Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users
Cofounder/CTO and Principal Devops at a tech vendor
Real User
Provides privacy and cryptography for my network communication
Pros and Cons
  • "Provides privacy and cryptography for my network communication."
  • "I would like to see a GUI or Web UI to manage users. Today these features are in the Pro Edition or are done by scripts."

How has it helped my organization?

My entire engineering team can access our infrastructure from anywhere in the world, securely.

What is most valuable?

Privacy and cryptography for my network communication.

What needs improvement?

Maybe provide a GUI or Web UI to manage users. Today these features are in the Pro Edition or are done by scripts.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.
Buyer's Guide
OpenVPN Access Server
May 2025
Learn what your peers think about OpenVPN Access Server. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues with scalability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues with scalability.

How are customer service and support?

The community is great. We are able to find a lot of documentation on the Web.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Cisco VPN, L2TP/IPsec. OpenVPN is easier to maintain and use, save us time.

How was the initial setup?

Straightforward, a server is installed in a few minutes.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The Pro Edition has a reasonable price per user.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Cisco VPN.

What other advice do I have?

I use it as server and client in AWS. The first reason is to provide a kind of crypted VLAN.

No real advice to give, except to be careful with the traffic in/out on extensive usage.

I rate it 10 out of 10. Simple to install and maintain, easy to find documentation or help in Google.

Try it. It's really fast to PoC and validate this solution.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Consultant at Freelance
Real User
A self-hosted VPN solution with two free VPN connections, but it could be more stable
Pros and Cons
  • "I like that it's free."
  • "It could be faster. It could also be more stable."

What is our primary use case?

I use OpenVPN Access Server for my private network area and analytics. It makes it easier to log into my network.

What is most valuable?

I like that it's free.

What needs improvement?

It could be faster. It could also be more stable.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using OpenVPN Access Server for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It could be more stable.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give stability a seven.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is a bit complicated, but it's not an issue if you Google it.

What about the implementation team?

I implemented this solution by myself. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

OpenVPN Access Server is free and open source.

What other advice do I have?

I would tell potential users that OpenVPN Access Server is best for small businesses.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
OpenVPN Access Server
May 2025
Learn what your peers think about OpenVPN Access Server. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.
3D Artist at Daromex
Real User
Setup in less than an hour, proven stability, at an unbeatable price
Pros and Cons
  • "The stability is very reliable in my experience."
  • "I would like to see continued advanced security implementation."

What is our primary use case?

I have an accounting office and I am using OpenVPN to access customer networks. I am an accountant, so I installed a PSN for all my clients and they allow me to access their networks and accounting server to do the closing of accounting every month. I use OpenVPN to access the networks.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see continued advanced security implementation.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using OpenVPN Access Server for the past five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is very reliable in my experience.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have found that OpenVPN Access Server is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

I have not had to contact technical support at this point.

How was the initial setup?

The setup is straightforward and deployed in less than an hour.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price point is fantastic since it is free.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate OpenVPN Access Server a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Jordan  Borgner - PeerSpot reviewer
Junior Network Engineer at Plusline AG
Real User
Encrypts all the traffic to protect online privacy but should have the option to selectively terminate connections
Pros and Cons
  • "I have set the default routes to the VPN server so that all traffic is encrypted."
  • "OpenVPN does not have the ability to selectively terminate connections."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case for me is to encrypt my traffic to the Internet and protect my privacy on my home network.

What is most valuable?

One of the valuable features of OpenVPN is that it is free. I have set the default routes to the VPN server so that all traffic is encrypted.

What needs improvement?

One area for improvement in OpenVPN is the ability to selectively terminate connections. If the program could list active connections and provide an option to delete or kill them, it would be a useful feature. This would save users the trouble of having to restart the entire program each time they need to terminate a connection.

For how long have I used the solution?

I’ve been working with OpenVPN for two years now.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable product.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

You do not need a professional team to deploy the solution. I did it myself and it took around half an hour.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

You don’t need to buy anything to use OpenVPN. But if you want access to the enterprise version, you need to buy a license for that.

What other advice do I have?

OpenVPN's usage depends on the network preferences and deployment complexity.

I would rate it a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Benny Sumitro - PeerSpot reviewer
GM Technical Management at PT. DATACOMM DIANGRAHA
Real User
Stable, scalable, and quick script deployment
Pros and Cons
  • "OpenVPN Access Server is very stable."

    What is our primary use case?

    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.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using OpenVPN Access Server for approximately one year.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    OpenVPN Access Server is very stable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    I have found OpenVPN Access Server to be scalable.

    We have approximately 10 users using this solution.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    I have been using Palo Alto and the Fortinet VPN as a comparison to OpenVPN Access Server.

    How was the initial setup?

    OpenVPN Access Server is complicated to deploy, but we have a script that helps us with it. If we are using a script, it takes us approximately 15 minutes to deploy and without a script, it will take much longer. The process could be easier.

    What about the implementation team?

    We did the deployment of the OpenVPN Access Server in-house.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    We are using the community version of the OpenVPN Access Server and it is free.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would recommend OpenVPN Access Server to others.

    I rate OpenVPN Access Server an eight out of ten.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Real User
    Highly configurable, you can create your own custom client installer
    Pros and Cons
    • "It allows our employees to work remotely across Mac, Windows, and Linux platforms."
    • "Highly configurable. You can create your own custom client installer and can rebrand the server-side program."
    • "Needs a better GUI."

    How has it helped my organization?

    It allows our employees to work remotely across Mac, Windows, and Linux platforms.

    What is most valuable?

    Highly configurable. You can create your own custom client installer and can rebrand the server-side program.

    What needs improvement?

    Better GUI.

    Also, we switched more to Cisco AnyConnect due to the Win 10 stability issues.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    Three to five years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    There were some issues when Windows 10 initially came out. However, after some OpenVPN and Windows 10 patches, it stabilized.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    No issues with scalability.

    How is customer service and technical support?

    I have never used their technical support.

    How was the initial setup?

    Relatively straightforward. We just needed to insert the configuration file on each workstation.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    It's open-source.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would rate it eight out of 10 because of its multi-platform capability and stability. It's a solid, free VPN option that fits any platform environment.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user806457 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Senior DevOps Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
    Vendor
    Its best features include great documentation, community support, and easy to manage
    Pros and Cons
    • "It is much easier to scale and troubleshoot compared to regular Windows-based VPN solutions or PPTP daemon."
    • "It requires some experience of Linux server configuration to set it up."

    What is our primary use case?

    I have used this solution for five years (2008-2013) as the company's main business solution, and then, for a year (2017), as a custom solution for secure AWS access.

    I was using it on AWS to create secure access to internal VPC services. It is a lightweight, easy to setup solution.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Several years ago, I was working on a Consumer VPN service provider, and OpenVPN was a great base to provide such services. It is much easier to scale and troubleshoot compared to regular Windows-based VPN solutions or PPTP daemon.

    What is most valuable?

    • Easy to setup and manage
    • Great documentation
    • Community support

    What needs improvement?

    At the moment, I am not working too closely with the product.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    More than five years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    No issues.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    No issues.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    On a scale of one to 10, I would rate technical support as a nine.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    Just regular Windows Server PPTP/L2TP and Linux PPTP. OpenVPN is clearly better than the regular solutions.

    How was the initial setup?

    50/50 (straightforward/complex). It requires some experience of Linux server configuration. If you are an experienced Linux user, setup is pretty fast and simple.

    What other advice do I have?

    Enjoy implementing it!

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Md. Robiul Awoul - PeerSpot reviewer
    Deputy manager at Oculin Tech
    Real User
    Top 20
    Fully stable, open-source solution
    Pros and Cons
    • "The initial setup was easy."
    • "Open VPN Access Server could be more user-friendly."

    What is our primary use case?

    I primarily use Open VPN Access Server as a remote-access VPN to log into our infrastructure.

    What needs improvement?

    Open VPN Access Server could be more user-friendly.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been using Open VPN Access Server for three years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Open VPN Access Server is fully stable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Open VPN Access Server is scalable.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was easy.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    Open VPN Access Server is open-source and free of charge.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would strongly advise anybody considering installing Open VPN Access Server to use it. I would rate it as ten out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free OpenVPN Access Server Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: May 2025
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free OpenVPN Access Server Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.