Obscura
Fewer than 5 people recommend it so far, so there's no written verdict. Here is what commenters said.
Why people recommend it
“The ones I can recommend that aren't on this list are Obscura and Nym.”
“Obscura by definition is the same or better than Mullvad”
Show 3 more
“I like your inclusion of Obscura.”
“with their model I don't need to trust them which is vastly superior”
“There are already solutions that do the double VPN thing for you. For example https://obscura.net”
Caveats and dissent
“privacy is only as good as your entry node being used widely/not being too “obscure.””
“Packet padding but no docs about this?”
Show 2 more
“The only scenario where Obscura would be useful is if Mullvad were compromised.”
“The implementation of the Web APIs look very broken and incomplete”
Often compared with
From the makers not counted in the ranking
“we're not 100% happy about how we implemented it”
“(Carl from Obscura here)”
(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/
“We're heavily inspired by them”
“(with Obscura you only give that to us, Mullvad has no idea)”
“we use QUIC for transport (with an experimental TCP/TLS mode)”
Threads where it came up
- Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity 16 mentions
- Mullvad exit IPs are surprisingly identifying 2 mentions
- UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs 2 mentions
- A statement on the Tor Project's relationship with Mullvad 1 mention
- Leaving Proton Mail 1 mention
- Obscura: Native rendering is here. No Chromium required 1 mention
Also written as Obscura VPN, obscura. Data: obscura.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 16
“The ones I can recommend that aren't on this list are Obscura and Nym.”
“privacy is only as good as your entry node being used widely/not being too “obscure.””
“Looks similar to Anonymized DNS”
“That's really cool, but perhaps a bit overkill for the typical no-log quick access variant”
“Packet padding but no docs about this?”
> ... 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/
“The only scenario where Obscura would be useful is if Mullvad were compromised.”
“while i haven't looked too hard at obscura”
“The implementation of the Web APIs look very broken and incomplete”
“Obscura by definition is the same or better than Mullvad”
“Apparently I already use Obscura despite never paying for it”
“I like your inclusion of Obscura.”
“with their model I don't need to trust them which is vastly superior”
“There are already solutions that do the double VPN thing for you. For example https://obscura.net”
“Obscura is WireGuard-over-QUIC, not a new protocol.”
“I use obscura—which routes through mullvad—and the reddit problem is very annoying.”