VPN Comparison

I made a spreadsheet comparing different open source VPN providers.

Part 2 here

Providers

Notes

  • Please do not start a flame war about Proton.
  • Please do not start a flame war about cryptocurrencies. Monero is the only cryptocurrency listed because of its privacy.
  • The very left column is the category for each row, the middle section is the various VPN providers, and the right section is which VPNs are the best in each category.
  • IVPN has two differing plans, which is why “Standard” and “Pro” are sometimes differentiated.
  • For accounts, “Generated” means a random identifier is created for you to act as your account, “Required” means you must sign up yourself. Proton VPN allows guest use under specific conditions (e.g. installed from the Google Play Store), but otherwise requires an account.
  • Switzerland is seen as more private than Sweden. Gibraltar is seen as privacy neutral.
  • All prices are in United States Dollars. Tax is not included.
  • Pricing is based on the price combination to achieve the exact time frame. For example, Proton VPN does not have a 3 year plan but you can achieve 3 years by combining a 2 year plan with a 1 year plan.
  • The availability section is security based. Availability is framed around a GrapheneOS and secureblue setup.
  • The Proton VPN Flatpak is unofficial, but based on the official code.
  • Availability on secureblue is based on the ujust install-vpn command. Security features must be disabled on secureblue in order to use the GUI for IVPN and Mullvad VPN, but not for Proton VPN. Mozilla VPN and NymVPN are available as Flatpaks, which are safer than layering packages.
  • I wanted to include more categories, such as which programming languages they are written in, connection speed, and security, but that became far too difficult and complex, so I decided to omit those categories.

Takeaways

  • NymVPN is very very new, but it’s off to a strong start. It wins in almost every category. I actually hadn’t heard of it until I started this project.
  • If you want a free VPN, Proton VPN is the only one here that meets that requirement.
  • If you want to pay week-by-week, IVPN is the only one that allows that.
  • If you’re paying month-by-month on a budget, Mullvad VPN is the cheapest option.
  • NymVPN is the cheapest plan for anything past 1 month.
  • If you want to use Accrescent as your main app store, IVPN is the only VPN available there for now.
  • If you want to pay for a bundle of apps, including a VPN, Proton sells more than just a VPN.
  • Mozilla VPN is terrible. The only thing it has going for it is a verified Flatpak, but NymVPN also has that so it doesn’t even matter.
  • apotheotic (she/her)@beehaw.orgEnglish
    0·
    23 days ago

    Why is proton VPN excluded from the winners for open source, license, and based on, despite having the exact same values populated as the other 4 winners?

      • typhoon@lemmy.world
        0·
        23 days ago

        NymVPN doesn’t supports it. I asked their support. They have plans for the future.

        If you are looking for reliable port forwarding consider Windscribe VPN.

    • SevenSkalls [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      0·
      23 days ago

      I have Pure VPN. It allows port forwarding but isn’t on the list. I don’t see it talked about much so I don’t know how it compares to others, but I’ve just been using it because I got a great deal for a 5 year plan forever ago.

      • pineapple@lemmy.mlEnglish
        0·
        23 days ago

        Pure vpn seams like a pretty generic scammy vpn like surfshark or nordvpn they have there own blog dedicated to why they are the best stating reasons like securing yourself in public wifi, protecting you from scams or getting hacked, protecting you against ddos atacks??? and just advertising vpn’s as a jack of all trades privacy toolkit, which they really aren’t.

        VPN companies that are willing to lie to consumers about what vpn’s actually do means they could be lying about other things, like there no logs policy.

        Proton does a better job at explaining what a vpn actually does and doesn’t do.

          • pineapple@lemmy.mlEnglish
            0·
            23 days ago

            I mean I’m using pia, so not much better but I’m broke so I ain’t paying for mullvad or anything. I might switch to nymvpn when I get the chance though, it seams pretty good.

      • pineapple@lemmy.mlEnglish
        0·
        23 days ago

        I wouldn’t call it useless, for people who just use a vpn for privacy, for all I know the only main use case for port forwarding in a vpn is torrenting linux iso’s rather than genuine privacy measures.

    • BakedCatboy@lemmy.mlEnglish
      0·
      24 days ago

      I had the same dilemma after mullvad stopped allowing you to create port forwards. I switched to Proton which works fine but I’m curious what other options are out there. It can be hard to find the details about port forwarding, especially if it only works when using their app and not with openvpn/wireguard which is easier for running containers.

      • brb@sh.itjust.works
        0·
        23 days ago

        AirVPN lets you open 5 ports and allow p2p. Works with their app and openvpn/wireguard. I’ve been paying for it couple years now and I’m pretty happy with it

  • pineapple@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    23 days ago

    Nymvpn seams great! I’ve never heard of it either. I just hope it stays around and gets a name for itself.

  • Rose@lemmy.zip
    0·
    23 days ago

    Why is being on the Google Play store a feature worth highlighting? To use an F-Droid expression, that would be an anti-feature.

    • The 8232 Project@lemmy.mlOP
      0·
      23 days ago

      As I mentioned, the availability section is security focused. F-Droid has potential security issues compared to Accrescent or the Google Play Store.

      • Rose@lemmy.zip
        0·
        23 days ago

        I didn’t suggest F-Droid for inclusion though. I merely used its applicable terminology. Still, with Google Play, you trust Google to ensure that the apk is from the actual source, and with F-Droid, that’s delegated to F-Droid. I don’t see that as being less secure.

        • The 8232 Project@lemmy.mlOP
          0·
          23 days ago

          I didn’t suggest F-Droid for inclusion though. I merely used its applicable terminology.

          My bad, I understand now.

          Because it’s security focused, it includes app stores that are good for their security (regardless of privacy). Other app stores, such as F-Droid, have security issues that Accrescent and the Google Play Store don’t share. This topic has been argued to death countless times before, and I don’t want to start a flame war, but do try researching it and see what comes up.

          • sudoer777@lemmy.mlEnglish
            0·
            23 days ago

            While F-Droid has security issues, the ideological security benefit it provides that Accrescent/Play Store/Obtainium doesn’t is the guarantee that the app is open source, and if the developer goes rogue (I.e. Simple Mobile Tools) it gets removed. A lot could be improved though.

    • wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      0·
      23 days ago

      With the upcoming restrictions on third-party apps that Google has announced maybe? It’ll be easier to get from Play, and may not be available otherwise at all.

      • Rose@lemmy.zip
        0·
        23 days ago

        I don’t think giving into Google seizing more power is the way. People doing that is what enables the corporation to continue and have more control over their lives, including their privacy.

  • utopiah@lemmy.ml
    0·
    23 days ago

    FWIW took me less than 1h yesterday to setup WireGuard on 4 different devices :

    • server with wg-easy and thus easy to use Web UI (before 2-step auth)
    • peers
      • BananiPi 3 F (RISC-V) headless via nmcli
      • desktop on Debian via NetworkManaged
      • mobile phone on /e/OS via the WireGuard client (with Ente Auth to login back on server as admin)

    … and it was the first time I used WireGuard.

    So I’m trying to imply that one shouldn’t use commercial VPNs or benefit from their services, solely that setting up your own depending on your abilities and needs might not be as complex as you initially imagine.

    PS: I did have experience with OpenVPN before and a running server already with Docker and nginx as reverse proxy.

    • Analog@lemmy.mlEnglish
      0·
      23 days ago

      Don’t do this if you want to use a VPN to pirate stuff. It’s a fine suggestion for anything else, using a VPS w/self hosted VPN to provide a basic degree of anonymity.

    • rothaine@lemmy.zip
      0·
      23 days ago

      Maybe I misunderstand wireguard, but don’t you still need a VPN provider to connect to? If it’s just your home server, how would you get any anonymity?

      • utopiah@lemmy.ml
        0·
        23 days ago

        You can host WireGuard on your server, you don’t need a VPN provider specifically, you need a server to put WireGuard on though. Depends who you want to be anonymous from, as per usual it’s the threat model that defines the solution.

          • xthexder@l.sw0.com
            0·
            23 days ago

            There’s plenty of seedbox companies out there, you can get 10Gbps+ connections and they run the torrent client for you so there’s no upload happening from your local PC at all… Many offer VPN capabilities at the same time, but for general browsing I use a VPS with my own wireguard.

          • utopiah@lemmy.ml
            0·
            22 days ago

            FWIW Im torrenting on my server 24/7 for years. I’m only torrenting Linux ISO though, using transmission in a container.

    • HereIAm@lemmy.world
      0·
      23 days ago

      I assume you’re talking about creating a VPN into your own personal network? Unless you have family or friends in a different country I fail see how you’re circumventing geo restrictions or gain anonymity on the internet.

      • utopiah@lemmy.ml
        0·
        23 days ago

        Wrong assumption, you can install it on any other machine you have root access to, e.g. remote ssh. You can rent a server in another country and put your VPN server if that’s your need.

  • Lemmchen@feddit.orgEnglish
    0·
    24 days ago

    Can Nym be used on an OpenWrt router? Does it require a special app or can it be used with a standard wireguard config?

      • eclipse@lemmy.world
        0·
        23 days ago

        Nym looks interesting and I hadn’t heard of it before, but based on my reading I wouldn’t say it supports wireguard.

        It implements wireguard but it still looks like you need to use their client instead of a vanilla wireguard one.

  • Nelots@piefed.zipEnglish
    0·
    23 days ago

    Why is proton consistently red in the pricing category despite being cheaper than (or on par with) other options like mozilla which is consistently yellow? Am I misreading this as green = good, red = bad?

    • The 8232 Project@lemmy.mlOP
      0·
      23 days ago

      That seems to be a bug. That’s my bad. Thanks for catching that! I’ll fix it soon and edit the post.

      Edit: Fixed! Sorry about that.