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Ivanti Connect Secure vs Symantec VIP Access Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
SSL VPN (2nd), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (10th)
Symantec VIP Access Manager
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Authentication Systems (12th), Access Management (22nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

Ivanti Connect Secure and Symantec VIP Access Manager aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Ivanti Connect Secure is designed for SSL VPN and holds a mindshare of 13.9%, down 22.8% compared to last year.
Symantec VIP Access Manager, on the other hand, focuses on Authentication Systems, holds 2.0% mindshare, up 1.8% since last year.
SSL VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Ivanti Connect Secure13.9%
Citrix Gateway12.0%
Cisco IOS SSL VPN10.7%
Other63.400000000000006%
SSL VPN
Authentication Systems Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Symantec VIP Access Manager2.0%
Microsoft Entra ID5.8%
Okta Platform4.4%
Other87.8%
Authentication Systems
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Berk Onur - PeerSpot reviewer
Presales Consultant at Cyberwise
With its mobile application, this tool offers a convenient and user-friendly experience to its users
To improve the tool, I think that the solution should consider integrations with other cybersecurity and IT technologies, such as Privileged Access Management and Site Integration. Additionally, the implementation of second-factor authentication via Symantec VIP Access Manager, CyberArk, and Delinea, among other technologies, could be best for the product. While the existing technology is okay, improving the integration capabilities for Symantec VIP Access Manager would benefit the product. I would like to see the solution meet the integration needs at our company. While many cybersecurity solutions can function independently, they often lack integration with our systems due to missed integration points. Improving the solution's integration feature would be beneficial.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"My company decided to use Pulse Connect Secure because it had all the required security features, it was easy to connect to it, and it's a standard solution in the market."
"It's a very convenient and user-friendly application."
"The product is easy to use."
"We can now provide remote access to home users."
"Ivanti Connect Secure is simple and secure, making it valuable for our organization."
"Pulse Connect Secure is a stable solution."
"The new UI that they are providing right now is very good."
"The tool's most valuable feature is remote access."
"After the initial integration, the overall support calls dropped, and customer satisfaction for VPN increased."
"It is a fast and easy solution for end users, and you are always online."
"Pricing was about 25% of the old solution, saving us about $500,000 over three years for 10,000 users."
"Integration with Citrix Access Gateway, Microsoft Office 365 and Single Sign-On (through Symantec Validation and ID Protection Access Manager) has increased the productivity of the employees for accessing resources."
"Mostly from a product expert's point of view, it provides solutions for my clients."
"The solution has helped to increase staff productivity by approximately a minute."
"The two-factor authentication is most definitely valuable and moves us closer to being able to check off those important boxes for compliance."
"The VPN we are using is good and working quite well."
 

Cons

"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."
"Zero test FDP (Fraud Protection and Prevention) should be improved."
"The solution can be improved by addressing the failure to connect on public 2-step networks."
"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."
"Pulse Connect Secure could improve the speed at which it connects. It is slow at the moment."
"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."
"The biggest friction point I have encountered with Ivanti Connect Secure is related to compliance."
"The most valuable features of Pulse Connect Secure are the user-friendly connection and interconnecting."
"There are some shortcomings on the reporting side, such as how many connections you can get per month."
"Every time that I have a new phone or computer, it takes a little longer to deploy it."
"Geofencing needs improvement."
"The gateway server is a RADIUS server, but it lacks the functionality of returning RADIUS attributes other than those that are required for the gateway to authenticate the users."
"It gets out of sync with Active Directory or whatever it might be, whatever the authentication piece is on Active Directory, and they just reset it on the backend. I never have to contact the vendor."
"In the next release, I would like the ability to work offline with remote access."
"At times, the relay server could not contact Symantec; it would fail open and allow access without a passcode."
"It is challenging to use when installing a new version."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"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."
"The price of Pulse Connect Secure is expensive."
"There are additional costs for maintenance."
"I can say that the solution is worth the money."
"Licensing and pricing seems very fair."
"There is a one-time setup fee plus the licenses are provided as per the number of users. For SMS and voice calls, the costs are separate."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Construction Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Outsourcing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise20
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise10
 

Questions from the Community

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...
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Also Known As

Pulse Connect Secure
Symantec VIP
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Axcient, Baloise Group, Cygate, Catholic University of America, Datec Inc, Revlon, Santa Monica Networks, 7-Eleven
Maine Medical Center, Aria S.p.A
Find out what your peers are saying about Citrix, Ivanti, Cisco and others in SSL VPN. Updated: July 2026.
910,409 professionals have used our research since 2012.