“The company’s old VPN is slow and insecure. We want to switch — but switch to what?” — Traditional enterprise VPNs have been in use for over a decade, but with remote work now the norm and ransomware rampant, their problems are becoming ever more obvious. Today we explain clearly how to choose an enterprise VPN alternative, and why more and more companies are switching to zero trust.
Three long-standing problems with traditional enterprise VPNs
1. Once you are in, you are in everywhere — poor security. Once VPN authentication succeeds, employees gain access to the entire intranet. If a single computer is infected with ransomware, the virus can spread laterally across the intranet over the VPN, with serious consequences.
2. Expensive hardware, heavy operations. An SSL VPN gateway appliance costs RMB 50,000–100,000 up front, and requires dedicated staff to maintain it and regular upgrades to patch vulnerabilities. When it fails, everyone’s remote access is affected.
3. Poor experience. Slow connections, dropped sessions, cumbersome configuration — employees complain a lot.
What enterprise VPN alternatives are available
- Zero Trust SDP (the mainstream direction): on-demand authorization, least privilege, mandatory device verification. A leading example is sTrust (Siwenlide). Best suited to replacing legacy VPNs.
- SASE / SD-WAN: suited to mid-size and large enterprises with many branches and heavy traffic; more network-layer oriented, with higher cost.
- Overseas networking tools (Tailscale/ZeroTier): unstable connections in China and questionable compliance; not recommended for enterprise production use.
Why replace VPN with zero trust: the sTrust approach
sTrust is a zero trust remote access solution developed in-house by Beijing Siwen Lide, designed precisely to “replace traditional VPNs”:
- Least privilege: no more “once you are in, you are in everywhere.” Each user can only reach the authorized subnets/IPs/ports, so a compromise will not spread across the whole network.
- Zero hardware: delivered purely as SaaS — no need to buy a RMB 50,000–100,000 gateway, and it goes live in 5 minutes.
- Controllable cost: about RMB 7,000/year for 30 users; over three years the total cost is more than 70% lower than a hardware VPN.
- Compliance: the control plane is entirely in China, ICP filing completed, MLPS 2.0 (China’s Multi-Level Protection Scheme) compliant, with complete audit logs.
- Great experience: direct connections within China — fast and stable.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Our old VPN appliance has not expired yet. Is it worth switching now?
A: If security is the priority (you are worried about ransomware spreading laterally), we recommend switching as early as possible. If you are simply nearing a renewal, use the refresh to move straight to zero trust and save the money you would have spent on new hardware.
Q: Will replacing the VPN affect existing operations?
A: The transition can be smooth — start with a small pilot (free for 5 users for 30 days), confirm that business access works normally, and then switch everyone over.
Q: Does it support connectivity between branch offices?
A: Yes. Through MikroTik RouterOS integration, office routers act as nodes, enabling site-to-site connectivity between branches without every user running a client.
Old VPN slow and insecure? Thinking about switching to zero trust?
sTrust replaces traditional VPNs: least privilege, zero hardware, compliant and auditable, live in 5 minutes. Free trial for 5 users for 30 days: strust.siwenlide.com, or call 400-686-2011.
Further reading: for a point-by-point comparison of ZeroTier, Tailscale, and sTrust, see “ZeroTier, Tailscale, or sTrust: Which to Choose? 2026 Comparison”.
