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VNS3 Free - Network Controller (Firewall/Router/VPN)

Cohesive Networks

Reviews from AWS customer

17 AWS reviews

    Shivam Dhang

Secure multi-cloud connectivity has simplified VPN deployment and unified firewall control

  • February 19, 2026
  • Review from a verified AWS customer

What is our primary use case?

My main use case for VNS3 is secure multi-cloud and hybrid connectivity, using VNS3 as an overlay VPN controller. I use it for IPsec site-to-site tunnels, encrypted mesh between cloud VPCs, and centralized firewall control without modifying native cloud networking.

For example, I have deployed VNS3 in AWS to build encrypted IPsec tunnels between multiple customer VPCs and on-premises data centers. Instead of going through complex native peering plus firewall changes, VNS3 provided an overall mesh plus policy-based routing, reducing deployment time by fifty percent and simplifying MSP multi-tenant isolation.

What is most valuable?

The top three features that VNS3 offers are encrypted overlay networking, centralized firewall plus routing policies across clouds, and multi-cloud connectivity without native peering complexity, along with VPN orchestration and key management via controller APIs.

Additional valuable features in VNS3 include containerized deployment capabilities, cloud infrastructure and DevOps tooling integration, and fine-grained traffic steering without route controls.

VNS3 improved secure connectivity across multi-cloud and on-premises environments without complex native peering. It reduced VPN setup time, standardized firewall and routing policies, and provided clear encrypted traffic paths for compliance and MSP tenant isolation. Using VNS3, I saw forty to sixty percent faster VPN deployment versus native cloud plus firewall configurations, a thirty percent reduction in network change tickets due to centralized policy control, and lower infrastructure costs by avoiding dedicated hardware VPN appliances per customer.

What needs improvement?

The areas where VNS3 could be improved include native integration with cloud providers such as SD-WAN or transit services, deeper telemetry and analytics, and simpler GUI workflows for large multi-tenant setups.

Additional improvement ideas for VNS3 would be template-based multi-tenant deployments for MSP scales and Zero Trust micro-segmentation policies tied to identity or context.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using VNS3 for three or more years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

VNS3 is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

VNS3 scales well horizontally. I can add controller instances per region or tenant and mesh via IPsec. Throughput and peer count depend on instance size, so planning capacity and automation matter for large or multi-tenant deployment.

How are customer service and support?

The customer support is great. The team is knowledgeable and provides faster responses.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I previously used native cloud VPN plus hardware VPN appliances. I switched to VNS3 to get a software-defined overlay, centralized policy control, and easier multi-cloud hybrid networking without managing separate devices per customer.

Before choosing VNS3, I evaluated native cloud site-to-site VPN, which limited me for centralized control and complex multi-cloud orchestration. I also evaluated SD-WAN solutions, which are good for branch edges but are less flexible for cloud overlay. I chose VNS3 for its software-defined encrypted overlay and multi-cloud policy consistency.

How was the initial setup?

Setup cost is moderate; it requires network planning and key management, but deployment is straightforward with infrastructure as code.

What about the implementation team?

I am a customer with no other business relationship with this vendor.

What was our ROI?

Using VNS3 for the last three years, I saw measurable return on investment, including saving time on deploying VPN, which is forty to fifty percent versus native cloud plus firewall work. Operational efficiency improved because of the centralized control, and network change tickets have been reduced by thirty percent. I have also eliminated the need for dedicated hardware VPN appliances per customer.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing or licensing is predictable. It is instance-based plus bandwidth tiers but can rise with heavy throughput or many endpoints.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Before choosing VNS3, I evaluated native cloud site-to-site VPN, which limited me for centralized control and complex multi-cloud orchestration. I also evaluated SD-WAN solutions, which are good for branch edges but are less flexible for cloud overlay.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate VNS3 an eight overall. I chose an eight because it is strong for secure multi-cloud VPN overlay, policy control, and MSP tenant isolation. I cut two points because it could improve in advanced telemetry, native cloud integration, and large-scale automation.

If anyone is considering VNS3, I would recommend clearly designing the IP plan, routing model, and tenant isolation upfront. Validating throughput sizing and HA design earlier for multi-region MSP scale is important. My overall rating for this product is eight out of ten.

    Ivan_review

IPSEC ENDPOINT NAME BUG

  • August 18, 2022
  • Review from a verified AWS customer

The free latest version has a bug. It adds characters to the Endpoint name.

Aug 18 20:27:51.644374: initiating all conns with alias='cftconn_1_knoxxidr_1'
Aug 18 20:27:51.644406: no connection named "cftconn_1_knoxxidr_1"
Aug 18 20:28:01.762342: initiating all conns with alias='cftconn_1_knoxxidr_1'
Aug 18 20:28:01.763290: no connection named "cftconn_1_knoxxidr_1"
Aug 18 20:28:18.459324: forgetting secrets
Aug 18 20:28:18.459388: loading secrets from "/etc/ipsec.secrets"
Aug 18 20:28:19.546430: forgetting secrets
Aug 18 20:28:19.546475: loading secrets from "/etc/ipsec.secrets"
Aug 18 20:28:19.595238: packet from xx.xxx.xxx.:500: initial Main Mode message received but no connection has been authorized with authby=PSK and xauth=no
Aug 18 20:29:35.184073:

    Dave O'Dell

INCREDIBLE CUSTOMER SUPPORT AND GREAT SOFTWARE!!!

  • July 02, 2020
  • Review from a verified AWS customer

I cannot recommend this team highly enough, they are truly dedicated to making sure you get what you need. Software is great, intuitive, easy to use, makes sense of a complex thing. We enjoy working with them so much.

    Armin Nikdel

SCTP Tunnel over Public IP Support

  • June 11, 2020
  • Review from a verified AWS customer

We were disappointed by lack of support for VPN Tunnel over Public IP via AWS's VPC VPN, so we head toward 3rd parties where we found VNS3.
Everything setup nicely and smooth. Configuring the VPN is simple and straightforward, with full tcpdump log to help debug the tunnels (which AWS own VPN also lack).

We soon realized that SCTP protocol is not tunnel through the VPN. Only TCP and UDP. This pain point of VNS3 suddenly turn into an advantage where customer support applied a patch for us which enabled SCTP protocol in VNS3, now our firewall is complete. We are happy, our customers are happy, and yeah, our partners are also happy!

    Alex Hubner

Allow only 1 (one) IPSec endpoint in the free version

  • November 20, 2019
  • Review from a verified AWS customer

Good solution, but the description is not clear about the limits of the free version. For those looking for a VPN IPSec concentrator, bear in mind that this free version allows for only ONE IPSec endpoint.

    Lagersoft

VPN configuration made easy

  • May 02, 2018
  • Review from a verified AWS customer

We are a group of developers who have little to none networking experience.
We've tried vpn services in the past for connection with our clients, but often we had unstable connection and issues with the VPN providers of our clients, often relying on using other cloud services outside of AWS.

Using VNS3 it was pretty easy to setup our peer VPN, having a user-friendly interface, even for non-networking guys like us. Also their support is great, everytime we got stuck on a configuration, their support team quickly responds and help us through the way with helpful tips. We currently have multiple tunnels with multiple VPN peers and no issues.

Such a great product and support, would highly recommend it.

    A.T. Tempted

Essentially undocumented; don't use

  • June 09, 2017
  • Review from a verified AWS customer

Version 4.3 is essentially undocumented (both manuals and videos are updated to v4.0), and it's not obvious at all what do for setting it up, as the registration workflow is very different from the previous versions. Don't waste your time with this version.

    Quality and Safety

it works fine

  • April 20, 2015
  • Review from a verified AWS customer

I set up a tunnel from a customer Juniper SSG140 unit to our Amazon VPC using vns3 and it works perfectly.

The initial setup was a bit difficult but after a day we have setup an ipsec tunnel successfully.

I would highly recommend this for anyone who wants to integrate their network with AWS.

    krishnen

Fantastic Product & Support

  • April 02, 2015
  • Review from a verified AWS customer

Does everything advertised and more!
Support is fast , effective and professional.
The CEO of company handling support requests on a Sunday afternoon! i mean this is simply unheard of.
Would heartily recommend this product.

    KMS

Outstanding product and support

  • March 17, 2015
  • Review from a verified AWS customer

I set up a tunnel from our internal Fortigate unit to our Amazon VPC using vns3 and it works perfectly.

The initial setup was a bit difficult on my end but their outstanding tech support helped immensely.

I would highly recommend this for anyone who wants to integrate their network with AWS.

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