Protocol

VPNs that support an open vendor protocol

Providers that ship a protocol of their own with the source published. A category, and the one that separates a readable vendor build from an unreadable one.

9 providersCategory, not a protocolUpdated 21 October 2026

The HushFleet teamRegister of 21 October 2026

An open vendor protocol is one a provider designed and ships with the source published — Lightway is the example. The category exists to separate a readable vendor build from an unreadable one.

On security that is what sets it apart from a proprietary protocol: the code can be audited by anyone, and in the published cases it has been. It still has far fewer eyes on it than OpenVPN or WireGuard, and the one vendor that writes it is the one that decides when it changes, so it ranks between the standard open protocols and the closed ones.

Vendor open-source

Ranked by security

More protocols

The other eleven protocols

OpenVPN 43 WireGuard 41 IKEv2 32 Obfuscated 26 IPsec 12 L2TP 11 Proprietary 10 PPTP 8 Shadowsocks 5 SSTP 4 WireGuard-derived 316 providers in no term — the field is not published

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 (sixteen on file).

Insufficient
1
hide.me
Commercial VPNMalaysia
Coverage57countries
Paying monthly$11.99monthly
Paying yearly$54.99yearly total
Free tierYeslimited free plan
Devices10at once
28 out of 100
Security
81 out of 100
Usability
Visit Review
Insufficient
2
CactusVPN
Commercial VPNNot published
Coverage25countries
Paying monthly$15.00monthly
Paying yearly$70.00yearly total
Free tierNopaid plans only
Devicesunlimitedat once
20 out of 100
Security
66 out of 100
Usability
Visit Review
Not recommended
3
ExpressVPN
Commercial VPNBritish Virgin IslandsKape Technologies
Coverage106countries
Paying monthly$14.99monthly
Paying yearly$74.85yearly total
Free tierNopaid plans only
Devices10at once
14 out of 100
Security
70 out of 100
Usability
Visit Review
Not recommended
4
AdGuard
Commercial VPNCyprus
Coverage59countries
Paying monthly$11.99monthly
Paying yearly$47.88yearly total
Free tierYeslimited free plan
Devices10at once
11 out of 100
Security
77 out of 100
Usability
Visit Review
Not recommended
5
NymVPN
DecentralizedSwitzerland
Coverage—not published
Paying monthly$8.00monthly
Paying yearly$48.00yearly total
Free tierNopaid trial only
Devices10at once
8 out of 100
Security
68 out of 100
Usability
Visit Review
Not recommended
6
Portmaster
P2P exitAustriaIVPN
Coverage—not published
Paying monthly$8.99monthly
Paying yearly$89.92yearly total
Free tierYeslimited free plan
Devices5at once
6 out of 100
Security
64 out of 100
Usability
Visit Review
Not recommended
7
Cloudflare WARP
Commercial VPNUnited StatesUsability: floor only
Coverage—not published
Paying monthly$4.99monthly
Paying yearly—no yearly plan
Free tierNot publishedno statement found
3 out of 100
Security
83 out of 100
Usability
Visit Review
Not recommended
8
Amnezia
Commercial VPNRomania
Coverage20countries
Paying monthly—no monthly plan
Paying yearly$50.00yearly total
Free tierYeslimited free plan
Devices7at once
3 out of 100
Security
67 out of 100
Usability
Visit Review
Not recommended
9
VPN Gate
Censorship toolJapanSoftEther Project
Coverage14countries
Price—no published price
Free tierYesfree, no data cap
Devicesunlimitedat once
1 out of 100
Security
74 out of 100
Usability
Visit Review