F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs Ivanti Connect Secure comparison

F5 and Ivanti are both solutions in the SSL VPN category. F5 is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.3, while Ivanti is ranked #1 with an average rating of 6.8. F5 holds a 7.3% mindshare in SV, compared to Ivanti’s 16.9% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of F5 users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 79% of Ivanti users who would recommend it.

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Man...

Read 18 F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) reviews

2,814 Views
478 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Ivanti Connect Secure

Read 29 Ivanti Connect Secure reviews

3,726 Views
1,155 Comparison Views

79% willing to recommend

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Man...

Ivanti Connect Secure

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

Ivanti Connect Secure and F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) compete in network security. F5 BIG-IP APM is perceived as superior due to its advanced security features.

Features: Ivanti Connect Secure provides VPN capabilities, flexible remote user access, and seamless integration with security frameworks. It focuses on simplified access management for smaller deployments. F5 BIG-IP APM offers advanced access policy management, comprehensive application security, and flexible authentication mechanisms, suited for large enterprises needing extensive security.

Room for Improvement: Ivanti Connect Secure could enhance scalability, enhance flexibility for large-scale deployments, and improve integration with varied IT environments. F5 BIG-IP APM can simplify the user interface, streamline the setup process, and reduce resource demands during deployment.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Ivanti Connect Secure provides a straightforward deployment with extensive setup support, facilitating quick implementation. F5 BIG-IP APM requires significant technical expertise due to its complex deployment model. Both have strong customer service, though Ivanti is noted for faster response times, benefiting businesses with limited IT resources.

Pricing and ROI: Ivanti Connect Secure is budget-friendly, benefiting organizations with constrained budgets and providing substantial ROI via efficient performance. F5 BIG-IP APM, despite higher initial costs, offers significant ROI through enhanced security features and scalability, targeting large-scale deployments. Pricing reflects the value of each, with Ivanti appealing to cost-conscious buyers and F5 BIG-IP APM to those prioritizing security.

To learn more, read our detailed F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs. Ivanti Connect Secure Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs. Ivanti Connect Secure

December 2025

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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

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Man...

Ranking in SSL VPN

5th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (15th), Network Access Control (NAC) (7th), Remote Access (10th), Access Management (9th)

Ivanti Connect Secure

Ranking in SSL VPN

1st

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (9th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the SSL VPN category, the mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is 7.3%, down from 14.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Ivanti Connect Secure is 16.9%, down from 23.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

SSL VPN Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Ivanti Connect Secure	16.9%
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)	7.3%
Other	75.8%

SSL VPN

Featured Reviews

SÜ

SalihUcpinar

Senior Cyber Security Consultant at KoçSistem

Has provided reliable policy controls and secure web access for large enterprises

I consider Cloudflare when evaluating centralized access control features; Cloudflare utilizes multi-factor authentication and full API support, while F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) needs to enhance its API support. I recommend F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) for large companies such as Tüpraş and Ford. Tüpraş is one of the biggest companies in Turkey, along with other customers such as Tofaş, Euroko, Koç Holding, and more. For on-premises deployment, I would rate it a 10. For cloud deployment, I would rate it a seven. I primarily use it on-premises. I rate F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) eight out of ten.

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Kaushlendra Singh

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) provides excellent WAF and bot defense solutions."

"The product allows us to create customized portals for your users."

"On a scale from one to ten for stability, I would rate F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) a ten."

"Stickiness is the most valuable feature of the product."

"F5 BIG-IP APM is relatively easy to use."

"I recommend F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) to others due to its reliability, and it is perceived as critical to security infrastructure."

"The load balancing features are valuable."

"The most valuable feature is the virtual IP creation. It's our most frequently used feature."

More F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) pros

"I can safely say this is one of the best solutions I have seen for VPN access. It can achieve what other vendors may not be able to. This product will train you about exactly what an SSL should be. You can leverage it to do whatever you wish, the way you wish to do it. This is the solution if you want a perfectly scalable product for your enterprise that can help your mobile users and integrate with the latest technologies."

"The most valuable features of the solution are reliability and uptime."

"The tool's most valuable feature is remote access."

"The most valuable feature of Pulse Connect Secure is its ease of use."

"This is a very secure and stable tool."

"This solution enables secure connections for our engineers to work from home or other locations."

"The flexibility in their management is great."

"From an end-user perspective, the setup phase is easy."

More Ivanti Connect Secure pros

Cons

"The solution is quite costly."

"If I could copy and paste objects instead of picking and configuring them from scratch each time, it would be great."

"Integrating identity providers and single sign-on solutions can simplify user authentication and access control."

"The main improvement needed for F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is to integrate into the cloud-delivered services from F5."

"I have had a lot of issues in the past few months with the agents, which was disappointing."

"The price of this product can be improved."

"F5 BIG-IP APM disconnects when you leave it for long enough, but that is natural for IT solutions to do. That's a little bit frustrating."

"Regarding price, I'm not directly involved in purchasing, but our CIO thinks the product is very expensive. He's considering moving from the tool to Citrix NetScaler WAF because it's cheaper, and we already have Citrix for VDI. We got NetScaler almost free as part of our VDI deal. Three years ago, I convinced him to use the solution because it's better, but now, with budget constraints, he may want to switch."

More F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) cons

"From our side, there is an issue when Windows updates. The security mechanisms of Ivanti Connect Secure are very slow to update."

"There is room for improvement. I'm concerned about the frequent vulnerabilities identified. As a security product, the number of vulnerabilities is concerning."

"Connection-wise, Pulse Connect Secure could be faster, and this is its area for improvement."

"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 solution must be more user-friendly."

"I don't have any downsides to report about the product at this time."

"Setup is complex. A few users had some issues with it."

"The support team of the product needs improvement. Sometimes we have issues with multiple authentications, but there is no help from the support team."

More Ivanti Connect Secure cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is a little bit expensive."

"Recently, they have simplified the licensing"

"The product is very expensive."

"I rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten."

"The price of Pulse Connect Secure is expensive."

"The pricing is quite nominal. We pay on a yearly basis."

"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."

"Pulse Connect Secure is relatively cost-effective."

"A license is required for you to use Pulse Connect Secure, but I'm not aware of how much it costs."

"The cost of the product is high, but worth it because of the utility and great product support."

"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."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Government

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	9

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	19

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?

In my opinion, the GUI is perfect with the configuration options provided. F5 BIG-IP has given customization options and policy configuration tools in the GUI. It's good and good enough to work.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?

F5 products are more expensive than other solutions but are valued for their quality and reliability, akin to purchasing a Bentley as opposed to an Audi.

See all answers

What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is not user-friendly and operates slowly. Additional features for architecture such as Anycast would be beneficial. The ability to run the Anycast feature woul...

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What do you like most about Pulse Connect Secure?

From an end-user perspective, the setup phase is easy.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Pulse Connect Secure?

The reporting capabilities of Ivanti Connect Secure are not strong; the format is simple, and obtaining a detailed report is difficult and requires manual work. Regarding points for improvement, th...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 5% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

Compared 5% of the time

Citrix Gateway vs F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

Compared 5% of the time

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

Compared 4% of the time

OneLogin vs F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

Compared 4% of the time

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OpenVPN Access Server vs Ivanti Connect Secure

Compared 14% of the time

Fortinet FortiClient vs Ivanti Connect Secure

Compared 11% of the time

Ivanti Secure Access vs Ivanti Connect Secure

Compared 10% of the time

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs Ivanti Connect Secure

Compared 10% of the time

Citrix Gateway vs Ivanti Connect Secure

Compared 5% of the time

More Ivanti Connect Secure Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

January 2026

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) report

Download F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) product report

Buyer's Guide

Ivanti Connect Secure

January 2026

Download Ivanti Connect Secure product report

Also Known As

F5 Access Policy Manager

Pulse Connect Secure

Overview

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is an access management proxy solution for managing global access to the enterprise networks, cloud providers, applications, and application programming interfaces (APIs). Through a single management interface, BIG-IP APM consolidates remote, mobile, network, virtual, and web access.

BIG-IP APM can also serve as a bridge between modern and classic authentication and authorization protocols and methods. For applications which are unable to support modern authentication and authorization protocols, like SAML and OAuth with OIDC, but which do support classic authentication methods, BIG-IP APM converts user credentials to the appropriate authentication standard supported by the application.

BIG-IP APM Benefits:

Ease of use
Flexibility
Ability to integrate with other systems
Security features
Granular access control
Responsive and helpful support team

BIG-IP APM Features:

Support for Identity Aware Proxy (IAP) enabling Zero Trust application access
Context-based authorization with dynamic L4/L7 ACLs
Integration with third-party MFA solutions
DTLS 2.0 mode for delivering and securing applications
SAML 2.0 identity federation support
Support for OAuth 2.0 authorization protocol
SSO support for classic authentication (Kerberos, header- based, etc.), credential caching, OAuth 2.0, SAML 2.0, and FIDO2 (U2F)
AAA server authentication and high-availability
Integration with leading IAM vendor products (Microsoft, Okta, Ping Identity)
BIG IP Edge Client and F5 Access integrate with VMware Horizon ONE (AirWatch), Microsoft Intune and IBM MaaS360
Risk-based access leveraging third-party UEBA and risk engines (HTTP Connector)

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by BIG-IP APM users.

Mahmmoud Rabie, Senior Site Reliability Engineer, writes that BIG-IP APM is "A highly stable solution for load balancing, but the initial setup is complex."

Clyde Livingston, Senior Process Specialist at Telstra, says that BIG-IP APM is "Easy to use, useful access remotely, but lacking stability."

Chris Lam, Senior Solution Consultant at Macroview Telecom Limited, states that BIG-IP APM is "Useful for remote access VPN and VPI integration with VMware.

Ivanti Connect Secure provides a seamless, cost-effective SSL VPN solution for remote and mobile users from any web-enabled device to corporate resources— anytime, anywhere.

Ivanti

Sample Customers

City Bank, Ricacorp Properties, Miele, American Systems, Bangladesh Post Office

Axcient, Baloise Group, Cygate, Catholic University of America, Datec Inc, Revlon, Santa Monica Networks, 7-Eleven

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs. Ivanti Connect Secure

December 2025

Free Report: F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs. Ivanti Connect Secure

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