What is the difference between the open-source OpenVPN protocol and the OpenVPN software?

OpenVPN is a well-known name in the cyber security space for providing one of the best VPN protocols. The OpenVPN open source project, also called Community Edition (CE), is the open source Virtual Private Network (VPN) project. It creates secure VPN connections over the internet using a custom security protocol that utilizes SSL/TLS. It has emerged to become the de-facto standard in the open source networking space. The project was started by OpenVPN co-founder James Yonan and is published under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It has over 50 million downloads to date and is a community-supported OSS project.

OpenVPN Access Server and CloudConnexa are secure remote access solutions designed specifically for businesses, built on the open source project. Access Server and Cloud Connexa come in a single package to simplify the implementation of a VPN remote access solution. These include an economical licensing model based on concurrent connections, are easy to set up and scale, and can be deployed simply on the cloud. 

You can read more about OpenVPN’s relationship to the open source community here.