We performed a comparison between OpenVPN Access Server and Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Enterprise Infrastructure VPN solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."It's an ideal gateway solution for small and medium businesses, i.e., around 300 devices can be easily handled."
"The solution has good performance."
"We use the solution to access remote services."
"Highly configurable. You can create your own custom client installer and can rebrand the server-side program."
"The product’s adaptability is valuable."
"There is support for multi-factor authentication."
"OpenVPN Access Server is cheap, and we get to use it ourselves. It is also a stable solution."
"Security is the most valuable feature."
"The compatibility with almost any Linux operating system, and how easy it is to write scripts and generate keys for people to use and log in. I found it easy to deploy quickly."
"I have set the default routes to the VPN server so that all traffic is encrypted."
"It has predefined or preconfigured rules, which are getting periodically updated. They are providing continuous improvements and periodically updating all search queries that they are looking for. That is one thing that helps us to stay vigilant and focused. If we query our AWS account for any breaches or vulnerabilities with any of the cloud tests, and it alerts us based on these predefined rules. It also provides an option to configure our own rules, and based on these rules, it can query the cloud trail logs, pull the information, and trigger alerts in real-time. I haven't explored this feature much because there are multiple accounts, and we don't have enough time to explore this feature. It also provides multiple integrations. When vulnerabilities or breaches are happening, you should be aware of them immediately. It provides integration with tools such as Slack, PagerDuty so that you can get alerted as soon as the high severity stuff comes up. For example, you have a security group that has allowed public traffic on port 22. As TechOps, you should be aware of this immediately. You cannot scan each machine or look into all security groups to identify it. So, Prisma helps us and alerts us when this kind of high-priority stuff comes up. It has different statistics, analytics, and graphs for data. The description of alerts is also pretty good. They describe what are the possible causes for this and what are the solutions. From Prisma Cloud, you can directly go to the AWS account. When you click on an alert, a resource, or a resource ID, it takes you to the AWS console where you need to log in. If you are already logged in, it will take you to that instance directly, and you can fix the issue there. I have found this feature very useful."
"Security is absolutely spot-on, really top-notch. It's the result of all the components that come together, such as the HIP [Host Information Profile] and components like Forcepoint, providing end-user content inspection, and antivirus. It incorporates DLP features and that's fantastic because Prisma Access makes sure that all of the essential prerequisites are in place before a user can log in or can be tunneled into."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to join your network and provide access through the VPN."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to change the gateway. For example, if there's a problem with a specific region or vendor, we can make modifications. The solution is scalable, and there are different gateways that can be created depending on the demand."
"It is geographically dispersed, and it sits on top of Google and AWS platforms. Therefore, you don't face the standard issues, such as latency or bandwidth issues, that you usually face in the case of on-prem data centers."
"The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that it offers stability and scalability while being a very secure product."
"Prisma SaaS is very easy to use; it's common sense — it's the best-in-class."
"The product's initial setup phase is simple."
"There must be a more easy-to-use GUI."
"If we had to create something for someone who was not necessarily tech savvy, I had to set that up on their computer, I had to write "read me's" and other things so that they could install their client and then connect to the VPN by themselves. So it was hard to set up for people who are not tech savvy."
"I would like to see a GUI or Web UI to manage users. Today these features are in the Pro Edition or are done by scripts."
"The interface could be a little bit better in future iterations."
"There sometimes is an incompatibility between some VPNs."
"There could be an easier way to set up the solution. However, if you use the provided information that comes with the solution there should not be a problem."
"There is always room for more security features."
"They may have this already, but it would be nice to be able to get more notifications if a site drops unexpectedly."
"I'd like the solution to have more access points and more speed."
"Though the monitoring is fine, the solution should improve its application graphs and interface monitoring."
"It is a managed firewall. When you run into issues and have to troubleshoot, there is a fair amount of restriction. You run into a couple of restrictions where you don't have any visibility on what is happening on the Palo Alto managed infrastructure, and you need to get on a call to get technical assistance from Palo Alto's technical support. You have to get them to work with you to fix the problem. I would definitely like them to work on the visibility into what happens inside Palo Alto's infrastructure. It is not about getting our hands onto their infrastructure to do troubleshooting or fixing problems; it is just about getting more visibility. This will help us in guiding technical support folks to the area where they need to work."
"If you compare Prisma SaaS against other products, such as Cloud Log, it's a little bit tricky to understand, but it offers different functionality that other products don't have. From a user usability point of view, you need some training for this product, as an admin, you need a couple of demos."
"Prisma would be a stronger solution if it could aggregate resources by project or by application. So say we have an application we've developed in AWS and five applications we've developed in Azure. The platform will group it according to those applications, but it's based on the tags we use in Azure, which means I have to rely on development teams to tag resources properly."
"The initial support team is not very good. Most of the time, I have found that they are one to three years experienced only. They don't have network expertise. They know about Palo Alto products but don't know how to troubleshoot the issues. We have to guide them most of the time to troubleshoot correctly since their approach is not developed."
"The tools' scalability is subject to some limitations when done on-premise due to the need for additional licenses. However, in other scenarios, increasing scalability involves expanding infrastructure to accommodate more third-party VPN access. It is scalable as long as you pay the money. Also, it needs to improve security."
"Sometimes, you have these notifications sent out about changes in App-IDs, modifications in App-IDs, or even the introduction of entirely new App-IDs to replace. Sometimes, the recommendations are followed, but even then, when the package is installed on the firewall, it gets messed up. I remember a particular one was with Tableau, and suddenly, people weren't able to use Tableau, which is an analytics tool for business."
"The BGP filtering options on Prisma Access should be improved."
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OpenVPN Access Server is ranked 1st in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN with 43 reviews while Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks is ranked 5th in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN with 55 reviews. OpenVPN Access Server is rated 8.4, while Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of OpenVPN Access Server writes "An easy-to-use tool with which its users can access networks from home or external locations". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks writes "Integration with Palo Alto platforms such as Cortex Data Lake and Autofocus gives us visibility into our attack surface". OpenVPN Access Server is most compared with Fortinet FortiClient, Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client, Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway, Check Point Remote Access VPN and Sangfor EasyConnect, whereas Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks is most compared with Netskope , Cisco Umbrella, Zscaler SASE, Zscaler Private Access and Prisma SD-WAN. See our OpenVPN Access Server vs. Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks report.
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