Protocols: VLESS, WireGuard, OpenVPN
What the protocols differ on, which clients speak them, and why this service runs VLESS over Reality.
- Vpn protocols differ on three things: how fast they are, how obvious they look to whatever is watching the line, and which clients support them.
- WireGuard is fast and small, and it is easy to recognize. Networks that filter tend to catch it first.
- OpenVPN is old, works everywhere and is slower. It is the safe fallback, not the fast option.
- IKEv2 is built into phones and reconnects well when you move between Wi-Fi and cellular. It is also trivially identified.
- PPTP is broken and has been for years. If a service still offers it, that tells you something about the service.
- Vless is a transport rather than a full protocol. Paired with Reality it borrows a real site's handshake, so on the wire it looks like an ordinary HTTPS session.
- This service runs VLESS over Reality only, which is why the setup is a key and a general purpose client rather than an app.
Why the shape on the wire matters
Encryption is not the interesting part any more. Every protocol on the list encrypts well enough that nobody reads the contents. The difference is whether a network can tell what kind of traffic it is looking at. A WireGuard session has a recognizable shape and a fixed handshake. Equipment that inspects traffic can spot it in the first packets and drop it without ever needing to break the encryption.
Reality takes a different route. The handshake is mirrored from a genuine, unrelated web server, so an observer sees what appears to be a normal HTTPS connection to a normal site. Nothing needs to be spoofed at the certificate level and there is no self signed warning, which is what used to give the older disguises away.
Plans and pricing
- 5 days free at the start, no card, no account.
- 1 month: $4.90.
- 6 months: $3.90 a month, paid once as $23.40.
- 12 months: $3.20 a month, paid once as $38.40.
- 24 months: $2.90 a month, paid once as $69.60.
- One VLESS key, 5 devices at once, six locations: US, Canada, Mexico, UK, Netherlands, France.
- Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and crypto in the bot. Nothing renews by itself.
The clients, and what is in this section
A key is useless without something to load it into, so half this section is about clients. v2rayN is the Windows workhorse and has its own page, along with the errors it throws when the core will not start. NekoBox and NekoRay cover Android and desktop. Hiddify is the friendliest across platforms. Streisand and V2Box carry iPhone. sing-box sits under several of them as the engine.
The other half is the theory you need when something behaves oddly: the difference between TCP and UDP and why it decides whether a voice call survives, what a proxy configuration actually changes on a machine, and how the older protocols compare when a client offers you a list of them.
Getting a VLESS key into a client
Open @vpnlab_bot in Telegram and take the 5 free days. No card and no account.
The bot sends a vless:// link plus a QR code, normally inside a minute.
Install a client that speaks VLESS: v2rayN or NekoRay on Windows, v2rayNG or NekoBox on Android, Streisand or V2Box on iPhone, Hiddify or sing-box on Mac and Linux.
Import the link from the clipboard or scan the code, choose a location and connect.
Limits and things to know
- We run VLESS over Reality and nothing else. There is no WireGuard or OpenVPN configuration to hand out.
- Clients differ in what they support. An old build may not have Reality fields at all, which shows up as a handshake that fails instantly.
- Reality hides the shape of the traffic. It does not hide that you are connected to some server, and it makes no difference to what your accounts know about you.
- Protocol choice never fixes a slow line. If the connection underneath is congested, every protocol on the list is slow in the same way.
Questions
01Which VPN protocol is the best one?
There is no single answer. WireGuard wins on raw speed, OpenVPN on compatibility, IKEv2 on phone handover. VLESS with Reality wins when the network is filtering, because it does not look like a tunnel.
02What is VLESS, simply?
A lightweight way of carrying traffic to a server with almost no overhead of its own. It leaves the disguise and the encryption to the transport layer under it, which is where Reality comes in.
03What does Reality add?
It borrows the handshake of a real, unrelated website, so the start of your connection is indistinguishable from an ordinary visit to that site. No certificate has to be faked and no warning appears.
04Can I use WireGuard with this key?
No. The key is a VLESS key and only a VLESS capable client will read it. That list is long and free, but WireGuard is not on it.
05Is a newer protocol automatically faster?
Only at the margins. Most of what people feel as speed is the route to the server and the state of their own line. A protocol change of a few percent is invisible next to a congested evening.
06Why do some clients list dozens of protocols?
Because they are general purpose tools built for many services at once. You only need the one your key uses, and the rest of the list can be ignored.
Five days free. Then decide.
Run it on your own line, on the networks you actually use, at the hour you actually care about. If it does not hold up, you have spent an evening and no money.