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VPNSmith Guides & Benchmarks

Understand how a WireGuard tunnel works, what a GDPR VPS truly costs, and how to forge your own infra. Long-form, sourced, kept up to date.

All · 12Self-host VPN · 8VPS Comparisons · 2Cloud Privacy · 2

Electronic board with visible printed circuits

FeaturedSelf-host VPN2026-06-02

WireGuard vs OpenVPN on VPS: real iperf3 benchmarks 2026

100 iperf3 runs on Contabo VPS S, Orange 1 Gbps fiber Paris → Nuremberg. WireGuard wins on throughput (-4% vs raw link) and latency (+18ms). OpenVPN: -27% throughput.

10 min readRead the article

Electronic board with soldered components, industrial forge vibe

Self-host VPN

2026-06-028 min

Ready-to-use WireGuard config templates 2026

8 production-tested wg0.conf templates: home VPN, travel kill-switch, multi-peer, hub-and-spoke, MTU tuning. Copy, paste, adapt. Five-minute setup.

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Laptop with padlock, security monitoring

Self-host VPN

2026-06-027 min

Monitor your VPS VPN with Prometheus + Grafana (2026)

Full monitoring stack: node_exporter, wireguard_exporter, Grafana dashboards, uptime/throughput alerts, Discord webhook integration. 30-min setup.

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Dark screen with code lines, network security vibe

Self-host VPN

2026-06-027 min

Linux VPN kill switch with iptables and systemd (2026)

Netfilter kill switch dropping all out-of-tunnel WireGuard traffic. Ordered systemd service, VPN interface exception, reconnect test. Zero leak guaranteed.

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Laptop on table showing network configuration screen

Self-host VPN

2026-06-027 min

Split-tunnel VPN with routing tables (ip-rule + ip-route) 2026

Linux split-tunnel via fwmark + ip rule: route apps through VPN vs ISP direct. Netflix bypass + work VPN cases. Setup scripts and best practices.

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Orange network cables in a server rack, datacenter ambiance

Self-host VPN

2026-06-027 min

Self-host VPN on Contabo: complete WireGuard guide 2026

Step-by-step WireGuard setup on a Contabo VPS (€4.99/mo). Bootstrap scripts, UFW, fail2ban, macOS/iOS/Linux/Windows clients. Honest limits vs commercial VPN.

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Blue-lit fiber optic cables in a dark datacenter

Self-host VPN

2026-06-029 min

Custom VPN routing on Contabo: DPI bypass Iran / China 2026

Plain WireGuard is detected by sophisticated DPI. Here are 3 tested Contabo setups (V2Ray + WS + TLS, Cloak, Shadowsocks 2022) to bypass GFW and SmartFilter.

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Electronic board with visible printed circuits, technical comparison

VPS Comparisons

2026-06-027 min

OpenVPN vs WireGuard: deep technical comparison 2026

OpenVPN vs WireGuard technical deep-dive: cipher, handshake, kernel vs userspace, mobile battery, audit history, real Mbps + latency benchmarks on Contabo VPS.

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Cloud Privacy

2026-06-029 min

AWS to Contabo migration: 2026 cost optimization guide

Step-by-step procedure to migrate an EC2 + RDS + S3 stack to Contabo VPS + self-hosted Postgres + S3-compatible storage. Measured ROI: 78% savings over 12 months.

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Server rack powered on with green and blue LEDs

VPS Comparisons

2026-06-027 min

Contabo vs Hetzner vs OVH: Europe VPS for self-hosted VPN 2026

Detailed 12-criteria comparison: price, iperf3 performance, GDPR jurisdiction, support. Verdict after 14 months of production on all three providers.

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Terminal screen with shell commands, VPS setup vibe

Self-host VPN

2026-06-026 min

Contabo VPS VPN setup step by step (Ubuntu 22.04) — 2026 guide

Complete tutorial: order Contabo VPS S, harden SSH + UFW, install WireGuard, generate peers, test for leaks. 20 minutes, scripts included.

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Digital globe with glowing connection lines

Cloud Privacy

2026-06-026 min

Privacy-first cloud hosting 2026: 5 GDPR alternatives to AWS

Contabo, Hetzner, Scaleway, OVH, Vultr Frankfurt — jurisdiction, audit, no-logs and GDPR compliance compared. Our top pick and why.

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