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This article is a comparison of virtual private network services. In computer magazines, VPN services are typically judged on connection speeds; privacy protection, including privacy at signup and grade of encryption; server count and locations; interface usability; and cost. In order to determine the degree of privacy and anonymity, various computer magazines, such as PC World and PC Magazine, also take the provider's own guarantees and its reputation among news items into consideration.
The following definitions clarify the meaning of the column headers in the comparison tables below.
PC Magazine recommends that users consider choosing a provider based in a country with no data retention laws, since that makes it easier for the service to keep a promise of no logging.[1] PC Magazine and TechRadar also suggest that users read the provider's logging policy before signing up for the service,[1][2] since some providers collect information about their customers' VPN usage.[3][4] PC World recommends that users avoid free services as a rule of thumb, and asserts that free services either sell their users' browsing data in aggregated form to researchers and marketers, or only offer a minimal amount of data transfer per month.[3] Logitheque explains why there are so many VPN comparison websites on the web.[5]
Service | Based in | Logging[6] | Anonymous payment method | Accepts bitcoin | PGP key available | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Traffic | DNS requests | Timestamps | Bandwidth | IP address | |||||
Avira Phantom VPN | Germany | No[7] | Yes[7] | No[7] | No | No | No | ||
blackVPN | Hong Kong | No[8] | No[8] | No[8] | No[8] | No[8] | Yes[9] | Yes[10] | |
ExpressVPN | British Virgin Islands[11][12][13] | No[14] | No[14] | Yes[15] | Yes[16] | No[14] | Email[12][13][17] | Yes[12][13][18] | No |
Hotspot Shield Elite | United States | Yes[19] | Yes[20][21] | No | No | No | |||
IPredator | Sweden | Yes[22] | Yes[22] | Yes[22] | |||||
IPVanish | United States | No[23] | No[23] | No[23] | No[23] | No[23] | No[24] | No | No |
IVPN | Gibraltar | No[25] | No[25] | No[25] | No[25] | ||||
Mullvad | Sweden | No[26] | No[26] | No[26] | No[26] | No[26] | Yes[27] | Yes[27] | Yes[28] |
NordVPN | Panama | No[29] | No[29] | No[29] | No[29] | Yes | Yes[30] | ||
Private Internet Access | United States | No[31] | No[31] | No[31] | No[31][32] | No[31] | Yes[33] | Yes[34] | Yes[35] |
ProtonVPN | Switzerland | Yes[36] | Yes | No | |||||
PureVPN | Hong Kong | No[37] | No[38] | Yes[39] | No[40] | Email[41] | Yes[42] | No | |
SaferVPN | Israel[43] | No[44] | Yes[44] | Yes[44] | No[44] | Email[45] | Yes[46] | ||
TunnelBear | Canada [47][48][49] | No[50] | No[50][51] | No[52] | Yes[49][52] | No[50] | Email[47] | Yes[47][48][53] | No |
VPN.ht | Hong Kong | No[54] | No[55] | Email[56] | Yes[57] | No | |||
VPNBook | Unknown[58] | No[59] | Yes[59] | Yes[59] | N/A[60] | N/A[60] | No |
Notes
Service | Leak Protection | Protocols | Obfuscation / Censorship Avoidance | Network Neutrality | Server | Data Encryption | Handshake Encryption | Data Authentication | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
First-party DNS servers | IPv6 supported / blocked | Offers OpenVPN | Offers WireGuard | Supports multihop | Supports TCP port 443 | Supports Obfsproxy | Offers SOCKS | Supports SSL tunnel | Supports SSH tunnel | Other proprietary protocols | Blocks SMTP (authent.) | Blocks P2P | Dedicated or Virtual | Diskless | Default provided | Strongest provided | Weakest provided | Strongest provided | Weakest provided | Strongest provided | |
Avast SecureLine | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Some[68] | Dedicated[69] | No | AES-256 | AES-256 | ||||||||||
Avira Phantom VPN | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Dedicated | No | AES-256 | AES-256 | |||||||||
blackVPN | Yes | No | Yes[70] | No | No | Yes[70] | No | Yes[70] | Some[71] | Some[72] | Dedicated[73] | AES-256[70] | AES-256[70] | RSA-4096[70] | RSA-4096[70] | SHA-512[70] | SHA-512[70] | ||||
ExpressVPN | Yes[11] | Yes | Yes[11][12][13] | No | No | Yes[74] | No[11][12][13] | Both[75][76] | No | AES-256 | CA-4096 | ||||||||||
Hotspot Shield Elite | No | No | No | No | No | AES-128[77] | AES-128[77] | TLS 1.2 ECDHE PFS[77] | TLS 1.2 ECDHE PFS[77] | HMAC[78] | HMAC[78] | ||||||||||
IPredator | No | No | No | No | AES-256 (CBC)[79] | SHA-1[79] | SHA-1[79] | ||||||||||||||
IPVanish | Yes[80] | Yes[81] | Yes[24] | No | No | Yes[82] | Yes[83] | Yes[24] | No | No | No | No[24] | No[24] | Dedicated[84] | No | AES-256[85] | AES-256[85] | RSA-2048[85] | RSA-2048[85] | SHA-256[85] | SHA-256[85] |
IVPN | Yes[86] | Yes | Yes; OpenVPN | Yes | Yes | AES-256[86] | AES-256[86] | RSA-4096[86] | |||||||||||||
Mullvad | Yes[87] | Yes[87] | Yes[87] | Yes[88] | Yes; WireGuard[89] and SOCKS5 | Yes[87] | Yes[87][90] | Yes | Yes[87] | No[87] | No[87] | Dedicated[91] | AES-256 (GCM)[87] | AES-256[87] | RSA-4096[87] | RSA-4096[87] | SHA-512[87] | SHA-512[87] | |||
NordVPN | Yes; NordLynx based on WireGuard[92] | Yes | Dedicated | AES-256 (CBC)[93] | 2048-bit Diffie-Hellman[93] | 2048-bit Diffie-Hellman[93] | |||||||||||||||
Private Internet Access | Yes[94] | Yes[95] | Yes[96] | Beta[97] | No | Yes[98] | No | Yes[99][100] | Some[101] | No[102] | Dedicated[103] | AES-128 (CBC)[104] | AES-256[104] | ECC-256k1[104] | RSA-4096[104] | SHA-1[104] | SHA-256[104] | ||||
ProtonVPN | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Some | Dedicated | AES-256 | AES-256 | ||||||||||||
PureVPN | Yes | Yes | Yes[105] | No | No | Only through SSTP[106] | No | No | No | Some[107] | Both[76][108] | No | AES-256 | ||||||||
SaferVPN | No[109] | No | Yes[110] | No | No | No | AES-256[109] | AES-256[109] | 2048bit SSL/TLS[109] | 2048bit SSL/TLS[109] | SHA-256[109] | SHA-256[109] | |||||||||
TunnelBear | Yes[51] | Yes[48][111] | No | No | No | Yes[49][112] | Yes | No[113] | Yes[47][48][114] | AES-128 (CBC)[115] | AES-256 (CBC)[111] | 1548 bit Diffie-Hellman group[116] | 4096 bit Diffie-Hellman group[111] | SHA-1[117] | SHA-256[111] | ||||||
VPN.ht | Yes[118] | No | No | No[119] | AES-256 | ||||||||||||||||
VPNBook | Yes[120] | No | No | Yes[121] | Some[122] | Dedicated[123] | No |
Notes
Service | No. of simultaneous connections | No. of countries | No. of servers | Linux support (manual config.) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Avast SecureLine | 5 | 34 | 54 | No |
Avira Phantom VPN | Unlimited[125][126] | 25[127] | 36[127] | No |
ExpressVPN | 5[128] | 94[129] | 3,000 circa[130] | Yes[11][13] |
Hotspot Shield Elite | 5[131] | 21 | No | |
IPredator | 1 | |||
IPVanish | Unlimited[24] | 54[24] | 1,500[24] | Yes[132] |
IVPN | ||||
Mullvad | 5[133] | 36[134] | 667[134] | Yes[135] |
NordVPN | 6 | 5,607[136] | ||
Private Internet Access | 10[137] | 74[138] | 11,254[138] | |
ProtonVPN | 10[139] | 54[139] | 1,060[139] | Yes[140] |
PureVPN | 10[105] | 140 circa[141] | 2,000 circa[141] | |
SaferVPN | 5[142] | 700 circa[143] | Yes[144] | |
TunnelBear | 5[49][145] | 20[145] | Yes | |
VPN.ht | 3 | 25[118] | 128[118] | Yes |
The rating of the services' websites according to SSL server certificate and HTTP cookie test tools. Also listed is whether the websites maintain a warrant canary.
Service | SSL certificate | Privacy Impact Score | Warrant canary | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Holder | Issued to | SSL rating | |||
Avast SecureLine | Yes[146] | Self[146] | A+[146] | B[147] | No |
Avira Phantom VPN | Yes[148] | Self[148] | A[148] | E[149] | No |
blackVPN | Yes[150][151] | Cloudflare[150] | A[150] | B[152] | No |
ExpressVPN | Yes[153][154] | Self[154] | A+[154] | B[155] | No |
Hotspot Shield Elite | Yes[156] | Self[156] | A-[156] | F[157] | No |
IPredator | Yes[158] | Self[158] | A+[158] | A[159] | Yes |
IPVanish | Yes[160] | Self[160] | A[160] | B[161] | No |
IVPN | Yes[162] | Self[162] | A+[162] | B[163] | Yes |
Mullvad | Yes[164] | Self[164] | A+[164] | A[165] | No |
NordVPN | Yes[166] | Self[166] | A+[166] | B[167] | Yes[168] |
Private Internet Access | Yes[169] | Self[169] | A[169] | B[170] | No |
ProtonVPN | Yes[171] | Self[171] | A+[171] | B[172] | |
PureVPN | Yes[173] | Self[173] | A[173] | B[174] | No |
SaferVPN | Yes[46] | Self[46] | A[46] | Yes | Yes[110] |
TunnelBear | Yes[175] | Self[175] | A+[175] | B[176] | No |
VPNBook | Yes[177] | Self[177] | B[177] | B[178] | No |
VPN.ht | Yes[179] | Yes[179] | A+[179] | B[180] | Yes[181] |