OVPN was founded in 2014 by David Wibergh in Stockholm, Sweden, originally operated by OVPN Integritet AB. The company built its reputation on a fundamentally different approach to VPN infrastructure: rather than renting servers from third-party data centers, OVPN physically owns and operates all its hardware. Every server runs diskless, booting entirely into RAM with no hard drives attached. This design means that even if a server were physically seized, no user data could be extracted from it.
This claim was put to the test in a real legal proceeding. In 2020, the Rights Alliance, representing Swedish film companies AB Svensk Filmindustri and Nordisk Film, sought a court order to force OVPN to identify which account holder had been assigned a specific IP address on June 2, 2020, in connection with Pirate Bay activity. The Patent and Market Court in Stockholm ruled definitively in OVPN's favor, finding that independent security experts hired by the plaintiffs could not identify any weaknesses in OVPN's systems that would suggest logs were being stored. The court also determined that OVPN is not classified as an internet service provider, meaning EU data retention directives do not apply. The plaintiffs were ordered to pay OVPN's legal fees of 108,000 SEK (approximately $12,300).
On the protocol front, OVPN supports both OpenVPN (UDP and TCP) and WireGuard, with WireGuard serving as the default on mobile clients since February 2020. OpenVPN connections use AES-256-GCM encryption with 4096-bit RSA key exchange and perfect forward secrecy, re-keying every 45 to 75 minutes. The service handles all DNS resolution internally rather than proxying to third parties, and supports DNSCrypt. Independent leak testing has found no IPv4, IPv6, or WebRTC leaks. A system-level kill switch is enabled by default across all desktop and mobile clients.
The server network remains OVPN's most obvious weakness. With approximately 96 servers across 29 regions, it is a fraction of the size offered by major competitors. For users who need broad geographic coverage or connections in less common regions, this is a real limitation. Speed performance is generally strong, with users reporting throughput above 500 Mbps on fast connections, though results vary by server load and proximity. OVPN successfully unblocks Netflix US, Hulu, Disney+, and several Nordic streaming services, but fails with BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, and Amazon Prime Video in testing.
The most significant development in OVPN's recent history is its acquisition by Pango in May 2023. Pango is the US-based parent company of Hotspot Shield, Betternet, and several other VPN products. This is concerning because Hotspot Shield was previously reported to the FTC by the Center for Democracy and Technology for deceptive logging and data-sharing practices, and Betternet has been flagged for tracking libraries. OVPN's founder stated that the service would continue operating independently with the same team and infrastructure, and that customer data would remain on OVPN-operated servers. However, the shift from an independent Swedish company to a subsidiary of a US-based conglomerate with a mixed privacy track record represents a material change in the trust model.
Pricing sits above the market average. The monthly plan costs $11.00, dropping to $4.99 per month on an annual subscription. The base plan includes only 4 simultaneous connections, though this increases by one for each year of continuous subscription. A 10-day money-back guarantee is offered, which is notably shorter than the 30-day window most competitors provide. Multi-hop routing is available as a paid add-on on monthly plans but included with longer subscriptions. Split tunneling is not currently supported.
OVPN deserves credit for its transparency practices. The company has published monthly transparency reports since October 2014, documenting every legal request received and how it was handled. It accepts anonymous payment via Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero, and even physical cash by mail. The Linux support is also notably broad, covering Ubuntu, Debian, Manjaro, Fedora, CentOS, FreeBSD, and Raspberry Pi.
For privacy-focused users who prioritize verified no-logs infrastructure over server count and streaming versatility, OVPN remains a technically sound choice. The court-proven logging claims and diskless server architecture are genuine differentiators that few competitors can match. The Pango acquisition, however, introduces uncertainty that prospective users should weigh carefully.