How HulyNet differs
People ask us for “the OpenVPN file”. There is none: HulyNet is a different technology. Here is how it differs from what you may know, and where others are ahead for now.
1 In short
- A network, not a tunnel to one server. Your computer joins a network that spans countries, and each connection leaves it where it is served best: a site in Russia from Russia, the rest from another country.
- Nothing to import. No
.ovpnfile, no QR code, novless://link: one line installs the program with all its settings, and the invite code only registers your computer with us. - The key is made on your computer and never leaves it. It cannot be forwarded, lost with a file, or lent to someone else.
- The whole computer goes through HulyNet, DNS too, and if the connection breaks, nothing leaks. That is built in, not a setting of an app.
- Computers connect directly when they can, and otherwise through our relay (a server that passes the traffic on), over HTTPS.
- Not disguised yet. The traffic is encrypted (QUIC, the protocol HTTP/3 runs on), but a careful observer can tell HulyNet by how its connections begin. Disguise is our next step; here VLESS with REALITY is ahead for now.
2 Side by side
| What you get | What an observer sees | In Russia now¹ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| HulyNet | one line and an invite code | QUIC to our server; how it begins is recognizable for now | what we are testing with you |
| OpenVPN | an .ovpn file with keys | the recognizable OpenVPN protocol | usually blocked |
| WireGuard | a file or QR code with a key | recognizable WireGuard packets | usually blocked |
| AmneziaWG | a file or QR code with a key | WireGuard, hidden behind random packets | made against blocking; results vary |
| VLESS + REALITY | a vless:// link or subscription | ordinary HTTPS to a popular site | the most resilient, but blocking waves reach it too |
| Tailscale | a login with Google, Microsoft, GitHub… | recognizable WireGuard | not made against blocking |
¹ From reports by users and researchers, 2023–2026 (sources at the end of the page). They vary from provider to provider and change over time. During mobile-internet shutdowns with whitelists, almost none of these work, HulyNet included.
3 OpenVPN
The classic VPN: the OpenVPN app, and an .ovpn file holding the server’s address and
the keys. Whoever gets a copy of the file can connect as you. All traffic goes to one
server, and whether anything leaks when the connection drops depends on the app.
OpenVPN’s protocol is easy to recognize, and since 2023 users of several Russian
providers have reported ordinary OpenVPN connections being blocked.
HulyNet: no file and no shared secret: the key is on your computer only.
4 WireGuard
A fast, simple VPN, built into Linux. Its settings are a short file or a QR code with a key. WireGuard does not try to hide: its packets are recognizable by their shape, and the same reports say ordinary WireGuard is blocked in Russia like OpenVPN.
HulyNet: a different protocol (QUIC), a key that is never sent anywhere, and computers that connect directly when they can.
5 AmneziaWG
WireGuard from the Amnezia VPN team, changed against blocking. Before a connection begins it sends random “junk” packets, adds random bytes and alters packet headers, so that a filter does not recognize WireGuard in it. You connect with a file or a QR code with a key, as before.
HulyNet: we have no disguise of this kind yet. But there is no file with a key either, and the whole computer and its DNS are protected by default.
6 VLESS and REALITY (Xray)
A proxy protocol from the Xray world, made against censorship. REALITY makes a
connection look like ordinary HTTPS to a real, popular site: the server borrows that
site’s handshake and certificate, and shows the site itself to anyone who checks without
the key. You connect with a vless:// link or a subscription in an app such as v2rayN,
Hiddify or NekoBox; the link is the key. It is the most resilient way in Russia now, but
reports say blocking waves reach it too: some setups, and nearly all of them during
whitelist shutdowns.
HulyNet: REALITY is ahead here: HulyNet does not pose as someone else’s site yet. But HulyNet is not a proxy for some apps: it is a network for the whole computer, with no link that can be forwarded.
7 Tailscale
HulyNet’s closest relative in design: a private network of your devices, which connect directly, or through relays when they cannot. An “exit node” can carry all traffic. You log in with a Google, Microsoft, GitHub or other account, and Tailscale’s coordination server hands out the devices’ public keys and addresses. It is built on WireGuard and was not made against blocking.
HulyNet: no account, and no central server handing out keys: a network’s owner lists the computers that may use it (for testers, our server), and computers announce their own addresses. A different transport (QUIC, through the iroh library), and we build HulyNet as a network that spans countries, for places that block too.
8 Sources
How the other technologies work, from their own documentation:
- Amnezia: AmneziaWG
- Xray: REALITY
- Tailscale: DERP servers
What is blocked in Russia, from reports by users and researchers on the net4people forum:
- OpenVPN and WireGuard blocked at several providers, August 2023
- a new method of blocking: servers at foreign hosting providers
- whitelists of the mobile Internet
Found something inaccurate? Tell us in the testers’ chat, and we will fix it.