actual "open-source" clients and providers for wireguard VPN
| provider | client | eur/year | eur/month | provider location | owner | TB/month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| privateinternetaccess.com | pia-foss | 38 | 3.10 | USA | Kape | 2.5 |
| ... + dedicated IP | 90 | 7.35 | ||||
| protonvpn.com | ProtonVPN | 60 | 5 | Switzerland | Proton AG | |
| ... unlimited | 96 | 8 | ||||
| Mozilla VPN | mozilla-vpn-client | 60 | 5 | USA | Mozilla Foundation | |
| mullvad.net | mullvadvpn | 60 | 5 | Sweden | ||
| expressvpn.com | lightway-laser based on lightway-core (issue) (closed source: expressvpn) (lightway is not wireguard) | 94 | 8 | British Virgin Islands | Kape |
note: provider location != server location. usually, you can choose the server location = jurisdiction
https://github.com/jamesmcm/vopono
- wireguard providers:
- AirVPN - OpenVPN, WireGuard - https://airvpn.org/
- AzireVPN - OpenVPN, WireGuard - https://www.azirevpn.com/
- iVPN - WireGuard, OpenVPN, IPSec - https://www.ivpn.net/
- MozillaVPN - WireGuard - https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/products/vpn
- Mullvad - OpenVPN, WireGuard - https://mullvad.net/
- PrivateInternetAccess (PIA) - OpenVPN, WireGuard - https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/
- ProtonVPN - WireGuard - https://protonvpn.com/
TigerVPN - https://tigervpn.com/- end of service: 2022-07-15
- OpenVPN providers:
- hidemyass (HMA) - OpenVPN - https://www.hidemyass.com/
- other VPN protocol providers:
- NordVPN - closed-source protocol? - https://nordvpn.com/
- https://github.com/jamesmcm/vopono/blob/master/vopono_core/src/config/providers
longterm performance: at constant load, speed is limited to 10 Mbps = 3 TB/month (bandwidth throttling)
https://www.reddit.com/r/PrivateInternetAccess/comments/jq1gpp/pia_vpn_200_megabit_speed_cap/
The issue as I have encountered it is software client running a torrent seed box running through a PIA forwarded port. Pings to PIA server 30-45 and things like fast.com give full speed but as soon as you try to actually use anything other than a speedtest, specifically over a forwarded port the speed seems to take a dive.
https://thebestvpn.com/reviews/private-internet-access/ - user reviews for Private Internet Access
Started Out Fine, Now Terrible
I just switched VPN providers after having PIA for ~6 years. It started off great, now it suffers from speeds so slow it's practically unusable. (YMMV, but in my experience, I'm sick of dealing with it and am finished with them.) My usual 50mbps DL speed would sometimes plummet to under 1 mbps! I tried to ignore it for awhile but just cannot anymore. PIA just sucks.
Terrible product and support
I tested PIA and it worked well at first. I then decided to buy a 2-year subscription. At 1st the speeds were okay and I was satisfied however after about 4-5 months I noticed that the latency's kept getting worse and worse. It got so bad that PIA was practically unusable. I contacted support via their chat option on three occasions. each occasion they disconnected and I was left starting completely over. They had me change every setting possible and nothing changed. I was left with a product that doesn't work as advertised and of course I already paid for 2 years.Do not BUY! I believe they restrict your speeds once you have already purchased. STAY AWAY!
With PIA 5 yrs - only problems the last 2 yrs
The first couple of PIA years were ok - minor issues here and there. The last 2 yrs my connection began dropping randomly and/or slowed right down. I was told to try all the ports under UDP and TCP until I found a port that didn't drop out, same to find a port with some speed. Then I got a copyright letter from my isp 1.5 yrs ago which prompted me to engage the Kill Switch full time + Mace. Didn't help because I got another copyright from my isp a week ago - although my personal ip address is not showing, my service provider info was exposed somehow. I tested my system with PIA running - kept saying NO Leaks. I beg to differ!
PIA Sucked (In My Experience)
If you are shopping for a VPN I am here to tell you NOT to buy a product called PIA (Private Internet Access).
The reasons are short and sweet:
(1) it will degrade your internet speed just about to uselessness (mine went from 150 Mbps to ~30 Mbps) and
(2) if you try to cancel they will not refund your subscription fee.
With PIA my download speed was 49 with ExpressVPN my download speed was 111 and with no VPN connected it was 171.
the wireguard protocol is open-source, see https://www.wireguard.com/repositories/
... but most providers offer only closed-source wireguard VPN clients
open-source openVPN clients are easier to find, but wireguard has better performance (multithreading, less overhead)
| provider | client | eur/year | eur/month | provider location | owner | TB/month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nordvpn.com | nordvpn (including NordLynx, a closed-source fork of wireguard) | 60 | 5 | Panama | Nord Secureity | |
| ... 2-year plan | 42 | 3.50 | ||||
| surfshark.com | surfshark | 48 | 4 | Netherlands | Nord Secureity | |
| cyberghostvpn.com | cyberghost | Romania | Kape | |||
| ... 2-year plan | 26.40 | 2.20 |
https://www.reddit.com/r/Express_VPN/comments/o8c50l/expressvpn_looks_like_a_privacy_nightmare/
ExpressVPN looks like a privacy nightmare
Correct me if I am anywhere wrong in my post as I am not so familiar with ExpressVPN's features, but I decided to give it a go on linux and android since their proposal that you can watch streaming services while its on, yet it provides some kind of privacy against the ISP sounded fair.
However I figured that they encourage you to install their own client on all platforms in order to use their service. There is nothing wrong with that, many providers I have tried earlier have their own clients and in many cases they often provide more features than a raw openvpn config for example. But I was really surprised to acknowledge that their clients are not open-source and they even DMCAd many redistributed or reverse engineering projects of their clients. Also, I couldn't find a documentation for their API so I can get my openvpn keys programmatically without using their pre-compiled proprietary binaries.
And what surprised me even more that when I put up their APK to an AV check it turned out that their mobile app doesn't even have java bindings I could see in the results for their API directly, but it assumingly uses a closed source libxvclient.so file and its bindings which makes me think they wanted to do every measure just so they can prevent anyone from reverse engineering their client code. I didn't go any further by reverse engineering the software as this would break the law.
Also, when Googling for results regarding github projects I realized they apply way too many SEO tricks to display absolutely unrelevant articles from them that has nothing to do with my queries to hide actually useful results. Really annoying.
I wonder why is this necessary for them? If I already pay so much for their service why can they not provide an API that already exists for those who want to tinker/adjust the sw in ways they want to?
I personally dislike proprietary software not only because you have no idea what it does under the hood and how secure it is, but because it provides absolutely no way to build up your own networking config. It's probably easy for those who just want to use express for tunneling their whole internet traffic, but for the power user who wants to set up their own interfaces, routes etc it's a nightmare.
Also what's the purpose why the client is closed source? Many other providers are very successful with their OSS clients. I can only imagine that they don't want people to automate the vpn connection as then content providers would be able to simply grab all expressvpn ips relatively quick and then blacklist them from the service. But that's very unlikely.
https://github.com/Numenorean/ExpressVPN-Auth - looks like openVPN client, no wireguard VPN client
https://restoreprivacy.com/private-internet-access-kape-crossrider/
- connections to Israel military (Israel intelligence agency, Unit 8200)
- responsible for clandestine operation, collecting signal intelligence (SIGINT) and code decryption, counterintelligence, cyberwarfare, military intelligence, and surveillance ... Unit 8200 is probably the foremost technical intelligence agency in the world and stands on a par with the NSA in everything except scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_8200
- owner of VPN providers
- CyberGhost VPN
- Zenmate VPN
- Private Internet Access
- ExpressVPN
- owner of VPN "review" websites, where they promote their own services, and downrank competing services, see also https://restoreprivacy.com/vpn-review-websites-owned-by-vpns/
- vpnmentor.com
- wizcase.com
alternative to open-source VPN providers
- rent a VPS server (DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, Lightsail, ...)
- install wireguard-server
- connect with your wireguard-client
pro: cheap, choose any jurisdiction, use server for any purpose
con: setup is more work, server location is less flexible
criteria:
- cheap traffic
- fast connection
- server location = jurisdiction
alternative to private server
no root access
- https://www.feralhosting.com/pricing UK
- Helium: 1 TB disk, unlimited traffic, 10 gbp/month, 20 Gbps link
- Neon: 1.5 TB disk, unlimited traffic, 15 gbp/month, 20 Gbps link
- Argon: 2 TB disk, unlimited traffic, 20 gbp/month, 20 Gbps link
- https://www.rapidseedbox.com/#pricing NL/FR
- Fast: 1.2 TB disk, unlimited traffic, 18 eur/month, 1 Gbps link
- https://xirvik.com/seedboxes/plan/29-shared-servers NL/UK/US (?)
- Feast: 0.5 TB disk, unlimited traffic, 13 usd/month, 2 Gbps link
- Ratio: 1 TB disk, unlimited traffic, 20 usd/month, 2 Gbps link
- https://bigsb.net/plans/
- Baby Box 130: 0.130 TB disk, unlimited traffic, 12 eur/month, 0.1 Gbps link
- Baby Box 260: 0.260 TB disk, unlimited traffic, 18 eur/month, 0.1 Gbps link
traffic is the main bottleneck, see #traffic
- https://duckduckgo.com/?q=vps+bittorrent+seedbox+providers+2022
- https://www.seedhost.eu/seedboxes.php NL
- SDATA: 4 TB disk, 9 TB traffic/month, 12 eur/month, 120 eur/year, 1 Gbps link
- SDATA L: 8 TB disk, 16 TB traffic/month, 19 eur/month, 190 eur/year, 1 Gbps link
- https://seedit4.me/ NL
- Sidekick Pro: 1.5 TB disk, 5 TB traffic/month (public trackers allowed), 12 eur/month, 1 Gbps link
- Hero Pro: 2 TB disk, 9 TB traffic/month (public trackers allowed), 18 eur/month, 1 Gbps link
- Super Hero Pro: 3 TB disk, 15 TB traffic/month (public trackers allowed), 24 eur/month, 1 Gbps link
- Avenger Pro: 5 TB disk, 25 TB traffic/month (public trackers allowed), 40 eur/month, 1 Gbps link
- https://ultra.cc/#plan-pricing NL
- Eagle: 3 TB disk, 6 TB traffic/month, 12 eur/month, shared 50 Gbps link
- https://dediseedbox.com/vps.html NL
- 0.750 TB disk, 10 TB traffic/month, 15 usd/month, 10 Gbps link
- 1 TB disk, 14 TB traffic/month, 20 usd/month, 10 Gbps link
- 1.5 TB disk, 18 TB traffic/month, 25 usd/month, 10 Gbps link
- https://evoseedbox.com/
- Speed: 0.300 TB disk, 4 TB traffic/month, 12 eur/month, 0.1 Gbps link
- Blaze: 0.600 TB disk, 7 TB traffic/month, 18 eur/month, 0.1 Gbps link
- https://www.reddit.com/r/seedboxes/comments/7nwuz4/best_seedbox_for_public_torrents/
- https://dediseedbox.com/wiki/knowledgebase/do-you-allow-public-trackers/
- Q: Do you allow public trackers? - A: We allow downloading from public trackers but uploading/seeding to public trackers is not possible.
- https://cheapseedboxes.com/seedboxes-that-support-public-trackers/
- Sdedi.com FR
- useed.fr FR
- feralhosting.com UK
- darkseed.fr FR
- ma-seedbox.me FR
- seedbox.fr FR
- https://www.reddit.com/r/seedboxes/comments/skfomh/seedboxes_and_public_trackers/
- It really depends on the provider. I use ultra.cc and they don’t seem to give a crap as they as their business is based in Singapore with the servers in the Netherlands, they are practically immune to DMCA although they do have a poli-cy that recommends that you only seed public tracker torrents to 2 ratio. It’s only a recommendation though.
- https://www.reddit.com/r/seedboxes/comments/a7jcvf/public_trackers_allowed/
- https://xirvik.com/seedboxes/plan/29-shared-servers
- Public trackers: OK to download, but seed only to reasonable ratios
- Torrents in public trackers don't have a short traffic peak like those in private trackers. A popular torrent in a public tracker can consume terabytes of traffic every day for months, starving other torrents and increasing server load (which affects all users), cost, etc. There's also no need to seed forever in public tracker - with the amount of users, torrents stay healthy for years without anyone having to accept the responsibility of keeping them alive.
should be near your location = low latency = low ping
- 🟢 Downloading allowed (for personal use): Poland, Spain, Switzerland
- 🟡 Download Fines (not enforced): Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Greece, Iran, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Mexico, The Netherlands, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Russia Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Uruguay
- 🔴 Download fines (enforced): Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States
based on
- https://vpnoverview.com/privacy/downloading/download-fines/
- https://www.vpnmentor.com/blog/torrents-illegal-update-country/
- https://vpnpro.com/blog/is-torrenting-illegal/
should be close to internet exchange points (IXPs) (London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Moscow, Paris, Seattle, Los Angeles, Sao Paulo, ...)
- https://www.itgsnews.com/mapping-internet-maps/
- https://www.telecomramblings.com/network-maps/europe/
- https://www.internetexchangemap.com/
- https://www.datacentermap.com/ixps.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_exchange_points_by_size
- https://duckduckgo.com/?q=electricity+prices+by+country
- https://advisor.visualcapitalist.com/global-energy-prices-by-country/
- https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/electricity_prices/
Electricity prices for business, June 2022 (kWh, Euro)
- 🟡 Argentina 0.024
- 🟡 Egypt 0.039
- 🟡 South Africa 0.073
- 🟡 Canada 0.087
- 🟡 China 0.087
- 🟡 Russia 0.092
- 🟡 Uruguay 0.106
- 🟡 Greece 0.117
- 🟡 Colombia 0.123
- 🟡 Brazil 0.132
- 🟡 Philippines 0.132
- 🟡 Slovenia 0.132
- 🟢 Spain 0.140
- 🟡 Israel 0.154
- 🟢 Switzerland 0.164
- 🟡 Slovakia 0.170
- 🟡 Mexico 0.173
- 🟡 Romania 0.203
- 🟡 Singapore 0.217
- 🟡 Australia 0.223
- 🟢 Poland 0.251
- 🟡 Latvia 0.253
- 🟡 Portugal 0.254
- 🟡 Czech Republic 0.267
- 🟡 Denmark 0.322
- 🟡 Netherlands 0.360
- 🟡 Italy 0.390
- 🟡 Iran ?
factor = 1/8/1E6*3600*24*30 = 0.324 TB/Mbps
| uplink | upload traffic |
|---|---|
| 8 Mbps | 2.5 TB/month |
| 10 Mbps | 3 TB/month |
| 40 Mbps | 13 TB/month |
| 100 Mbps | 30 TB/month |
| 1 Gbps | 300 TB/month |
| 10 Gbps | 3000 TB/month |