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OpenVPN Access Server vs SonicWall Mobile Connect 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

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)
SonicWall Mobile Connect
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
28th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of OpenVPN Access Server is 10.9%, down from 15.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall Mobile Connect is 1.1%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
OpenVPN Access Server10.9%
SonicWall Mobile Connect1.1%
Other88.0%
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Rich Darress - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Operating Officer at Darress Tech
A straightforward tool with high adoption rate due to its user-friendliness
SonicWall Mobile Connect’s marketing efforts are commendable; they may not be perceived as the most secure player compared to Fortinet or Meraki. SonicWall Mobile Connect should focus on positioning itself as a strong contender in the mid-market segment to improve its standing. Many high-end engineers dismiss it in favor of Fortinet or Meraki, often due to a lack of firsthand experience.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is open-source and free to use."
"For those looking into OpenVPN Access Server, I recommend it for its strong security, user-friendly access management, and operational scale."
"It can scale well."
"It is much easier to scale and troubleshoot compared to regular Windows-based VPN solutions or PPTP daemon."
"It is easy to use."
"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."
"We use the solution to access remote services."
"Its most valuable feature is that it is open source."
"The technical support is fine."
"The ease of use is great. It's pretty easy for users to get on the tablet or whatever and select the bookmark they need and just take it over."
"This is a stable and reliable solution."
"The solution benefits IT managers in backend programming. The ease of configuring and securing it while ensuring security measures is crucial. The tool is easy in terms of user experience. It is straightforward."
"The solution offers multiple OS support."
"I can say that it's stable and the performance is acceptable."
 

Cons

"I would like to see a simpler interface, so that we can make the connection between the local network using the LAN IP."
"You do need expertise in implementation if you do the initial setup yourself. As it is open-source, if you run into issues, there is nobody available to help you."
"When there are too many concurrent users trying to connect at the same time, there may be a bit of a bottleneck."
"​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."
"Everything in OpenVPN Access Server is very good, but the price is expensive."
"If someone's key is not working, or if we had to remove someone's permission from it, or maybe an employee left the company and we had to take their key out, that seemed a little bit more complicated than it had to be."
"They should make the solution more secure by adding some firewall functionalities."
"The concurrent user licenses get expensive pretty quickly as your organization grows, so more flexible pricing options would be a huge plus."
"SonicWall Mobile Connect’s marketing efforts are commendable; they may not be perceived as the most secure player compared to Fortinet or Meraki. SonicWall Mobile Connect should focus on positioning itself as a strong contender in the mid-market segment to improve its standing. Many high-end engineers dismiss it in favor of Fortinet or Meraki, often due to a lack of firsthand experience."
"Technical support can always get better. Any time you have to call in for any certain thing, it can be difficult."
"Licensing includes things that my customers don't need."
"Lacks multiple cloud integration."
"The solution would be improved if SonicWall would also offer it as a cloud-based service. I would also like to see it include multiple cloud integration."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"OpenVPN is a free and open-source solution."
"Open VPN Access Server is open-source and free of charge."
"OpenVPN Access Server was free for students. I don't know if you have to pay for an advanced version."
"The product offers yearly as well as monthly subscription plans. It has moderate pricing."
"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."
"The price point is fantastic since it is free."
"The licensing has a fixed pricing."
"The solution was free of charge."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
12%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise25
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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...
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Also Known As

OpenVPN
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Verizon, Amazon, Disney, HP, Microsoft, IBM, Samsung
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about OpenVPN Access Server vs. SonicWall Mobile Connect and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
912,788 professionals have used our research since 2012.