Pritunl — Enterprise VPN Server with Web Management

Introduction

Pritunl is a self-hosted VPN platform built on OpenVPN and WireGuard. It offers a clean web dashboard for managing users, servers, and organizations, removing the need to edit configuration files manually. It targets teams and businesses that want a private VPN without relying on a third-party service.

What Pritunl Does

• Deploys OpenVPN and WireGuard VPN servers through a web UI
• Manages users, organizations, and multi-factor authentication from the dashboard
• Supports multi-server and multi-cloud VPN peering across regions
• Provides client profiles that users can import with one click
• Logs connection events and bandwidth usage per user

Architecture Overview

Pritunl is written in Python and uses MongoDB as its configuration and session store. The web dashboard runs on a built-in HTTPS server. Each VPN server instance is managed as a subprocess, with Pritunl handling certificate generation, IP assignment, and routing rules. WireGuard and OpenVPN run side by side and can serve the same user base.

Self-Hosting and Configuration

• Install from the official repository on Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, or Amazon Linux
• Requires a MongoDB instance (local or hosted) for storing configuration
• Access the web UI on port 443 and complete the initial setup wizard
• Create an organization, add users, and attach them to a server
• Distribute generated .ovpn or WireGuard profiles to end users

Key Features

• Supports both OpenVPN and WireGuard protocols on the same server
• Built-in two-factor authentication with TOTP and Duo integration
• Site-to-site VPN peering for linking cloud VPCs and on-premise networks
• Single sign-on via SAML, Okta, OneLogin, and Azure AD
• Horizontal scaling with linked servers across multiple hosts

Comparison with Similar Tools

• WireGuard (raw) — lightweight protocol but no management UI; Pritunl adds user management and a dashboard
• OpenVPN Access Server — commercial product with similar features; Pritunl is open-source
• Headscale — self-hosted Tailscale control plane using WireGuard; Pritunl also supports OpenVPN and has a richer admin UI
• Firezone — WireGuard-only VPN with web UI; Pritunl supports both WireGuard and OpenVPN

FAQ

Q: Is Pritunl free? A: The core server is open-source and free. Enterprise features like SSO and advanced logging require a paid subscription.

Q: Which VPN protocol should I choose? A: WireGuard offers better performance and lower latency. OpenVPN provides broader compatibility with older devices.

Q: Can I run Pritunl in Docker? A: Community Docker images exist, though the official recommendation is native package installation for production.

Q: How many users can a single server handle? A: A single Pritunl server can handle hundreds of concurrent VPN connections depending on hardware and bandwidth.

Sources

• https://github.com/pritunl/pritunl
• https://pritunl.com