Yes. LightSpeed is free for personal, non-commercial use under the LightSpeed Software License. Commercial use requires a paid license — see LICENSE. You run your own proxy on a free-tier VPS (see deployment guide). There are no subscriptions, no usage fees, no paid tiers.
No. LightSpeed uses the same class of network driver (WinDivert/nftables/pfctl) as ExitLag, WTFast, and NoPing. It does not modify game files, memory, or processes. All major anti-cheat systems (EAC, VAC, BattlEye, Riot Vanguard) permit this. Game servers see your real IP address — this is a transparent tunnel, not a VPN or anonymizer.
Kernel-level packet interception requires elevated privileges — the same reason VPNs and firewalls need them. On Linux it uses nftables/iptables. On macOS it uses pfctl. On Windows it uses WinDivert (a signed kernel driver). Without root, you can still use redirect mode (--game-server).
| Platform | Interceptor | Redirect Mode | GUI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows 10/11 | ✅ WinDivert | ✅ | ✅ egui |
| Linux | ✅ nftables/iptables | ✅ | ❌ CLI only |
| macOS | ✅ pfctl | ✅ | ❌ CLI only |
| Linux ARM64 | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
Your ISP sends packets along whatever path is cheapest for them — often congested or circuitous. LightSpeed sends your packets through a proxy in a major data center with direct backbone connections to game server regions. If that path is shorter or less congested, your ping drops. Typical improvement: 10–40ms.
If the proxy is farther from the game server than your direct path, it adds latency. Try a different proxy region. Rule of thumb: pick the proxy closest to the game server, not closest to you.
The proxy closest to the game server region. Examples:
- Playing on US West servers → pick a US West proxy
- Playing on Singapore servers from Australia → pick a Singapore proxy
- Playing on EU servers from NA → pick a Frankfurt/London proxy
Usually 1–3 seconds after you connect to a game server. The interceptor watches for 3 packets to the same destination within 1.5 seconds before locking on.
Forward Error Correction. The proxy sends a small amount of redundant data (~25%) alongside your packets. If a packet is lost, it can be reconstructed without retransmission. Much more efficient than ExitLag's packet duplication (which sends every packet 2–3 times, using 200–300% bandwidth).
Enable if you have packet loss (micro-stutters, rubber-banding). Disable if your connection is already saturated, metered, or has negligible loss (< 0.1%).
Yes. LightSpeed is self-hosted — there's no shared network. You deploy a lightweight proxy (~500KB RAM) on any Linux VPS. Many providers offer free tiers. See the deployment guide.
Zero if you use a free tier. Options include Oracle Cloud Always Free (4 ARM cores, 24GB RAM — permanent), Google Cloud free tier, or AWS free tier. Even a paid $5/mo VPS works — the binary uses ~500KB RAM.
Yes. The proxy supports multiple concurrent sessions with per-client rate limiting and authentication. Configure tokens in proxy.toml.
- Make sure your game is actually connected to a server (not just the main menu)
- Verify you selected the correct game (
--gameflag) - Try
--scan-processesto list running game processes - If your server uses a non-standard port, use manual server mode (
--game-server)
- Linux: make sure you're running as root and nftables/iptables is installed
- macOS: pfctl is built-in but requires root
- Windows: ensure
WinDivert64.sysandWinDivert.dllare next to the.exe
Your packets reach the proxy but responses aren't reaching your game. Usually a firewall issue. LightSpeed tries to add firewall rules automatically. If that fails, add an inbound UDP rule for lightspeed or lightspeed-gui.exe manually.
LightSpeed sees UDP packet headers (source/destination IP, port, size) to route them. Game content (player positions, chat, etc.) is encrypted by the game's own protocol and is not decrypted or logged. See the full Privacy Policy.
Telemetry is opt-in only (--telemetry flag). When enabled, it collects anonymized aggregate metrics (RTT percentiles, FEC stats). No IP addresses, user identities, or game account data are collected. See Privacy Policy.
Generally no — both try to intercept network traffic and will conflict. Disable your VPN before using LightSpeed.
Yes. Use --warp to enable WARP for the proxy leg of the connection. WARP can shave 5–10ms off local ISP routing. Combine with a proxy for maximum benefit.
Open an issue on GitHub. Include your OS, game, and log output (run with RUST_LOG=debug for verbose logs).