Ivanti Connect Secure vs SonicWall SMA comparison

Ivanti and SonicWall are both solutions in the SSL VPN category. Ivanti is ranked #4 with an average rating of 6.6, while SonicWall is ranked #8 with an average rating of 10.0. Ivanti holds a 23.0% mindshare in SV, compared to SonicWall’s 5.1% mindshare. Additionally, 78% of Ivanti users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of SonicWall users who would recommend it.

Ivanti Connect Secure

Read 28 Ivanti Connect Secure reviews

1,165 Views
753 Comparison Views

78% willing to recommend

SonicWall SMA

Read 14 SonicWall SMA reviews

250 Views
142 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Ivanti Connect Secure

SonicWall SMA

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

SonicWall SMA and Ivanti Connect Secure are both robust network security solutions. Ivanti Connect Secure tends to outperform in user satisfaction due to its rich features and reliable performance, while SonicWall SMA offers competitive pricing and strong support.

Features: SonicWall SMA provides comprehensive security, ease of integration with existing systems, and a user-friendly interface. Ivanti Connect Secure comes with advanced multi-factor authentication, extensive VPN capabilities, and superior authentication options.

Room for Improvement: SonicWall SMA could enhance its reporting and analytics capabilities and improve its user interface. Ivanti Connect Secure needs to address its initial setup complexity, reduce performance hitches, and improve its customer support.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SonicWall SMA is praised for straightforward deployment and responsive customer service. Ivanti Connect Secure faces criticism for a more complex deployment process and slower customer service response times.

Pricing and ROI: SonicWall SMA is generally viewed as more affordable with a quicker ROI due to lower initial setup costs. Ivanti Connect Secure, despite higher costs, is deemed worth the investment by users due to its advanced features and capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed Ivanti Connect Secure vs. SonicWall SMA Report (Updated: May 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Ivanti Connect Secure vs. SonicWall SMA

May 2025

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Helped 851,604 peers since 2012

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 SSL VPN

4th

Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN

11th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SonicWall SMA

Ranking in SSL VPN

8th

Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN

19th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

8.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Universal Access Gateways (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the SSL VPN category, the mindshare of Ivanti Connect Secure is 23.0%, up from 19.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall SMA is 5.1%, up from 3.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

SSL VPN

Featured Reviews

Johan Derycke

Network Security Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

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.

Read full review

Mayur_Patel

Chief Commercial Officer at InnovAge Home Care

Easy-to-manage product with efficient features for network security

SonicWall SMA facilitates and protects remote workforce access to corporate resources from any location Enhancing live tracking capabilities could improve the product, particularly in monitoring user activity and request statuses in real-time on the web interface. We have been using SonicWall…

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

"What I like the most about Pulse Connect Secure is that it's user-friendly. It's easy to use. You just need to connect, and that's it."

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

"Ivanti secures access to the corporate network from various devices and locations."

"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."

"It is customer-friendly. It is quite easy for our users to connect. There is also the flexibility of the features."

"This is a very secure and stable tool."

"Pulse Connect Secure is a stable solution."

"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."

More Ivanti Connect Secure pros

"The solution is reliable and has good overall performance."

"SonicWall SMA has the most valuable feature of proprietary security technologies like Capture ATP."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is they have IT consultants that know SonicWall."

"The management and the dashboard are the solution's most valuable features."

"I like the load balancing capability."

"Secure Mobile Access (SMA) is easy to configure and the deployment is straightforward. However, this is mostly because of the AWS setup."

"Blocklisting and allowlisting are the most beneficial features for network security."

"What I like best about SonicWall SMA is the relationship between its features and its price, because the solution is both affordable and functional."

More SonicWall SMA pros

Cons

"The security mechanisms of Ivanti Connect Secure are very slow to update."

"This solution normally works but at times, we have had trouble with connectivity."

"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."

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

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

"Ivanti Connect Secure needs to have faster connections. It also needs to improve the stability."

"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."

"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."

More Ivanti Connect Secure cons

"I'd like to see the product maybe polish keyboards in Bookmark."

"The only thing that they could try to improve is the support for enterprise customers. Normally enterprises and SMBs can create a ticket, but for enterprises, SonicWall SMA needs to provide a global view, and this is what's currently missing. It's not even a question of timing. It's a question of the global vision because currently, it's lacking. They concentrate on the topic, but not on the means and not on the global picture. In most cases, there's something wrong with the integration of SonicWall SMA with other products, so that could also be improved."

"SonicWall SMA is difficult to use and it does not provide easy access to different parts of the network."

"Enhancing live tracking capabilities could improve the product, particularly in monitoring user activity and request statuses in real-time on the web interface."

"User interface could be improved."

"The solution has 2FA, it will generate a token and send it to an email, but multifactor authentication is not available. I would suggest that there should be MFA integration and provided with the appliance."

"The solution could integrate better with other platforms."

"The timed synchronization between the network appliance needs improvement."

More SonicWall SMA cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Pulse Connect Secure is expensive."

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

"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."

"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."

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

"This solution is priced well and we currently have the maximum number of licenses allowed."

"The cost of the licensing is based on the maximum number of concurrent users, and it costs a lot to add them."

"I don't know about the pricing of the SSL-VPN box. I know the SSL-VPN software is free. Global VPN client, by comparison, is licensed for around $150 or something like that. But the SSL-VPN software is free. It is already built-in with the box."

"Our licenses are stackable and can be anywhere from five users to a million users."

"All the costs are included in a bundled license."

"The platform has medium pricing."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

19%

Construction Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Real Estate/Law Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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?

See all answers

What do you like most about SonicWall SMA?

Blocklisting and allowlisting are the most beneficial features for network security.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall SMA?

The platform has medium pricing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SonicWall SMA?

Enhancing live tracking capabilities could improve the product, particularly in monitoring user activity and request statuses in real-time on the web interface.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 20% of the time

Ivanti Secure Access vs Ivanti Connect Secure

Compared 17% of the time

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs Ivanti Connect Secure

Compared 8% of the time

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

Compared 7% of the time

Ivanti Tunnel vs Ivanti Connect Secure

Compared 2% of the time

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Peplink SpeedFusion vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 23% of the time

SonicWall Netextender vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 20% of the time

Fortinet FortiClient vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 15% of the time

Citrix Gateway vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 14% of the time

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 10% of the time

More SonicWall SMA Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Ivanti Connect Secure

May 2025

Download Ivanti Connect Secure product report

Buyer's Guide

SonicWall SMA

April 2025

Download SonicWall SMA product report

Also Known As

Pulse Connect Secure

SonicWall Aventail, SonicWall SMA SSL-VPN, SonicWall Secure Mobile Access

Overview

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

SonicWall SMA is a unified secure access gateway that enables organizations to provide anytime, anywhere and any device access to mission critical corporate resources. SMA's granular access control policy engine, context aware device authorization, application level VPN and advanced authentication with single sign-on empowers organizations to embrace BYOD and mobility in a hybrid IT environment.

SonicWall

Sample Customers

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

UnitedStack, Newport City Homes, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, PRIME aerostructures GmbH, Celtic Manor Resort

Buyer's Guide

Ivanti Connect Secure vs. SonicWall SMA

May 2025

Free Report: Ivanti Connect Secure vs. SonicWall SMA

Find out what your peers are saying about Ivanti Connect Secure vs. SonicWall SMA and other solutions. Updated: May 2025.

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