{"slug": "obscura", "name": "Obscura", "category": "networking", "category_name": "Networking and VPN", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 13, "warners": 4, "score": 0.962, "rising": 1.02, "first": "2025-12-13", "latest": "2026-10-09", "why": "There are already solutions that do the double VPN thing for you. For example https://obscura.net", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 4, "compare": 2, "warn": 4}, "spark": [0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "There are already solutions that do the double VPN thing for you. For example https://obscura.net", "kind": "", "icon": false, "domain": "obscura.com", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://obscura.com", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Obscura", "Obscura VPN", "obscura"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 800439922, "item_id": 50027495, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50027495", "by": "Cider9986", "date": "2026-10-09", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The ones I can recommend that aren't on this list are Obscura and Nym.", "excerpt": "They're really the original \"trustworthy\" VPN that people that know about them will recommend. It's very straightforward. IVPN is very similar kind of focus and branding, same with Obscura. https://www.privacyguides.org/en/vpn/ The ones I can recommend that aren't on this list are Obscura and Nym.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A statement on the Tor Project's relationship with Mullvad"}, {"id": 783773267, "item_id": 48985829, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48985829", "by": "Cider9986", "date": "2026-07-20", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Obscura by definition is the same or better than Mullvad", "excerpt": "Mullvad, IVPN and Proton VPN are all trusted so choosing depends on your priorities with the small differences between them. https://www.privacyguides.org/en/vpn/ Obscura by definition is the same or better than Mullvad because of the two hop separate party tech. Similar with iCloud Private Relay but that's only for Safari which is inadequate. Nym looks promising but mixnets haven't been tested as much as the Tor net", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Donation Controversy"}, {"id": 762177107, "item_id": 47636069, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47636069", "by": "yodahuang", "date": "2026-04-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I like your inclusion of Obscura.", "excerpt": "This looks very nice and useful! While Trivago covers major hotel sites, I sometimes find \u201cshady\u201d small sites often times offer better prices for hotels. I\u2019ve been using super.com and vio.com and they seems great. Another complication is credit card companies\u2019 own portal. E.g. we need to take into account Amex\u2019s FHR or Capital One\u2019s premier collection. They offer credits and sometimes special \u201cstay two nights, one ni", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Travel Hacking Toolkit \u2013 Points search and trip planning with AI"}, {"id": 748628096, "item_id": 46789256, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46789256", "by": "fartfeatures", "date": "2026-01-27", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "with their model I don't need to trust them which is vastly superior", "excerpt": "It's open source which means I can trust having the app installed if I build from source (or I can just use Wireguard directly). I then know I'm directly connected to a Mullvad Wireguard node by checking the public key here: https://mullvad.net/en/servers Other than Wireguard protocol being broken there is no way for Obscura to snoop presuming I check the public key. I'm not saying I trust Obscura, I'm saying with th", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs"}, {"id": 748224736, "item_id": 46764046, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46764046", "by": "fartfeatures", "date": "2026-01-26", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "There are already solutions that do the double VPN thing for you. For example https://obscura.net", "excerpt": "There are already solutions that do the double VPN thing for you. For example https://obscura.net", "context": "", "use_case": "Double VPN", "switched_from": "", "story": "UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 797117360, "item_id": 49819835, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49819835", "by": "btown", "date": "2026-09-23", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "privacy is only as good as your entry node being used widely/not being too \u201cobscure.\u201d", "excerpt": "With a name like this, I\u2019m reminded that privacy is only as good as your entry node being used widely/not being too \u201cobscure.\u201d https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/articles/harvard-bomb-threat is a good example: because the person making the threat was one of the few people on the campus network using Tor at the time the threatening emails were sent, he was identified as a suspect. If an activity is traced to the", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity"}, {"id": 796938128, "item_id": 49808633, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49808633", "by": "fh67", "date": "2026-09-22", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Packet padding but no docs about this?", "excerpt": "https://obscura.com/check/ does this page know the difference between a direct mullvad user and an obscura user, if so, how? Packet padding but no docs about this?", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity"}, {"id": 796919201, "item_id": 49807450, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49807450", "by": "maxloh", "date": "2026-09-22", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "The only scenario where Obscura would be useful is if Mullvad were compromised.", "excerpt": "Mullvad is a Swedish company, which has stricter privacy protection laws in place. According to Obscura's legal page, it is a New York-based company [0]. Under US law, a secretive court order could compel a US company to update software or implement targeted logging on a specific user without notifying that user. The only scenario where Obscura would be useful is if Mullvad were compromised. Why would I trust a New Y", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity"}, {"id": 793380624, "item_id": 49586289, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49586289", "by": "esprehn", "date": "2026-09-06", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "The implementation of the Web APIs look very broken and incomplete", "excerpt": "The implementation of the Web APIs look very broken and incomplete: https://github.com/h4ckf0r0day/obscura/blob/main/crates/obscura-js/js/bootstrap.js This might be faster in some benchmarks, but it's not really implementing the web. I'm more optimistic about AI browsers based on Ladybird or Servo which are actually trying to pass WPTs.", "context": "", "use_case": "headless browser rendering", "switched_from": "", "story": "Obscura: Native rendering is here. No Chromium required"}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["headless browser rendering", "double vpn", "vpn routing"], "compared": [{"slug": "mullvad", "name": "Mullvad", "co": 14, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "ivpn", "name": "IVPN", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "proton", "name": "Proton", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "proton-vpn", "name": "Proton VPN", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "wireguard", "name": "WireGuard", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "icloud-private-relay", "name": "iCloud Private Relay", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "nym", "name": "Nym", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 796982992, "item_id": 49811437, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49811437", "by": "dongcarl", "date": "2026-09-23", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "we're not 100% happy about how we implemented it", "excerpt": "> https://obscura.com/check/ does this page know the difference between a direct mullvad user and an obscura user, if so, how? We don't actually, try visiting it with Mullvad turned on! > Packet padding but no docs about this? Yeah it's an experimental feature, we're not 100% happy about how we implemented it so we've left it experimental and are working on a v2.", "context": "", "use_case": "VPN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity"}, {"id": 796935024, "item_id": 49808439, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49808439", "by": "dongcarl", "date": "2026-09-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "(Carl from Obscura here)", "excerpt": "(Carl from Obscura here) I love folks who are also reasoning through security models! A few things to note here: - We believe that all software running on a user's computer should be open source, so you can audit and build your own client: https://github.com/Sovereign-Engineering/obscuravpn-client - With traditional Single-Party VPNs, even if you trust them fully and they're honest, they can still be compromised or h", "context": "", "use_case": "VPN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity"}, {"id": 796933344, "item_id": 49808334, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49808334", "by": "dongcarl", "date": "2026-09-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "(Carl from Obscura here) I totally agree for traditional Single-Party VPNs, which is why we are a Two-Party Relay. More here: https://obscura.com/blog/bootstrapping-trust/", "context": "Works at Obscura", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity"}, {"id": 796932464, "item_id": 49808279, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49808279", "by": "dongcarl", "date": "2026-09-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We're heavily inspired by them", "excerpt": "We're heavily inspired by them (see our original blog post which is a bit more technical here: https://obscura.com/blog/bootstrapping-trust/) The differences are: - We allow you to choose an exit location (I believe iCloud Private Relay restricts you to the same location) - Our exit hop is Mullvad instead of Cloudflare+Fastly+Akamai - We use QUIC for transport instead of HTTP/3 (which is built on QUIC and has a bit m", "context": "", "use_case": "private VPN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity"}, {"id": 796931696, "item_id": 49808231, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49808231", "by": "dongcarl", "date": "2026-09-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "(with Obscura you only give that to us, Mullvad has no idea)", "excerpt": "(Carl from Obscura here) Other than the obvious hassle? XP If you connect to Mullvad over NordVPN: - You're giving both Mullvad and Nord some payment information (with Obscura you only give that to us, Mullvad has no idea) - You don't get our QUIC-based obfuscation (see more here: https://obscura.com/blog/bootstrapping-trust/)", "context": "", "use_case": "VPN with QUIC obfuscation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity"}, {"id": 796930752, "item_id": 49808172, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49808172", "by": "dongcarl", "date": "2026-09-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "we use QUIC for transport (with an experimental TCP/TLS mode)", "excerpt": "Can't speak to Iran, but we use QUIC for transport (with an experimental TCP/TLS mode). I believe QUIC has been harder to block for censors, esp with Chaos Protection on by default in Chrome. See: https://gfw.report/publications/usenixsecurity25/en/", "context": "", "use_case": "censorship-resistant VPN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49807003", "title": "Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity", "mentions": 16}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48143880", "title": "Mullvad exit IPs are surprisingly identifying", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46763548", "title": "UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50022266", "title": "A statement on the Tor Project's relationship with Mullvad", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49716094", "title": "Leaving Proton Mail", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49580771", "title": "Obscura: Native rendering is here. No Chromium required", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"warn": 4, "neutral": 1, "recommend": 1, "compare": 2}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 1}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 800439922, "item_id": 50027495, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50027495", "by": "Cider9986", "date": "2026-10-09", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The ones I can recommend that aren't on this list are Obscura and Nym.", "excerpt": "They're really the original \"trustworthy\" VPN that people that know about them will recommend. It's very straightforward. IVPN is very similar kind of focus and branding, same with Obscura. https://www.privacyguides.org/en/vpn/ The ones I can recommend that aren't on this list are Obscura and Nym.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A statement on the Tor Project's relationship with Mullvad"}, {"id": 797117360, "item_id": 49819835, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49819835", "by": "btown", "date": "2026-09-23", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "privacy is only as good as your entry node being used widely/not being too \u201cobscure.\u201d", "excerpt": "With a name like this, I\u2019m reminded that privacy is only as good as your entry node being used widely/not being too \u201cobscure.\u201d https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/articles/harvard-bomb-threat is a good example: because the person making the threat was one of the few people on the campus network using Tor at the time the threatening emails were sent, he was identified as a suspect. If an activity is traced to the", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity"}, {"id": 797014528, "item_id": 49813408, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49813408", "by": "jedisct1", "date": "2026-09-23", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "Looks similar to Anonymized DNS", "excerpt": "Looks similar to Anonymized DNS, which DNS users have been using for more than seven years: https://www.ietf.org/archive/id/draft-denis-dprive-dnscrypt-07.html#name-anonymized-dnscrypt", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity"}, {"id": 797005264, "item_id": 49812829, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49812829", "by": "tbtech_vn", "date": "2026-09-23", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "That's really cool, but perhaps a bit overkill for the typical no-log quick access variant", "excerpt": "That's really cool, but perhaps a bit overkill for the typical no-log quick access variant, so shameless plug here even if it primarily is for autonomous agents. https://x402socks.com", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity"}, {"id": 796938128, "item_id": 49808633, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49808633", "by": "fh67", "date": "2026-09-22", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Packet padding but no docs about this?", "excerpt": "https://obscura.com/check/ does this page know the difference between a direct mullvad user and an obscura user, if so, how? Packet padding but no docs about this?", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity"}, {"id": 796920448, "item_id": 49807528, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49807528", "by": "ignoramous", "date": "2026-09-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "> ... a certain popular \"pro-privacy\" product beloved by many here ... If you're talking about Proton VPN, they do support \"credential-less accounts\" through their official apps, I believe? At least, on Android since 2024: https://www.androidpolice.com/proton-vpn-works-without-account-android/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity"}, {"id": 796919201, "item_id": 49807450, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49807450", "by": "maxloh", "date": "2026-09-22", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "The only scenario where Obscura would be useful is if Mullvad were compromised.", "excerpt": "Mullvad is a Swedish company, which has stricter privacy protection laws in place. According to Obscura's legal page, it is a New York-based company [0]. Under US law, a secretive court order could compel a US company to update software or implement targeted logging on a specific user without notifying that user. The only scenario where Obscura would be useful is if Mullvad were compromised. Why would I trust a New Y", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity"}, {"id": 796916288, "item_id": 49807268, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49807268", "by": "john_strinlai", "date": "2026-09-22", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "while i haven't looked too hard at obscura", "excerpt": "i am very skeptical of most vpn companies, and while i haven't looked too hard at obscura, it is worth noting the official partnership with mullvad (https://mullvad.net/en/blog/mullvad-partnered-with-obscura-vpn) which is certainly a positive signal side note: i really wish more companies did the no email + randomized account number flow. there is a certain popular \"pro-privacy\" product beloved by many here that requ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity"}, {"id": 793380624, "item_id": 49586289, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49586289", "by": "esprehn", "date": "2026-09-06", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "The implementation of the Web APIs look very broken and incomplete", "excerpt": "The implementation of the Web APIs look very broken and incomplete: https://github.com/h4ckf0r0day/obscura/blob/main/crates/obscura-js/js/bootstrap.js This might be faster in some benchmarks, but it's not really implementing the web. I'm more optimistic about AI browsers based on Ladybird or Servo which are actually trying to pass WPTs.", "context": "", "use_case": "headless browser rendering", "switched_from": "", "story": "Obscura: Native rendering is here. No Chromium required"}, {"id": 783773267, "item_id": 48985829, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48985829", "by": "Cider9986", "date": "2026-07-20", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Obscura by definition is the same or better than Mullvad", "excerpt": "Mullvad, IVPN and Proton VPN are all trusted so choosing depends on your priorities with the small differences between them. https://www.privacyguides.org/en/vpn/ Obscura by definition is the same or better than Mullvad because of the two hop separate party tech. Similar with iCloud Private Relay but that's only for Safari which is inadequate. Nym looks promising but mixnets haven't been tested as much as the Tor net", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Donation Controversy"}, {"id": 770442912, "item_id": 48152682, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48152682", "by": "Cider9986", "date": "2026-05-15", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Apparently I already use Obscura despite never paying for it", "excerpt": "Apparently I already use Obscura despite never paying for it :) https://obscura.com/check/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mullvad exit IPs are surprisingly identifying"}, {"id": 762177107, "item_id": 47636069, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47636069", "by": "yodahuang", "date": "2026-04-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I like your inclusion of Obscura.", "excerpt": "This looks very nice and useful! While Trivago covers major hotel sites, I sometimes find \u201cshady\u201d small sites often times offer better prices for hotels. I\u2019ve been using super.com and vio.com and they seems great. Another complication is credit card companies\u2019 own portal. E.g. we need to take into account Amex\u2019s FHR or Capital One\u2019s premier collection. They offer credits and sometimes special \u201cstay two nights, one ni", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Travel Hacking Toolkit \u2013 Points search and trip planning with AI"}, {"id": 748628096, "item_id": 46789256, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46789256", "by": "fartfeatures", "date": "2026-01-27", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "with their model I don't need to trust them which is vastly superior", "excerpt": "It's open source which means I can trust having the app installed if I build from source (or I can just use Wireguard directly). I then know I'm directly connected to a Mullvad Wireguard node by checking the public key here: https://mullvad.net/en/servers Other than Wireguard protocol being broken there is no way for Obscura to snoop presuming I check the public key. I'm not saying I trust Obscura, I'm saying with th", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs"}, {"id": 748224736, "item_id": 46764046, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46764046", "by": "fartfeatures", "date": "2026-01-26", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "There are already solutions that do the double VPN thing for you. For example https://obscura.net", "excerpt": "There are already solutions that do the double VPN thing for you. For example https://obscura.net", "context": "", "use_case": "Double VPN", "switched_from": "", "story": "UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs"}, {"id": 747440256, "item_id": 46715016, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46715016", "by": "mrbluecoat", "date": "2026-01-21", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Obscura is WireGuard-over-QUIC, not a new protocol.", "excerpt": "Obscura is WireGuard-over-QUIC, not a new protocol. https://obscura.net/#faq-technical", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "AdGuard VPN protocol goes open-source \u2013 meet TrustTunnel"}, {"id": 740169136, "item_id": 46260571, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46260571", "by": "ryanwhitney", "date": "2025-12-13", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use obscura\u2014which routes through mullvad\u2014and the reddit problem is very annoying.", "excerpt": "I use obscura\u2014which routes through mullvad\u2014and the reddit problem is very annoying. I finally hit the point of searching for mirrors yesterday and turns out, they exist.[0] It\u2019s really only suitable for lurking or being able to view search results, but it has eased the pain a bit. 0: reddit-viewer.com", "context": "", "use_case": "VPN routing", "switched_from": "", "story": "VPN location claims don't match real traffic exits"}]}