ACRA EDGE vs Pulse Secure (Ivanti): Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
ACRA EDGE is a commercial vpn tool by Valarian Technologies. Pulse Secure (Ivanti) is a commercial vpn tool by Pulse Secure. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best vpn fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of NIST CSF 2.0 coverage, core features, company size fit, deployment model, here is our conclusion:
Enterprise security teams operating in disconnected or contested environments need ACRA EDGE for its ability to run complete communications infrastructure on isolated hardware without reliance on cloud connectivity or external dependencies. The on-premises, self-contained deployment model directly addresses NIST PR.IR requirements for infrastructure resilience while eliminating the attack surface that comes with centralized backends. Skip this if your organization needs integration with existing enterprise authentication systems or expects vendor-managed updates; ACRA EDGE's forward-deployed model trades operational convenience for physical control and zero-trace operation.
Mid-market and enterprise security teams needing to enforce zero trust access across hybrid infrastructure will get the most from Pulse Secure Connect Secure VPN paired with its Network Access Control layer; the combination gives you identity-driven access decisions before traffic hits your network, which is where most breach containment actually happens. The platform covers all six NIST CSF 2.0 Protect and Identify functions, reflecting genuine breadth across authentication, asset visibility, and continuous monitoring. Skip this if your priority is endpoint detection and response or if you're building around a single cloud provider's native security services; Pulse Secure assumes you're managing heterogeneous on-premises and cloud infrastructure with users who need frictionless access but can't be trusted implicitly.
