head to head · open source
openvpn-install vs OpenVPN
openvpn-install has 16,180 GitHub stars, 3,336 forks, 24 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. OpenVPN has 14,767 stars, 3,428 forks, 226 open issues and last shipped today. openvpn-install leads on adoption by 10% (16,180 vs 14,767 stars). openvpn-install is written in Shell under MIT; OpenVPN is written in C under a custom or non-standard licence. openvpn-install has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, OpenVPN 23%. OpenVPN was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| openvpn-install | OpenVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 15K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | Shell | C |
| Last push | 2026-10-01 | 2026-11-06 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 3.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick openvpn-install if
- You weight community size — 16K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick OpenVPN if
- You want the OpenVPN feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and OpenVPN fits your workflow better
About openvpn-install
openvpn install OpenVPN installer for Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, CentOS, Amazon Linux, Arch Linux, Oracle Linux, Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux. This script will let you setup and manage your own secure VPN server in just a few seconds. What is this? This script is meant to be run on your own server, whether it's a VPS or a dedicated server, or even a computer at home. Once set up, you will be able to generate client configuration files for every device you want to connect. Internet routing, access between VPN clients, and access to selected server side networks can be configured independently. By default…
read the full openvpn-install overview →
About OpenVPN
OpenVPN A Secure tunneling daemon Copyright (C) 2002 2026 OpenVPN Inc. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation. To get the latest release of OpenVPN, go to: To Build and Install, tar zxf openvpn .tar.gz cd openvpn ./configure make make install or see the file INSTALL for more info. For information on how to build OpenVPN on/for Windows with MinGW or MSVC see README.cmake.md. For detailed information on OpenVPN, including examples, see the man page For a sample VPN…
read the full OpenVPN overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is openvpn-install or OpenVPN more popular?
openvpn-install has 16,180 GitHub stars and OpenVPN has 14,767. openvpn-install has the larger community by that measure.
Are openvpn-install and OpenVPN free?
Both are open source. openvpn-install is licensed under MIT, and OpenVPN has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between openvpn-install and OpenVPN?
openvpn-install is written in Shell and OpenVPN in C. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, openvpn-install or OpenVPN?
Choose openvpn-install if you want the larger community (16,180 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose OpenVPN if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.