For those traveling or out and about, the first function is critical because most public Wi-Fi hotspots are open and unencrypted – so anyone on the network can see what you were sending and they may be able to eavesdrop on your activities.  VPNs also hide your IP address, replacing the address logged on servers with one in a different location, even in different countries. For those worrying about stalking or living under an authoritarian government, this feature could improve your safety.  But most people want to use a VPN for more simple tasks. VPNs are useful for streaming because they unlock access  – in some cases, with dubious legality – to content and sports blacked out in their location. You can also unblock content restricted in areas due to data protection laws, such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Let’s take a look at ZDNET’s top VPN providers for a wide range of devices and uses.  Also: The best VPN for streaming You can also manually set up ExpressVPN to work with some gaming consoles (Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch) and TVs (Apple TV, Roku, etc.) that do not support its app. ExpressVPN has an expansive network with servers in 94 countries. It also delivers a speedy and consistent connection, which helped ExpressVPN find its way onto our list of fastest VPNs. The company doesn’t log your browsing history, IP address, or traffic destination, but it does collect some information about how the service is used. The amount of data transferred, the dates you connected to the VPN (not times), and the location of the VPN server are all logged.  At the time of writing, subscription costs begin at $6.67 per month (and three months free) on a 12-month plan; $9.99/month for six months, or $12.95 for a month of access. Read the review: Our ExpressVPN review: A fine VPN service We didn’t find any leaks in our Surfshark VPN review and testing, which is exactly what you want to see. It also makes security a priority with AES-256-GCM, Perfect Forward Secrecy, and RSA-2048 encryption.  We appreciated its complementary and inexpensive add-on features, such as anti-tracking, a search engine that doesn’t log your information, and a scanner that searches data breach lists for your email. You can also connect through two VPN servers with Surfshark’s multihop option.  Furthermore, Surfshark operates a live warrant canary. At present, Surfshark is running a sale on the two-year subscription plan. Reduced from $12.95 p/m (the typical one-month subscription fee), the VPN will only cost you $2.30 p/m. Alternatively, you can sign up for a year and you will pay $3.99 p/m. You are billed for the full package at the time of sign-up. Also: ExpressVPN vs. Surfshark vs. NordVPN: Which is best? NordVPN is one of the most widely used consumer VPNs available. For most users, it checks all the boxes: Secure, good for streaming, and all the bells and whistles you’re likely to need. We’ve found it to be one of the fastest VPNs with the most consistent speeds. We like all of the features beyond a basic VPN that Nord offers. It supports P2P sharing and has an option for a second layer of encryption through what it calls Double VPN. You can set up a dedicated IP address if you want to run a VPN that doubles as a server. Not only that, but its Onion over VPN unlocks TOR capabilities over its VPN. NordVPN can run on all of the major platforms and a number of home-network platforms.  One feature that could be improved upon, however, is the user interface – which, at least on the macOS platform, is somewhat clunky in comparison to many other top VPN providers. The subscription cost can be also considered a bit on the high side. You can select between Complete, Plus, and Standard on a two-year, one-year, and monthly plan, the difference being whether or not you also want access to a password manager, data breach scanner, or encrypted cloud storage service. Prices start from $4.19 p/m on a two-year standard plan to $14.49 p/m on a complete, one-month subscription. Still, it’s a strong choice, and you can always try it for 30 days and get a full refund. At the time of writing, NordVPN is also running a birthday promotion for its plans. Launching on February 8 and lasting for one month, new users can subscribe to a two-year plan – standard, plus, or complete – and they will save up to 59% via a gift promo. At random, users will receive either three months or one year free, added to the length of the contract.  Also: How does NordVPN work? Plus, how to set it up and use it |  Our NordVPN review | NordVPN vs Surfshark: Which is better for you? IPVanish may present itself as a plug-and-play solution, but it’s a capable and very flexible product. In my opinion, the company is undervaluing itself in doing this. At a glance, IPVanish may seem like a relatively generic VPN, but there’s more to the story. IPVanish’s user interface has some excellent performance graphics and an extensive selection of servers to choose from, with useful status information. As far as protocols go, there is a wide range of options. Its app also has an extensive array of configuration options. If you commit for two years, IPVanish offers a discounted plan for $3.33 p/m. This increases to $4.50 p/m for a yearly plan, and $11.99 for one month. However, unless you turn off automatic renewal, you can expect a price hike once your deal time ends. Read the review: Our review of IPVanish We really like the Proton VPN story. The Swiss company was created by engineers and scientists who met at CERN (the European Center for Nuclear Research – where the Web was invented) with a focus on creating encrypted email and VPN communications with the idea of protecting the communication of activists and journalists. In terms of product, Proton VPN has a belt-and-suspenders approach to security, layering strong protocols on top of perfect forward secrecy on top of strong encryption. Not only does Proton VPN have a kill switch, but it also has an always-on VPN, which attempts to restore VPN service if it’s dropped mid-communication. All apps are open source, and the company reports that they are independently audited.  The company offers a generous free VPN service, allowing one machine to connect at medium speed and without bandwidth limits. However, if you want a paid option, you can only select 24-month plans. If you’re happy to subscribe, Proton VPN has two paid plans on offer: VPN Plus or Proton Unlimited. VPN Plus, at €4.99 p/m (approx. $5.42) offers all of the VPN’s features, whereas Proton Unlimited – at €7.99 p/m (approx $8.68), provides the full Proton suite including VPN, Drive, and Mail. Also: ProtonVPN gets serious speed boost with VPN Accelerator However, there are many VPN options on the market that are worth your time – and, potentially, your dollars should you choose to subscribe to them. When you consider what VPN to go for, keep in mind that the longer you agree to a subscription, the cheaper the VPN will be. The tests were performed with a broadband connection in the UK with a starting speed, without a VPN, of 54.5Mbps download and 15.1Mbps upload. (Yes, they are terrible, but the best where I live in the UK currently has to offer). The following speeds are in Mbps. We also tested for the presence of DNS leaks. Please keep in mind, though, that results may be different for you and vary from country to country. They may also be impacted by your ISP provider and broadband subscription.  The below results are not to say exactly what speeds you may expect, but to provide a general idea of how your speeds could change with a VPN enabled. 

  1. Pay attention to trial period times and use them: Every VPN performs differently, and every user experience is going to be different still. Your ISP will offer different speeds than mine. Your favorite coffee shop has a different network connection than mine. You’re even likely to be connecting to different countries and definitely different sites. Before committing to a VPN provider, test candidates thoroughly in your real-world environment. That’s what the trial times and money-back guarantees are for.
  2. Avoid free VPN providers: Running a VPN is expensive, and if the VPN provider doesn’t make money from your service fees, they’re going to make money from your data – sometimes even stealing your personal information and selling it. Stick with the proven commercial vendors we’ve tested. There are also cases where ‘free’ VPNs undermine what the software is meant to stand for – data protection and security – and you may, instead, be downloading a product that will compromise your privacy. 
  3. Don’t worry about the country of jurisdiction unless: There are generally two classes of VPN users, those who need to protect their coffee shop surfing and those counting on a VPN to protect their lives. VPN often provides a level of security theatre where folks get bent out of shape if a country has any form of data jurisdiction. But as shown by ZDNET author David Gewirtz in this article, many countries outside of the so-called Five Eyes are Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties signatories and will share data with the US and other countries anyway. If you’re using a VPN to provide true protection, research this a lot more than reading a review article.
  4. Finally, don’t sweat warrant canaries and no log policies: Most of you are going to use a VPN to protect your data stream from being hijacked by someone sharing your network. All of these big legal and jurisdictional issues get in the way of the simple fact that you want fast transfers and an encrypted tunnel from your spot in the airport to the website you’re trying to access. But here’s the thing: All these vendors have solid money-back guarantees, and we would not have recommended them otherwise. We do test VPN services from multiple locations, but we can’t test from all locations. Every home, every community, every local ISP, and every nation has a different infrastructure. It’s essential that once you choose, you test for all your likely usage profiles and only then make the decision to keep the service or request a refund. One thing to consider is whether you’re looking for a solution for working at home vs. traveling. For example, if you travel rarely, have strong bandwidth at home, and have a NAS or a server box, you might want to VPN to your home server from your machine’s native client and then out to the world. If you’re new to working from home and your company has a dedicated VPN, you’ll want to use whatever process they’ve set out for you. Also: How to install and set up a VPN on iOS, Mac, Windows, and Android  But, generally speaking, it doesn’t hurt to have a VPN provider already set up and in your kit bag. Most home-based traffic won’t require VPN usage, but having a VPN provider is a good idea if you’re on any sort of shared connection. Also, having a VPN provider can be a win if you ever think you’ll need to access the Internet from out and about – like a hospital or doctor’s office. Likewise, if you want to obscure where you’re connecting from, a VPN provider might help. If you experience traffic slowdowns, be sure to check not only your VPN but your Wi-Fi connection between your device and your router, your connection to your broadband provider, and even their connection to upstream providers. However, if your online activities are being monitored at the ISP level – say, by a government – they may recognize the signature of a VPN in play, even if exactly what you are doing is hidden. VPNs are useful in unblocking geo-restricted content and can be a vital tool for accessing information in countries with repressive governments. And they are important services for anyone that wants to maintain a high level of safety and privacy online. However, because they are anonymous (or at least should be) they can also be used to hide illegal online activities such as pirating content. You can find out your IP address and location using whatismyipaddress.com. Just compare the IP address and location when you’re connected with a VPN vs. without a VPN. If they are different, then your VPN is doing its job. It’s also possible that your VPN is leaking your data and potentially exposing your online activity. To ensure your VPN doesn’t have any issues with DNS leaks or IP leaks, you can run tests on a site like DNS Leak Test. There are plenty of tools that allow you to test for leaks, but many are owned by VPN providers and it may not always be clear who developed the tool, which could be a conflict of interest. So you may want to run tests with several different sites and compare the results. Apple provides VPN support on recent OS versions. Head over to System Settings, the Network tab, and either import the configuration file you were provided or hit the plus button and add a VPN interface. Here’s a handy tip sheet from Apple that will walk you through the process. Windows also allows you to host a VPN server by creating a new incoming network connection, choosing the users who can connect, and telling Windows that the incoming connection is across the internet. You’ll also have to configure your router to allow traffic to your computer.  That said, if you’re rocking a Chromebook, all you need to do is open Settings and then Network. Click Add Connection. Then all you need to do is choose between OpenVPN and L2TP over IPSec. Google has a handy cheat sheet right here to guide you through the process.  Also: Linux’s WireGuard VPN is here and ready to protect you So what do you need to set up WireGuard? More and more of the VPNs we spotlighted support WireGuard right out of the box. You can download it for Linux. But you can also download a package for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and FreeBSD. It’s like most open source products, in that you’ll need to do some reading and thinking to make it work.  Operating a good VPN service requires hundreds of servers across the world and a ton of networking resources.  If you’re not paying to support that infrastructure, who is? Probably advertisers or data miners. If you use a free service, your data or your eyeballs will probably be sold, and that’s never a good thing. After all, you’re using a VPN to ensure your data is kept secure. You wouldn’t want to then have all that data go to some company to sift through – it completely defeats the purpose. Now, before you choose a VPN service, free or paid, it must be made clear that no one tool can guarantee your privacy. First, anything can be compromised. But more to the point, a VPN protects your data from your computer to the VPN service. It doesn’t protect what you put on servers. It doesn’t protect your data from the VPN provider’s VPN servers to whatever site or cloud-based application you use. It doesn’t give you good passwords or multifactor authentication. Privacy and security require you to be diligent throughout your digital journey, and VPNs, while quite helpful, are not a miracle cure. There are also plenty of free VPNs for iPhone, but as much as you may want to save money, these typically aren’t a great option. Free VPNs come with an increased risk of security flaws. Not only that, but free VPNs underperform compared to premium services and are often riddled with ads or have severe data or bandwidth limitations. In the worst cases, free VPN providers may make money selling your data. At present, countries including North Korea, Iraq, and Belarus, ban the use of VPNs entirely. As noted in NordVPN’s country guide, others – such as China, Russia, and Egypt – discourage their use and try to stop new adoption by demonizing VPNs as software widely used for criminal activity.  Workarounds do exist, but they may come with risk. As a general rule of thumb, free or trial offerings tend to restrict usage, speed, or the number of devices you can connect to the VPN, with access and speed increased for paying customers. A kill switch is a feature in your device’s VPN app that detects when a connection fails and immediately shuts down network access. Like with everything, it’s not a 100% perfect solution, but these days, I wouldn’t recommend using a VPN that doesn’t offer a kill switch. When you have enabled the VPN on more than one device at the same time, this means you are using simultaneous connections. It’s always best to have this feature in a VPN to ensure your privacy isn’t accidentally compromised through one device or another.   However, with many high-quality VPNs now available, the negative impact is often unnoticeable, unless there is a problem with the VPN server you are connecting to. To fix this, try out a server in a different location and see if that improves your connection.