OpenVPN
Ranked 2 of 5 VPN protocols by recommenders
People recommend it for working in restrictive and firewalled networks and for reconnecting reliably; critics say it is more complicated to set up than WireGuard.
People recommend it for working in restrictive and firewalled networks and for reconnecting reliably; critics say it is more complicated to set up than WireGuard.
33 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 19
- criticize it
- 14
- approval share
- 58%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 10 years
Median of the 3 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 19 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 9 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
Works in restrictive and firewalled networks
“openvpn is much better if you live in a Country like China, Russia and a few others”
Comment from 24 Mar 2026 in “WolfGuard: WireGuard with FIPS 140-3 cryptography” “This allows me to VPN into my home in most firewalled office networks.”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “FreeBSD Home NAS, part 3: WireGuard VPN, routing, and Linux peers” “connecting to OpenVPN over TCP was a huge improvement”
Comment from 12 Mar 2026 in “WireGuard Is Two Things” Reconnects reliably without intervention
“Client automatically deals with reconnecting, never have to touch it.”
Comment from 22 Nov 2025 in “Self-hosting a NAT Gateway” “ssh connections stayed during my trip from office to home”
Comment from 16 Jan 2026 in “Linux boxes via SSH: suspended when disconected” “in over two years it has never failed me”
Comment from 21 Dec 2025 in “I spent a week without IPv4 (2023)” Simple, trouble-free daily use
“I have OpenVPN and it's trivial. Hit the toggle and I'm connected, no fuss.”
Comment from 6 Dec 2025 in “Self-hosting my photos with Immich” “I still use plain and simple OpenVPN and frankly i've been very happy.”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “Year of the IPv6 Overlay Network” “i rub openvpn and that works as well, on my iphone too”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “2026 is the Year of Self-hosting” Long-term reliable use over years
“I still use plain and simple OpenVPN and frankly i've been very happy.”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “Year of the IPv6 Overlay Network” “Been using OpenVPN in one way for over 10 years.”
Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “Tailscale SSH: Investigation and remediation update” “in over two years it has never failed me”
Comment from 21 Dec 2025 in “I spent a week without IPv4 (2023)”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
More complicated to set up
“OpenVPN requires a certificate pair while Wireguard uses a 40-character private and public key”
Comment from 25 Apr 2026 in “Email could have been X.400 times better” “OpenVPN is far from "no fuss", especially when compared to Tailscale.”
Comment from 6 Dec 2025 in “Self-hosting my photos with Immich” “more complicated than most people want to deal with”
Comment from 15 Aug 2026 in “I close SSH port 22 (and what I use instead)” - Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “SAML: A fractal of bad design”
Drops or network changes break connections
“ran into mount issues when the outer tunnels dropped a connection during a write”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Ask HN: Vxlan over WireGuard or WireGuard over Vxlan?” “OpenVPN would not connect and couldn't handle the IP address switch.”
Comment from 14 Dec 2025 in “VPN location claims don't match real traffic exits” “OpenVPN isn't very reliable in my experience as a network admin.”
Comment from 6 Dec 2025 in “Self-hosting my photos with Immich” IPv6 traffic can bypass the tunnel
“At least in Debian config openvpn tunneled only IPv4 by default.”
Comment from 21 Jun 2026 in “Google Hits 50% IPv6” “Ever since OpenVPN silently routed IPv6 over clearnet”
Comment from 12 Mar 2026 in “The Road Not Taken: A World Where IPv4 Evolved” Lookalike unaffiliated installers and sites
“They made the site look like it was an official OpenVPN page, even though the URL was clearly not affiliated.”
Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “A backdoor in a LinkedIn job offer” “With OpenVPN it's hanging out there responding to everyone that asks nicely that yes, it's OpenVPN.”
Comment from 5 Jan 2026 in “FreeBSD Home NAS, part 3: WireGuard VPN, routing, and Linux peers” “[3] is not openvpn, just some install script a rando not affiliated with openvpn did.”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Godot will no longer accept AI-authored code contributions”
Other VPN protocols people recommend
The four most recommended other VPN protocols, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WireGuard | 315 | 62 | 84% | 12 | 5 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| OpenVPNThis page | 19 | 14 | 58% | 9 | 10 yrs3 owners | — |
| AmneziaWG | 6 | 1 | 86% | 4 | — | — |
| GotaTun | 5 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| TrustTunnel | 5 | 1 | 83% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
33 of the 39 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Been using OpenVPN in one way for over 10 years.”
“OpenVPN is the design-by-committee”
“provides a wider array of connection options that have a better chance of fulfilling your specific network needs”
“more complicated than most people want to deal with”
“[3] is not openvpn, just some install script a rando not affiliated with openvpn did.”
“At least in Debian config openvpn tunneled only IPv4 by default.”
“They made the site look like it was an official OpenVPN page, even though the URL was clearly not affiliated.”
“OpenVPN requires a certificate pair while Wireguard uses a 40-character private and public key”
“I still use plain and simple OpenVPN and frankly i've been very happy.”
“My vote is on OpenVPN despite it being the less clever and "more money thrown at" solution.”
“its handshake signature is very different from the regular TLS”
“I thought openvpn had some weird wrapper on top of TLS that makes it easily detectable?”
“openvpn is much better if you live in a Country like China, Russia and a few others”
“Ever since OpenVPN silently routed IPv6 over clearnet”
“connecting to OpenVPN over TCP was a huge improvement”
“i have openvpn on mac as host”
“ssh connections stayed during my trip from office to home”
“ran into mount issues when the outer tunnels dropped a connection during a write”
“i rub openvpn and that works as well, on my iphone too”
“I used to have OpenVPN, and there's a world of difference.”
“I would argue OpenVPN is easier. I currently run both”
“a serious performance troubles if you misstep even once”
“With OpenVPN it's hanging out there responding to everyone that asks nicely that yes, it's OpenVPN.”
“This allows me to VPN into my home in most firewalled office networks.”
“why I still use OpenVPN anyways”
“With DCO, OpenVPN can perform almost as well as Wireguard, sometimes even better.”
“in over two years it has never failed me”
“why did OpenVPN fail? It's pure P2P.”
“OpenVPN would not connect and couldn't handle the IP address switch.”
“OpenVPN is far from "no fuss", especially when compared to Tailscale.”
“OpenVPN isn't very reliable in my experience as a network admin.”
“I have OpenVPN and it's trivial. Hit the toggle and I'm connected, no fuss.”
“Client automatically deals with reconnecting, never have to touch it.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.