Perimeter 81 Reviews

Most businesses rely on hardware like routers, switches, or firewalls to establish secure private networks within the company – but this can be complex and costly to deploy. The Israeli solution, Perimeter 81, provides a hardware-free alternative to this with its modern cloud-based SASE platform. Despite relying solely on an internet connection, it’s more flexible and scalable. Plus, it’s home to a far more secure network infrastructure, which is critical for any business.

Private access

The zero-trust security model guarantees that only authorized and authenticated users can access specific internally hosted or in-the-cloud resources. The user-centric network security platform can be managed from a single admin panel, enabling precise configuration of its settings. This includes network segmentation, multiple protocols, security measures like 2FA, threat protection, and integration with major cloud providers like Azure and AWS.

The service’s global network backbone comprises a wide range of data centers supported by top-tier providers. This guarantees bandwidth and efficient traffic flow, even during peak usage. Managers must deploy at least one private gateway in the company’s Perimeter 81 workspace to harness all the service’s network management power.

Device posture checks

Perimeter 81 includes a device posture check, enabling managers to set predefined rules for each employee’s connection. These rules can relate to device type, antivirus, certificates, disk encryption, and OS version. The service scans Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, Chromebook, and iOS devices before and while connecting, or in predetermined intervals set by the manager.

Any device that doesn’t meet the criteria is automatically denied access to any resource, regardless of the role of the employee. In addition to continuously monitoring connections, there’s an up-to-date dashboard with access history and device details.

Firewall

In contrast to traditional firewalls, which protect companies only internally, Perimeter 81 offers a Firewall as a Service (FWaaS) that protects the cloud. It lets managers easily segment connections based on user or group and take complete control of all access to Perimeter 81’s multi or hybrid cloud network.

Secure internet access

The service also protects people using hybrid secure web gateways when connected to shared gateways. However, some of these feature options aren’t included in Perimeter 81’s plans by default since they are paid add-ons. These include DNS filtering, web filtering, and malware protection, which protect users from harmful websites and let managers regulate website access based on policies.

User management

Perimeter 81 lets managers assign employees one of four possible roles with different permissions: admin, manager, billing, and user. Managers can create user profiles, enable 2FA and SSO, and disable sign-outs without admin approval.

Each member can log in to their account on up to five devices, including computers, phones, and tablets, providing access to the network on the go. Due to this, we found it useful that the VPN automatically turns on when connecting to a public unsecured Wi-Fi network.

Admin management & integrations

Perimeter 81‘s administrators have all the service’s power in their hands, with many management tools designed to maintain optimal security and efficiency. There are detailed logs for active sessions, activity, malware, and firewall events. Depending on the subscription, these logs are available for 14 to 60 days.

Perimeter 81 also includes an API that lets administrators create and manage networks, gateways, regions, users, groups, and tunnels. Furthermore, integrations include Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools, cloud IaaS environments (such as Azure and AWS), on-premises firewalls, routers, and SD-WAN devices.

This business VPN offers servers in over 40 regions worldwide for private gateways and more than 70 for public gateways. These include countries like the U.S., Canada, the UK, South Africa, and Mexico. For private servers, 15 are owned and managed by Harmony SASE, and the remaining are leased to trustworthy cloud providers.

All subscriptions include unlimited network tunnels encrypted with IPsec and WireGuard, making all business resources readily available with the highest security standards. Additionally, private gateways are assigned a dedicated server and IP, further improving security and network performance.

Perimeter 81’s networks can be assigned multiple regions to optimize latency and performance, automatically directing employees to their nearest region. Each region can also have several gateways for load-balancing and redundancy. Other welcome additions include split tunneling, private DNS, and DNS filtering.

The results were of a good standard when we tested the speed of public servers. With a baseline speed of 620 Mbps for download and 205 Mbps for upload, the average speed of this VPN only decreased by 15-20% for both metrics, and all connections remained stable and private.

Anyone subscribing to Perimeter 81 can enjoy a service compliant with all critical data protection regulations, including GDPR, SOC 2, and ISO 27001. All data within the network is protected with AES-256 encryption.

However, to maintain the quality of service and to meet the needs of businesses, it logs certain information. This may include admin tasks like inviting or deleting a team member or actions taken by team members, like login timestamps, location, and even web browsing activity if using specific features.

Alongside the business apps accessible via a browser, Perimeter 81 provides client apps for the most relevant operating systems: macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android. Unfortunately, devices with ARM processors are not supported.

With Perimeter 81’s app, users can experience the VPN’s full potential, with access to a broader range of network resources, better performance, and security. While it’s easy to install the apps manually, organizations using mobile device management tools can deploy them automatically on the employee’s device.

The organization’s administrator customizes most VPN settings, so the app leaves employees with just a few options. These include enabling notifications and crash reports, accessing customer support, and changing the protocols for connecting public gateways between WireGuard and OpenVPN.

Regarding Perimeter 81’s online platform, despite being intuitive, it may require administrators to take a few days to fully grasp the VPN’s range of features and customization.

Perimeter 81 has three subscription options, each providing more features as you move up the tiers. The cheapest option is Essentials, which costs $8 per user per month with annual billing, including a 20% discount compared to the plan’s monthly price.

For a minimum of ten users, this plan includes Perimeter 81’s cloud-based private network, split tunneling, and multiplatform remote access to the network.

The next subscription tier is Premium, which adds firewall rules and three profile configurations for $12 per user per month. For larger businesses with a minimum of 20 users, we recommend Premium Plus. It includes additional profile configurations, API support, a dedicated technical support manager, and more.

It’s worth mentioning that alongside the monthly price for users, all plans incur monthly payments of $40 per gateway, which turns Perimeter 81 into one of the more expensive solutions in the industry. Another drawback of this service is that useful features like DNS filtering, malware protection, and web filtering are paid separately since they’re optional add-ons.

Furthermore, despite not offering a free version or free trial, the company provides a 15-minute demo of the service, which includes an overview of the network, user, and resource setup. In addition, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee, which can be used for risk-free testing.

Contacting Perimeter 81 proved to be a smooth experience. We sent an inquiry via email and a friendly, straightforward reply was received within just a few minutes. Despite having a presence on social media platforms like Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and YouTube, the company favors its dedicated support channels for providing assistance.

Although its prices are a little steep, Perimeter 81 makes them worth it with in-depth customization and detailed reports, allowing businesses to organize and track all network activity. Plus, the VPN complies with GDPR and uses the most up-to-date encryption methods and protocols, including the famous WireGuard.

To help you get to know the solution, there’s a 15-minute demo giving you a quick look at the service and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Finally, choosing a yearly subscription instead of monthly payments unlocks a 20% discount per user per month.