The 10 Best VPN Services | Top VPNs Tested Firsthand (2024)

Thousands of streaming tests confirm ExpressVPN is still the best VPN for streaming, unblocking 95% of the platforms we tested it with.

Its ability to reliably unblock geo-restricted content in 106 countries, paired with exceptional streaming speeds, is unmatched.

ExpressVPN’s US servers are great at unblocking the likes of HBO Max, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video. They bypass NFL out-of-market restrictions and other US sports blackouts, too.

ExpressVPN is also the best VPN for bypassing the Netflix VPN ban, with an astonishing 100% reliability score. Plus, it also unblocks 17 other Netflix regions.

On TVs specifically, we enjoyed using the VPN’s simple yet effective Fire TV app, as well as its MediaStreamer (Smart DNS) solution to unblock apps on Smart TV and games consoles.

Be warned though, every once in a while a server will stop working with a streaming service.

When this happened to us, we tried a different server in the same country, which often worked.

Sometimes, we asked the 24/7 live chat support agents for an alternative server. They are formidably quick, and the servers they recommend almost always work.

ExpressVPN performed very well in a our security and privacy tests, too.

The VPN routed our data transfers through secure VPN protocols (OpenVPN and Lightway) using AES-256 encryption and diskless (RAM-only) servers, which means the service physically can’t log any activity data.

In fact, real-world tests – including server seizures and independent audits – have confirmed this fact several times.

While ExpressVPN doesn’t offer many extra features, like multi-hop servers or GPS spoofing, it offers all the vital settings, especially a working VPN kill switch to prevent sudden IP leaks.

ExpressVPN is by far the easiest and most widely-compatible VPN we’ve used. It’s as close as you can get to a plug-and-play VPN.

All key preferences are preset for you on first load, including Automatic Protocol Selection (for best performance) and the VPN kill switch activation.

Every single app, even the router one, is incredibly well-designed, uncluttered, and hom*ogeneous across platforms.

The red, green, and white color palette sits well against any device display and makes it very easy to read the app’s labels.

Using it on your computer is almost the same as on your smartphone, which is ideal for VPN beginners.

Plus, out of all the VPNs we tested, ExpressVPN was the quickest (within 3 seconds) to connect to server locations, whether nearby or far away.

ExpressVPN isn’t perfect, and its main drawback is its above-average subscription price.

At its cheapest, the VPN service costs $6.67 per month on a 15-month contract.

Despite the service being more expensive than many premium rivals, you get your money’s worth given its superior capabilities.

If you want to try the VPN first, ExpressVPN offers 7- and 30-day free trials, too.

What we love about NordVPN is how much it has improved its security standards since a very small server breach in 2018.

All apps now use NordLynx, a variation of the WireGuard protocol, and traffic is encrypted through the ChaCha20 cipher.

We analyzed the packets passing through our network using Wireshark, and NordVPN made all our traffic data completely illegible:

Alongside the mandatory kill switch (which successfully passed our penetration testing), NordVPN also offers a rare multi-hop (double VPN) feature, which routed our web traffic through two separate VPN servers and encrypting it twice.

And just like ExpressVPN, NordVPN uses RAM-only (diskless) servers, making it almost impossible for a third-party to extract user data from the server.

NordVPN doesn’t log any web activity data for that matter. It doesn’t record your IP address, browsing history, or bandwidth used.

However, it does keep a log of your username and the last connection date for 15 minutes after each session.

While we trust NordVPN, its logging policy hasn’t been categorically proven through a public court case or law enforcement request.

NordVPN continues to deliver very fast VPN speeds.

Across same-country connections, speeds only dropped by 5%, which was almost as good as ExpressVPN’s 3% slowdown.

On international connections, NordVPN roughly matched ExpressVPN, with an average download speed of 86Mbps (on a fixed 100Mbps base connection).

Connecting to specific locations, NordVPN did beat ExpressVPN for speed. For instance, speeds into its UK VPN servers and Canada VPN locations were superb and easily unblocked local TV services.

While we rate NordVPN very highly, we felt rather let down by the VPN’s less user-friendly and intuitive apps.

The VPN apps for Mac and Windows need particular design improvements. The apps are by no means hard to use, but the interfaces feel cluttered due to the many extra features available.

We enjoyed using NordVPN’s mobile apps a lot more, although on Android we found that the kill switch requires irritating configuration.

There are very few verified no-logs VPNs on the market, but PIA is one of them.

The provider’s logging policy has been externally verified several times, and the company releases regular transparency reports to support this.

Thanks to its strict no-logs policy and powerful security, Private Internet Access easily outperformed its rivals for anonymous torrenting.

We were even able to torrent on all of PIA’s servers, including US ones. This is refreshing, considering many VPNs often exclude servers from P2P activity for dubious reasons.

And unlike most VPNs, PIA also comes with port forwarding. This feature is useful to increase the number of peers you ‘talk with,’ which speeds up torrent speeds.

Using qBittorrent, we downloaded a file at a rate of 9.6MiB/s — a formidable download speed even faster than ExpressVPN and NordVPN.

Not only does PIA run the most servers, it’s also the only VPN covering every single US state.

Offering the largest pool of American IP addresses allows PIA’s American users to easily bypass sports blackouts or access local TV news within the US.

While PIA’s privacy and torrenting test results are unrivalled, and its subscription price very appealing, its usability needs work.

Simply put, PIA is not as nicely designed as ExpressVPN, and it’s not the easiest VPN to use. There are too many settings to tinker with for the typical VPN beginner.

The macOS software in particular was frustrating to use, taking over three seconds to load as a windowed app.

More usability woes included 75% of US server locations not working with streaming apps on Firestick, and the Smart DNS solution unblocking none.

On the plus side, PIA’s mobile apps are probably the nicest-looking and easiest to use in its arsenal.

Surshark is very secure, offering many of the essential security features we expect from high-quality VPN providers.

All its applications use ChaCha20 encryption, WireGuard as the default protocol, and include a VPN kill switch.

Of slight concern is the fact that the kill switch isn’t enabled by default. At least, you can easily turn it on from the settings menu. On macOS, the kill switch leaked our IP address when changing servers.

On the plus side, the VPN logs almost nothing about its users. Similarly to ExpressVPN, Surfshark’s servers are RAM-only, meaning no data can be extracted from them in the event of a breach or server seizure.

Additionally, Surfshark has introduced a ‘Rotating IP’ feature. When enabled, the VPN changes your IP address every five to 10 minutes without changing the server location you’re connected to.

The Rotating IP function, which worked smoothly for us, further increases your anonymity and security online without ever revealing your true location.

What is rare about Surfshark is its ability to spoof your GPS location on Android phones. Windscribe is the only other VPN able to do this.

The ‘GPS Override’ function prevents Android mobile applications using GPS to detect your real location. It’s very simple to use, and works as intended.

When activated, the integrated function spoofed our GPS coordinates on our Android mobile device to match our VPN server location.

This helps Surfshark bypass geo-restrictions on apps using GPS to detect your location, like ESPN+. Not even ExpressVPN or NordVPN offer this technology.

The issues we faced testing Surfshark revolve around its disappointing server connection times and speeds.

We often found ourselves waiting several seconds trying to connect to popular servers. Once connected, the speeds weren’t as fast as ExpressVPN’s or NordVPN’s.

On short-distance connections, our internet speed dropped by 5%. This isn’t bad by any means, but it’s worse than ExpressVPN’s 3%.

PrivateVPN’s applications are not only beginner-friendly, they’re also very secure.

Through a very simple interface, the VPN software encrypts internet connections using the AES-256 cipher and a 2048-bit RSA handshake.

By combining simplicity with good security, PrivateVPN is ideal for securing free public WiFi in airports, hotels, and coffee shops, where the risk of man-in-the-middle attacks is heightened.

The lack of advanced features compared to other top VPNs is very evident, though. For example, there’s no option to use multi-hop servers or split tunneling.

PrivateVPN is also the only VPN in our top 10 list that doesn’t use some form of the WireGuard protocol.

PrivateVPN is surprisingly good at unblocking websites and applications, despite its limited server park.

The VPN currently unblocks 10 Netflix regions as well as BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and Hulu, to name a few.

Compatibility is limited, though. There is no Smart DNS tool so you’ll have to set up PrivateVPN on your router to use it with devices like games consoles, which don’t allow direct VPN app installs.

PrivateVPN’s main drawback is its small network of servers. It only offers 200 servers compared to ExpressVPN’s 3,000.

This limited server network often causes congestion issues on the network, which is why PrivateVPN’s long-distance connections are often slower than its competitors.

As an indication, we experienced speed losses of 39% and 24% connecting to South Africa and Australia respectively.

As a result, you can’t always expect 4K quality when streaming foreign video content.

IPVanish remains our highest-rated VPN for the very popular Amazon Fire TV Stick, and other Fire TV devices.

The app is very simple to use, and it records fast speeds connecting to nearby VPN servers. In recent tests, we only registered a 5% loss in our download speeds.

We found that the VPN works well with Kodi and IPTV apps.

The main downside of using IPVanish is that it can only unblock 4 Netflix regions, and it doesn’t work with HBO Max.

While IPVanish struggles to unblock streaming apps, we trust it a lot more for keeping internet data transfers private.

All 2,200 physical servers, entirely owned by IPVanish, are completely no-logs. They don’t monitor or store any of your internet activity.

What’s more, you’ll get access to over 40,000 anonymous IP addresses – a staggering number very rare among VPN companies.

In our security tests, we’ve never suffered an IP or DNS address leak using IPVanish, unless we were switching servers on the Mac app. The company needs to fix this small yet important issue.

Additionally, IPVanish needs to rectify the fact that the VPN kill switch isn’t enabled by default.

IPVanish’s Fire TV software works great but in general the service’s apps, especially those for desktop computers, suffer from an out-dated design.

Despite a redesign in 2023, the Windows and macOS apps still don’t look as pleasant and user-friendly as ExpressVPN’s.

There’s a lot of clutter on the homescreens such as a very prominent data waveform, which isn’t particularly useful and takes up a lot of space.

More frustrating is the fact there are no web browser extensions, Smart DNS, or a router app. The latter two omissions complicate unblocking content on Roku and games consoles considerably.

Not all is bad, though. We love that IPVanish was one of the first VPNs to release a rare app for Apple TV.

There’s also an apk file you can use to side load IPVanish on Android devices with no access to Google Play Store (e.g. Android boxes).

CyberGhost is the only top VPN to offer VPN free trials that don’t require upfront submission of payment details.

There are two free trials available: a 24-hour free trial on desktops and laptops, a seven-day free trial on iPhone/iPad, and a three-day trial on Android devices.

You can even combine these free trial periods with the VPN’s 45-day refund guarantee to use CyberGhost for free for over 50 days.

CyberGhost’s dedicated streaming servers are a lot more successful at unblocking streaming platforms than in the past.

CyberGhost’s past inconsistencies are now gone and it now unblocks all streaming services we tested it with, including 10 Netflix regions, Disney+, Prime Video, and Hulu.

The service’s Smart DNS tool is what really stood out in our tests, though.

In our experience, it’s the most effective DNS tool offered by a VPN, unblocking content in Germany, Japan, Netherlands, UK and US.

The tool even has specific configurations for Hulu as well as the American and British Netflix libraries.

CyberGhost’s features aren’t quite as plentiful as PIA’s or NordVPN’s, but they are sufficient for the average VPN user.

The most notable feature is the VPN’s dedicated IP offering. These single-user static IPs are available in Canada, France, Germany, the UK, and the US, but the cost extra.

These IPs allow you to use the same anonymous IP address every time. Thanks to a token-based system, the IP isn’t linked to your account to preserve your internet privacy.

One of CyberGhost’s main drawbacks is its speed inconsistencies, especially connecting to far-away servers.

CyberGhost’s international download speed of 81Mbps trails ExpressVPN’s 85Mbps and NordVPN’s 86Mbps by some margin.

International slowdowns have been happening for a few years now, but we haven’t seen much improvement on this front, sadly.

Hide.me isn’t the fastest VPN we’ve tested, but it’s tied with IPVanish as the fastest VPN in our top 10 VPN recommendations.

Wherever you are in the world, Hide.me delivers VPN connections fast enough for you to not even notice you’re using a VPN.

We were especially impressed with the VPN’s upload speeds, which resulted in lag-free video calling and improved P2P file sharing in our tests.

Its download speeds on close connections are also fantastic, losing just 4% connecting to the closest VPN server.

As a result, Hide.me is a good choice if you want VPN protection without having to frequently configure it. You can simply connect once and leave your VPN running 24/7 without any noticeable downsides.

In the past 12 months of testing, Hide.me’s premium version has been able to unblock international websites from China 84% of the time.

The VPN’s obfuscation and multi-hop tools now work to bypass strict web censorship, but you have request custom multi-hop servers from customer support.

If you connect to standard VPN servers then the VPN won’t bypass aggressive internet filters.

In terms of basic functionality, Hide.me is a good VPN. Having tested Hide.me for years, we particularly appreciate how much it has improved in recent years.

In the past, Hide.me’s apps suffered from regular crashes and abrupt disconnections, but they now offer a reliable experience.

They’re still not the best-looking apps, though, and they’re not as easy to use as we’d like them to be.

The Windows client in particular is overly-complex, with unnecessary protocols (SSTP) and adapter configuration options.

The free version of Proton VPN is the best free VPN we’ve tested. Thanks to its unlimited bandwidth policy, you can leave it running all the time.

In our latest tests we recorded impressive speeds connecting to all 3 free server locations. With just 8% average speed loss it even beats some paid VPNs.

However, we found 3 free server locations rather limiting, compared to 91 using the paid plan.

The free servers also block you from torrenting and unblocking streaming websites, as confirmed by our tests. For these activities, Windscribe Free is a much better choice.

Proton VPN is synonymous with highly-secure and encrypted VPN connections.

You have the choice of using either OpenVPN or WireGuard protocols (hence AES-256 or ChaCha20 encryption), and it enforces Forward Secrecy (FS).

The VPN’s paid plan also includes Secure Core technology. Used on 40 of its servers, it further enhances security by tunneling traffic through servers in its own data center.

None of these security credentials impact Proton VPN’s usability, either. We found that the VPN’s apps look great on every platform, and even its most advanced features feel easy to use.

Though it’s still fast, the paid version of Proton VPN has fallen behind its main rivals in our latest speed tests.

Even using WireGuard, its local download speeds are consistently slower than ExpressVPN, NordVPN, PIA, IPVanish, and several other providers.

We’ve noticed speed deceleration connecting to both nearby and distant VPN servers. It’s unclear what’s caused this downtrend, but it’s affecting the VPN’s performance.

While Proton VPN is a very good VPN in general, it sadly doesn’t represent as good value for your money as the other paid VPNs ranked higher.

What sets Windscribe apart is how easily the VPN beats Netflix geo-restrictions around the world.

In our tests, we unblocked 32 Netflix regions, including:

• Australia
• Brazil
• Germany
• India
• Italy
• Mexico
• Netherlands
• South Korea
• Thailand
• Turkey
• UK
• US

The VPN also works with BBC iPlayer and popular platforms like HBO Max, Hulu, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video.

While the free VPN no longer unblocks US Netflix, it still works with 6 other Netflix regions, HBO Max, Hulu, and more — a huge achievement for a free software product.

Keep in mind that Windscribe Free is limited by a 10GB monthly data cap, which equates to roughly four hours of HD streaming.

Windscribe’s great streaming capabilities are sadly hindered by its disappointing international speeds, which are much slower than ExpressVPN and NordVPN.

For instance, we measured losses of up to 20% and 16% when connecting to South Africa and Australia.

These slower speeds visibly affect the quality of the picture. We experienced a blurry broadcast several times in our recent tests.

Furthermore, connecting to certain Windscribe servers took many seconds at best, but many minutes at worst. Sometimes we couldn’t even connect at all.

Because of the lack of 24/7 live chat support, when we couldn’t connect to a server, we had to wait over 24 hours for a support agent to help fix issue.

To put that into perspective, with providers like ExpressVPN and PIA, our issues are typically resolved in under 10 minutes.

Windscribe is also one of the rare VPNs to offer American (Chicago, Dallas) and Canadian (Toronto) residential IPs. The US IP addresses are provided by AT&T.

Residential IP addresses make your VPN connection appear as a typical household/cellular one, so they’re far less likely to be detected and blocked by streaming services.

Since these IP addresses are static and never change, they’re ideal if you need to keep using the same IP address. They do cost an extra $8.00 per month, though.

Remember, these IPs are allocated to a handful of users (not just you), so you won’t be as private as using the dynamic IP addresses (shared by many customers) of the standard servers.