GoodAccess Business VPN Review - Is It Worth It? [2024]

GoodAccess is a cross-platform cloud VPN launched in August 2020. It’s a freemium app with a scalable pricing model that centers on user seating. Throughout its short history, this business tool’s user base has grown to 10,000+ across 1,000+ businesses.

GoodAccess is the umbrella of Samohyb, a company founded in 2014. It’s based in the Czech Republic, which is a relatively safe jurisdiction for VPN vendors.

GoodAccess Features

Let’s have a look at what GoodAccess is all about.

Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)

Like many of the leading business VPN vendors in the industry, GoodAccess is an advocate of Zero Trust security.

By default, this VPN provider considers everyone, be it within or outside the network perimeter, a threat. That’s why every user has to undergo strict verification.

It capitalizes on a software-defined perimeter (SDP) to verify user identity. This way, you can seamlessly authenticate users and restrict both their network access and privileges. Plus, no verified user could get in when their device has been compromised.

Furthermore, GoodAccess uses its SDP to create a global private network. Encrypted and hidden from the public internet, this network interconnects your teams, business systems, and the rest of your infrastructure.

With this setup, this vendor dramatically reduces the attack surface and helps keep your sensitive data safe from unauthorized users.

In addition, the company leverages various techniques like lateral movement prevention to catch internal threats early and neutralize them.

Apps

GoodAccess has native clients for Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, iPadOS, and Chrome OS. It supports more platforms than NordLayer, which has no app for the Chromebook.

If you use an old PC running Windows Vista, 7, or 8, you can download a suitable alternative app.

Also, this VPN is compatible with Linux. It needs manual configuration, though. To connect your hardware to a GoodAccess gateway through the Linux terminal or the remote manager.

Dedicated Gateways

When I was writing this GoodAccess review, I counted 32 gateway locations.

More than 50% of them are American and European cities. In the Asia Pacific, you can choose from four jurisdictions. Israel and Turkey represent the Middle East while Brazil hosts the Samohyb’s VPN gateway in Latin America.

Perimeter 81’s global fleet encompasses more cities, but GoodAccess’s network covers more countries.

With GoodAccess’s well-spread-out gateways, you have considerable leeway in selecting the optimal location that minimizes latency.

If you have a geographically fragmented team or you host your systems in different locations, you can buy extra gateways.

Apart from improving everyone’s online experience, an additional gateway can serve as a failsafe in case your primary one acts up.

GoodAccess carries out local network maintenance too. So, a backup can help you achieve 100% uptime in the event that your original gateway is undergoing a routine checkup.

Site-to-Site Connectivity

GoodAccess can be a site-to-site VPN. This is good news if you have multiple offices scattered across various geographical places.

With site-to-site connectivity, all users from different business locations can fully access resources as if they’re physically stored in-house.

Depending on your plan, the number of private/public clouds and/or private offices you securely connect to is limited. If you need more, you can buy extra cloud and branch connectors as add-ons.

Internet Protocol (IP) Whitelisting

Every GoodAccess gateway comes with a unique static IP. If you wish, you can whitelist the one assigned to your team on the app and/or network level. Doing so helps keep unauthorized users at bay since your company resources would be accessible only through this business VPN.

Moreover, IP whitelisting is an efficient way to ensure unified network-level access control, Internet-of-Things device protection, and secure remote access.

Integrations

With GoodAccess, you can safeguard your internal systems. This business VPN is integratable with the following:

• APACHE Web Server
• AWS VPC
• Azure (Office 365)
• Google Cloud
• Magento
• Microsoft IIS
• Nginx
• OpenCart
• PHP
• PHPMyAdmin
• Pipedrive
• PrestaShop
• SalesForce
• SSH servers
• WordPress
• Zoho CRM
  

Using Samohyb’s simple setup guides for each, you can deny access from IPs other than your GoodAccess gateways.

Virtual Access Cards

Access cards play a critical role in setting up your ZTNA in GoodAccess. Each one assigns a specific private account and network identity to every user. You can use this to configure who can connect to which apps and manage access rules.

Single Sign-On (SSO)

Alternatively, you can use external user authentication service providers. To enable SSO, you can use any vendors that support Security Assertion Markup Language like Google, Okta, and Azure.

Split Tunneling

With this feature, you can route some of your traffic through an unencrypted tunnel. Doing this makes sense when you want to grant users access to non-sensitive resources. The unencrypted traffic travels faster, so there’s no reduced connection speed.

At the moment, GoodAccess’s split tunneling works only with the OpenVPN protocol.

And unlike many of the VPNs my Techjury peers and I have reviewed, the company’s apps don’t have this capability. So, you’d need to contact Samohyb’s help desk first to have everything set up.

GoodAccess Security and Protocols

Let’s put GoodAccess’s notable security measures under the microscope.

Encrypted Internet Access

Like every VPN worth its salt, GoodAccess makes it safe to connect to public Wi-Fi networks. It scrambles your network traffic data, making it virtually impossible to decipher by brute force when retrieved.

Protocols

By and large, this VPN supports two tunneling protocols: OpenVPN and Internet Key Exchange version 2 (IKEv2). Either can handle different ciphers. Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), today’s industry standard, is their common denominator.

During testing for this GoodAccess business VPN review, I downloaded the Windows and Android apps. Only the former lets you switch between the two protocols.

But I was able to verify that this VPN establishes encrypted tunnels using IKEv2 by default on mobile devices.

For branch/cloud connectors, you can go with Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) in lieu of IKEv2.

IPSec has no default general and advanced settings, so you have to manually configure everything. It can get technical, but on the upside, you can choose the following ciphers for the two phases for encryption:

• AES-128
• AES-192
• AES-256
• AES-128-CTR
• AES-192-CTR
• AES-256-CTR

Threat Blocker

GoodAccess uses threat intelligence feeds to identify malicious domains and safeguard your business systems.

Activated by default, Threat Blocker can automatically detect and stop harmful domains included in the company’s blacklists.

Custom Domain Blocking

GoodAccess lets you ban individual domains. This filtering mechanism is a neat way to control which sites and apps your remote teams can use.

Custom Domain Names

To identify your internal IT systems, you can set up custom private Domain Name System (DNS) records.

This is easier than it sounds. You can configure everything in GoodAccess’s web-based central management app. You can add domains manually or upload CSV files. Afterward, just have to enter and save the hostname and the custom DNS’s IP.

DNS Server Customization

By default, you’d be using GoodAccess’s DNS servers. If you want, you can opt-out of it and use custom or public nameservers from Cloudflare or Google instead.

However, using custom or public DNS servers would disable GoodAccess’s domain-level protection. In other words, you won’t be able to use Threat Blocker, custom domain blocking, and custom domain names.

Gateway-Level Access Logs

For compliance reasons, this business VPN provider monitors and logs the activity of every user in your network. This way, you can enjoy complete visibility into who accesses which system.

With your findings, you can reduce the attack surface and remain compliant with the following:

• General Data Protection Regulation
• Service Organization Control 2
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

To deny access to fraudsters pretending to be your team members, enable 2FA.

It would force users to enter a security code to successfully sign in. So, only those who physically have their devices can learn about this extra information. Not only is it difficult to remotely steal, but it also expires quickly.

To set up 2FA, you need to link GoodAccess to a third-party authenticator app. All of this vendor’s clients are compatible with Authy and Microsoft Authenticator. And you can use Google Authenticator for GoodAccess’s Android and iOS apps.

Ease of Use

GoodAccess is practically a foolproof VPN. It doesn’t have a huge feature set to begin with, so there’s little to configure. Casual users can install any of its apps not for Linux and connect to its gateways stress-free.

However, I did experience a slight hiccup when establishing a VPN connection through the Windows app.

I gave it a rest and tried again the following day. And I was able to connect right away.

As I mentioned earlier, account management is centralized and web-based. So, you can log in with just a browser anytime, anywhere.

The design of GoodAccess’s web-based central management interface as average. Its aesthetics are modern, but not mind-blowing.

What matters is that it’s intuitive. It has the familiar look of most web-based apps used for central account management.

Although some of its settings need manual configuration, doing so is fairly a piece of cake. Any users of any skill level wouldn’t experience difficulty navigating it.

Customer Support

On paper, you can reach GoodAccess’s help desk via live chat, email, and phone. Depending on your plan, you can get the VIP treatment and get your concerns have priority over those of others.

Responsiveness and Reply Quality

Remember my Windows app connection issue?

I filled out a form to report my issue to its email support team.

In less than 24 hours, I got a response. This representative gave me three troubleshooting tricks and told me the next step in the process if all fail.

In the message, I also learned that the company’s site should have a live chat button. I explored its main pages but found nothing.

I tried the Contact Us button in GoodAccess clients to no avail. The one in the Windows app led to the form I filled out to get in touch with email support. The one in Android didn’t take me anywhere.

If you see the button when you land on the site, you’ll need good timing to speak with someone. The Samohyb’s live chat agents are only online from 9AM–6PM, Mondays through Fridays. They follow Central European Time, which is six hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.

One-on-Ones

Before creating an account, you can arrange a free consultation. But you can go ahead and start your trial on your own.

Once you have an account, you’ll hear from your Success Manager and be encouraged to book an onboarding call. If your schedule doesn’t permit it, you can settle with a quick product walkthrough instead.

Self-Help Resources

In terms of self-help resources, GoodAccess’s Support Portal contains basic info about features and setup guides.

Outside of its cool search function, this knowledge base was surprisingly limited. You may not find articles that can shed light on every key topic that interests you.

Plus, GoodAccess has a blog.

Its first entry dates back to March 2021. Fast forward to the present, it only has two pages of posts. But I expect this library to grow much faster from here on out.

Since the beginning of 2022, the company has been publishing about 2–4 features, compensating for Support Portal’s inadequacies.

Social Media

GoodAccess has an active presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. It also has a YouTube channel, but it has posted just one out of its 11 videos in 2022.

Normally, you can reach brands with a Facebook page on Messenger too. Not GoodAccess.

GoodAccess Price

GoodAccess has four editions, three of which are premium. Sold by subscription, this VPN’s paid licenses come in monthly and annual billing options only. If you pay a year’s worth of service in advance, you can knock 20% off the regular price.

Here’s what you can get from each GoodAccess plan:

Some GoodAccess’s users switched from established personal VPN services like NordVPN because of price practicality.

The drawback is that each of its plans has a seat minimum requirement. In contrast, Twingate doesn’t force you to pay for excess seats. If your team is only seven-strong, you can buy just seven seats from Twingate.

Free Trial and Free Version

This vendor offers a 14-day free trial. At the time of writing this GoodAccess review, I was able to enjoy everything the company has to offer. However, it may restrict some features during the trial period anytime at its discretion.

If you don’t upgrade the trial before it ends, this vendor will revert you to the VPN’s free version. Despite its expected limitations, it has no expiration and entitles you to generous user seating.

Add-Ons

If GoodAccess’s standard features aren’t enough to meet your Samohyb’s needs, you can purchase extras.

The company sells individual branch or cloud connectors for $29/month. Likewise, you can buy up to 20 more dedicated gateways for $39/month each.

If you need to invite more seating, you can 200 additional slots max in increments of five. Your chosen plan would determine how much each extra user would set you back.

Payment Methods and Money-Back Guarantee

GoodAccess takes major credit cards, including:

• Discover
• Diner's Club
• Visa
• Mastercard
• JCB
• UnionPay
• American Express

In addition, the company accepts funds from PayPal, Google Pay, or Apple Pay.

Considering that this vendor has a free license and a reasonable trial, you might think that it issues no refunds. You’d be wrong.

Actually, the company has a 14-day money-back guarantee. As long as you don’t abuse its generosity by creating multiple GoodAccess accounts, your subscription will be refundable.

Of course, you need to abide by this business VPN provider’s terms and conditions to benefit from its refund policy.

Verdict

It’s not a mystery why GoodAccess has been well received since its launch. Indeed, its straightforward setup and intuitive apps are a blessing to any user.

One might argue that its cost is prohibitive because of its minimum seat requirement. But its freemium pricing model, as well as lengthy trial and a money-back guarantee, can easily negate relatively high initial price.

As evidenced by this GoodAccess business VPN review, this business VPN still has some kinks to work out. My Windows app issue, although brief, wasn’t an isolated issue. Some testimonials on G2 and Capterra have echoed the same concern.

Thankfully, Samohyb’s email support came to my rescue in no time. Due to its help desk’s satisfactory responsiveness and helpfulness, I didn’t mind the missing live chat button.

It’s worth a try, and you should definitely give it a go!