Best VPN for Raspberry Pi: Providers, WireGuard and OpenVPN Setup

Five providers that list Raspberry Pi support

The page order differs from the overall ranking because ecosystem carries 35% of the page weight. Mysterium's platform mark of 8.0 pushes it to first place even though its privacy subindex sits at 2.7.

Where the leaders lose points

The core problem on this page: no service on it has an independent no-logs audit, four do not say whether they have one, and OVPN states it has none. OVPN makes up some ground with a transparency report, a case where no-logs was proven in practice and sign-up without email. Its sharpest weakness is the censorship bypass score of 0.5, since it lists no obfuscation and none of VLESS/Reality, Trojan, Hysteria2 or Shadowsocks. RayaVPN's security score is 0 because kill switch, DNS leak protection, WireGuard, RAM-only servers and audits are all not stated.

Setting up the client on Raspberry Pi OS

Raspberry Pi OS is Debian-based and ships both 64-bit (arm64) and 32-bit (armhf) images, so any provider package must be built for ARM. An amd64 .deb will not install. On a headless board you drive everything from the terminal anyway.

WireGuard is the lightest route. It has been in the Linux kernel since 5.6, so you only need apt install wireguard-tools, the profile in /etc/wireguard/, and systemctl enable wg-quick@wg0 to bring the tunnel up at boot. The WireGuard quick start is the reference for the config file format. WireGuard also costs noticeably less of the Pi's CPU than OpenVPN. For OpenVPN: apt install openvpn, then sudo openvpn --config file.ovpn. Readers running Linux on a desktop or server will find more app-based options in the Linux VPN ranking.

If you administer the Pi over SSH, make the first connection from your local network. A full tunnel can end your remote session the moment it comes up.

Closing leaks without a vendor app

A raw config file gives you encryption and nothing else: no kill switch, no DNS leak protection unless you add them. On this page only two of five services document a kill switch and two document DNS protection, so write your own firewall rules (nftables or iptables) that let packets out only through the tunnel interface, and pin DNS inside the profile. CloudVPN Pro makes the point for you: a DNS leak was found, and it keeps connection logs for 96 hours.

Running the whole home network through the Pi

The same Pi can act as a gateway for devices that cannot run a VPN app: consoles, smart TVs, IoT gadgets. The recipe is short. Turn on IP forwarding, write a NAT rule, then set the Pi as the gateway via your router's DHCP. Pi 4 and Pi 5 have gigabit Ethernet; older models and the Zero are slower.

VPN client on the Pi, or your own server with PiVPN

PiVPN flips the job: it turns the board into a WireGuard or OpenVPN server for remote access into your home network. That needs a forwarded port on the router (51820 for WireGuard, 1194 for OpenVPN) plus a static IP or dynamic DNS. Traffic still exits through your home ISP, so it neither changes your location nor hides your home IP. Our page on the comparison of self-hosted VPNs covers that direction in detail.

Prices, refunds and trials

The cheapest plan is RayaVPN at €0.86 a month and the median sits at €2.86. Trials exist at UpVPN (7 days) and CloudVPN Pro (24 hours, code by email). The only free plan is CloudVPN Pro's mobile, ad-supported one, useless on a Pi.

FAQ

Short answer

Mysterium Network leads this page at 5.13, OVPN follows at 4.03 and RayaVPN at 3.64, though OVPN scores 0.5 for censorship bypass. Pick WireGuard where the provider offers it, since it leaves more CPU free than OpenVPN. Add a firewall kill switch and DNS rules to any raw profile. Keep PiVPN for remote access into your network, not for changing your location.