Ivanti Connect Secure vs SonicWall SMA comparison

Ivanti and SonicWall are both solutions in the SSL VPN category. Ivanti is ranked #4 with an average rating of 6.7, while SonicWall is ranked #7 with an average rating of 10.0. Ivanti holds a 22.7% mindshare in SV, compared to SonicWall’s 5.1% mindshare. Additionally, 78% of Ivanti users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of SonicWall users who would recommend it.

Ivanti Connect Secure

Read 28 Ivanti Connect Secure reviews

1,125 Views
366 Comparison Views

78% willing to recommend

SonicWall SMA

Read 14 SonicWall SMA reviews

260 Views
96 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Ivanti Connect Secure

SonicWall SMA

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

SonicWall SMA and Ivanti Connect Secure compete in secure remote access solutions. While SonicWall SMA stands out for pricing and customer support, Ivanti Connect Secure dominates with feature richness, making it the more robust choice for many users.

Features: SonicWall SMA provides secure access gateways with comprehensive security tools, easy scalability, and reliable performance. It is also user-friendly and includes proprietary security technologies like Capture ATP for enhanced protection. Ivanti Connect Secure offers robust VPN capabilities, seamless enterprise integration, and strong endpoint protection, focusing on advanced security measures and application rewriting for thorough protection.

Room for Improvement: SonicWall SMA could enhance its customization capabilities and expand integration options with more third-party solutions. Additionally, offering broader support for more advanced enterprise environments could benefit users. Ivanti Connect Secure might improve its deployment ease, streamline its extensive features for more straightforward usage, and reduce the complexity of its initial setup for faster implementation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SonicWall SMA boasts a swift deployment process supported by clear documentation and strong customer service, minimizing downtime. Ivanti Connect Secure requires a more complex deployment model because of its customization options, which can demand more initial effort. However, its dedicated customer service aligns with these sophisticated needs, ensuring effective support.

Pricing and ROI: SonicWall SMA offers cost-effective options with competitive pricing, providing quick ROI through its affordability and speedy setup. Ivanti Connect Secure demands a higher initial investment, reflecting its expansive feature set. Despite the cost, the investment proves worthwhile as businesses leverage its advanced capabilities for greater security and operational efficiency over time.

To learn more, read our detailed Ivanti Connect Secure vs. SonicWall SMA Report (Updated: May 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Ivanti Connect Secure vs. SonicWall SMA

May 2025

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Helped 858,327 peers since 2012

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

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

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SonicWall SMA

Ranking in SSL VPN

7th

Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN

18th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Universal Access Gateways (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the SSL VPN category, the mindshare of Ivanti Connect Secure is 22.7%, up from 19.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall SMA is 5.1%, up from 3.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

SSL VPN

Featured Reviews

Johan Derycke

Network Security Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

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.

Read full review

Maheshbabu T

Project Manager at CGG

It allows us to provide CML-based access to any user, but the reporting could be better

I rate SonicWall SMA seven out of 10. If you're planning to implement this solution, I suggest checking the version to ensure it's compatible with your other technology. I say go for it if it's suitable for your use case. Multifactor authentication technologies are built into the product, whereas some products lack multifactor authentication. We need only one or two. They provide authentication, gateway integration, OTP integration, etc.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."

"Pulse Connect Secure is a stable solution."

"From an end-user perspective, the setup phase is easy."

"The product is easy to use."

"The tool's most valuable feature is remote access."

"This is a very secure and stable tool."

"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 most valuable features of the solution are reliability and uptime."

More Ivanti Connect Secure pros

"It is faster than other security options when using remote connections."

"The management and the dashboard are the solution's most valuable features."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is they have IT consultants that know SonicWall."

"I think they ask for a fair price."

"The solution is reliable and has good overall performance."

"SonicWall SMA has the most valuable feature of proprietary security technologies like Capture ATP."

"SonicWall SMA allows us to provide CML-based access to any user."

"I like the load balancing capability."

More SonicWall SMA pros

Cons

"I don't have any downsides to report about the product at this time."

"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."

"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."

"Pulse Connect Secure could improve the reporting, it is lacking in detail and should take the report automatically."

"We need to know how many live active users there are and we can't. We even updated the server, however, we still can't see the proper level of live connections. Right now, it's showing as 300 users and my customer does not have that many users in his organization."

"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."

"The most valuable features of Pulse Connect Secure are the user-friendly connection and interconnecting."

More Ivanti Connect Secure cons

"The solution has 2FA, it will generate a token and send it to an email, but multifactor authentication is not available. I would suggest that there should be MFA integration and provided with the appliance."

"The product's technical support services could be improved."

"The solution could integrate better with other platforms."

"SonicWall's reporting isn't good. Reports should be part of a data plan. The login mechanism should be improved. It would be helpful if the client could use an agent to log in. An agent-server model would improve the performance of the RDB, which consumes a lot of bandwidth."

"The overall menu is not very user-friendly and it could be easier."

"SonicWall SMA is difficult to use and it does not provide easy access to different parts of the network."

"The only thing that they could try to improve is the support for enterprise customers. Normally enterprises and SMBs can create a ticket, but for enterprises, SonicWall SMA needs to provide a global view, and this is what's currently missing. It's not even a question of timing. It's a question of the global vision because currently, it's lacking. They concentrate on the topic, but not on the means and not on the global picture. In most cases, there's something wrong with the integration of SonicWall SMA with other products, so that could also be improved."

"I'd like to see the product maybe polish keyboards in Bookmark."

More SonicWall SMA cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 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."

"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 licensing is based on the maximum number of concurrent users, and it costs a lot to add them."

"This solution is priced well and we currently have the maximum number of licenses allowed."

"All the costs are included in a bundled license."

"I don't know about the pricing of the SSL-VPN box. I know the SSL-VPN software is free. Global VPN client, by comparison, is licensed for around $150 or something like that. But the SSL-VPN software is free. It is already built-in with the box."

"Our licenses are stackable and can be anywhere from five users to a million users."

"The platform has medium pricing."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

19%

Construction Company

Comms Service Provider

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Pulse Connect Secure?

From an end-user perspective, the setup phase is easy.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Pulse Connect Secure?

See all answers

What do you like most about SonicWall SMA?

Blocklisting and allowlisting are the most beneficial features for network security.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall SMA?

The platform has medium pricing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SonicWall SMA?

Enhancing live tracking capabilities could improve the product, particularly in monitoring user activity and request statuses in real-time on the web interface.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 19% of the time

Ivanti Secure Access vs Ivanti Connect Secure

Compared 18% of the time

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs Ivanti Connect Secure

Compared 9% of the time

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs Ivanti Connect Secure

Compared 7% of the time

Ivanti Tunnel vs Ivanti Connect Secure

Compared 2% of the time

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Peplink SpeedFusion vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 21% of the time

SonicWall Netextender vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 18% of the time

Citrix Gateway vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 14% of the time

Fortinet FortiClient vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 11% of the time

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 11% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Ivanti Connect Secure

June 2025

Download Ivanti Connect Secure product report

Buyer's Guide

SonicWall SMA

May 2025

Download SonicWall SMA product report

Also Known As

Pulse Connect Secure

SonicWall Aventail, SonicWall SMA SSL-VPN, SonicWall Secure Mobile Access

Overview

Ivanti Connect Secure provides a seamless, cost-effective SSL VPN solution for remote and mobile users from any web-enabled device to corporate resources— anytime, anywhere.

Ivanti

SonicWall SMA is a unified secure access gateway that enables organizations to provide anytime, anywhere and any device access to mission critical corporate resources. SMA's granular access control policy engine, context aware device authorization, application level VPN and advanced authentication with single sign-on empowers organizations to embrace BYOD and mobility in a hybrid IT environment.

SonicWall

Sample Customers

Axcient, Baloise Group, Cygate, Catholic University of America, Datec Inc, Revlon, Santa Monica Networks, 7-Eleven

UnitedStack, Newport City Homes, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, PRIME aerostructures GmbH, Celtic Manor Resort

Buyer's Guide

Ivanti Connect Secure vs. SonicWall SMA

May 2025

Free Report: Ivanti Connect Secure vs. SonicWall SMA

Find out what your peers are saying about Ivanti Connect Secure vs. SonicWall SMA and other solutions. Updated: May 2025.

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