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SonicWall SMA vs Tailscale comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

SonicWall SMA
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), SSL VPN (6th)
Tailscale
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
ZTNA (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of SonicWall SMA is 2.7%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tailscale is 4.4%, down from 6.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Tailscale4.4%
SonicWall SMA2.7%
Other92.9%
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Adeniyi Stephen - PeerSpot reviewer
DevOps Engineer at CloudKite.io
Secure access has simplified hybrid connectivity and has unified multi-cluster workflows
I would say that in terms of Tailscale, if I have so many tailnets I need to connect to, there are some issues in the login process that need a little bit of attention from the Tailscale team. Sometimes, you would probably need to restart your entire system for it to connect. As a DevOps as a Service engineer, I have so many clients that are using Tailscale, and I would need to connect to maybe five different tailnets because they are different clients. Client A might have a Tailscale, Client B, Client C, and so on. When changing between tailnets, sometimes it hangs. Sometimes you might need to restart your entire system. This is a bit of a headache in that aspect. However, I believe if you are just using a particular tailnet, just one, then it is quite easy and there won't be any headache. For me, I think it can be improved in the aspect of having multiple tailnets to connect to. A good refresh on the Tailscale side and the backend side to refresh the connection anytime there is a new connection to be made would be helpful. Instead of needing to restart the system, it should be able to refresh itself. The connection side and connecting to multiple Tailscale instances can be problematic, and sometimes you have to restart your system when switching between them. The ACL sometimes is like another language on its own entirely. It is fine, but they need to make it in a YAML format instead of the current format because it is quite new and something you have to go and study. If they can make it like a YAML format, that would be better. Aside from the switching which I mentioned and the fact that you have to relearn their ACL, if the ACL could be in a YAML format instead of JSON format, that would be beneficial. I don't think there is much they can do about the switching of tailnets, but if they can have a YAML format of the ACL, that would be good. Every other thing is a ten out of ten. The connection-wise is easy to set up and easy to install. It is good to have things connected all together from on-premises, from so many environments, and even exit nodes as well. It is good overall. The pricing, I think Tailscale can be a little bit on the higher side. It is not for teams with just small users. If you want to set it up for small users and a small startup, I don't think you can afford it and might need to go to other open-source alternatives. It is good for teams that have maybe fifty plus users or one hundred users. In terms of pricing, I would say it is on the higher side, but it is worth it. The price is worth the functionality. As a user, I would say it is more on the higher side, but based on its functionality, it is worth the price.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The SonicWall SSL-VPN solution offers the best protection with the least effect on services."
"SonicWall SMA allows us to provide CML-based access to any user."
"The performance is good."
"I like the load balancing capability, it is very fast and it has a simple interface."
"It is faster than other security options when using remote connections."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is they have IT consultants that know SonicWall."
"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."
"Tailscale has positively impacted my organization and consulting work by making remote connections easy, significantly reducing the friction and making this very reliable, even behind difficult networks with CGNAT or other situations that make establishing connections difficult using other means."
"In my job, Tailscale has reduced the amount of work and headache of having a VPN between servers and cloud, so instead of following a longer and complex process of having a site-to-site VPN and a device with a fixed public IP to connect with the cloud and other spots in Morocco, especially in Tangier, Tailscale simplifies all of that."
"For my organization, we use Tailscale for our database as a secure way to access our VPC, and it is an easy, lightweight, and very useful way for everyone to connect and disconnect with a very nice UI."
"The best features Tailscale offers are the ease of use and the security it provides for data in transition."
"There is no better option than this."
"Tailscale definitely saves me a lot of time securing our server because I can just install Tailscale, close many ports, and then share them with my teammates while benefiting from its very generous free tier."
"Tailscale has been helping my organization a lot, primarily for security, as I do not have to open up any port in my router, which is really helpful."
"Tailscale has really helped in terms of security because users can be in another part of the world and, instead of them connecting to the company environment through the local network there, they can switch on their Tailscale and once they switch on their Tailscale, they don't have to connect over their internet; they just go through Tailscale to access company infrastructures."
 

Cons

"SonicWall's reporting isn't good. Reports should be part of a data plan."
"The product's technical support services could be improved."
"The overall menu is not very user-friendly and it could be easier."
"The only thing that they could try to improve is the support for enterprise customers. Normally enterprises and SMBs can create a ticket, but for enterprises, SonicWall SMA needs to provide a global view, and this is what's currently missing. It's not even a question of timing. It's a question of the global vision because currently, it's lacking. They concentrate on the topic, but not on the means and not on the global picture. In most cases, there's something wrong with the integration of SonicWall SMA with other products, so that could also be improved."
"The problem is that when combined with what the client already has, there are two different logins and two different management systems, and these should be consolidated into a single interface."
"The user interface could be improved."
"The only thing that they could try to improve is the support for enterprise customers."
"Enhancing live tracking capabilities could improve the product, particularly in monitoring user activity and request statuses in real-time on the web interface."
"I initially got introduced to Tailscale in high school when I needed access to services running on my server, but due to deep packet inspection being in place, I could not use Tailscale."
"Tailscale could be improved with more advanced network visibility and monitoring tools, cleaner pricing tiers for scaling teams, and enhanced built-in reporting for device posture and controls for enterprise environments."
"I am currently facing an issue where on my Mac, Tailscale does not allow me to log in to multiple accounts."
"I feel the speed of the control servers are a bit too slow."
"However, I think improvements could be made in the support for UI clients, especially on Linux machines."
"I think Tailscale can be improved by enhancing the free side of things."
"Currently, if Tailscale goes down, our services are not operable."
"The only improvement I see for Tailscale is that I would love to check out Headscale to fully host it on my own infrastructure."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"All the costs are included in a bundled license."
"The platform has medium pricing."
"Our licenses are stackable and can be anywhere from five users to a million users."
"The cost of the licensing is based on the maximum number of concurrent users, and it costs a lot to add them."
"This solution is priced well and we currently have the maximum number of licenses allowed."
"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."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
14%
University
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What needs improvement with Tailscale?
I would love to see two specific improvements brought to the Tailscale Android client, both of which are standard in several other VPN applications: * The app currently lacks the ability to automat...
What is your primary use case for Tailscale?
I use Tailscale to connect to my home server for various tasks, such as checking its status and streaming movies or series from my media server. I also use it to monitor my home surveillance system...
What advice do you have for others considering Tailscale?
I am currently utilizing Tailscale's free tier, and it has performed flawlessly. For any individual, hobbyist, or small team looking for a seamless, secure way to remotely access home servers and l...
 

Also Known As

SonicWall Aventail, SonicWall SMA SSL-VPN, SonicWall Secure Mobile Access
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

UnitedStack, Newport City Homes, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, PRIME aerostructures GmbH, Celtic Manor Resort
Bamboo Health, Duolingo, Shiguredo, Instacart, Corelight, Machinify, Bolt, Mercari, Cobalt, Yugabyte, Jasper, VersaBank, Zego, Gini and Finter
Find out what your peers are saying about SonicWall SMA vs. Tailscale and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.