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Hillstone E-Series vs Ivanti Connect Secure comparison

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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

Hillstone E-Series
Ranking in SSL VPN
10th
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
24th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (40th)
Ivanti Connect Secure
Ranking in SSL VPN
2nd
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
11th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the SSL VPN category, the mindshare of Hillstone E-Series is 4.7%, up from 3.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Ivanti Connect Secure is 13.2%, down from 20.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
SSL VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Ivanti Connect Secure13.2%
Hillstone E-Series4.7%
Other82.1%
SSL VPN
 

Featured Reviews

TahirMahmood - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at Zubair Feeds
Offers good features like URL filtering, IPS, and IDS to users
We received an update for the tool in July. The update was provided for the tool as there was a problem with the firewall, where too much memory was consumed, and the firewall was hanging a lot. When we updated the tool's features, everything became okay. The tool only had some memory-related problems. It took the tool a month to fix the issues.
Kaushlendra Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
AGM IT Infrastructure at Yamaha
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Very reliable solution with good scalability and straightforward implementation."
"The installation is easy, we have not had any complaints from our customers."
"The most valuable feature of the Hillstone E-Series is its user-friendliness."
"The most valuable features of the Hillstone E-Series are its hardware capacity, innovation, and the throughput that the hardware can take."
"If an organization is not looking for a web proxy, it's a very, very good product."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"With Hillstone, TCO and ROI are very good, it's an easy sale."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the ransomware protection that the tool offers."
"The most robust and reliable feature of Ivanti Connect Secure is the VPN tunneling, using both the Pulse and the Ivanti client."
"The most valuable feature is being able to securely connect and use virtual desktops."
"The stability of the product is its most valuable feature."
"My company decided to use Pulse Connect Secure because it had all the required security features, it was easy to connect to it, and it's a standard solution in the market."
"The most valuable feature of Pulse Connect Secure is its ease of use."
"Pulse Connect Secure is highly stable."
"It is customer-friendly, it is quite easy for our users to connect, and there is also the flexibility of the features."
"By keeping numbers in mind, I can say we have reduced implementation times, resulting in over 300% ROI, with a payback period of less than six months, alongside a software spend reduction of approximately 25 to 30%."
 

Cons

"The licensing model is very complex with many subcategories of licenses you can purchase. They could make it more simplified for customers to understand."
"I am not sure if this solution offers active directory integration. Adding that feature will definitely be an advantage."
"The solution doesn't have a web proxy built into the system like Sophos. This is something they should work to change."
"The tool only had some memory-related problems."
"The current usage reporting is very basic. I would like to be able to access more granular data."
"Having frequent live webinars on a monthly basis would really help."
"The tool provides just a general report. It does not provide a granular report. Hence, the tool should work on its reporting feature."
"The room for improvement would be the SSL VPN license cost."
"I'd like to be more user friendly instead of clickingdrilling down tabs."
"The cost of the product is high, but worth it because of the utility and great product support."
"User experience and after-sales support could be better. For example, over the last couple of years, when this COVID scenario was going on, there were multiple attacks on these types of solutions. SQL has been attacked numerous times, and there were a lot of vulnerabilities, and our customers had to update and upgrade the devices every two weeks or every month. This was a headache. It could also be more scalable."
"The product could use additional dashboards."
"The stability could be better. There are sometimes bugs in the system."
"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."
"The product's price is an area where improvements are required."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Hillstone's pricing is economical and neither very high nor very low."
"The cost per year for licensing, and hardware, is approximately $850 for the basic plan."
"The licensing model is very complex with many subcategories of licenses you can purchase. They could make it more simplified for customers to understand."
"The tool's pricing is reasonable. It depends on the model. The product's pricing is around 600 USD. You need to buy a software license to activate the features. You need to pay around 150 USD for that."
"Pulse Connect Secure is relatively cost-effective."
"The pricing is quite nominal. We pay on a yearly basis."
"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."
"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."
"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
Construction Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise20
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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?
The biggest friction point I have encountered with Ivanti Connect Secure is related to compliance. When the host checker is configured too strictly, it can conflict with ensuring 100% security. If ...
What is your primary use case for Pulse Connect Secure?
My main use case for Ivanti Connect Secure is zero trust connectivity. The main feature I have been using is geolocation and source IP restrictions, ensuring security, advanced proxy support, and e...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Pulse Connect Secure
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bank of China Macao, Instituto Tecnológico Bolivariano, Ministry of Labor in San Salvador, FEDCO
Axcient, Baloise Group, Cygate, Catholic University of America, Datec Inc, Revlon, Santa Monica Networks, 7-Eleven
Find out what your peers are saying about Hillstone E-Series vs. Ivanti Connect Secure and other solutions. Updated: October 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.