VPNs do not allow you to connect two devices directly, they have to go through the VPN. They also do not allow you to connect devices that are not on the VPN. Iroh does P2P connections and punches holes through NATs when needed, so you can connect directly to devices on different networks that are behind firewalls.

> VPNs do not allow you to connect two devices directly, they have to go through the VPN

Not true. Depends on the VPN protocol.