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Aruba Remote Access Points vs OpenVPN Access Server comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

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

Aruba Remote Access Points
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
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)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of Aruba Remote Access Points is 1.1%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenVPN Access Server is 10.9%, down from 15.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
OpenVPN Access Server10.9%
Aruba Remote Access Points1.1%
Other88.0%
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
 

Featured Reviews

AmrIssa - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Information Officer at Mobica Advanced
Remote access has provided secure site connectivity and supports centralized on‑prem operations
We have a solution that is completely Aruba, including the controller, access point, and switch. We deploy ClearPass from Aruba in our company on VMware, which integrates well and works without issues. Aruba Remote Access Points are critical for our construction company because we have many sites…
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

"The product is very flexible."
"What I like best about Aruba Remote Access Points is that it's pretty easy to set up."
"The tool's most valuable features are its ease of configuration and deployment."
"We deploy ClearPass from Aruba in our company on VMware, which integrates well and works without issues."
"It provides good Spectrum Analysis and troubleshooting."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is experienced by those working at home since they get a secure Wi-Fi connection."
"It's easy to manage."
"Overall, I would rate Aruba Remote Access Points nine out of ten. I can definitely recommend them to other users."
"It is much easier to scale and troubleshoot compared to regular Windows-based VPN solutions or PPTP daemon."
"Overall, OpenVPN Access Server has positively impacted our organization by giving us a highly reliable, stable environment for remote work."
"OpenVPN Access Server is very stable."
"Once you set it up correctly, it works and continues to work reliably."
"I have found the stability to be good."
"OpenVPN Access Server has positively impacted my organization by helping us design a reliable infrastructure and even providing definite SLA metrics to our clients."
"We were surprised how straightforward it was to integrate with AWS."
"I would recommend this solution to other people."
 

Cons

"The solution's technical support has some shortcomings that need improvement."
"It could have better monitoring features. Not all features are available on the monitoring dashboard."
"I use the controller when using Aruba Remote Access Points, particularly during configuration. Hence, room for improvement in Aruba Remote Access Points is for its web UI to be easier to control."
"There is room for improvement in terms of pricing. If they can be more competitive."
"The device requires reconfiguration if we use a standalone setup because the battery fault leads to all configurations resetting."
"One thing that would be beneficial is for the Aruba Central mobile app to work more effectively. Currently, it does not function as expected when I really need it."
"The solution is costly for medium-sized companies."
"The security side of Aruba Remote Access Points could be improved."
"The stability of the solution could improve."
"The plan for OpenVPN Access Server could be improved. When adding new people, better plans for startups would be beneficial."
"It requires some experience of Linux server configuration to set it up."
"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."
"The concurrent user licenses get expensive pretty quickly as your organization grows, so more flexible pricing options would be a huge plus."
"The interface could be a little bit better in future iterations."
"I have not seen a return on investment in terms of fewer employees needed, money saved, or time saved."
"They should make the solution more secure by adding some firewall functionalities."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Aruba Remote Access Points' pricing is good and affordable."
"Aruba pricing is not very high. They offer competitive pricing for what they provide."
"You require no separate licensing to convert an access point to RAP."
"The price of Aruba Remote Access Points could be better. It is a little expensive."
"In terms of pricing, we've found Aruba's offerings to be very competitive."
"There are no other expenses than standard licenses for the product."
"Price-wise, Aruba Remote Access Points is in the middle, so my rating for its pricing is three out of five."
"OpenVPN is a free and open-source solution."
"The licensing has a fixed pricing."
"The product's pricing is good value, definitely. It is one of the best features, I would say. Evaluate the product before seeing which type of licensing is good for you. I think there is a good evaluation method available for OpenVPN, so you can just evaluate if it meets your needs. Then go forward with the right licensing policy."
"I don't need to pay for its license since it is an open-source tool."
"It is an open-source solution, so we don't pay for anything."
"OpenVPN Access Server is free and open source."
"The price point is fantastic since it is free."
"The product offers yearly as well as monthly subscription plans. It has moderate pricing."
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Top Industries

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

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise25
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aruba Remote Access Points?
We do not use Zero Touch Provisioning with Aruba Remote Access Points because the Aruba device being expensive compared to cheaper Cisco options holds us back.
What needs improvement with Aruba Remote Access Points?
The device requires reconfiguration if we use a standalone setup because the battery fault leads to all configurations resetting. This is a significant area for improvement, especially when the dev...
What is your primary use case for Aruba Remote Access Points?
We have a solution that is completely Aruba, including the controller, access point, and switch. We deploy ClearPass from Aruba in our company on VMware, which integrates well and works without iss...
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...
 

Also Known As

Aruba RAP
OpenVPN
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Trafford Metropolitan Borough
Verizon, Amazon, Disney, HP, Microsoft, IBM, Samsung
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Remote Access Points vs. OpenVPN Access Server and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.