The 6 Best Enterprise VPN Hardware: Expert Tested for 2025

Cyberthreats keep evolving, and enterprises need robust VPN hardware to protect their networks.

Zscaler’s 2025 report found that over 50% of organizations experienced VPN-related cyberattacks last year. In the same survey, 91% expressed concern about VPNs as vulnerable points in their IT security stack.

If you ask us, these are staggering numbers, and should alarm all enterprises into upgrading outdated VPN infrastructure before it becomes a liability.

So, what are the best enterprise VPN hardware products on the market? Our team at Atera has done the work for you and listed the best VPN appliances for enterprises in 2025. Read on to find out more. 👇

Key considerations when selecting enterprise VPN hardware

1. Type of VPN hardware device

The first question to ask yourself is: What type of VPN hardware device does our organization need?

Dedicated hardware VPN (like VPN concentrators) is largely a legacy category in enterprise networking. In 2025 and beyond, most VPN hardware devices are included within a next-generation firewall (NGFW). 

NGFWs is what we recommend for most enterprises, as they combine VPN functionality with security features like malware filtering, intrusion prevention, and traffic inspection.

2. Throughput & performance

When we talk about VPN performance and throughput, this is what we’re referring to:

• Throughput: The maximum throughput tells you the top speed at which the device can encrypt and decrypt traffic over IPsec tunnels. The higher the throughput, the more efficiently your network can handle large volumes of encrypted data. 
• Performance: It’s equally important to check the VPN performance, also known as the concurrent tunnel capacity. This refers to the number of users or site-to-site tunnels the device can maintain simultaneously.

To find this information for each VPN hardware, you usually need to dig a bit deeper into the product data sheets. This is how it might look:

To make this easier, we’ve included throughput and performance information for each VPN hardware recommended below.

3. Integrated security features

Like we already mentioned, most enterprise VPN appliances double as firewalls. Within firewalls, you should look for these security features:

• Intrusion prevention (IPS): IPS monitors network traffic for any potential threats and takes automated actions if necessary. These actions can include blocking the traffic, alarming IT staff, resetting the connection, and more. 
• Web filtering: URL filtering is a technology that enables organizations to prevent employees from viewing specific websites or URLs. This is important for preventing users from accessing URLs that could execute malicious code.
• Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) support: ZTNA allows secure access to services and applications based on predefined access control policies.

Best enterprise VPN hardware

So, what are the best enterprise VPN hardware? Based on our research (and what other IT professionals and sysadmins recommend), the best ones are:

• Fortinet FortiGate 6500F – Best overall enterprise VPN hardware
• Palo Alto PA-1400 Series – Best enterprise VPN hardware with built-in quality
• Palo Alto PA-400 Series – Best for SMBs and distributed enterprise branch offices
• Cisco Secure Firewall 3100 Series – Best enterprise VPN for flexible configuration
• Juniper SRX5400 – Best enterprise VPN for large-scale deployments
• TP-LINK ER7212PC VPN gateway – Best budget VPN gateway

With that said, let’s now review each of these in detail.

Fortinet FortiGate 6500F – Best overall enterprise VPN hardware

The Fortinet FortiGate 6000F (and other Fortinet firewalls) are industry-standard hardware that integrates firewall capabilities with IPsec VPN. The FortiGate 6001F, in particular, delivers up to 9 Gbps of IPsec VPN throughput and supports up to 30,000 concurrent users, making it ideal for large enterprises.

One reviewer described Fortinet as follows: “Performance per dollar is untouched by any other vendor. Fortinet does all its own silicon, and it really shows. Price for performance for hardware alone is extremely good and will not be touched by anyone.”

As a slight downside, another reviewer said the VPN has some “licensing quirks,” and if the license lapses, your users will lose connectivity instantly.

Palo Alto PA-1410 – Best enterprise VPN hardware with built-in quality

The Palo Alto PA-1410 is perhaps the best known firewall and VPN hardware for its outstanding built-in quality. One reviewer commented from his own experience, “I have managed, deployed, and sold Palo Alto along side Juniper for well over 15 years. Along with Watch Guard, Fortinet, Cisco, …etc. Hands down Palo Alto is the best breed even today. But you are going to pay for it.”

In fact, while the quality is the best available, Palo Alto firewalls and VPN devices are more expensive than competitors. As for performance capabilities, the Palo Alto PA-1400 delivers up to 4.1 Gbps of IPsec VPN throughput, supports nearly a million concurrent sessions, and has strong encryption and authentication standards.

Palo Alto PA-450 Series – Best for SMBs and distributed enterprise branch offices

If the PA-1400 Series feels like overkill but you still prefer Palo Alto as your vendor, the PA-400 Series offers a more accessible alternative. The PA-400 Series includes four different models, with the entry-level model suited for light office use and the other three designed to meet the needs of SMBs.

Palo Alto has this great comparison of the differences between the PA-400 Series models:

One reviewer compared the PA-440 and PA-450 in the following way: “In my opinion, PA440 and PA450 are both fast and really similar in commit time, maybe a couple of seconds of difference. When I commit to a PA440 and a PA450 at the same time to update an IPSec tunnel, they finish in the same moment, more or less.”

Cisco Secure Firewall 3100 Series – Best enterprise VPN hardware for flexible configuration

As the Cisco Secure Firewall 2100 is reaching its end of life in 2025, many enterprises are replacing it with the Cisco Secure Firewall 3100. The 3105 model particularly comes with 5.5 Gbps of IPsec VPN throughput and support for up to 2,000 concurrent VPN users.

Compared to the 2100 Series, the 3100 Series offers more flexibility for enterprises. One user compared the two and said, “The big difference between the 2000 Series and 3000 Series is the inspection + port capacity. The 2000 Series was limited and only had up to 10G ports, while inspection was much smaller. The 3000 Series added a lot of flexibility.”

If the Cisco Secure Firewall 3100 Series feels like overkill for your organization, we advise going for the Cisco Secure Firewall 1000 Series.

Juniper SRX5400 – Best enterprise VPN hardware for large-scale deployments

If you’re buying enterprise VPN hardware for a large-scale deployment, the Juniper SRX5400 is one of the best choices. It is a next-generation firewall (NGFW) that supports up to 188 Gbps of VPN throughput and 91 million concurrent sessions, more than any other hardware we’ve reviewed. This makes it ideal for high-traffic, mission-critical enterprise environments.

The VPN capabilities integrate with the Juniper Secure Connection app, which gives remote employees access to cloud and corporate resources.

TP-LINK ER7212PC – Best budget VPN gateway

If you’re part of a small office needing a reliable VPN gateway, the TP-LINK ER7212PC is our recommendation. It is a 3-in-1 VPN gateway that combines routing, VPN, and PoE switch functions into a single compact device. Small businesses can use it between a wifi router and a wired network infrastructure to provide secure remote access.

When it comes to VPN protocols, this device supports IPsec VPN, OpenVPN, L2TP, and PPTP VPN. It can be managed through the Omada app or integrated with more robust third-party IT monitoring tools.

How to protect your enterprise VPN hardware from external threats

Modern enterprise VPN appliances have built-in security features, like IPsec encryption, traffic filtering, and intrusion prevention systems. But even the most advanced hardware can’t stop every threat on its own, especially when misconfigured or left unpatched.

That’s where Atera comes in. Atera gives enterprises the right tools for monitoring, patching, and securing all SNMP-enabled devices, including VPN hardware and firewalls. Compared to other IT management tools, Atera is the industry’s first IT management tool powered by an Agentic AI technology, through Autonomous IT.
If you’re ready to protect your organization’s VPN appliances from external threats, you can try Atera today with a free trial or contact our sales team for a custom demo. And, if you want to learn more about Atera’s platform, you can read our Atera review here.