Your Raspberry Pi can be both a VPN client and a VPN server. We compare PiVPN, WireGuard, OpenVPN, and Headscale for self-hosting, and explain when a commercial VPN like NordVPN makes sense for your Pi. All picks tested for performance, ease of setup, and real-world home server use.
A Raspberry Pi is a tiny, low-power computer that can do a lot — but one of its most practical jobs is handling VPNs. You can use it as a VPN client (to encrypt all the traffic leaving your Pi) or as a VPN server (to give you secure remote access to your home network from anywhere).1
Both roles matter for home security. A Pi running as a VPN server can act as a "home gateway" — devices that don't support VPNs natively (smart TVs, game consoles, IoT gadgets) can route their traffic through the Pi and get encrypted. And if you're running a home server, a VPN client setup keeps your Pi's own traffic private, even on untrusted Wi-Fi.2
Here's what we recommend for each use case.
If you want to turn your Raspberry Pi into a VPN server without fighting with config files, PiVPN is the answer. It's an open-source installer script that wraps either WireGuard or OpenVPN into a menu-driven setup.2
You run one command, answer a few questions, and PiVPN generates client configs you can drop onto your phone, laptop, or any device. It handles certificate management, firewall rules, and routing automatically. For most people running a Pi at home, this is the fastest path to a working VPN server.
Best for: Anyone who wants a self-hosted VPN server without learning the internals.
WireGuard is the modern VPN protocol. It's built into the Linux kernel, uses modern cryptography, and has a codebase so small it can be audited by a single person.2
On a Raspberry Pi, WireGuard's low overhead matters. The Pi has limited CPU and memory, and WireGuard can saturate a Gigabit connection on a Pi 4 or Pi 5 — something OpenVPN struggles with. If you're using your Pi as a home server and need fast, low-latency remote access (SSH, file transfers, media streaming), WireGuard is the protocol you want under the hood.
PiVPN can install WireGuard for you. But you can also set it up manually in about 10 minutes.
Best for: Performance-sensitive setups where every megabit counts.
OpenVPN has been the standard for years. It's supported by virtually every VPN client and router firmware on the market, and it can be configured to run over TCP port 443 — which looks like regular HTTPS traffic to firewalls.2
On a Raspberry Pi, OpenVPN is slower than WireGuard, but it's more likely to work in restrictive network environments (hotels, corporate guest networks, countries with VPN blocking). If compatibility matters more than raw speed, OpenVPN is the safe choice.
PiVPN supports OpenVPN as an option, so you can switch between protocols depending on where you're connecting from.
Best for: Travelers and anyone connecting from heavily filtered networks.
Headscale is an open-source implementation of Tailscale's control server. It lets you manage a WireGuard-based mesh network without relying on a third-party coordination server.1
Instead of a traditional VPN where all traffic routes through a central server, Headscale creates a mesh: every device connects directly to every other device (where possible), using WireGuard under the hood. This is ideal if you have multiple Pis, laptops, and phones that all need to talk to each other securely.
The tradeoff is complexity. Headscale requires its own server setup and domain configuration. It's powerful, but it's not a beginner tool.
Best for: Advanced users running multi-device home labs.
A self-hosted VPN (PiVPN, WireGuard, OpenVPN) gives you full control. No logs, no third-party servers, no subscription fees — just your Pi and your internet connection. It's the best option for remote access to your home network (checking your security cameras, accessing files, SSHing into your server).2
A commercial VPN like NordVPN has a dedicated command-line app for Raspberry Pi OS, with features like ad blocking and malware filtering built in.1 It's the better choice when you want to hide your Pi's traffic from your ISP or access geo-restricted content. NordVPN is lightweight and well-suited for home servers.3
| Use case | Self-hosted VPN | Commercial VPN (NordVPN) |
|---|---|---|
| Remote access to home network | ✅ Best | ❌ Not designed for this |
| Hide traffic from ISP | ❌ Your home IP is the exit | ✅ Traffic exits at their server |
| Geo-unblocking | ❌ | ✅ |
| Cost | Free (hardware + power) | ~$3–$5/month |
| Privacy | You control the server | Trust provider's no-logs policy |
Most IoT devices — smart plugs, cameras, thermostats — have terrible security. They phone home to servers you don't control, and they can't run VPN clients themselves. A Raspberry Pi VPN server acts as a secure gateway: you route those devices' traffic through the Pi, encrypting everything before it leaves your network.2
The same Pi can also give you encrypted remote access to your home network without exposing services directly to the internet. That's a huge security win: instead of opening ports for SSH or your security camera dashboard, you connect to your VPN first, then access those services as if you were home.
Disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you sign up through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend tools we've tested and verified for the use cases described above.
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