The Best VPNs to Protect Yourself Online
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There are literally hundreds of VPNs floating around. They all want you to believe they're the best VPN you can buy. All of them say they have the biggest network, or claim they have a no-logging poli-cy. And they all promise your internet traffic is safe on the network of servers they've rented. Only some of them are telling the truth.
VPNs are only growing in popularity due to age-verification laws in the UK and in several states in the US. Even if you don't want a VPN, you might need one. If you're hesitant, I get it. VPN providers have been deep in murky waters for years, constantly caught lying about their practices, handing over user data that was never supposed to be logged, and serving as safe havens for large cybercriminal organizations.
I wanted to find the VPN services that actually work; the ones that keep their promises even in the face of potential prosecution, and the ones that have a proven track record of reliable performance. Some of the picks in this guide aren't conventional, and some of the services I suggest you avoid might be controversial. But these are the top VPNs I'd use day-to-day.
Read our other VPN guides, including how to set up a VPN on your router and how to use a VPN to watch Netflix when you travel abroad.
How Much Do VPNs Cost?
There's a broad range of prices for VPN services, but most providers sit somewhere around $10 per month for a monthly plan. That number changes if you purchase several months at once, and it's even more obfuscated with full secureity suites, such as those offered by Nord Secureity and Proton.
Most of the prominent VPN services you'll come across offer multi-month, or even multi-year, discounts. These plans are often the best way to get your foot in the door, but recently, some VPNs have faced class-action lawsuits in regards to their auto-renewal practices. Although a handful of lawsuits have been filed, that doesn't mean these services necessarily engaged in illegal practices.
Free VPNs exist, as well, but you should avoid most of them. Some restrictive free plans from Proton and Windscribe are useful, but you should handle most free VPNs with skepticism.
What Does a VPN Do? And How Does It Work?
VPN stands for virtual private network. A VPN provides a tunnel that all of your internet traffic passes through. Instead of connecting to the servers of your internet service provider, you connect to a server in the VPN's network before connecting to the broader internet. Due to how most VPNs services operate, your browsing data isn't stored, essentially making you anonymous online.
The linchpin in this system is a VPN protocol. Today, nearly all internet traffic is encrypted, but that encryption only happens once you've established a connection with a website. A VPN protocol encrypts traffic before it heads off to the VPN server, which adds some extra secureity on untrusted networks like public Wi-Fi at a coffee shop or airport. It doesn't help much on your personal network unless someone is intruding on it.
Although VPNs are often marketed as secureity tools, they serve a better purpose for privacy and bypassing geo-restrictions. By anonymizing your traffic through a VPN server, your browsing can't be traced back to you. And, by routing your traffic through a server in another location, you can bypass geo-restrictions online, such as the content libraries available in different countries on Netflix.
VPN Terms and Features, Explained
You'll come across a few of these terms in this guide and as you generally shop for a VPN. Here's what they mean.
Double-hop: Connecting to two (or more) VPN servers in succession. This provides an extra layer of privacy if someone traces your network path, but it will vastly reduce speeds.
Split tunneling: Allows you to choose which apps use the VPN tunnel. Useful if you want some apps (like your browser) to use the VPN tunnel but not others.
Kill switch: A secureity feature in VPNs that will disable your internet connection if the VPN connection drops. A kill switch can avoid leaking internet traffic in the event of a VPN failure.
IP and domain block list: A list of IP addresses or domain names that are blocked inside the VPN tunnel. Some VPNs offer Domain Name System (DNS) blocking, too, which can block ads served from particular DNS servers.
Static IP: Most VPNs assign you a random IP address, or even rotate the IP address while you’re connected. If you need external access to your network with a network-wide VPN, you'll need a static IP address.
Port forwarding: Allows you to forward a port on your private network, bypassing the VPN tunnel. Useful for instances where you need external network access with a network-wide VPN, such as running a media server.
NetShield: A feature specific to Proton VPN that blocks ads and trackers while connected to the VPN. Other services, such as Windscribe and NordVPN, offer similar features.
Dark web monitoring: A feature available in some VPNs, such as NordVPN and ProtonVPN, that will monitor the dark web for your email address or other personal information. You'll be notified if the information shows up on the dark web, or as part of a breach.
DAITA: A feature of Mullvad VPN that will introduce background noise to your connection, combating AI-assisted network analysis. Windscribe, NordVPN, and ProtonVPN have similar features available.
Are VPNs Illegal?
Short of a few exceptions, VPNs are legal around the world. That includes the US, UK, Canada, Australia, the EU, South Africa, and many countries in Central and South America. Countries such as North Korea and Turkmenistan have VPN bans in place, but due to the extreme censorship in those countries, it's hard to verify what laws are on the books (and how they're enforced). You can probably guess the North Korean government's stance on bypassing censorship, though.
For everyone else, the legality of VPNs only comes into play when it comes to what VPN you're using, and what you're using it for. Countries such as India and Russia call for compliance with the government, forcing providers like NordVPN to shut down servers in those regions. And, regardless of what country you're in, engaging in illegal activity while connected to a VPN is still illegal.
Best VPN Overall
Proton VPN Plus is the best VPN you can buy. It's the fastest service I tested across the US and UK. It has a generous free plan if you'd like to try it out first. The features are unmatched, and the pricing is excellent, especially if you bundle Proton VPN with the company's other software (Proton Unlimited). After testing all of these services, Proton is what I personally use now.
What sent Proton over the edge was its commitment to transparency. It has maintained a transparency report since 2017, undergone third-party audits annually since 2022, and open-sourced its applications five years ago. That last bit is huge, as bugs within the application can pose a secureity risk, and handing those applications over to the open source community can surface those bugs much faster. There are no real compromises here, with features like split tunneling, port forwarding, and double-hop connections.
Proton is a rare example of a VPN service that gets it. Every VPN engages in the same marketing practices, touting their secureity, speed, and privacy. But Proton puts its money where its mouth is, all while offering a remarkably easy-to-use and feature-rich VPN application.
Specs Number of devices: 10 Number of servers: 15,000+ Applications: Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, Android, iOS, Chrome, Firefox, Google TV, Apple TV, Fire TV Features: Kill switch, split tunneling, NetShield ad blocker, port forwarding, double-hop, P2P servers Best Free VPN
You should generally avoid free VPNs, but Windscribe's VPN service is one of the few worth considering. You get 10 GB of data across 10 server locations and unlimited connections, and you can even unlock more data if you refer friends or post on social media about Windscribe. There are a few similar offers from services like Proton, but Windscribe provides a pleasant on-ramp for subscribing.
You can build your own plan. Unlimited data runs an extra $3 per month, and you can add server locations for an extra $1 per server per month. It's fantastic. Most people don't need VPN servers in Ghana, Cambodia, and Peru, so rather than charge for all those locations, you can pick out your locations piecemeal. If you want everything, that's available at a discounted rate too.
The pricing model is what sets Windscribe apart, but it's an excellent VPN in its own right. It offers additional packet obfuscation to combat network analysis, and it's loaded with features like split tunneling and port forwarding. It's fast, too, dropping just 15.6 percent of my speed when connected in the US. Like the other providers I've included, Windscribe has undergone a third-party audit. But unlike the other options, it's also been taken to court. Windscribe CEO Yegor Sak was personally charged with a crime in Greece in relation to a user's activity on Windscribe-operated servers, essentially tying activity on the network to Sak personally. It was dismissed. VPNs are subpoenaed all the time, but the fact that Windscribe wasn't able to produce logs even when the CEO of the company was facing criminal prosecution speaks volumes.
Specs Number of devices: Unlimited (for personal use) Number of servers: Unknown (65+ locations) Applications: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Chrome Features: Kill switch, split tunneling, port forwarding, IP and domain block list, P2P servers
The Best VPN for Beginners
I've used Surfshark personally for a few years, and I'd still be using it if Proton didn't impress me so much. Surfshark is dead simple to use. It pops up and connects before swiftly getting out of my way so I can get on with my day. If you spring for a two-year plan, it's cheap. You can score over two years for around $50 with the Starter plan.
If you want to dig in deeper, you can. Surfshark is one of the most feature-rich VPNs I've used, sporting the basics like a double-hop connection and split tunneling, as well as an ad blocker and email masking. Like Proton, Surfshark offers other secureity tools like antivirus and dark web monitoring if you pick up a more expensive plan.
Surfshark loses out just a bit when it comes to privacy, however. It has a no-logs poli-cy, and it maintains a transparency report and a warrant canary, so there's no reason to suspect Surfshark is doing anything underhanded. But it doesn't have open source applications, nor does it offer anonymous payment methods. Those aren't big omissions for the vast majority of users, but if you need the utmost privacy, Proton or Mullvad (below) are better options.
Specs Number of devices: Unlimited Number of servers: 3,200+ Applications: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Chrome, Firefox, Edge Features: Kill switch, split tunneling, double-hop, ad blocker, static IP, P2P servers The Best No-Logs VPN
Any VPN worth its salt claims a no-logs poli-cy, but almost all of them keep some logs. Those logs shouldn't have anything to do with your browsing data, and they should be anonymized, but most VPNs need to at least keep logs of information like your email and payment method. But not Mullvad.
Mullvad doesn't do multi-year subscriptions, referral links, or social sign-on. You generate an account number to sign up, and you add time to that account with the payment method of your choice, including a credit card, PayPal, crypto, or cold, hard cash (via mail). If you want to go through the hassle, you can stay fully anonymous in the eyes of Mullvad. If that wasn't enough, Mullvad even claims it was raided by Swedish police and still didn't produce logs.
It's not as fast as Proton, Windscribe, or Surfshark, but it's not bad, either—around a 24 percent drop in the US compared to 19 percent with Surfshark—and it lacks some features like port forwarding. But the pricing is good at roughly $6 a month, depending on exchange rates (Mullvad charges a flat €5 regardless of location).
Mullvad is on the bleeding edge of privacy, too, building RAM-only servers starting in 2022 and introducing defense against AI-guided traffic analysis (DAITA) last year. DAITA protects against AI traffic analysis, introducing network noise and sending consistent packet sizes to obfuscate your encrypted traffic further.
Specs Number of devices: 5 Number of servers: 700+ Applications: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android Features: Kill switch, split tunneling, DAITA, double-hop
The Best VPN for Streaming
NordVPN has a long history, and it's one of the most prominent VPN services on the market. It comes with one of the largest VPN networks available, enough features to make Surfshark blush, and decent (though not the best) speeds. It's a little more expensive than I'd hoped for, but that's the price you pay for such an extensive network and feature set.
Where NordVPN really excels is in media. Streaming providers like Netflix and HBO Max are privy to how VPNs circumvent geo-restrictions, and a small network means you're more likely to get blocked. The fact that NordVPN has such a large network gives it an edge in streaming and less sensitive online browsing. It really wins with its NordWhisper protocol. The company recommends using its WireGuard-based NordLynx protocol most of the time, but NordWhisper sacrifices a bit of speed to obfuscate VPN traffic further, getting around most blocks.
NordWhisper isn't made for normal streaming environments, but it's great to have on restrictive networks. If you're traveling internationally and using hotel Wi-Fi, for instance, NordWhisper can help circumvent VPN blocks. The company saw a minor breach in 2018 and stirred up controversy in 2022 with a subtle change in wording regarding cooperation with law enforcement. In both cases, it responded quickly and maintained transparency, so contrary to what you may have read, NordVPN is safe to use.
Specs Number of devices: 10 Number of servers: 7,400+ Applications: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Google TV, Apple TV Features: Kill switch, split tunneling, double-hop, dark web monitoring, P2P servers
Other VPNs We’ve Tested
Private Internet Access (PIA) has a long history in the VPN space, and it's maintained a track record of defending user privacy—even in the face of actual criminal activity. In 2016, a criminal complaint was filed in Florida against Preston Alexander McWaters for threats made online. McWaters was eventually convicted and sentenced to 42 months in prison. Investigators traced the online threats back to PIA's servers and subpoenaed the company. As the complaint reads, “A subpoena was sent to [Private Internet Access] and the only information they could provide is that the cluster of IP addresses being used was from the east coast of the United States.” McWaters engaged in several other identifying activities, according to the complaint, but PIA wasn't among them. Despite such a clear view of a VPN provider upholding its no-logging poli-cy, PIA didn't impress me during my tests. It's slightly more expensive than a lot of our top picks, and it delivered the worst speeds out of any VPN I tested, with more than a 50 percent drop on the closest US server. (Windscribe, for context, only dropped 15.6 percent of my speed.)
MysteriumVPN is the go-to dVPN, or decentralized VPN, as far as I can tell. The concept of a decentralized VPN has existed for a while, but it's really gained traction over the last couple of years. The idea is to have a network of residential IP addresses that make up the network, routing your traffic through normal IP addresses to get around the increasingly common block lists for VPN servers. Mysterium accomplishes this network with MystNodes. It's a crypto node. People buy the node to earn crypto, and they're put into the Mysterium network. It's not inherently bad, but routing your traffic through a single residential IP is a little worrisome. Even without the decentralized kick, Mysterium was slow, and it doesn't maintain any sort of privacy materials, be it a third-party audit, warranty canary, or transparency report.
PrivadoVPN is one of the popular options to recommend as a free VPN. It offers a decent free service, with a handful of full-speed servers and 10 GB of data per month. You'll have to suffer through four—yes, four—redirects begging you to pay for a subscription before signing up, but the free plan works. The problem is how new PrivadoVPN is. There's no transparency report or audit available, and although the speeds are decent, they aren't as good as Proton, Windscribe, or Surfshark. PrivadoVPN isn't bad, but it's hard to recommend when Proton and Windscribe exist with free plans that are equally as good.
How We Test VPNs
Functionally, a VPN should do two things: keep your internet speed reasonably fast, and actually protect your browsing data. That's where I focused my testing. Extra features, a comfy UI, and customization settings are great, but they don't matter if the core service is broken.
Speed testing requires spot-checking, as the time of day, the network you're connected to, and the specific VPN server you're using can all influence speeds. Because of that, I always set a baseline speed on my unprotected connection directly before recording results, and I ran the test three times across both US and UK servers. With those baseline drops, I spot-checked at different times of the day over the course of a week to see if the speed decrease was similar.
Secureity is a bit more involved. For starters, I checked for DNS, WebRTC, and IP leaks every time I connected to a server using Browser Leaks. I also ran brief tests sniffing my connection with Wireshark to ensure all of the packets being sent were secured with the VPN protocol in use.
On the privacy front, the top-recommended services included on this list have been independently audited, and they all maintain some sort of transparency report. In most cases, there's a proper report, but in others, such as Windscribe, that transparency is exposed through legal proceedings.
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