Our Criteria For Selecting A VPN
When choosing a VPN, we think the most important factors you should consider are:
- Where is the VPN based?
- Does the VPN accept anonymous payment methods?
- Does the VPN support OpenVPN protocol?
- Does the VPN follow a no logging policy?
Where is the VPN Based?
Your VPN should be based in a country with strong, user-focused privacy laws and regulations. The Five Eyes, Nine Eyes and 14 Eyes nations are all essentially acting as a global-surveillance group spying on their citizens.
Read More: 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes, 14 Eyes – Explained
What Payment Methods Does the VPN Accept?
If your reason for using a VPN is privacy protection, you should consider every step in the signup and registration process. If you are entering your email address, phone number and credit card information, your internet use on the VPN could possibly be linked back to your data profile. Privacy focused VPNs should accept alternate payment methods like Bitcoin, cash, debit and credit cards, or gift cards.
Does the VPN Support OpenVPN?
OpenVPN is a free and open-source software that implements a specific encryption protocol for added security. This particular protocol is included in many commercial VPNs as well as vendor-neutral clients.
Does the VPN Follow a No Logging Policy?
Again, if you’re using a VPN to protect your privacy, your VPN should not log data about how you use the product. Some VPNs can still keep logs in a privacy friendly way. For example, some VPNs keep connection logs but erase the data daily.
If you’re seriously concerned with privacy, there are simply too many VPN options that do no tracking to make it worth it to use a VPN that logs your use or behavior.
The Virtual Private Networks
ActiVPN
Country of Origin: France
Logging: Unknown
ActiVPN is based in France, and as a result falls under GDPR, and other European privacy laws. It has been offering its VPN service for 8 years. It currently has servers in 30+ countries.
AirVPN
Country of Origin: Italy
Logging: Unknown
AirVPN is based on OpenVPN and is operated by activists in defense of net neutrality, privacy, and an uncensored internet. Compared to other VPNs in this list, AirVPN is incredibly flexible and easy to configure. It lets users connect to its VPN over SSH, SSL and Tor with perfect forward secrecy.
Anonine
Country of Origin: Sweden
Logging: Unknown
Anonine is a VPN service that uses encryption, combined with its 32 server locations to keep you more anonymous online. It lets you use its VPN on multiple devices in an easy to use and simple package. Anonine doesn’t limit the traffic or use of the product, which not all VPNs can say.
AzireVPN
Country of Origin: Sweden
Logging: No Logs
AzireVPN’s founders created the product in 2012 with a sole mission of becoming a market leading VPN that helps people avoid censorship and interception online. Located in Sweden, AzireVPN falls under GDPR and other European privacy laws.
AzireVPN provides very easy-to-follow set up guides to add AzireVPN to any of your devices.
BlackVPN
Country of Origin: Hong Kong
Logging: No Logs
BlackVPN does no logging and is run by BlackVPN Limited based in Hong Kong. It uses AES-256 encryption combined with DNS leak protection to keep your browsing secure and private. It offers configuration manuals for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux and routers.
The company maintains a strict no-logging policy. Another positive sign from BlackVPN is that they have ethical business practices. They ceased their affiliate program after it faced harsh criticism from That One Privacy Site. Not having an affiliate program doesn’t necessarily signal a better VPN, but it can contribute to more honest reviews online.
BolehVPN
Country of Origin: Seychelles
Logging: No Logs
BolehVPN’s infrastructure uses Perfect Forward Secrecy and the latest hashing algorithm of SHA-2, a AES-256 encryption and a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) build with a keysize of 4096 bits to effectively secure your network from any attempts of intrusion. Boleh has a no logs policy and is operating outside of a five, nine or 14 eyes country. For added transparency, Boleh uses a warrant canary to let users know if they have been approached by government agencies for user data.
CitizenVPN
Country of Origin: Denmark
Logging: No Logs
CitizenVPN is a service that unblocks and anonymizes and protects you while you are online.
It works with most common web activity including web browsing, streaming, email, file uploading, Skype and more.
CryptoStorm
Country of Origin: Iceland
Logging: No Logs
CryptoStorm is based in Iceland, but operates remotely from branches worldwide. It is open source, uses anonymous token authorization and has no bandwidth limits.
DotVPN
Country of Origin: Hong Kong
Logging: IP Address
DotVPN is a proxy plug-in service that encrypts your data like any other VPN service and gives you access to the blocked websites and streaming services. It claims on its website that it is the “only” proxy plug-in to provide encryption to its users.
Doublehop
Country of Origin: Seychelles
Logging: No Logs
Doublehop uses AES-256 encryption to make your activities “virtually untraceable”. Traffic between nodes is multiplexed, defeating passive correlation surveillance. Doublehop uses “double hops” to ensure multiple legal jurisdictions to disrupt potential investigations. It directs traffic through multiple locations in a strategic way to add privacy.
EarthVPN
Country of Origin: Cyprus
Logging: No Logs
EarthVPN is a company based in Cyprus that offers VPN service to users around the world. The company originated from a service provider that delivers a comprehensive range of services, such as data, voice and web hosting products to commercial and residential customers in Cyprus.
Today, EarthVPN has 304 VPN servers in 151 locations spread across 32 countries.
ExpressVPN
Country of Origin: British Virgin Islands
Logging: Timestamp/Bandwidth Logs
ExpressVPN is a virtual private network service offered by the British Virgin Islands-based company Express VPN International Ltd. The software is marketed as a privacy and security tool that encrypts users’ web traffic and masks their IP addresses. In 2018, TechRadar named the services its Editors’ Choice.
FrootVPN
Country of Origin: Sweden
Logging: No Logs
FrootVPN is a VPN service which delivers privacy and security in an easy to use, fast and reliable format. It currently has over 300,000 users. It does not logging, is remarkable bug free and offers multi-layer security.
Mullvad
Country of Origin: Sweden
Logging: No Logs
Mullvad is an open source VPN based in Sweden. It lets you install on as many devices as you like, while limiting to 5 simultaneous connections. All internet traffic over Mullvad’s networks is protected from snoopers and other unwanted third parties. It does not keep activity logs of any kind.
NordVPN
Country of Origin: Panama
Logging: No Logs
NordVPN is a personal virtual private network (VPN) service provider. It has desktop applications for Windows, macOS, and Linux, mobile apps for Android and iOS, as well as an application for Android TV. Manual setup is available for wireless routers, NAS devices and other platforms. In 2017, PC Magazine rated NordVPN as the year’s best VPN service.
NordVPN is based in Panama, as the country has no mandatory data retention laws and does not participate in the Five Eyes or Fourteen Eyes alliances.
Perfect Privacy
Country of Origin: Switzerland
Logging: No Logs
Perfect Privacy is a good example of a reliable and reputable VPN. It has servers in 23 countries and only uses dedicated servers rather than virtual servers. If Perfect Privacy discovers a bottleneck slowing down its network, it will just spin up a new VPN to direct traffic through.
ProtonVPN
Country of Origin: Switzerland
Logging: Unknown
ProtonVPN is a VPN created by the same company as the secure email service, ProtonMail. It adds protection to your browsing data, by directing all traffic through a “Secure Core” network which helps keep you anonymous even if an endpoint server is compromised. Proton is a well-known privacy company and does as much as possible to keep up its reputation.
ProtonVPN uses perfect forward secrecy to keep all your traffic in encrypted form.
SaferVPN
Country of Origin: Israel
Logging: Unknown
SaferVPN provides top-notch encryption across all of your internet traffic. Safer VPN offers a free trial to new users making it appealing to anyone who has never used a VPN. It operates across multiple VPN protocols including OpenVPN, IKEv2, L2TP/IPSec and PPTP.
TunnelBear
Country of Origin: Canada
Logging: No Logs
TunnelBear is a public VPN service based in Toronto, Canada. The company was founded by Daniel Kaldor and Ryan Dochuk in 2011. In March 2018, TunnelBear was acquired by McAfee. TunnelBear is available as freeware, but as with other services online we’ve found that paid versions are often more secure and offer better privacy.
VPN.ht
Country of Origin: Hong Kong
Logging: No Logs
VPN.ht works closely with Popcorn Time, the popular streaming service. VPN.ht includes SmartDNS function which makes bypassing geo-restrictions a simpler process.
VPN.ht supports most common VPN protocols: OpenVPN, L2TP/IPsec and PPTP. There are also no traffic limits with this provider. According to That One Privacy Site VPN.ht is flagged as “Shady” because their privacy policy is a bit unclear. Their affiliate program also doesn’t have ethical guidelines which leads to false and deceiving reviews.
VPNArea
Country of Origin: Bulgaria
Logging: No Logs
Founded in early 2011, VPNArea is a European company who host their Headquarter servers and emails in Switzerland, but are actually based in Bulgaria.
VPNArea has servers in 51 different countries around the world and at the moment this provider appears to be providing 190 servers for its infrastructure. It also gives you unlimited bandwidth, so you can stream video, download large files or play online games without worrying about throttling.
VPNArea includes a kill switch so that if the VPN ever disconnects, it will close any web-based apps to prevent your browsing from leaking.
VuzeVPN
Logging: No Logs
VuzeVPN is a new addition to this list. It is a reliable choice for accessing blocked content and for keeping your content anonymous. This VPN works well for Netflix streaming and for bypassing certain ISP-configured blocks.
ZorroVPN
Country of Origin: Belize
Logging: No Logs
ZorroVPN follows its model of “anonymity on the internet”. It uses OpenVPN protocol with AES-256 encryption for a secure communication tunnel for your browsing activity. It offers many options for connection locations depending on what each user’s needs are. It also lets users combine their VPN with Tor for added anonymity.
ZorroVPN is a solid choice for streaming location restricted content as it doesn’t restrict bandwidth or speed restrictions.
Let us know if you’ve used any of these VPNs or others and which ones you liked!
Read More: 29 Privacy Tools and Products To Protect Your Privacy