Obscura

The service and who can buy it

Obscura is a VPN built around what it calls a two-party relay: a connection goes first through Obscura's own servers and then through an exit server that, according to the site, is run by Mullvad. The site describes the aim as keeping "who you are and what you do separate", and its headline calls Obscura "the first VPN that can't log your activity and outsmarts internet censorship." The VPN is the only product the site sells; it is not part of a wider security suite. The site's footer carries a copyright line for Sovereign Engineering Inc., which is the only company name the site gives.

On who can buy it, the site is short on detail. It sells directly from its own website, with downloads for macOS, iOS, Android, Windows, and Linux from each platform's download page, and it prices the service in US dollars. It accepts a credit card through Stripe, Bitcoin over Lightning, and Monero. The site does not list countries where it does or does not sell, and it does not say which app stores carry the mobile apps. Sign-up does not require personal details: the site says an account is just "a randomized account number", with "No names, no emails, no phone numbers necessary." The one caveat it flags itself is that "Stripe may need your email for subscriptions, but Obscura never stores it."

Trust, logging and ownership

The site does not name an independent audit of its logging policy. What it offers instead is an argument from design, and every part of that argument is the provider's own claim.

The provider states that Obscura "only sees your connecting IP address and necessary payment info" and that it will "never log your connecting IP address." Its homepage goes further, saying Obscura "can't see your internet traffic, ever" and that logging it is "impossible by design." The FAQ says this would hold "even if we were compelled to, or if our servers were compromised." The site also uses the phrase "provably private by design" to set itself apart from providers with a conventional no-logs policy, which it describes as asking users to trust a "pinky-promise."

The technical explanation on the site runs like this. Obscura's servers relay a WireGuard tunnel between the user's device and Mullvad's servers, which the site sums up as "WireGuard-over-QUIC." Because the WireGuard packets are encrypted to a Mullvad server's key, the site says Obscura's servers are "unable to decrypt" them. Because Obscura's servers are "effectively doing NAT", it says Mullvad's servers "never see your connecting IP." The site's conclusion is that "no single party has the information to leak or correlate your traffic and your identity." It describes the exit hop as "fully-independent" and names it as "currently Mullvad."

For readers who want to check rather than trust, the site points to three things. It says the app's full source code is on GitHub. It says it plans to offer reproducible builds, so anyone could confirm that a downloaded app matches the published code. And it says the app shows the current exit hop's WireGuard public key on its "Location" page, which a user can compare against the keys Mullvad publishes. None of these is an audit of the logging policy, and the site does not present them as one.

On jurisdiction and ownership the site is thin. The footer names Sovereign Engineering Inc., but the site does not say where that company is based or registered, who owns it, or whether it has investors. The homepage closes with a note from Carl Dong, who signs as the "head-janitor of Obscura", and a description of the team's background, including work on the Go standard library's random number generator, the Nix RFC Steering Committee, hardware security tokens, Monero bug bounties, and reproducible builds for Bitcoin.

Apps, protocol and the server network

Obscura has native apps for macOS, iOS, Android, Windows, and Linux, and the homepage banner announces that it is "Now available on Linux." For Windows, the site offers separate installers for ordinary PCs and for Windows on ARM devices. For Linux, it gives per-distribution requirements and terminal install commands. The macOS app, according to the site, installs a Network Extension, "a fully sandboxed process with no kernel-level access to your system."

The app's default connection runs WireGuard inside QUIC. The site calls this its stealth protocol and says it is "designed to blend in with regular internet traffic" because QUIC is the same transport that web browsers use for HTTP/3, making it "far harder for censors or network filters to detect or block." The site also says the use of QUIC's unreliable datagram extension avoids the "TCP-over-TCP meltdown problem." It does not publish speed tests or throughput figures.

For platforms without a native app, including routers, the site offers a WireGuard compatibility mode that generates standard configurations for iOS, Android, Windows, Linux and "Various router OSes." The site is candid about the trade-off: a plain WireGuard config does not get the QUIC obfuscation, though it says "your connection still benefits from improved privacy with our Two-Party Relay architecture."

The site lists its locations city by city rather than giving a server count. First-hop relays sit in cities across the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania, among them Atlanta, Washington D.C., São Paulo, Amsterdam, London, Osaka, Singapore, Johannesburg, Melbourne and Perth. Exit locations include Toronto and Vancouver, a set of US cities from Ashburn to Seattle, Bogotá and Querétaro, a long European list from Prague and Paris to Zurich, Kyiv and London, plus Hong Kong, Tokyo, Istanbul, Johannesburg, Auckland and Sydney. The site says it is "always working to add more exit locations."

On multi-hop, the site draws its own distinction: with a typical multihop setup "the same provider controls every hop", while Obscura hands the second hop to a separate operator. It also compares itself to Tor, saying it respects the Tor project but that Tor's volunteer network "can be slow", while Obscura uses "two dedicated, high-performance hops." The site does not publish a streaming list, and it says nothing about torrenting, port forwarding, split tunneling, a kill switch or ad blocking.

Price, devices and support

The site gives a single price: "Obscura is just $8/month." It describes payment as topping up an account, using a credit card through Stripe, Bitcoin over Lightning, or Monero, the last two marked "for more privacy." A card subscription through Stripe is offered "For convenient renewals." The site shows no longer plan with a lower monthly rate, and the site does not state a renewal price or say whether the $8 rate can change for existing customers. It does not mention a free tier, a free trial, a money-back guarantee or a refund window.

The device rules are spelled out carefully. The site says "Each Obscura account has 5 simultaneous connection slots" and stresses that this "is different from '5 devices'." With the Obscura app, a user can sign in on as many devices as they like, and a device uses 1 slot only while it is connected, so up to 5 can be online at once. A WireGuard config works differently: each one reserves 1 slot for as long as it exists on the account, even while the device is offline. The site's example is that 1 WireGuard config leaves 4 slots for the app.

Support runs through an email address, support@obscura.net, and the site also links a Discord server, a Matrix bridge, a knowledge base, a blog, a service status page and accounts on X, Mastodon and Nostr. The site does not state support hours or response times.

What the site leaves open, and who it suits

Several questions stay unanswered. The site does not name an independent audit of Obscura's no-logs claims, so readers are left with the architecture the provider describes and the source code it publishes. It does not say where Sovereign Engineering Inc. is based or who owns it. It says the exit hop is run by Mullvad but does not describe Mullvad's own logging policy, so the second half of the privacy argument rests on a company the site does not discuss in detail. It does not state a renewal price, a refund policy or any free trial. And although it plans reproducible builds, it does not say when they will arrive, just as it does not say which platforms are on the waitlist for new apps.

Obscura suits someone who wants the split between identity and traffic that the site describes, who is comfortable paying by the month, and who values the option to pay with Lightning or Monero and sign up without an email address. The WireGuard config option makes it usable on routers and other devices without a native app. It fits less well for someone who wants a streaming service list, torrenting guidance, discounted long-term plans, a refund window or a clearly stated corporate home. For readers willing to read the published source and check the exit key against the keys Mullvad publishes, the site offers concrete ways to test its claims rather than asking to be taken at its word.