubair Feeds
Offers good features like URL filtering, IPS, and IDS to users
We received an update for the tool in July. The update was provided for the tool as there was a problem with the firewall, where too much memory was consumed, and the firewall was hanging a lot. When we updated the tool's features, everything became okay. The tool only had some memory-related problems. It took the tool a month to fix the issues.
Kaushlendra Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
AGM IT Infrastructure at Yamaha
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 most valuable feature of the Hillstone E-Series is its user-friendliness."
"The most valuable features of the Hillstone E-Series are its hardware capacity, innovation, and the throughput that the hardware can take."
"Very reliable solution with good scalability and straightforward implementation."
"I am impressed with the application filtering feature."
"This solution has two main features that we find very valuable; a threat-intelligence option, and a web/application filtering option. The technical support team are very good and very quick."
"Working with the Hillstone E-Series has, from a remote perspective, allowed me to give my clients secure connectivity from a remote location to their offices or their servers."
"The initial setup was straightforward. It only took a few hours to deploy."
"With Hillstone, TCO and ROI are very good, it's an easy sale."
"The most valuable features of Pulse Connect Secure are multi-factor authentications, and VPNs and SSL VPNs we are using."
"We can now provide remote access to home users."
"Ivanti Connect Secure provides the feature to check and ensure that employee devices are compliant before allowing them to access the VPN."
"Pulse Connect Secure is a stable solution."
"For us, there was no other product better than that."
"It's quite stable."
"The solution helps with principal decisions. It also helps with the security and configuration of many technologies."
"From an end-user perspective, the setup phase is easy."
 

Cons

"I am not sure if this solution offers active directory integration. Adding that feature will definitely be an advantage."
"Having frequent live webinars on a monthly basis would really help."
"The current usage reporting is very basic. I would like to be able to access more granular data."
"The tool needs to improve its price."
"Support from Hillstone E-Series has a shortcoming that needs improvement."
"SSL VPN license cost is not cheap."
"The room for improvement would be the SSL VPN license cost."
"The tool only had some memory-related problems."
"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."
"I would like the solution to be more secure and compatible. It also needs to improve integration with other systems."
"The solution must be more user-friendly."
"The product's price is an area where improvements are required."
"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."
"Setup is complex. A few users had some issues with it."
"It could be more user-friendly and not as complicated as it is right now."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost per year for licensing, and hardware, is approximately $850 for the basic plan."
"The tool's pricing is reasonable. It depends on the model. The product's pricing is around 600 USD. You need to buy a software license to activate the features. You need to pay around 150 USD for that."
"The licensing model is very complex with many subcategories of licenses you can purchase. They could make it more simplified for customers to understand."
"Hillstone's pricing is economical and neither very high nor very low."
"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 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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise20
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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 biggest friction point I have encountered with Ivanti Connect Secure is related to compliance. When the host checker is configured too strictly, it can conflict with ensuring 100% security. If ...
What is your primary use case for Pulse Connect Secure?
My main use case for Ivanti Connect Secure is zero trust connectivity. The main feature I have been using is geolocation and source IP restrictions, ensuring security, advanced proxy support, and e...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Pulse Connect Secure
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bank of China Macao, Instituto Tecnológico Bolivariano, Ministry of Labor in San Salvador, FEDCO
Axcient, Baloise Group, Cygate, Catholic University of America, Datec Inc, Revlon, Santa Monica Networks, 7-Eleven
Find out what your peers are saying about Hillstone E-Series vs. Ivanti Connect Secure and other solutions. Updated: October 2026.
920,939 professionals have used our research since 2012.