this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2026
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Programming

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Why does every VPN need to rewrite their own client? (programming.dev)
submitted 2 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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[–] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 hour ago

Being in full control of their own app, without conflict of interest from a competitor. Also they might use different programming languages, optimize for different environments they care about. And also to differentiate themselves from the competitor, to have an identity. Similar to how game consoles play the same games, but have their own identity behind it. And they want to sell their own subscription, so they only support and promote their own.

Just to name a few things that come to my mind. I don't use all those different tools, so I maybe wrong.