Which VPN protocol is best in 2026: VLESS, Reality, WireGuard, OpenVPN
A comparison of VPN protocols for Russia: why OpenVPN and WireGuard get blocked, what VLESS with Reality and XHTTP are, how entering through a CDN helps, and which of these Surok VPN uses.
A protocol is the language your device speaks to the VPN server. It decides whether the provider recognises the conversation and cuts it off. Here are the main ones, briefly.
OpenVPN and IKEv2
The classics, reliable and old. Each has a recognisable fingerprint, and the provider's equipment knows it. In Russia such connections are dropped or slowed to zero. Fine for a home router abroad, not for getting past blocking from here.
WireGuard
Fast and simple, but noticeable too: its packets have a characteristic structure. Blocked by most Russian carriers. There are wrappers that disguise it, but those are half-measures.
VLESS + Reality
The modern approach: the connection looks like an ordinary HTTPS connection to a real popular site. The provider's equipment, peeking inside, sees the real certificate of a real site and lets it through. This is the main way into Surok's burrow.
XHTTP and WebSocket
The same VLESS, but the traffic is packed into ordinary HTTP requests. That way it can travel through a CDN, that is, through networks on the carriers' whitelists. This is our "Europe · auto".
Trojan
Another way to hide under HTTPS, with a real certificate on our own domain. We keep it as a backup entry.
Which one to choose
You don't need to choose: the Surok app gets all the entry methods at once and switches between servers as you pick, and the list updates itself when we add a new entry. If one protocol starts getting caught, the others keep working.
About speed
All modern protocols give the full speed of your home connection; the difference is a few percent. What matters far more is where the entry is and how loaded the exit is. More on the locations page.