Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs SonicWall Netextender comparison

Cisco and SonicWall are both solutions in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category. Cisco is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.7, while SonicWall is ranked #16 with an average rating of 5.0. Cisco holds a 1.2% mindshare in EIV, compared to SonicWall’s 3.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 62% of SonicWall users who would recommend it.

Cisco IOS SSL VPN

Read 49 Cisco IOS SSL VPN reviews

760 Views
88 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SonicWall Netextender

Read 12 SonicWall Netextender reviews

3,015 Views
945 Comparison Views

62% willing to recommend

Cisco IOS SSL VPN

SonicWall Netextender

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

Cisco IOS SSL VPN and SonicWall Netextender are both widely used for secure remote access. Users favor SonicWall Netextender for its robust features, despite the higher cost, while Cisco IOS SSL VPN receives better feedback regarding support and pricing.

Features: Cisco IOS SSL VPN offers reliable VPN connectivity, compatibility with various devices, and strong support services. SonicWall Netextender provides advanced security measures, excellent performance under load, and great scalability.

Room for Improvement: Cisco IOS SSL VPN could enhance its documentation, simplify configuration processes, and improve ease of use. SonicWall Netextender needs better administrative tools, enhanced stability, and improved error handling during usage.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco IOS SSL VPN's deployment is generally straightforward, though some find the initial setup complex. SonicWall Netextender deployment is mostly smooth, yet some report minor technical difficulties. Cisco is known for prompt and helpful customer service, while SonicWall's support is satisfactory but less praised.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco IOS SSL VPN is cost-effective, balancing price and functionality well. SonicWall Netextender, though more expensive, is valued for its comprehensive features and security, making it worth the investment for many users.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs. SonicWall Netextender Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs. SonicWall Netextender

June 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 856,873 peers since 2012

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 Enterprise Infrastructure VPN

9th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

SSL VPN (3rd)

SonicWall Netextender

Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN

16th

Average Rating

6.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of Cisco IOS SSL VPN is 1.2%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall Netextender is 3.9%, up from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Infrastructure VPN

Featured Reviews

Rupesh Kolhapurkar

Manager at Reliance Industries Ltd

Offers easy setup phase but needs to improve connectivity

For our company's remote workforce connectivity, the tool was very useful during the COVID-19 situation. In general, the VPN functionality offered by the product was very useful during the COVID-19 situation. In terms of the product's ability to secure third-party access, the tool works very well. The most valuable feature of the product in terms of network security stems from the fact that the tool provides access to the whole network, and even if users give access to some special applications, it is still really helpful. The clientless access feature is not available for clients. My company installed the product for its clients. If the product offers a clientless access feature, then it is okay and can be very helpful for our company. I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. Cisco IOS SSL VPN is a reliable product. The product is very helpful for a work-from-home setup as the tool can be used to access our company's internal network, which Falls outside the network of our organization. I rate the tool a seven to eight out of ten.

Read full review

JayPrajapati

Senior Network Security Engineer at ITCG SOlutions Pvt Ltd

Allows using a custom port for the VPN connection and provides very satisfactory customer support

In the past, customers wanted an application that could run directly upon starting the PC, automatically connecting to the firewall. We were not able to do it in NetExtender. This was something customers wanted, but we couldn't provide due to NetExtender's limitations. I feel NetExtender might have rolled out this feature. In future releases, introductions of AI features would be really helpful. For example, we faced a situation where a customer wanted to allow Office 365 access without any kind of internet, just through the local internet. Office 365 has multiple dynamic IPs and URLs that can be updated daily, making it difficult to allow. If there were an AI-based solution that could bring those URLs and new IP addresses to the firewall and add them to the rule, that would be very helpful. That is just one scenario; there are multiple things AI could help with.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is very effective and I am satisfied with how it works and with its performance."

"Cisco VPN is easy to connect."

"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."

"The product's most valuable features are security, stability, and troubleshooting capabilities."

"Cisco IOS SSL VPN is an easy-to-use and straightforward solution."

"It's a stable solution."

"Cisco certainly has a really strong support team."

"The most valuable features of the solution are its ease of use, management, and support."

More Cisco IOS SSL VPN pros

"I found nothing of value in this solution."

"The most valuable feature for the Netextender is the ease with which we can integrate it with SAML."

"It can support multifactor authentication. Also, it is a very basic application."

"My company opted for this solution because it can individually perform. Basically, we don't require load balancers and all those additional feature sets or additional devices that might be required. The solution can handle the certificate, DNS queries, and all that stuff individually."

"The initial setup is pretty straightforward."

"It allows us to work remotely."

"The product has two-factor authentication."

"The solution provides high availability."

More SonicWall Netextender pros

Cons

"When many people are using the internet at home, which is usually right after dinner, this type of service is a little bit hard to use. The internet becomes quite slow, and sometimes, I have to stop using this application. I am not sure if this issue is because of the application or my internet provider."

"I believe Cisco could support easier configuration and having tools that allow for easier management and configuration, as Linksys switches are a little bit easier to manage and set up compared to Cisco switches."

"Cisco has a history of problems with the area of web filtering, because of which my company sometimes had to change the vendor and the appliance."

"Enhancing the client certificate deployment process could be a valuable improvement, ensuring smoother and more reliable certificate renewal experiences in the future."

"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."

"The only issue with Cisco IOS SSL VPN is on the price point. Price is an area of the solution where improvements are required."

"The administration should be improved."

"The solution's configuration could be made easier."

More Cisco IOS SSL VPN cons

"Right now, you have to load each license on to an appliance. You can't pool across multiple appliances. So, you end up having to do a lot of administrative work to recover if an internet provider goes down, and you cannot leverage it as easily into a DR solution."

"The initial setup of SonicWall Netextender is straightforward. The only issue we encountered was with relocating the VPN appliance. If we needed to move it from an on-premise to an on-cloud architecture, we had to start over and redeploy it from scratch. Unfortunately, it is not portable and any changes to its physical location often result in the need for a fresh deployment to ensure everything functions properly."

"They need to rewrite the software to make it a usable product."

"There must be a multi-factor authentication enabled or integrated by default with it in order to be integrated with NetExtender."

"The solution takes up a lot of bandwidth."

"In future releases, introductions of AI features would be really helpful."

"The Netextender application itself doesn't really look pretty, however, we can still use it. We don't care what it looks like. That said, if they did a cosmetic update, that would be fine."

"The only concern I do have is with the zero trust, and the solution is not coping with the newer technologies as much as it needs to do on that particular factor."

More SonicWall Netextender cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is reasonably priced, and we have around 50% to 60% discounts from Cisco."

"With Cisco, there is a free solution or a licensed version of the solution with a set of endpoint services."

"The tool is expensive."

"The licensing fee is expensive."

"I would say it is a bit expensive, but I think it is worth the price."

"Cisco IOS SSL VPN comes with a cost-effective subscription."

"Cisco IOS SSL VPN is more expensive than the Aruba VPN, but it is worth the money."

"There are no pricing programs for non-profit organizations and the product is otherwise expensive by comparison."

More Cisco IOS SSL VPN pricing and cost advice

"The price of SonicWall Netextender is reasonable. Whether it's a small shop with only five users or a larger operation with 130 users, we have received no complaints or objections regarding cost from any of the clients we are looking to deploy it with."

"After a certain number of users, you require extra licensing."

"You have to pay for its license. There are some other companies that provide a VPN client for free. When you buy NetExtender, its license is available for one, three, or five years."

"The solution has a pretty good price."

"The solution is cheap itself, not too costly."

"Compared to others, it is cheaper. When we compare it with Palo Alto, Check Point, or Fortinet, it is a little cheaper."

"Cost wise, it would be a few hundred dollars for the base appliance with the first five clients. Then from there, your cost per seat depends on how many you're getting. It's a one-time cost, and then you have a few hundred dollars a year for the maintenance contract once you get the one-time seat costs out of the way."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Enterprise Infrastructure VPN solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

23%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Healthcare Company

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

15%

Educational Organization

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco IOS SSL VPN?

The solution is pretty fast.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco IOS SSL VPN?

The pricing for Cisco IOS SSL VPN is based on per user. For more than one hundred users, it costs about $60 per seat.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco IOS SSL VPN?

Compatibility can sometimes be a challenge. There have been issues with operating systems where newer updates cause problems with backward compatibility. For instance, Windows 11 ( /products/window...

See all answers

What do you like most about SonicWall Netextender?

The solution provides high availability.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall Netextender?

Pricing is a simple thing. We have the key, and we need to enter it in the SonicWall official portal. That's all. Compared to others, it is cheaper. When we compare it with Palo Alto, Check Point, ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SonicWall Netextender?

See all answers

Comparisons

Ivanti Connect Secure vs Cisco IOS SSL VPN

Compared 41% of the time

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs Cisco IOS SSL VPN

Compared 26% of the time

Citrix Gateway vs Cisco IOS SSL VPN

Compared 20% of the time

Fortinet FortiClient vs Cisco IOS SSL VPN

Compared 13% of the time

More Cisco IOS SSL VPN Competitors

OpenVPN Access Server vs SonicWall Netextender

Compared 30% of the time

SonicWall Connect Tunnel vs SonicWall Netextender

Compared 19% of the time

SonicWall Mobile Connect vs SonicWall Netextender

Compared 15% of the time

Fortinet FortiClient vs SonicWall Netextender

Compared 14% of the time

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs SonicWall Netextender

Compared 7% of the time

More SonicWall Netextender Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco IOS SSL VPN

June 2025

Download Cisco IOS SSL VPN product report

Buyer's Guide

SonicWall Netextender

May 2025

Download SonicWall Netextender product report

Also Known As

Cisco SSL VPN

No data available

Overview

Cisco SSL VPN solutions help you easily and securely extend the network to users who have access to the Internet and a web browser. You can customize access and extend the reach of your corporate network to individuals based on their roles, including teleworker contractors and business partners.

Cisco

SonicWall Netextender is used for secure client-to-site VPN connections, enabling remote access to company resources and offering seamless integration with Microsoft 365 for identity management.

SonicWall Netextender facilitates secure and stable VPN connections, particularly beneficial for remote work scenarios. It integrates with Microsoft 365, supporting identity management and secure access through Microsoft Identity Management and Intune, allowing users to employ the same credentials as Active Directory. With ease of configuration and control over routing, it assists enterprises by providing a reliable VPN for remote employees, implemented by system integrators worldwide. It also supports file transfers in cloud-based environments.

What are the most valuable features of SonicWall Netextender?

Ease of remote work: Simplifies access for remote employees.
Simple configuration: Quick and straightforward setup process.
Good control over routing: Efficient routing management.
Cost-effectiveness: Affordable for businesses of all sizes.
Ease of integration with SAML: Simple SAML integration.
Excellent security: High-security standards.
Low latency: Minimal delay during use.
Stable performance: Reliable connections.
High availability: Ensures continuous uptime.
Multi-factor authentication support: Enhanced login security.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in the reviews?

Connecting to LAN from home: Secure access to local network resources.
Enforcing secure access: Uses Microsoft Identity Management and Intune for security.
Credential consistency: Same credentials as Active Directory.
Detailed documentation: Comprehensive guides and resources.

SonicWall Netextender is adopted in numerous sectors for its ability to provide secure remote access to company resources. Enterprises integrate it to ensure stable VPN connections for employees working from home, while system integrators implement it for end customers globally. It enhances secure and efficient remote work, which is vital for industries requiring robust and reliable remote access solutions.

SonicWall

Sample Customers

MST Systems

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs. SonicWall Netextender

June 2025

Free Report: Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs. SonicWall Netextender

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs. SonicWall Netextender and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs. SonicWall Netextender report.

See our list of best Enterprise Infrastructure VPN vendors.

We monitor all Enterprise Infrastructure VPN reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.