SoftEther VPN
by SoftEther VPN · Open-source multi-protocol VPN server built on virtual Ethernet switching
27.4 — BenchRank score out of 100
Screenshots of SoftEther VPN
Homepage
Overview
SoftEther VPN is open-source VPN software from an academic project at the University of Tsukuba. It virtualises Ethernet: the server runs Virtual Hubs (software switches), clients run virtual network adapters, and VPN sessions carry Ethernet frames over HTTPS or UDP. It supports remote-access and site-to-site setups over SSL-VPN, OpenVPN, IPsec, L2TP, L2TPv3, MS-SSTP and EtherIP.
- Best for
- Teams self-hosting a multi-protocol remote-access or site-to-site VPN across mixed platforms
- Pricing
- No prices are shown; the software is free for personal and commercial use under the Apache License 2.0.
- Runs on
- Self-hosted
Strengths and trade-offs
Strengths
- Six major VPN protocols plus SSL-VPN in a single server
- Free for personal and commercial use under Apache License 2.0
- Servers run on Windows, Linux, Mac, FreeBSD and Solaris
- Built-in NAT traversal and dynamic DNS; no fixed IP required
Trade-offs
- Support is a community forum; no paid support plan is mentioned
- Past CVEs, including six fixed in 2023 after a Cisco code review
- Firewall-bypassing modes (VPN over DNS/ICMP) may breach network policy
- Interface languages limited to English, Japanese and Simplified Chinese
How this score is made up
Each dimension is scored out of 100 and combined into the headline score using fixed weights.
- MCP support
- 0 out of 100
- API quality
- 0 out of 100
- Documentation
- 15 out of 100
- Agent friendliness
- 58 out of 100
- Pricing transparency
- 35 out of 100
- Customer sentiment
- 80 out of 100
- Changelog
- 25 out of 100
- Marketing site structure
- 40 out of 100
- Operational trust
- 25 out of 100
Measured, but not part of the score
Useful to know, but not a mark for or against the product — so these do not affect the ranking.
- Openness
- 85 out of 100
- Maintenance
- 100 out of 100
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