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Ivanti Connect Secure vs SonicWall Netextender comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

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

Ivanti Connect Secure
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
12th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
SSL VPN (2nd)
SonicWall Netextender
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
10th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of Ivanti Connect Secure is 4.7%, down from 6.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall Netextender is 2.7%, down from 3.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SonicWall Netextender2.7%
Ivanti Connect Secure4.7%
Other92.6%
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
 

Featured Reviews

Kaushlendra Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Rich Darress - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Operating Officer at Darress Tech
Has provided secure remote access to multiple client networks with consistent performance
When buying the appliance itself, there is one downside that isn't exclusive to SonicWall. When you apply all the security settings, many people have one gig connections for internet ISP. If you're bringing in a one gig connection, you have to have a more robust SonicWall to handle that throughput with all your security settings turned on. It gets pretty pricey upfront if you're bringing in a one gig connection. If the customer starts with a two, three, four, or 500 meg connection and has a small unit, they have to replace the whole box when upgrading to a gig, so scalability there is atrocious. However, this issue exists with pretty much any appliance.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The initial setup is straightforward."
"The most valuable features of the solution are reliability and uptime."
"The stability of the product is its most valuable feature."
"The most valuable feature is being able to securely connect and use virtual desktops."
"Ivanti Connect Secure is simple and secure, making it valuable for our organization."
"I like the host checker, which thoroughly checks the security posture of the machine before allowing access. I also like application-based access and its seamless operations."
"The most robust and reliable feature of Ivanti Connect Secure is the VPN tunneling, using both the Pulse and the Ivanti client."
"The support from Pulse Connect Secure is great; when we face connectivity issues they respond in a prompt manner and have been able to resolve all of our issues, and if we have a critical issue, they can resolve it within four to five hours."
"Productivity for my remote workers went up dramatically once we switched providers."
"When we started to change from IPsec-type clients that were predominantly built right into the firewalls to this approach or deployment style for SSL VPN, the amount of time that our techs spent helping people with VPN issues was probably cut by more than half."
"The SSL-VPN encryption has been fantastic for my organization's data confidentiality and integrity; we've done extensive testing with third-party cybersecurity testing while connected and it has passed with flying colors."
"The initial setup is pretty easy."
"The solution provides high availability."
"The initial setup is pretty straightforward."
"The product is very cost-effective; for the price-sensitive market, this is a very good product for an SSL VPN solution."
"The most valuable feature for the Netextender is the ease with which we can integrate it with SAML."
 

Cons

"Pulse Connect Secure could improve the speed at which it connects. It is slow at the moment."
"The product could use additional dashboards."
"The solution can be improved by addressing the failure to connect on public 2-step networks."
"Setup is complex. A few users had some issues with it."
"Zero test FDP (Fraud Protection and Prevention) should be improved."
"I'd like to be more user friendly instead of clickingdrilling down tabs."
"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."
"I would like the solution to be more secure and compatible. It also needs to improve integration with other systems."
"Some companies provide a VPN client for free, but you have to pay for NetExtender."
"Right now, you have to load each license on to an appliance. You can't pool across multiple appliances."
"The initial setup of SonicWall Netextender is straightforward. The only issue we encountered was with relocating the VPN appliance. If we needed to move it from an on-premise to an on-cloud architecture, we had to start over and redeploy it from scratch. Unfortunately, it is not portable and any changes to its physical location often result in the need for a fresh deployment to ensure everything functions properly."
"The solution takes more bandwidth these days and it would be helpful if that was reduced."
"The only concern I do have is with the zero trust, and the solution is not coping with the newer technologies as much as it needs to do on that particular factor."
"I am rolling out the new Netextender because I am having some issues with the older version."
"There must be a multi-factor authentication enabled or integrated by default with it in order to be integrated with NetExtender."
"In future releases, introductions of AI features would be really helpful."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"A license is required for you to use Pulse Connect Secure, but I'm not aware of how much it costs."
"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 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."
"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 price of Pulse Connect Secure is expensive."
"The solution is cheap itself, not too costly."
"Cost wise, it would be a few hundred dollars for the base appliance with the first five clients. Then from there, your cost per seat depends on how many you're getting. It's a one-time cost, and then you have a few hundred dollars a year for the maintenance contract once you get the one-time seat costs out of the way."
"The price of SonicWall Netextender is reasonable. Whether it's a small shop with only five users or a larger operation with 130 users, we have received no complaints or objections regarding cost from any of the clients we are looking to deploy it with."
"The solution has a pretty good price."
"You have to pay for its license. There are some other companies that provide a VPN client for free. When you buy NetExtender, its license is available for one, three, or five years."
"After a certain number of users, you require extra licensing."
"Compared to others, it is cheaper. When we compare it with Palo Alto, Check Point, or Fortinet, it is a little cheaper."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise19
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

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 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...
What is your primary use case for Pulse Connect Secure?
Ivanti Connect Secure is used for both applications and for the RDP of our server.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall Netextender?
The pricing for my experience with the setup cost and licensing of SonicWall Netextender is fair. The Netextender itself has no cost. It's the SSL licensing that is attached to the SonicWall. It us...
What needs improvement with SonicWall Netextender?
SonicWall Netextender has not helped with compliance, as it is not applicable for what I'm doing. I've put several feature requests in over the years and they've implemented them all, so it current...
What is your primary use case for SonicWall Netextender?
Getting to local resources on a customer's network is my main use case with SonicWall Netextender or SonicWall SSL-VPN. As a managed service provider, all my customers have SonicWalls and I get int...
 

Also Known As

Pulse Connect Secure
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Axcient, Baloise Group, Cygate, Catholic University of America, Datec Inc, Revlon, Santa Monica Networks, 7-Eleven
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Ivanti Connect Secure vs. SonicWall Netextender and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.