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Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) vs OpenVPN Access Server comparison

 

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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.1
Check Point Harmony SASE users see cost savings, productivity boosts, and security improvements, though some find returns complex to quantify.
Sentiment score
3.4
OpenVPN Access Server enhances remote work efficiency with secure connectivity, despite initial costs, offering significant operational benefits.
Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) blocked access to those URLs at the network level before users could click through.
Pre Sales Consultant at Redington Group
We are saving 40% of our time, which is good.
Cloud Security Engineer at Punch Powertrain nv
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Check Point Harmony SASE provides responsive, knowledgeable, and professional support, with most users expressing high satisfaction despite occasional delays.
Sentiment score
4.6
Users appreciate OpenVPN Access Server for its community and documentation, often eliminating the need for technical support.
I would rate support 10 out of 10.
Pre Sales Consultant at Redington Group
People working really hard, listening to every issue and request, and replying within hours.
Security Support Engineer at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
I would rate the technical support an eight on a scale of one to ten.
DevSecOps Engineer at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Any issue was solved in five to ten minutes.
System Network Administrator at a consultancy with 201-500 employees
The documentation was absolutely fine for me; it was well-structured, and I did not have any difficulties with this solution.
Senior Cloud Infrastructure Engineer at Globant
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Check Point Harmony SASE offers impressive scalability and flexibility, smoothly adapting to growing user bases and organizational needs.
Sentiment score
6.4
OpenVPN Access Server's scalability varies; some face challenges, while others achieve seamless scaling, influenced by infrastructure and regional factors.
The cloud-native model ensures we are not tied to any specific location or hardware, which has been a great game changer in terms of agility.
Pre Sales Consultant at Redington Group
I would rate it nine out of ten for scalability.
Cloud Security Engineer at Punch Powertrain nv
Check Point Harmony SASE's scalability is good; it can handle growth easily, allowing me to easily add another region and gateway to have more people join in.
Security Support Engineer at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
When we deploy and install OpenVPN Access Server, the principle is to install and forget.
System Network Administrator at a consultancy with 201-500 employees
It's not very easy to expand, and it would be beneficial if the process were simpler.
Chief Cloud Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It is scalable on AWS because it is a matter of increasing the instance size and increasing the number of licenses.
DevSecOps Engineer at a tech company with 51-200 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Check Point Harmony SASE is praised for stability, reliability, and minimal issues, with high uptime and efficient performance.
Sentiment score
6.8
OpenVPN Access Server is stable and reliable, with minor issues resolved and consistently positive ratings for stability.
There are some lags and glitches with connectivity, so I would rate the stability as between seven or eight out of ten.
Cloud Security Engineer at Punch Powertrain nv
After the last improvement, I can say it is much more stable now.
Technical Lead at Netsmart
Check Point Harmony SASE is stable most of the time, but there are still some issues that are hard to troubleshoot.
Security Support Engineer at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Regarding stability, I have not had any crashes, performance issues, or stability issues with OpenVPN Access Server.
DevSecOps Engineer at a tech company with 51-200 employees
I find it very stable.
System Network Administrator at a consultancy with 201-500 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Check Point Harmony SASE needs improvements in performance, user interface, integration, documentation, scalability, and features like SD-WAN and firewalls.
Users seek an improved OpenVPN GUI with enhanced security, speed, scalability, flexible licensing, and better configuration and notification systems.
A local data center in Turkey would enhance the product, as currently, our Internet traffic goes to another country, which is problematic for us.
Technical Lead at Netsmart
One area for improvement is integration with third-party identity providers.
Pre Sales Consultant at Redington Group
The product is lacking features that other competitors have, making it quite challenging to migrate customers to this solution because it feels very much unfinished.
Security Support Engineer at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
If they had a one-click setup where you provide credentials instead of manually running commands, that would be beneficial.
Chief Cloud Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
If there was a dedicated plan for startups, it would be really helpful.
Devops Engineer at Emergent
You can see who can access what resources from the user view, but you can also see the reverse, which is which resource can be accessed by what users.
DevSecOps Engineer at a tech company with 51-200 employees
 

Setup Cost

Check Point Harmony SASE offers competitive value for large enterprises, though its pricing isn't the cheapest for smaller firms.
OpenVPN Access Server is cost-effective, offering free and subscription plans; evaluate needs as support costs can arise.
Cost efficiency is a consideration, as SASE products are not the cheapest security products.
Technical Lead at Netsmart
The cost is a bit expensive for most users.
Security Engineer at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
It is a bit expensive.
Cloud Security Engineer at Punch Powertrain nv
My experience with pricing is excellent as the pricing is free.
Service Delivery Manager at CasCom
The experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for OpenVPN Access Server is really good, not that expensive.
Devops Engineer at Emergent
My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing cost of OpenVPN Access Server is that the licensing is fair for the value provided.
DevSecOps Engineer at a tech company with 51-200 employees
 

Valuable Features

Check Point Harmony SASE offers secure, efficient, and centralized network management with real-time threat intelligence and zero trust access.
OpenVPN Access Server offers easy setup, strong security, multi-platform compatibility, scalability, and cost-effective remote connectivity with user-friendly management.
The firewall management is the most valuable feature for me.
Cloud Security Engineer at Punch Powertrain nv
The Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) feature is a major highlight as it gives users seamless and secure access to internal resources without requiring a full-blown VPN, which improves both security and user experience.
Pre Sales Consultant at Redington Group
The Zero Trust and segmentation have helped my team and our customers significantly because we are able to protect every scope and allow the work-from-home users to access internal resources while passing through a threat prevention gateway, ensuring that everything is safe.
Security Support Engineer at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
The most valuable features of OpenVPN are its ease of use, client familiarity, end-user familiarity, operating system integration, and price points.
Service Delivery Manager at CasCom
The main benefits I have seen from using OpenVPN Access Server include secure access to private resources over the public internet.
DevSecOps Engineer at a tech company with 51-200 employees
OpenVPN Access Server has positively impacted my organization by allowing access to our private services, enhancing security, and enabling remote work from anywhere.
DevOps and Site Reliability Engineer at Honey Insurance
 

Categories and Ranking

Check Point Harmony SASE (f...
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
7th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (7th), Firewalls (16th), Anti-Malware Tools (7th), ZTNA as a Service (5th), ZTNA (2nd), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (7th)
OpenVPN Access Server
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) is 3.6%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenVPN Access Server is 13.3%, down from 14.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
OpenVPN Access Server13.3%
Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81)3.6%
Other83.1%
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
 

Featured Reviews

Nasseer Qureshi - PeerSpot reviewer
Pre Sales Consultant at Redington Group
Delivers seamless and secure remote access while enhancing security posture
Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) offers strong features, but there are areas that could be improved. One area for improvement is integration with third-party identity providers. It works with standard SAML and SSO, but we would prefer deeper integrations with solutions such as Ping for more advanced identity-based policies. Additionally, a mobile-specific client or lightweight agent would be helpful for securing access from smartphones, especially in BYOD environments. We would appreciate more granular reporting and analytics, including better drill-down capabilities to investigate specific users or app activity. The logs are comprehensive, but filtering them can sometimes feel messy. The user interface on the management portal could be more intuitive, especially when managing multiple sites or remote offices. Some of the policy configuration steps are nested and could be streamlined.
Fedir Plotnikov - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Cloud Infrastructure Engineer at Globant
User management has simplified internal VPN access and now provides clear visibility and control
I do not use any role defining features because it is a really small organization, so it wasn't required, but it is there if needed. I have seen OpenVPN Access Server integrations such as LDAP, RADIUS, PAM, and SAML, but again, due to the size of the company, it wasn't necessary and we didn't have it inside the company. However, it was nice that it is already embedded inside. We haven't used much in terms of integrations with OpenVPN Access Server, so it's hard to say. We only used basic features there. My advice for others looking to implement OpenVPN Access Server is that it is at least worth trying if you need a fast and easy implementation solution without technical overhead and you just need VPN access, which is supported by all operating systems and mobile operating system vendors. It is definitely worth a try. OpenVPN Access Server was purchased directly from the website, not on the AWS marketplace or through a partner purchase. I would rate this product an overall eight out of ten.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
11%
University
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business53
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise13
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business36
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise16
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Harmony Connect?
The product's initial setup phase is very simple.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Harmony Connect?
I am not aware of the pricing, setup cost, and licensing, but I would say the setup cost is our resource, and we have invested many hours into this project.
What needs improvement with Harmony Connect?
When I'm raising a ticket for Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81), it's a bit technical for non-technical people. It could have been clearer and easier for them to raise a ticket becau...
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 do you like most about OpenVPN Access Server?
OpenVPN Access Server is a simple and easy-to-use solution that I can use myself without anybody's help.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OpenVPN Access Server?
I find it not cost-effective. It is not worth the money from a pricing perspective. However, it is a good investment for security and company information security. It is a good investment overall.
 

Also Known As

Check Point Quantum SASE
OpenVPN
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Aqua Security, Cognito, Multipoint, Kustomer, Postman, Meredith
Verizon, Amazon, Disney, HP, Microsoft, IBM, Samsung
Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) vs. OpenVPN Access Server and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,444 professionals have used our research since 2012.