Definition
A VPN gateway is the network-edge device that accepts incoming VPN connections, authenticates them, terminates the encrypted tunnel, and routes the decrypted traffic onto the network behind it. In enterprise terms, the VPN gateway is what employees connect to from outside the office; in cloud terms, it is the managed service that links a virtual network to remote sites or users. Hardware appliances (Cisco, Palo Alto, Fortinet) and software solutions (OpenVPN Access Server, WireGuard servers) can both serve as gateways.
Roles and Responsibilities
A gateway authenticates clients (typically against a directory service or identity provider), enforces authorization policies (which users get to which resources), handles encryption at scale (potentially thousands of concurrent tunnels), provides logging for security and compliance, and connects to internal routing so VPN-connected devices appear correctly on the internal network. Modern gateways increasingly integrate with Zero Trust frameworks rather than granting blanket network access.
Cloud VPN Gateways
AWS Site-to-Site VPN, Azure VPN Gateway, Google Cloud VPN, and similar services provide managed gateway functionality without operating physical hardware. They are configured through the cloud provider's console, scale automatically, and integrate natively with the rest of the cloud network. For organizations migrating workloads to the cloud, cloud VPN gateways have largely replaced the model of routing traffic through a corporate data center.