Documentation

A Hamachi alternative: the virtual LAN, modernized

Hamachi taught a whole generation that a local network didn't need cables: a few clicks, a shared identifier, and scattered machines found each other "as if on a LAN". If you're looking for a Hamachi alternative today, VIGIL-MESH takes that sound idea and rebuilds it on modern foundations: an end-to-end encrypted mesh, a real broadcast domain, zero ports to open, clients from Windows to the browser — free for personal use.

Why Hamachi was loved

Hamachi — a LogMeIn product, now GoTo — pioneered the consumer virtual LAN. Its stroke of genius: turning an expert's problem (linking machines behind different routers and NATs) into a simple gesture, accessible to anyone who could install software. You created a network, shared its name, and the machines saw each other.

LAN games between friends: host a "local network" game and watch it appear on everyone else's screen, each player at home.
Remote access to your own machines: reaching the PC left at home, its files, its remote desktop.
Small networks of friends or family: a handful of machines in different households behaving as if they shared one segment.

None of these three uses has gone away — if anything they have multiplied. What changed is the context: Hamachi remains a product of an earlier generation of networking tools, and its free version is limited in the number of machines per network. Hence the question many people ask: what should replace it, without losing what made it unique?

What we expect from a successor today

Replacing Hamachi doesn't mean finding the same software with a different icon: it means finding the same simplicity built to today's standards. Four requirements stand out.

Present-day encryption

End-to-end encrypted sessions on modern, auditable protocols — not a tunnel where you can't tell what the intermediate infrastructure sees.

Discovery, not just connectivity

Reaching a machine by its address isn't enough: what made the LAN was broadcast — games announcing themselves, printers showing up, devices finding each other on their own.

Multi-platform, browser included

A friend group's or household's fleet is no longer just Windows PCs: a successor has to cover Linux, Android, small machines — and ideally work where nothing can be installed, in a browser tab.

Zero network configuration

No port to open, no forwarding rule on the router, no settings to dictate over the phone: the original promise, but kept even behind the carrier-grade NAT (CGNAT) of 4G/5G connections.

The VIGIL-MESH approach

VIGIL-MESH is a mesh VPN over QUIC: your machines form a private network where traffic goes directly peer to peer whenever a path exists. Sessions are end-to-end encrypted QUIC/TLS 1.3 connections with a hybrid post-quantum key establishment (X25519 + ML-KEM); when the direct path isn't there yet, a structurally blind relay — the vigie, which you can self-host — carries the flows without ever being able to read them, then the session migrates seamlessly to the direct path.

On that foundation, each use that made Hamachi valuable finds its modernized equivalent:

LAN gaming

Every network is a real broadcast domain: encrypted broadcast and multicast reach every member as if they shared a switch, and local games appear on their own. Multicast is encrypted with rotating sender keys.

Remote access to your machines

Each machine keeps a stable address (in the 100.64.0.0/10 range) and a MagicDNS name: remote desktop, shares and SSH are reached as if local, with nothing exposed to the Internet. From the console, an SSH terminal and an RDP desktop open right in the browser tab.

Small friend and family networks

One workspace, invitations, and deny-by-default access policies (ACLs): each member only reaches what has been opened to them. The simplicity of a shared network, without blind trust between machines.

Zero inbound ports, everywhere

A single outbound flow on 443 UDP, including behind a consumer router or a mobile connection on CGNAT. Immediate connection through the relay, seamless migration to the direct path: nothing to open, nothing to justify.

Get started in five steps

1
Create an accountOpen a VIGIL-MESH account — free for personal use. A workspace is created for you: that will be your network.
2
Install the clientInstall the client on the machines involved: Windows, Linux, Android or Jetson. The browser can serve as an access point with nothing to install, through the console.
3
Enroll each machineIn the console, Networks → Machines → "Add a machine": a one-time key enrolls the machine into your network.
4
VerifyEach machine receives its stable address and its MagicDNS name. A ping between two members confirms the mesh is up.
5
Use your virtual LANReach a service through the machine's address or name, as if local — or host a game in LAN mode and watch it appear on everyone else's screen.

At no point did you touch a router, open a port or dictate an IP address over the phone: that is the virtual LAN promise, kept end to end.

Frequently asked questions

Is VIGIL-MESH free, like Hamachi's free version was?

Yes, VIGIL-MESH is free for personal use. Direct peer-to-peer traffic is unlimited; only traffic that transits through the relay is subject to a quota. Rebuilding a network with friends or reaching your own machines is exactly that kind of use.

Will my old LAN games work like they did with Hamachi?

Yes. Every VIGIL network is a real broadcast domain: the game announcement sent by the host reaches every member as if they shared a switch, and the "local games" screen fills up with no configuration on the game's side. A whole page is devoted to this case: "LAN gaming over VPN: the mesh that actually broadcasts".

Do I need to open ports or configure my router?

No. Each machine only makes outbound connections, on port 443 over UDP — the same port as the modern web. The connection starts immediately through a relay, then migrates seamlessly to the direct path as soon as NAT traversal succeeds. No port forwarding, no DMZ, no router settings.

Can I reach my PC remotely, the way I used to with Hamachi?

Yes. Each machine keeps a stable address on the mesh and a MagicDNS name: you reach your remote desktop, file shares or SSH as if you were on the local network — without exposing anything to the Internet. From the console, an SSH terminal and an RDP desktop even open directly in a browser tab.

Which platforms does the client run on?

Windows, Linux, Android and NVIDIA Jetson — plus the browser itself, thanks to a WASM node usable through the console with nothing to install. Hamachi was first and foremost a PC tool; a successor has to follow your machines wherever they live.