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Should I use OpenVPN?

Secure VPN solutions for business & remote access - openvpn.net

Depends. Buy it if you have IT staff to self-host a battle-tested, open-source VPN or need SOC 2/HIPAA compliance. Skip it if you're a small, non-technical team wanting simple remote access — mesh VPN rivals are far easier.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 50+ public sources; many review snippets were truncated, so user quotes are partial verbatim text.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityTrustpilot exists but sentiment unclear in sources
  • Security posture

Pricing

Free

Community Edition

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
Access ServerPer connected device
CloudConnexaPer subscription

Best for

  • IT teams self-hosting remote access
  • Organizations needing SOC 2/HIPAA alignment
  • Users who want an open-source protocol they control
  • Network admins already running firewalls

Not for

  • Non-technical users wanting one-click consumer privacy VPN
  • Small teams with no sysadmin time — config is fiddly
  • Speed-sensitive users; Reddit callers call it slower than newer rivals
  • Teams wanting zero-maintenance zero-trust SaaS access

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Client-side flaws mean every endpoint must be kept updated, not just the server

medium

Access Server is licensed per connected device — costs climb with headcount

medium

Default configs need manual hardening; expect to follow the security guide

low

Guess: two overlapping products (Access Server vs CloudConnexa) make plan comparison confusing

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free, open-source core you can self-host
  • Described as mature and robust by long-time sysadmins
  • SOC 2 and HIPAA compliant
  • Independent v2.7 security audit by SRLabs, results published
  • Strong ratings: 4.5/5 across 487 G2 reviews

Cons

  • Reddit users call it slower and complicated
  • Recurring CVEs, including a 2024 RCE/privilege-escalation chain
  • Self-hosting means you own servers, patching, and client updates
  • Newer WireGuard-based rivals tout far easier setup

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/25/2026 - 15 sources - SOC 2 and HIPAA certified, open source, independently audited — but monitor the CVE feed; several serious bugs since 2020.

official x4review x4security x4news x3
  • Chained vulnerabilities enabling RCE and local privilege escalation (Aug 2024), Microsoft documented chained OpenVPN flaws enabling remote code execution and local privilege escalation.
  • CVE-2025 client warning (Dec 2025), Belgium's CCB warned of a critical OpenVPN client vulnerability and a validation bypass vulnerability.
  • CVE-2020-15078 — authentication bypass, SentinelOne's database lists an auth bypass vulnerability affecting OpenVPN.
  • CVE-2024-5594 — XSS vulnerability, Listed in SentinelOne's vulnerability database as an OpenVPN XSS issue.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 4/5

    Rating

  • Free

    Starting price

  • 15

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 4/5. Free core; paid tiers described as transparent
  • Ease of use: 2/5. Reddit calls setup complicated; manual config
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Mature, robust; self-hosted and cloud options
  • Support quality. Trustpilot exists but sentiment unclear in sources
  • Security posture: 3/5. Audited and certified, but recurring CVEs
  • 4.5/5 G2 rating 487 reviews
  • $0 Starting price Community Edition, self-hosted
  • Yes Free tier Open-source core
  • $7.8M Funding per Crunchbase profile

Pricing

Community Edition

Free

  • Self-hosted open-source VPN
  • Community-maintained

Access Server

Per connected device

  • Self-hosted business VPN server
  • e.g. 10-device licence sold via AWS

CloudConnexa

Per subscription

  • Cloud-managed VPN service
  • Priced per subscription

Security

SOC 2 and HIPAA certified, open source, independently audited — but monitor the CVE feed; several serious bugs since 2020.

  • Chained vulnerabilities enabling RCE and local privilege escalation (Aug 2024)Microsoft documented chained OpenVPN flaws enabling remote code execution and local privilege escalation.⁵
  • CVE-2025 client warning (Dec 2025)Belgium's CCB warned of a critical OpenVPN client vulnerability and a validation bypass vulnerability.⁶
  • CVE-2020-15078 — authentication bypassSentinelOne's database lists an auth bypass vulnerability affecting OpenVPN.⁷
  • CVE-2024-5594 — XSS vulnerabilityListed in SentinelOne's vulnerability database as an OpenVPN XSS issue.

What users say

G2 reviewers rate it 4.5/5 across 487 reviews, while Reddit opinion splits between 'mature and robust' and 'slower, complicated' versus newer rivals.

“OpenVPN is slower, complicated, and...”
Reddit, r/VPN
“It's a mature, robust fir...”
Reddit, r/sysadmin
“OpenVPN is free. You don't need an...”
Reddit, r/OpenVPN

Alternatives

Compare OpenVPN with each alternative.

  • pfSense

    Firewall that runs a capable OpenVPN server if you self-host.

Companies that use it

  • Augeo FI14
Full analysis

Based on 50+ public sources; many review snippets were truncated, so user quotes are partial verbatim text.

Mature, audited open-source VPN. Great if you can self-host; fiddly and overkill if you just want simple remote access.

Methodology

Based on 50+ public sources; many review snippets were truncated, so user quotes are partial verbatim text.

Sources

  1. OpenVPN Products | 487 G2 Reviewsg2.com
    review
  2. OpenVPN — why and why not (Reddit)reddit.com
    review
  3. Opinion on OpenVPN AS? (Reddit r/sysadmin)reddit.com
    review
  4. OpenVPN vs paid services (Reddit)reddit.com
    review
  5. Chained OpenVPN vulnerabilities — RCE and LPE (Microsoft)microsoft.com
    security
  6. CCB warning: critical OpenVPN client vulnerabilityccb.belgium.be
    security
  7. CVE-2020-15078 auth bypass (SentinelOne)sentinelone.com
    security
  8. OpenVPN homepage (SOC 2 / HIPAA)openvpn.net
    official
  9. OpenVPN Community Edition downloadopenvpn.net
    official
  10. Access Server pricingopenvpn.net
    official
  11. CloudConnexa pricingopenvpn.net
    official
  12. OpenVPN v2.7 SRLabs audit resultsblog.openvpn.net
    security
  13. OpenVPN — Crunchbase profilecrunchbase.com
    news
  14. Augeo FI case study (JumpCloud)jumpcloud.com
    news
  15. Tailscale vs OpenVPNtailscale.com
    news

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