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Hillstone E-Series vs OpenVPN Access Server comparison

 

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

Hillstone E-Series
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
24th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (39th), SSL VPN (9th)
OpenVPN Access Server
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of Hillstone E-Series is 1.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenVPN Access Server is 13.3%, down from 14.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
OpenVPN Access Server13.3%
Hillstone E-Series1.5%
Other85.2%
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
 

Featured Reviews

TahirMahmood - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at Zubair Feeds
Offers good features like URL filtering, IPS, and IDS to users
We received an update for the tool in July. The update was provided for the tool as there was a problem with the firewall, where too much memory was consumed, and the firewall was hanging a lot. When we updated the tool's features, everything became okay. The tool only had some memory-related problems. It took the tool a month to fix the issues.
Emmanuel Chebukati - PeerSpot reviewer
DevSecOps Engineer at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Secure remote access has protected diverse users while access controls provide precise permissions
The user interface of OpenVPN Access Server is good but can be improved. I would prefer to see it become more intuitive. I use Twingate as an alternative, and in Twingate, you see resources, while in OpenVPN Access Server, those would be IP addresses. You get to see dashboards and access views of who can access a particular resource or subnet. You can see who can access what resources from the user view, but you can also see the reverse, which is which resource can be accessed by what users. That reverse view would be a nice addition to have in a dashboard. Additionally, access logs associated with that resource would be helpful, so it would be beneficial to have different views for the same content. Beyond the positive aspects, I would like to see improvements in OpenVPN Access Server. Twingate offers a different approach to the same problem by moving more towards resource-specific resources and fine-grained zero-trust access, as opposed to entire subnets and entire networks. I would prefer to see views on resources. In the same way that we can define subnets, perhaps we could have views that describe what this particular subnet does and what this particular resource does. Then we can assign those resources and subnets to individual users and groups. It is more about granularizing the resources that can be accessed rather than simply bundling them under subnets or a list of subnets, which is the current approach. Apart from that, I would like to see UI enhancements in OpenVPN Access Server in the future. Making it more modern would be beneficial.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features of the Hillstone E-Series are its hardware capacity, innovation, and the throughput that the hardware can take."
"The installation is easy, we have not had any complaints from our customers."
"Five out of five ROI."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"Working with the Hillstone E-Series has, from a remote perspective, allowed me to give my clients a secure connectivity."
"The most valuable feature of the Hillstone E-Series is its user-friendliness."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the ransomware protection that the tool offers."
"Very reliable solution with good scalability and straightforward implementation."
"Highly configurable. You can create your own custom client installer and can rebrand the server-side program."
"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 is very stable."
"I like that it's easy to use, easy to download, and not hard to manage."
"The features I have found to be most valuable are the levels of encryption I can enact and the compression I can apply to improve throughput."
"OpenVPN Access Server is cheap, and we get to use it ourselves. It is also a stable solution."
"It allows our employees to work remotely across Mac, Windows, and Linux platforms."
"It can securely do remote product updates... just as if it was on our LAN."
 

Cons

"I am not sure if this solution offers active directory integration. Adding that feature will definitely be an advantage."
"SSL VPN license cost is not cheap."
"Having frequent live webinars on a monthly basis would really help."
"Support from Hillstone E-Series has a shortcoming that needs improvement."
"The tool provides just a general report. It does not provide a granular report. Hence, the tool should work on its reporting feature."
"The tool only had some memory-related problems."
"The tool needs to improve its price."
"The current usage reporting is very basic."
"If there was a Graphical User Interface to help streamline the configuration, I believe OpenVPN would probably venture more into the non-geek realm as it were."
"I would be more happy with the idea of licensing to have a reduced price with longer, grouped, annual fees. We have a lot of other software that does the same thing. It's a little higher price if you're going with a shorter stint, but there's a reduction in price for three- and five-year contracts."
"It is not scalable."
"The upgrade path from older versions was more difficult than we wanted to tackle, so we ran an older version of the software for longer than I wanted. Patching, updating, and migrating to newer versions was a problem for us. That said, we were on a rather old version that I inherited yet it worked rock solid."
"The solution should provide a faster connection, and its security could be improved."
"It requires some experience of Linux server configuration to set it up."
"​There was one annoying feature where we had to disable and enable the user. I cannot remember what it was exactly, but I think it was for a password lockout. It would be nice if there was a checkbox, or something, in the web interface to allow you to unlock a user whose password was locked."
"There are certain shortcomings in the product's stability that need improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Hillstone's pricing is economical and neither very high nor very low."
"The licensing model is very complex with many subcategories of licenses you can purchase. They could make it more simplified for customers to understand."
"The cost per year for licensing, and hardware, is approximately $850 for the basic plan."
"The tool's pricing is reasonable. It depends on the model. The product's pricing is around 600 USD. You need to buy a software license to activate the features. You need to pay around 150 USD for that."
"I don't need to pay for its license since it is an open-source tool."
"The licensing has a fixed pricing."
"The Pro Edition has a reasonable price per user."
"The solution is free of cost."
"With regard to setup cost, pricing and/or licensing, the simple answer is that you'll need to set aside some time to learn it and experiment with it."
"OpenVPN Access Server was free for students. I don't know if you have to pay for an advanced version."
"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."
"Begin with the community version and upgrade to paid one if the need arises."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
University
5%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
12%
University
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise15
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Hillstone E-Series?
We received an update for the tool in July. The update was provided for the tool as there was a problem with the firewall, where too much memory was consumed, and the firewall was hanging a lot. Wh...
What is your primary use case for Hillstone E-Series?
I use the solution in my company for site-to-site VPN, SSL VPNs, URL filtering, IPS, IDS and all the other features which are available in the firewall.
What advice do you have for others considering Hillstone E-Series?
Our company did not use the tool's micro-segmentation features. There were no issues while integrating the tool. I have not used any AI in the tool. I recommend the tool to others. I rate the tool ...
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 do you like most about OpenVPN Access Server?
OpenVPN Access Server is a simple and easy-to-use solution that I can use myself without anybody's help.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OpenVPN Access Server?
I find it not cost-effective. It is not worth the money from a pricing perspective. However, it is a good investment for security and company information security. It is a good investment overall.
 

Also Known As

No data available
OpenVPN
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bank of China Macao, Instituto Tecnológico Bolivariano, Ministry of Labor in San Salvador, FEDCO
Verizon, Amazon, Disney, HP, Microsoft, IBM, Samsung
Find out what your peers are saying about Hillstone E-Series vs. OpenVPN Access Server and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.