Obscura VPN
Ranked 7 of 15 VPN services by recommenders
People recommend its two-hop design, which splits trust between two parties. The most common caveat is its US jurisdiction and possible legal compulsion.
People recommend its two-hop design, which splits trust between two parties. The most common caveat is its US jurisdiction and possible legal compulsion.
28 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 16
- approval share
- 43%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
No single party to trust
“Obscura makes it so that there's no single party that if hacked or otherwise compromised would hurt your internet privacy.”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity” “Having a company outside of EU jurisdiction makes it hard for both layers to be compromised at the same time.”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity” “With Multi-Party Relays you no longer have a trust a single entity not being malicious or compromised.”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity” - Comment from 20 Jul 2026 in “Donation Controversy”
- Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs”
- Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity”
- Comment from 26 Jan 2026 in “UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs”
- Comment from 29 Jun 2026 in “The CEO of Mullvad is the main financer of the far-right Swedish Örebro party”
- Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
US jurisdiction exposes it to orders
“If men with guns and gag orders haven't shown up at their new york office yet, they will as soon as this VPN gets popular enough to show up on their radar.”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity” “Under US law, a secretive court order could compel a US company to update software or implement targeted logging”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity” “Under US law, a secretive court order could compel a US company to update software”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity” - Comment from 26 Jan 2026 in “UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs”
- Comment from 23 Sep 2026 in “Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity”
Privacy claims called misleading or unproven
“the claim in Obscura's FAQ that paying with Bitcoin or Monero offers more privacy than paying with a credit card is sadly misguided”
Comment from 23 Sep 2026 in “Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity” “Any vpn company who market itself as aiming for the anonymity of its user is essentially selling snake oil to its customers.”
Comment from 23 Sep 2026 in “Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity” “it's just marketing trick, which means they care more about sales than your privacy”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity” Depends on Mullvad's keys and leadership
“It's the latter right now (which is not ideal), but I think Mullvad is going to sign their server pubkeys pretty soon”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity” “The single point of failure for this product is Mullvad and its leadership's changing opinions.”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity” “Many (if not all) of the benefits on the landing page are available in Mullvad too”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity”
Other VPN services people recommend
The four most recommended other VPN services, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mullvad VPN | 255 | 146 | 64% | 12 | 4.5 yrs4 owners | — |
| Proton VPN | 63 | 35 | 64% | 13 | 3 yrs4 owners | — |
| iCloud Private Relay | 26 | 20 | 57% | 11 | — | — |
| Cloudflare WARP | 18 | 10 | 64% | 7 | — | — |
| Obscura VPNThis page | 12 | 16 | 43% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 44 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The ones I can recommend that aren't on this list are Obscura and Nym.”
“Looks like an UC-3 VPN working in multi-hop, not a true UC-7 VPN.”
“Obscura's design would make this a bit more difficult.”
“privacy is only as good as your entry node being used widely”
“Its just very, very, very unfortunate that they chose the US for Obscura.”
“Just Obscura's compromise is enough, as pointed out previously”
“quic is blocked or throttled quite easily.”
“the claim in Obscura's FAQ that paying with Bitcoin or Monero offers more privacy than paying with a credit card is sadly misguided”
“we're not 100% happy about how we implemented it”
“Any vpn company who market itself as aiming for the anonymity of its user is essentially selling snake oil to its customers.”
“It's the latter right now (which is not ideal), but I think Mullvad is going to sign their server pubkeys pretty soon”
“there’s an error when it comes to installing the app at the end”
“Having a company outside of EU jurisdiction makes it hard for both layers to be compromised at the same time.”
“it's made by Andrew Lee (of Freenode hostile takeover fame)”
“If men with guns and gag orders haven't shown up at their new york office yet, they will as soon as this VPN gets popular enough to show up on their radar.”
“which is why we are a Two-Party Relay”
“if even 1 of (Obscura, Mullvad) is honest, there's no de-anonymization”
“with Obscura you only give that to us, Mullvad has no idea”
“Obscura makes it so that there's no single party that if hacked or otherwise compromised would hurt your internet privacy.”
“we thought the randomized account number flow was an ingenious idea”
“With Multi-Party Relays you no longer have a trust a single entity not being malicious or compromised.”
“its CEO is known as the sponsor of the Orebro party”
“Under US law, a secretive court order could compel a US company to update software”
“Under US law, a secretive court order could compel a US company to update software or implement targeted logging”
“being able to verify the inner wireguard conn to mullvad is nice”
“it's just marketing trick, which means they care more about sales than your privacy”
“Obscura itself is also a point of failure”
“I love the website, messaging and idea.”
“Many (if not all) of the benefits on the landing page are available in Mullvad too”
“The single point of failure for this product is Mullvad and its leadership's changing opinions.”
“it is worth noting the official partnership with mullvad”
“Right now it feels like the designer had a bunch of ideas and didn’t know how to bring them together in a cohesive identity.”
“Obscura by definition is the same or better than Mullvad because of the two hop separate party tech.”
“so then you at least spread the trust to two parties”
“I'm saying with their model I don't need to trust them which is vastly superior.”
“Where is Obscura's independent audit ?”
“As far as I can tell, Obscura has not had anywhere near the same scrutiny.”
“The whole point of Obscura is you aren't trusting any single company.”
“Now more than ever, trusting a US jurisdiction VPN provider ? No thanks !”
“There are already solutions that do the double VPN thing for you.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.