Protocol

VPNs that support a proprietary protocol

Providers that ship a closed protocol of their own. A category: the point of the term is that the implementation cannot be read, which is a property rather than a name.

10 providersCategory, not a protocolUpdated 14 September 2026

The HushFleet teamRegister of 26 September 2026

Support for a tunnelling protocol, one page per term. U07_protocols replaced U07_modern_protocol in schema 3.4.0: the field used to carry the fastest protocol a provider offered — one value, three terms, only two of them the name of a protocol — and now carries the whole list. These pages are generated from the contract rather than counted from a spreadsheet.

Vendor protocols — Lightway, NordLynx, Hydra, Chameleon — get no page of their own. One vendor with one implementation already has a page: its review. NordLynx is published as wireguard_derived, which is what it is.

Proprietary

Ranked by security

Four of the twelve terms — obfuscated, proprietary, vendor_open, wireguard_derived — are categories rather than protocol names: each says a protocol was disguised, closed or built on another, not which one it is. A record that publishes no protocol list at all appears on none of these pages (fifteen on file).

Insufficient
1
UltraVPN
Commercial VPNPanamaPango Group
Coverage—not published
Paying monthly—no monthly plan
Paying yearly$35.88yearly total
Free tierNopaid plans only
Devices10at once
17 out of 100
Security
75 out of 100
Usability
Visit Review
Insufficient
2
Surfshark
Commercial VPNNetherlandsNord Security
Coverage100countries
Paying monthly$16.45monthly
Paying yearly$79.00yearly total
Free tierNopaid plans only
Devicesunlimitedat once
16 out of 100
Security
67 out of 100
Usability
Visit Review
Insufficient
3
X-VPN
Commercial VPNSingapore
Coverage96countries
Paying monthly$11.99monthly
Paying yearly$47.99yearly total
Free tierYeslimited free plan
Devices5at once
15 out of 100
Security
78 out of 100
Usability
Visit Review
Not recommended
4
ClearVPN
Commercial VPNCyprus
Coverage54countries
Paying monthly$9.99monthly
Paying yearly$44.99yearly total
Free tierNopaid trial only
Devices6at once
12 out of 100
Security
71 out of 100
Usability
Visit Review
Not recommended
5
Total VPN
Commercial VPNUnited KingdomPango Group
Coverage—not published
Paying monthly$9.99monthly
Paying yearly$19.00yearly total
Free tierNopaid trial only
Devices1at once
11 out of 100
Security
61 out of 100
Usability
Visit Review
Not recommended
6
Betternet
Commercial VPNUnited StatesPango Group
Coverage80countries
Paying monthly$12.99monthly
Paying yearly—no yearly plan
Free tierYeslimited free plan
Devices10at once
10 out of 100
Security
78 out of 100
Usability
Visit Review
Not recommended
7
Planet VPN
Commercial VPNRomania
Coverage63countries
Paying monthly$9.99monthly
Paying yearly$47.88yearly total
Free tierYesfree, no data cap
Devices10at once
10 out of 100
Security
78 out of 100
Usability
Visit Review
Not recommended
8
F-Secure VPN
Commercial VPNFinland
Coverage—not published
Paying monthly—no monthly plan
Paying yearly$57.99yearly total
Free tierNopaid trial only
Devices5at once
6 out of 100
Security
61 out of 100
Usability
Visit Review
Not recommended
9
Speedify
Commercial VPNUnited States
Coverage37countries
Paying monthly$14.99monthly
Paying yearly$89.99yearly total
Free tierNopaid trial only
Devices5at once
2 out of 100
Security
51 out of 100
Usability
Visit Review
Not recommended
10
Hotspot Shield
Commercial VPNUnited StatesUsability: floor only
Coverage—not published
Paying monthly$1.99monthly
Paying yearly$29.00yearly total
Free tierYeslimited free plan
Devices10at once
0 out of 100
Security
73 out of 100
Usability
Visit Review

VPNs that support a proprietary protocol

Ranked by security

The other eleven protocols