Free Cloud-based WireGuard VPN server

I have been planning to follow Devin Stoke’s “How to Setup a Forever Free Ad Blocking WireGuard VPN Server with PiHole in the Cloud for Free” article since it was first published, but I just couldn’t find the time to do it until today. Well, what made me do it was that I was able to activate a free Oracle Cloud account a couple of days ago and completely forgot about it — thanks to the Oracle nagging that I still have an account, I decided to try this out.

I already have a WireGuard VPN server running on Linode. It is actually shared with my kids’ Minecraft server. It is definitely not free, but since it is primarily used only as a Minecraft server, might as well throw in WireGuard, just in case I’d need it (shared it with my brother, too) when I finally get to go out and use mobile data connection. However, I figured that it won’t hurt to deploy another one, it is free anyway, right?

Following Devin, I configured WireGuard VPN on an Oracle Cloud free instance using PiVPN, to make it quick and simple. However, instead of using Pi-Hole (which I have running on my Raspberry Pi at home), I decided to use NextDNS.io instead, like my Linode WireGuard VPN server. Why NextDNS instead of Pi-Hole? Well, NextDNS.io simply has more features compared to Pi-Hole, features I will not need on my home network (at least not yet).

I have configured this WireGuard VPN on Oracle Cloud (let’s call it OracleVPN) to handle split-tunneling to only redirect DNS traffic through the VPN tunnel, with all other traffic routed to whatever connection the device is connected on. This way, I get to keep the OracleVPN network traffic very low.

You might think that I should just use the NextDNS application — yeah, but I would rather just use one application, WireGuard, to connect to three (3) different VPN servers. The OracleVPN is a split-tunnel VPN, the WireGuard VPN server on Linode is a full VPN, and the WireGuard VPN at home, which, obviously, is used to connect to my home network.

So, thanks to Devin for the how-to, I am now equipped with several self-hosted VPNs in my arsenal. If you have the time, then it is a good idea to spin up your own self-hosted VPN server.