Corporations, governments and scammers all want access to your personal data, and more individuals are choosing to use a VPN to shield themselves from the constant probing.
The best services have got your privacy needs covered in any situation imaginable. There’s an app for just about any OS, and a cornucopia of devices are supported: from your smartphone, laptop, NAS, media player, to your router. Plus they are continually finding new ways to bypass technologies intended to stop people from using VPNs.
A lot of VPN companies resell a service under a different name, or utilize third-rate networks that can’t come close to the big boys. So it is appropriate to focus on the top three VPN providers that are worthy of your consideration.
PureVPN | NordVPN | Private Internet Access (PIA) | |
| Editor’s Score | 4.2/5 | 3.9/5 | 4/5 |
| Company | GZ Systems | Tefincom S.A. | Kape Technologies |
| Headquarters | British Virgin Islands | Panama City, Panama | Denver, Colorado, United States |
| Initial release | 2006 | 2012 | 2010 |
| IP Cloaking | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Protocols | PPTP, L2TP, SSTP, IKEv2, WireGuard, OpenVPN and IPSec | OpenVPN and IKEv2/IPsec in apps, L2TP and PPTP manually | OpenVPN, IPSec/L2TP, PPTP and SOCKS5 |
| Encryption | 256-bit (AES-256) | 256-bit (Next Generation Encryption with AES-256-GCM, SHA2-384 and Perfect Forward Secrecy, or AES-256-CBC) | Up-to 256-bit |
| Firewall | Port Forwarding | CyberSec (no NAT Firewall built-in so enable it in OS) | Advanced Firewall (Netfilter Project) |
| Network | 6500+ Servers from 70+ countries | Over 4,410 Remote Servers in 62 Countries | 3,239 Servers in 33 Countries |
| Software/Apps | All major mobile, desktop OS supported, plus routers, DD-WRT, gaming consoles, BoxeeBox, Roku, Apple TV, Android TV, Browsers and 20+ other OS and devices. | Advanced yet easy-to-use software for all major desktop, mobile operating systems, Raspberry Pi, plus platforms such as DD-WRT, OpenWRT, ASUSWRT, D-Link, Synology NAS and many more. | Basic, easy-to-use software for all major desktop and mobile operating systems. |
| Price (two year plan) | $2.29/month | $4.19/month | $2.19/month |
| Sign up now! | Sign up now! | Sign up now! |
#1. PureVPN
The company is based in the British Virgin Islands, which may be a turn-on as the jurisdiction is known for its privacy protection. Many VPNs are owned by a few big players in the industry but PureVPN remains independent. Software, apps, and support are extensive like rival tech wizards at Golden Frog (VyprVPN). This is currently an aggressively low-cost service for a basic VPN.
Score: 4.2/5 – Great deal
#2. Private Internet Access (PIA)
PIA is trustworthy, U.S.-based service that provides a huge worldwide network of servers that is second only to NordVPN. Their software is far from feature-rich, but it’s simple to use, conveniently sitting in your taskbar. So if checking out a slick graph showing your connection speed isn’t a make-it-or-break-it concern, PIA is a good choice. It’s the cheapest way to get a VPN with a NAT firewall, which is included in the price.
Score: 4/5 – Best value
#3. NordVPN
With over 4,410 servers based in 62 countries, NordVPN has the largest network of any VPN service tested. Their apps have a slick, clean aesthetic and settings are intuitively controlled, whether you’re selecting servers from a map of the fastest locations or enabling a specialty server for P2P software use. Based in the legal jurisdiction of Panama, they do not retain customer data for a mandatory period, as other VPNs need to. Streaming services known for blocking VPNs such as Netflix play video seamlessly.
Score: 3.9/5 – Great overall service
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Honorable Mention: VyprVPN
Golden Frog caters to the computer enthusiast. VyprVPN software lets you switch between protocols such as OpenVPN, L2TP/IPsec, PPTP and Chameleon. On top of 256-bit encryption, Chameleon goes a step beyond that by scrambling metadata to prevent DPI, VPN blocking and ISP throttling. Their service is priced a bit higher than the others, however the attractively designed software and advanced features makes it worth the admission price.
Score: 3.5/5 – Solid features
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