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Aruba VPN vs Cisco IOS SSL VPN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

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 VPN
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
34th
Average Rating
5.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco IOS SSL VPN
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
14th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
50
Ranking in other categories
SSL VPN (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of Aruba VPN is 0.7%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco IOS SSL VPN is 3.3%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco IOS SSL VPN3.3%
Aruba VPN0.7%
Other96.0%
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
 

Featured Reviews

Zoltán Nagy - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Technology Infrastructure Manager at Provident Pénzügyi Zrt.
The appliance would crash because of the large number of connections, but its stability was fine
We purchased a relatively small Aruba VPN appliance. Unfortunately, it was not a well-designed VPN appliance product. I think the vendor did not provide us with the best solution. At that time, the world and our company faced the first COVID lockdown, and everybody had to work from home. During this time, the small VPN appliance was overwhelmed by the number of connections, and we experienced many issues. Firstly, it turned out that the firmware was buggy. When around 100 to 300 users tried to connect at the beginning of the day, the appliance would crash, and the users would not be able to connect. We had to escalate the issue to the manufacturer, and they had to release new firmware to resolve the problem, which took around one week. As you can imagine, during the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone had to work from home, and we were struggling to connect to the VPN because of the firmware bug. It took Aruba at least one week to resolve the issue. Another major pain point we faced was with the VPN client. At the time, we were using the Windows 7 operating system on the client machines. Unfortunately, we could not identify the precise circumstances in which the Aruba VPN client could not establish a connection. This was very, very disappointing for us and caused a lot of problems for our department. We had around 500 to 600 users who wanted to connect, and at least 50 to 60 users, or about 10% of the users, were unable to connect each day due to this anomaly. We were not able to identify the root cause of the problem. We collected and provided all the logs that the local support partner requested. Unfortunately, neither the Hungarian local support partner nor the Aruba headquarters could identify the root cause of how and why the Aruba VPN client could not establish a connection. So, it felt like a bad spot. Each day, users were praying to connect over the VPN and to be able to work that day. Aruba VPN sometimes worked, and sometimes it didn't. We were very disappointed and had to switch to a different supplier as soon as possible. We switched to a Cisco product and were very satisfied with the Cisco VPN.
VM
student at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Ease and speed of connectivity impress and recommend
I have not found any areas that could be improved so far. I am not sure how Cisco IOS SSL VPN can continue their improvements for the future, but I think it is a great product. To stay on top, they probably need updates to this product. I do not know what kind of improvements these updates are offering. It is a great product so far.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Aruba VPN’s stability was okay."
"The initial setup was straightforward."
"Aruba VPN is lighter on machines, and users don't feel any difference in having these items installed on their PCs or laptops."
"What I like the most about Aruba VPN is that it's great for companies with diverse network needs."
"Cisco IOS SSL VPN is integrated with domain controller, SSO and MFA."
"It's a stable solution."
"Usability is the most important feature for me."
"The product is very stable."
"Cisco is a well known brand which provides good service and many people have familiarity with it, including businesses."
"The solution is very stable."
"While we know that SSL VPN is an advanced technological step towards achieving a more secured network against ever growing multiple networking threats, Cisco's SSL VPN device is definitely a wise choice to pick."
"It's been stable for as long as I've been using it."
 

Cons

"It should address issues that are vital to maintaining the company's reputation."
"There is room for improvement from the solution's security point of view."
"They could release product updates more frequently."
"When around 100 to 300 users tried to connect at the beginning of the day, the appliance would crash, and the users would not be able to connect."
"The solution's configuration could be made easier."
"They could provide the cloud-based as-a-service model with monthly rental payments."
"The high price of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"The system needs to be upgraded to replace the Token Authentication software, which will no longer be supported."
"The administration should be improved."
"The product costs a lot of money."
"Cisco IOS SSL VPN should add a sensor that can authenticate with a fingerprint instead of having to type the username and password every time."
"Compatibility can sometimes be a challenge. There have been issues with operating systems where newer updates cause problems with backward compatibility."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Customers need to buy a VPN client license."
"We do not have to purchase a separate license for Aruba VPN; it is included in the ClearPass package."
"Users have to pay a yearly licensing fee for Cisco IOS SSL VPN."
"The tool is expensive."
"The platform is expensive."
"Price flexibility could be improved in comparison to other vendors."
"The product costs less."
"The pricing of the solution is reasonable"
"It is an expensive product."
"My company makes payments on a quarterly basis to the vendor to cover the licensing costs attached to the product. Cisco IOS SSL VPN is an expensive product. There are no additional costs apart from the licensing costs attached to the product."
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909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Construction Company
21%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise26
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What needs improvement with Cisco IOS SSL VPN?
I have not found any areas that could be improved so far. I am not sure how Cisco IOS SSL VPN can continue their improvements for the future, but I think it is a great product. To stay on top, they...
What is your primary use case for Cisco IOS SSL VPN?
Currently, I use Cisco IOS SSL VPN to VPN in, but not with high frequency. We use Cisco IOS SSL VPN as our VPN client to connect to our network. This is for health.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Cisco SSL VPN
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
MST Systems
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba VPN vs. Cisco IOS SSL VPN and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.