One of the main differences of how SPN actually handles connections vs a VPN is that SPN routes all outbound connections completely individually . Whereas all VPN connections are routed through exactly the same hops (1 or 2 or 3).
In my 2hr of experience using SPN I can wholeheartedly say that this is a superior method of privacy based routing based on the speed (no other factors taken into account)
With my previous ProtonVPN connections I would only occasionally saturate my ISP DL/UL speed.With SPN I have been routinely saturating my ISP UL/DL speed.
This does fluctuate massively, and I have only been testing for 2 hours granted. But this is already an extremely positive experience.
One important caveat is that the individual connections never come close to my ISP UL/DL speed. But the fact that on aggregate I can actually use what I’m paying my ISP for is refreshing.And the best part is that whilst the SPN network is small and relatively slow currently (relative to full broadband speeds), you can add rules to specific use cases to exclude them from the SPN. Say if you need to use SFTP for an offsite backup server, or to download Steam games.
All in all, I am extremely impressed with SPN and Portmaster (Including all the features and experiences not mentioned here)
Well done guys!
I signed up to support Safing as I believe in the mission, but my experience so far has seen my speeds drop by like 90%. Still need to use it more and I understand its an alpha - but with ProtonVPN I get like 100mbps and with SPN I am getting around 10mbps.
However I love the app and look forward to seeing how the SPN evolves - great work and thank you to the devs!!!
Thanks for the feedback,
And be assured that the speed of the SPN is currently one of our main focuses in the SPN development.
But on the note of SPN speeds there is an important part that I would like to add here as well.
One of the main differences between the SPN and VPNs and Tor is that the SPN creates multiple tunnels.
therefore the speeds you are measuring in one SPN tunnel is NOT the total speed you are getting. Its on a per tunnel basis. So yes, one download has the measured max download speed you two were reporting, but you would still have approximately the same amount available for each other tunnel.
But we still see the low speeds as a Bug that needs to be fixed, and we are on it.
Thanks for reporting in your experiences!
I bought a yearly pro license to support the people behind Portmaster. The SPN is technically impressive (as is Tor), but the speed is not good. Ping 137ms, up/dl about 20% of my normal (1 gives dl, 50mbit up - yes I know this is Germany, you won’t get any affordable real upload speeds) speeds. ProtonVPN: Ping 17, up/dl almost 100%.
Nevertheless, I hope that this will improve in the future. I would have liked to set up an SPN node on my server, but I don’t think it would be worth it because I only have a small UL.
Maybe this is a question of personal scale?
I constantly have many many tabs open and use torrents extensively.So in my case I have many many small things going on simultaneously.Maybe this is akin to the concept of multithreading?
I will just expand on my 5th paragraph about the caveat of the individual connections never come close to my ISP UL/DL speed.I am seeing individual connections reaching 4 Mbps 15 Mbps which is obviously kinda slow depending on what you’re used to.
Like I said in the same paragraph for stuff like large SFTP transfers or even Steam downloads, you can just exclude the connection from SPN.So I am personally satisfied with the experience I’m having.
Obviously there is much room for improvement on speeds, but an alpha service will be alpha.And like you said we’re all signing up to support Safing because we believe in their goals.
Edit: Updated max throughput from 4Mbps to 15Mbps (Due to new observations)
thank you for the encouragement! I forwarded it to the team!
The community free version uses this “multiple tunnels” feature? Because there is an (X) in “Multiple Identities” in the prices tab and I got confused
Yep! I also need to fiddle with it more, was just a bit jarring at first to see that drop off… not sure my personal threat model or needs are willing to take a 90% hit 
Either way its 100 bucks well spent for Portmaster alone!
the 
means no and the 
means yes
So there is no tunneling or onion routing in the free version.
This doens’t means that in the free version SPN is basically same as other normal VPN’s?
Either way its 100 bucks well spent for Portmaster alone!
means no and the 
means yes