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SoftEther free VPN review, free download

SoftEther VPN is a lesser-known free VPN that is better than many paid services.

SoftEther VPN

 

 

This is a free, open-source, cross-platform, multi-protocol VPN program - an academic project of the Japanese University of Tsukuba. It is so free that there is simply no paid version. :) At the same time, SoftEther is a full-fledged VPN that can be successfully used to create VPN tunnels.
What many are primarily interested in, namely secure Internet access, is rather a by-product of this service. Nevertheless, everything here is top-notch - several hundred (!) free servers. Do you know many paid VPN services that can boast of this? But let's take things in order.

 

Characteristics of SoftEther VPN

Supported protocols:

Supported operating systems:

Windows (32-bit, 64-bit)
Windows 98 / 98 SE / ME / NT 4.0 SP6a / 2000 SP4 / XP SP2, SP3 / Server 2003 SP2 / Vista SP1, SP2 / Server 2008 SP1, SP2 / Hyper-V Server 2008 / 7 SP1 / Server 2008 R2 SP1 / Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 / 8 / Server 2012 / Hyper-V Server 2012 / 8.1 / Server 2012 R2 / 10 / Server 2016 / Server 2019 / Server 2022 / 11.
Linux (32-bit, 64-bit)
Linux 2.4, 2.6, 3.x, 4.x, 5.x

Mac OS X (32-bit, 64-bit) (Intel Macs only)
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger or later.

FreeBSD (32-bit, 64-bit) (Stable: server and bridge only, Developer Edition: client also supported)

NetBSD (32-bit, 64-bit) (Developer Edition only, Client also supported)

Open BSD (32-bit, 64-bit) (Developer Edition only, Client also supported)

Solaris (32 bit, 64 bit) (server and bridge only)
Solaris 8, 9, 10, 11

 

Supported processors:

Windows
Intel x86 (32 bit), Intel x64 (64 bit).

Linux
Intel x86 (32 bit), Intel x64 (64 bit), PowerPC (32 bit), ARM EABI (32 bit), ARM legacy ABI (32 bit), MIPS Little-Endian (32 bit), Arm64 (64 bit).

Mac OS X
Intel x86 (32 bit), Intel x64 (64 bit), PowerPC (32 bit), PowerPC G5 (64 bit)

FreeBSD
Intel x86 (32 bit), Intel x64 (64 bit)

Solaris
Intel x86 (32 bit), Intel x64 (64 bit), SPARC (32 bit), SPARC (64 bit)

 

SoftEther VPN Server Hardware Requirements:
Free RAM
Minimum: 32 MB + 0.5 MB * (number of simultaneous VPN sessions)
Recommended: 128 MB + 0.5 MB * (number of simultaneous VPN sessions)

Free Disk Space
Minimum: 100 MB
Recommended: 2 GB (for daily VPN connection logs)

Hardware Requirements for the SoftEther VPN Client
Free RAM
Minimum: 16 MB
Recommended: 32 MB

 

Using SoftEther VPN to access the Internet

First of all, it should be noted that this is not a browser plugin, but a program for the operating system - that is, after its launch, ALL existing browsers will work via VPN.

As you can easily notice, the characteristics do not mention a word about the function that is the main one for many - secure Internet access. Because this is a secondary way of using this program. Moreover, the VPN client installed from the distribution downloaded from the official site does not provide such an opportunity.

For this, you also need a special plugin that will add a list of free servers. You can download the client together with the already installed plugin from here. If it didn't work, you can download the same from my site.

Then everything is simple - unpack, install and get a ready VPN.

SoftEther VPN Client

 

 

Double-click on "VPN Gate Public VPN Relay Servers" and you'll see a list of servers. A very big one.

VPN Relay Servers

 

Then just double-click on the selected server and the VPN connection is established. Or not - this also happens. Then you need to select another server.

The servers are mainly Japanese and Korean, but not only. Moreover, the list is not static - it is updated and if you need a specific country that is not currently available, it may appear later. The downside of this mode is that a server already on the list may disappear and break the current connection.

 

Pros of SoftEther VPN

Absolutely free with amazing functionality.

Easy to install. Provided you find the right distribution. But you already have it.

A huge selection of free servers.

Connection stability. True, since it depends more on the server than on the service, you will first have to experiment and find a stable server. I recommend looking at Japanese or Korean servers - there are many of them and it is easier to choose. A good server has a speed that is practically no different from a normal connection.

 

Cons of SoftEther VPN

An unobvious story with finding the right distribution.

The list of servers is not constant and is formed dynamically. Therefore, it may well happen that the server you connected to simply disappears, breaking the connection and you will have to reconnect.

Only English, Japanese and Chinese are available. In my opinion, this is not critical.