Firezone vs OpenVPN (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Firezone if

• Fits if you are a team of 6 or fewer that wants access tied to a sign-in
• Works for teams that already use Okta, Entra ID or Google Workspace

Look elsewhere if

• Tight if you grow past 6 users, 10 service accounts or, on Team, 500 users
• Pricey if you need directory sync or device posture checks, which are on Business at $80 a seat a year
• Skip it if you want to self-host for production, because the GitHub page says that is not officially supported
• Watch out: the Enterprise trial is 30 days and only on request through sales
• Watch out: prices are for Firezone Cloud US, in dollars, with an EU region announced

Pick OpenVPN if

• Fits if you need a few people to reach company apps and networks
• Works for teams who want to host the VPN themselves

Look elsewhere if

• Not for you if you want a consumer VPN with a server list, as these are business products
• Tight if you outgrow 2 connections on Access Server Free or 5 seats on Starter
• Pricey if you need SAML, SIEM log streaming and a public API, which start on Essential at $7 a seat
• Watch out: SCIM, longer log retention and the 99.9% uptime SLA are Premium or Enterprise only
• Watch out: Access Server refunds go through sales, and unused funds are credited when you cancel

Firezone

• Starter is capped at 6 users and 10 service accounts; Team at 500 users.
• Directory sync and device posture checks need Business at $80 per seat / year.
• The GitHub page says production self-hosting is not officially supported; Firezone Cloud is the supported way to run it.
• Prices are for Firezone Cloud US, in US dollars; a Cloud EU region was announced on the pricing page.

OpenVPN

• The pages read show the yearly-billed price only; a monthly price for Access Server was not displayed, and CloudConnexa advertises up to 20% off for annual billing.
• Access Server Free stops at 2 simultaneous connections, and Growth at 2,000; larger deployments are Enterprise with custom pricing.
• CloudConnexa's SCIM, longer log retention and 99.9% uptime SLA are on Premium or Enterprise only.
• Refunds on Access Server subscriptions go through sales; unused funds are credited to the account when you cancel.

Firezone

WireGuard with a Rust data plane

The site says it combines WireGuard with a Rust data plane tuned per operating system, and lists throughput figures from 2 Gbps on mobile to 7 Gbps and up on Linux, as tested.

Outbound-only gateways

Gateways only make outbound connections and never listen for traffic from the internet, so no firewall ports are opened.

Identity-provider sync

Syncs users and groups from Okta, Entra ID and Google Workspace on Business, so deactivating a person there signs them out of every device.

Device trust and posture checks

Checks a device certificate from an MDM and can use checks such as disk encryption and OS version, drawn from over 380 parameters from supported MDM and EDR tools.

Conditional policies

Policies can require a sign-in provider, location or time of day before a group reaches a resource.

OpenVPN

Self-hosted Access Server

Runs on cloud IaaS, Docker, Linux, Hyper-V or VMware ESXi, with per-user and per-group access and SSO plus MFA.

Cloud-delivered CloudConnexa

Connects users to apps across offices and clouds from one console with no VPN servers to run, using OpenVPN or IPsec.

Identity and device policies

CloudConnexa sets access policies based on identity, device posture and location, with logs for audits.

Content filtering

CloudConnexa includes DNS filtering and IDS/IPS on every plan, and blocks known malicious sites.

Open-source community edition

The free OpenVPN community edition has Windows installers and source archives.

Firezone

• Starter$0

  Up to 6 users and 10 service accounts, native clients, email and OpenID Connect sign-in, resource-level policies, audit logs, a REST API and community support.

• Team$50

  per seat / year ($5 per seat / month billed monthly)

  Up to 500 users, full-tunnel routing, conditional access policies, a custom account slug and priority email support. Self-serve, no contract.

• Business$80

  per seat / year ($8 per seat / month billed monthly)

  Directory sync for Google, Entra ID and Okta, device posture checks, log sinks and SIEM integrations; up to 1,000 users, 200 service accounts, 200 sites. Per active seat.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Unlimited users, service accounts and sites, SOC 2 and pentest reports, a 99.9% uptime SLA, dedicated Slack or Teams support and white-glove onboarding.

OpenVPN

• Community edition$0

  Open-source OpenVPN that you download and host yourself, with Windows installers and source archives.

• Access Server Free$0

  Self-hosted, up to 2 simultaneous connections, all features. New sign-ups start with a 14-day trial of up to 100 connections.

• Access Server Growth$7

  per connection / month, billed annually

  Self-hosted, up to 2,000 simultaneous connections, priced per connection with volume discounts; the page's example is 10 connections at $70 a month.

• CloudConnexa Starter$0

  Cloud-delivered, 5 seats included, with access policies, DNS filtering and IDS/IPS.

• CloudConnexa Essential$7

  per seat / month, billed annually

  Adds LDAP and SAML, IPsec support, log streaming to a SIEM, a public API and 24-7 priority support. The page's example is 10 seats at $70 a month.

• CloudConnexa Premium$9.50

  per seat / month, billed annually

  Adds SCIM, multiple authentication methods, longer log retention, a dedicated account manager and a 99.9% uptime SLA. The page's example is 10 seats at $95 a month.

Firezone

• Annual discount

  Save 17% with annual billing

  The pricing page shows $50 per seat a year for Team against $5 a month, and $80 against $8 for Business.

OpenVPN

• Annual discount

  Up to 20% off CloudConnexa with annual billing

  The CloudConnexa pricing page offers an annual discount of up to 20%; the prices shown there are the annual ones.