Best VPN Services Test Report

Comments

1. J.M. says

   December 3, 2019

   @ HardSell

   I saw your comment on the Black Friday sales and wanted to respond. That blog was taken down so I will respond here. First, I appreciate your thoughts. I really do and I really think you bring a lot to the site. I am sorry for the length of the reply but I wanted to share with you that this decision was not just because of a name or some careless thought. Here are my main reasons I went to them:

   1) I am sorry your contact with them was as bad as you described. I have not experienced anything like what you are saying. However, I am not brand loyal as much as I am customer service loyal. To me, jumping from one company to another is no big deal, regardless of how big it is. I suffer from Squirrel syndrome (my own term) and I sometimes…Oh Look! Cookies :). To me, I get bored really easy with things. I have literally switched bank accounts and entire banks just because I got bored going into the same parking lot. So if I do start getting treated as you have, I have no issue up and leaving. I would change my cell number every month if I could but then I would get into problems with several friends and family, LOL!
   However, as it has stood, Proton worked really hard with me in regards to setting up my account. There was some things going on that I could not figure out on my end and they were struggling to get it to process on their end and it took about three hours to set it up. They stuck with me all the way through. Tutanota, if I could get a response, was very short and UN-yielding.

   2) Cost also played a part. I am an NPO. As such, I have documentation that I use to set up my NPO, the bank accounts, the internet that I use and anything else. I reached out to Tutanota and that documentation was not good enough. They wanted several more things that I just did not have. Trying to explain this to them as well as explaining what I was sending was as though I was a problem. When I reached out to ProtonMail, they did not even blink an eye at my documentation. They gave me the NPO discount which is as good if not a little better than their black friday deal they were running. They gave me a code to use. When I went to get a VPN, I reached out to them. All I had to do was activate the VPN under my NPO, punch in the code and I would get that discount as well! I am paying less for both email and VPN than I would if I were to go to two separate companies.

   3) As far as privacy, I do wish to have privacy. However, my email for my NPO has my name, my organization and my tag line all connected to it. It literally would be impossible to not find me. I took this into account as to why I wanted a VPN. The main reasons for my VPN was to hide myself if I was on public WIFI, hide myself from other peoples ISP and to hide myself from my cell phone carrier ISP. My NPO ISP encrypts everything before it even reaches me as well as the traffic between me and the Internet. It is a local company and the owner and I are friends so I trust what they say. Besides, my ISP is again connected to my NPO. Hence for me privacy in this regard is only for what I mention above. As I then considered, what I am really paying for is my custom domain name. Hence this leads me to number 4 below.

   If I need true privacy, I do not go online. I treat the internet as a postcard. Everything I say and do is filtered through that thought. If I need true privacy I just unplug and avoid all internet. Very easy for me to do as I prefer being outdoors anyway.

   4) Security of the system then came into play. I will state right off the bat, I hate Google and Microsoft. For that matter, Fakebook and Tweety are also on my despised list. I am sure there are others but those are the big ones. Therefore, when I was looking, I was using this site as a reference point. It came down to two options to me. First was Tutanota and the second was Protonmail. Tutanota was and is in a 14 eye country. ProtonMail and VPN is not. I am not big on the 14 eye country, but was willing to give them a chance. After #2, my choice was pretty easy to make.
   I also have a friend whose job is to discover and uncover weaknesses and exploits in Technology security. I guess his title is IT security and hardening (he kind of makes his own titles he is that good). I had him look at the systems for both Tutanota and Proton. I cannot phrase what he said as I understood a little of it but to break it down as he did for me, I can. He said that you have two solid companies from what he has seen. Both with really good security. However, he said it came down to trust. On one end, you trust the company that runs both a VPN and email to keep everything separate and encrypt (as they say they do) everything going and coming from their data centers. You have to trust that they follow through with what they say (as we do for any privacy and security). On the other hand you have Tutanota that encrypts everything but they are the ones who made and handle their own encryption and keys. His concern was if they set it up correctly, monitor it correctly, upkeep it correctly and handle the systems appropriately. Combined with my conversation with them and also #5, I needed to go with the one I felt safer with.

   #5) I also looked at having a constant connection. As I am part of my NPO, my position requires me to be on 24/7/365. I do get days off but even those can be interrupted by a call or email. I have had times, while trying to log in on my Tutanota account, that the system does not connect. That happens on three platforms so I know it is not just me. I never have had an issue with ProtonMail. This of course takes away from any fact if I just do not have cell service. I must, as my NPO is dependent on it, be able to be reached unless it is pre-approved for me to be out of touch and then there are backup systems in place with others who can handle it while I am gone or out. But that is what it is for me. I love it and would not trade my life for anything. I just have to be realistic about my needs.

   #6) This website also helped me make a decision. While I know Sven promotes a few other systems first, he does have some glowing reports for Proton.

   #7) As far as website and internet, I have also learned to just narrow down my visits. I do have to be on the net but whereas before I had more than two dozen websites I would visit on a regular basis, I have at most ten. Seven or eight of those are only one time a month to either pay bills or some other issue. There are really only two or three sites I visit regularly. This one, and a couple of others. The only one I really post anything to is this one. Everything else I need for my NPO is done with software and only when I add anything to that software base do I visit their website which is a little out of the norm for me.

   #8) Lastly, ease of downloading and use. While I wish Proton would move away from Google services (I disabled google off my cell so I do not get push notifications) I was able to download the APK, the bridges for my laptop and Linux and the VPN for my phone and laptop. As I have said, I hate Microsoft but one of my programs requires me to have one working Microsoft laptop. However, I have shut Microsoft off of the computer as much as possible and have gone to LibreOffice and several other platforms that I can. I recognize this not as preferred but just as necessity. If could get my program to work on a Linux, I would do a complete switch and be done with Microsoft as well. To date, that does not work. My work desktop is Linux and to install the VPN was a little more than I could figure out so I am going to need to speak with someone. Tutanota would cover most if not all these basis but when looking at #1-7, I really had to make the best choice for my situation.

   So, HardSell, that is my thought going in. As to your comment, the UI for the VPN and Mail are very slick indeed. Easy to use and understand which is good as Technology and I are not on the best of terms many times. I can use it but as I say, I am knowledge enough to get into trouble…not enough to get out. Hope that helps with my understanding. I am sure I had a few other thoughts that I marked down last night in my response to the other thread but I am not remembering them right off the top of my head. If I am wrong in any of the above points, please tell me. I am still learning and I want to be right in my thoughts. @ Sven, if you wish to add anything that maybe I have missed, please also chime in. I appreciate your thoughts, HardSell and I do enjoy reading your comments.

   Reply

   • J.M. says

     December 3, 2019

     When I speak of them and your comments, it was in connection to me using Proton for my VPN and my Email service. I guess I should have made that clearer in my statement above. Sorry.

     Reply

   • J.M. says

     December 3, 2019

     @HardSell

     Last thought and then I will end. I agree with your thought of not giving too much information to one company. Having both a VPN and Email in one place does give a lot of information and information is power. I just had to look at my specific situation when making the decision and this was the best I could come up with. If another company comes along that gives me these same aspects as Proton, I would really consider switching one of my services.

     Reply

     • HardSell says

       December 5, 2019

       Hey J.M.

       I’ve come to know the site rotates the tiles that you see of the articles when you land on the homepage – I’m guessing in a set time or when Sven updates one not being shown for a time.
       – The search symbol in the top right corner opens the box and a single term returns the title results first and everything after – I’ve not studied it’s function for accuracy but that’s what I’d seen for my term.
       – – blackfriday in it will bring up that topic and you’ll see the 24 comments there yet. It died till next year I suppose to making a homepage tile’s spot.

       I’d say you’d know more than I about your devices and systems from your professional and personal life needs. There’s growth in experimenting I find, like you could always find an email service to try out like a burner account. Sign up using it for when any new account isn’t important to you and it needs an email entered.
       Same with a VPN that offers a guarantee to refund in full by x days in. There are VPN’s offering you 30 days given time and use to claim a refund in and some say no reason needed – but you know their going to ask you why.
       I”d say you were comparing it to X to see if it seemed a better service to you. As to knowing if X was a problem or your system was causing so slow speeds you had gotten.

       I got in to really using the online world with a sony laptop running Vista, never was an XP’er – so I’m thinking it had to be around 2009. Had a smartphone before that nothing like the screens of now, that I surfed from a little.

       I got in to trying to modify win 8 OS when I updated to a desktop. There was a couple of programs out and a community following each helping others doing the same modifying theirs (like here just a different topic) where one could modify the OS code I’d guess to omit out different stuff – included in the windows OS version they had. Mainly to strip out the business crud a home user don’t need.

       I got a lot of practice of reloading the stock win 8 OS anew on the desktop. Never did fully grasped on to what I was doing tech wise but I could follow a TUT or guide to the letter getting the results.
       It’s was like here user choice and nothing set in stone to do – but pointers of what this being discarded has in an effect that to the other functions of the OS.
       That was in the days when M$ hadn’t locked the OS down as they seem to have with win 10.
       I’ve read a guys pursuit to strip out the telemetry components of his 10 OS when it first was out- long story short every M$ update rolled out had reversed the tweaks he made to the OS. He went as far to have a scrip to redo his tweaks after an update. He busted, in the end as each update changed the OS enough to make his scrip ineffective and it was harder to get the tweaks to hold form restart to restart manually going in setting things as he had.

       My focus now of late it to finger the areas that give off clear texts of our personal info related to just going online in the modern age of today. Trying to understand then any ways to defend against these, and if not possible to add some noise to the info give off by my system in someway.
       Basically I’m thinking it’s all the areas were the info is collect to fingerprint the device and OS as they can and use.

       Have a good December

       Reply

       • J.M. says

         December 7, 2019

         @HardSell,

         Thanks. I found that after my long post.

         I agree with you. The trial works great to test. I guess I am not as fast or smart to take that…and putting money upfront always bothers me because of bad past experiences.

         I guess if the company is sure of their product, don’t make me pay first. Give me the test full on and let me see.

         I did reach out to a couple of the VPN’s on here and they either did not respond or the discount was still more than I pay now, I couldn’t get to them.

         7 days free, full service, no money down. That was what Proton offered. Then the NPO discount after…hard to beat.

         I do wish, should say hope, they follow my advice and get a third party verification on the no logs. Especially after the links I sent them and the issue and potential due to PIA.

         As far as the OS, I should also add that I really hate Windows as well. My wife jokes and says there is nothing I like (LOL). I like Linux and am have a work computer built for me based on Linux (my old system just died today).

         If I could figure how to ditch Windows and have Wine work with my required software…I would be happier than a fish in a flood.

         Maybe a VM on a linux? I don’t know. But I do agree. While I know my NPO is easy to find and get to me…it is more just the casual snoopers and data copiers and hogs I am hiding from (cell and work ISP) and public Wifi.

         Hope you have a great December and a Merry Christmas!

2. HardSell says

   November 30, 2019

   Hey Sven,
   Switched to ExpressVPN via your Black Friday/Cyber Monday page and it’s link / supporting the site to I hope.

   Things I don’t like are so far.
   I paid with paypal and my expressvpn invoice has my real name used there.
   I tried finding a way through paymentwall but not for the US was anything offered that I could use. I don’t do crypto-coins and that’s still link able isn’t it to user then account.

   Something that might fly under the radar was the activation code needed to install the windows application and with expressvpn’s no logs policy, then with IP address shared amongst users. I don’t need to worry about my account’s payment and the account itself I’ll use be to of an association being linked in anyway.
   Could you offer anything specific you’d understand here?

   I did notice that with adguard AD BLOCKER running and set as I have, the link from your site was for the EXPRESS ad without any mention of the +3 months and then stating the 15 months for $99.95 and 12 billing to follow of the next year. It was the plan old 12 month ad I seen – so I disabled AG and tried again.
   Finding the 15 month deal…

   Anyways I still have a year on VPN.ac but the setup I use (ISP over cellular data) and it’s kill switch with the network disconnects I face was a bust for me. I have notice that my slow internet is still slow with first impressions of Express.

   Thanks

   Reply

   • Sven Taylor says

     November 30, 2019

     Hey HardSell, thank you.

     Reply

3. Switched to Mullvad says

   November 29, 2019

   After seven great years with PIA, I finally called it off due to news of the Kape acquisition. Or really, not because of the acquisition, but because of how PIA handled the situation and dodged important questions. If they had just opened up with a clear plan for how they would continue to verify their trustworthiness under the new ownership (audits, etc.), I would have stayed. But they didn’t, and I’m not waiting around for them to figure it out. I switched to Mullvad and it’s going great. I expected it to be clunky and slow, but it’s faster than PIA and super easy to use.

   Reply

4. Frank says

   November 27, 2019

   Hi Sven,

   I noticed you removed VyprVPN from the toplist. Any particular reason(s) for that?
   Also do you know if Trust.Zone uses Virtual Private Servers? I couldn’t find any information on their website and they don’t respond to requests thru their website.

   Reply

   • Sven Taylor says

     November 27, 2019

     I’ll be updating my VyprVPN review soon, but mainly due to performance issues.

     Reply

5. Vector Space says

   November 27, 2019

   I am curious, does Perfect Privacy support perfect forward secrecy (PFS)? It was not listed in the comprehensive review but it is quite important feature imo.

   Reply

   • Sven Taylor says

     November 27, 2019

     Yes, it does.

     Reply

6. Anonymous says

   November 27, 2019

   Dear Sven,
   Longtime reader here. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed perusing all of your reviews, articles, exposés, etc. and have always been satisfied by the quality. You clearly are a man who cares about privacy. As such, I’ve been somewhat shocked at the silence from you, and similar reviewers, about MLATs: Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties. A lot of “private” jurisdictions have been tooting their horns lately, and so I’ve been looking them up
   here: http://www.cbi.gov.in/interpol/mlats.php
   and here: https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2014/vol2/222469.htm
   and there are a lot of results! An MLAT with the United States basically guarantees an entry into a proto-Eyes situation. It’s just like being in the 14 Eyes, in essence, and it’s scary! Many of the so-called private jurisdictions which VPN providers procure host MLATs with the US, thus making their claims worthless. What are your thoughts?
   Sincerely,
   Anonymous
   P.S. I’ve created a list of some of the more private jurisdictions which don’t have MLATs, appear in the eyes, and have strong data protection laws. Here it is:
   1. Iceland
   2. Seychelles
   3. New Zealand
   4. Malta

   Reply

   • Sven Taylor says

     November 27, 2019

     Interesting, thanks for the info!

     Reply

   • HardSell says

     November 28, 2019

     @Anonymous I agree and an email service as with the vpn jurisdictions as where our personal data is involved.
     https://restoreprivacy.com/5-eyes-9-eyes-14-eyes/#comment-58133

     List of government mass surveillance projects
     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_government_mass_surveillance_projects

     At the core of it all was the alliance forged after the last world war. Never was good in history. But with so much of the internet’s existence starting in the US and a majority of the traffic routed through it – it’s a core player.

     Then no companies privacy policy or the privacy laws in any one location of the world can stands up against it’s own countrys court system. Then the connected eyes network work through these governments down the ladder.

     Reply

     • Anonymous says

       November 29, 2019

       @HardSell I always see you in the comments, and I sincerely admire your dedication. Totally agree. It gets made into a political issue to divide “the masses”, but really, nothing good has ever come out of these shadowy transnational agreements; that goes for corporations too! The Wikipedia articles you linked alone are pretty jarring, even to me, someone probably more read in these areas than the average consumer. Litigious is the word — the death of privacy, clear and simple. This is why we need a decentralized, federated web!

       Reply

       • HardSell says

         November 29, 2019

         Thank you Anonymous.
         Yes something better than the seemingly mafia like hierarchically structured organizational control in a gestapo’s like grip on the web, that we – all the nations use.
         As the “eye’s nations” have presented over the modern internet and it’s traffic these symptoms above to warrant our concerns or simply put – to catch and store with the profiling of all users data in a database having that knowledge and control over us.

         The MLAT’s as I understood were to help aid the exchange of evidence and information in criminal and related matters.
         Of course being used in the Nations outside of the 14 eyes.
         Interesting is the “Asset Sharing” https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2014/vol2/222469.htm
         I could see this as (foot in the door) to the nations that enter into a MLAT to cooperate fully in any request, and then it does speak of getting laws changed.
         [offering the possibility of sharing in forfeited assets. A parallel goal has been to encourage spending of these assets to improve narcotics-related law enforcement. The long term goal has been to encourage governments to improve asset forfeiture laws and procedures so they will be able to conduct investigations and prosecutions of narcotics trafficking and money laundering that includes asset forfeiture.]

         As we’ve seen with the modern web and in advertisings polluted roll with our privacy’s loss there. The web emits digital exhaust that fingers us and everything then goes into the data profile. It’s probably not hard to get laws changed
         in a nations government if the monetary incentive is there as well – then general as a rule of law and not specific.
         THE INTERNET AGE has nations far behind in their own privacy protection laws to the tech used today…

         Enjoyed your insights in the quest for an online privacy too.

7. Bronco says

   November 26, 2019

   Sven, what do you think about IVPN? Strange you didn’t put them on this list, and it seems to me they have decent reputation.

   I’ve spent a year with NordVPN, and didn’t renew the deal. I quit them before the recent “issues”. I had problems because certain online services couldn’t work (namely HBO), and Nord service admittedly could’t help me about that.

   Reply

   • Sven Taylor says

     November 26, 2019

     It seems pretty good, similar to Perfect Privacy, based in Gibraltar. I need to review it.

     Reply

8. D says

   November 19, 2019

   Hi Sven,
   What do you think about ProtonMail’s VPN (though I realize they’ve ‘sold out’)?

   Thanks,
   DB

   Reply

   • Sven Taylor says

     November 19, 2019

     Hey D, although ProtonMail did have some outside investors very early on (circa 2014) the VPN has not been “sold out” to anyone as far as I know. As they state here, “ProtonVPN AG is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Proton Technologies AG which is also based in Geneva, Switzerland. Proton was founded in 2014 by a team of scientists who met at CERN (the European Center for Nuclear Research) and created ProtonMail, the world’s largest encrypted email service.”
     I’m actually in the processing of retesting everything with ProtonVPN now and may likely include it in this recommendation list if things go well. It has certainly improved over the past two years.

     Reply

     • J.M. says

       November 27, 2019

       Sven,

       I am glad to hear you are retesting ProtonVPN. I have been using them and while there are times it is slower, mostly, it seems to have no difference.

       Reply

9. Debaccik says

   November 13, 2019

   There’re so many useful information mentioned. It is great to see that more and more people starting understand how much data security is important at the ages of tech world. I use so many security programs, so never been hacked or my data leaked. I see you mentioned Nord, so I use their business solution NordVPN Teams. I am working as freelancer and I like their services, feel secured with it on my computer and phone app. I think their prices are the most relevant, aren’t they?

   Reply

   • Sven Taylor says

     November 13, 2019

     Yes, NordVPN is one of the best values you’ll find. They are also running a cyber security month special right now.

     Reply

10. Cotay says

    October 31, 2019

    Hey, I liked your article and all your thoughts.
    I’m now opening a small company and I will need a VPN which could be used by 20 people. For my personal use, I was using NordVPN, I kinda liked it and now I saw that they launched a new product for b2b which is called NordVPN Teams. So I’m thinking to take a VPN which is designed only for business, so I could take more benefits from it. Maybe you have any thought about business VPN?

    Reply

    • Sven Taylor says

      October 31, 2019

      Hi, I haven’t looked into this area too much. I think most VPNs could offer a custom plan if you ask them for a small business. I also know VyprVPN has a business product as well.

      Reply

11. mother says

    October 30, 2019

    Hey Sven,
    Was wondering if you could recommend a privacy focused Web hosting company?
    Thanks
    M

    Reply

    • Sven Taylor says

      October 30, 2019

      Here are a few worth checking out:
      Bahnof in Sweden
      Njalla also in Sweden
      Orange Website in Iceland

      Reply

      • Mother says

        November 2, 2019

        Thanks!

        Reply

12. M.D says

    October 21, 2019

    Hey Sven, there is currently situation unwrapping regarding a VPN service NordVPN. As far as I understand – one of the NordVPN servers was compromised, where expired (according to NordVPN’s statement) private key was obtained, but they claim that “the only possible way to abuse website traffic was by performing a personalized and complicated MiTM attack to intercept a single connection that tried to access nordvpn.com”.

    Source (Official statement by NordVPN) – https://nordvpn.com/blog/official-response-datacenter-breach/

    I would really like to see your take on this – as once again I’m not really into jumping to conclusions this fast and the statements “concerned” people give seem way too exaggerated.

    Reply

    • Sven Taylor says

      October 21, 2019

      I’m researching this now for an article and will adjust recommendations based on my findings.
      UPDATE: see this article.

      Reply

      • anon says

        October 22, 2019

        really looking forward to your take on this situation, I agree it seems isolated to one server out of 3k

        Reply

    • HardSell says

      October 22, 2019

      Hi M.D,
      Doesn’t seem exaggerated, sincere and eye’s wide open I’d say.
      Then a little foolish they were caught off guard by not using some outsourced vetting of any server/company used to supply the business they do.
      .
      Excerpts – NordVPN Official Response
      https://nordvpn.com/blog/official-response-datacenter-breach/
      We are not trying to undermine the severity of the issue.
      We failed by contracting an unreliable server provider and should have done better to ensure the security of our customers.
      We are taking all the necessary means to enhance our security.
      .
      We have undergone an application security audit, are working on a second no-logs audit right now, and are preparing a bug bounty program.
      We double-checked that no other server could possibly be exploited this way and started creating a process to move all of our servers to RAM, which is to be completed next year.
      We will give our all to maximize the security of every aspect of our service, and next year we will launch an independent external audit all of our infrastructure to make sure we did not miss anything else.
      .
      We have also raised the bar for all datacenters we work with. Now, before signing up with them, we make sure that they meet even higher standards.
      With this incident, we learned important lessons about security, communication, and marketing.
      .
      I’d say Nord will only become stronger because of it’s weakness realized today, that it’s self-inflected security concerns will ripple for sometime to come.
      So it shot itself in the foot, the mistake now would be to self-doctor the wound that requires more than a band-aid.
      My 2 watts

      Reply

13. Anonymous says

    October 21, 2019

    Dear Sven,

    First, I’d just like to thank you for keeping this website up-to-date and continually adding new reviews and articles. The one on Tor was especially informative. As a longtime reader, I genuinely appreciate when someone takes the trouble to advocate for a niche position — and you advocate your positions WELL.

    That mandatory appreciation aside, I’m wondering if you’ve heard of Mullvad VPN. I’ll admit that I was skeptical when I first heard of them as well (which was actually yesterday), but a number of reviewers have treated them well, they are mostly open-source [https://mullvad.net/en/help/open-source/] and they have been independently audited by Cure53 (a very popular auditor) as keeping no logs [https://cure53.de/pentest-report_mullvad_v2.pdf]. To say the least, they seem to be legit. Despite this, I’ve heard practically nothing about them anywhere; I’ve not even seen them on this site, which is surprising. Do you have any opinion on them?

    Thank you so much!
    Anonymous

    Reply

    • Sven Taylor says

      October 21, 2019

      Hello, Mullvad is briefly discussed above, and it looks to be a decent provider, although I haven’t had time for a review because I’ve been so busy with email reviews, updates, and other guides lately. I hope to get to it (and other new VPN reviews) in the coming months.

      Reply

      • HardSell says

        October 23, 2019

        Hi Sven,
        When you do find the time for a review of Mullvad, be sure to give it’s features as I don’t see clue of them on it’s site.
        Strange rightly so, to sell something as a VPN service without boasting of and off about it’s talents and abilities.
        Appreciated ; )

        Reply

14. Jason Roth says

    October 15, 2019

    Hi Sven,
    Having followed your guides on use of VPN, browser choice and modification there are a couple of questions based on best practice when using a VPN.

    ISPs can see that an individual is connected to a VPN server so
    a) Is it best practice to use just one VPN server for everything you do day to day – all traffic.
    b) or use different VPN server in a country with strong data protection laws when downloading (raising the question that if your ISP sees high data throughput when connected to a VPN in a given country, is this likely to raise any flags).
    Thanks for all you do to help the community.

    Reply

    • Sven Taylor says

      October 15, 2019

      Hi Jason, to be honest, I don’t think it really matters. VPNs are becoming mainstream with many people using VPNs for torrenting and Netflix streaming, which are both high-bandwidth activities. So I don’t think you have to worry about any “red flags” so to speak. Connecting to a closer server should give you better performance.

      Reply

15. Ray says

    September 20, 2019

    I just stopped using Perfect Privacy. Too often recently the connection would cut out or I would not be able to connect to a particular server(s) on the server list (I’m in Germany and could never connect with Frankfurt and only rarely with Erfurt). Also, not being able to access Netflix and other IP dependent streaming services – such as ITV – was a bummer.
    Gonna try ExpressVPN for a few months to see what they’re like.

    Reply

16. Jack sea says

    August 11, 2019

    Hi Sven.
    First thank you for your website, it has helped me a lot and I have learned many things with it. And I keep learning.
    I am currently a VPN.AC user. What it has caught my attention are their policies, they are very clear and technically give concrete explanations. I think they provide solutions that I don’t know if they have any other VPN service.
    In general, it is a good VPN service. Good speeds even with the double server jump. I have implemented the VPN on the router and through the computer I use the double jump, which makes it triple and the speeds are still good. The kill switch works perfectly and also allows you to stop the VPN service and not have an Internet connection. The kill switch works both when changing servers and if you stop your VPN service directly. I have not had service interruptions for months.
    As for the daily connection log policies, I don’t think it’s a problem.
    The company indicates that it is for safety reasons and work procedures and for the own VPN infrastructure. As they own everything (including servers in countries) I understand that they need some control over the system. Besides, I think it’s even good. It is true that there are companies that work with “marketing” to reassure a client by offering many things that personally make me doubt. There are many users who use paid VPN, and they don’t know what is behind them with respect to the loggs, and although they promise that they do not exist, putting reasons of speed, location of servers, I have reason to doubt … I think all VPN companies have some type of log (except Perfect privacy), such as determining the number of simultaneous connections.
    Besides, they don’t have a tracking connection to Google or Facebook (indicated in their policies).
    I also consider it important to be the owner of the entire infrastructure, including own servers. This makes exclusively they are those who handle the entire system, without third parties.
    My attention is largely the work with own DNS servers. As they say, the privacy with a VPN depends of many things, and DNS requests are something that many people forget and it is no less important.
    I have used several VPNs for several years: VYPRVPN, EXPRESS VPN, PERFECT PRIVACY and VPN.AC. Everyone has their good and less good things and there is no perfect VPN. There are very good things about some that do not have others, but I prefer to use PERFECT PRIVACY or VPN.AC.
    I apologize if there is a mistake in making the comments, I would like to be told it.
    Thank you.

    Reply

17. Eduardas Vaigauskas says

    August 7, 2019

    Hi Taylor. Thank you very much for excellent job and tremendously useful article!

    Eduardas

    Reply

18. Paranoidone says

    August 7, 2019

    Hi Sven,

    Love your website and your work. I am seriously going to buy some Bitcoin so I can donate to you.

    I’d like your comments on the newest VPN and Email service: Unspyable.com

    The things that they write about seem great but are they a NSA front? I guess you wouldn’t know. Any comments on have on Unspyable would be greatly appreciated.

    Thx

    Reply

    • Sven Taylor says

      August 8, 2019

      Hi, I have never heard of it before, but I’d generally separate email from VPN for compartmentalization reasons. Under that site’s news/updates section, there hasn’t been anything posted since 2017.

      Reply

19. Gerhard says

    August 5, 2019

    Hello Steve, I have been using Surf Shark for several days. Supposedly does a lot for security and privacy and the servers are very fast in my opinion. So far, I am thrilled. Although I’m skeptical about new VPN, but it is recommended everywhere, even by independent, on Reedit there is a discussion and they are also excited. However, the app makes some problems with Windows 10 Spring Update. Sometimes it just hangs, does not react at all, and then it’s back after 2 minutes. Although I had to shoot it completely once, because it completely hung up. In my eyes Promising VPN. Let’s see what else they can think of.

    Reply

20. anon says

    August 2, 2019

    Do you think chaning VPN across different countries is BETTER done in VM or better done on VPN routers made by different companies?

    also, with TOR as the endpoint and multi chained VPN behind it, if TOR is compramised, they would just see your last VPN, and then need to go to your next vpn etc this seems like the best approach as far as I can tell.

    I would still like to hear your thoughts on Qubes OS with Whoonix and TOR as a less exploitable surface than VPN chain due to virtualization compartmentalization

    Reply

21. anon says

    July 31, 2019

    1. Do you think no log vpn’s are being targeted by the NSA or other groups? is not that a major liablity for a spying agency? aka going after large hardware purchases and inserting code or bad hardware?

    2. Can a no log VPN have an upstream provider that has different policies? Can a no log VPN lie about where the server actually is and have your info pass through a 5 eyes country first before routed to your “safe” swiss location ?

    3. Does the diversity of TOR nodes and guards dwarf the security of the few no log VPN that accept bitcoin?

    Reply

    • Sven Taylor says

      August 1, 2019

      I really can’t say for certain with any of these questions.
      1. Not sure, we can only guess.
      2. I can’t say for certain on this either. Perhaps certain data centers in specific jurisdictions have issues, but if this is really a concern, you could utilize a multi-hop VPN and/or chain different VPN services. But for the vast majority of people, a standard (single hop) VPN will offer more than enough protection (but this depends on your threat model).
      3. There have been numerous issues that have come up over the years raising questions about just how much anonymity Tor offers. Read this. For the truly paranoid, I still recommend chaining different VPN services across different jurisdictions using Linux VMs.

      Reply

22. anon says

    July 28, 2019

    I would like to ask a meta-question about VPNs

    I like and use a few of your top picks.

    I recently argued with a secuirty professional about the security of VPNs, he argued that something like Qubes OS with whoonix/tor, is far more secure way to protect your real ip than a VPN. His claim was that virtualization of Qubes os and the non-business model of TOR is more secure than a VPN business that could give up your information if pressured or hacked. What are your thoughts?

    Do we have a lot of cases of the best VPN’s in the best countires giving up customer information by court order, or are there enough cases of VPN companies not having any data to actually give (no log etc) ?

    It is hard to argue with the idea that a VPN can see everything you are doing online and you are basically trusting them in a way Qubes/whoonix/tor would not require.

    Reply

    • Sven Taylor says

      July 29, 2019

      After thoroughly researching Tor, I have my doubts, many red flags:
      https://restoreprivacy.com/tor/
      Recent news, also illustrating Tor de-anonymization work going all the way back to 2012:
      https://www.zdnet.com/article/hackers-breach-fsb-contractor-expose-tor-deanonymization-project/
      With VPNs, yes, there are also risks and examples of VPNs giving up logs. But there are also examples of verified no logs VPN providers that have passed real-world tests:
      https://restoreprivacy.com/no-logs-vpn/

      Reply

23. ewuh says

    July 27, 2019

    Add CryptoSTorm!!!

    Reply

    • Sven Taylor says

      July 28, 2019

      CryptoStorm is run (or was founded?) by Douglas Spink:

      1) Spink was accused of running an illegal “farm” where people engaged in “animal cruelty” acts (sources here, here, and here).

      2) Spink was busted for smuggling millions of dollars worth of cocaine. While others in the ring received 17-year sentences, Spink got off with a “lenient, three-year sentence because of his extensive cooperation with investigators.” Key words here: extensive cooperation.

      For years there have been rumors this “cooperation” entailed giving authorities backdoor access to CryptoStorm, but again, who knows for sure.

      Reply

24. kevin says

    July 21, 2019

    hello sven
    I never recommend surfshark.
    surfshark collects ip addresses from your computer and other devices from websites.
    And collect various error reports. (Metadata Risks)
    When you use our app, we may collect advertising identifiers – unique, user-resettable IDs for advertising, – surfshark privacy policy
    And they also collect cookies.
    This policy is dangerous.

    Reply

    • Amorphous says

      September 4, 2019

      Hi,
      You can use OpenVpn client in that case

      Reply

25. dog says

    July 7, 2019

    just trying the Protonvpn trial, and for the record, they got great speeds, same datacenter as airvpn, again around 100Mbps, fast also with double hop. The windows and android clients are very very nice, fast to log in and don’t drop connections, don’t leak that much:
    – leaks during user’s configuration change, you need to stop connection to make some changes, weird but it’s one time and can be controlled
    – leaks during VPN server change (which is quite fast, but even 100ms is enough for GMS to connect to Google and add your real IP to their unique_ip list)
    – no leaks on connection change
    – routing messup, packets not coming back will make app stuck & “connected” while there’s no connectivity.. -> restart wifi router to spice it up and it won’t switch to mobile while wifi is already off, -> set wifi back and it will leak via wifi while still stuck
    Isn’t it funny that only “Block connections without VPN” works these days…
    Still this as a reminder where airvpn needs to improve because it’s even worse on Android: opensource Openvpn client is slow and leaks in every possible situation (at boot, during connection change, during VPN server change or simply by system apps like Download manager), while eddie for android is, while new, a total mess (chaotic UI, long boot leak, boot connect not possible via login, nonstop connection drops, with no other leaks at least). PC and router clients perfect with no leaks there.
    I consider using protonmail on mobile device due to 2 less leaks. I’m not having big expectation on android devs grasping the programming logic, but If there’s really leakproof android VPN client/service, i’m interested.

    Reply

26. dog says

    July 7, 2019

    airvpn = many configurations for 8 platforms, port forwarding with custom dns, many target ports, via ssl/tor, privacy focus and fantastic speeds (always maxing out 100Mbps possible by WRT3200ACM router, even more when turn on local PC Eddie and forward traffic via WAN).
    but still underrated by all comparisons.

    Reply

27. Lode Runner says

    July 1, 2019

    What do you think about RiseUp VPN?

    Reply

    • Sven Taylor says

      July 1, 2019

      It’s based in the US, so it doesn’t meet the criteria. See also here and here.

      Reply

28. matt-l says

    June 30, 2019

    Hi all, I’m considering to get a VPN to torrent some obscure film that is generally unavailable to the public and/or unavailable to purchase. However my upload and download speed is mediocre, sitting at just 2Mb and 15Mb (may dip to below 10Mb) respectively. I live in SEA, if that helps.
    Should get NordVPN, VPNac, or Zorro?

    Reply

    • Sven Taylor says

      July 3, 2019

      VPN.ac might be a good option: fast speeds, servers in Seattle, torrenting friendly…

      Reply

29. LN says

    June 25, 2019

    Sven, You’re the best. Thanks for all this. I’d welcome your thoughts though on VPN and email. I recently signed up for Nord, using Firefox and that worked fine. On my iPhone as well. BUT… it totally screwed up my email (Thunderbird sending gmail). They kept telling me to change my outgoing smtp port from 25 to 465, except it always was 465. I also tried others. Nothing seemed to work and no one at Nord seemed to care enough to help me find a solution. Any ideas? Or, do you know of a service that doesn’t screw up emails and/or has customer service help that really helps? Many thanks/ LN

    Reply

    • Sven Taylor says

      June 25, 2019

      Yes this can be an issue sometimes with VPNs putting in measures to prevent bulk spam email campaigns, which blacklists the VPN’s IP addresses. So you might want to research this with the different providers and the email client you’re using. I know this is an issue with many VPNs and some address it differently than others.

      Reply

30. Sebastian M says

    June 16, 2019

    Hi Sven, I read your thoughts and I am now trying to choose between ExpressVPN and vpn.ac. I had a IVPN account for about one year, they were ok, but I want to move on as they are too expensive and also as you mention just „ok“ – no netflix, no browser add-on and ok speeds for Germany. On the positive side I can say there were flawless with a lot of updates among this year. However, everywhere you look for a vpn review you can find ExpressVPN as the total leader and I am not sure if they pay their way in to be on the top or are they that good. Does it worth the price difference (ExprssVPN vs. vpn.ac)? You tested both, so I would relate my question in terms of speed and „feeling of anonymity“. Because vpn.ac logs, but they say they keep only check in and out times and data volume – and only for one day.
    Would you consider moving from IVPN to one of your recomended VPNs an improvement (you mentioned you have also tested IVPN)? Thank you

    Reply

    • Sven Taylor says

      June 17, 2019

      Yes, ExpressVPN is the best all-around VPN in my opinion: excellent speeds (verified with the recent review update), 24/7 Netflix access, very secure apps, support for all devices and operating systems, verified no logs provider, and quite reliable. VPN.ac is also a great option, and even though they don’t advertise it, they do support American Netflix. VPN.ac is also a good value at only $3.75 with the two-year plan. IVPN is also a good provider from everything I’ve seen, although lacking a bit in some areas as you pointed out.
      If you’re on the fence about switching, you can get a cheap one-week trial for $2 on the VPN.ac website (see FAQ page). ExpressVPN also offers a 30-day refund window, no questions asked.

      Reply

    • Johnny Mnemonic says

      June 18, 2019

      Sebastian,

      You should read the VPN.ac legal stuff. I like the site and what they seem to provide, but the TOS is a bit hard to digest.

      Policy is very broad and basically renders VPN.ac service useless by prohibiting legit VPN use cases.

      EG: (couple tos violations)
      –
      * Transmit any copyrighted, trademark, or patented content
      –
      service is unusable as worded, too many legit and legal reasons to mention which would fall under this violation
      –
      * Use P2P programs on other VPN Nodes than those where we allow it
      –
      peer-to-peer is attractive for many uses other than BitTorrent and many emerging software and services could be considered P2P
      –
      Regards,
      JN

      Reply

      • Sven Taylor says

        June 18, 2019

        Johnny, nearly every VPN has a clause in their TOS saying “don’t torrent copyrighted material on our servers.”
        Why? Because when they inevitably get DMCA takedown notices and threats from data centers, they can say “Well, we don’t allow copyright infringement, it’s right here in our Terms.” Meanwhile, I know for a fact that VPN.ac does not close accounts for torrenting copyrighted material.

        Reply

        • Sebastian M says

          June 18, 2019

          Thank you both for the reply. I think when it comes to sharing copyright material and torrenting illegal stuff nobody will encourage the use of their service :-). I was interested in speeds and non leaking apps on the long run. Sometimes they put you on the right server with very good speeds during the test phase and then, after signing up it all goes down (it happened to me with some providers). I was happy with IVPN, but now I‘m also thinking about trying US-Netflix. And also using just a browser extension which will for sure use less memory on the computer. I’ve asked about vpn.ac because not long ago I saw a strange review about them. Somebody wrote on his site he used some servers in Asia, checked the IP and got IPs from Europe or something like that. I am just speculating, maybe it was just intended to discourage the use of the service. BTW Sven, please take a look at Surfshark if you have the time. It‘s the new kid in town and I think many of us would like to hear some unbiased opinions about it (I am sure your readers have a lot of questions and doubts). Once again thank you very much for your answers and your privacy blog

        • Sven Taylor says

          June 18, 2019

          VPN.ac does not use any virtual locations, so the servers are located where they are advertised, you can test this.

31. George from Canada says

    June 15, 2019

    Just an afterthought…. I noticed the “Simple Privacy Setup’ recommendation at the bottom of this site.
    Banner in itself, but could you – when time allows – give a stepped up version of this?
    Something like a 2nd tier and 3rd tier? What I mean is a bumped up security/privacy version, and then as the 3rd tier (what you would consider) an ultra security/privacy version? Hope that makes sense.
    Would come in handy and informative to those folks who are non-Geek like me! 🙂

    Cheers again from Canada

    Reply

    • Sven Taylor says

      June 15, 2019

      Thanks George, I’ll keep that in mind.

      Reply