VPN Protocols Comparison

VPN Tunnelling Protocols act as deterrents to surveillance, attacks and censored material. When you use a VPN connection, all your data can be encrypted to a further or lesser extent.

This is possible thanks to the VPN protocol. Depending on what type of VPN protocol you are using, the level of encryption can be stronger or weaker.

Therefore, it is critical for you to understand what is the difference between VPN protocols and choose the one that offers the best protection for your specific use.

VPN Protocols Ensure Encryption

Like we said before, VPN protocols ensure all the traffic going from the user’s machine to the VPN server is encrypted. While the VPN service offers a direct route to their private servers, it is really the type of VPN protocol that makes sure all data is secure.

OpenVPN

OpenVPN supports up to AES-256 encryption for Mac, Windows, iOS, Linux and Android. It has no known weaknesses. OpenVPN authenticates data on both ends through digital certificates, or through certificates with a username and password pair. It is proven to be reliable on all kinds of connections, such as WLAN, wired and mobile. It’s incredibly easy to set up, and is a good choice for desktop users.

SoftEther

SoftEther VPN is one of the most powerful, open source, multi-protocol VPN software solutions available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Free BSD and Solaris. SoftEther’s state of the art SSL-VPN protocol penetrates firewalls by tunneling the VPN traffic over HTTPS (similar to SSTP), or over UDP for increased speed (similar to IPSec). VPN tunnel’s security is guaranteed by the use of the strongest cryptographic algorithms. Automatic reconnects, multiple simultaneous connections and a wide variety of tunneling methods can keep the VPN connection stable and fast at all times. SoftEther VPN protocol successfully combines the strengths of both, IPsec and OpenVPN protocols, to deliver an excellent VPN solution. The only drawback, at this time, is the lack of GUI clients for platforms other than Windows.

IKEv2

Available for Windows and Linux, IKEv2 supports AES-128 and AES-256 respectively. IKEv2 is an industry standard protocol, using the most advanced VPN tunneling technology. It’s resistant to short-term loss of network connectivity, and works over UDP to bypass firewalls and minimize problems. IKEv2 is relatively easy to set up, and is the best protocol to choose overall. It’s perfect for home users behind NAT devices, too!

SSTP

Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol is a tunneling protocol available on the Microsoft platform. The protocol is based on a combination of two technologies, SSL and TCP. The SSL technology guarantees the transport level security and integrity of the traffic. The SSL is, on our servers, configured in such a way that only the strongest method of encryption is enabled. Since a SSTP session is, in fact, a HTTPS session, SSTP may be used to bypass firewalls or ISP throttling. On the other hand, since SSTP is operating over TCP, it will in some cases underperform IKEv2 or other UDP based protocols. Overall, SSTP is a great choice and may help in resolving connectivity or speed issues you may have.

IKEv1

IKEv1 supports up to AES-256. To leverage IKEv1, hide.me recommends using Shrew Soft VPN Client, an excellent and a free Windows/Linux IKEv1 client software. It misses some advanced features such as NAT-Traversal, Remote access and IP mobility in the standard specification. IKEv1 offers good support and reliability for legacy vendors, and is resistant to short-term loss of network connectivity — similar to IKEv2.

PPTP

PPTP is available for Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, DD-WRT, and others — but does not supports AES encryption. Instead, PPTP uses Microsoft Point-to-Point Encryption, which has severe security weaknesses. This weaker encryption method makes it a fast performer. Problems may arise when some home routers or ISP do not allow Generic-Routing-Encapsulation (GRE) tunneling. Overall it’s easy to set up, widely supported and is a great choice to bypass blocked websites.

L2TP/IPsec

Available for Mac, Windows, Linux and iOS, L2TP/IPsec supports up to AES-128 combined with Microsoft Point-to-Point encryption. It is dependable and reliable, if your NAT device supports IPsec passthrough properly. It usually needs some custom configuration to set up. L2TP/IPsec encryption is considered insecure and not as fast as modern protocols.