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Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey 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

Cisco IOS SSL VPN
Ranking in SSL VPN
4th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
50
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (10th)
OpenVPN Community Edition -...
Ranking in SSL VPN
10th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the SSL VPN category, the mindshare of Cisco IOS SSL VPN is 10.3%, up from 8.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey is 1.4%. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
SSL VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco IOS SSL VPN10.3%
OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey1.4%
Other88.3%
SSL VPN
 

Featured Reviews

VM
student at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Cost efficiency and ease of setup define network management while potential improvements in complexity handling are noted
Optimizing and configuring for network segmentation is the biggest thing for helping with segmenting traffic management. Configuring QoS on Linksys is pretty easy, especially compared to Cisco QoS, which I am certified in, as it helps ensure that the bandwidth for voice or other applications doesn't bleed over into the data links. In the past, Linksys has been pretty good at network protection, segmenting off that protection for unauthorized access or cyber threats. Cost savings and ease of use are the benefits I've seen from Linksys. It's a little bit less complex to set up and configure compared to Cisco switching. I utilized the VLAN support feature in the Linksys switches. A lot of the networks I have were broken up by VLAN, and I definitely configured them for different VLANs. The best feature of Linksys in my opinion is cost, as they tend to be more cost-effective compared to larger switches or Cisco switches.
Manmohan Rao - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Vice President at Hitachi Systems India Private Limited
Secure cloud migrations have accelerated as our teams access critical workloads remotely
OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey can be improved by looking forward to recommendations regarding compute sizing, which is necessary. I have seen multiple third-party solutions demanding configurations based on compute and memory aspects. However, what I have learned from OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey is that it comes with minimal configuration, but I am always stringent about how many client VPN connections it can handle. There has to be some bifurcation regarding this. I have not experienced any access lag so far or any performance issues. I do not see any problems with the configurations or recommendations provided by OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey for 100 or 200 users simultaneously, but I still foresee a need for some recommendations from OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey regarding the number of user connections it can handle given certain configurations.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product's setup phase was easy."
"With Cisco IOS SSL VPN, you can access your corporate data safely and securely."
"Cisco IOS SSL VPN is very stable. We never experience issues with it."
"Cisco support has been very helpful."
"Overall performance and features of the device are great."
"The most valuable features of the solution are its ease of use, management, and support."
"It is highly scalable, speedy, and reliable."
"It is very simple to use, and it allows me to get into the university's network from my home, which is very useful for me."
"We use the solution to connect to our internal infrastructure in our data center."
"The most valuable features of the solution are its stability and user-friendly UI."
"OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey is the best in class client VPN solution that one can opt for."
"OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey has made a remarkable compute saving from the perspective when we need secure communication to connect to the AWS cloud tenant and is a quick, efficient solution rather than looking forward to any other solution."
 

Cons

"The solution needs to integrate password-less technology so that you don't have to remember passwords each time that you log in, which is otherwise tedious. We should be able to log in as long as our system is connected to the internet."
"I can't say that I would recommend this solution at this time because the support for the Token software is expiring soon and Cisco IOS SSL VPN would have to be upgraded to another solution similar to Token."
"Improvements could be made in terms of connectivity for applications."
"The pricing is a stumbling block to scaling our utilization of Cisco products and we would prefer to use more of them."
"Compatibility can sometimes be a challenge. There have been issues with operating systems where newer updates cause problems with backward compatibility."
"Cisco IOS SSL VPN should improve its pricing."
"The solution's configuration could be made easier."
"Enhancing the client certificate deployment process could be a valuable improvement, ensuring smoother and more reliable certificate renewal experiences in the future."
"The product's initial setup phase is not straightforward, making it an area where improvements are required."
"I would like to get less updates from the solution."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is expensive."
"It is an expensive product."
"It stands as the priciest solution available in the market."
"The product costs less."
"The licensing cost of the solution is on a yearly basis, and it is expensive compared to other solutions in the market."
"The platform is expensive."
"Users have to pay a yearly licensing fee for Cisco IOS SSL VPN."
"The licensing fee is expensive."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
12%
Marketing Services Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Construction Company
20%
Comms Service Provider
16%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Outsourcing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise25
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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 needs improvement with OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey?
All we are looking forward to is to know the configuration we have to follow if an N number of concurrent connections is required. For example, if it could have been 20 or 30, then what should be t...
What advice do you have for others considering OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey?
All we are looking forward to is to know the configuration we have to follow if an N number of concurrent connections is required. For example, if it could have been 20 or 30, then what should be t...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey?
I purchased OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey through the AWS Marketplace. My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that it is really efficient and not on the higher side.
 

Also Known As

Cisco SSL VPN
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

MST Systems
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs. OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.