Open-Source VPNs
When a VPN app's code is public, anyone can check that it does what the company says, and researchers regularly do. The entries here publish the source of their own apps, and sometimes their server tools, rather than simply using open protocols such as WireGuard, which almost every provider does. They range from commercial services with open clients to nonprofit tools built for censorship and projects that let you run your own server. Weigh which platforms are actually open, where the repository lives, whether the provider says its builds are reproducible, and who funds the work that keeps the code maintained.
- 1
Open-source VPN app built for censored networks, offering a free service, a paid Premium tier, and tools to run AmneziaWG or XRay on a server of your own.
- 2
Censorship circumvention tool from the nonprofit Brave New Software Project, with stealth open-source protocols, IP shuffling and desktop and mobile apps, and a donation appeal instead of prices.
- 3
The Calyx Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that offers a free VPN funded by its members and community, alongside CalyxOS and a hotspot membership
- 4
Open-source, ad-supported free VPN that needs no account on Android, built to disguise its traffic from DPI, with a paid Premium Key and self-hosting tools.
- 5
cryptostorm is a token-based VPN with public server configs, OpenVPN and WireGuard, priced in US dollars and payable by card, PayPal, Monero or about 200 cryptocurrencies
- 6
Swedish VPN with anonymous numbered accounts, cash and cryptocurrency payments, a flat 5 euro monthly rate at any term, and a 2022 Assured AB server audit.
- 7D+
NymVPN
NymVPN runs on a decentralized network of independent operators, offering a fast 2-hop mode and a 5-hop mixnet with cover traffic, with sign-up by passphrase alone.
- 8C-
Obscura
Obscura relays WireGuard traffic through its own servers to exit servers the site says are run by Mullvad, priced at $8 a month
- 9
Proton VPN comes from Geneva-based Proton AG, with open-source apps, a free plan, and a no-logs policy Securitum has audited every year since 2022
- 10
Canada-based VPN with a 10 GB monthly free plan, RAM-only servers, open-source apps and app audits by Leviathan Security Group, offered worldwide from its site and app stores.
