Topology

First of all, let’s specify some internet links to make an idea of maximum throughput performance:
Timisoara -> 1000 Mbps down / 500 Mbps up
Arad -> 90 Mbps down / 90 Mbps up
Deva -> 1000 Mbps down / 500 Mbps up
Oradea -> 1000 Mbps down / 500 Mbps up
Timisoara, Oradea and Deva have the same provider and latency between are under 10ms and normally are 5ms.
First tests were done between Timisoara and Deva.
Hardware of Timisoara: VM machine with 4 cpu’s at 3GHz and 1Gb ram. 20Gb SSD Storage. OS: vyos
Hardware of Deva: VM machine with 4 cpu’s at 2.5GHz and 1Gb ram. 20Gb SSD Storage. OS: ubuntu16

Latency from Timisoara to Deva though Wireguard:

vyos@vyos-router:~$ ping 10.2.1.2
 PING 10.2.1.2 (10.2.1.2) 56(84) bytes of data.
 64 bytes from 10.2.1.2: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=5.75 ms
 64 bytes from 10.2.1.2: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=5.36 ms
 64 bytes from 10.2.1.2: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=5.33 ms
 64 bytes from 10.2.1.2: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=5.85 ms
 64 bytes from 10.2.1.2: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=5.90 ms

Latency from Timisoara to Deva though Zerotier:

vyos@vyos-router:~$ ping 192.168.195.249
 PING 192.168.195.249 (192.168.195.249) 56(84) bytes of data.
 64 bytes from 192.168.195.249: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=9.81 ms
 64 bytes from 192.168.195.249: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=5.98 ms
 64 bytes from 192.168.195.249: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=4.78 ms
 64 bytes from 192.168.195.249: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=9.25 ms
 64 bytes from 192.168.195.249: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=6.40 ms

Latency from Timisoara to Deva though normal internet:

vyos@vyos-router:~$ ping 84.232.241.38
 PING 84.232.241.38 (84.232.241.38) 56(84) bytes of data.
 64 bytes from 84.232.241.38: icmp_seq=1 ttl=60 time=5.26 ms
 64 bytes from 84.232.241.38: icmp_seq=2 ttl=60 time=4.86 ms
 64 bytes from 84.232.241.38: icmp_seq=3 ttl=60 time=5.03 ms
 64 bytes from 84.232.241.38: icmp_seq=4 ttl=60 time=5.16 ms
 64 bytes from 84.232.241.38: icmp_seq=5 ttl=60 time=5.21 ms

Iperf from Timisoara to Deva though Wireguard:

vyos@vyos-router:~$ iperf3 -c 10.2.1.2 -P 5 -t 15 | grep -i sum
 [SUM]   0.00-1.00   sec  64.6 MBytes   542 Mbits/sec  327
 [SUM]   1.00-2.00   sec  60.3 MBytes   506 Mbits/sec    0
 [SUM]   2.00-3.00   sec  55.5 MBytes   466 Mbits/sec  408
 [SUM]   3.00-4.00   sec  54.6 MBytes   458 Mbits/sec    9
 [SUM]   4.00-5.00   sec  56.2 MBytes   471 Mbits/sec  232
 [SUM]   5.00-6.00   sec  50.1 MBytes   420 Mbits/sec    0
 [SUM]   6.00-7.00   sec  56.9 MBytes   478 Mbits/sec   53
 [SUM]   7.00-8.00   sec  57.3 MBytes   481 Mbits/sec   55
 [SUM]   8.00-9.00   sec  54.9 MBytes   460 Mbits/sec    5
 [SUM]   9.00-10.00  sec  53.3 MBytes   447 Mbits/sec  472
 [SUM]  10.00-11.00  sec  43.7 MBytes   367 Mbits/sec   11
 [SUM]  11.00-12.00  sec  58.4 MBytes   490 Mbits/sec   30
 [SUM]  12.00-13.00  sec  50.7 MBytes   425 Mbits/sec   18
 [SUM]  13.00-14.00  sec  60.2 MBytes   505 Mbits/sec    0
 [SUM]  14.00-15.00  sec  61.9 MBytes   520 Mbits/sec  518
 [SUM]   0.00-15.00  sec   839 MBytes   469 Mbits/sec  2138             sender
 [SUM]   0.00-15.00  sec   832 MBytes   465 Mbits/sec                  receiver

Iperf from Deva to Timisoara though Wireguard:

vyos@vyos-router:~$ iperf3 -c 10.2.1.2 -P 5 -t 15 -R | grep -i sum
 [SUM]   0.00-1.00   sec  53.1 MBytes   445 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]   1.00-2.00   sec  52.7 MBytes   442 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]   2.00-3.00   sec  53.3 MBytes   447 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]   3.00-4.00   sec  53.7 MBytes   451 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]   4.00-5.00   sec  53.5 MBytes   449 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]   5.00-6.00   sec  47.5 MBytes   398 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]   6.00-7.00   sec  46.2 MBytes   388 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]   7.00-8.00   sec  48.9 MBytes   410 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]   8.00-9.00   sec  53.3 MBytes   447 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]   9.00-10.00  sec  52.3 MBytes   439 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]  10.00-11.00  sec  52.8 MBytes   443 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]  11.00-12.00  sec  53.8 MBytes   451 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]  12.00-13.00  sec  49.5 MBytes   415 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]  13.00-14.00  sec  51.7 MBytes   434 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]  14.00-15.00  sec  50.5 MBytes   424 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]   0.00-15.00  sec   781 MBytes   437 Mbits/sec  62526             sender
 [SUM]   0.00-15.00  sec   774 MBytes   433 Mbits/sec                  receiver

Iperf from Timisoara to Deva though Zerotier:

vyos@vyos-router:~$ iperf3 -c 192.168.195.249 -P 5 -t 15 | grep -i sum
 [SUM]   0.00-1.00   sec  33.5 MBytes   281 Mbits/sec  158
 [SUM]   1.00-2.00   sec  31.6 MBytes   265 Mbits/sec  101
 [SUM]   2.00-3.00   sec  30.6 MBytes   257 Mbits/sec  218
 [SUM]   3.00-4.00   sec  32.5 MBytes   273 Mbits/sec  127
 [SUM]   4.00-5.00   sec  28.9 MBytes   243 Mbits/sec  189
 [SUM]   5.00-6.00   sec  29.5 MBytes   248 Mbits/sec   97
 [SUM]   6.00-7.00   sec  29.9 MBytes   251 Mbits/sec  203
 [SUM]   7.00-8.00   sec  33.8 MBytes   283 Mbits/sec   99
 [SUM]   8.00-9.00   sec  30.9 MBytes   259 Mbits/sec  163
 [SUM]   9.00-10.00  sec  25.6 MBytes   215 Mbits/sec   67
 [SUM]  10.00-11.00  sec  31.9 MBytes   268 Mbits/sec   78
 [SUM]  11.00-12.00  sec  26.9 MBytes   226 Mbits/sec   87
 [SUM]  12.00-13.00  sec  30.7 MBytes   257 Mbits/sec   33
 [SUM]  13.00-14.00  sec  31.3 MBytes   262 Mbits/sec  128
 [SUM]  14.00-15.00  sec  23.1 MBytes   194 Mbits/sec  234
 [SUM]   0.00-15.00  sec   451 MBytes   252 Mbits/sec  1982             sender
 [SUM]   0.00-15.00  sec   448 MBytes   251 Mbits/sec                  receiver

Iperf from Deva to Timisoara though Zerotier:

vyos@vyos-router:~$ iperf3 -c 192.168.195.249 -P 5 -t 15 -R | grep -i sum
 [SUM]   0.00-1.00   sec  21.7 MBytes   182 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]   1.00-2.00   sec  19.4 MBytes   162 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]   2.00-3.00   sec  16.3 MBytes   137 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]   3.00-4.00   sec  13.8 MBytes   116 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]   4.00-5.00   sec  21.3 MBytes   178 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]   5.00-6.00   sec  22.4 MBytes   188 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]   6.00-7.00   sec  21.0 MBytes   176 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]   7.00-8.00   sec  22.9 MBytes   192 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]   8.00-9.00   sec  14.2 MBytes   120 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]   9.00-10.00  sec  11.0 MBytes  91.9 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]  10.00-11.00  sec  19.6 MBytes   165 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]  11.00-12.00  sec  22.8 MBytes   191 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]  12.00-13.00  sec  21.6 MBytes   181 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]  13.00-14.00  sec  23.4 MBytes   196 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]  14.00-15.00  sec  23.6 MBytes   198 Mbits/sec
 [SUM]   0.00-15.00  sec   298 MBytes   167 Mbits/sec  3501             sender
 [SUM]   0.00-15.00  sec   295 MBytes   165 Mbits/sec                  receiver

Advantages of Wireguard:
1. Wireguard is in the kernel already.
2. Very simple to configure.
3. Because is in the kernel, is actually very fast.

Disadvantages of Wireguard:
1. Still in alpha / beta
2. Not that simple to configure if you have routing (i will explain in the next article why)
3. Not simple through NAT, you need port forwarding to a UDP port configured by you.

Advantages of Zerotier:
1. Simple through NAT
2. No port forwarding but if you have firewall, you need to unblock the Zerotier UDP port.
3. Very cool web portal access with free 100 devices. Also, very cheap a premium account.

Disadvantages of Zerotier:
1. Slower than Wireguard.
2. Sometimes it doesn’t connect well, you are relying on their services.
3. Not easy for troubleshooting as everything is in the cloud.
4. Hurting the CPU comparable with Zerotier.

CPU htop of vyos at iperf from Timisoara to Deva though Wireguard:

CPU htop of vyos at iperf from Timisoara to Deva though Zerotier:

Conclusion: We can definitely see that Wireguard is faster than Zerotier on the same hardware.