There’s https://happy.engineering/ which is similar, less work as you don’t have to setup a VPN

SPAKE2+ is probably something worth researching as the server never receives the password. I believe it’s used in HomeKit and Matter as well 🙃

More privacy and less profit 🫣

I realize most people could rather not pay for a service they currently have for free (which is partly due to the lack of transparency regarding our data usage).

I’d pick JavaScript, mostly because of the ecosystem (even though we could argue about this point 😅)

I’d love to give Rust a try however I don’t have much time nor want to dedicate to coding in my spare time!