When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Heres how it works.
Whenever you use a VPN, an encryption protocol is used and there a lots out there.
These protocols determine how data is encrypted and moved between networks.
VPNs use these protocols so you can create a fast, secure encrypted tunnel for your internet traffic.
When using thebest VPNs, a variety of these protocols are supported.
Here, we’ll explore what makes OpenVPN such a popular VPN protocol, as well as its downsides.
The best VPN: NordVPNNordVPN is the #1 VPN on the market, according to our extensive testing.
What is OpenVPN?
OpenVPN been around for a long time at least by the standards of the internet.
Originally, OpenVPN was launched in 2001 by James Yonan.
He had worked in computer science for a platform that evaluated the fitness of financial trading models.
He was also an early pioneer in the push to make C language and coding tools for IBM.
This stirred Yonan to start a side project, creating an open-source project to encrypt data.
In a strange turn of events, this side project was later discovered by Francis Dinah.
He had faced suppression in Iraq while it was under the reign of Saddam Hussein.
Here, he realized the possibilities that OpenVPN could have and developed a business plan with Yonan.
Between the two men, OpenVPN was founded in 2001 and then became publicly available in 2002.
Along with that, it offers both security and flexibility to any VPN user.
It isnt always featured in thefastest VPNs, but its benefits come elsewhere.
Benefits of OpenVPN
So, why exactly should you use OpenVPN?
There are a few benefits to the tool that make it especially useful.
OpenVPNs communications are managed by Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS).
This keeps passwords and sensitive data encrypted and difficult to discover for third parties.
Despite offering a lot of usability, OpenVPN keeps a flexible and configurable approach to its design.
VPN providers can control a huge amount of how the service actually works.
They can decide to switch OpenVPNs encryption algorithms and even optimize the VPN for security or speed.
This includes the ability to extend the script with plugins, scripts and more.
Like a lot of internet projects, OpenVPN is completely open source.
Despite offering a lot of usability, OpenVPN keeps a flexible and configurable approach to its design.
you could even check exactly how your connection is authenticated and encrypted for yourself.
Finally, OpenVPNs OpenConnect client actually has aVPN kill switchbuilt in.
This stops your unit from connecting to the internet if the connection to the VPN drops.
Drawbacks of OpenVPN
Its not all positive though.
Like any security feature, there are some drawbacks worth mentioning with OpenVPN.
Firstly, it was developed using the OpenSSL library.
OpenVPN is also slower than some other VPN protocols, such as WireGuard.
OpenVPN is slower than some other VPN protocols, such as WireGuard.
Another place where protocols like WireGuard are better is when it comes to newer encryption protocols.
OpenVPN doesnt support some of these newer versions.
