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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

"Very reliable solution with good scalability and straightforward implementation."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The most valuable feature of the Hillstone E-Series is its user-friendliness."
"Five out of five ROI."
"The initial setup was straightforward. It only took a few hours to deploy."
"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 most valuable feature of the solution is the ransomware protection that the tool offers."
"If an organization is not looking for a web proxy, it's a very, very good product."
"I can safely say this is one of the best solutions I have seen for VPN access. It can achieve what other vendors may not be able to. This product will train you about exactly what an SSL should be. You can leverage it to do whatever you wish, the way you wish to do it. This is the solution if you want a perfectly scalable product for your enterprise that can help your mobile users and integrate with the latest technologies."
"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."
"The flexibility in their management is great."
"The best feature of Pulse Connect Secure is the good security it provides. It gives a secure connection to your network."
"Integration with third party RADIUS Server for OTP Password (secondary)."
"Ivanti secures access to the corporate network from various devices and locations."
"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."
"We can now provide remote access to home users."
 

Cons

"The licensing model is very complex with many subcategories of licenses you can purchase. They could make it more simplified for customers to understand."
"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."
"Support from Hillstone E-Series has a shortcoming that needs improvement."
"The tool needs to improve its price."
"I am not sure if this solution offers active directory integration. Adding that feature will definitely be an advantage."
"The room for improvement would be the SSL VPN license cost."
"The tool provides just a general report. It does not provide a granular report. Hence, the tool should work on its reporting feature."
"There is room for improvement. I'm concerned about the frequent vulnerabilities identified. As a security product, the number of vulnerabilities is concerning."
"The biggest friction point I have encountered with Ivanti Connect Secure is related to compliance."
"The stability could be better. There are sometimes bugs in the system."
"It could be more user-friendly and not as complicated as it is right now."
"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."
"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."
"Ivanti Connect Secure needs to have faster connections. It also needs to improve the stability."
"Pulse Connect Secure could improve the reporting, it is lacking in detail and should take the report automatically."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost per year for licensing, and hardware, is approximately $850 for the basic plan."
"Hillstone's pricing is economical and neither very high nor very low."
"The licensing model is very complex with many subcategories of licenses you can purchase. They could make it more simplified for customers to understand."
"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."
"Pulse Connect Secure is relatively cost-effective."
"The price of Pulse Connect Secure is expensive."
"The cost of the product is high, but worth it because of the utility and great product support."
"The pricing is quite nominal. We pay on a yearly basis."
"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."
"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.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.