There are now over a hundred VPN providers located across the world. To create this list of VPNs, I test customer service, the reliability of their network, and their commitment to privacy. I also research actual customer feedback posted in online forums.

I recommend these providers:

• Private Internet Access (USA) is fast, reliable, and good for downloading or torrenting
• ProtonVPN (Switzerland): fast VPN service with 6,500 servers in 112 countries — also offers additional included services like encrypted email and secure drive

Privacy focused VPN:

• Mullvad (Sweden): Highly regarded for privacy and minimal logging. Services are audited.
• VPN.AC (Romania) is a good choice if you need to avoid firewalls or other forms of internet censorship.

I’ve also created a list of the VPN providers I do not recommend.

If you are technically inclined, you might consider creating your own VPS (virtual private server) and installing OpenVPN. I recommend using a reliable VPS like Digital Ocean. You can purchase their $5 per month plan and follow these instructions to set up OpenVPN.

What Is A VPN?

A VPN (a virtual private network) is a service that encrypts and redirects all the internet connections on your computer. This means all the data leaving your computer is encrypted, which adds a layer of protection against hackers and eavesdroppers. It is also very difficult for your ISP (Internet Service Provider) to monitor or block your connections. A VPN service will also allow your computer to appear to be in Europe, the USA, or other countries at will. This is helpful if you want to access blocked media like streaming videos. VPNs differ from web proxies because VPNs encrypt and redirect all of your computer’s outgoing network connections, whereas proxies will only usually redirect particular protocols within an application.

Note that VPNs may slow down your internet connections, but in some cases, they may speed up your connections. VPNs won’t affect direct downloads, but they will affect web browsing and torrenting (basically anything that pulls data in lots of small bursts). I don’t notice a difference unless connected to a remote server in Japan or Romania (from the US).

I don’t recommend using free VPNs because they are usually run by untrustworthy companies and tend to sell your private information. If you need an extra layer of privacy when signing up for VPN services, I suggest using a pseudo-anonymous payment method such as Bitcoin and doing a DNS Leak Test when using a VPN. However, for most people, this kind of obfuscation is not necessary.

The Best Budget VPN

Private Internet Access

Private Internet Access is a VPN service that privacy advocates highly regard. It remains one of my top choices for a privacy-oriented VPN service. The company operates out of the United States with gigabit gateways in the USA, Canada, the UK, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.

I’ve been testing their VPN service for about 12 months now, and I find the service quite reliable. They are one of the least expensive private VPNs, with rates at $39.95 per year or $11.95 per month. In regards to logging user activity, the company says:

We absolutely do not maintain any VPN logs of any kind. We utilize shared IP addresses rather than dynamic or static IPs, so it is not possible to match a user to an external IP. These are some of the many solutions we have implemented to enable the strongest levels of anonymity amongst VPN services. Further, we would like to encourage our users to use an anonymous e-mail and pay with Bitcoins to ensure even higher levels of anonymity should it be required. Our core verticals are privacy, quality of service, and prompt customer support. We will not share any information with third parties without a valid court order. With that said, it is impossible to match a user to any activity on our system since we utilize shared IPs and maintain absolutely no logs.

Their VPN service supports all the major platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS, and Android. They support the following VPN protocols: PPTP, IPSEC, OpenVPN, and L2TP. You can also configure Private Internet Access to work on a DD-WRT router or Tomato router (via SSL/OpenVPN) for constant security.

Their VPN client also has handy features like DNS leakage blocking and an “internet kill switch” (a feature that shuts off your internet connection if your VPN connection goes down). For payment, they accept credit cards, Paypal, almost any Gift Card, Amazon Payments, CashU, Google Wallet, OKPay, Bitcoin, and Liberty Reserve.

The Best VPNs For Privacy Enthusiasts

Mullvad (Sweden)

An independent Swedish provider with a focus on security and privacy that is well-liked on forums.

Service Summary

• Website: Mullvad
• Headquarters: Sweden
• Owned by: Amagicom AB (owned by founders Fredrik Strömberg and Daniel Berntsson)
• Server Location: 892 servers in 40 countries
• Cost: €5 per month, €60 annually
• Number of simultaneous connections allowed: 5
• Apps available for Linux, Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android
• Payment Types: cash, cryptocurrencies, bank wire, credit cards, PayPal, Swish, Giropay, Eps transfer, Bancontact, iDEAL, and Przelewy24
• Trial Account: No (only a 30-day money-back guarantee)

VPN.AC (Romania)

VPN.AC is a VPN provider based in Romania. This service is a good choice if you need to avoid firewalls or another form of internet censorship. The people who run VPN.AC are experts in VPN security and obfuscation.

I recommend this service in China, UAE, Iran, Oman, and Pakistan.

They recently rolled out obfuscation for the OpenVPN feature. Here are the details:

Obfuscating the OpenVPN protocol makes it look like regular SSL traffic — making it harder to be blocked by Firewalls with DPI capabilities relying on protocol signatures to identify known VPN protocols. This is the case in China, where default OpenVPN implementations are blocked almost immediately. While our AES 256-bit implementation is still stealthy and working in China, we added one more protocol-type to bypass the GFW. It runs on several ports including TCP port 443 (HTTPS), replacing an instance of OpenVPN Blowfish 128-bit we used with port TCP/443. With this method, the handshake packets are obfuscated so it’s not possible to identify the traffic as being part of an OpenVPN tunnel. Encryption relies on RSA 4096-bit + ECDHE for key-exchange, AES 128-bit for data channel.

They also introduced support for Elliptic Curve Cryptography and TLS 1.2 — one of the most secure types of cryptography available today.

VPN.AC has servers in twenty-one countries (US, UK, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, France, Romania, Hong Kong, and Canada), each capable of reaching gigabit port speeds.

VPN.AC offers one VPN package, which grants you access to all of its international servers ($9 per month or $58 per year). They accept Alipay and Unionpay, Paypal, BitCoin, CashU, Paysafecard, and UKash.

Service Summary

• Business Location: Romania
• Owned by Netsec Interactive Solutions
• Server Location: Servers in 21 countries
• Number of connections allowed: 6 simultaneous connections (3 during trial)
• Cost: 58 USD per year or 9 USD per month
• Payment Types: Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, credit cards, Paypal, Alipay, UnionPay, and others
• Trial Account: 1-week trial account for $2, also offers a 7-day money-back guarantee
• Apps available for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Linux

VPNs That I Do Not Recommend

I don’t recommend these VPN service providers:

• AirVPN: Poor customer service.
• NordVPN: I was disappointed by their customer service too many times. Also, their VPN connections are sometimes slow. They were also embroiled in a Tesonet/data mining scandal.
• PureVPN: This provider was found logging users; see this article.
• ibVPN: Does not respond to email requests.
• These VPNs have DNS or WebRTC leaks: Hoxx VPN, Hola, VPN.ht, SecureVPN, DotVPN, Speedify, Betternet (free version), Ivacy, Touch VPN, Zenmate, Ace VPN, AzireVPN, BTGuard, Ra4w VPN, VPN Gate

HolaVPN

Shady company; your computer becomes part of a botnet when using their VPN. See details here and here.

VyprVPN

They ask for your bank info during registration. I also did not enjoy my interactions with their customer service representatives. They declined comments about privacy and lock your account immediately if you get a DMCA notice.

EarthVPN

The service was recently hacked and apparently keeps logs.

BTGuard

Numerous reports of slow connection speeds and poor customer service.

Astrill

Poor customer service. Requires a phone number.

StrongVPN

Fairly expensive, confusing sign-up options do not allow P2P, and can match an external IP address to their subscribers. They limit the number of times you can change servers and change your username and password each time you do.

Witopia

They don’t support torrenting. Their network can be unreliable. They often don’t respond to questions.

Hotspot Shield

The software constantly generates banner ads and pop-up windows, and it forcibly changes your search engine to Bing. Also, many sites will still be blocked using Hotspot Shield, and the company makes money by tracking your online activities and reselling this information to third parties. They state on their privacy policy page (http://www.anchorfree.com/privacy.html):

AnchorFree allows other companies, called third-party ad servers or ad networks, to serve advertisements within the Hotspot Shield These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology to send, directly to your browser, the advertisements and links that appear on the Hotspot Shield. They automatically receive the virtual IP Address assigned by AnchorFree when this happens. They may also use other technologies (such as cookies, javascript, or web beacons) to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and to personalize their advertising content. AnchorFree’s Hotspot Shield Privacy Notice does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other advertisers or other web sites visited by Users.

VPNBook

It Keeps logs and doesn’t support torrenting.

IPredator

Customer service is fairly slow and minimal. Some (very limited) logs are kept; they have some slow speeds and limited servers. It also costs $97.76

StrongVPN

Keeps logs. They say they support P2P but shut down the account as soon as they receive a DMCA notice.

VpnTunnel

Awful customer service and constant disconnection issues.

TorGuard

Requires personal info when signing up and doesn’t respond to refund requests.

Private Tunnel

It only supports OpenVPN, a limited number of servers.