CloudConnexa and AWS Client VPN both give remote users encrypted access to private resources, but they start from different premises. CloudConnexa is a vendor-operated, multi-cloud network security platform; AWS Client VPN is a managed AWS primitive that you pair with other AWS services to reach a similar outcome. This breakdown covers architecture, Zero Trust controls, secure internet access, and cost model, so you can match the right tool to your environment.
In short: CloudConnexa is a cloud-delivered platform that bundles ZTNA, content filtering, IDS/IPS, and site-to-site connectivity across a global network of Points of Presence. AWS Client VPN is a regional, fully managed OpenVPN-based remote-access service that runs inside your own VPC and is best suited to AWS-centric environments willing to add separate AWS services for security filtering and multi-region reach.
CloudConnexa overview
OpenVPN CloudConnexa is a cloud-delivered network security platform that unifies ZTNA (private application access), secure internet access (content filtering, IDS/IPS), SaaS protection, and site-to-site connectivity into a single service. It is built around OpenVPN's "Wide-area Private Cloud" (WPC) model, an overlay private network spanning CloudConnexa's Points of Presence. Customers connect their networks via software Connectors that require no inbound ports, and their devices via the OpenVPN Connect client, while OpenVPN operates the control and data planes. It uses OpenVPN Data Channel Offload (DCO) for high performance and offers zero-trust controls based on identity, device, and location context. Client and device connections use the OpenVPN protocol, and IPsec is supported for site-to-site (Network Connector) connections. Its built-in Cyber Shield delivers content filtering and IDS/IPS, and the service is SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 certified.
AWS Client VPN overview
AWS Client VPN is a fully managed, OpenVPN-based remote-access VPN service that connects users to AWS VPCs and, through them, to peered networks and on-premises sites. It is a regional service: a Client VPN endpoint lives in your VPC’s AWS Region and associates with subnets across Availability Zones, rather than running on a global edge/PoP network. As of April 2026, an endpoint can attach natively to a Transit Gateway to act as a central routing hub, removing the need for a dedicated hosting VPC. Authentication supports mutual TLS certificates, Active Directory (via AWS Directory Service), and SAML federation (via IAM Identity Center), with MFA inherited from the upstream IdP. Access control is network-level (authorization rules to destination CIDRs, optionally by AD/IdP group) rather than application-level ZTNA, and there is no native Secure Web Gateway — content filtering, DNS filtering, and IDS/IPS are added through separate services such as AWS Network Firewall and Route 53 Resolver DNS Firewall. Pricing is usage-based: AWS charges $0.05 per hour for each active client connection and $0.10–$0.15 per hour for each associated subnet, on top of standard VPC data-transfer rates. It is best suited to organizations already centered on AWS.
Choose CloudConnexa if… / Choose AWS Client VPN if…
Choose CloudConnexa if you want a multi-cloud, vendor-operated service that bundles ZTNA, content filtering, and IDS/IPS without assembling separate components. It connects across a global set of Regions and supports site-to-site over IPsec or OpenVPN. CloudConnexa is also the right fit if you require application-level access controls, device posture, SCIM, and centralized logging as part of the service.
Choose AWS Client VPN if your environment is centered on AWS and you need managed remote access into VPC resources, with native Transit Gateway integration and IAM/Directory Service authentication. Choose it, too, if you're prepared to add separate AWS services — Network Firewall, Route 53 Resolver DNS Firewall, GuardDuty — for filtering and threat protection, since access itself is network-level rather than application-level ZTNA.
Still deciding? See how CloudConnexa compares to OpenVPN Access Server, or check current CloudConnexa pricing.
Architectural trade-off
The two products differ in where they run: CloudConnexa is a vendor-operated global overlay that spans OpenVPN’s own Points of Presence, while AWS Client VPN is a regional endpoint that lives inside — and is billed through — the customer’s own VPC. The points below weigh that difference and test where common claims hold.
Where AWS Client VPN’s architecture can help
- Native integration with AWS networking (VPC, subnets, Transit Gateway, IAM) suits AWS-centric environments, and since April 2026 endpoints can attach directly to a Transit Gateway without a dedicated hosting VPC, simplifying multi-VPC hub-and-spoke access.
- It is OpenVPN protocol-based, so it works with the AWS-provided client as well as standard OpenVPN-compatible clients.
- The endpoint runs inside the customer’s own Region and VPC, keeping the data path, logs, and billing within the customer’s existing AWS account and support relationship.
- Authentication integrates directly with IAM Identity Center (SAML) and AWS Directory Service, so organizations already standardized on AWS identity don’t need a separate control plane.
- Connection logs and API actions flow into CloudWatch and CloudTrail, reusing monitoring tools AWS-centric teams already operate.
Trade-offs and claim-vs-reality
- The claim that Client VPN is “simple because it’s just AWS” holds for a single VPC in a single Region; reaching other Regions, other clouds, or on-premises sites means provisioning and operating Transit Gateway attachments, peering, or Site-to-Site VPN yourself — CloudConnexa’s multiple isolated overlay networks (WPCs) and global Points of Presence are built-in rather than assembled.
- Access control is network/CIDR-level (with optional AD/IdP group scoping), not application-level ZTNA; AWS positions that as a separate product (Verified Access), so CloudConnexa’s Access Groups give you application-level rules without a second service to license and integrate.
- There is no built-in secure internet access. Content filtering, DNS filtering, and IDS/IPS all require separately configured and separately priced services (Network Firewall, Route 53 Resolver DNS Firewall), each with its own management surface — unlike CloudConnexa, where these are bundled into Cyber Shield.
- Device posture isn’t native; enforcing it requires writing and maintaining a custom Lambda connection handler, which is engineering effort CloudConnexa’s built-in device posture checks don’t require.
- Cost scales per active connection ($0.05/hour) plus per-subnet association ($0.10–$0.15/hour) plus standard VPC data-transfer charges, so cost grows with concurrent usage — worth modeling against a flat or tiered platform price before committing.
Feature comparison
The tables below compare CloudConnexa and AWS Client VPN across seven areas: architecture and deployment, administration, Zero Trust and identity, access use cases, networking, secure internet access, and observability.
Architecture & Deployment Model |
||
|
Capability |
CloudConnexa |
AWS Client VPN |
|---|---|---|
|
Managed service |
Yes — WPC overlay; fully hosted |
Yes — fully managed Client VPN endpoint |
|
Global edge/regions |
~36 Regions worldwide; full-mesh core |
Regional — endpoint lives in one AWS Region/VPC; no global PoP mesh |
|
Multiple isolated overlay networks |
Yes — multiple isolated WPCs per account (segment OT, IoT, and IT networks) |
Yes (architecturally) — separate VPCs/endpoints per account; isolation built by design, not a managed overlay feature |
|
Device connection |
OpenVPN Connect client |
AWS-provided client or any OpenVPN client |
|
Network/site connectivity |
Network and Host Connectors (IPsec or OpenVPN) |
AWS Site-to-Site VPN (IPsec)/Direct Connect (separate AWS service); native Transit Gateway [1] attachment |
|
High availability |
Redundant full-mesh core network |
Multi-AZ within a Region (associate multiple subnets) |
|
IPv4/IPv6 |
Yes — dual-stack supported |
Yes — IPv4, IPv6, dual-stack endpoints |
|
Multi-cloud reach |
AWS, Azure, GCP Connectors; plus VPS and routers |
AWS-centric; other clouds require additional plumbing |
Administration & Management |
||
|
Capability |
CloudConnexa |
AWS Client VPN |
|---|---|---|
|
Web admin console |
Yes — dedicated Administration Portal |
Via the AWS Management Console (no dedicated VPN admin UI) |
|
Public API/CLI |
Yes — REST API with OAuth 2.0 |
Yes — EC2 API/AWS CLI |
|
Infrastructure-as-code |
Yes — Terraform provider |
Yes — CloudFormation and Terraform |
|
Admin access control |
Owner/Admin/Member roles |
Governed by AWS IAM |
|
End-user self-service |
URL-based onboarding; profile distribution |
Optional self-service portal for client config/download |
Zero Trust & Identity |
||
|
Capability |
CloudConnexa |
AWS Client VPN |
|---|---|---|
|
Access granularity |
Application and destination CIDR + Access Groups (app-level) |
Network-level authorization rules to destination CIDRs (no app-level ZTNA) |
|
Zero-trust access model |
Zero Trust Application Broker in CloudConnexa continuously verifies identity, location context, and device posture, then assigns a synthetic intermediate IP scoped to a single authorized app. The device never receives a route to the private network, making lateral movement structurally impossible. Access Groups control access to destination applications and IP services based on source identity. They include network-to-application and network-to-network access control. |
Network-level authorization rules to destination CIDRs (no app-level ZTNA) |
|
User authentication |
Local username/password, LDAP, SAML 2.0, Certificate (mutual TLS) |
Certificate (mutual TLS), Active Directory, SAML; no local user database |
|
Simultaneous IdP + local auth |
Yes — SAML and local accounts usable at the same time (not available in all plans) |
No — one IdP per endpoint; no local user database |
|
Multiple group membership per user |
Yes — one Primary plus up to 20 Secondary user groups (additive) |
Yes — AD/SAML group membership (additive); not in client-to-client mode |
|
MFA |
Built-in 2FA; passkey/passwordless. Delegated to IdP when SAML is used. |
Delegated to upstream IdP/AD (no native MFA) |
|
Device posture/compliance |
Yes — OS, antivirus, disk encryption, certificate |
No native posture; only via a custom Lambda client-connect handler |
|
Location/geo context |
Yes — allow/block by IP range or country |
Not documented natively (source IP available to an optional Lambda) |
|
SCIM provisioning |
Yes — SCIM 2.0 (not available in all plans) |
No native SCIM (lifecycle handled in upstream IdP) |
|
Service/non-human identity |
Host Connectors; REST API (OAuth client credentials), Certificate (mutual TLS) |
Partial — certificate-based machine authentication |
|
Device/supply-chain trust |
Device Identity Verification & Enforcement (locks profile to device) |
Partial — per-device certificate (unique CN); Lambda posture checks |
Access Use Cases |
||
|
Capability |
CloudConnexa |
AWS Client VPN |
|---|---|---|
|
Remote access |
Yes — core use case |
Yes — core purpose |
|
Site-to-site |
Yes — via Network Connectors (IPsec or OpenVPN) |
Via AWS Site-to-Site VPN (separate AWS service) |
|
Access to cloud/VPC resources |
Cloud Connectors into AWS/Azure/GCP |
Yes — VPC and peered VPCs; on-prem via Transit Gateway [1] |
|
Internet gateway/full-tunnel egress |
Yes — any Network as Internet Gateway; smart geo routing |
Yes — route 0.0.0.0/0 via an internet gateway |
|
Selective SaaS routing by domain (split tunnel on) |
Yes — route specific SaaS domains through a chosen Internet Gateway with split tunnel on (no full tunnel required) |
Partial — split tunnel routes by route/CIDR, not by domain |
|
Vendor-provided static egress IP |
No — the customer runs the Internet Gateway and supplies the public IP |
No — customer-allocated Elastic IP on a VPC NAT gateway |
|
Split tunneling |
Yes — Split Tunnel On/Off and Restricted Internet |
Yes — optional split tunnel |
|
Application-level ZTNA |
Yes — per-application Access Groups |
No — network/CIDR-level only (AWS Verified Access [5] is a separate product) |
Networking |
||
|
Capability |
CloudConnexa |
AWS Client VPN |
|---|---|---|
|
Client/device protocol |
OpenVPN only; OpenVPN Data Channel Offload (DCO) for throughput |
OpenVPN-based (AWS-provided or standard OpenVPN clients) |
|
WireGuard |
No — not supported for any connection type |
No — not supported |
|
Site-to-site protocol |
IPsec or OpenVPN (Network Connectors) |
IPsec/IKEv2 (Site-to-Site VPN) (separate AWS service) |
|
DNS |
Yes — DNS Proxy, custom records/zones, Private DNS support. |
Push custom DNS servers (often Route 53 Resolver [3]) |
|
Overlapping-IP/domain routing |
Yes — domain-based routing handles overlapping IPs |
Route/CIDR-based; no application domain routing |
Secure Internet Access |
||
|
Capability |
CloudConnexa |
AWS Client VPN |
|---|---|---|
|
Content/URL filtering |
Yes — Cyber Shield Domain Filtering, 43 categories; included |
No native — requires AWS Network Firewall [2] (separate AWS service) |
|
DNS filtering |
Yes — DNS Proxy + Domain Filtering |
No native — requires Route 53 Resolver DNS Firewall [3] (separate AWS service) |
|
IDS/IPS |
Yes — Cyber Shield Traffic Filtering (monitor/block) |
No native — requires AWS Network Firewall [2] (separate AWS service) |
|
Malware/threat protection |
Yes — domain-level malware, ransomware, C2, phishing, more |
No native — via Network Firewall [2]/GuardDuty [4] (separate AWS service) |
|
CASB/SaaS security |
Not offered (SaaS access can be restricted to an Internet Gateway egress IP) |
Not offered (separate AWS services) |
Observability & Operations |
||
|
Capability |
CloudConnexa |
AWS Client VPN |
|---|---|---|
|
Connection logging |
Yes - A wide variety of logs in addition to basic connection logs. |
Yes — connection logs to CloudWatch Logs (JSON) |
|
Audit logging |
Yes — Audit Log of config changes; CSV export and log streaming |
Yes — API actions via CloudTrail |
|
Metrics/monitoring |
Cyber Shield dashboards, CSV reports |
Yes — CloudWatch metrics and Logs Insights |
|
SIEM/log export |
Yes — JSON streaming to AWS S3; Splunk, Datadog |
Via CloudWatch Logs/CloudTrail to your SIEM pipeline |
Reference: AWS named services
The AWS comparison references several separate AWS services by name. The numbers below are referenced in the comparison tables above (e.g. "Transit Gateway [1]"). Each entry summarizes the function and the closest equivalent in CloudConnexa.
|
Service |
What it does |
CloudConnexa equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Transit Gateway |
A central AWS hub that interconnects VPCs and on-premises networks. |
The full-mesh WPC overlay interconnects networks centrally as part of the service. |
| AWS Network Firewall |
A managed network firewall with IDS/IPS (Suricata-based) and traffic filtering — a separate, separately priced service. |
Cyber Shield (IDS/IPS plus content filtering) is built in. |
| Route 53 Resolver DNS Firewall |
DNS-layer domain filtering applied to a VPC — a separate service. |
Built-in DNS Proxy plus Domain Filtering. |
| GuardDuty |
AWS's managed threat-detection service — a separate service. |
Cyber Shield threat/malware protection, included. |
| Verified Access |
AWS's separate application-level zero-trust access product. |
Application-level access via Access Groups, built into the service. |
Frequently Asked questions
What’s the difference between AWS Client VPN and AWS Site-to-Site VPN?
AWS Client VPN connects individual remote users (laptops, phones) to a VPC over OpenVPN; AWS Site-to-Site VPN connects two networks — for example, an on-premises data center and a VPC — over IPsec. CloudConnexa covers both patterns in one service: client access via the OpenVPN Connect app and site-to-site via Network Connectors over OpenVPN or IPsec.
Does AWS Client VPN support Zero Trust access control?
Not natively at the application level. AWS Client VPN authorizes access by destination CIDR (and optionally AD/IdP group), which is network-level control. AWS’s application-level ZTNA product, Verified Access, is licensed and configured separately. CloudConnexa’s Access Groups apply Zero Trust rules at the application layer as part of the base service.
How much does AWS Client VPN cost?
AWS charges $0.05 per hour for each active client connection plus $0.10–$0.15 per hour for each subnet associated with the endpoint, prorated for partial hours, plus standard VPC data-transfer charges. Cost scales with concurrent users and the number of subnets you associate — compare that against CloudConnexa’s pricing for your expected usage.
Can AWS Client VPN connect users to networks outside AWS?
Yes, but only by building the path yourself — through Transit Gateway attachments, VPC peering, or a separate Site-to-Site VPN connection to on-premises sites or other clouds. CloudConnexa’s Points of Presence and Network Connectors are built to span multiple clouds and on-premises sites without that extra setup.
Is there a multi-cloud alternative to AWS Client VPN?
Yes. CloudConnexa isn’t tied to a single cloud provider; it connects AWS, Azure, GCP, and on-premises resources through the same overlay network. AWS Client VPN, by contrast, is an AWS-native service scoped to a VPC in a single Region per endpoint.
Does AWS Client VPN include content filtering or intrusion detection?
No. Content filtering, DNS filtering, and IDS/IPS require separate AWS services — typically AWS Network Firewall and Route 53 Resolver DNS Firewall — each configured and billed independently. CloudConnexa includes content filtering and IDS/IPS through Cyber Shield at no extra integration cost.