head to head · open source
OpenVPN vs SoftEtherVPN
OpenVPN has 14,643 GitHub stars, 3,404 forks, 226 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SoftEtherVPN has 13,613 stars, 2,782 forks, 296 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. OpenVPN leads on adoption by 8% (14,643 vs 13,613 stars). OpenVPN is written in C under a custom or non-standard licence; SoftEtherVPN is written in C under Apache-2.0. OpenVPN has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, SoftEtherVPN 20%. OpenVPN was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (vpn), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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 | SoftEtherVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 14K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C | C |
| Last push | 2026-10-06 | 2026-10-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.4K | ⑂ 2.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenVPN if
- You weight community size — 15K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick SoftEtherVPN if
- You want the SoftEtherVPN feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and SoftEtherVPN fits your workflow better
About OpenVPN
OpenVPN is open source VPN daemon. It provides secure tunneling for network connections. Project lives in Infrastructure & Operations / Networking & Connectivity ecosystem. Tagline says Zero Trust VPN solutions for secure business networking. GitHub description says OpenVPN is an open source VPN daemon. Repository language is C. GitHub license field says NOASSERTION, while README states GNU General Public License version 2. README states copyright 2002 2026 OpenVPN Inc.
read the full OpenVPN overview →
About SoftEtherVPN
SoftEther VPN is an open source, cross platform, multi protocol VPN server and client, written in C and licensed under Apache 2.0, intended for administrators and self hosters who need one program to serve many VPN protocols instead of running several separate daemons.
read the full SoftEtherVPN overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenVPN or SoftEtherVPN more popular?
OpenVPN has 14,643 GitHub stars and SoftEtherVPN has 13,613. OpenVPN has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenVPN and SoftEtherVPN free?
Both are open source. OpenVPN has no licence declared in this registry, and SoftEtherVPN is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between OpenVPN and SoftEtherVPN?
OpenVPN is written in C and SoftEtherVPN 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 or SoftEtherVPN?
Choose OpenVPN if you want the larger community (14,643 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose SoftEtherVPN if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.