There seems to be an endless number of VPN (virtual private network) services available these days, and it can certainly be a headache to decide between them. Some of them boast unique features and come bundled with different services or sometimes an entire antivirus suite, while your favorite YouTuber or podcaster might have advertised others. VPNs can be useful in some instances, like preventing your ISP (internet service provider) from seeing your online activities, bypassing geo-restrictions and censorship in your country, or as an extra layer of security when connecting to an untrusted Wi-Fi network. 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.
We've tested 20 of the best VPNs on the market, and our picks are below. If you want to learn more about kill switches, check out our R&D article. If you're on a budget, check out our recommendations for the best cheap VPNs or the best free VPNs. If you want to stay protected while downloading torrents, check out our recommended VPNs for torrenting.
In 2025, we published reviews for 20 different VPN services. These reviews followed months of research, test development, and collaboration among our engineers, testers, writers, photographers, and editors. Our process for each review involves extensive work behind the scenes, including rigorous checks and balances, to deliver the most accurate and useful test results so you can make the right purchasing decisions for your needs.
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Best VPN
Private Browsing9.1Torrent8.9Policies & Practices9.2Security8.6Speed7.3Tested Simultaneous Connections:5Countries:49See all our test resultsData Limit:N/AMullvad is the best VPN that we've tested. The company stands out for its exceptional business practices and privacy policies. Instead of requiring an email address and password, Mullvad assigns you a randomly generated account number. This significantly reduces the risk of your personal information being exposed in case of a data breach, as virtually nothing can be linked back to your real identity. Mullvad is also transparent about its data collection, which is limited to the absolute minimum required for billing. If you want maximum anonymity, you can even pay with cryptocurrencies or cash. Beyond its policies, Mullvad has a strong track record of ethical conduct and transparent communication, which helps build long-term trust. The company regularly commissions high-quality, independent third-party audits of its infrastructure and privacy practices.
Beyond the company's policies and conduct, the VPN itself is excellent. The apps on all platforms are easy to use and reliably protect your IP address, DNS queries, and traffic by keeping everything inside the encrypted tunnel. It features a properly implemented kill switch that cuts off your internet connection if the VPN disconnects unexpectedly. Mullvad also includes advanced privacy features, like split tunneling (to control what traffic is routed through the VPN), as well as obfuscation (to bypass VPN blocks and DAITA, or Defense Against AI-Guided Traffic Analysis).
IVPN is another excellent VPN. It largely matches Mullvad's superb privacy practices, ethical track record, and overall VPN functionality. Mullvad, however, offers better value, allowing up to five simultaneous device connections for the same price that IVPN limits to two or seven for the more expensive Pro tier. For most users, Mullvad is the more cost-effective option.
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Best VPN With More Features
Private Browsing7.5Torrent8.7Policies & Practices6.3Security8.6Speed7.0Tested Simultaneous Connections:10Countries:117See all our test resultsData Limit:N/AIf you're looking for a more feature-rich VPN than our top pick, we recommend Proton VPN. Like Mullvad, Proton has effective core functionality, keeping your IP address and DNS requests hidden inside its secure tunnel, and has a working kill switch that stops potential leaks if your system restarts or the VPN client crashes. It also has a few more convenient features than our top pick. You can connect up to 10 devices simultaneously, and there are servers in over 100 countries, which is useful since it lets you connect to a server closer to you for a better connection. On top of that, you can configure port forwarding, an essential feature for those who need it for specific applications like game servers or P2P clients. Additionally, like Mullvad, it offers obfuscation to make it look like you're not using a VPN, an ad blocker, and 'secure-core,' a feature that ensures your connection passes through Proton's servers before reaching the server in the country you choose.
Proton VPN still isn't perfect, though. Its latency performance is disappointing, so your connection won't feel as snappy, which will affect some activities like gaming. There are also some caveats about its privacy policy and company practices that make it a little less than ideal for privacy-minded users than Mullvad. For example, the privacy policy indicates that Proton may record your IP address in some instances, and it's vague about why. This lack of clarity and jargon-filled language is present throughout its policies and terms of use, making it difficult to discern what exactly Proton does with your data. If you pay monthly, it's much more expensive than Mullvad, but it's a few bucks cheaper if you buy a one-year or two-year subscription. It's a good pick if you need those extra features, but if you don't (or don't know), you're better off going with Mullvad.
If you want to learn more about VPN protocols and how they impact your connectivity, check out our WireGuard vs. OpenVPN investigation.
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Best Free VPN
Private Browsing8.2Torrent6.3Policies & Practices7.9Security8.6Speed0.0Tested Simultaneous Connections:11Countries:10See all our test resultsData Limit:10 GBMany free VPNs aren't trustworthy, as they're often unproven, collect excessive user data, or operate with questionable business practices. Windscribe Free is a notable exception, and we recommend it as the best free VPN on the market. Its privacy and no-logging policies are clearly written and explicitly state that the company doesn't log any user traffic, while disclosing exactly what information they do collect for billing and enforcing device limits. You can sign up with only a username for 2GB of monthly data, or provide an email address to increase the limit to 10 GB, which Windscribe says is used only for marketing emails. The company is independently owned, communicates transparently, offers open-source apps, and regularly commissions third-party security and infrastructure audits. That said, it hasn't published audits specifically verifying its privacy and no-logs claims.
The VPN itself performs well, keeping your IP address and DNS requests inside an encrypted tunnel and offering a reliable kill switch if the connection drops. Windscribe Free provides servers in 10 countries and supports a wide range of platforms. If you're comfortable with a monthly data limit, it's the best free VPN for privacy on the market.
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Best Free Unlimited VPN
Private Browsing7.5Torrent6.4Policies & Practices6.3Security8.6Speed7.2Tested Simultaneous Connections:1Countries:1See all our test resultsData Limit:N/AProton VPN Free is the best free VPN without a data cap. However, there are a few caveats to consider. While Proton VPN's no-logging policy is upheld by independent audits, the scope of the last audit was limited. This is because the audit excluded Proton's broader privacy policies, which you must agree to to create an account, and the auditors didn't have access to the VPN's source code. Furthermore, there's some ambiguity in the privacy policies and terms of service regarding data collection, retention, and deletion.
The VPN itself provides solid functionality and security. It encrypts your IP address and DNS requests, and includes a working kill switch. Unlike Windscribe Free, our other free VPN pick, Proton VPN Free doesn't allow you to select your desired country; instead, you're automatically connected to one of five servers in Poland, the Netherlands, Japan, Romania, or the USA. Additionally, you can't download torrents, as it's a feature reserved for the paid version of Proton VPN. Overall, if you're comfortable with Proton Free's limitations and the less-than-ideal data collection practices, it's a good choice if you just want a free VPN without a data limit to add an extra layer of privacy while browsing.
Notable Mentions
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NordVPN NordVPN:
NordVPN is one of the biggest and most well-known VPN services, and it offers a slew of extra features, much like Proton VPN. We don't recommend it because their policies indicate that they can collect a lot of your personal information, make vague statements about user privacy, and publish third-party audits that are limited in scope, making the company difficult to trust.
See our review
Recent Updates
Feb 19, 2026:
We've reviewed our picks to ensure they're still relevant and haven't made any changes.
Jan 06, 2026:
We've made extensive changes to this article after updating our VPN reviews to Test Bench 0.10. Most notably, we've changed our free recommendation from Hotspot Shield Free to Windscribe Free, as the former has significantly worse privacy practices compared to the latter. We've also added a new category, 'Best Free Unlimited VPN,' and made changes to the text throughout to reflect our new privacy tests.
May 14, 2025:
We've updated this article to reflect the changes made in Test Bench 0.9.1. Namely, we've adjusted our definition of what we consider a leak, and we've removed Perfect Privacy from the Notable Mentions since it no longer stands out as the only VPN whose kill switch works.
May 01, 2025:
We've reviewed our picks to ensure they're accurate and up-to-date, and haven't made any changes. Otherwise, we've made some minor text changes for clarity.
All Reviews
Our recommendations above are currently the best VPNs for most people. We only recommend VPNs with a clear and digestible privacy policy, a proven track record of protecting their customers' privacy, transparency about their ownership, and acceptable security and speeds. We also factor in price (a cheaper VPN wins over a more expensive one if the difference isn't worth it), user feedback, and reputation within the community.
When choosing a VPN, consider what you need it for and understand its limitations. Depending on your risk profile, using one at all times is probably unnecessary. Modern websites, browsers, and devices have ample built-in security measures to protect you from the most common threats. If you're trying to secure an older device that doesn't support third-party VPN installs, take a look at our article on the L2TP protocol.
You can learn more about the industry standards for securing web traffic in our articles on AES-256 encryption and Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA), or dive deeper into the public-key algorithms used to authenticate and secure devices in our guides to Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) and Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA).
With all that in mind, here's the list of all our VPN reviews.