Hamachi

Hamachi is a hosted VPN client from LogMeIn that emulates a local area network over the internet. Once the client is installed and the computers join the same named network, they can reach each other by IP address as though they were plugged into the same switch, without router configuration, port forwarding or a static public address. Traffic between members is encrypted with AES, and networks are created and administered from a web console rather than from each machine.

Networks can be arranged in several shapes depending on what is being connected: a mesh where every member talks to every other member, a hub-and-spoke layout that routes through designated nodes, or a gateway setup that exposes an existing physical LAN to remote clients. Access is controlled per network through join passwords and approval by the network owner. Paid tiers add unattended operation, so the client keeps a machine reachable in the background without a user logged in, and allow the client to be pushed out to computers remotely instead of installed by hand.

The typical users are small distributed teams that need to reach a file share, a printer or an internal application without deploying a corporate VPN appliance, administrators who want a permanent link to remote machines, and players of older games that only discover opponents on the local subnet. Windows, macOS and Linux clients are offered, so mixed environments work.

It is worth being clear about what Hamachi is not. It is not a privacy or geo-unblocking service: it does not hide your public IP address from the sites you visit and offers no server locations to pick from. It also depends on the vendor's mediation servers, so the networks stop forming if that service is unavailable, and an account with the vendor is required. Anyone looking for anonymous browsing should look at a consumer VPN provider instead, and larger organisations with an existing firewall or router that can terminate tunnels will usually be better served by that.