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New releaseNov 6, 2026

SoftEtherVPN v5.2.5189

Cross-platform multi-protocol VPN server and client supporting SSL-VPN, WireGuard, OpenVPN, IPsec, L2TP, MS-SSTP, L2TPv3 and EtherIP with AES-256 encryption.

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SoftEther VPN

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SoftEther VPN (Developer Edition Master Repository)

This repository has experimental codes. Pull requests are welcome.

Stable Edition is available on https://github.com/SoftEtherVPN/SoftEtherVPN_Stable which the non-developer user can stable use.

Please note that some features are not available in Stable Edition.

Source code packages (.zip and .tar.gz) and binary files of Stable Edition are also available:
https://www.softether-download.com/

Copyright (c) all contributors on SoftEther VPN project in GitHub. Copyright (c) Daiyuu Nobori, SoftEther Project at University of Tsukuba, and SoftEther Corporation.


The development of SoftEther VPN was supported by the MITOH Project, a research and development project by Japanese Government, subsidized by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, administrated by Information Promotion Agency. https://www.ipa.go.jp/english/humandev/


https://icons8.com

Icons8 kindly supported the project by gifting a license which allows to edit and redistribute their icons.

Please note that you are not allowed to redistribute those icons outside of this repository.

The developers of SoftEther VPN love Icons8's work and kindly ask the users to support them as much as possible.


Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

SoftEther VPN ("SoftEther" means "Software Ethernet") is one of the world's most powerful and easy-to-use multi-protocol VPN software.

SoftEther VPN runs on Windows, Linux, Mac, FreeBSD and Solaris.

SoftEther VPN supports most of widely-used VPN protocols including SSL-VPN, WireGuard, OpenVPN, IPsec, L2TP, MS-SSTP, L2TPv3 and EtherIP by the single SoftEther VPN Server program.

More details on https://www.softether.org/.

BOARD MEMBERS OF THIS REPOSITORY

Daiyuu Nobori (Since Jan 2, 2014) https://github.com/dnobori

Moataz Elmasry (Since Nov 6, 2017) https://github.com/moatazelmasry2

Zulyandri Zardi (Since Nov 6, 2017) https://github.com/zulzardi

Alex Maslakov (Since Nov 6, 2017) https://github.com/GildedHonour

Davide Beatrici (Since Jul 21, 2018) https://github.com/davidebeatrici

Ilya Shipitsin (Since Jul 21, 2018) https://github.com/chipitsine

SOFTETHER VPN ADVANTAGES

  • Supporting all popular VPN protocols by the single VPN server: SSL-VPN (HTTPS) WireGuard OpenVPN IPsec L2TP MS-SSTP L2TPv3 EtherIP
  • Free and open-source software.
  • Easy to establish both remote-access and site-to-site VPN.
  • SSL-VPN Tunneling on HTTPS to pass through NATs and firewalls.
  • Revolutionary VPN over ICMP and VPN over DNS features.
  • Resistance to highly-restricted firewall.
  • Ethernet-bridging (L2) and IP-routing (L3) over VPN.
  • Embedded dynamic-DNS and NAT-traversal so that no static nor fixed IP address is required.
  • AES 256-bit and RSA 4096-bit encryptions.
  • Sufficient security features such as logging and firewall inner VPN tunnel.
  • User authentication with RADIUS and NT domain controllers.
  • User authentication with X.509 client certificate.
  • Packet logging.
  • 1Gbps-class high-speed throughput performance with low memory and CPU usage.
  • Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, iPhone, iPad and Windows Phone are supported.
  • The OpenVPN clone function supports legacy OpenVPN clients.
  • IPv4 / IPv6 dual-stack.
  • The VPN server runs on Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris and Mac OS X.
  • Configure All settings on GUI.
  • Multi-languages (English, Japanese and Simplified-Chinese).
  • No memory leaks. High quality stable codes, intended for long-term runs. We always verify that there are no memory or resource leaks before releasing the build.
  • More details at https://www.softether.org/.

Comparison with Stable Edition

ProtocolStable Edition (SE)Developer Edition (DE)Comment
SSL-VPN✅✅
OpenVPN✅✅AEAD mode is supported in DE only.
IPsec✅✅
L2TP✅✅
MS-SSTP✅✅
L2TPv3✅✅
EtherIP✅✅
WireGuard❌✅
IKEv2❌❌
FeatureStable Edition (SE)Developer Edition (DE)Comment
Password Authentication✅✅
RADIUS / NT Authentication✅✅
Certificate Authentication⚠️✅SE supports the feature in SSL-VPN only.
IPv6-capable VPN Tunnel⚠️✅SE supports IPv6 in L2 VPN tunnels only.
IPv4 Route Management✅✅Windows clients only
IPv6 Route Management❌✅Windows clients only
TLS Server Verification⚠️✅In SE you need to specify the exact certificate or CA to verify. DE can perform standard TLS verification and use the system CA store.
Dual-stack Name Resolution⚠️✅SE attempts in IPv6 only after IPv4 has failed.
ECDSA Certificates Import❌✅
Runs on Windows XP and Earlier✅❌
Compatible with SoftEther VPN 1.0✅❌
AES-NI Hardware Acceleration⚠️✅SE requires intel_aes_lib to enable AES-NI, so x86 only. In DE, enabled by default as long as processor supports it (at least x86 and ARM).

Installation

For FreeBSD

SoftEther VPN in FreeBSD Ports Collection is maintained by Koichiro Iwao (@metalefty).

Binary package can be installed by pkg:

pkg install softether5

Alternatively, it can be built & installed by ports:

make install -C /usr/ports/security/softether5

To run SoftEther VPN Server:

service softether_server start

To configure SoftEther VPN Server startup on boot:

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