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Why does every VPN need to rewrite their own client? (programming.dev)
submitted 12 hours ago by onlinepersona@programming.dev to c/programming@programming.dev
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I've been testing VPN services and somehow every one with a client has written their own. Proton, Windscribe, IVPN, Mullvad, AirVPN, NordVPN, and the list goes on.

Don't these services all do the same thing? Connect to a server to get a list of servers, then use WireGuard or OpenVPN to make a connection, and have some fancy stuff like split tunneling or a killswitch. It should just take configuration by adding profiles per service and it should be possible to use the same client.

What am I missing?

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[-] eco_game@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 10 hours ago

PIA let's you download OpenVPN and I think also WireGuard configs for all their servers too.

this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2026
78 points (98.8% liked)

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