A lot of online games for PC have been designed with the idea of local multiplayer (whether it’s with split screen gaming, or something else) in mind. Rather than always hooking up to the internet, you can just get together with your buddies, connect each system to a LAN router, and play your hearts out in the multiplayer game of your choice. Sadly though, if you’re away from your friends, the only option is to hook up to an online public server. There’s always the choice of creating your own server, but it requires port forwarding on your router, which might not be everyone’s cup of tea. As such, Virtual LAN Creators come into mind, and the name Hamachi is the first one to pop up. Hamachi has been around for quite a while now and is the most preferred choice of many gamers.
1. ZeroTier
- ZeroTier
- PlayHide VPN
- GameRanger
- NetOverNet
- Wippien
- Parsec
- FreeLAN
- SoftEther
- Radmin VPN
- P2PVPN
- Port Forwarding
- Play Together
Download (Free, Professional Plan – $49/month)
What started as a project back in 1999 for the macOS, and later expanded to PC gaming in the fall of 2008, GameRanger is one of the most trust worthy LAN gaming solutions available to users and is one of the top alternatives to Hamachi. While the client may be shy with the overall number of features offered in comparison to its competitors, the level of security and stability of GameRanger is unmatched. This is because unlike other Virtual LAN gaming clients that utilize various drivers to emulate LAN gaming, GameRanger does it internally via its client. The upside is that there are very low pings and high security.
With NetOverNet, each device has its own login/password for a connection and is accessible in the user’s virtual network by an IP address defined in the private area. And despite it not being developed with the gamer’s perspective, the client does perform fairly well for gaming purposes.
As far as the gaming uses are concerned, you can directly use it for any game that makes use of a local network for multiplayer gaming. And the best part? Coming in at just 2 MB, the software is one of the lightest VPN creators out there, which, take my word for it, works really well.
I can assure you that Parsec does not have any kind of latency problems like Hamachi. Apart from that, you can find gamers on the internet and play a range of Arcade games together using its matchmaking service. Basically, play games with anyone, anywhere in the world. So if you are looking for the best Hamachi alternative then definitely try out Parsec.
As far as the gaming front is concerned, games run smoothly without any lag, and there are no sudden ping spikes. Overall, it is one of the most extensive yet simple to use VPN creator out there and works well as a free alternative to Hamachi.
Download (Free)
10. P2PVPN
As mentioned previously, Port Forwarding is the best method to simulate Virtual LAN for multiplayer gaming. That being said, the process behind it can be tedious for some, and it differs for everyone. Most manufacturers offer a solution within their firmware to do port forwarding, but it differs from router to router. The general procedure is to go to your router’s settings by entering 192.168.1.1 and then heading over to the port forwarding section.
