VPN on the Hysteria protocol

What is Hysteria and Hysteria 2

Hysteria is an open-source VPN protocol first published in 2022 by Gideon Arnold and the QUIC developer community as an answer to poor WireGuard and OpenVPN performance on unstable networks. The second version, Hysteria 2 (2023 release), was redesigned from scratch: simplified authentication, removed the obfs layer (no longer needed thanks to QUIC-style camouflage), and rewrote congestion control from Brutal-v1 to Brutal-v2 — an aggressive scheme that behaves like TCP BBR but tuned for VPN traffic.

The core idea of Hysteria 2 isn't to be invisible as a VPN — it's to accept that UDP traffic will be visible and make it look as close to QUIC (HTTP/3) as possible. QUIC today is the standard transport for Google, YouTube, Facebook, Cloudflare, and most CDNs. ISPs can't blanket-block QUIC because it would break half the internet. Hysteria 2 uses standard QUIC libraries, a real TLS 1.3 handshake, and from passive observation its sessions are indistinguishable from regular browser activity.

Why Hysteria is faster

The main advantage of Hysteria 2 is Brutal congestion control. Classic TCP protocols (including OpenVPN and WireGuard over TCP) use TCP Cubic or BBR — algorithms that aggressively reduce speed on packet loss to be a good neighbor. On unstable networks, loss is the norm rather than an exception, and being a good neighbor turns into permanent slowdown.

Brutal ignores packet loss as a signal and only watches RTT. If latency holds steady, it keeps sending at full speed. That gives 2-3× the throughput of WireGuard on networks with 5-15% loss. On stable networks the difference is minimal (1.1-1.3×). Trade-off — Brutal is less fair to other connections on the same link, so Hysteria 2 has server-side rate limits to keep users from hurting each other.

How to connect via Lunaire

Easiest path — via Telegram bot. Open @lunairevpn_bot, hit Start, pick Get VPN. The bot returns a subscription URL like https://api.lunaire.app/sub/<token>. That URL contains configs not just for Hysteria 2 but for all fallback protocols — the client auto-picks Hysteria as primary and keeps the rest in standby for auto-switch.

Next — install a client. On Android — the native Lunaire app (Google Play or APK), it imports the subscription and connects in one tap. Alternative — Hiddify (hiddify.com). On iOS — Hiddify or Streisand from the App Store. On Windows/macOS/Linux — Hiddify Desktop or sing-box CLI. Same URL for all platforms.

Lunaire plans with Hysteria 2

Four tiers. Dusk — free, 500 MB/day, Hysteria 2 and other protocols included, 1 device, 1 relay zone. Twilight — $3/month, 1 TB of traffic, 5 devices, 3 zones. Midnight — $5/month, 5 TB, 20 devices, all 5 zones. Eclipse — $8/month, unlimited traffic and devices, dedicated servers on request. Full pricing, payment options (card, SBP, crypto, Telegram Stars) at pricing section.

Hysteria 2 across clients

Hiddify — best universal client, Hysteria 2 supported out of the box on all platforms. After subscription import the client picks Hysteria as primary. NekoBox (Android) — uses sing-box core, full Hysteria 2 support with advanced knobs (obfs password, custom ports). V2RayNG (Android) — Hysteria 2 supported from v1.9.0; older versions only do VLESS. sing-box CLI — for routers and servers, JSON config.

When Hysteria isn't the right fit

Some cases where Hysteria 2 loses to other protocols. Corporate networks with aggressive UDP blocks — Hysteria runs on UDP only, so if the egress firewall drops all UDP, Hysteria won't connect. Fix — Lunaire auto-switches to VLESS Reality (TCP/443), no user action needed. Heavily shaped mobile plans where the carrier deliberately throttles QUIC by fingerprint — same fallback to VLESS or WebSocket. Under normal conditions Hysteria 2 gives the best speed of all our protocols.

Frequently asked about Hysteria VPN