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NordLayer vs OpenVPN Access Server comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 15, 2026

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

NordLayer
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
23rd
Ranking in ZTNA
19th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (35th), Network Access Control (NAC) (20th), Internet Security (15th), ZTNA as a Service (24th), Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (32nd), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (24th)
OpenVPN Access Server
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
1st
Ranking in ZTNA
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
71
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of NordLayer is 2.3%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenVPN Access Server is 10.9%, down from 15.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
OpenVPN Access Server10.9%
NordLayer2.3%
Other86.8%
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
 

Featured Reviews

Christophe Derdeyn - PeerSpot reviewer
Partner delaware Singapore at delaware Singapore
A convenient and easy tool with an incredibly high number of dialing points
The solution is convenient and easy. It has an incredibly high number of dialing points for pretty much every single country in the world. It has a few additional security features. It has a function that prevents unsecured access if my connection were to drop for any reason. It’s something I like. It has threat protection features. It can protect my web connection and files against malicious downloads and trackers.
AS
Network operation center engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Secure remote access has protected critical data and now simplifies role-based user management
An area for improvement is the pricing model. The concurrent user licenses get expensive pretty quickly as your organization grows, so more flexible pricing options would be a huge plus. Another area is configurational disconnect. While the admin web UI handles about 90% of what you need, the moment you have to do deep, advanced routing customization, you still have to drop back to the command line interface to make those changes. It would be great to see those deeper configurations completely integrated into the web portal. Lastly, it would be awesome to see native support for newer, lighter protocols through WireGuard built straight into the platform alongside standard OpenVPN for better performance efficiency.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is convenient and easy."
"The best features OpenVPN Access Server offers are ease of setup, and it is just easy."
"Provided the easiest UX for our end-users and had the greatest interoperability with all the operating systems we used, including but not limited to: iOS, Android, OS X, Windows, and Linux."
"The best thing is that it is open source and free of cost."
"The most valuable thing about OpenVPN Access Server is its ease of use."
"I have set the default routes to the VPN server so that all traffic is encrypted."
"There is support for multi-factor authentication."
"I would recommend this solution to other people."
"The most valuable feature is stability."
 

Cons

"The tool is not perfectly stable."
"We occasionally have internet issues which affect stability."
"There sometimes is an incompatibility between some VPNs."
"My impression of the connection speed using OpenVPN Access Server is that, compared to other VPN solutions, OpenVPN Access Server is a little bit slow, but it is very safe and always connects."
"It requires some experience of Linux server configuration to set it up."
"The server configuration file needs to be improved, it's the biggest problem in the configuration process."
"Regarding scalability, I find OpenVPN Access Server scalable with some caveats. However, sometimes your license disappears or gets wiped out when you scale the infrastructure, which can be quite annoying and requires reaching out to support to get set up again."
"You do need expertise in implementation if you do the initial setup yourself. As it is open-source, if you run into issues, there is nobody available to help you."
"This solution should improve the connection speed and the user interface. The stability of this solution should be improved as well."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Begin with the community version and upgrade to paid one if the need arises."
"OpenVPN Access Server is a cheap corporate solution."
"The product offers yearly as well as monthly subscription plans. It has moderate pricing."
"It is free, you buy support."
"It is an open-source solution, so we don't pay for anything."
"One of the valuable features of OpenVPN is that it is free for a single user."
"The price point is fantastic since it is free."
"Open VPN Access Server is open-source and free of charge."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
14%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Construction Company
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise25
 

Questions from the Community

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How does Fortinet FortiClient compare with Open VPN Access Server?
Fortinet FortiClient is a feature-rich solution that is easy to use and deploy without sacrificing safety and security. It has a very fast connection rate and has a built-in VPN. With this solution...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OpenVPN Access Server?
The pricing and setup costs for OpenVPN Access Server are on the high side since licenses are not user-dependent but based on the number of connections established. With two free simultaneous conne...
What needs improvement with OpenVPN Access Server?
There are definitely areas for improvement. A broader network level access faces challenges, and the clustering configuration seems insufficient, posing a single point of failure. Moreover, patch m...
 

Also Known As

No data available
OpenVPN
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Hostinger, Shutterstock, USMobile, Soundcloud, Calendly, whatagraph.
Verizon, Amazon, Disney, HP, Microsoft, IBM, Samsung
Find out what your peers are saying about OpenVPN, Tailscale, Fortinet and others in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN. Updated: September 2026.
914,109 professionals have used our research since 2012.