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BMC Helix Client Management vs Fortinet FortiClient comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 8, 2026

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

BMC Helix Client Management
Ranking in Endpoint Compliance
7th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Device Management (MDM) (11th)
Fortinet FortiClient
Ranking in Endpoint Compliance
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
102
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (9th), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Endpoint Compliance category, the mindshare of BMC Helix Client Management is 6.7%, up from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiClient is 20.8%, down from 22.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Compliance Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiClient20.8%
BMC Helix Client Management6.7%
Other72.5%
Endpoint Compliance
 

Featured Reviews

AA
Senior Account Executive at FDS
Efficient remote control capabilities; compliance features greatly reduced customers' licensing costs
The on-premises version of BMC Client Management has powerful remote control functionality and decent compliance features, but these features both rely on the discovery tool in order to gain a complete set of insights about the endpoint's environment. Now, BMC's discovery solution depends on having an agent installed in each endpoint and sometimes the agent doesn't work properly, making it difficult to get an accurate understanding of the environment (including special topologies) even with BMC's discovery tool. This can be a pain when it comes to the area of compliance, since you might not have full access to everything running in the organization, including important infrastructural components such as servers and databases. For example, some endpoints may have gotten their software updates from servers not visible to the discovery tool, and this can further impact operations when it comes to patch management. Compare this scenario with the way Red Hat handles patch management: their software is always updated from the main patch providers, so you will always know what is running on the endpoints in this kind of environment. Although their endpoint management has its pros and cons, this is where BMC Client Management is at a bit of a disadvantage and I believe they need to improve on this area. Another area BMC could look into improving is the mobile device side of client management. It has lots of support for Microsoft products in terms of client management, but lacks comprehensive mobile device management support, such as for Android devices.
KL
Senior Technical Manager at Flexaccel
Remote access has become seamless and secure while deployment remains simple for our users
Performance could be improved today. People are now moving toward SASE, which stands for Secure Access, Secure Edge Solution. Fortinet also has that offering, which would be easier since it operates through the cloud, acting as a first line of defense. When the user connects to the internet, they connect to the cloud first for posture assessment and monitoring before connecting to the outside world. The impact is significant because nowadays people are adopting SASE. During COVID time, many users were trying to connect back to their office, causing the performance or CPU utilization of the firewall to increase tremendously, which slowed down performance. I have not worked with endpoint telemetry in Fortinet FortiClient that could have been helpful for threat mitigation.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The inventory and patch management tools are very valuable."
"BMC Client Management has helped us be able to patch our OS or any software to the latest version."
"The most valuable features of the solution are its patching capabilities and the help it offers when it comes to use cases, like prompting for the reboot after a certain period of time."
"It's a scalable solution. We have deployed it for customers using 3000 nodes to those using 300,000 nodes."
"The most valuable features of the solution are patch management and software license management."
"The support from BMC Client Management is very good."
"The solution provides multiple features in one place."
"One of our customers is a financial institution with more than 15,000 endpoints, and we use BMC Client Management to manage their regulatory compliance needs, manage the endpoints from a security perspective, and integrate it with service management as well."
"It's a good solution."
"FortiClient is a very reliable partner, as it has ticked all the checkboxes for our organization's requirements."
"Fortinet FortiClient is easy to use, and the single-access managed login is pretty good."
"The integration with Active Directory is a valuable feature, allowing SSO for users."
"Previously, we worked with OpenVPN and Palo Alto, and we switched to Fortinet FortiClient because of the advantage that the free VPN connection device has helped us with implementation and adds value to the solution."
"The valuable features for us are the integration of the vulnerability scan, mobile detection, and VPN client."
"Fortinet FortiClient helped me reduce the attack surface by providing the ability to centrally view what is happening, allowing me to view everything from a single pane of glass, making it very easy now to react or respond based on what I'm seeing on the network."
"FortiClient has good signatures, good protection and, up until recently, it integrated really well with our firewall."
 

Cons

"BMC Client Management supports only iOS devices. It would be good if they would support Android as well."
"The solution needs to add whitelisting because many customers request it."
"In BMC Client Management, I would like to see more features for executing commands remotely. For example, with SAP, there isn't the capability to execute all the commands available in the console. The latest version includes more endpoints, but they do not cover everything the operations team needs. Additionally, I think improving the hierarchy for managing endpoints is crucial. Extending the endpoint capabilities would be highly beneficial."
"It would be good if BMC Client Management can perform vulnerability assessment scanning at the endpoint on its own and mitigate that. Then, we wouldn't have to rely on a third party VA tool. I would like to see this application move to being a web-based one."
"BMC Client Management could improve in the area of integration."
"The solution does not offer the functionality of remote access to users."
"The on-premises version of BMC Client Management has powerful remote control functionality and decent compliance features, but these features both rely on the discovery tool in order to gain a complete set of insights about the endpoint's environment. Now, BMC's discovery solution depends on having an agent installed in each endpoint and sometimes the agent doesn't work properly, making it difficult to get an accurate understanding of the environment (including special topologies) even with BMC's discovery tool."
"While we like patch management, it would be nice if it could handle patch management for other solutions, like Microsoft."
"Technical support needs to determine priority level based on the cases rather than the support package bundle."
"It is not as reliable as I would like it to be. There are times when things don't work quite right."
"I would like to see an improvement in the web filter, because I think it can be more user-friendly."
"The artificial intelligent aspect of it needs improvement."
"Working with Distribution sometimes comes at a cost due to a lack of knowledge of the current status of your licensing and products."
"I would like to see improvements in the dashboard for better reporting."
"Everybody else is doing AI, machine learning, self-healing, next-generation features. It needs more next-generation features. Everybody else is doing AI, machine learning, self-healing, next-generation features. It needs more next-generation features."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is low cost."
"BMC Client Management is a high-priced solution, but given its performance and capabilities, I think it offers great value. I don't have the exact number for the yearly licensing costs. I believe there is an additional cost of around two hundred dollars."
"BMC Client Management is a very affordable solution. There is one main server license which I believe is around $1,000 per year, and then there is the license for the actual solution. With the solution license, you can opt for a suite license where you get access to all the features and benefits, or alternatively you can buy any of the five main components of the suite license individually."
"To use BMC Client Management they charge annually per node."
"If we pay for the yearly package that includes the FortiGate firewall, then the FortiClient VPN license is included with it."
"It is a yearly subscription license. I don't see a problem with the pricing. Resellers add their markup and then give it to us, but I don't see that as a major challenge. It is fine."
"Anyone can download this product for free, but you have to have a FortiGate gateway that you are connecting to."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"The cost per port is very less as compared to the other technologies."
"Fortinet requires you to buy a lot of product in order for you to have proper protection."
"We are using the free version of this product."
"I rate the product's pricing a seven out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Retailer
10%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business59
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise25
 

Questions from the Community

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How does Fortinet FortiClient compare with Open VPN Access Server?
Fortinet FortiClient is a feature-rich solution that is easy to use and deploy without sacrificing safety and security. It has a very fast connection rate and has a built-in VPN. With this solution...
What's the difference between Fortinet's FortiEDR and FortiClient?
I suggest Fortinet’s FortiEDR over FortiClient for several reasons. For starters, FortiEDR guarantees solid protection because it continually scans servers for emerging vulnerabilities, which gives...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiClient?
The solution is not cloud-based; it comes from the firewall itself.
 

Also Known As

BMC Helix Client Management, Helix Client Management, BMC Fromdistance Mobile Device Management
FortiClient
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Charter Manufacturing
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about BMC Helix Client Management vs. Fortinet FortiClient and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.