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Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs SonicWall Netextender 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

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)
SonicWall Netextender
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
12th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of Cisco IOS SSL VPN is 3.3%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall Netextender is 2.4%, down from 3.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SonicWall Netextender2.4%
Cisco IOS SSL VPN3.3%
Other94.3%
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Rich Darress - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Operating Officer at Darress Tech
Has provided secure remote access to multiple client networks with consistent performance
When buying the appliance itself, there is one downside that isn't exclusive to SonicWall. When you apply all the security settings, many people have one gig connections for internet ISP. If you're bringing in a one gig connection, you have to have a more robust SonicWall to handle that throughput with all your security settings turned on. It gets pretty pricey upfront if you're bringing in a one gig connection. If the customer starts with a two, three, four, or 500 meg connection and has a small unit, they have to replace the whole box when upgrading to a gig, so scalability there is atrocious. However, this issue exists with pretty much any appliance.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cisco IOS SSL VPN is a good solution."
"Cisco VPN is easy to connect."
"The platform provides value and benefits to our organization through efficient and effective communication."
"The multicast feature is useful for us."
"The solution's environment is stable and doesn't get disconnected every now and then."
"The solution is very reliable."
"It is a stable solution. In my company, we haven't faced any issues related to the product's stability. I rate the product's stability a ten out of ten."
"The most valuable features of the solution are its ease of use, management, and support."
"The product has two-factor authentication."
"NetExtender works very well; I have never had an issue with it, and it has been working well for me."
"The product is very cost-effective; for the price-sensitive market, this is a very good product for an SSL VPN solution."
"NetExtender works very well. I never had an issue with it, and it has been working well for me. In terms of management, you have good control over the destination. You can use NetExtender to set the policy and the static route for a client. You can modify it based on what your client needs or can access. You have good control over routing."
"Productivity for my remote workers went up dramatically once we switched providers."
"It can support multifactor authentication. Also, it is a very basic application."
"Overall, it's a really good product."
"The initial setup is pretty easy."
 

Cons

"The pricing is a stumbling block to scaling our utilization of Cisco products and we would prefer to use more of them."
"Cisco ASA system doesn't provide interface with radius based user mapping, other than the standard schema of users and groups."
"The solution's configuration could be made easier."
"The performance could be improved."
"I think the administration can be improved to include web interfaces."
"The Secure Plus Connect product could be improved with many enhancements in any price license, especially for licensing. Cisco could simplify the licensing; it could make it easier to order and use the features."
"Sometimes browsers are not able to support a certain file, so that is something that can improve."
"I would like Cisco IOS SSL VPN to provide a faster connection."
"The solution takes more bandwidth these days and it would be helpful if that was reduced."
"If the customer starts with a two, three, four, or 500 meg connection and has a small unit, they have to replace the whole box when upgrading to a gig, so scalability there is atrocious."
"NetExtender did nothing to improve my organization - in fact, it was quite the opposite. Users constantly complained of lag and unbearable sluggishness (with a max speed of 10-30kbps) through the VPN, even though we have relatively high bandwidth for a small office (400mbps)."
"There must be a multi-factor authentication enabled or integrated by default with it in order to be integrated with NetExtender."
"The product does not work well."
"The solution takes up a lot of bandwidth."
"Right now, you have to load each license on to an appliance. You can't pool across multiple appliances."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cisco IOS SSL VPN comes with a cost-effective subscription."
"FortiGate does not charge the client a licensing fee, although Cisco charges clients a couple of dollars per year for each license."
"Price flexibility could be improved in comparison to other vendors."
"The platform is expensive."
"I would say it is a bit expensive, but I think it is worth the price."
"Users have to pay a yearly licensing fee for Cisco IOS SSL VPN."
"The pricing of the solution is reasonable"
"Cisco IOS SSL VPN is more expensive than the Aruba VPN, but it is worth the money."
"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."
"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 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."
"The solution has a pretty good price."
"After a certain number of users, you require extra licensing."
"The solution is cheap itself, not too costly."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
21%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise26
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise2
 

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 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.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall Netextender?
The pricing for my experience with the setup cost and licensing of SonicWall Netextender is fair. The Netextender itself has no cost. It's the SSL licensing that is attached to the SonicWall. It us...
What needs improvement with SonicWall Netextender?
SonicWall Netextender has not helped with compliance, as it is not applicable for what I'm doing. I've put several feature requests in over the years and they've implemented them all, so it current...
What is your primary use case for SonicWall Netextender?
Getting to local resources on a customer's network is my main use case with SonicWall Netextender or SonicWall SSL-VPN. As a managed service provider, all my customers have SonicWalls and I get int...
 

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. SonicWall Netextender and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.