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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
6.9
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
SSL VPN (4th), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (14th)
Symantec VIP Access Manager
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Authentication Systems (16th), Access Management (17th)
 

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 22.6%, up 19.4% compared to last year.
Symantec VIP Access Manager, on the other hand, focuses on Authentication Systems, holds 1.7% mindshare, down 2.4% since last year.
SSL VPN
Authentication Systems
 

Featured Reviews

Johan Derycke - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Berk Onur - PeerSpot reviewer
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

"This solution enables secure connections for our engineers to work from home or other locations."
"The stability of the product is its most valuable feature."
"Pulse Connect Secure is a stable solution."
"The solution helps with principal decisions. It also helps with the security and configuration of many technologies."
"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."
"It is customer-friendly. It is quite easy for our users to connect. There is also the flexibility of the features."
"The product is easy to use."
"The new UI that they are providing right now is very good."
"It's a good tool. It's pretty straightforward."
"The VPN we are using is good and working quite well."
"The tool has been very stable, in my experience. Also, I haven't faced any issues or problems with integration or connectivity."
"Other than it provides us with remote access, so it's fairly easy to install, fairly easy to set up, and provides us the ability to get into our corporate environment."
"Cloud-based service and management."
"The two-factor authentication is most definitely valuable and moves us closer to being able to check off those important boxes for compliance."
"The product is useful for providing user access from an in-built office server as we follow the work-from-home model."
"It is easy to use."
 

Cons

"I don't have any downsides to report about the product at this time."
"From our side, there is an issue when Windows updates. The security mechanisms of Ivanti Connect Secure are very slow to update."
"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."
"Pulse Connect Secure could improve by having better integration with NAC solutions, such as Cisco ClearPass integration with Pulse Connect Secure. Additionally, they need better integration with Microsoft Azure AD and Azure Authenticator."
"The most valuable features of Pulse Connect Secure are the user-friendly connection and interconnecting."
"The stability could be better. There are sometimes bugs in the system."
"The solution must be more user-friendly."
"If they had dashboards or a report for managers or executives, then it would allow them to see the status and have it make sense to them."
"The User Store synchronization part needs to improve. Also, the logs, reports, and dashboard can be improved."
"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."
"Maybe Symantec could consider providing a step-by-step guide for first-time users."
"Every time that I have a new phone or computer, it takes a little longer to deploy it."
"In the next release, I would like the ability to work offline with remote access."
"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."
"I would like to see the solution meet the integration needs at our company...Improving the solution's integration feature would be beneficial."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"Pulse Connect Secure is relatively cost-effective."
"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."
"The price of Pulse Connect Secure is expensive."
"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."
"There are additional costs for maintenance."
"Licensing and pricing seems very fair."
"I can say that the solution is worth the money."
"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
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Healthcare Company
9%
Insurance Company
8%
 

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.
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?
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, t...
What do you like most about Symantec VIP Access Manager?
The product is useful for providing user access from an in-built office server as we follow the work-from-home model.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Symantec VIP Access Manager?
The pricing would most likely charge per user based on how many accounts have access to the IT managers.
What needs improvement with Symantec VIP Access Manager?
The product's connection speed needs improvement. Sometimes, I need help connecting my mobile to the main office's system due to a version upgrade. It is challenging to use when installing a new ve...
 

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 Cisco, Citrix, Ivanti and others in SSL VPN. Updated: June 2025.
860,711 professionals have used our research since 2012.