OpenVPN vs rathole
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted remote access & vpn options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
OpenVPN
Robust and flexible open-source VPN solution
VS
rathole
Lightweight and high-performance reverse proxy for NAT traversal
| Feature | OpenVPN | rathole |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | GPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | C | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, docker, binary | binary, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,345 | ★ 13,999 |
| First released | 2001 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Cisco AnyConnect | ngrok, frp |
Why pick each one
Choose OpenVPN if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 14.3k GitHub stars
- Written in C
Choose rathole if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 14k GitHub stars
- Written in Rust
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenVPN or rathole better?
Neither is universally better. OpenVPN has the larger community, while rathole is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are OpenVPN and rathole free and open-source?
Yes. OpenVPN is licensed under GPL-2.0 and rathole under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run OpenVPN and rathole with Docker?
OpenVPN: yes. rathole: yes.