No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Aruba Remote Access Points vs OpenVPN Access Server comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

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 November 2026, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of Aruba Remote Access Points is 1.2%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenVPN Access Server is 9.1%, down from 14.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
OpenVPN Access Server9.1%
Aruba Remote Access Points1.2%
Other89.7%
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

"This solution is widely adopted and involves both technology and non-technical devices. It is robust, except in cases of significant power outages."
"What I like best about Aruba Remote Access Points is that it's pretty easy to set up."
"The most valuable feature of Aruba Remote Access Points is the manageability from the central cloud platform."
"The product is very flexible. So far the stability of the solution has been good."
"Once we got things set up properly, we just need to do updates, and it just runs."
"The product is very flexible."
"The stability and performance of Aruba Remote Access Points with minimal issues in an IT environment are worth a recommendation."
"It's easy to manage."
"What I appreciate the most about OpenVPN Access Server is that it's very easy to set up."
"The stability is very reliable in my experience."
"I have set the default routes to the VPN server so that all traffic is encrypted."
"The best features of OpenVPN Access Server are that it can integrate with any software and it can work on any platform."
"We use OpenVPN Access Server to connect from site to site from our data center to our customer site and to dial and access our VPN to our network."
"Its most valuable feature is that it is open source."
"OpenVPN Access Server has positively impacted our organization by giving us a highly reliable, stable environment for remote work."
"The setup is easy."
 

Cons

"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."
"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 remote access point coverage should be bigger than it is now."
"In terms of areas for improvement in Aruba Remote Access Points, when planning for the customer's end, you need to highlight the precautions against EMF emissions and environmental emissions, as well as power management limitations."
"It could have better monitoring features. Not all features are available on the monitoring dashboard."
"The security side of Aruba Remote Access Points could be improved."
"I don't really have any critiques at this time."
"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."
"The stability of the OpenVPN Access Server has room for improvement."
"<p>For an infrastructure product, that is not acceptable.</p>"
"One improvement I would like to see in OpenVPN is better adaptability in certain geographical areas."
"The logs should be made easier to read."
"There could be an easier way to set up the solution."
"It requires some experience of Linux server configuration to set it up."
"OpenVPN Access Server needs to have fewer updates."
"I'd like to have more control over the users when they are accessing the network."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"You require no separate licensing to convert an access point to RAP."
"Aruba pricing is not very high. They offer competitive pricing for what they provide."
"There are no other expenses than standard licenses for the product."
"Price-wise, Aruba Remote Access Points is in the middle, so my rating for its pricing is three out of five."
"In terms of pricing, we've found Aruba's offerings to be very competitive."
"Aruba Remote Access Points' pricing is good and affordable."
"The price of Aruba Remote Access Points could be better. It is a little expensive."
"It is free, you buy support."
"The solution is free of cost."
"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."
"I don't need to pay for its license since it is an open-source tool."
"The Pro Edition has a reasonable price per user."
"The solution was free of charge."
"OpenVPN Access Server is free and open source."
"Begin with the community version and upgrade to paid one if the need arises."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Enterprise Infrastructure VPN solutions are best for your needs.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
16%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Construction Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
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.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.