hide.me VPN Protocols Explained

Last modified: December 3, 2023

There are a number of VPN protocols out there and this can make choosing one a bit of a tricky task. Thankfully, with this guide, you should be able to find one that best fits your needs. There are a few different factors to take into account when choosing a VPN protocol for you.

What to take into account when choosing a VPN protocol?

The first thing to take into account is security, just how important is it that you have the best security possible? It used to be the case that the more complex a VPN was with its encryption, the slower it would run. This isn’t necessarily the case anymore. CPUs have advanced to the point where the impact is not as large as it once was. It is true that a more complex protocol will produce more overhead, but this overhead is a lot less noticeable.

Another important factor is just how accessible the VPN protocol is. A few VPN protocols require their own software to run, with relatively complicated setup procedures that can perhaps put them out of reach from those that aren’t technologically minded.

Our VPN Protocol Offerings

• WireGuard® (macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android)
• IKEv2 (macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android)
• SSTP (macOS, Windows, Linux, Android)
• OpenVPN (macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android)
• SoftEther (macOS, Windows, Linux)

We offer our own software as well that can help relieve those problems, so the more complicated VPN protocols can easily be used with our application either on desktop PCs or mobile devices.

It is also important to note that not every VPN protocol works on all operating systems. Make sure to choose a VPN protocol that works on the device you are going to use.

WireGuard

WireGuard is a revolutionary new VPN protocol that accelerates in speed and simplicity. It utilises state-of-the-art cryptography like the Noise protocol framework, Curve25519, ChaCha20, Poly1305, BLAKE2, SipHash24, HKDF, and secure trusted constructions. The protocol is included in the Linux Kernel 5.6 and has completed a third-party security audit. It’s available on all hide.me servers and apps.

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.

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.

Conclusion

We offer so many different protocols that you are sure to find one that works for you, especially with this guide, and our other plethora of information regarding the protocols we offer. For an even more in-depth explanation of VPN protocols, visit our article here.