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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
20th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (39th), SSL VPN (10th)
OpenVPN Access Server
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
67
Ranking in other categories
ZTNA (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of Hillstone E-Series is 1.9%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenVPN Access Server is 11.7%, down from 12.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
OpenVPN Access Server11.7%
Hillstone E-Series1.9%
Other86.4%
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.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"If an organization is not looking for a web proxy, it's a very, very good product."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"Five out of five ROI."
"This solution has two main features that we find very valuable; a threat-intelligence option, and a web/application filtering option. The technical support team are very good and very quick."
"I am impressed with the application filtering feature."
"The most valuable features of the Hillstone E-Series are its hardware capacity, innovation, and the throughput that the hardware can take."
"With Hillstone, TCO and ROI are very good, it's an easy sale."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the ransomware protection that the tool offers."
"OpenVPN Access Server has positively impacted our organization by enabling remote issue resolution in minutes where previously critical alerts required hours of travel to fix, alongside improved productivity as employees can quickly access internal resources, file servers, and collaborate with teams."
"It is easy to use."
"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."
"OpenVPN is a good option for kick-starting any kind of interoperability between offices."
"If you're looking for a solid solution to establish VPN tunnels between sites, be sure to put OpenVPN on your list to check out."
"OpenVPN Access Server allows us to establish a secure connection to an IP address that would otherwise be inaccessible without using a VPN."
"It is a lightweight, easy to setup solution."
"OpenVPN Access Server is a simple and easy-to-use solution that I can use myself without anybody's help."
 

Cons

"I am not sure if this solution offers active directory integration. Adding that feature will definitely be an advantage."
"The solution doesn't have a web proxy built into the system like Sophos. This is something they should work to change."
"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 room for improvement would be the SSL VPN license cost."
"The current usage reporting is very basic. I would like to be able to access more granular data."
"Having frequent live webinars on a monthly basis would really help."
"The tool only had some memory-related problems."
"The tool needs to improve its price."
"It requires some experience of Linux server configuration to set it up."
"The concurrent user licenses get expensive pretty quickly as your organization grows, so more flexible pricing options would be a huge plus."
"There could be an easier way to set up the solution. However, if you use the provided information that comes with the solution there should not be a problem."
"OpenVPN Access Server can be improved by addressing the issue we faced with a single VPN server since it does not allow the creation of replicas without a load balancer, which we found to be an availability issue that could be easily fixed."
"The stability of the OpenVPN Access Server has room for improvement."
"We occasionally have internet issues which affect stability."
"They may have this already, but it would be nice to be able to get more notifications if a site drops unexpectedly."
"OpenVPN does not have the ability to selectively terminate connections."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"The licensing model is very complex with many subcategories of licenses you can purchase. They could make it more simplified for customers to understand."
"Hillstone's pricing is economical and neither very high nor very low."
"The cost per year for licensing, and hardware, is approximately $850 for the basic plan."
"Begin with the community version and upgrade to paid one if the need arises."
"OpenVPN Access Server was free for students. I don't know if you have to pay for an advanced version."
"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 solution is free of cost."
"OpenVPN Access Server is free and open source."
"The Pro Edition has a reasonable price per user."
"OpenVPN is an open-source solution. If the solution is used for personal use it is free. For non-personal use, the solution can be expensive."
"One of the valuable features of OpenVPN is that it is free for a single user."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business39
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise21
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OpenVPN Access Server?
I use it for a client, so I do not have much information regarding the pricing, setup cost, and licensing. But from what I have gathered, the pricing and setup costs are a little more expensive com...
What needs improvement with OpenVPN Access Server?
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 ar...
 

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: June 2026.
906,781 professionals have used our research since 2012.