06-22-2026, 12:52 PM
Setting up a VPN for remote access to my home network and I keep going back and forth on the options. Curious what people here are actually running and why.
WireGuard seems like the obvious modern choice - kernel-level on Linux, faster handshakes, smaller codebase (easier to audit), and the configs are tiny. The downside is managing key distribution manually and the lack of dynamic routing out of the box.
OpenVPN is battle-tested and supported everywhere. It's slower and the config files look like XML nightmares but it just works and there's a client for every platform.
Tailscale is interesting because it uses WireGuard under the hood but handles the key exchange and routing automatically via their coordination server. Free tier is generous. The trade-off is you're relying on their servers for control plane stuff - fine for personal use, maybe not for corporate.
I'm leaning toward WireGuard directly on an OPNsense box since I want full control and my use case is simple (a few trusted devices).
What are you running? Any pitfalls to watch out for? Is Tailscale actually worth it for home use or is rolling your own WireGuard not that painful?
WireGuard seems like the obvious modern choice - kernel-level on Linux, faster handshakes, smaller codebase (easier to audit), and the configs are tiny. The downside is managing key distribution manually and the lack of dynamic routing out of the box.
OpenVPN is battle-tested and supported everywhere. It's slower and the config files look like XML nightmares but it just works and there's a client for every platform.
Tailscale is interesting because it uses WireGuard under the hood but handles the key exchange and routing automatically via their coordination server. Free tier is generous. The trade-off is you're relying on their servers for control plane stuff - fine for personal use, maybe not for corporate.
I'm leaning toward WireGuard directly on an OPNsense box since I want full control and my use case is simple (a few trusted devices).
What are you running? Any pitfalls to watch out for? Is Tailscale actually worth it for home use or is rolling your own WireGuard not that painful?