Top VPN Picks
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You've probably seen a YouTuber or podcaster advertise a VPN service, extolling their virtues and perhaps making claims that prompt you to question how you've been living your digital life without one all this time. The good news is that many of the claims that VPN companies make about the necessity of their products are overblown, but VPNs can still be genuinely useful in some instances, like preventing your internet service provider (ISP) from seeing your online activities, bypassing geo-restrictions and censorship in your country, or providing an extra layer of security when connecting to an untrusted Wi-Fi network.
This article is focused on the best overall VPNs for most people. That means we're not just looking for the fastest VPN, the cheapest VPN, or the one with the most servers. The best options need to:
- Work reliably with good performance across their server network
- Keep your traffic encrypted
- Have trustworthy privacy policies and company practices
- Support a useful range of platforms and features
- Be reasonably priced
We also weigh transparency, audit quality, corporate ownership, and data collection more heavily than many VPN comparisons, which is why some popular VPNs (like NordVPN or ExpressVPN) you've probably seen advertised elsewhere don't make our main picks.
We've tested over 20 of the best VPNs on the market, and our picks for the best overall VPNs that balance all of the above criteria well are below. If you want to learn more about the limitations of VPNs and how they work, or if you even need one, check out our article on VPN privacy. If your needs are more specific, check out our dedicated guides for the best cheap VPNs, the best free VPNs for Windows PCs, or the best VPNs for torrenting.
Popular VPN Comparisons
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NordVPN and Surfshark VPN are VPN services owned by Nord's parent company, Nord Security, but operate independently. They both have similarly disappointing privacy policies and company practices that prioritize their bottom line over transparency and preserving your privacy. The two generally perform similarly, but NordVPN has more consistent latency, while Surfshark's latency fluctuates more over time. Feature-wise, Surfshark supports WireGuard while Nord doesn't, and instead offers NordLynx, their proprietary protocol. Lastly, doesn't limit how many of your devices you can connect at once, while Nord has a maximum of 10.
