Best VPN for MSPs

An MSP holds the keys to many clients’ networks, so the question is how to keep each client apart. Here is what government advisories ask of MSPs, and which tools say they run many clients from one console.

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Question 1 of 2

What is behind the search for a VPN for your MSP?

14,583 VPN picks made through VPN.com in the last 30 days

What clients and agencies ask of you

What the advisories and audit reports ask of an MSP

What do cyber agencies tell MSPs to do?

In May 2022 the US CISA, NSA and FBI, with the UK, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand cyber agencies, issued advisory AA22-131A on threats to managed service providers and their customers.

Use multi-factor sign-in on every account that reaches customers.The advisory says MSPs should implement MFA on all accounts that have access to customer environments.
Keep customers apart.It says to segregate customer data sets from each other and from the MSP’s internal network, and “Do not reuse admin credentials across multiple customers.”
Customers should ask for a secure access path.It tells customers to use a dedicated VPN or alternative secure access method to connect to the MSP, to log the MSP’s activity, and to write these controls into the contract.

General information, not legal advice. A VPN alone does not make an MSP secure or compliant. It is one part of the access path.

Do you need a SOC 2 report or an ISO 27001 certificate?

We found no regulation that requires an MSP to hold either. They are reports and certificates a client may ask for, and both cover the whole organisation, not one tool.

SOC 2 is a CPA firm’s report.The AICPA describes SOC as a suite of services CPAs may provide. Ask which type of report it is and which period it covers.
ISO 27001 is a certificate from a certification body.ISO writes the standard; independent certification bodies audit and issue certificates. Check who issued it, what it covers and which edition.

A VPN alone does not give an MSP either one. Ask a tool vendor for its report and read its scope.

By tool

Which tools say they run many clients

Read from each vendor’s own documentation on 2 November 2026; prices from 8 October 2026. These are the vendors’ statements, not our verdict.

What you are comparing	How the vendor says it handles many client networks	Plan and price, as the vendor lists it
NordLayer	Says partners create and manage client organisations in a Service Management Portal, assign administrators to specific organisations and set each organisation’s plan.	Plans are Lite $8, Core $11 and Premium $14 per user a month on yearly billing, 5-user minimum, for a direct customer. Partner pricing is not published.
Twingate	Says its MSP Portal is a multi-tenant portal to manage Customer Networks and billing, with admins assigned per network and consolidated monthly billing. Portal access alone does not grant access to a customer’s network.	Lists Teams $5 and Business $10 per user a month. A 14-day trial applies to each new Customer Network.
Tailscale	Says multiple tailnets are in alpha, share one identity provider and domain, and are set up through its account team. The page does not mention MSPs.	Lists Standard $8 and Premium $18 per user a month.

Our verdict

Many clients, one console

Our take: NordLayer is our pick to start with. It says partners create and manage client organisations in a Service Management Portal, assign administrators per organisation, and it lists SSO and MFA. A VPN alone does not give an MSP a SOC 2 report or secure its clients, so compare partner terms with Twingate before you commit.

A partner Service Management Portal for client organisations, as the vendor says.
SSO and MFA listed, with admins assigned per organisation.
Core lists $11 per user a month on yearly billing for a direct customer; partner pricing is not published.

NordLayer

G2 4.3/5Reviews: 126 · As of October 2026
Gartner Peer Insights 4.6/5Ratings: 104 · As of October 2026

Easy team rollout
Reliable connections
Every device encrypted

Why NordLayer is where we would start:

Partner portal for many client organisations
Lists SSO and MFA
Admins can be assigned per organisation

What NordLayer lists:

Lite $8, Core $11, Premium $14 per user a month
Yearly billing, 5-user minimum
A dedicated-IP server is +$40 a month

Before you commit:

Partner pricing and terms, from NordLayer’s partner team
Whether each client gets its own organisation
That a VPN alone does not secure an MSP or its clients

See NordLayer business plans

The full guide

The detail behind our pick

Bottom Line: An MSP does not need one VPN. It needs a way to keep many clients apart and to show each client how it connects. Government cyber agencies tell MSPs to use multi-factor sign-in on every account that reaches customers and not to reuse admin credentials across customers. A VPN alone does not give an MSP a SOC 2 report or ISO 27001 certificate. Of the tools we read, NordLayer and Twingate say they have a partner console for many clients.

What this page is for

This page is for the owner or lead technician at a small managed service provider choosing remote-access tools. It sits under our best VPN for business guide, which explains how a business VPN differs from a personal one. For larger organisations see the enterprise VPN guide. Your clients may face their own rules; see best VPN for financial services and best VPN for law firms.

We do not run our own security tests. Every vendor-specific line below is what the vendor says on its own pages, with the date we read it. The advisory and standards are linked under Resources. This is general information, not legal advice.

What do government agencies tell MSPs about remote access?

Advisory AA22-131A, issued jointly by US and allied cyber agencies in May 2022, gives MSPs and their customers a short list. A VPN touches some of it.

Advisory item	What it says	Does a VPN help?
MFA	Implement MFA on all accounts with access to customer environments	Only if the tool enforces MFA or connects to your SSO
Separate credentials	Do not reuse admin credentials across multiple customers	Partly: a tool with one tenant per client keeps credentials apart
Segregation	Segregate customer data sets from each other and from internal networks	Partly: per-client networks or policies
Secure access path	Customers should use a dedicated VPN or alternative secure access method to connect to the MSP	Yes, this is the VPN item
Logging	Log the delivery infrastructure used to serve customers	Partly: connection logs can feed it
Contracts	Customers should require these measures in the contract	No. This is paperwork

A VPN alone does not make an MSP secure or compliant.

One shared plan or one tenant per client?

A fair question for a small MSP of three to ten people: would a multi-device consumer plan do? For your own office access, perhaps. For client work it points the wrong way. The advisory says not to reuse admin credentials across customers and to keep customer data apart, and one shared plan across clients does the opposite. That is our reading of the advisory, not a rule. A tool with a tenant or network per client is the better fit.

Which tools say they run many clients?

Each vendor below says what it offers, read on 2 November 2026.

Tool	Many-client console	Price shown per user per month
NordLayer	Service Management Portal for partners	$11 (Core), yearly billing, direct-customer list price
Twingate	MSP Portal with Customer Networks	$5 (Teams), $10 (Business)
Tailscale	Multiple tailnets (alpha); no MSP console	$8 (Standard), $18 (Premium)

Twingate and Tailscale have no review page on VPN.com, so they are not linked internally. NordLayer has no review page either, so NordLayer links to its own site through our partner link. We earn a commission if you buy NordLayer through it; that does not change what its pages say. Partner pricing is set by each vendor’s partner team, and we did not read any.

What do SOC 2 and ISO 27001 mean for an MSP?

We found no regulation that requires an MSP to hold either. A client or insurer may ask. A SOC 2 report is written by a CPA firm about a service organisation’s controls; ask which type and which period it covers. An ISO 27001 certificate comes from a certification body, not from ISO; check the issuer, scope and edition. Both describe the MSP as a whole. Using a tool whose vendor holds a report does not make the MSP’s own work covered by it.

What to ask a VPN company before client access goes through it

Can I give each client its own network or tenant, and who can see across them? Ask how admins are assigned per client.
Which controls come with my plan? MFA enforcement, SSO and dedicated IP are gated by plan at the vendors above.
Which security reports do you hold, and can I see them? Ask for the report, not the badge, and read its scope.
What does the vendor log, and who can see it? Your clients may ask you the same question.

Final Verdict

If this is your situation	Start with
You manage many small clients and want one console	Twingate or NordLayer, as each vendor says. Compare partner terms with their partner teams
Your team connects to clients through a fixed address	A plan with a dedicated IP or allow-listing, such as NordLayer Core and above, as the vendor says
A client asks for a SOC 2 report from you	That is a report about your firm, not a feature of any VPN. Ask the CPA firm that audits you
You only need to secure your own team’s access	A business plan with SSO and MFA; the many-client console is the extra

The VPN is one control. Your credential hygiene, contracts and monitoring decide the rest.

References

CISA. n.d. Aa22 131a. https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa22-131a.
Aicpa-cima. n.d. AICPA: System and Organization Controls, SOC suite of services. https://www.aicpa-cima.com/resources/landing/system-and-organization-controls-soc-suite-of-services.
Nordlayer. n.d. NordLayer help: Service Management Portal. https://help.nordlayer.com/docs/how-to-use-the-smp-service-management-portal.
Twingate. n.d. Twingate docs: Managed Service Providers. https://www.twingate.com/docs/msp.
Tailscale. n.d. Tailscale: Manage multiple tailnets. https://tailscale.com/kb/1509/multiple-tailnets.
Nordlayer. n.d. NordLayer pricing. https://nordlayer.com/pricing/.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does an MSP need SOC 2 or ISO 27001?

We found no regulation that requires either. They are reports and certificates a client or insurer may ask for. A VPN alone does not give an MSP either one; both cover the whole organisation and are issued by independent auditors.

What do cyber agencies tell MSPs about client access?

Advisory AA22-131A says MSPs should use MFA on all accounts with access to customer environments, apply least privilege, segregate customer data sets and not reuse admin credentials across customers. It tells customers to use a dedicated VPN or alternative secure access method to reach the MSP.

Should an MSP use one VPN for all clients?

The advisory says to keep customers apart and not to share admin credentials across them. One shared plan across clients does the opposite. A tool with a tenant or network per client fits better. That is our reading, so confirm with your own security lead.

Which VPN or access tools say they support MSPs?

NordLayer says partners manage client organisations in a Service Management Portal. Twingate says its MSP Portal manages Customer Networks and billing. Tailscale says multiple tailnets are in alpha and does not mention MSPs. Check each vendor’s partner terms.

Do MSP technicians need multi-factor sign-in?

Advisory AA22-131A says to implement MFA on all accounts that have access to customer environments. NordLayer lists MFA, Proton says it enforces 2FA on its Essentials plan, and Twingate lists sign-in through Google, Okta and Entra ID.

What is the difference between SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2?

Ask the vendor which type its report is and which period it covers. AICPA describes SOC reports as examinations by CPAs of a service organisation’s controls, and a Type 2 report also covers whether the controls operated. A VPN alone does not give an MSP either report.

What does a VPN or access tool cost an MSP per user?

At the vendors we read on 8 October 2026, list prices ran from $5 to $18 per user per month. NordLayer lists Core at $11 on yearly billing and Twingate lists Teams at $5. Partner pricing is set by each vendor’s partner team, so ask them.

Does a VPN make an MSP compliant for its clients?

No. A VPN alone does not make an MSP or its clients compliant. Your clients’ rules, such as the Safeguards Rule for financial firms, ask for a written programme, and the MSP’s part is spelled out in the contract.

Can a small MSP use a consumer VPN?

For its own office access, perhaps. A consumer VPN is sold per person with no console to keep clients apart or to remove a technician who leaves. The advisory asks MSPs to segregate customers and avoid shared admin credentials, which consumer plans are not built for.

What should an MSP ask a VPN company before client traffic goes through it?

Ask whether each client can have its own network or tenant, which controls come with your plan, which security reports the vendor holds and whether you can see them, and what it logs. Your clients may put the same questions to you.