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Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs Ivanti Connect Secure comparison

 

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

Cisco IOS SSL VPN
Ranking in SSL VPN
3rd
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
9th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Ivanti Connect Secure
Ranking in SSL VPN
4th
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
14th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the SSL VPN category, the mindshare of Cisco IOS SSL VPN is 9.6%, down from 10.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Ivanti Connect Secure is 22.6%, up from 19.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
SSL VPN
 

Featured Reviews

Rupesh Kolhapurkar - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers easy setup phase but needs to improve connectivity
For our company's remote workforce connectivity, the tool was very useful during the COVID-19 situation. In general, the VPN functionality offered by the product was very useful during the COVID-19 situation. In terms of the product's ability to secure third-party access, the tool works very well. The most valuable feature of the product in terms of network security stems from the fact that the tool provides access to the whole network, and even if users give access to some special applications, it is still really helpful. The clientless access feature is not available for clients. My company installed the product for its clients. If the product offers a clientless access feature, then it is okay and can be very helpful for our company. I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. Cisco IOS SSL VPN is a reliable product. The product is very helpful for a work-from-home setup as the tool can be used to access our company's internal network, which Falls outside the network of our organization. I rate the tool a seven to eight out of ten.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like to work with the CMD command line because it's easy and it doesn't take very long to configure."
"The split panel functionality is much better in the Cisco IOS SSL VPN than in the Aruba VPN."
"It's a stable solution."
"The solution is very easy to work with. This is its most valuable feature. They also did a good job surrounding how you configure the devices."
"The setup and installation was easy."
"It is a product that is very robust and durable."
"It is stable."
"It's a very stable solution and I'd say it works perfectly."
"Pulse Connect Secure is a stable solution."
"This is a very secure and stable tool."
"The stability of the product is its most valuable feature."
"This solution enables secure connections for our engineers to work from home or other locations."
"It's quite stable."
"The flexibility in their management is great."
"Ivanti Connect Secure provides the feature to check and ensure that employee devices are compliant before allowing them to access the VPN."
"The most robust and reliable feature of Ivanti Connect Secure is the VPN tunneling, using both the Pulse and the Ivanti client."
 

Cons

"It would be nice if we could use this not just on mobile, but on laptops and desktops as well."
"Enhancing the client certificate deployment process could be a valuable improvement, ensuring smoother and more reliable certificate renewal experiences in the future."
"I would like for it to have support for the Dutch language. I typically use English in 99% of our communications but for some people, it matters."
"The solution takes some time to log in because of some unavoidable security barriers, but it would be better if that could happen faster."
"Cisco IOS SSL VPN should improve its pricing."
"The high price of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"Cisco IOS SSL VPN should add a sensor that can authenticate with a fingerprint instead of having to type the username and password every time."
"It would be helpful if Cisco IOS SSL VPN could help us set up devices on our iPads and phones."
"The solution must be more user-friendly."
"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."
"Zero test FDP (Fraud Protection and Prevention) should be improved."
"The product could use additional dashboards."
"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."
"Setup is complex. A few users had some issues with it."
"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 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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing fee is expensive."
"Users have to pay a yearly licensing fee for Cisco IOS SSL VPN."
"The tool is expensive."
"I would say it is a bit expensive, but I think it is worth the price."
"The pricing of the solution is reasonable"
"The platform is expensive."
"It stands as the priciest solution available in the market."
"Cisco IOS SSL VPN is more expensive than the Aruba VPN, but it is worth the money."
"The pricing is quite nominal. We pay on a yearly basis."
"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."
"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."
"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 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
Computer Software Company
21%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Healthcare Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco IOS SSL VPN?
The pricing for Cisco IOS SSL VPN is based on per user. For more than one hundred users, it costs about $60 per seat.
What needs improvement with Cisco IOS SSL VPN?
It's hard for me to say how Linksys could be improved. I can't think of any specific improvements needed. I believe Cisco could support easier configuration and having tools that allow for easier m...
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...
 

Also Known As

Cisco SSL VPN
Pulse Connect Secure
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

MST Systems
Axcient, Baloise Group, Cygate, Catholic University of America, Datec Inc, Revlon, Santa Monica Networks, 7-Eleven
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs. Ivanti Connect Secure and other solutions. Updated: May 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.