Pi 4 vs Pi 5 for PiVPN?

VPN
1

Hey all, I’m split between buying a Pi 4 vs 5 for setting up PiVPN. I’m not really familiar with the hardware requirements for VPN.

Are there any notable differences that I should be aware of when making my choice?

2

I run piVPN on both a 4 and a 5. I also monitor CPU usage. When pushing max speed over a gigabit internet connection I get about 350Mb/s using openVPN and CPU on the 4 reaches around 25%. Is you run Wiregaurd you will see even better speeds and lower CPU usage.

A 4 is fine.

A Minecraft server on the other hand (for an example) the difference between the 4 and the 5 was it not working and working.

3

CPU wise a pi3 is enough, which only has the drawback of having its NIC connected at USB 2 speed, which is enough if you only have a 100 Mbps WAN connection.

4

A rpi4 with WireGuard (wg-easy docker has a nice gui) can handle gigabit

Go here: https://www.reddit.com/r/openwrt/comments/l1m801/rpi4_openwrt_tips/.

Details towards the bottom

5

A pi zero can do this

6

I use a 3b for mine, works good enough. If you get a good deal on a 4b maybe, the 5 is way to overpowered for this

7

My pi 3b does its job just fine having deployed pivpn on it, opting for Wireguard as the vpn server.

However in my case, speed is nit of the essence, only connectivity is, to access devices on my home network, not to stream media.

Just tested copying a large file to my phone, while connected to 4G, with Wireguard. That maxed out on only 2MBps. When doing the same with wireguard connection enabled over wifi using my own internet connection it is 5MBps. Without the wireguard connection enabled, so normal, direct, local access, bypassing the pi vpn server, it is 15MBps.

As said never tested extensively (a phone is likely also not ideal), mainly used to RDP into main pc from my phone, or maybe get a small file.

8

You definitely don’t need a Pi 5 for PiVPN. I’m running Wireguard via PiVPN quite happily alongside other services on a 4GB Pi 4

9

I’d suggest to get a used thinclient for $20-$30 and use it. They’re cheap and doea great job.

10

My Pi 4 is more than enough, leaving aside enough headroom for a multitude of other services

11

Thank you! This is exactly the information I was looking for.

12

Thanks, I have fiber, so I would want support for 1000 Mbps.

If CPU doesn’t seem to be a bottleneck, then I think a pi4 would be more than enough right?

What about AES instructions on the pi5? Does that factor into any PiVPN performance gains?

I admittedly know nothing about this, but did see it mentioned in this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/pivpn/comments/17jysv1/raspberry_pi_5_8gb_openvpn_performance_tested/

13

The Pi3 is significantly slower than the Pi4.

14

What’s considered a good deal for the 4b 8gb model?

camelcamelcamel is showing the lowest price as $74.99.

15

You will not get anywhere near 1Gb on a Pi4. For that speed you will need to go x86.

16

Yes, which doesn’t invalidate my point that even a pi3 is enough for a VPN connection. Which is why OP was able to conclude that a pi4 is enough.

But you know the joke. There are two types of ppl. The one that can interpolate from incomplete data.

17

If you’re only running Wireguard, don’t waste money on an 8GB Pi 4. And even if you’re going to run other stuff too, you still probably don’t need 8GB

18

I’m not looking for 1G speeds, but if there’s a difference speed-wise between the pi4 and pi5, I wanted to know about it to make an informed decision. Seems like there is little to no difference.

19

I think you mean extrapolate, not interpolate

20

Thanks, good to know. I only plan to run Wireguard, so this will save me a bit of money.