A business VPN gives remote staff encrypted access to internal systems but “which VPN is best” is the wrong question in 2026.
The right question is whether you need a traditional VPN at all, or whether a zero-trust access service would serve you better
We scored eight options across both camps and matched each to the buyer it actually fits, from a ten-person startup to a field workforce on unreliable mobile connections.
Best Business VPN by Use Case — At a Glance
| Your situation | Our pick | Score |
| Existing Fortinet firewalls | Fortinet | 8.5 |
| Large enterprise, Cisco estate | Cisco Secure Client (AnyConnect) | 8.2 |
| Field workforce on poor mobile coverage | Absolute (NetMotion) | 8.4 |
| Small team wanting the simplest setup | Tailscale | 8.6 |
| SMB wanting managed cloud VPN | NordLayer | 8.0 |
| Palo Alto enterprise estate | Palo Alto GlobalProtect | 8.1 |
| Self-hosted and full control | OpenVPN Access Server | 7.6 |
| Growing into full SASE | Check Point Harmony SASE | 7.9 |
Definitional answer: a business VPN creates an encrypted tunnel between a remote user or site and the corporate network security, so traffic crossing the public internet cannot be read or altered.
Traditional VPNs grant network-level access once connected; zero-trust alternatives grant access to individual applications instead, which is why they are steadily replacing VPNs for remote work.
Check Your Shortlist for Duplicates
The vendor list we were asked to evaluate contained Perimeter 81 and Check Point Harmony as separate entries. They are the same product line: Check Point acquired Perimeter 81 and the platform is now sold as Check Point Harmony SASE.
We consolidated them into a single entry and used the freed slot for NordLayer, which genuinely serves a different buyer.
Worth knowing before you build a shortlist from any comparison article this category has consolidated fast, and duplicated entries under old brand names are common.
How We Scored
A research-based editorial evaluation, not a throughput bake-off, and we make no testing claims. Five criteria, weighted for what actually determines whether a remote access deployment works:
• Security model (30%) — whether access is network-level or per-application, MFA and device posture support, and how well it limits prevent lateral movement after a credential compromise.
• Ease of deployment and use (25%) — how quickly you can get it running, and whether ordinary staff can connect without help-desk tickets.
• Performance and reliability (20%) — connection stability, roaming between networks, and throughput under real conditions.
• Scale and management (15%) — multi-site support, centralized policy, and directory integration.
• Value (10%) — cost relative to capability, with credit for transparent published pricing.
| Solution | Security model | Ease | Performance | Scale | Value | Total |
| Tailscale | 9 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 8.6 |
| Fortinet | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8.5 |
| Absolute (NetMotion) | 8 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 8.4 |
| Cisco Secure Client | 8 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 8.2 |
| Palo Alto GlobalProtect | 9 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 8.1 |
| NordLayer | 8 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8.0 |
| Check Point Harmony SASE | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 7.9 |
| OpenVPN Access Server | 7 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 7.6 |
The Picks, by Use Case
Best for small teams and simplest setup — Tailscale (8.6/10)
Why it wins this use case: a perfect ease-of-use score, and it earns it. Tailscale builds a WireGuard-based mesh where devices connect directly to each other rather than through a central concentrator, and setup for a small team is measured in minutes rather than days.
Score rationale: highest overall despite being the least “enterprise” option, because for the buyer it serves small and mid-sized technical teams nothing else comes close on time-to-value with a modern security model.
Strengths: genuinely quick to deploy; access-control lists give per-service rather than network-wide access; peer-to-peer connections avoid concentrator bottlenecks; strong identity provider integration; free tier for very small teams and published pricing above that.
Trade-offs: less suited to organizations needing traditional site-to-site tunnels to legacy equipment; compliance and audit reporting is lighter than enterprise platforms; the mesh model is unfamiliar to network teams used to concentrators.
Ideal buyer: startups, engineering teams, and small businesses with cloud-based infrastructure.
Verify before buying: current tier limits and whether your compliance obligations require features on higher tiers.
Image ALT: Tailscale WireGuard mesh network access control list configuration
Best for existing Fortinet estates — Fortinet (8.5/10)
.webp)
Why it wins this use case: if you already own FortiGate firewalls, you already own the VPN. FortiClient remote access is included with the firewall rather than sold as a separate platform, which makes it the best value in this list by a wide margin.
Score rationale: top value score and strong across scale and performance, with a conventional rather than leading security model.
Strengths: no additional VPN platform to buy or operate; SSL and IPsec support; robust site-to-site capability; ZTNA features increasingly available in the same client as you modernize; hardware-accelerated throughput on FortiGate appliances.
Trade-offs: client experience is functional rather than polished; management is firewall-centric; Fortinet security advisories history of exploited vulnerabilities including a FortiCloud authentication bypass added to CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog in January 2026 makes disciplined patching essential, and remote access services are exactly the sort of internet-facing component attackers target.
Ideal buyer: any organization already running FortiGate firewalls.
Verify before buying: the concurrent tunnel limits on your specific FortiGate model, and your patching SLA for edge devices.
Image ALT: Fortinet FortiClient remote access VPN managed from FortiGate
Best for mobile and field workforces — Absolute (NetMotion) (8.4/10)
Why it wins this use case: the only perfect performance score here, and it’s earned in a specific way NetMotion’s session persistence keeps applications connected as devices move between cellular towers, Wi-Fi networks, and coverage dead zones, instead of dropping and forcing a reconnect.
Score rationale: unmatched in mobile conditions; more conventional elsewhere. If your users work from vehicles, sites, or anywhere with unreliable connectivity, this specialization matters more than any general feature comparison.
Strengths: session persistence across network transitions is genuinely differentiated; strong for public safety, utilities, healthcare, and logistics under critical infrastructure OT security guidance; useful network performance analytics; integrates with Absolute’s endpoint resilience technology embedded in many device firmwares.
Trade-offs: premium pricing for a specialized capability; overkill for office-based workforces; smaller general-purpose ecosystem than the platform vendors.
Ideal buyer: field services, emergency services, logistics, and any workforce operating on mobile networks.
Verify before buying: current product naming under Absolute and platform support for your device fleet.
Image ALT: Absolute NetMotion session persistence across mobile network transitions
Best for large Cisco enterprises — Cisco Secure Client / AnyConnect (8.2/10)
Why it wins this use case: the highest scale score in the list. Secure Client (the current name for AnyConnect) supports very large concurrent user counts, integrates with Duo for MFA and ISE for posture, and is deployed and understood in enterprises worldwide.
Score rationale: enterprise scale and reliability are its case; ease of deployment and value are where it gives ground.
Strengths: proven at very large scale; unified client covering VPN, posture, and endpoint telemetry; deep integration with Cisco identity, network access control, and secure access services; excellent platform coverage.
Trade-offs: licensing complexity is real; the client is heavy compared with modern alternatives; VPN concentrator architecture requires capacity planning; best value only inside a Cisco estate.
Ideal buyer: large enterprises with Cisco infrastructure and existing AnyConnect deployments.
Verify before buying: current licensing tiers and the migration path from AnyConnect naming to Secure Client and Secure Access.
Image ALT: Cisco Secure Client AnyConnect enterprise remote access VPN
Best for Palo Alto enterprise estates — GlobalProtect (8.1/10)
Why it wins this use case: the strongest security model of the traditional VPN options, because GlobalProtect traffic passes through full next-generation firewall inspection threat prevention, URL filtering, and sandboxing apply to remote users exactly as they do on-premises.
Score rationale: high security model and scale scores; deployment complexity and cost keep it from the top.
Strengths: consistent security policy for remote and on-premises users; always-on connectivity options; strong device posture checks; a natural on-ramp to Prisma Access if you later move to cloud-delivered security.
Trade-offs: requires Palo Alto infrastructure and licensing; more complex to configure than lightweight options; firewall capacity must be sized for remote user load.
Ideal buyer: enterprises standardized on Palo Alto next-generation firewalls.
Verify before buying: licence requirements for the GlobalProtect features you need, and firewall sizing for concurrent users.
Image ALT: Palo Alto GlobalProtect remote access with next-generation firewall inspection
Best managed cloud VPN for SMBs — NordLayer (8.0/10)
Why it wins this use case: published pricing, fast setup, and a global server network the combination most small and mid-sized businesses actually need. NordLayer delivers dedicated gateways with fixed IPs so partners and SaaS platforms can allowlist your traffic, without any hardware.
Score rationale: strong ease and value with a solid modern security model, marked down on scale for very large or complex estates.
Strengths: Transparent published pricing (rare in this category); rapid deployment with no infrastructure; dedicated servers with fixed IP addresses; identity provider integration and MFA; seamlessly integrates with modern cloud security tools and access controls.
Trade-offs: less granular policy than enterprise platforms; limited site-to-site capability for complex networks; you’re dependent on the provider’s gateway locations.
Ideal buyer: small and mid-sized businesses without network engineering staff.
Verify before buying: gateway locations matching your offices, and current per-user pricing tiers.
Image ALT: NordLayer cloud business VPN dedicated gateway and team management
Best path toward full SASE — Check Point Harmony SASE (7.9/10)
Why it wins this use case: it starts as easy remote access and grows into a complete secure access service edge web security, ZTNA, and branch connectivity without changing platforms partway through.
Score rationale: strong security model, marked down on value because the full platform commitment is a bigger spend than point remote access.
Strengths: Modern cloud-native architecture (the former Perimeter 81 platform); genuine ZTNA alongside conventional VPN so you can migrate gradually; integrates with Check Point’s threat prevention and broader Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) capabilities; simple administration relative to legacy enterprise platforms.
Trade-offs: you’re buying into the Check Point ecosystem; pricing climbs as you add SASE components; note the Perimeter 81 branding has been consolidated, so ignore older comparisons treating them as separate products.
Ideal buyer: growing mid-market organizations planning to consolidate networking and security over time.
Verify before buying: which SASE components are included at your tier versus separately licensed.
Image ALT: Check Point Harmony SASE zero trust network access and remote connectivity
Best for full control and lowest cost — OpenVPN Access Server (7.6/10)
Why it wins this use case: a perfect value score. OpenVPN is the protocol much of this industry was built on, and Access Server gives you a supported, self-hosted deployment with a licence model that costs a fraction of the commercial platforms.
Score rationale: unbeatable on cost and control; lowest ease score because you own everything the server, the updates, the availability, and the security of the deployment.
Strengths: self-hosted with complete data control; runs anywhere including on-premises and any cloud; mature, widely audited protocol; free tier for small connection counts and inexpensive licensing above that; enormous community knowledge base.
Trade-offs: You are responsible for patching, hardening, and high availability a real operational burden for your overall network security architecture; the administration interface is basic; conventional network-level access model without modern per-application controls unless you build them.
Ideal buyer: technically capable teams with strict data-control requirements or tight budgets.
Verify before buying: your team’s genuine capacity to maintain an internet-facing service securely.
Image ALT: OpenVPN Access Server self-hosted VPN administration console
Full Comparison
| Solution | Access model | Self-hosted option | Published pricing | Site-to-site | MFA/posture | Best-fit size |
| Tailscale | Per-service ACL | Partial (Headscale-style) | Yes | Via subnet routers | Yes | Small–mid |
| Fortinet | Network + ZTNA | Yes | No | Strong | Yes | Any (Fortinet estates) |
| Absolute (NetMotion) | Network | Yes | No | Moderate | Yes | Mid–large mobile |
| Cisco Secure Client | Network + posture | Yes | No | Strong | Yes | Large enterprise |
| Palo Alto GlobalProtect | Network + inspection | Yes | No | Strong | Yes | Mid–large enterprise |
| NordLayer | Network + gateway policy | No | Yes | Limited | Yes | SMB–mid |
| Check Point Harmony SASE | ZTNA + network | No | Partial | Yes | Yes | Mid-market |
| OpenVPN Access Server | Network | Yes | Yes | Yes | Add-on | Small–mid |
How to Pick for Your Situation
First, decide whether you need a VPN or a replacement for one. A traditional VPN puts a remote device on your network, which means a compromised laptop is a compromised network.
Zero-trust access grants only specific applications. If you’re building remote access from scratch in 2026, start with the zero-trust model Tailscale, Harmony SASE, or the ZTNA features inside Fortinet and Palo Alto rather than defaulting to the VPN you’ve always run.
If you already own the firewall, start there. Fortinet, Palo Alto, Check Point, and Cisco all include remote access with infrastructure most organizations already have.
Buying a separate VPN platform when your firewall does the job is a common and avoidable expense.
Size for peak, not average. Remote access capacity planning fails at the worst moments a snow day, an office closure, an incident. Ask about concurrent connection limits on your specific hardware or tier, and what happens when you exceed them.
Treat the VPN as internet-facing attack surface, because it is. Remote access gateways have been among the most heavily exploited enterprise components in recent years when managing internet-exposed attack surfaces, with edge devices repeatedly appearing in national cyber agency advisories.
Whatever you choose, commit to patching within days of vendor release, enforce MFA without exception, and monitor authentication logs.
Common mistakes: enabling split tunnelling without understanding what bypasses inspection; leaving decommissioned staff accounts active on the VPN; and running self-hosted access servers that nobody has patched in a year.
Situational FAQ
What is a business VPN?
A business VPN creates an encrypted tunnel between remote users or sites and the corporate network so traffic crossing the public internet cannot be read or altered.
Traditional VPNs grant network-level access once connected, while newer zero-trust alternatives grant access only to specific applications.
Which business VPN is best for a small business?
Tailscale is the fastest to deploy for technical teams and NordLayer is the easiest for non-technical ones, both with published pricing.
If you already run a FortiGate or similar firewall, its built-in remote access is usually the better value since you have already paid for it.
Is a VPN still necessary in 2026?
For legacy applications and site-to-site connectivity, yes. For general remote worker access, zero-trust network access is increasingly the better model because it grants application-level rather than network-level access, limiting what an attacker can reach if a device or credential is compromised. Most organizations run both during a multi-year transition.
What is the difference between a business VPN and ZTNA?
A VPN places the device on the corporate network, so anything reachable from that network is reachable by the device.
ZTNA authenticates the user and device for each application individually and never exposes the network itself.
ZTNA also applies continuous verification rather than trusting the session after initial connection.
How much do business VPN solutions cost?
Cloud VPN services with published pricing typically run a modest per-user monthly fee with tiers for advanced features. Enterprise platforms from Cisco, Palo Alto, Fortinet, and Check Point are quote-based and bundled with firewall licensing.
OpenVPN Access Server is the least expensive commercial option, with the trade-off that you operate it yourself.
Can I use a consumer VPN for business?
No. Consumer VPN services are built to mask your traffic from your internet provider, not to connect you to corporate resources.
They lack centralized management, directory integration, device posture checks, audit logging, and per-user access control all of which business remote access requires.
The Short Version
Tailscale is the best starting point for small technical teams, NordLayer for small businesses that want simple and managed, and Fortinet, Cisco, or Palo Alto if you already own the firewall and simply need to turn remote access on.
Absolute (NetMotion) is in a category of its own for mobile field workforces, and Check Point Harmony SASE is the cleanest path if you know you’re heading toward full SASE.
Before you buy anything, ask whether you actually need network access or just application access the answer usually points away from a traditional VPN.
More from Cyberpress:
• Zero Trust Security Companies: Our Top Picks
• Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Providers by Use Case
• Network Access Control (NAC) Solutions by Use Case
• Software-Defined Perimeter (SDP) Solutions by Use Case
• Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS) Providers to Consider
• Microsegmentation Tools: Our Top Picks by Use Case
• ITDR Solutions: Our Top Picks by Business Size
• Network Detection & Response (NDR) Tools by Use Case
• Cloud Security Tools: Our Top Picks
