ntop/n2n

Health v2 · maintenance only

Adoption not part of the score

7005 stars · 1014 forks observed · 2026-08-28

What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded

n2n is a lightweight peer-to-peer VPN written in C that creates encrypted virtual networks capable of bypassing intermediate firewalls. It uses a supernode for peer discovery and relaying, while edge nodes establish direct UDP connections when possible.

Use cases

• create a virtual LAN between remote machines
• connect home and office computers behind firewalls
• set up a private encrypted overlay network
• bypass restrictive NAT devices to link peers
• run a self-hosted VPN with a lightweight supernode
• join multiple machines into communities over the internet

When to choose

• you need a lightweight, fast VPN in C with minimal dependencies
• you want peer-to-peer connections with NAT traversal instead of routing all traffic through a server
• you need to link machines across firewalls without a full VPN infrastructure
• you want community-based multi-network support on a single supernode

When to avoid

• you need a full-featured enterprise VPN with GUI management
• you require OpenVPN/WireGuard protocol compatibility
• you need site-to-site routing of entire subnets with advanced policy controls
• you prefer a VPN with extensive third-party audit history

Facets

application · maturity active

vpn networking p2p cryptography security networking security privacy self-hosted windows cross-platform cli peer-to-peer vpn supernode edge-nodes virtual-network nat-traversal firewall-bypass encryption c linux macos

Member repositories

For agents

markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="ntop/n2n")