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Citrix Gateway 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

Citrix Gateway
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Universal Access Gateways (1st), SSL VPN (2nd), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (9th)
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 (19th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Citrix Gateway and Symantec VIP Access Manager aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Citrix Gateway is designed for Universal Access Gateways and holds a mindshare of 41.9%, down 47.2% compared to last year.
Symantec VIP Access Manager, on the other hand, focuses on Authentication Systems, holds 2.4% mindshare, up 1.7% since last year.
Universal Access Gateways Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Citrix Gateway41.9%
SonicWall SMA42.6%
Other15.5%
Universal Access Gateways
Authentication Systems Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Symantec VIP Access Manager2.4%
Microsoft Entra ID7.8%
Okta Platform5.0%
Other84.8%
Authentication Systems
 

Featured Reviews

SK
Enterprise Architect at Wipro Limited
Strong security and versatile features drive positive experience, but support responsiveness can improve
The main purpose of Citrix Gateway is to enforce the appropriate level of access to the correct user on the proper device under the correct conditions. This is enabled through Citrix Gateway combined with endpoint analysis and optional Citrix analytics for security. Regarding improvements, implementing adaptive access policies on Citrix Gateway could be enhanced, particularly in security posture. Although it enforces real-time contextual access control based on device, user network risk, certain aspects can be improved. Other areas for improvement include BYOD access control and risk-based decision-making. Additionally, there is potential for reducing administrative overhead by applying policies dynamically based on context rather than static rules. Incident response speed is another area that could be enhanced.
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

"The solution is scalable."
"Citrix Gateway improved the security of the access of our applications outside the network."
"The stability of the solution is perfect."
"Its ease of use and how everybody can easily work through it are the most valuable features."
"The solution is very stable. If I were to rate it out of ten, I would give stability a nine."
"Most of our customers are using the load balancing feature and also the verification feature is good as well, in my experience."
"The technical support is very responsive and fast"
"The solution is scalable and can go from a very small deployment to handling 10,000 transactions a second."
"The main benefit of Symantec VIP is that it provides strong authentication while keeping it as a very user friendly experience."
"The two-factor authentication is most definitely valuable and moves us closer to being able to check off those important boxes for compliance."
"Cloud-based service and management."
"It's a good tool. It's pretty straightforward."
"VIP is a strong, cloud-based authentication service that enables organizations to secure access to networks and applications to prevent unauthorized logins to company resources, even when passwords have been compromised or shared."
"Pricing was about 25% of the old solution, saving us about $500,000 over three years for 10,000 users."
"The ease of integrating into an existing authentication system."
"The tool has been very stable, in my experience. Also, I haven't faced any issues or problems with integration or connectivity."
 

Cons

"I would like to see improved logging because it doesn't keep much information for the session monitoring or historical sessions."
"Sometimes the input-output has issues."
"The solution can be a bit pricey."
"Citrix Gateway could improve the speed of the VPN. I sometimes have to wait for 10 to 15 minutes to get connected and other times when I am connected I have to abort, and reconnect."
"It's extremely complicated and it's not intuitive. The solution requires a lot of training to get going on it."
"If the solution had a more advanced DNS, it would be an improvement."
"The solution has unnecessary limitations."
"The initial setup could be made easier."
"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."
"In the next release, I would like the ability to work offline with remote access."
"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."
"There are some shortcomings on the reporting side, such as how many connections you can get per month."
"Geofencing needs improvement."
"At times, the relay server could not contact Symantec; it would fail open and allow access without a passcode."
"The VIP Manager can be accessed from the outside which is a security vulnerability."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution has a yearly licensing fee."
"The price could be lower."
"Citrix is quite expensive."
"Usually with Citrix the issue is the pricing, especially for the African region. We believe it's really expensive."
"It costs about 4,000 a year."
"There is a need to make yearly payments for licensing purposes. Also, it is not an expensive one."
"I consider Citrix Gateway to be an expensive solution, generally ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 yearly, depending on the model."
"There are two or three different models, but you can actually have a CapEx where you purchase the unit outright and then there's a yearly maintenance cost on top for years two and three, and four, or you can actually do a subscription purchase through Citrix cloud and you pay on a monthly basis, or you can have a three-year subscription contract as well. I give the solution a six out of ten for its cost."
"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
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
7%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise17
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise10
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix Gateway?
The price is one aspect, but technically it is complete. Technically, it is really complete.
What needs improvement with Citrix Gateway?
I see room for improvement in several areas. The monitoring site could be much better because monitoring NetScaler and Citrix Gateway is too difficult with just SNMP traps available. Improving the ...
What is your primary use case for Citrix Gateway?
I am on the customer side using Citrix products, specifically Citrix CVAD for Virtual and Desktop virtualization. I am using Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service. We are using Citrix Gateway an...
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Also Known As

Citrix NetScaler Unified Gateway
Symantec VIP
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Aeronamic, Avianca, Bechtel Corporation, Betfair UK, Catholic University Leuven (K.U. Leuven), Centene Corporation, Cerner, Charityshare, City of High Point, Clark Builders
Maine Medical Center, Aria S.p.A
Find out what your peers are saying about Citrix, SonicWall and others in Universal Access Gateways. Updated: March 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.