If you have ever taken interest in theGreat Firewall of China, you have probably heard of Shadowsocks.
What Is Shadowsocks?
Since then, Shadowsocks has remained open source, maintained and improved by many collaborators.
How Is Shadowsocks Different from VPN?
VPN uses many layers of military-grade encryption protocols to completely hide the traffic on its servers.
Shadowsocks makes data ‘blank’ to look more like HTTPS traffic, so that it can move around unrestricted.
It is not hidden, like on VPN, just disguised.
Shadowsocks is also completely open source, with contributors making improvements regularly.
Regardless of this, it’s possible to access websites that are specifically designed for China.
A case in point is Apple’s removal of VPN apps from its App Store in China.
What is a threat model?
Shadowsocks doesn’t enhance your online privacy or security.
It should only be used if bypassing censorship is your primary objective.
One could argue that it wasnt designed for such functionality, and we agree.This is whereVPN outshinesShadowsocks.
When Is VPN the Better Choice?
When compared to Shadowsocks, VPN is the mainstream technology.
Its widespread and its effectiveness is well-documented and indisputable.
If you want to learn more about VPNs extensive capabilities, we recommend you check out ourbeginners guide.
To sum up, Shadowsocks is a great way of bypassing digital censorship.
To summarize, the best VPNs in 2025 are…
Your data is exposed to the websites you visit!
Visit ExpressVPN
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