Types of VPNs and when to use them - Surfshark (2024)

Sure, you may be using a VPN (Virtual Private Network), but do you know what kind of VPN it is? And no, we don’t mean the brand, like Surfshark — we mean the type of VPN. Remote access VPNs, site-to-site VPNs, personal VPNs… The list goes on. Let’s dig deeper into all of them and see how they differ.

VPN types sorted by use-cases

VPN types are not the same as VPN services. Let me make a car analogy. If VPNs were cars, types of VPNs would be like types of cars: hatchbacks, sedans, SUVs, and so on. They differ in implementation and function.

VPN services, then, would be like car manufacturers: if your car may come from Hyundai, Ford, or SsangYong, your VPN may come from Surfshark, Nord Security, or some other company.

In this metaphor, a free VPN is a box with four wheels. One of those wheels is loose.

Our tech nerds up to the CTO level say that there is no hard sorting of VPN types and no SI-system-approved table. But people love doing it anyway, so we’re doing it.

Here’s our take:

Remote access VPNs — for businesses and individuals

A remote access VPN allows a user (you) to access a network securely and remotely. The most likely application of this in a business setting is accessing your work network from home.

How do remote access VPNs work?

With a remote-access VPN, you are likely to have a client (app) on your device. This client establishes a secure VPN tunnel to the VPN server. Any data passing between the client and server is encrypted, so it’s hidden from observation even when you use regular public internet to maintain the connection.

What does this mean?

For businesses, this means keeping your data — and the corporate secrets of your scented candle manufacturing plant — safe.

For individuals, this also means keeping your data safe. Many commercial types of VPNs operate the same way. You, the user, connect to a VPN server, allowing you to access their network… which just turns out to be the internet!

As a result, you get benefits like:

• Websites and services record the server’s IP address and consider the server’s location yours;
• Firewalls and other blocking mechanisms see that you’re connecting to the VPN server, not YouTube or Roblox, so they let the connection go through.

Site-to-site VPNs — for large-scale businesses

Site-to-site VPNs are the big brother of the remote access VPN. That’s because they connect the private networks of two organizations.

When the same company joins its own networks, it could be a company office in Kiribati connecting the office in Warsaw. This is called an intranet-based site-to-site VPN. In an extranet-based VPN, one company could allow another to access only specific data needed for their partnership. A site-to-site VPN is also sometimes referred to as a router-to-router VPN.

Site-to-site VPNs are complex to set up, so they’re used mainly by large businesses.

How do site-to-site VPNs work?

To connect the private networks of two organizations, a site-to-site VPN often uses routers.

One router acts like the client and the other one — like the server the client connects to. This is already more complicated than the remote access model, where the client is simply a phone or computer app.

Personal VPNs — for individual consumers

A personal VPN is a VPN you, the user, set up to securely access your home network. Say you want to order a printer at home to start, well, printing – this could be accomplished via a secure personal VPN connection. You set up the server at home, connect to it from somewhere else, and now you’re securely accessing the devices at your home.

On the other hand, the spirit might move you to call consumer VPN services like Surfshark a personal VPN because it’s meant to be used by individual customers – persons, if you will. A residential VPN, that uses the IP addresses of other users across the globe, could also be considered a personal VPN.

How do personal VPNs work?

You, the user, download the VPN app, and connect to your chosen server. And that’s it, your work is done. All the data encryption and decryption are sorted by the server and the client on your device.

So the function of a personal access VPN is similar to that of a remote access one… except that, while a remote access VPN opens up into a fairly small corporate network, a personal VPN goes out into the internet.

Mobile VPNs — for use on your phone

If you’re accessing the World Wide Web on your phone, you may also want to use a VPN on it. Surprise! Mobile VPN exists, and it can work on your phone. It is a marvelous little thing, very helpful when you’re traveling, connecting to dodgy free Wi-Fi hotspots, and getting past local firewalls that bar access to YouTube and Roblox.

How do mobile VPNs work?

Mobile VPNs exist mainly in Android and iOS varieties. Both systems have their own built-in VPN support. But for the best mobile VPN experience, you want to get a commercial VPN with client apps compatible with your phone. That will be practically all of them, including Surfshark.

The other way of classifying VPNs

Welcome to the wild-west of VPNs! We’re talking about consumer-grade VPNs, like Surfshark or whatever else you might be using. Premium VPNs, just like budget VPNs and free VPNs, are classed by nothing else but the price. This type of VPN can combine some of the features described in the previous sections, depending on their attempts.

The real difference only exists between premium VPNs — basically any VPN that charges a subscription fee — and free VPNs. Considering how cheap premium VPNs are these days, budget VPNs aren’t exactly a thing.

But for the consumer, the choice isn’t obvious: they may be free, but free VPNs are worse than the premium ones in every way. When it comes to functionality like the number of servers, server locations, speed, whether or not speed limits exist, the usability of the app, platforms supported, and so on, premium VPNs win every time.

Types of VPN protocols and which one is best for you

No matter what type of VPN you use, it still relies on a VPN protocol. If we were to extend the car metaphor, a VPN protocol is like the engine — it’s what makes it work. And just like with engines, several VPN protocols were developed, improved, superseded by others, and declared obsolete.

IPSec – Internet Protocol Security

IPSec, very technically speaking, is not a VPN protocol by itself. It can create a secure tunnel that a VPN needs to work, but it can’t establish secure communication. That’s why IPSec/IKEv2 (almost always called IKEv2) is more popular: IPSec does the tunneling, and IKEv2 sets the groundwork for establishing it.

The takeaway: IKEv2 isn’t the newest, but it’s still OK and sees some utility with mobile users.

L2TP – Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol

L2TP isn’t the newest kid on the block, but it isn’t the oldest, either. And while it is rumored to have been compromised by intelligence agencies, the issue only seems to arise when the users use a weak pre-set password. VPN services are usually smarter than that, setting up secure passwords, but even they can do very little over the slowness of the protocol.

The takeaway: L2TP is generally outdated, especially when it comes to speed. Any of the really modern VPN protocols are superior.

PPTP – Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol

PPTP is not much older than many of the protocols mentioned in this article. It was developed with the cooperative effort of several companies, including Microsoft. As such, PPTP was bundled with Windows as part of the native VPN capability. However, over the years, multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered, making PPTP fairly easy to crack.

The takeaway: In 2023, PPTP is a downright bad choice. It’s both outdated and riddled with security issues. There is no solid use case that any other protocol wouldn’t fulfill.

SSL – Secure Sockets Layer and TLS – Transport Layer Security

SSL and TLS aren’t exactly VPN protocols, though if you’re tipsy, squinting, and it’s dark, you could mistake it for one (or be convinced to use it when building a VPN). SSL and its successor TLS are used to secure your everyday internet use — that’s what puts the S in the HTTPS bit you see when entering a web address.

As such, you don’t really get to choose whether to use them. SSL is on the way out, but some legacy systems still cling to it. TLS is the new hotness, and any decent website you visit should be securing the connection with it.

The takeaway: neither SSL nor TLS are VPN protocols, and SSL is rapidly fading out of use.

OpenVPN

OpenVPN is one of the mainstays of the VPN protocol business. It has been relentlessly tested over years and years of use in all sorts of settings. It may not be the freshest design ever, but it is reliable and that counts for a lot.

The takeaway: OpenVPN is a good alternative to other VPN protocols you may use.

SSH – Secure Shell

SSH is very close to what you could consider a VPN protocol. It operates on similar principles, with one key difference: it only protects one connection to a specific target, while a VPN can encrypt all your traffic.

Nevertheless, SSH is very popular among high-tech nerds doing computer engineering tasks we can’t fathom.

The takeaway: SSH is kind of like a VPN but beyond the reach of the usual consumer.

Wireguard

Wireguard is one of the hippest VPN protocols out there. It’s faster and smoother than others, even OpenVPN. Over the past few years, it has steadily claimed more and more space in the consumer VPN space.

The takeaway: Wireguard is so good that we at Surfshark have set it as the default protocol for our users.

In conclusion: get the type of VPN you need

In the wondrous techno future that we live in, you have a choice when picking a type of VPN. And only when you’re fully informed about what the VPN does can you get the one that fits your needs. For most people, a premium VPN is all they need. Hey, Surfshark is a premium VPN, so why not get it?

FAQ

How many types of VPNs are there?

While there is no hard classification of VPNs, the main types are:

Remote access VPNs — for employees in far-off places accessing the company network;

Site-to-site VPNs — for company intranets accessing each other;

Personal VPNs — for individual customers to securely access their home network;

Mobile VPNs — for your smartphone.

What is a VPN and what are the types of it?

A VPN is a virtual private network, a technology used to imitate the security of connecting two computers by wire but over the public internet.

Nobody has tried meaningfully classifying VPN types, but remote access VPNs and site-to-site VPNs are usually considered the largest types.

What is the best type of VPN?

The best type of VPN depends on how you sort VPNs into types. If you sort by price, premium VPNs are best. If you sort by use cases, it depends on your needs. For example, if you need your employees to connect to the business network, you’ll need a remote access VPN. But if you want to remain secure in your daily online activities while traveling, a mobile VPN is the way to go.

What are the types of VPN protocols?

There’s no such thing as a type of VPN protocol, as each protocol can be pressed into almost any use. The only meaningful distinction is whether the protocol is obsolete or not. For example, PPTP and L2TP are obsolete.

What are the types of VPN tunnels?

There are no types of VPN tunnels as the tunnel is either established or not. You can potentially classify VPN tunneling protocols, that is, VPN protocols. Which way you want to classify them — premium and free, modern and obsolete, etc. — depends on you.