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Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs SonicWall SMA comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

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
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
14th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
50
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SonicWall SMA
Ranking in SSL VPN
6th
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
16th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Universal Access Gateways (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the SSL VPN category, the mindshare of Cisco IOS SSL VPN is 10.7%, up from 9.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall SMA is 6.9%, up from 5.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
SSL VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco IOS SSL VPN10.7%
SonicWall SMA6.9%
Other82.4%
SSL 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.
BA
Owner at ThinkEzIT
Security enhances through autonomous protection and strong support while multi-factor authentication secures access
I haven't utilized the high availability and scalability features of SonicWall SMA yet because I've never had a need to. I don't know where they can focus their energy on continuous improvements, as I haven't been looking at what they're releasing. We're a small shop, so we drop stuff in and manage it and do what we need to do to maintain it. If we run into an issue, we contact support. There's a learning curve, but it comes down to getting support to train you on the product, and then once you have the training you need, you're able to make the changes and updates that you need to.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like to work with the CMD command line because it's easy and it doesn't take very long to configure."
"Cisco certainly has a really strong support team."
"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."
"Cisco support has been very helpful."
"It's been stable for as long as I've been using it."
"The platform provides value and benefits to our organization through efficient and effective communication."
"It is a product that is very robust and durable."
"Cisco IOS SSL VPN is an easy-to-use and straightforward solution."
"I like the load balancing capability, it is very fast and it has a simple interface."
"My advice to others is this solution is reliable, feature-rich, and reasonable-priced."
"I am very satisfied with the technical support."
"These are very nice appliances and they give us all that we need for our work in the hospital."
"SonicWall SMA allows us to provide CML-based access to any user."
"What I like best about SonicWall SMA is the relationship between its features and its price, because the solution is both affordable and functional."
"We are in Thailand and I'm very happy with the technical support."
"It is faster than other security options when using remote connections."
 

Cons

"In addition to Cisco, we work with other solutions on behalf of our customers, such as Fortinet for FortiGate, but this latter solution can achieve the same results at a lower price."
"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."
"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 product's RPA tools need enhancement for simplified business process automation."
"The configuration must be improved."
"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."
"The flexibility of configurations could be improved."
"I think the management of the design of the console or portal needs to improve because when you compare it to other vendors, you find that the graphical interface is old."
"Enhancing live tracking capabilities could improve the product, particularly in monitoring user activity and request statuses in real-time on the web interface."
"SonicWall SMA is difficult to use and it does not provide easy access to different parts of the network."
"This solution is very slow, and the competitors have much higher speeds."
"The product itself is very good, but Dell needs to work on product visibility in their advertising."
"SonicWall's reporting isn't good. Reports should be part of a data plan."
"The overall menu is not very user-friendly and it could be easier."
"SonicWall's reporting isn't good. Reports should be part of a data plan. The login mechanism should be improved. It would be helpful if the client could use an agent to log in. An agent-server model would improve the performance of the RDB, which consumes a lot of bandwidth."
"I'd like to see the product maybe polish keyboards in Bookmark."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The platform is expensive."
"Cisco IOS SSL VPN comes with a cost-effective subscription."
"The licensing cost of the solution is on a yearly basis, and it is expensive compared to other solutions in the market."
"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."
"FortiGate does not charge the client a licensing fee, although Cisco charges clients a couple of dollars per year for each license."
"The solution is reasonably priced, and we have around 50% to 60% discounts from Cisco."
"The licensing fee is expensive."
"It is an expensive product."
"The cost of the licensing is based on the maximum number of concurrent users, and it costs a lot to add them."
"I don't know about the pricing of the SSL-VPN box. I know the SSL-VPN software is free. Global VPN client, by comparison, is licensed for around $150 or something like that. But the SSL-VPN software is free. It is already built-in with the box."
"Our licenses are stackable and can be anywhere from five users to a million users."
"The platform has medium pricing."
"All the costs are included in a bundled license."
"This solution is priced well and we currently have the maximum number of licenses allowed."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
19%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Construction Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
 

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 Business12
Midsize Enterprise2
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 needs improvement with SonicWall SMA?
I haven't utilized the high availability and scalability features of SonicWall SMA yet because I've never had a need to. I don't know where they can focus their energy on continuous improvements, a...
What is your primary use case for SonicWall SMA?
I have experience with the SonicWall SMA; we have rolled it back into our stack. We use SonicWall SMA for all of our clients that need VPNs, including doctor's offices and lawyer offices. Our clien...
 

Also Known As

Cisco SSL VPN
SonicWall Aventail, SonicWall SMA SSL-VPN, SonicWall Secure Mobile Access
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

MST Systems
UnitedStack, Newport City Homes, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, PRIME aerostructures GmbH, Celtic Manor Resort
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs. SonicWall SMA and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
914,109 professionals have used our research since 2012.