Table Of Content
Top VPN Alternatives and Replacement for Secure Remote Access
- May 2, 2025
You’ve probably tried a bunch of VPNs by now-free ones that slow down your internet, expensive ones that drain your wallet, or confusing ones that waste your time. Sure, popular options like NordVPN or ExpressVPN work, but they can feel bulky, slow, or just too pricey.
What if you could skip all that hassle? VPN alternatives are here to help-simple, fast tools that keep your data safe and your connection secure without all the tech headaches.
In this post, you’ll find the best VPN alternatives out there. These picks are trusted by real users and backed by expert opinions to help you choose the right one.
Still relying on outdated VPN setups in 2025? Cybersecurity experts like Bruce Schneier have long advocated for adaptive, zero-trust solutions over legacy tools. So, if you’re ready to explore smarter and sleeker alternatives, let’s dive into the most efficient VPN replacements built for today’s remote demands.
Why Should You Look for a VPN Alternative?
Remote work is the new normal, and traditional VPNs are struggling to keep up. In fact, a 2024 VPN risk survey found that 92% of companies worry that VPNs jeopardize security, and 81% of users are dissatisfied with their VPN experience. VPN appliances often become bottlenecks and single points of failure under heavy load, and once a user is “inside” via VPN, they can see too much of the network. Today, teams use tools like Zoom, Salesforce, or Microsoft 365 from anywhere. But VPNs weren’t built for this. They make you send cloud app data through a faraway office server first-like driving to the post office to mail a letter to your next-door neighbor. It’s inefficient and slows work down. As a result, 56% of IT teams are actively seeking VPN alternatives, and 75% prioritize zero-trust network access solutions as replacements for VPNs. Most companies look to replace VPNs to solve two commonly occurring challenges:
Most companies look to replace VPNs to solve two commonly occurring challenges:
Performance & Scalability: Traditional VPN gateways choke under heavy load. As one CTO noted, when 100% of staff suddenly went remote, their OpenVPN/IPsec setup “was not built to handle everyone” remotely, leading to “performance and reliability issues.” Backhauling all traffic through a VPN gateway can add latency and jitter, slowing business apps. Alternatives like SASE and SD-WAN use distributed PoPs to accelerate traffic and load-balance connections. Fortinet’s own teams found that moving to ZTNA eliminated “slower VPN logins” and boosted user productivity. In practice, many organizations have reported that remote workers feel immediate speed benefits when allowed to break out to the nearest cloud security node instead of a distant data center.
Security & Compliance: VPNs grant broad network trust. Once a device is inside, it can often reach internal file shares or legacy systems. This widens the attack surface. NordLayer warns that “each additional VPN client… expands the threat surface… raising security and compliance risks.” Publicly accessible VPN portals also attract constant attacks. Pango’s SVP reported that their VPN gateways saw thousands of unauthorized probes per second, making them a prime target. In regulated industries, broad VPN access makes it harder to enforce least privilege or log fine-grained sessions. Zero Trust Network Access Solutions mitigate this: Fortinet notes ZTNA only grants network access to verified users/devices, thereby “reducing the attack surface.”
What Are Some Different Alternatives to VPN?
- 1. Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA): Also called a software-defined perimeter, ZTNA grants access per application or service instead of a broad network tunnel. Every user and device request is authenticated and authorized (often via a cloud broker) before it reaches the app. This prevents lateral movement and applies least-privilege principles. As Palo Alto Networks explains, ZTNA “protects apps and data by preventing lateral movement [and] simplifying policies around least-privileged access.”In practice, a user device connects to a ZTNA broker (often integrated with Azure AD or Okta), which then opens a direct tunnel only to the specific internal app or server the user is allowed to see. All other network paths remain closed.
- 2. Secure Access Service Edge (SASE): This is a cloud-native, converged model that unifies WAN and security services. SASE routes user traffic through a global network of cloud PoPs (points of presence) that enforce security policies (firewall, CASB, DLP, etc.) before reaching the internet or corporate resources. The enterprise no longer needs to backhaul all traffic to a data center firewall. Instead, SASE delivers network connectivity and security as a single service. Palo Alto notes that SASE “blends the reach of the WAN with enterprise security” and is delivered in “a single, cloud-based service model” to unify networking and security.In other words, your remote office or user can hop onto the nearest SASE node, be authenticated and inspected, and then reach cloud/SaaS apps or on-prem resources without a legacy hub-and-spoke VPN.
- Use Case: Consider a healthcare provider with both cloud and on-prem apps. They might deploy SD-WAN at clinics for reliable connectivity, SASE to secure internet/SaaS access, and ZTNA for mobile staff to reach patient data applications. When a doctor at home wants to review records, a ZTNA broker authenticates their device and user identity (using MFA). The broker then connects only to the EHR application in the data center, rather than punching a hole to the entire hospital LAN. Meanwhile, branch offices use SD-WAN links to send only video and telephony traffic through high-quality paths, reducing VPN latency. In sum, VPN alternatives integrate cloud security, identity, and modern networking to replace monolithic VPN tunnels.
Benefits of Using VPN Alternatives and Replacements
- Least-Privilege Access & Reduced Risk: By design, alternatives enforce zero trust. Access is granted per-app or per-service based on user identity and device posture. This micro-segmentation means a compromised credential cannot roam freely. Fortinet notes that with ZTNA, organizations only allow “authorized users and devices” to specific apps. The business impact is huge: breaches are more contained, and it’s easier to demonstrate compliance (showing who accessed exactly which system).
- Improved Performance: Eliminating hairpin routing often speeds up traffic. Instead of forcing traffic through a VPN concentrator at HQ, many solutions send remote user traffic directly to cloud/SaaS or a local PoP. NordLayer highlights that VPNs suffer from “slow speed & performance” due to extra hops. In contrast, SASE and SD-WAN routes can be optimized. For example, a financial services firm saw a 30% reduction in application latency after adopting SD-WAN and local breakout. Similarly, ZTNA scales elastically: rather than hitting a fixed gateway, the cloud broker scales with user load. Fortinet’s internal study noted employees gained productivity “by eliminating slower VPN logins.”
- Seamless User Experience: With many ZTNA/SASE products, users can work without manual VPN steps. The service runs in the background with single sign-on (SSO) integration. Users no longer need to remember multiple VPN profiles or jump through captive portals. As one vendor summary puts it, ZTNA provides “a seamless user experience with no need to set up a VPN tunnel, launch a VPN client, or connect to the VPN service.” In real life, this means sales or field staff just click the app URL and are connected almost instantly. Companies report higher remote worker satisfaction; in one case, an enterprise survey found 90% of users preferred the new zero-trust VPN replacement over the old VPN.
- Cost Savings and Efficiency: Moving to cloud-based alternatives can reduce capital expenses. There is less need to buy and maintain large VPN concentrators or MPLS circuits. Many vendors offer pay-as-you-go models that scale with usage. Twopir Consulting often sees clients shift to usage-based billing for remote access, paying only for active sessions or bandwidth consumed. This aligns costs to business cycles (e.g., holiday retail scale-out). Additionally, operational overhead drops: security teams save time because policy changes are centralized in software, not spread across many network appliances. Fortinet’s case study notes IT staff “time saved in managing access policies” after switching to ZTNA.
- Integrated Cloud/SaaS Support: Unlike legacy VPNs that assume all apps live on-premises, VPN alternatives natively support cloud and SaaS. Traffic to popular services (Office 365, Salesforce, AWS, etc.) can be sent directly to the internet or through a CASB without first going through HQ. This meets the hybrid multi-cloud reality: NordLayer warns that VPNs show “poor functionality with cloud-based resources.” By contrast, SASE architectures include secure web gateways and CASB functionality. The bottom line: remote users can securely access both on-prem and cloud apps through the same policy framework, simplifying network architecture.
- Better Security Auditing and Compliance: Every session under ZTNA/SASE can be logged in detail—who accessed what app, when, and from which device. This is far richer than VPN logs, which often only show that a user connected to the network, not which apps were used. This fine-grained visibility aids incident response and compliance (e.g., GDPR or HIPAA auditing). Many solutions integrate with SIEM tools out of the box. For example, an enterprise insurance firm was able to meet PCI audit requirements by using ZTNA logs to show exactly which systems remote employees accessed, improving their compliance posture.
VPN vs. ZTNA vs. SASE vs. SD-WAN
Feature-Wise Comparison Between Legacy VPN, ZTNA, SASE, & SD-WAN
| Feature | Traditional VPN | ZTNA (Zero Trust) | SASE (Cloud Security) | SD-WAN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Access Model | Broad network tunnel | Per-app, least-privilege tunnels | Per-app or per-site via global cloud PoPs | Branch-to-branch/site (secure overlay) |
| Trust Model | Once authenticated, user is “inside” | Continuous verification every session | Continuous, plus integrated SWG/CASB | Network segmentation with centralized control |
| Authentication | Username/password (often weak MFA) | Strong SSO/MFA + device checks | SSO/MFA with device & context policies | Usually VPN-based or IPsec with PSKs |
| User Experience | VPN client needed; connection delays | Often transparent; clientless portals | Transparent; leverages cloud PoPs for speed | VPN client sometimes needed; improved routes |
| Scalability | Limited by gateway capacity (bottleneck) | Elastic cloud scale (SaaS-based) | Elastic global cloud scale | Scales per branch; needs hardware at each site |
| Security Enforcement | At perimeter (VPN gateway) | At identity broker + endpoint | At multiple global points (integrated security) | Via policies on branch gateways |
| Use Case | On-prem access (legacy apps) | Remote/mobile access to specific apps | Global remote access + internet to cloud | Inter-site connectivity, optimized cloud access |
Use-Case Comparison Between VPN, Smart DNS, & Tor
| Solution | Encryption | Intended Use | Typical Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| VPN | Full-tunnel (all traffic encrypted) | Secure remote work & privacy | Remote access to corporate LAN; unblocking geofenced services (slows connection) |
| Smart DNS | None (only DNS logic) | Geo-unblocking (streaming) | Watching region-locked content quickly, without encryption or identity protection |
| Tor | Multi-hop encryption (onion routing) | Anonymity/privacy | High anonymity tasks (journalism, activism); not recommended for corporate apps due to slow speed |
Conclusion
Enterprises are steadily moving away from legacy VPNs toward zero-trust, cloud-native remote access. As one industry survey notes, teams are now “gravitating toward a ZTNA approach, which effectively eliminates the need for corporate VPNs.” By adopting solutions like ZTNA, SASE, and SD-WAN, organizations can improve performance and security simultaneously.
Next Steps: IT leaders should pilot a VPN alternative in a sandbox. For example, spin up a ZTNA trial for a non-critical app or group (such as an internal wiki or a subset of remote employees) and compare the experience. Meanwhile, review your identity infrastructure: integrate the new access solution with your SSO/IdP so that existing user management and MFA policies carry over. Also, ensure logs feed into your SIEM to maintain centralized monitoring.
A strategic tip from Kitecyber: leverage your identity and endpoint tools. Tie the VPN alternative into your IAM platform (Azure AD, Okta, etc.) and endpoint management (Intune, Jamf) from day one. This aligns authentication and posture checks. Similarly, connect the access logs to SIEM and UEBA-it’s critical to see remote sessions in your overall security analytics.
