Virtual Private Network vs SSH Tunneling

Developers should learn VPNs for secure remote access to corporate networks, testing geo-restricted applications, and protecting sensitive data during development meets developers should learn ssh tunneling when they need to securely access internal services (like databases, apis, or web servers) from a remote location, bypass network restrictions, or encrypt unencrypted traffic. Here's our take.

Virtual Private Network

Nice Pick

Developers should learn VPNs for secure remote access to corporate networks, testing geo-restricted applications, and protecting sensitive data during development

Pros

• Use cases include accessing internal APIs from home, simulating user locations for app testing, and securing connections on public Wi-Fi while coding
• Related to: network-security, encryption

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

SSH Tunneling

Developers should learn SSH tunneling when they need to securely access internal services (like databases, APIs, or web servers) from a remote location, bypass network restrictions, or encrypt unencrypted traffic

Pros

• It's particularly useful for connecting to development environments, accessing production resources securely, or creating temporary secure channels for debugging and testing
• Related to: ssh, network-security

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Virtual Private Network is a concept while SSH Tunneling is a tool. We picked Virtual Private Network based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Virtual Private Network wins

Based on overall popularity. Virtual Private Network is more widely used, but SSH Tunneling excels in its own space.