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OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey vs SonicWall SMA 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

OpenVPN Community Edition -...
Ranking in SSL VPN
5th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SonicWall SMA
Ranking in SSL VPN
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Universal Access Gateways (2nd), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (16th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the SSL VPN category, the mindshare of OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey is 2.9%. The mindshare of SonicWall SMA is 6.8%, up from 4.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
SSL VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey2.9%
SonicWall SMA6.8%
Other90.3%
SSL VPN
 

Featured Reviews

Abhishek Saini - PeerSpot reviewer
Professional Services Engineer at Next7 IT
Standardized remote access has boosted secure client support and improved team coordination
OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey is very flexible, but there are features that would significantly improve day-to-day operations, especially in MSPs. The biggest improvement I would see is better centralized management, easier routing and network virtualization, more advanced built-in monitoring and reporting, simplified certificate lifecycle management, and stronger integrations with identity providers. One thing we often wish for is something similar to enterprise VPN dashboards where we can instantly see who is connected, which routes are active, failed authentication attempts, and tunnel health. Overall, the core VPN engine itself is solid, but most frustrations are really around management, visibility, scalability, and operational convenience rather than the tunnel functionality itself. The biggest friction point with OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey is usually around configuration complexity and troubleshooting, especially in more complex client networks. I encounter issues whenever there are routing and subnet issues, DNS resolution problems, certificates and client configuration management challenges, limited centralized management in the community edition, or documentation dependency.
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

"The best features that OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey offers are precisely the simplicity of the configuration, the speed with which we can complete this configuration, and also the scalability."
"The most valuable features of the solution are its stability and user-friendly UI."
"Regarding outcomes such as improved productivity, I can say that using OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey, we enhance our development experience and our security experience significantly."
"OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey has been a reliable solution for secure remote connectivity, working well for organizations looking for a cost-effective VPN solution."
"The flexibility of OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey positively impacts my experience because being able to access all my files and other applications on any device, even when I am away from home, makes it certainly valuable."
"OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey has positively impacted my organization by satisfying my use cases because all four of us are working from different places and logging in from different IPs, which could be suspicious."
"We use the solution to connect to our internal infrastructure in our data center."
"Overall, we use OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey to protect internal infrastructure, support secure remote work, reduce public exposure, and improve access governance."
"I like the load balancing capability, it is very fast and it has a simple interface."
"What I like best about SonicWall SMA is the relationship between its features and its price, because the solution is both affordable and functional."
"Secure Mobile Access (SMA) is easy to configure and the deployment is straightforward. However, this is mostly because of the AWS setup."
"SonicWall SMA allows us to provide CML-based access to any user."
"This solution has many options for remote desktop and access."
"The product is extremely flexible, the program is easy to use, the performance is good, and the solution is very stable."
"Blocklisting and allowlisting are the most beneficial features for network security."
"Secure remote access is now available from home offices."
 

Cons

"The product's initial setup phase is not straightforward, making it an area where improvements are required."
"I would like to see an improvement in OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey by adding a feature that shows user activity after connecting to the VPN."
"OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey can be improved by looking forward to recommendations regarding compute sizing, which is necessary."
"The biggest friction point with OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey is usually around configuration complexity and troubleshooting, especially in more complex client networks."
"I would like to get less updates from the solution."
"OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey needs one improvement for larger organizations, as its VPN configuration may be a bit challenging."
"I find the initial setup and configuration process of OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey very challenging for our organization, as it takes time to load, especially for beginners without an experienced admin."
"OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey can be improved in overall performance, that is, speed, especially when we are talking about the transmission of a large amount of data."
"The problem is that when combined with what the client already has, there are two different logins and two different management systems, and these should be consolidated into a single interface."
"The only thing that they could try to improve is the support for enterprise customers. Normally enterprises and SMBs can create a ticket, but for enterprises, SonicWall SMA needs to provide a global view, and this is what's currently missing. It's not even a question of timing. It's a question of the global vision because currently, it's lacking. They concentrate on the topic, but not on the means and not on the global picture. In most cases, there's something wrong with the integration of SonicWall SMA with other products, so that could also be improved."
"The solution has 2FA, it will generate a token and send it to an email, but multifactor authentication is not available. I would suggest that there should be MFA integration and provided with the appliance."
"The user interface could be improved."
"SonicWall's reporting isn't good. Reports should be part of a data plan."
"The product itself is very good, but Dell needs to work on product visibility in their advertising."
"The pricing for the solution could be a lot less."
"The overall menu is not very user-friendly and it could be easier."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"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."
"The cost of the licensing is based on the maximum number of concurrent users, and it costs a lot to add them."
"The platform has medium pricing."
"Our licenses are stackable and can be anywhere from five users to a million users."
"This solution is priced well and we currently have the maximum number of licenses allowed."
"All the costs are included in a bundled license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
25%
Comms Service Provider
17%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Construction Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey?
I would like to see an improvement in OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey by adding a feature that shows user activity after connecting to the VPN. Currently, OpenVPN Community Edition -...
What advice do you have for others considering OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey?
I purchased OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey through the AWS Marketplace. My advice for others looking into using OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey is that if you really ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey?
OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey is completely free. There is no pricing, no setup cost, and no licensing. OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey is not mainly an AI-based pla...
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

No data available
SonicWall Aventail, SonicWall SMA SSL-VPN, SonicWall Secure Mobile Access
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
UnitedStack, Newport City Homes, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, PRIME aerostructures GmbH, Celtic Manor Resort
Find out what your peers are saying about OpenVPN Community Edition - powered by TurnKey vs. SonicWall SMA and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.