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Citrix Gateway vs Ivanti Connect Secure comparison

 

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

Citrix Gateway
Ranking in SSL VPN
2nd
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
9th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Universal Access Gateways (1st)
Ivanti Connect Secure
Ranking in SSL VPN
3rd
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
13th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the SSL VPN category, the mindshare of Citrix Gateway is 11.0%, down from 15.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Ivanti Connect Secure is 16.5%, down from 24.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
SSL VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Citrix Gateway11.0%
Ivanti Connect Secure16.5%
Other72.5%
SSL VPN
 

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.
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.

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 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"
"What I find most valuable about this solution, is that it runs seamlessly."
"It's a stable solution while it's running. We don't have to work on it a lot. There are not many bugs, so it's easy to use if you deploy successfully. You can be sure of an uninterrupted solution for quite a long time. Citrix is a good product."
"The product is straightforward."
"It performs quite well."
"Citrix primarily provides secure connectivity. If you need secure remote desktop functionality, it is a viable option."
"The flexibility in their management is great."
"From an end-user perspective, the setup phase is easy."
"Ivanti Connect Secure provides the feature to check and ensure that employee devices are compliant before allowing them to access the VPN."
"The most valuable features of the solution are reliability and uptime."
"The most valuable feature of Pulse Connect Secure is its ease of use."
"The new UI that they are providing right now is very good."
"The stability of the product is its most valuable feature."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
 

Cons

"The tool must provide better integration and connectivity."
"The dashboard or interface should be more clear in reporting issues. Integration with other applications should be more user-friendly."
"Stability and security could be enhanced."
"As an organization, our initiative is to move to the cloud, Citrix Gateway needs to improve its cloud capabilities and make the cloud solution more robust."
"It's extremely complicated and it's not intuitive. The solution requires a lot of training to get going on it."
"I would like to see better configuration of repairs and downloading certification."
"The load balancing could be improved."
"When it comes to the VDA environment, making it additionally stable is important."
"I don't have any downsides to report about the product at this time."
"I would like the solution to be more secure and compatible. It also needs to improve integration with other systems."
"Setup is complex. A few users had some issues with it."
"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."
"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."
"The most valuable features of Pulse Connect Secure are the user-friendly connection and interconnecting."
"From our side, there is an issue when Windows updates. The security mechanisms of Ivanti Connect Secure are very slow to update."
"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

"I consider Citrix Gateway to be an expensive solution, generally ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 yearly, depending on the model."
"Citrix is quite expensive."
"Usually with Citrix the issue is the pricing, especially for the African region. We believe it's really expensive."
"It is expensive and requires proper planning with strategy."
"I believe the pricing is comparable to SaaS"
"There is a license to use Citrix Gateway and it is less expensive to use when compared to other solutions."
"It costs about 4,000 a year."
"The solution has a yearly licensing fee."
"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."
"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."
"A license is required for you to use Pulse Connect Secure, but I'm not aware of how much it costs."
"The price of Pulse Connect Secure is expensive."
"Pulse Connect Secure is relatively cost-effective."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

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 Business6
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise19
 

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?
It's difficult to say that because Citrix Gateway is changing all the time. It is improving all the time, and I think that it is periodically giving us patches. Anything that I can think to be impr...
What is your primary use case for Citrix Gateway?
I participate in integrator projects over the last year or two. Citrix Gateway is used in both my company and my customer's companies.
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.
 

Also Known As

Citrix NetScaler Unified Gateway
Pulse Connect Secure
 

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
Axcient, Baloise Group, Cygate, Catholic University of America, Datec Inc, Revlon, Santa Monica Networks, 7-Eleven
Find out what your peers are saying about Citrix Gateway vs. Ivanti Connect Secure and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,696 professionals have used our research since 2012.