OpenVPN
The long-established open-source VPN protocol, slower than WireGuard but more configurable and more widely supported.
Glossary
WireGuard
What is WireGuard?
WireGuard is a modern VPN protocol, around 4,000 lines of code, designed to be small enough to audit properly. It is faster than OpenVPN in most conditions and connects almost instantly, which matters more on mobile than any benchmark figure. Nearly every serious provider now ships it.
Why it matters
It is faster than OpenVPN in most conditions and connects almost instantly, which matters more on mobile than any benchmark figure. Nearly every serious provider now ships it.
What most explanations leave out
WireGuard has no sessions and no disconnect: it is connectionless by design. A peer is a public key with a statically assigned tunnel address in the server’s configuration, and the last endpoint it was seen at stays in kernel state until the peer is removed. That permanence is the privacy problem for a commercial provider, and it is why they add a layer on top â double NAT, rotating keys, or a proprietary wrapper. That layer is where the differences between providers actually live, and it is usually the part not published.
Related terms
VPN protocol
The set of rules governing how the tunnel is established and how data is encrypted inside it.
NordLynx
NordVPN’s implementation of WireGuard with an added double-NAT layer intended to avoid storing user IP addresses on the server.
Referenced from
Questions
- What is WireGuard?
- A modern VPN protocol, around 4,000 lines of code, designed to be small enough to audit properly.
- Why does WireGuard matter when choosing a VPN?
- It is faster than OpenVPN in most conditions and connects almost instantly, which matters more on mobile than any benchmark figure. Nearly every serious provider now ships it.
- What do most explanations of WireGuard leave out?
- WireGuard has no sessions and no disconnect: it is connectionless by design. A peer is a public key with a statically assigned tunnel address in the server’s configuration, and the last endpoint it was seen at stays in kernel state until the peer is removed. That permanence is the privacy problem for a commercial provider, and it is why they add a layer on top â double NAT, rotating keys, or a proprietary wrapper. That layer is where the differences between providers actually live, and it is usually the part not published.
Terms are defined here because they appear in our scoring rubric or in provider reviews, not to fill a glossary.