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Aruba Remote Access Points vs OpenVPN Access Server comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 15, 2026

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

Aruba Remote Access Points
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
OpenVPN Access Server
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
71
Ranking in other categories
ZTNA (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of Aruba Remote Access Points is 1.1%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenVPN Access Server is 10.9%, down from 15.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
OpenVPN Access Server10.9%
Aruba Remote Access Points1.1%
Other88.0%
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
 

Featured Reviews

AmrIssa - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Information Officer at Mobica Advanced
Remote access has provided secure site connectivity and supports centralized on‑prem operations
We have a solution that is completely Aruba, including the controller, access point, and switch. We deploy ClearPass from Aruba in our company on VMware, which integrates well and works without issues. Aruba Remote Access Points are critical for our construction company because we have many sites…
AS
Network operation center engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Secure remote access has protected critical data and now simplifies role-based user management
An area for improvement is the pricing model. The concurrent user licenses get expensive pretty quickly as your organization grows, so more flexible pricing options would be a huge plus. Another area is configurational disconnect. While the admin web UI handles about 90% of what you need, the moment you have to do deep, advanced routing customization, you still have to drop back to the command line interface to make those changes. It would be great to see those deeper configurations completely integrated into the web portal. Lastly, it would be awesome to see native support for newer, lighter protocols through WireGuard built straight into the platform alongside standard OpenVPN for better performance efficiency.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It provides good Spectrum Analysis and troubleshooting."
"The solution is very stable, I haven’t heard about any failure of the access points, it seems to be reliable and the performance is good, there are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn’t crash or freeze."
"The product is very flexible."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is experienced by those working at home since they get a secure Wi-Fi connection."
"The most valuable features of Aruba Remote Access Points are the easy configuration, straightforward installation, and secure security features."
"There are no bad features in Aruba Remote Access Points. Every feature is customized to meet customer requirements according to their limitations, and we can make use of all features to benefit us as needed."
"The tool's most valuable features are its ease of configuration and deployment."
"It's easy to manage."
"It allowed people to remotely access files from their mobile devices and was so easy for end-users to use that they were able to work more efficiently no matter where they were, whether at a client’s campus, home, traveling – wherever they had a device and internet access."
"OpenVPN Access Server allows us to establish a secure connection to an IP address that would otherwise be inaccessible without using a VPN."
"It can securely do remote product updates, push out product updates; just like on our LAN, it's a virtual private network and we just push across our updates."
"For us, it's important that OpenVPN Access Server is cheap and that we get to use it ourselves."
"The solution is user-friendly and easy to implement."
"OpenVPN Access Server has positively impacted my organization by allowing access to our private services, enhancing security, and enabling remote work from anywhere, as I just need to connect to the VPN to have encrypted traffic to our private resources."
"OpenVPN Access Server has positively impacted my organization by supporting remote work and improving security since users must authenticate through the VPN first before accessing services such as RDP and SSH, which reduces our attack surface."
"This server allows you to connect to a network that does not have any public IP addresses."
 

Cons

"The solution is costly for medium-sized companies."
"The remote access point coverage should be bigger than it is now."
"They can add more graphical reporting systems so that network admins and system admins get more information about user usage, such as which user, what they use, and when they use it."
"It would help if the remote APs had some kind of SoHo environment with built-in firewall features. That way it could connect directly in a client-to-site type of environment, or a site-to-site VPN environment. That way users could have a complete office setup without coming to the private cloud."
"I don't really have any critiques at this time."
"Our difficulty with Aruba is that the product and the license are two different items. So, if we are adding an access point, we have to pay for two items. We have to pay to add the access point in the controller and we have to pay for the license."
"The product is not user-friendly."
"But the hardware needs to be revamped when we compare the Meraki solution."
"I find that connection speed with OpenVPN Access Server loses in comparison to WireGuard, which is very fast."
"The connections could be faster and more stable."
"I rate the price for OpenVPN as overpriced at the moment."
"It requires some experience of Linux server configuration to set it up."
"Everything in OpenVPN Access Server is very good, but the price is expensive."
"I would like to see a GUI or Web UI to manage users. Today these features are in the Pro Edition or are done by scripts."
"The high availability deployment is not very straightforward. They can make it simpler. OpenVPN does not support some of the additional protocols that Pulse Secure and Cisco AnyConnect support. They can include support for these additional protocols."
"The product is fully customized through configuration files, which is all achieved through manual data entry."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"In terms of pricing, we've found Aruba's offerings to be very competitive."
"Price-wise, Aruba Remote Access Points is in the middle, so my rating for its pricing is three out of five."
"The price of Aruba Remote Access Points could be better. It is a little expensive."
"There are no other expenses than standard licenses for the product."
"You require no separate licensing to convert an access point to RAP."
"Aruba Remote Access Points' pricing is good and affordable."
"Aruba pricing is not very high. They offer competitive pricing for what they provide."
"The licensing has a fixed pricing."
"It is an open-source solution, so we don't pay for anything."
"OpenVPN is a free and open-source solution."
"OpenVPN Access Server is a cheap corporate solution."
"The solution was free of charge."
"OpenVPN Access Server is free and open source."
"At one point I had to purchase addition connection licenses. I was very pleased with the pricing and licensing; so much easier than navigating the confusing jungle of Microsoft and Cisco licensing and pricing. That alone made the product a delight to manage."
"The product's pricing is good value, definitely. It is one of the best features, I would say. Evaluate the product before seeing which type of licensing is good for you. I think there is a good evaluation method available for OpenVPN, so you can just evaluate if it meets your needs. Then go forward with the right licensing policy."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
14%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise25
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aruba Remote Access Points?
We do not use Zero Touch Provisioning with Aruba Remote Access Points because the Aruba device being expensive compared to cheaper Cisco options holds us back.
What needs improvement with Aruba Remote Access Points?
The device requires reconfiguration if we use a standalone setup because the battery fault leads to all configurations resetting. This is a significant area for improvement, especially when the dev...
What is your primary use case for Aruba Remote Access Points?
We have a solution that is completely Aruba, including the controller, access point, and switch. We deploy ClearPass from Aruba in our company on VMware, which integrates well and works without iss...
How does Fortinet FortiClient compare with Open VPN Access Server?
Fortinet FortiClient is a feature-rich solution that is easy to use and deploy without sacrificing safety and security. It has a very fast connection rate and has a built-in VPN. With this solution...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OpenVPN Access Server?
The pricing and setup costs for OpenVPN Access Server are on the high side since licenses are not user-dependent but based on the number of connections established. With two free simultaneous conne...
What needs improvement with OpenVPN Access Server?
There are definitely areas for improvement. A broader network level access faces challenges, and the clustering configuration seems insufficient, posing a single point of failure. Moreover, patch m...
 

Also Known As

Aruba RAP
OpenVPN
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Trafford Metropolitan Borough
Verizon, Amazon, Disney, HP, Microsoft, IBM, Samsung
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Remote Access Points vs. OpenVPN Access Server and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,806 professionals have used our research since 2012.