OpenVPN vs WireGuard Comparison: The Best VPN Protocol (2024)

At a Glance

You’ve probably been hearing a lot about the WireGuard connection protocol in recent years. The protocol is said to be optimized for both speed and security. But, is WireGuard really better than the long-established OpenVPN protocol?

In this article, I’ll compare OpenVPN and WireGuard head-to-head, taking a close look at what makes these protocols unique. We’ll take a look at how both work, how well they perform, and how well they protect you while you’re online with a Virtual Private Network (VPN).

The History of OpenVPN and WireGuard

OpenVPN was first released in May 2001. The protocol became popular among users, due to it offering stronger encryption and improved connection speeds compared to previously available connection protocols. Over the next few decades, vulnerabilities were discovered and patched, and OpenVPN was made available to most devices and operating systems. This led to OpenVPN becoming the default protocol for most commercial VPN applications. Well, until WireGuard was released.

WireGuard is a more recent addition to the connection protocol ranks, debuting its first stable release in 2020, and was quickly included in the Windows and Linux kernels. WireGuard quickly became popular, due to it being significantly more efficient and faster than other protocols, while providing reliable online data security. The protocol is now cross-platform (including Windows, macOS, BSD, iOS, iPadOS, and Android) and is widely deployable.

Which Protocol is Better – OpenVPN or WireGuard?

When it comes to which connection protocol is the best between OpenVPN and WireGuard, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Both protocols have areas where they perform the best, while falling a bit short in other categories. This means that while a protocol might be best for some online cases, it might not be quite right for others.

In this article, I’ll pit OpenVPN and WireGuard against each other in a few categories of operation, and I’ll discuss how well each protocol performs in those categories. At the end of this article, I’ll determine an overall winner (if there is one). (Although you can’t go wrong using either protocol.)

Connection Speeds

Before comparing connection speeds, I’d like to note that your usual ISP-provided connection speeds will greatly affect how fast your connection will be when using a VPN with either protocol. Plus, your VPN-protected connection speeds can also be affected by other factors, including how your VPN provider configures its servers and applications, meaning your connection speeds could vary wildly among VPN providers, even when using the same protocol.

OpenVPN generally provides good performance and has been considered as a good compromise between performance and protection. OpenVPN on average slows your connection by 30% or so. That means that as long as your usual connection speeds measure in at around 40 Mbps, a VPN using OpenVPN should still be up to handling your favorite online activities.

WireGuard became popular quite quickly, with major VPN providers quickly adopting it or a custom protocol based on it, at a fast rate. Users of providers that did adopt WireGuard found that their connection speeds improved quite nicely.

WireGuard offered this improved performance due to its much more streamlined code base, which at introduction came in at 4,000 lines or so of code. (As a comparison, OpenVPN’s code base has around 70,000 lines of code, although it should be noted that OpenVPN has been in development for more than two decades.) WireGuard also supports multi-threading, which allows it to process data simultaneously using multiple CPU cores.

Keeping Your Online Activities (And VPN Usage) Undercover

In the last few years, we’ve seen an increase in VPN blocking. Restrictive governments, streaming services, and other regionally controlled websites have become quite adept at blocking VPN users from accessing online content that is usually unavailable in the area where they reside.

OpenVPN

OpenVPN has the advantage in this category. The protocol can be configured to use either

TCP, which stands for Transmission Control Protocol, and UDP, which stands for User Datagram Protocol. These are two different methods to send information across the internet.

UDP is the faster of the two, although it is easier to block, as all data is sent by default via port 1194. However, if you opt to use TCP, OpenVPN sends TCP data over the same port that HTTPS traffic is sent over, port 443. This makes a VPN using OpenVPN over TCP tougher to block, as blocking this port will block users from accessing any websites that encrypt user traffic, which is the vast majority of all sites currently on the web.

However, OpenVPN TCP isn’t foolproof, as a technique known as deep packet inspection (DPI) can be used to examine your data packets. This can reveal patterns that indicate OpenVPN traffic. While some VPNs offer additional features to obfuscate your VPN traffic further, not every provider does. Check with your VPN provider or the provider you’re considering to find out if they offer hiding of your VPN usage.

WireGuard

The WireGuard connection only supports UDP, so it was not designed to obfuscate your VPN traffic. This means that unless your VPN does something else to hide your VPN usage, a WireGuard VPN connection is fairly easy to detect. However, most VPN providers do add their own methods of obfuscation. Since the efficiency of these methods varies from provider to provider, check with your VPN provider or the provider you’re considering to find out what type of obfuscation they offer.

Level of Support by VPN Providers

Most VPN providers offer multiple connection protocols, including OpenVPN and WireGuard (or a protocol based on WireGuard).

OpenVPN is available from most consumer VPN services. OpenVPN is compatible with the majority of major platforms, as well as many versions of router firmware. Many VPN providers even make OpenVPN configuration files available for download for use with home WiFi routers.

WireGuard is currently less available, but that is quickly changing as the protocol’s popularity continues to grow. Unfortunately, very few VPNs offer router configuration files for this protocol. Some providers modify WireGuard to create their own custom protocols (like NordVPN’s NordLynx protocol).

Which Protocol is Better for Streaming – OpenVPN or WireGuard?

Depending on your VPN provider, WireGuard generally provides fast connections, making it an excellent option forstreaming video. WireGuard is optimized for performance while still offering comprehensive online protection.

If your VPN makes WireGuard an option in its apps, I would recommend using it for streaming live TV (including sports),Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, and other popular streaming services.

As for OpenVPN, it is an established connection protocol, and depending on the provider, it delivers fast download speeds while providing reliable connection protection. If your VPN app offers the option of OpenVPN TCP and OpenVPN UDP, choose UDP, as it is the faster protocol.

Which Protocol is Better for Gaming – OpenVPN or WireGuard?

A fast, low-ping VPN connection is essential when you’re playing fast-moving online games. A fast VPN protects you against swatting and doxxing attacks while also protecting you against throttling from picky ISP operators. A VPN also protects your in-game Voice Over IP (VoIP) chats in countries where VoIP is blocked.

WireGuard is less resource intensive – as it is optimized for performance – this makes it an excellent choice forgamingon battery-powered mobile devices, devices that don’t exactly make the list of the most powerful devices around, and gaming on networks with limited bandwidth.

For the above reasons, WireGuard is an excellent protocol choice when available from your VPN.

That said, OpenVPN will also provide gaming-ready connections. If your VPN app offers the option of OpenVPN TCP and OpenVPN UDP, choose UDP, as it is the faster protocol.

Which Protocol is Better for BitTorrenting – OpenVPN or WireGuard?

Both OpenVPN and WireGuard offer comprehensive online protection, delivering well-encrypted connections. Between the protection offered by either protocol and your VPN’s ability to temporarily provide a fresh IP address for your computer, you’ll likely have no issues keeping your file sharing undercover (remember though, don’t share copyrighted materials).

Both protocols have advantages over the other one. This includes WireGuard providingfaster connectionsthan OpenVPN (as a rule) and OpenVPN being better established than WireGuard.

You really can’t go wrong with either protocol when torrenting files. Make sure to turn on your VPN app’s kill switch, as you don’t want your file sharing exposed to your ISP if you lose your VPN connection.

OpenVPN vs WireGuard: The Conclusion

When it comes down to it, there are no one-size-fits-all VPN protocols. While WireGuard is a fast, efficient, and secure protocol, its lack of router compatibility and lack of built-in obfuscation features means it’s just not right for those looking to protect all of their devices via their router or for those who are looking to have their VPN usage go undetected.

Meanwhile, although OpenVPN is a proven secure VPN protocol, its bloated code and older technology may result in slower connections than WireGuard.

It all comes down to what you’re looking for in a VPN provider. Carefully consider your usage scenarios before settling on a VPN provider or a VPN connection protocol.

OpenVPN vs WireGuard: FAQs

Is OpenVPN Safe to Use?

Absolutely! OpenVPN has been around for 20+ years and as such has had plenty of patches applied to fix security flaws. While there could certainly be undiscovered vulnerabilities, nothing is 100% secure. OpenVPN is widely used by VPN providers, meaning any security issues are likely to be patched immediately.

Which VPN protocol is fastest, OpenVPN or WireGuard?

WireGuard is definitely the fastest modern VPN protocol, with faster speeds than OpenVPN. That said, depending on the VPN provider and how it’s configured, OpenVPN provides plenty of bandwidth for most popular online activities. As long as your ISP has fast enough speeds to handle your favorite online pastimes, both WireGuard and OpenVPN will provide sufficient connection bandwidth.