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Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs SonicWall SMA comparison

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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

Cisco IOS SSL VPN
Ranking in SSL VPN
4th
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
14th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
50
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SonicWall SMA
Ranking in SSL VPN
6th
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
16th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Universal Access Gateways (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the SSL VPN category, the mindshare of Cisco IOS SSL VPN is 10.7%, up from 9.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall SMA is 6.9%, up from 5.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
SSL VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco IOS SSL VPN10.7%
SonicWall SMA6.9%
Other82.4%
SSL VPN
 

Featured Reviews

VM
student at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Ease and speed of connectivity impress and recommend
I have not found any areas that could be improved so far. I am not sure how Cisco IOS SSL VPN can continue their improvements for the future, but I think it is a great product. To stay on top, they probably need updates to this product. I do not know what kind of improvements these updates are offering. It is a great product so far.
BA
Owner at ThinkEzIT
Security enhances through autonomous protection and strong support while multi-factor authentication secures access
I haven't utilized the high availability and scalability features of SonicWall SMA yet because I've never had a need to. I don't know where they can focus their energy on continuous improvements, as I haven't been looking at what they're releasing. We're a small shop, so we drop stuff in and manage it and do what we need to do to maintain it. If we run into an issue, we contact support. There's a learning curve, but it comes down to getting support to train you on the product, and then once you have the training you need, you're able to make the changes and updates that you need to.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cisco support has been very helpful."
"The product is great because it is easy and simple."
"The valuable features of Cisco IOS SSL VPN are the ease of use and the speed; it is pretty fast and easy to use, definitely helps with our efficiency as it is one of our primary VPN solutions, and helps with maintaining security."
"With Cisco IOS SSL VPN, you can access your corporate data safely and securely."
"Cisco IOS SSL VPN is integrated with domain controller, SSO and MFA."
"The platform provides value and benefits to our organization through efficient and effective communication."
"Usability is the most important feature for me."
"Cisco IOS SSL VPN is reasonably priced, and its technology is flexible."
"The management and the dashboard are the solution's most valuable features."
"The solution is reliable and has good overall performance."
"The advanced threat protection and the endpoint control features of SonicWall SMA have helped improve security measures tremendously."
"We are in Thailand and I'm very happy with the technical support."
"These are very nice appliances and they give us all that we need for our work in the hospital."
"I am very satisfied with the technical support."
"The SonicWall SSL-VPN solution offers the best protection with the least effect on services."
"I like the load balancing capability, it is very fast and it has a simple interface."
 

Cons

"Cisco ASA system doesn't provide interface with radius based user mapping, other than the standard schema of users and groups."
"The product costs a lot of money."
"Cisco IOS SSL VPN should improve its pricing."
"The solution takes some time to log in because of some unavoidable security barriers, but it would be better if that could happen faster."
"In terms of what needs improvement, it should have better integration. Although, it might have already been taken care of."
"The pricing is a stumbling block to scaling our utilization of Cisco products and we would prefer to use more of them."
"The Secure Plus Connect product could be improved with many enhancements in any price license, especially for licensing. Cisco could simplify the licensing; it could make it easier to order and use the features."
"The graphical interface is old and needs to improve."
"Enhancing live tracking capabilities could improve the product, particularly in monitoring user activity and request statuses in real-time on the web interface."
"The user interface could be improved."
"The only thing that they could try to improve is the support for enterprise customers."
"The product's technical support services could be improved."
"SonicWall SMA is difficult to use and it does not provide easy access to different parts of the network."
"The product itself is very good, but Dell needs to work on product visibility in their advertising."
"The timed synchronization between the network appliance needs improvement."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"FortiGate does not charge the client a licensing fee, although Cisco charges clients a couple of dollars per year for each license."
"I would say it is a bit expensive, but I think it is worth the price."
"With Cisco, there is a free solution or a licensed version of the solution with a set of endpoint services."
"Users have to pay a yearly licensing fee for Cisco IOS SSL VPN."
"My company makes payments on a quarterly basis to the vendor to cover the licensing costs attached to the product. Cisco IOS SSL VPN is an expensive product. There are no additional costs apart from the licensing costs attached to the product."
"The licensing fee is expensive."
"It stands as the priciest solution available in the market."
"Cisco IOS SSL VPN is more expensive than the Aruba VPN, but it is worth the money."
"This solution is priced well and we currently have the maximum number of licenses allowed."
"Our licenses are stackable and can be anywhere from five users to a million users."
"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."
"The cost of the licensing is based on the maximum number of concurrent users, and it costs a lot to add them."
"The platform has medium pricing."
"All the costs are included in a bundled license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
19%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Construction Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise26
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cisco IOS SSL VPN?
I have not found any areas that could be improved so far. I am not sure how Cisco IOS SSL VPN can continue their improvements for the future, but I think it is a great product. To stay on top, they...
What is your primary use case for Cisco IOS SSL VPN?
Currently, I use Cisco IOS SSL VPN to VPN in, but not with high frequency. We use Cisco IOS SSL VPN as our VPN client to connect to our network. This is for health.
What needs improvement with SonicWall SMA?
I haven't utilized the high availability and scalability features of SonicWall SMA yet because I've never had a need to. I don't know where they can focus their energy on continuous improvements, a...
What is your primary use case for SonicWall SMA?
I have experience with the SonicWall SMA; we have rolled it back into our stack. We use SonicWall SMA for all of our clients that need VPNs, including doctor's offices and lawyer offices. Our clien...
 

Also Known As

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

MST Systems
UnitedStack, Newport City Homes, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, PRIME aerostructures GmbH, Celtic Manor Resort
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs. SonicWall SMA and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.