Est. 2006 · Toronto, Canada

About Us

At Psiphon, we believe that everyone deserves secure and unrestricted access to the open Internet.

For two decades, we have built technology that helps people bypass censorship, access unfettered information, and stay connected, especially when governments or other actors attempt to restrict online communications. Today, millions of people around the world rely on Psiphon every day to reach the information, services, and communities that matter most.

Privacy, security, and resilience are core to Psiphon technology. Every protocol is designed to protect users while adapting to increasingly sophisticated forms of Internet censorship. Psiphon Inc. is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, where our team continues to develop technologies that protect access to a free and open Internet.

Built for Internet Freedom

Psiphon began as a research project at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Researchers set out to answer a simple but powerful question: how can ordinary people help each other overcome Internet censorship? The original version was an easy-to-use proxy that individuals could run to provide secure access for friends and family living behind censorship. That vision grew into Psiphon.

In December 2006, Psiphon 1.0 was released as open-source software, establishing a commitment to transparency and public trust that continues today. Since then, Psiphon has evolved into one of the world's most widely used circumvention tools. As governments develop increasingly sophisticated methods of information control, Psiphon continues to adapt to meet new technical challenges.

Two decades of staying connected

From research project to global network.

December 2006

Psiphon 1.0 released

The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto releases Psiphon as open-source software: an easy-to-use peer-to-peer proxy that lets individuals provide secure internet access for friends and family living behind censorship.

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What Sets Us Apart

Psiphon is more than a VPN. While typical VPNs are designed primarily to create secure and anonymous network tunnels, they are often not built to withstand modern censorship systems. Psiphon is built for censorship circumvention.

Our technology combines secure, encrypted connections with multiple transport protocols and traffic obfuscation techniques that make it significantly more resilient against network interference. When one protocol is blocked, Psiphon automatically adapts, helping users stay connected where many other tools cannot.

As censorship changes, so does Psiphon.

Trust Through Transparency

At Psiphon, we believe trust is earned through openness. Psiphon has been open source since its first public release, allowing researchers, developers, and security experts to inspect our code and verify how our software works. Our development process includes regular internal code reviews alongside independent third-party security audits and penetration testing. We publish audit results whenever possible because transparency strengthens both our software and the trust our users place in us.

Protecting our users is our highest priority. We only collect network diagnostics data, continuously improve our security practices, and design our systems with user privacy in mind.

Read the security audits →

Global Impact

When censorship intensifies, people turn to Psiphon. Over the years, Psiphon has helped millions of people stay connected during some of the world's most significant Internet shutdowns and blocking events.

13M+

daily users in Iran after Telegram was blocked in 2018

9.5M+

daily users during Iran's nationwide Internet shutdown in February 2026

6M+

daily users in Myanmar during the 2021 protests, up from thousands

1M+

daily users in Cuba turned to Psiphon during the 2021 Internet disruptions

Psiphon has played a major role in keeping people in Iran connected through repeated periods of censorship and Internet disruption. In 2018, after Telegram was blocked, Psiphon supported more than 13 million daily users. During the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests, when access to platforms including Instagram was restricted, more than 9 million people used Psiphon each day. More recently, following a nationwide Internet shutdown during the conflict in February 2026, Psiphon usage reached 9.5 million daily users as people worked to reconnect with the outside world.

Psiphon has also supported millions of people during major censorship events around the world. During the 2021 protests in Myanmar, Psiphon usage grew from thousands of users to more than 6 million daily users as access to social media and independent information was restricted. During the Cuban protests later that year, more than one million daily users turned to Psiphon after widespread Internet disruptions. Similar surges have occurred during periods of censorship and conflict in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and many other countries.

These moments demonstrate why resilient circumvention technology matters: access to information is often most critical when it is under the greatest threat. When a crisis hits, people around the world can turn to Psiphon to help maintain access to the open Internet.

Meet the Psiphon Team

Michael Hull is President of Psiphon Inc., and has been with Psiphon since the very beginning, when it started as a project at the Citizen Lab, University of Toronto. He has since led the software development effort and helps to drive the innovation that keeps Psiphon at the very top of its game.

At Psiphon, we need our users to have a good experience. That means that our software needs to be easy to use, our network needs to be fast, and they both need to be rock-solid stable. This is tough for any developers to achieve, but especially so when your software has to operate in an ever-changing adversarial environment and across many languages and platforms.

We also know that it's just as important to work hard for our users behind the scenes. We protect our users and their data to the utmost. Users might never notice the measures to ensure their privacy and security, but we know they appreciate it.

Psiphon's software development team strives to deliver the best, fastest, easiest, and most open circumvention solutions. We're also exploring new areas where our expertise can protect, empower, and free the minds of users worldwide.