SoftEther VPN
SoftEther is an open-source multi-protocol VPN software. What began as an academic project at the University of Tsukuba has grown into a VPN technology that’s used by millions of people worldwide.
The biggest reason for its widespread growth is that it’s free, and it works across the Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, FreeBSD, and Solaris operating systems. Not only that it supports multiple different protocols, like OpenVPN, EtherIP, SSTP, L2TP/IPSec, and a lot more.
Basically, you can set it up to run on your operating system of choice and use whichever VPN protocol you desire. This unparalleled flexibility and support across multiple platforms have led to its insane growth.
It utilizes 256-bit AES encryption, which is one of the most secure forms of encryption available.
With SoftEther you get a flexible and fast VPN, that utilizes the latest encryption protocols. It’s newer, so it doesn’t have the same legacy as OpenVPN, but it’s an up and coming alternative. It offers you a nice blend of performance and security.
Features of SoftEther VPN
- Free and open-source software.
- Easy to establish both remote-access and site-to-site VPN.
- SSL-VPN Tunneling on HTTPS to pass through NATs and firewalls.
- Revolutionary VPN over ICMP and VPN over DNS features.
- Resistance to highly-restricted firewall.
- Ethernet-bridging (L2) and IP-routing (L3) over VPN.
- Embedded dynamic-DNS and NAT-traversal so that no static nor fixed IP address is required.
- AES 256-bit and RSA 4096-bit encryptions.
- Sufficient security features such as logging and firewall inner VPN tunnel.
- 1Gbps-class high-speed throughput performance with low memory and CPU usage.
- Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, iPhone, iPad and Windows Mobile are supported.
- SSL-VPN (HTTPS) and 6 major VPN protocols (OpenVPN, IPsec, L2TP, MS-SSTP, L2TPv3 and EtherIP) are all supported as VPN tunneling underlay protocols.
- The OpenVPN clone function supports legacy OpenVPN clients.
- IPv4 / IPv6 dual-stack.
- The VPN server runs on Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris and Mac OS X.
- Configure All settings on GUI.
- Multi-languages (English, Japanese and Simplified-Chinese).
- No memory leaks. High quality stable codes, intended for long-term runs. We always verify that there are no memory or resource leaks before releasing the build.
- RADIUS / NT Domain user authentication function
- RSA certificate authentication function
- Deep-inspect packet logging function
- Source IP address control list function
- syslog transfer function
- More details at Specification.
Pros
- It supports a multitude of desktop and mobile operating systems
- It’s entirely open source
- It can bypass most firewalls
- It’s fast but doesn’t compromise on security
Cons
- It’s relatively new
- It doesn’t have native operating system support
- A lot of existing VPNs don’t offer it, yet
When to use it?
SoftEther is good OpenVPN contender. If you’re willing to use a newer VPN protocol, instead of the legacy of OpenVPN, then this a great second choice.
VPN Gate is a plugin for SoftEther VPN, which allows users to connect to free VPN servers, run by volunteers who use SoftEther to host their VPN servers. Volunteers use personal computers as “servers”. VPN Gate is sponsored by the University of Tsukuba.
SoftEther VPN Official Website
SoftEther VPN is free open-source, cross-platform, multi-protocol VPN client and VPN server software, developed as part of Daiyuu Nobori's master's thesis research at the University of Tsukuba. VPN protocols such as SSL VPN, L2TP/IPsec, OpenVPN, and Microsoft Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol are provided in a single VPN server. It was released using the GPLv2 license on January 4, 2014. The license was switched to Apache License 2.0 on January 21, 2019.
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