CyberGhost has been on the VPN scene since 2011 and, as you'd expect from a veteran, has built a solid service with a reliable roster of core VPN tools. Despite this, however, you won't find CyberGhost listed in our shortlist of the best VPNs overall – despite its impressive speed testing results and unblocking performance.

So, where does it fall short? Throughout our testing, we found that CyberGhost just isn't as proactive as the big dogs. There's a lack of new, innovative features, and its ad-blocking tool has plenty of room for improvement. Keep reading, and we'll dig into the good, the bad, and the ugly to see where CyberGhost stands amongst today's competition.

Features

CyberGhost won't be taking home any awards for new and novel VPN features, but the tools it does offer are all solid and secure.

Kicking off with the basics, we were glad to see that CyberGhost has its very own kill switch, which will cut the existing internet connection if the VPN drops out. This prevents IP leaks – and the kill switch works well in tandem with the DNS leak protection as a safety net, running in the background to catch mishaps before they happen. Unfortunately, unlike NordVPN’s, this kill switch is not configurable, which may disappoint power users looking to tailor their VPN experience.

We think that the Wi-Fi protection feature pairs up nicely with this set, too. It's a simple on/off toggle to activate and, once enabled, it'll let you know about changes to the internet connection and warn you if you're not currently connected to a VPN server.

You can tell the VPN what to do depending on the security status of the new network you connect to, too. For instance, prompting CyberGhost to ask before connecting to a server if the network is secure, or always joining a server if it's unsecure. This is pretty nifty, as it'll ensure that you don't accidentally expose identifiable details when switching from your home network to public Wi-Fi.

CyberGhost has its very own split tunnelling functionality called Exceptions. Here, you're able to list the sites that don't use the VPN's encrypted tunnel. They'll be routed through your original internet connection instead – and you may want to add your online banking to this list, for example, or streaming services you use to keep up with local sports.

Another VPN staple is the connect-on-launch tool. There's some limited customizability, here, too, as we were able to select the server that the VPN automatically connects to and even nominate an app that'll launch, too. It's a nice time-saver that worked like a charm when we tested it, connecting to a US server and launching the Netflix app in one fell swoop.

The built-in ad, malware, and tracker blocking tool was surprisingly effective when we tried it out in real time. We found that it blocked 83% of ads – which is pretty impressive for a VPN tool, but it's not as powerful as a full-blooded ad-blocking solution. Ultimately, we don't recommend using it in place of one of today's best ad-blockers.

We attempted to access 156 common trackers with the tool, too, and saw that the app blocked 149, which is seriously impressive. These results put CyberGhost on par with Windscribe and Private Internet Access.

CyberGhost's malware blocking results weren't quite as rosy, as it only managed to block 55% of a set of 412 malicious URLs. Still, it's enough to be useful in a day-to-day context.

While it's encouraging to see that CyberGhost has stepped into the ad, malware, and tracker blocking, the VPN has fallen behind in other cybersecurity arenas. ExpressVPN, for example, boasts its own password manager, ExpressVPN Keys; NordVPN has an identity theft protection service; and Surfshark's Alternative ID tool can generate an entirely new online persona for you before you can sneeze, to reduce the risk of becoming embroiled in scams and data breaches.

CyberGhost, by comparison, doesn't bring any features of this calibre to the table. This won't be a deal-breaker for everyone, but when other providers are making such notable strides, it's a shame to see CyberGhost at the back of the field.

Features score: 5/10

Server network

CyberGhost has an impressive network of more than 11,500 VPN servers in 100 countries. This puts it squarely at the top end of the pack when it comes to coverage. NordVPN may only have 7,000 servers in total, but it serves a wider variety of 118 countries. Still, there's not much in it, and CyberGhost certainly isn't lacking global coverage.

As is the case with most VPNs, the European region takes the lion's share of servers, though CyberGhost does its best to cover Central and South America, Asia, and Africa, too. We were pleasantly surprised to see servers in famously neglected regions, too, including Kenya, Bolivia, and Costa Rica. The fact that CyberGhost boasts server coverage in the high-censorship regions of China and Russia is especially noteworthy.

Finally, we think it's pretty cool that CyberGhost takes server requests. So, if you live somewhere that doesn't have a local CyberGhost server, it's worth asking for one. We can't confirm whether these requests are taken seriously or responded to, but the squeaky wheel gets the oil, right?

Server network score: 9/10

Apps

CyberGhost's apps straddle a fine line between sleek and somewhat threadbare. The VPN is compatible with pretty much every platform out there – Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Linux, smart TV, and consoles included. Unfortunately, the Linux edition of the CyberGhost app is command-line only, and there's no indication of whether a GUI upgrade is in the cards. If that's a deal-breaker, you'll want to invest in Surfshark or PIA’s Linux VPN, instead.

As is the case with most of today's top VPNs, CyberGhost has its own browser extensions. Folks using the Chrome and Firefox browsers can add the tools in a few clicks, though it's worth remembering that the extensions only encrypt browser traffic and not the traffic of other apps you might be using on your device. Sadly, there's no extension for Microsoft Edge.

CyberGhost's apps have a distinct visual flair. We think that the black and gold looks awesome, and the Windows edition of the app looks like it could even be native to the platform. There's an emphasis on readability and open space that we find refreshing, and the screen isn't jammed with statistics, social media links, or flags. There's room to breathe, making CyberGhost a pretty solid VPN for beginners.

The desktop offering is intuitive and easy to navigate. Basic tools and settings are clearly labelled, and there are only three extra features to take note of – the ad blocker, DNS leak protection, and kill switch.

The mobile VPN apps look even better in our opinion, especially when using them in the portrait orientation. They're just as easy to navigate as their desktop counterparts, too, with simple tabs to tap on, though they are somewhat on the small side.

Unfortunately, the iOS and Android apps are light on features, especially compared to NordVPN and PIA's feature-rich and customizable offerings.

We were particularly irked by CyberGhost's device limit. Unlike ExpressVPN, CyberGhost doesn't issue a certain number of simultaneous connections, and instead limits the number of devices, total, that you can install the service on. Users have 7 device slots, and installing the VPN on a device consumes a slot. If you reach the 7-device limit, you'll need to unlink a device before you can install it on another, which is an extra bit of legwork that the majority of the competition just don't make you do.

Apps score: 6/10

Ease of use

CyberGhost's apps might not be full to bursting with a cavalcade of tools, but they're nice and easy to use. For some folks, this will be more important, and we had no trouble getting the VPN set up on our Windows 11 test machine and iPhone 13 mobile.

We found that it was easier to create a CyberGhost account and select a plan as the first step in the process, then download the corresponding app for the device you're using after logging in to the My Account page on the CyberGhost site.

Initially, the Windows installer failed to initialize, though it worked like a charm upon the second attempt. The installation process itself was quick and painless after accepting the usual terms and conditions.

Once we'd logged into the app, which is compact and stylish, we were greeted by a big one-click connect button, which is exactly what we like to see. A lot of VPN users won't need to explore any further than this homepage, as hitting the button will pair you with a speedy local server, allowing you to go about your day-to-day browsing with increased peace of mind.

On the other hand, we found that it was easy to dictate which server CyberGhost connects to when clicking the connect button, and the full server list expands into a larger window with a single click. From here, we were able to favorite locations and check out the full roster of specialized streaming, torrenting, and gaming servers.

Our sole quibble with the CyberGhost Windows UI is that the settings are split into three discreet menus, each with a different icon in a different part of the app. We believe that it'd be better to merge these options into a single tab, reducing the amount of clicking around required to find specific tools and configurations.

We're happy to report that CyberGhost is a straightforward and sleek iOS VPN, too. Downloading the app from the App Store is a breeze, and we were prompted to log in, as usual, before seeing the home page and quick connect button.

The iOS and Android apps have access to dedicated IPs, protocols, and a mobile-exclusive connection checker. This is a nifty little extra that ensures that your network connection is stable and configured correctly, and it was responsive when we put it to the test - which is something to keep in mind if you run into issues and need a place to begin your troubleshooting.

Ease of use score: 8/10

Speed and performance

CyberGhost blew us away during our most recent round of speed testing, achieving a blistering 950+ Mbps when using the WireGuard protocol.

This effectively maxed out our 1 Gbs connection, and means CyberGhost is one of the fastest VPNs in the business, on par with the likes of Surfshark. We were also pleased to see that speeds didn't waver massively depending on the server we connected to – regardless of whether the location was near or far in relation to our UK home base, CyberGhost's performance remained stable and steady.

Its OpenVPN performance wasn't quite as red hot, coming in at 460 Mbps, but this is par for the course. OpenVPN isn't as lightweight as WireGuard, consisting of more lines of code, and is usually favored by folks who want to prioritize security over speed.

Still, CyberGhost's result breezes past NordVPN's OpenVPN 173 Mbps performance, which is something to keep in mind if you know you'll be relying on the protocol most of the time.

As a final cherry on top, we found that CyberGhost's connection times are brisk, clocking in at about one second. That's a great result – who wants to spend time tapping their fingers and waiting for a VPN to connect, after all?

Speed and performance score: 10/10

Unblocking

We put VPNs through the wringer when it comes to unblocking streaming services, and part of that testing involves determining whether the VPN in question can access various Netflix libraries in the US, UK, Japan, Canada, and Australia, Disney+, Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, 10Play, 9Now, and Channel 4. It's a tall order – but CyberGhost achieved a perfect score.

We didn't encounter a single obstacle when investigating these streaming platforms. Netflix loaded instantly, every time, and we were able to catch up on multiple WWE replays without a single buffering hiccup or drop out. This kind of reliability is seriously impressive, and makes CyberGhost a solid VPN for Netflix.

As we mentioned earlier, CyberGhost is a certified speed demon, too, and the content we access loaded in crisp HD, every time. After all, Netflix itself says that 4K streaming only requires a 25 Mbps connection – and CyberGhost brings 950+ Mbps to the table.

We're also glad to see that CyberGhost has its own Smart DNS service. This allows folks with consoles and smart TVs to enjoy the VPN's unblocking power, too, though it's worth noting that the Smart DNS tool won't encrypt your traffic like a full-blooded VPN.

CyberGhost is a decent torrenting VPN, but not at the top of our recommendations. The provider doesn't make a big song and dance about it, but it does offer P2P-optimized servers, listed under the "For downloading" tab in the server menu. These servers span 80 countries, which is plenty to choose from, and should help you find a nearby connection point to help maximize performance. Unfortunately, unlike PIA, CyberGhost doesn't come with port forwarding, which reduces the number of seeders you can connect with.

Unblocking score: 10/10

Privacy and Security

CyberGhost users have three VPN protocols to choose from – OpenVPN, WireGuard, and IKEv2.

As we touched on earlier, OpenVPN is your go-to if you value security over speed, whereas the speedy WireGuard protocol is a favorite of gamers and avid streamers. IKEv2, on the other hand, is ideal for mobile users, as it can handle changes in network connections without disrupting the VPN connection. Of course, if you can't make up your mind, you can always let CyberGhost choose a protocol on your behalf.

In addition to DNS and IP leak protection, which help keep your identifiable details out of the hands of third-party snoopers, CyberGhost lets you choose a random port. This makes it easier to use the VPN in airports and hotels, for example, as they usually restrict traffic to HTTPS.

CyberGhost is headquartered in Romania, which will register as an immediate green flag for privacy purists, as the country has no mandatory data retention laws and isn't a part of the notorious Five Eyes Alliance.

Because Romanian law doesn't force CyberGhost to record or store user data, it means that, if pressed by the authorities to hand that data over, the VPN couldn't, as it wouldn't have any data to fork over in the first place.

CyberGhost doubles down on its commitment to user privacy with a solid no-logs policy that ensures that no records are stored that could link users to their network activity. We investigated the policy and found that it was refreshingly easy to follow. It's not stuffed with techno-babble, and it takes the time to explain each term in plain, parsable language. Sure, it's on the lengthy side, but we'd take a long, simple policy over a short and impossibly dense one.

The provider even invited cybersecurity firm Deloitte to comb through this no-logs policy back in January 2024. Deloitte gave CyberGhost a big thumbs up, confirming that the VPN doesn't have an appetite for identifiable details and logs. Ideally, CyberGhost will repeat the audit at some point this year, and make the report accessible to everyone.

Privacy and security score: 7/10

Track record

In addition to the 2024 Deloitte audit, CyberGhost claims to be the very first VPN to publish a quarterly transparency report way back in 2011. These reports are published in the spirit of transparency and detail how many DMCA complaints the VPN has received, as well as the number of police requests for user information.

The reports can be difficult to find, but CyberGhost does an excellent job of cutting through the statistics for the layperson, highlighting figures that have risen or fallen in the period between reports.

CyberGhost's owner, formerly known as Crossrider, has raised concerns over the years. The company acquired CyberGhost in 2011 and was previously associated with malware distribution – essentially the antithesis of a VPN service.

Crossrider rebranded as Kape Technologies in 2017 and has since brought PIA and ExpressVPN into the fold. This murky past has deterred more than a handful of users but, since then, Kape Technologies has taken steps to promote transparency and trust with its continued transparency reports and independent audits.

Finally, on a brighter note, we love to see that CyberGhost launched a bug bounty program in 2022. Any expert who sniffs out a vulnerability in the service can earn up to $1,250 for their trouble.

Track record score: 7/10

Customer support

Right off the bat, we were glad to see that CyberGhost offers 24/7 live chat support. This means that, if you do encounter a hiccup here and there, you won't have to wait until business hours to begin troubleshooting the issue with in-house experts. Alternatively, there's the option to raise an email ticket via the support page.

If you prefer doing your own problem-solving, you'll be glad to see that CyberGhost has a well-stocked library of guides, tutorials, and articles. The setup guides are some of the best we've come across. They're illustrated with up-to-date screenshots, have simple and easy-to-follow steps, and cover most platforms – though Surfshark's guides are slightly more detail-rich, and are supplemented with handy YouTube tutorials.

Customer support score: 7/10

Pricing and plans

CyberGhost is a budget-friendly provider and, in fact, with prices on par with Surfshark, one of the best cheap VPNs on the block. Of course, you'll bag the biggest bargain by picking up a multi-year plan and paying upfront.

A 2-year CyberGhost subscription comes in at $2.19 – identical to Surfshark – and includes an extra 2 months of coverage for free. You'll be billed $56.94 for 2 years, then yearly from then on out.

If you're looking for a shorter-term commitment, you can opt for the 6-month plan at $6.99 ($12.99 upfront), or a one-month plan at $12.99. All CyberGhost subscriptions are covered by an especially generous 45-day money-back guarantee, giving you over a month to put the provider through its paces to see whether it's the right service for you.

Oh, and if you fancy adding a dedicated IP to your plan, it's a simple add-on of $2.50.

We're impressed by the number of trials CyberGhost serves up, too. In fact, it has some of our favorite VPN free trials. Windows users can enjoy a 24-hour trial, Android users get a 3-day free trial, and iOS loyalists win big with a 7-day free trial. Better yet, none of these trials demand that you hand over any financial details.

Pricing and plans score: 9/10

Should you use NordVPN?

There are plenty of good things about CyberGhost. It's wickedly fast, unblocks every streaming platform you can think of, and is one of the cheapest providers in today's market. So, if you're an avid streamer, or spend a log of time plugged into online games, CyberGhost could be your holy grail – if you don't mind dealing with the pesky 7 device limit.

However, if you're looking for a VPN that's on the cutting edge of cybersecurity ingenuity, then CyberGhost won't cut it. Its basics are in order, but its functionality doesn't extend far beyond basic, and it doesn't seem like that's going to change any time soon.

NordVPN and Proton VPN, on the other hand, continue to innovate and release new tools and features, and may be better alternatives for true advocates of internet privacy.

Overall score 78/100

CyberGhost alternatives

Windscribe is one of the best all-rounders in the VPN market. It's got some handy privacy-boosting tools, the speeds you need to enjoy HD streaming, and apps for pretty much every platform out there. So, even though it can't quite match up to today's best VPNs, it's still worth checking out if you're on the hunt for something new.

During our hands-on testing, we were impressed by Windscribe's core features and unblocking power, but we did run into issues with its UI. We evaluated its privacy tools, server network, performance, and overall value for money to determine how it compares to VPNs on the market. Keep reading, and we'll dig in.

Features

Windscribe's server network covers 69 countries (and 134 cities) in total. This is a decent spread that should allow all users to find a nearby connection point, but it's almost half the selection offered by NordVPN, and its network of servers in 126 countries.

Windscribe apps are widely available for all popular platforms, too, including Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux. We're glad to see that feature and UI parity are consistent across all of these apps. Plus, if you want a lightweight option and not a full-blown app, Windscribe's browser extensions are available for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.

Users have a choice of VPN protocols, too, with WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2 all on the table. WireGuard employs industry-standard AES-256 encryption, which ensures that your web traffic is kept safe from third-party snoopers and cybercriminals. To further enhance your online security, Windscribe has built-in stealth technology designed to conceal your VPN usage entirely, so you can avoid VPN bans enforced by schools, workplaces, and oppressive governments.

The powerful apps look great and are easy to use for beginners.

In September 2025, Windscribe rolled out a major app revamp, focused on improving the overall usability and adding more customization options. The refresh introduced a new home screen, redesigned settings menu, and the ability to rename server locations. These updates aren't particularly groundbreaking, but they are valuable quality-of-life improvements that highlight the provider's dedication to its userbase.

It's important to note that these apps also include many advanced features including split tunneling (on the desktop as well as mobile devices), MAC address spoofing (a clever way to reduce the chance of being tracked), versatile auto-connect rules, full IPv6 support, and even a command line interface to automate the VPN from scripts.

ROBERT is Windscribe's DNS-based tool for blocking ads, malware, trackers, and various internet content types like gambling, porn, fake news, clickbait, and so on. How effective is it? We'll take a look later.

There's no 24/7 support but Windscribe does have a decent web knowledge base and a helpful support chatbot. You can raise a ticket if you need more advice, and in our experience, replies are detailed and helpful.

New features include Encrypted Client Hello (ECH) that can bypass SNI filtering so others can't try to view or maybe block the domains you're trying to access.

While many VPNs offer no control over DNS at all, Windscribe allows you to define which DNS to use when the VPN is connected or disconnected. The latest addition includes support for DNS-over-HTTPS, and as Windscribe also runs Control D (a very configurable DNS service, with a free plan) we expect to see more related features appear over time.

Windscribe pricing

Windscribe's free plan offers a generous 10GB of data transfer a month if you register with your email address, and 2GB if you don't. You're limited to 11 countries – North America, across Europe, and Hong Kong – but that's still far better than some (Hotspot Shield and a few others don't give you any choice of locations at all).

Upgrading to a commercial plan gets you unlimited data and access to all 110 locations.

One of our favorite things about Windscribe is the fact that it gives users unlimited simultaneous connections to play with. So, if you have a lot of devices you need to protect, or want to share your account with friends and family, you only need to pick up a single subscription. It's great value for money that you don't see everywhere.

Prices are fair. Monthly billing is only $9 – many VPNs charge $10-$13. Pay for a year upfront and the price falls to an equivalent $5.75. That's not cheap but it's within the range we expect for a premium VPN, and it's still far lower than some. ExpressVPN and Hide.me both ask $8.32 a month on the annual plan, NordVPN charges $8.29 from the second year.

If low prices are top of your priority list, though, there's money to be saved elsewhere. As we write this, Private Internet Access has a three-year plan that's only $2.03 a month for the first term, while Ivacy's five-year offering is only $1 a month. Sure, we don't like long-term contracts either, but look at the totals. Hand over $69 to Windscribe and you get one year of protection. Give Ivacy $60 and you're covered for five.

Windscribe does offer a 'Build a Plan' scheme that cuts costs by allowing you to buy only the locations you need for $1 each. Each location adds 10GB to your free bandwidth allowance, and your plan must have a minimum of two locations.

For example, providing your email address gets you 10GB of data a month. Add the US and UK locations, and you'll get 30GB of data for $2 a month. You can upgrade to unlimited data for another $1, or a total of just $3 a month, and that's billed monthly. No need to sign up for years.

If you only use a VPN for occasional short trips, say, that looks like a great deal. Surfshark's monthly-billed plan is more than four times as expensive at $13, for instance – okay, that's the full service with all the locations, but if you don't need them, who cares?

Another option, ScribeForce, enables signing up a group of users (a business, a family) with the same account. There's a five-user minimum, but you'll pay just $3 each, billed monthly, for access to the full and unrestricted service.

Unusual add-ons include static IP addresses. Adding a US or Canadian residential IP costs $8 a month (data center IPs are $2) and could greatly improve your chances of accessing any blocked sites, and enable connecting to IP-restricted business and other networks. Once you have a static IP, you can also enable port forwarding in the Windscribe web console.

Whatever your preference, Windscribe supports payments via card, PayPal, Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies via CoinPayments.net, along with gift cards and assorted other options via Paymentwall.

Windscribe doesn't have the lowest headline prices, then, but it's fairly priced for the features on offer, and there are huge savings to be made if you're covering multiple users.

There is a small catch in Windscribe's money-back guarantee, which only covers you for three days and if you've used less than 10GB of traffic. So, if you think that might be an issue, download and try the free version before you buy to make sure it delivers what you need.

Privacy and logging

Windscribe's privacy features include strong AES-256 encryption, SHA512 authentication, a 4096-bit RSA key, and support for perfect forward secrecy (keys aren't re-used, so even if a snooper gets hold of a private key, it will only allow them to view data within one session).

The apps use multiple techniques to reduce the chance of data leaks, including redirecting DNS requests through the tunnel to be handled by the VPN server, and optionally using a firewall to block all internet access if the connection drops.

We checked Windscribe's performance on a Windows 10 system using the websites IPLeak, DNSLeakTest, and DoILeak and found no DNS or other leaks.

Windscribe claims its ROBERT DNS filter can protect your privacy by blocking trackers, but how well does it work? We connected to our nearest server, then tried accessing 156 common trackers, and ROBERT blocked 147. That's one of the best results we've seen. ROBERT did even better at keeping us away from malicious sites, and the ad blocker scored an excellent 93% (most VPN ad blockers managed 40-90%.)

We enabled the Windows app's firewall (similar to a kill switch) and began using various tricks to forcibly close the VPN connection and see what happened.

We found the app didn't display a notification to warn that we'd been disconnected. If it wasn't able to reconnect immediately, that might leave the user with no internet, and no idea why.

This situation probably won't last long, though, as the app tries to reconnect as soon as it spots the problem, and we were typically online again within a few seconds. This may be a small usability issue, but in privacy terms, the client worked perfectly, handling every oddball situation we threw at it and always protecting our traffic.

Windscribe's stance on logging is covered in a clearly written and refreshingly short privacy policy which explains what the company does and doesn't collect.

There's a tiny amount of very minimal long-term logging, but it's limited to the total bandwidth you've used in a month (essential to manage usage on the free plan), and a timestamp of your last activity on the service to allow identifying inactive accounts.

The system collects some connection details – username, VPN server connected to, time of connection, bandwidth used during the session, number of devices connected – but these are held in the VPN server's RAM only, and are lost when the session closes.

Other than that, there is no logging of connections, IPs, timestamps or browsing history. Or as the privacy policy puts it, 'we do not store any logs on who used what IP address, so we cannot tie user activity to any single user.'

As there is no data on your activities, Windscribe points out that there's nothing to share. This is backed up by a transparency report which covers the numbers of DMCA and Law Enforcement data requests over the year, and in both cases states that: 'Exactly zero requests were complied with due to lack of relevant data.'

This is all good, but we would like to see Windscribe go further. Many VPNs have had their systems publicly audited to check for logging or other privacy issues, and that gives far more reassurance to potential customers than comforting words on a website. We hope that Windscribe (and all other VPN providers for that matter) will soon do the same.

In June 2023, Windscribe's Co-Founder and CEO, Yegor Sak, was hit with a lawsuit in connection with alleged offences committed by an unknown user. Fast forward to April 2025, and the case was dismissed in court due to a lack of evidence, becoming a landmark victory for no-log VPNs as law enforcement bodies increasingly pressure VPNs to keep lawfully accessible records of user records.

In the meantime, it's worth remembering that Windscribe gives you 2GB of data per month, for free, without requiring an email address or any other personal data. If you're just looking to protect email and basic browsing, and can live with the data limit, this automatically gets you more guaranteed anonymity than you'll have with almost everyone else.

Performance

We put Windscribe's performance to the test using a 10 GB line and a local UK-based server. We then measured download speeds using benchmarking services including SpeedTest (both the website and command line app), Cloudflare, Measurement Lab, and more. We ran each test using at least two protocols and in both morning and evening sessions.

Windscribe's WireGuard speeds are, in a word, awesome. The VPN clocked in at 840 Mbps - making it one of the fastest providers in our most recent round of testing, beating the likes of PIA and ExpressVPN (using the Lightway protocol).

OpenVPN speeds tend to be a little slower than their WireGuard counterparts, primarily because the protocol isn't as streamlined and efficient. It's made up of more lines of code, too.

So, it wasn't a huge surprise when we saw Windscribe clock in at 368 Mbps using OpenVPN. It's not a chart-topping performance, as ExpressVPN and Surfshark were both faster, but you'll still have no trouble checking out HD streams or enjoying stable torrenting.

We can only measure the speeds for our test locations, of course, and you may see different results. If performance is a top priority for you, using the free version gives you the chance to check local speeds (from the 11 free locations) without as much as handing over your email address.

Alternatively, Windscribe's 'Build A Plan' option could give you a month of unlimited traffic to a couple of locations for only $3, a low-priced way to run all the intensive speed testing you need.

Netflix and streaming

Plenty of today's biggest and best streaming platforms geo-restrict their content - meaning the shows you love won't be available if you head overseas on vacation or for work. Luckily, VPNs like Windscribe can help you regain access by geo-spoofing your location. All you need to do is connect to a server back home.

However, some platforms are cracking down on VPN usage, blocking IP addresses known to belong to VPN services. It's why only the best VPNs, and the ones that frequently refresh their IP address pool, actually work as streaming VPNs.

To put Windscribe's unblocking powers to the test, we first threw it at a selection of Netflix libraries, including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and Japan libraries. We're happy to report that it worked like a charm every time.

The good news continued. We had no trouble tuning into Disney+, BBC iPlayer, Channel 5, and Australian services 9Now and 10 Play.

The only hiccup we encountered happened when we attempted to check out Prime Video. The site sniffed out our VPN usage and refused to display any streaming content until we relented and switched Windscribe off. This isn't a deal-breaker in our books, but it is something to keep in mind if a lot of the content you love is exclusive to the platform.

Failing only one of our test sites is a very impressive result. If only a 100% track record will do, though, ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Private Internet Access, ProtonVPN, PureVPN, and Surfshark all unblocked every one of our test services in their last review.

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Torrents

VPN providers generally don't boast about their torrent support, and it can be a challenge to figure out what you're allowed to do. TunnelBear was so quiet about its P2P policy that we had to email tech support to ask.

Windscribe is much more open and transparent. Just point your browser at the company's Status page and you'll see its full list of locations, which of them support P2P (most) and which of them don't (India, Lithuania, Russia, and South Africa, at the time of writing).

Your options are just as clear in the Windscribe apps. Locations where torrents aren't allowed are marked with the same crossed-out 'P2P', but select anything else and you can download whatever and whenever you like.

We don't like to take a provider's website promises for granted, even when they're from a VPN we trust, so we tried downloading torrents from three P2P-approved servers. Everything ran smoothly, and our downloads completed with no connection or performance issues at all.

Factor in Windscribe's free plan and various anonymous payment options (cryptocurrencies, gift cards), along with its decent performance levels, and the company makes a great torrenting choice.

Client setup

Tapping the 'Get Started' button on the Windscribe site took us to the Download page. The website detected and highlighted the best choice for our laptop – the Windows client and Chrome extension – but there were also links to downloads for Mac, Android, and iOS, extensions for Firefox and Edge. Plus guides to cover setup on routers, Linux, Kodi, Amazon Fire TV, and other devices.

Still not enough? No problem. Paying customers get tools to build custom configuration files for OpenVPN, WireGuard, and IKEv2. These can be used to manually set up connections with third-party apps, routers, and more.

Installing the Windows app is easy. You're able to create an account just by entering a username and password, which gets you 2GB of data a month. Hand over your email, too, and you get 10GB. Tweet about Windscribe, just once, and you get an excellent 15GB a month forever (not just a one-off.)

To put all that in perspective, TunnelBear's generosity stops with a 2GB monthly data allowance, and Avira Phantom VPN's free package gives you a tiny 500MB.

• Check out our exclusive Windscribe offer

Windows app

Windscribe's Windows app has real visual panache, with rounded corners and classy flag backgrounds (check the screenshot above) to highlight your current location.

It's more cluttered than most, with plenty of text, icons, and buttons crammed into a very small space, but there's also been real thought put into the design and overall it works well. Hover your mouse over an icon, for instance, and a tooltip explains what it's about.

The app displays your current protocol and port, always helpful, but it's not just a static label. Click it and you can change the protocol and settings to whatever you need. The app even offers to set the protocol as a default for that network. So, if you have to use one protocol to get online at the library and another at the coffee shop, you don't have to change them manually. Once you've connected, allow the app to save your settings for that network, and it'll automatically connect next time.

Tapping Locations displays the full location list. This opens with a list of countries and you can expand any of these to view its available servers. Each server has a latency indicator to help you find the fastest option. You can also mark countries as Favorites, displaying them at the top of the list for zero-scroll reconnections later.

The interface is very configurable. You can order locations by alphabet, latency, or location. You can even display latency as bars or figures, have the interface docked or a free-floating window, display notifications for events or hide them, and the list goes on.

There are many interesting connectivity features, and these are often as tweakable as the UI.

Supported protocols include WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, Stealth, and WStunnel, connection times were speedy at 1-2 seconds, and the app uses helpful notifications to tell you when you're connected, and when you're not.

OpenVPN is securely configured with AES-256-GCM encryption and SHA512 authentication. We couldn't find any issues with Windscribe's WireGuard setup, and it's good to see IKEv2 connections that don't store your credentials and are configured to use maximum-strength encryption so that they're not vulnerable to theft.

Split tunneling allows you to decide which traffic is routed through the VPN, and which bypasses it. Unlike most VPNs, this isn't just for apps, you can set up rules for specific IP addresses and host names, too.

Unusual extras include the ability to set up your device as a Wi-Fi hotspot (if your OS and network adapter supports it), or as a proxy gateway for use by TVs, gaming consoles, or anything else that can work with a proxy server.

One surprising feature is that Windscribe's desktop clients can import custom OpenVPN and WireGuard configuration files from other providers, and then display those servers alongside their own. If you use another VPN but its app is underpowered, you might be able to use Windscribe's instead. You don't need a subscription.

There's a lot to like here, especially for advanced users who like to tweak every aspect of their VPN. If you can find the settings you need, that is. We got lost several times scrolling up and down, clicking various icons, opening drop-down lists, and generally trying to figure out what's what.

If you're happy with the basics, the good news is you won't even see most of the complexities unless you go looking. As long as you can choose a country from a list and click a Connect button, Windscribe's apps will work just fine.

Mac app

If you're a Mac user then you'll doubtless be very familiar with VPN providers largely ignoring all your needs, saving their best features for Windows and leaving you with the bare minimum. But here's some good news: Windscribe hates that approach just as much as you do, and its Mac app is as close a match to the Windows edition as anyone could expect.

Take the interface, for instance. There are no pointless variations, no 'do it this way on Windows, but that way on Mac' rules to remember. It's the same stylish look, the same icons, the same main menus, and almost the same options, all in the same order.

Mac VPN apps generally don't have as many advanced features as Windows, mostly because Apple's security model doesn't give them as much control over your device. Seems like no-one told Windscribe this, though, because its Mac app has all the key features we saw on Windows: WireGuard support, the firewall (kill switch), custom DNS settings, MAC spoofing, split tunneling, port and protocol options, network allow-listing, proxy support and more.

If your VPN needs are simple, or you're just not interested in the low-level tech, all this power might sound intimidating. No need to worry, though: unless you click the Menu icon and go exploring, you'll never even know these options are there.

Whether you fine-tune every setting or ignore them entirely, the Mac app is generally very easy to use. Tap the On/Off button and you're speedily connected to your nearest server, then tap again to disconnect, and there's a list of other locations if you need them.

The app still looks a little more complex than some of the competition, just because it has more icons, buttons and status information. But, generally, it's a well-designed mix of functionality and ease of use, and a must-see for any Mac user looking for a little extra power.

Mobile apps

Windscribe's Android app follows a similar design to the Windows version, with the same gorgeous background flags, the big On/Off button, and details on your new IP and preferred protocol.

A list of countries (expandable to city level) makes it easy to find the server you want. You can switch to list Favorites and specialist Streaming locations. There's also a Custom Config list that might enable using other VPN servers with Windscribe's interface and features.

A comprehensive Preferences screen comes absolutely stuffed with features. The Connection panel alone enables choosing between WireGuard, OpenVPN UDP, TCP, IKEv2 or Stealth, and selecting your preferred port, as well as choosing which apps use the VPN, and which don't (split tunneling). It also provides integration with Android's Always-On feature to let you set up a system-wide kill switch, or enable GPS spoofing, define a packet size, allow or block local network traffic, and more.

A Network Whitelisting tool enables automatically connecting to Windscribe whenever untrusted networks are accessed while ignoring others. So, for instance, you can configure the service to automatically connect when you access Wi-Fi on the train, but stay offline when you're at home or work.

Windscribe's iOS app earned bonus points immediately for an unusual privacy plus. The app detects your external IP and network but can blur them, ensuring you won't give away clues to your identity if you share a screenshot.

Although the app can't match the Windows edition for power, it still has wide protocol support, kill switch, and ad, malware, and content blocking. That's already outperforming most iOS apps, but it's Windscribe's more unusual options that really help it stand out from the crowd. Most VPN apps can't access servers from another provider, for instance, or allow you to set a preferred protocol depending on the network you connect to.

• Grab our exclusive Windscribe deal here

Browser extensions

Windscribe's Chrome, Edge, and Firefox extensions provide a quick and easy way to connect to the VPN from your browser. This has its limitations – they're simple proxies and only protect your browser traffic – but if you only need the VPN for basic browsing tasks, they're your most convenient and straightforward option.

The extensions make an immediate positive impression, courtesy of a stylish interface along the lines of the desktop and mobile apps. The basic operations work much as you'd expect. Autopilot mode enables connecting to the best location with a click, you're able to choose countries or individual cities from a list, and set your most commonly used cities as Favorites.

Need more? The extension can block WebRTC leaks, fake your GPS location, time zone, and language to match your chosen Windscribe server, keep switching your browser user agent to make you more difficult to track, stop websites begging you to let them show notifications, and even delete first or third-party cookies when you close the tab.

The browser extensions support Windscribe's ad and malware-blocking tool ROBERT, even for free users. Known malicious and phishing sites, bandwidth-sapping ads, trackers, social media widgets, and other nasties can all be exterminated in a click or two.

The sheer volume of options can make the extensions look complicated but Windscribe does a lot to help. A small start-up tutorial explains which buttons do what, and a useful additional introduction is that the many settings each have a sentence or two describing what they're all about.

Put it all together and this is a very capable extension that delivers far more than you'll get with other VPN providers, and even many standalone Chrome privacy extensions. Don't just take our word for it – the excellent 4.7 rating on the Chrome store suggests most users agree.

Support

If you have any technical troubles, Windscribe's support site is a good place to begin looking for answers. Resources start with collections of articles on common topics, including 'getting started' guides, technical troubleshooting, billing questions, and some general FAQs.

These tutorials don't always have the range and depth we'd like, but they more than cover the basics. The Android setup guide doesn't just say ‘go install the app at Google Play', for instance, as we often see with lesser providers. It quickly explains what a VPN is for, gives a link to the Play Store, an alternative direct APK download if you need it, and covers the setup and usage basics, complete with helpful screenshots.

If your problem isn't covered by the website, you can always contact support directly via a ticket system (there's no live chat). In our experience, replies can sometimes take around a day to arrive. When they do, they're friendly, accurate, and complete. We think they're generally well worth the wait.

Windscribe review: Final verdict

Windscribe is a likable VPN, with good-looking and powerful apps, expert-level features, and one of the most generous free VPN plans around. The array of advanced options and settings means this probably isn't the best choice for newcomers or anyone only looking for the VPN basics. If you're unsure about Winscribe, there's an easy and risk-free way to find out for sure. Just install the free version and see how it works for you.

• We've also highlighted the best VPN

Proton VPN is one of many internet privacy products developed by Proton, the team of scientists and privacy advocates behind Proton Mail. The suite Proton offers is certainly impressive, but how does its VPN hold up against dedicated VPN providers like NordVPN and ExpressVPN?

The answer is pretty well. The completely free tier is something no other competitor on our top five list offers. With no ads and the same privacy guarantees as paid accounts, it’s an ideal way to trial the service. The paid version?

Starting, currently at $2.49 per month, it’s about the average for a top-tier VPN. Stay with me and I’ll go into whether the paid features are worth paying for, as well as how Proton VPN stacks up to the rest of our top five for speeds, unblocking capabilities, privacy, and overall value for money.

Features

There are lots of extra features built into Proton VPN’s paid version of the app, most of which are designed to either enhance your privacy or make the VPN harder to block.

For example, there’s Secure Core, which sends your VPN traffic through an initial hardened, physically owned VPN server in a high-security location before sending it on to a second endpoint VPN server. This secures the traffic you’re sending twice, so you can connect to locations without worrying that the endpoint server you use might be hacked, exposing your IP. Although it’s overkill for everyday use, it’s useful if you’re connecting to countries where VPNs are being heavily monitored by the government.

At the other end of the spectrum, there’s Alternative Routing. When enabled, this routes your VPN traffic along a route provided by external third-party servers such as AWS. While this does allow servers outside of ProtonVPN’s remit to see your home IP, it also allows you to connect to services that are otherwise blocking access from Proton VPN’s servers. You’re not going to get past an ISP’s DPI monitoring with this, but it’ll get you access to some sites that would otherwise detect you’re using a VPN.

As you can see so far, Proton VPN provides expert features that fit specific use cases. The same is true of the VPN over Tor feature, which allows you to access the Tor network directly from certain Proton VPN servers. Not everyone will need to access the Tor network, but if you’re a journalist or whistleblower, it might be the standout feature here when you need the extra anonymity.

Not everything is about privacy, though. Proton VPN uses a technology called VPN Accelerator, which uses multithreading and advanced TCP routing to provide you with better speeds when connecting to servers on the other side of the planet. It doesn’t do much when you’re connecting to servers you have a good connection with, but in situations where there’s high latency or excessive packet drop, it allows you to keep a significant portion of your bandwidth where you’d otherwise be slowed to a crawl by network instability.

Of course, there are all the conveniences here too. The VPN also includes a NetShield Ad-blocker, which blocks ads, trackers, and malware, enhancing both privacy and browsing speed. There’s also a kill-switch and split tunneling across all its apps, as well as DNS leak protection thanks to Proton VPN’s own private encrypted DNS servers.

Features score: 8/10

Server network

Proton VPN’s server network is impressive, to say the least. While the rest of our top 5 (barring Surfshark) offer more locations, Proton VPN is right up there for countries to choose from, offering a staggering 126. Although this leaves it just one short of NordVPN (127) when it comes to country coverage, there are some significant differences in terms of where they cover.

What sets Proton VPN apart is the focus on serving areas of the world that have been traditionally underrepresented by VPNs, such as Africa (with 26 locations) and the Asia (with 44 locations), both of which are more than any other provider on our top five list.

Of course, if you’ve already started doing the numbers, you’ll realize that this comes at the cost of offering less impressive coverage in Europe and North America than its competitors. This isn’t to say that Proton VPN doesn’t offer an acceptable range of locations, but if you need state-by-state coverage across the US, you’re better off looking at Private Internet Access instead. Similarly, ExpressVPN has you covered if you want in-depth access to Europe.

Server network score: 8/10

Apps

There’s a Proton VPN app for every major platform, including Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Linux. There’s some feature disparity between versions of the app, but you can expect roughly the same experience from all of them, including the Linux app, which is a full GUI program. It’s roughly on par with the Windows version, whereas the macOS version doesn’t offer OpenVPN or split tunneling. Not ideal, but all of the security features are available across every platform.

There’s an interesting quirk in Proton VPN’s desktop app design that sets it apart from the rest of the apps in our top 5. When you unfurl the home menu, it displays a map of every VPN location you can access. It’s a very cool piece of design flair, which, when combined with the pleasing purple and black color scheme Proton VPN has going on, results in a piece of software that looks like something out of a spy film.

Proton VPN recently unveiled a major revamp to some of its apps, including its previously less appealing mobile apps. This update has improved not only the customisability of the service, but also how intuitive it feels to use across different platforms, since the apps now match almost entirely across all major platforms.

The Chrome version is rated significantly lower than the other browser extensions from our top 5 VPNs, but it seems a little unfair. With a score of 2.4 on the Apple App Store, many reviews seem to focus on the lack of a free version of the browser add-on. This isn’t the case anymore, as ProtonVPN has recently released a free version of all its browser apps. Some of these complaints are a little more valid, though. While I haven’t noticed it myself while testing the Chrome extension out, there are a lot of complaints about it requiring multiple log-ins to keep connected, which is an easily avoided frustration for users.

Apps score: 8/10

Ease of use

There’s nothing very difficult about the install process, and once you’re logged in, Proton VPN is easy enough to deploy. There’s a guided tour you can take to check out some of the more advanced features, but it’s easy to ignore if you just want to get started. You click the quick connect button, and you’re connected to the nearest server.

For everything else, Proton is functional if a little intimidating for new VPN users. The world map interface lets you plot out your Secure Core connection by hand, giving you a much better idea of how each location will impact your overall connection path. It’s a great way to optimize your connection speed, but it's a little more involved than just clicking a button and closing the app.

Ease of use score: 8/10

Speed and performance

Our latest testing across Proton’s protocols indicates an overall increase in its average speeds.

Over its fastest VPN protocol, WireGuard, Proton VPN (1521 Mbps) was second only to Surfshark (1615 Mbps) when connecting to our nearest VPN server.

What's more Proton VPN (1242 Mbps) maintained that excellent performance over a transatlantic server connection far better than Surfshark (355 Mbps). Proton VPN (1242 Mbps) was second only to ExpressVPN's Windows-only Lightway Turbo protocol (1373 Mbps) this time.

Our latency and jitter readings didn’t pick up anything particularly alarming either.

Sadly, Proton VPN's OpenVPN speeds are less than we’d hope, only measuring 240 Mbps (local) and 173 Mbps (long distance). Compare that to ExpressVPN (1038 Mbps / 808 Mbps) and NordVPN (974 Mbps / 857 Mbps) and it's quite a difference.

To be clear, these are all speeds that will completely suffice for almost all your internet activity. If you’re on fibre, you might struggle a little to get the most out of your connection while you’re downloading, but otherwise, it’ll handle 4K streaming without any issue at all.

Speed and performance score: 7/10

Unblocking

Given Proton VPN promotes itself as a privacy-first VPN, you'd be forgiven for thinking streaming might not be a strong suit. However, that’s thankfully not the case. We’ve tested the servers against a wide range of streaming services, including regional variants of Netflix (US, UK, Japan, Canada, and Australia) as well as other streaming giants like Amazon Prime and Disney Plus.

In all cases, the Proton VPN servers provided instant access to the services we tested. All you have to do is pick the location you want to watch from and get streaming.

We also tested Proton VPN with more regional services such as BBC iPlayer, Channel 4, ITVX, 10Now, and 9Play, all of which were easily accessible from Proton VPN.

As for torrenting? It’s a breeze. Proton VPN supports port forwarding, so you can easily connect to other peers in a P2P network. There are also a few P2P optimized servers available on Proton VPN, which allowed me to fully connect to the rest of the swarm when downloading Linux ISOs to test.

Unblocking score: 10/10

Privacy and Security

Like every other tool from the Proton team, Proton VPN has been built from the ground up for privacy and security. Depending on which platform you’re using Proton VPN on, you’ll have the choice between OpenVPN, WireGuard, and its proprietary Stealth protocol. OpenVPN and WireGuard have both been stress-tested a thousand times over by real-world deployments and audits, so you don’t have to worry about accidentally choosing an insecure protocol when setting up the service.

WireGuard is built to always use the most secure encryption by default, while Proton has set up its OpenVPN deployment to use AES-256, which is about as secure as can be.

Stealth is an obfuscated version of WireGuard that runs over TLS, making it look like normal encrypted browsing data to anyone who’s trying to analyze your traffic to spot a VPN in use. It’s mainly useful for ducking past enterprise rule-based firewalls, but your mileage may vary in how well it works on DPI-based firewalls that ISPs in countries with harsh internet restrictions use.

Of course, Proton has a strict no-logs policy, which has been verified by multiple independent audits, most recently from Securitum in July of 2024. This marks its third consecutive annual no-logs audit, all of which are available to see on Proton VPN’s website without registering for an account.

Most providers, including ExpressVPN, will ask you to sign up first, but Proton VPN is demonstrating a commitment to transparency that few VPN providers can match.

While Proton VPN doesn’t use RAM-only servers to run its service, they do employ full-disk encryption on all of its servers, which essentially achieves the same thing. None of your browsing or connection data is ever written to disk, and anyone who attempts to remove one of the servers by force would be completely unable to decrypt the hard disk without an encryption key. Not that they’d find anything useful, anyway.

Proton VPN’s Secure Core architecture adds an extra layer of protection by routing traffic through multiple servers in privacy-friendly countries, effectively defending against network-based attacks. Forward Secrecy is implemented, generating a new encryption key for each session to ensure that even if a key is compromised, past browsing history remains secure.

I can’t say Proton VPN’s malware blocking was particularly good, though. To test it out, we picked 100 brand-new phishing URLs from the anti-phishing experts at OpenPhish and connected to each one with Proton VPN open to see how they’d do. At 11% of malware sites blocked and only 19% of phishing results, Proton VPN could do far better.

Privacy and security score: 8/10

Track record

When you claim that you’re a privacy-first company, you’re going to get a lot of eyes on you. Proton VPN is no exception, which means that some privacy issues from related products tarnish its reputation slightly. In 2019, ProtonMail was forced to log the IP address of a climate activist after a law enforcement request, which significantly undermined its perception as a private email provider.

However, Swiss law works slightly differently for VPN providers. They cannot be compelled to carry out bulk surveillance by either foreign law enforcement or the Swiss government, so Proton VPN as a product is significantly less vulnerable to the same sort of requests.

As for individual accounts, Proton VPN has to comply with legally valid cases brought forth by the Swiss courts, even if these are made by a foreign entity. However, Switzerland has no official ties to EU, NATO, or US intelligence sharing pacts, and tends not to recognize law enforcement requests from countries with a poor judicial reputation.

Track record score: 9/10

Customer support

More so than other VPNs in our top 5, Proton VPN feels like it expects you to do a bit of reading to get the most out of your VPN. There’s an incredibly comprehensive knowledge base that very clearly outlines how the whole app works, as well as offering a ton of solutions for common troubleshooting problems. The live chat is only for paying customers, so if you have any trouble signing up, you’ll have to email them or send a support ticket.

Speaking of, its live support isn’t 24/7, unlike NordVPN. Instead, you’ll need to get in touch with a support representative between 9 AM and 5 PM CET. While my interactions with the Proton VPN support staff have been useful, if delayed a little bit (there’s a 24-hour turnaround on any issue when you open a ticket), there have been some poor interactions that resulted in a 2.4 score on Trustpilot.

Customer support score: 7/10

Pricing and plans

Proton VPN starts at $2.49 a month with the currently Black Friday VPN deal. That makes it a very good offer, right now, coming in significantly lower than NordVPN Basic ($2.99) and ExpressVPN Basic ($3.49).

A Proton VPN subscription protects 10 devices on a single plan. Upgrading your plan to Proton Unlimited won’t remove this restriction, but it will give you access to Proton Drive, Mail, Calendar, and Pass for another three dollars a month. If you’re trying to migrate all of your data away from another provider like Google, this is a truly great deal.

There’s also a free version that only offers 10 locations (The US, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Poland, Switzerland, Singapore, Mexico, Canada, and Japan) but does so with no ads or restrictions whatsoever.

You won’t get access to all of the premium features, such as Multi-Hop or Secure Core, but it’s functional enough if you need a secure VPN to cover a single device without paying for it.

Pricing and plans score: 10/10

Should you use Proton VPN?

If you’re looking for a free VPN, get Proton VPN. With an unlimited bandwidth policy, no time-outs, and no ads, Proton VPN is just about the best free VPN you can get today. As a paid VPN? You could do a lot worse. Proton VPN will satisfy just about everyone who uses it, but it falls short in a few key areas where other VPNs simply work better.

It’s fast when it counts, but Surfshark and NordVPN both consistently outdo Proton VPN. All the rest of our top five perform better than Proton VPN at both European and North American locations, especially ExpressVPN and PIA, respectively. Still, these are minor complaints at best. Proton VPN has an extensive list of privacy-focused features, and you can try all of them for yourself with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Overall score: 83/100

Proton VPN alternatives

Proton VPN FAQs

Private Internet Access (PIA) is a true veteran of the VPN industry. It's been around, offering solid core VPN features, for well over a decade, and it's a great choice for anyone looking for a service that absolutely nails the basics without breaking the bank. Power users, on the other hand, will enjoy the amount of customization on offer.

Admittedly, PIA doesn't come with the bells and whistles boasted by its competitors, like Surfshark and NordVPN, but it is one of the cheaper VPNs on the market. Invest in a three-year plan, for example, and it'll set you back a measly $2.03 a month.

Keep reading, and I'll dig into PIA's spread of features, speed testing results, and unblocking power. How does it stack up against today's top contenders? Let's find out.

Features

If you compare PIA against other providers, like NordVPN, solely on the basis of the number of features on offer, you might think that PIA falls short. However, we think that it makes up for the lack of quantity with sheer quality - especially the high level of customization.

Its split-tunnel feature lets you differentiate between apps, IPs, and whether VMs are covered by the tunnel, alongside separate options for forcing DNS requests through PIA’s in-house encrypted DNS servers even if you’re not using the VPN tunnel.

PIA gives you access to some automation rules that you can use to force the VPN to activate (or deactivate) when you’re connecting to certain networks, making it just that little bit easier to work PIA into your daily routine.

Plus, it also uses its own encrypted DNS servers, which keep your browser requests hidden from your ISP. This also allows it to offer Mace, which is a built-in ad, tracker, and malware blocker. By blocking requests to known malicious URLs using their DNS server, Mace keeps unwanted content from being sent to your machine. It’s a good idea, but our testing suggests it shouldn’t be your only defense against ads.

There are some pretty strong obfuscation settings on offer from PIA too, giving you the choice between Shadowsocks and a SOCKS 5 proxy. Both will wrap your VPN connection inside a separate TLS tunnel, making it appear to anyone monitoring your data as though you’re just sending normal encrypted browsing traffic. While Shadowsocks is a little outdated compared to the obfuscation ExpressVPN offers, it’s still one of the best solutions if you’re being blocked from creating VPN connections by a network administrator.

Features score: 8/10

Server network

PIA's server network covers 91 countries with 152 locations, including servers in all 50 US states. Although some of these are virtually hosted, this makes it one of the few VPNs available with comprehensive US coverage. Only NordVPN even comes close in terms of North American locations, but with only 17 locations to choose from in the US, it still doesn’t hold a candle to PIA.

Unfortunately, the server network is less impressive on an international scale. PIA lacks coverage across Asia, in particular, lagging behind our other top-rated VPNs. The same can be said for Africa, the Middle East, and Oceania, but this is a rather grim constant across the industry.

If you're looking for a rock-solid choice for America, with plenty of Stateside coverage, PIA is a stellar choice. If you have your eye on more far-flung corners of the globe, however, the provider just doesn't have the same reach as the likes of NordVPN.

Server network score: 7/10

Apps

PIA boasts a range of well-designed apps for pretty much every platform you can imagine. This includes Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux. We're also glad to see that feature parity is consistent across all of PIA's desktop apps in terms of features and UI. This is a nice change from the norm – a lot of VPNs leave their Mac and Linux users underfed, after all.

Overall, the desktop experience is straightforward, but checking under the hood will reveal a selection of handy tools. The quick-connect bar holds several different locations and is split between your favorites and the last VPNs you’ve connected to. It’s pretty handy if you’re swapping back and forth between the same VPN several times.

There are two different ways to set up the client dashboard. The first is a basic interface that just gives you the connect button, the location selector, and a reminder of what your home IP and VPN IP are. It’s everything the average user needs to see at a glance, but if you’re interested in all of the techy stuff you can hit the dropdown button and you’ll be presented with a wealth of information, including in-depth details on your connection performance, session statistics, and all the choices you’ve made about how your VPN protocol is set up. It’s all very efficient in how it’s presented, wasting minimal space in the app window.

There’s also a VPN snooze timer that lets you turn the connection off for a few minutes. It’s rare that I’m turning off my VPN regularly enough to remember that there’s a feature to turn it off for a few minutes at a time, but it works and it’s convenient.

While the Android app used to look fairly outdated compared to the rest of the PIA line, a recent update brings the Android app in line with its desktop counterparts as well as the iOS version. The update hasn’t just given it a slick new UI, as you’ve also got access to a new dark mode and some advanced configuration options that let you get the most out of the multi-hop, DNS, and automation features you’ll be familiar with from the desktop version.

Apps score: 9/10

Ease of use

PIA is a great choice for VPN newbies and anyone else who wants a sleek experience. However, we do think it's possible to get lost in the weeds if you toggle over to the "detailed" view of the app. This customizability is one of PIA's biggest selling points, though, and power users will relish the chance to tweak the provider down to the last detail.

The simplified app lets users hit the big "Connect" button and, after a moment, enjoy rock-solid VPN protection. This minimalist approach to a VPN gives PIA serious crowd-appeal, and we like that the options in the settings menu are all explained with a handy tooltip, too. Despite its reputation, PIA doesn't require you to have a degree in cybersecurity to make the most of its functionality.

Ease of use score: 8/10

Speed and performance

We measure upload and download speeds, as well as latency and jitter. Upload and download are pretty self-explanatory; they’re just the real-world speeds you’ll get from using your bandwidth to connect to the VPN, while Latency is just the time it takes for your traffic to get to the VPN server. Jitter is where it becomes a little more difficult, as it’s how consistent (or inconsistent) your latency is.

Private Internet Access has made significant improvements in speed, with peak download rates now reaching up to 436Mbps, up from 330Mbps in previous tests. That’s great news, even if PIA still ranks surprisingly low among its competition. It’s a different story for the OpenVPN tests, where PIA ranked second thanks to download speeds of 257Mbps. Pretty respectable for OpenVPN, but Surfshark nearly doubles this at 460Mbps in the top spot.

Admittedly, these speeds don't top our performance charts, but they're still more than quick enough to keep up with most activities, including 4K streaming, video conferencing, and online gaming. During our testing, we observed consistent speeds across different times of the day, with average latency but noticeably less jitter than the other services we’ve tested, making it ideal for gaming.

Speed and performance score: 6/10

Unblocking

One of the biggest, most thorough tests we put today's top VPNs through determines how well they can access popular streaming platforms from around the world. After all, these services regularly geo-restrict their content libraries and often detect VPN usage, demanding that you switch your VPN off to enjoy your favorite shows or sports.

They do this by blocking IP addresses known to belong to VPNs, and it means that only the VPNs that invest in their IP pools, and frequently refresh them, can reliably access streaming content.

We're happy to report that PIA's unblocking power is fantastic. We tested it with Netflix in a variety of regional choices (UK, US, Canada, Japan, and Australia) to see how it does. It worked, and the same goes for Disney+ and Amazon Prime, as well as regional services such as BBC iPlayer, Channel 4, ITV, 10 Now, and 9Play. No real issues with lag, and no need to change servers, everything just worked, which is a big positive for PIA.

PIA is also a capable torrenting VPN. Its speeds aren't chart-topping, but it does offer port forwarding – whereas plenty of its competitors don't.

Port forwarding allows you allows you to accept incoming connections to your VPN’s IP address, so you can communicate with more peers in a P2P network.

Unblocking score: 10/10

Privacy and security

Private Internet Access has built a sturdy reputation as one of the most security-focused services on the market – and it delivers, for the most part.

Browsing traffic is protected by industry-standard AES-256 encryption and today's two most popular VPN protocols: OpenVPN and WireGuard. Both are widely accepted as secure, reliable technology, though you'll want to stick with OpenVPN if airtight privacy is your main goal, whereas WireGuard is more suitable for day-to-day browsing, or times when you want to balance security with speed.

Admittedly, PIA lacks the extra features offered by the likes of NordVPN and Surfshark, but it does boast all of the core tools a VPN needs.

There’s a kill switch on all its apps, which automatically blocks internet traffic if the VPN connection drops, ensuring that your data remains secure at all times. There are no DNS leaks here either. PIA’s own encrypted DNS servers route all of your domain requests, which prevents your DNS queries from being exposed to your ISP or a third party on the network.

PIA is committed to a strict no-logs policy. This has been independently verified by Deloitte in two separate audits, the most recent of which was conducted in April 2024. According to the audit, PIA’s systems are not configured to log user activity, and there is no way to trace online actions back to specific individuals. However, the full report of this audit is only available to PIA customers. While it’s good to see that PIA has undergone independent verification, making these reports publicly accessible, as ExpressVPN does, would bolster trust even further.

Despite providing very strong protection, our testing picked up some areas where PIA could improve. We tried running Mace through a gauntlet of phishing URLs to see which ones it’d block. So, with 100 brand new malicious URLs from anti-phishing experts OpenPhish, PIA managed to block… two of them. We think this is because Mace is pulling from a blocklist of known suspicious links, and most of the URLs we’re testing are fresh threat intelligence. Still, it’s notably weak, far below what we’d expect from a top-tier VPN.

Privacy and security score: 8/10

Track record

Private Internet Access has a strong track record of maintaining user privacy and delivering reliable service over the years. The only black mark against it is the acquisition by Kape Technologies in 2019, which caused some serious concern. Before their pivot to providing VPN brands, Kape’s primary output was browser add-ons which injected adverts and monetized their browsing data. Although consumer trust in PIA plummeted after this revelation, it's done a lot of work to win back that trust with regular no-logs audits that demonstrate it's not following in Kape’s footsteps.

In fact, PIA has dealt with several court cases where it was legally obliged to turn over user information. It responded by asserting it had nothing to turn over, which is pretty impressive. PIA has also demonstrated a commitment to transparency by regularly releasing Transparency Reports, which detail the number of legal requests the company receives and how it handles them.

Track record score: 7/10

Customer support

PIA's customer support has room for improvement. As you might expect, there's a 24/7 live chat channel and email ticketing system, but we found responses could be sluggish across both of these avenues. Naturally, that's not ideal if you have a more pressing problem.

On the other hand, if you prefer doing your own troubleshooting, you'll be glad to learn that PIA has its very own customer forum and knowledgebase. The forums are active and packed with experienced users who are (typically) happy to help squash any issues, and the knowledgebase is well organized and easy to navigate.

The one quibble we have with the knowledgebase, however, is that a lot of the support articles are outdated. The basic information remains solid, but we'd like to see these pages receive an update that adds extra depth and detail.

Customer support score: 7/10

Pricing and plans

Private Internet Access is one of the most budget-friendly VPNs on the market today. In terms of pure value for money, however, it lags behind NordVPN and Surfshark by a heel.

The monthly plan starts at $11.95, which is just a little bit over what you’d expect to pay for a top-tier VPN. Once you start getting into the long-term plans, however, the price drops through the floor. The annual plan only costs $3.33 a month, which is already cheaper than most plans offered by other top VPNs. It gets even better though, as the three-year plan costs as little as $2.03 per month, which also includes three additional months free.

The service includes all core features in its base price, without any hidden costs or paywalled features. The only extra you’d be expected to pay for is the dedicated IP option, which costs another $5 a month. This is understandable, as providing dedicated IPs is inherently expensive for a VPN provider because of the worldwide shortage of IPv4 addresses. Surfshark’s dedicated IPs are a little less costly at $3.75 a month, but if you opt in for a two-year plan PIA’s dedicated IPs drop down to $2.50 making it one of the cheapest around.

PIA also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, giving you ample time to test the service risk-free.

Pricing and plans score: 9/10

Should you use PIA?

PIA is an excellent VPN for the cost. It might not be as fast as Surfshark, offer as many features as NordVPN, or give you as many locations to connect to as ExpressVPN, but if you need a VPN that absolutely nails all of the core things you need to do and don’t want to spend too much, PIA is perfect. It’s also a VPN you can absolutely trust when it comes to privacy and security, and it’s one of the few providers out there that offers a Linux client that’s just as good as the Windows or MacOS client.

Out of everything that PIA could do better, speeds are at the top of the list. That’s not to say it’s a laggy VPN. It’s still lightyears ahead of most VPNs you could pick, but it’s just outclassed by alternatives like Proton VPN or Surfshark. It’s also starting to lag behind in innovation compared to the likes of NordVPN.

Total score: 79/100

PIA alternatives

Not sure if PIA is the right fit for you? Here are our top alternatives you can currently pick up, all of which you can test with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Frequently asked questions

Surfshark is one of the newer names in the world of VPNs, but it has already made a huge splash. The balanced offering of security-boosting features, an expansive server network, and budget-friendly prices make Surfshark a worthy contender to the throne in our overall best VPN rankings.

We found that Surfshark covers all the basics you'd expect a VPN to have, but there are a few sticking points that might make you consider alternatives. To help you determine if Surfshark is your perfect match, we've examined its speed, privacy policy, streaming performance, and overall value for money to put together this detailed review. So, let's dive in!

Features

Surfshark's roster of tools is varied and impressive, and all are designed to give your digital privacy a major boost while you do your thing online. It's also great to see that the core VPN features are present and correct, too.

For starters, you'll be protected by robust AES-256 encryption and two tried-and-tested VPN protocols: WireGuard and OpenVPN (you can also choose between TCP and UDP).

A kill switch is also available. It's not enabled by default, and one of the first things we did was head into the settings menu and enable it to prevent IP leaks in the event of a VPN dropout.

In June 2025, Surfshark unveiled a tool designed to boost VPN connection stability, called Everlink. It's not quite a kill switch, but it does work quietly in the background of your device to recover dropped VPN connections without risking any exposure to your IP address.

On the surface, this feature might not be as flashy and exciting as, say, a whole host of new servers, but we're still happy to see Everlink make its debut. VPN connection quality is an important metric in our in-house testing and for real-world use, and Surfshark is confident that it'll make a difference in terms of the overall experience. Nobody likes troubleshooting constant VPN dropouts, after all.

You'll also find Surfshark's split tunneling tool in the settings. It's called Bypasser, and it allows you to flag specific sites and services you'd rather route through your original connection, not the VPN tunnel, which is handy for any online banking you plan to do (as logging in to these apps can be tricky if you're connected to a VPN server).

Another basic tool that we're glad to see included in the Surfshark roster is the auto-connect. It's easy to use – just enable it via the settings menu. You can choose which server to set as your default – the one you'll connect to automatically – and add trusted Wi-Fi networks to a specific list. Surfshark won't automatically connect to a server when you use these Wi-Fi networks.

Multihop, accessible via the server list, allows you to route your traffic through an extra server for an added layer of protection. It's a nice extra, especially for folks living with invasive data privacy laws.

Surfshark's standout features pack more of a punch. Take CleanWeb, the DNS-level blocker that keeps ads and malware at bay. There's also a browser-based add-on called CleanWeb 2.0 that mops up any threats that slip through the net within your browsing sessions.

During our most recent round of testing, Surfshark successfully blocked 84% of ads, which makes it more effective than Proton VPN's ad-blocker at 79% but second to ExpressVPN at 90%.

Alternative ID is a fantastic addition to Surfshark's toolkit and a unique feature. It generates an entirely new online persona for you in the click of a button, including an email address. This means you don't have to hand over your actual identifiable details when signing up for sites, newsletters, and services, reducing the risk of being caught up in data breaches and scams. Plus, we found that it's a lot quicker than creating a one-use burner email.

Alternative Number adds an extra layer of privacy to your online life by creating a secondary phone number you can use during sign-up, too, preventing potential misuse of your real contact details.

We especially like that you generate and use the number from within the Surfshark app itself and that it doesn't interfere with your original phone number or require you to swap your SIM card. Bear in mind, however, that Alternative Number is a paid extra you'll need to add to your account.

On that note, upgrading to a Surfshark One plan will bag you some extra goodies, including the aforementioned antivirus. You'll also have access to Surfshark Search (an ad-and-tracker-free search engine) and Surfshark Alert, which will let you know if your data is involved in a data leak or your ID is compromised.

Bump things up to a One+ plan, and you'll get access to Incogni, a data removal service that automates requests to remove personal information from databases and people search sites.

Features score: 9/10

Server network

Surfshark has servers in 99 countries – that's an impressive spread and more than Private Internet Access (91); however, it's still fewer than ExpressVPN (108) and NordVPN (127). In terms of locations, Surfshark’s servers span 141, again trailing behind ExpressVPN (187) and NordVPN (165).

Although Surfshark can't claim to have the most pins on the map, we think that the overall distribution of servers is excellent, leaving no region hungry. Europe and the Americas are well-served, and Surfshark even boasts extensive coverage across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

There's even a Chinese Macau SAR server, though, as expected, there are no available locations in Russia.

It's well worth noting that all of Surfshark's servers are RAM-only. That means they're wiped whenever they're rebooted, erasing any stored user data, which is a nice boost to a user’s overall digital privacy.

We're also glad to see that Surfshark now labels whether its servers are virtual or physical. Physical servers provide an IP address based in that same location, whereas virtual servers don't – virtual servers in India, for example, aren't located within the country itself.

Virtual servers come in handy if it's difficult to set up servers in a country with censorship, but they can introduce security issues, especially if your traffic is routed through a country with draconian data protection laws.

Surfshark doesn't offer specialized streaming, gaming, or torrenting servers, but you can check out its static IPs or invest in a dedicated IP (for an extra monthly fee). Similarly, Surfshark's multihop tool lets you route traffic through an extra server. You can choose from a preselected pairing of servers or, if you're feeling choosy, create your own combination.

Server network score: 8/10

Apps

Surfshark has apps for all major platforms, including Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux.

Our hands-on testing experience with the Surfshark UI was smooth and hiccup-free. The UI is a minimalist's dream, without any clutter to slow you down or confuse VPN newbies, and we found it just as easy to switch between tabs on the left-hand side of the screen.

The simplicity means there's nothing to write home about in terms of flair (think Proton VPN and its cyber-chic purple and black UI), but it does mesh well with the native interface of both Windows and Mac clients.

The mobile apps are similarly well-crafted, with a few small improvements proving that Surfshark is thinking about making its offering stand out in an increasingly saturated market.

Whether you’re an Android or iOS loyalist, you’ll be glad to learn that the experience across both platforms is virtually identical.

Now, Surfshark's mobile app has widgets that allow you to control your VPN connection without opening the full app. You can also log in by scanning a QR code on a device that's already logged in, which makes it way easier to get the app set up on your mobile phone (and make good use of those unlimited simultaneous connections).

Our testing showed that the Chrome browser extension has improved since our last investigation, and more tools are available directly within the browser. You can now auto-fill forms with your Alternative ID, too, speeding up a previously monotonous process and eliminating the need to fork over real details in the process. It's a win/win and exactly the sort of innovation we like to see.

Currently, Surfshark is one of only a handful of VPN that offer a graphical Linux client rather than a command line interface. It's encouraging as Linux regularly remains an afterthought even among today's top services.

Surfshark gave its Linux app some extra TLC, too, finally adding a kill switch, split tunneling, and its roster of CleanWeb features to the mix.

As is now the norm, Surfshark is also compatible with less common clients, such as Fire Stick, Apple TV, and routers.

Apps score: 9/10

Ease of use

We found the Surfshark app easy to install and set up. Once you've picked your plan and downloaded the right package for your device, you just follow along with an installation wizard and log in to the app when prompted.

Then, you'll see Surfshark's location tab. The UI is easily digestible. Your recommended servers are displayed at the top of the page, with your pinned favorites and recently used servers right underneath, meaning you can quickly open up the app and connect without scrolling through the lengthy server list.

The panel on the right displays your connection status, which is, really, the most important detail. Others are there for more technically minded folks, including the protocol you're using, your new IP address, and which features you've toggled on or off.

Ease of use score: 9/10

Speed and performance

Surfshark sits at the top of our fastest VPN rankings, and recorded another chequered flag-taking performance during our most recent round of testing. If you're looking for speed, Surfshark is an excellent bet.

We used the WireGuard protocol to put Surfshark's speeds to the test. Using a 10 Gbps line and connecting to a nearby UK-based server, we recorded a performance of 1615 Mbps. That was faster than the best from NordVPN (1256 Mbps) and even ExpressVPN's Windows-only Lightway Turbo Dual Tunnel (1479 Mbps).

It should be noted, though, that Surfshark's speeds dipped notably over long distances. A transatlantic server connection from Dublin to the US only clocked in at a 353 Mbps in our speed test. Compare that to NordVPN (626 Mbps) and ExpressVPN (1374), the latter of which held its figures up very nicely indeed.

Surfshark's OpenVPN local download speeds were only a little shorter than with WireGuard at 1038 Mbps. Again the dip was there at long distance when it dropped to 430 Mbps.

ExpressVPN outpaced Surfshark both locally (1038 Mbps) and over long distance too (808 Mbps).

It's worth pointing out, though, that Surfshark is still streets ahead most of the chasing pack. PIA, for example, only pulled in download stats of 240 Mbps (local) and 173 Mbps (long distance).

The important takeaway here is to remember that, whether you opt for WireGuard or OpenVPN, Surfshark is more than fast enough to keep up with your day-to-day browsing. You only need 25 Mbps to stream in 4K, too, so you'll have no problem tuning in to buffer-free HD content.

Finally, we noted that it regularly took a few seconds to connect to a Surfshark server. This isn't a total deal-breaker by any means, but I find that NordVPN and ExpressVPN connect in around a second (or even less).

Speed and performance score: 10/10

Unblocking sites and content

Surfshark has made a mark in the industry as a reliable VPN for streaming and unblocking all sorts of platforms. In fact, it currently claims the third-place position in our overall streaming VPN rankings, and fourth-place in our torrenting VPN shortlist.

We put VPNs through a rigorous testing process to see how well they work with Netflix and its global library in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and Japan. We also investigate how well VPNs can unblock other platforms, including Amazon Prime Video and Disney+. Surfshark performed flawlessly across all of our tests. We had no trouble checking out content on any platform, regardless of the location, and always on the first try.

Surfshark worked like a charm with smaller regional sites, too, and we unblocked BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4, 9Now, and 10 Play.

While some VPNs have a collection of servers optimized for streaming, Surfshark doesn't. It's not all bad news though, as all of Surfshark's servers are capable of accessing region-specific streaming content.

This means that you don't have to hunt for one specific server to join when you're in the mood for some Disney+ or Hulu – which is a nice bonus for VPN newbies who don't want to be bogged down in menus.

Similarly, Surfshark has no torrenting-optimized servers, but you can engage in P2P activity on any of them. The only thing to note here is that, unlike PIA, Surfshark does not have a port forwarding feature, which means you might have trouble seeding.

Unblocking score: 9/10

Privacy and security

Firstly, it's great to see that Surfshark's privacy policy and no-logs promise are easy to find and navigate. The information is dense, certainly, and not what we'd call light reading, but there's a table of contents that allows you to skip through to relevant sections.

We like that Surfshark takes the time to discuss each of its tools and how associated data is handled, giving users more leverage to decide whether they want to check them out or not.

Surfshark has proven, on multiple occasions, that transparency is a critical part of its operations. A warrant canary clearly states that the service hasn't endured any data breaches or leaks, and recent audits by Deloitte and Cure53 prove that the service just isn't interested in keeping tabs on user activity or logging it. Surfshark has also undertaken audits of its server architecture and apps.

In fact, the results of Surfshark's most recent audit were made public in June, 2025. The VPN invited Deloitte to comb through its no-logs policy for a second time, with the auditors confirming that the policy is properly implemented and enforced. Simply put, Surfshark has no interest in keeping tabs on what you get up to while connected to one of its servers.

On a more technical level, Surfshark relies on industry-standard AES-256 encryption to secure user data as it travels between the user’s device and the VPN server.

Only the OpenVPN and WireGuard protocols are available, which is encouraging, as they both ensure that data remains safe from snooping and tampering while inside the VPN tunnel.

We found that Surfshark ticks off the basics, too. The kill switch is a simple on or off switch and cuts your internet connection in the event of a VPN dropout to prevent data leaks. We previously noted some kill switch bugs, but Surfshark quickly released an update improving the stability of the feature.

We especially like that the kill switch is customizable. You can choose a more lenient option, which disables the internet during accidental interruptions, or a stricter version that will cut the internet if the VPN is interrupted in any way at all.

Other must-have tools include DNS leak protection that stops ISP snooping, multihop that routes traffic through an extra server for more security, and a No Borders mode that allows users to bypass strict government censorship to enjoy a freer, safer internet.

We also put Surfshark's phishing and malware site detection to the test by feeding it 100 new malicious URLs from OpenPhish. Unfortunately, the results leave something to be desired.

In testing, Surfshark only blocked 6% of malware sites and 7% of phishing sites, underscoring the simple fact that while you can rely on a VPN package to shore up your online security, you’re better off opting for a dedicated antivirus.

Privacy and security score: 9/10

Track record

Surfshark has a keen ear and listens to its customers – it's a great reputation to have, even if the service has experienced its ups and downs over the years.

In 2024, Surfshark addressed an issue where it was not correctly labeling all of its virtual servers – only 27 out of 50 locations were identifiable. After we spoke to the VPN directly, Surfshark amended these labels within two days, which is a fantastic turnaround.

Surfshark is based in the Netherlands, which, to privacy purists, will be a point of concern. The Netherlands is part of the infamous intelligence-sharing organization: the Nine Eyes.

Fortunately, the VPN has begun publishing a quarterly transparency report outlining the number of requests for user information that Surfshark has had to respond to, as well as law enforcement inquiries. Currently, we can assume that Surfshark has not handed over user information related to a single inquiry.

Track record score: 8/10

Customer support

Surfshark has several avenues of customer support, but the first one we ran into was the AI chatbot. We had a brief conversation with this bot, querying basic information about server numbers and locations, and were sent links to relevant knowledgebase articles.

If you'd rather speak to a human being, the good news is that it's easy to do so, and we found Surfshark’s agents to be friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable about the service.

As you'd expect from such a big name in the VPN world, Surfshark has an extensive knowledge base. Inside, you'll find all sorts of articles, including setup guides for each platform and more in-depth explainers about the various tools.

The "Surfschool" is especially neat and contains end-to-end advice on how to use the VPN, making it a good place for newbies to start.

Customer support score: 8/10

Pricing and plans

Surfshark is by far the cheapest premium VPN on the market, but you won't sacrifice quality for a budget-friendly price tag. On the contrary, Surfshark's roster of tools and unlimited simultaneous connections make it an excellent value for money, especially if you subscribe to a multi-year plan now with Surfshark's Black Friday 2025 prices there for the taking.

A 2-year subscription to the Starter plan is only $1.99 a month – and even comes with an extra 3 months for free. Only PIA is cheaper, at $2.03 a month for 3 years. It is worth noting that Surfshark's prices rise to $4.98 upon renewal, making the rock-bottom price point a one-and-done sort of deal.

If you want access to all of Surfshark's privacy-boosting tools, you'll need to subscribe to a One or One+ plan. A dedicated IP is a separate add-on to consider, too, and will set you back an additional $3.75 a month.

Pricing score: 9/10

Should you use Surfshark?

Surfshark is a stellar service and a worthwhile alternative to the likes of NordVPN and ExpressVPN, especially if you're on the hunt for a bargain. Plus, while some VPNs focus solely on their VPN product, Surfshark has become an all-in-one security solution.

Add unlimited simultaneous connections to the mix, and we think it's a service that offers serious value for money on top of rock-solid security.

Surfshark isn't without its drawbacks, though, especially if you plan on relying on its phishing or malware site protection. Other providers have more servers in more locations, too, and more regular audits under their belt.

Still, with a 30-day money-back guarantee, it's well worth taking the time to check out Surfshark in your own time.

Total score: 88/100

Surfshark alternatives

Not sure if Surfshark quite fits your needs? Here's our three top alternatives available right now:

Surfshark FAQs

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NordVPN is currently the best VPN we’ve tested. It has long been known for its features, high speeds, and extensive server network, and our tests not only proved that this is true, but arguably truer than ever.

Despite this, NordVPN isn't perfect. It’s not the best cheap VPN we test, its apps could use some TLC on platforms like Fire Stick, and, although it's not NordVPN's main purpose, its antivirus and antimalware tools could be improved significantly. So, let’s dive into why all that still doesn’t stop NordVPN from ranking as the top VPN provider currently available.

Features

While NordVPN’s vast feature array isn’t instantly apparent when loading it up on any device, it doesn't mean the tools aren't there. Clicking through the left-hand panel on computers, both MacOS and Windows, or tapping along the bottom of your Android or iOS phone reveals the breadth of offerings NordVPN provides.

For a start, if you want to add an extra layer of protection to your standard VPN connection, NordVPN offers both Double VPN, which acts as NordVPN’s multihop solution, and Onion over VPN, which combines your NordVPN connection with the Tor network for improved online anonymity.

Onion over VPN proved to be the more temperamental of the two in testing. Still, given its immense security, this is understandable. We found the Netherlands-based entry point was a more effective way to access the network without massively impacting speeds than the alternative in Switzerland. In fact, the route was only slightly slower than a standard NordVPN connection.

Double VPN was more reliable with only minimal load time delays, regardless of which server we connected to.

One of NordVPN’s biggest selling points outside the core VPN product is Threat Protection Pro, an additional security suite available on Plus plans and above. Included in this is malicious and phishing domain blocking, ad and tracker blocking, malware and vulnerability scanning, scam and fraud alerts, and URL cleaning – and there are even more tools listed in the fine print.

In daily use, we found it to be reasonably effective, though it did, somewhat humorously, try and block certain assets and links from loading on competitor VPN sites.

Outside of this, while it thankfully didn’t find any risks on our test machines, it did a good job of tracking any files we downloaded and scanning links to ensure safety, though the tool as a whole did seem to use a tad more processing capacity on our Windows 11 desktop machine than we’d have liked.

Meshnet is the final unique tool in NordVPN’s arsenal. By creating a secure local area network (LAN), Meshnet enables easy, secure access to other devices added to the network from wherever you are. This means you can retrieve and share files or images, and even play games with friends, with up to 60 devices able to connect at a time.

In testing, Meshnet proved simple to set up, especially since it can be downloaded for free on any compatible device, and we were able to use it quickly to transfer images and files between our Windows testing desktop, an iPad, and an Android phone.

Features score: 10/10

Server network

NordVPN’s server network is broad, but not massively superior to its closest competition. It currently boasts over 8,000 servers across 127 countries, which puts it comfortably among the best VPNs in terms of country coverage.

Despite this, it falls short in certain regions like the Middle East and Africa. Here, Proton VPN's coverage is more extensive despite spanning fewer countries overall – even if only by one at the time of writing.

As with most VPNs, NordVPN doesn’t have servers in high-censorship regions such as Russia and China, so we can’t dock points for that.

Server network score: 9/10

Apps

NordVPN’s apps are among the best available, though that doesn’t mean they’re flawless. In terms of coverage, NordVPN is available across everything from major platforms such as Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android to smaller platforms such as Fire TV Stick and Apple TV.

You can also access NordVPN directly in your browser with extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.

Across the majority of platforms, NordVPN's apps are well-designed and intuitive. We found that layout to be simple enough for any beginner to understand without feeling overwhelmed, although they're not as straightforward as ExpressVPN's apps.

Plus, as we will detail later, many apps share similar user experiences, allowing for easy transitions between devices.

The biggest letdown for NordVPN is its Linux client. NordVPN for Linux still lacks a GUI, meaning you’re left using command lines to use the VPN rather than experiencing the much simpler systems accessible elsewhere.

Alongside this, depending on your generation of Fire Stick, you may encounter a more rudimentary version of NordVPN, which, while entirely functional and effective, looks nowhere near as clean.

NordVPN’s latest improvement to its apps came to its Firefox extension. We were pleased to see the update give the extension a complete overhaul, adding extra features, such as location spoofing, to its functionality, as well as improving overall security.

Despite this, you’ll likely find, as we did, that the experience is still a tad slower than you’d get across mobile or desktop devices.

Apps score: 8/10

Ease of use

As mentioned, NordVPN’s apps are simple enough, though they're not our top choice for VPN newbies.

On our Windows 11 test desktop, we found the setup process impressively simple, thanks to NordVPN’s setup wizard. This was, usefully, replicated on macOS.

Once loaded, NordVPN greets you with several key features: the VPN, Threat Protection, and Meshnet. Navigating to other features is done via the icons on the left-hand side of the app, and we had no difficulty checking out the kill switch, split tunneling, and VPN protocols.

Mobile presents a similarly balanced experience; setup is as simple as downloading NordVPN from the respective app store and either signing in or signing up. The majority of what you see will directly correlate with the experience on a computer, be that Windows or Mac, with a quick connect option and the option to scroll through specific servers.

However, Meshnet is presented in a much smaller fashion among the server list, and Threat Protection doesn’t appear at all on your initial menu.

NordVPN's browser extension experience mirrored the experience we had when testing its mobile apps: quick to connect, reactive, and clutter-free.

Plus, despite missing out on some features, as we’ve already mentioned, it works similarly enough to mobile that we had no issues switching between platforms without feeling confused.

Using NordVPN on your TV, be that via the TV app store or a Fire Stick, Apple TV, or similar device, presents a slightly different layout. Opting for something simpler and closer to that of ExpressVPN, which is a definite win, and we found it to be impressively effective and easy to navigate, even when finding features outside the basic VPN.

We encountered some stumbling blocks when using the older Fire Stick interface, which, perhaps understandably, presents a more convoluted interface than its more modern counterparts.

Ease of use score: 8/10

Speed and performance

NordVPN has long been among the fastest VPNs we’ve tested, and our latest round proved no different.

Using NordLynx, NordVPN’s WireGuard-based VPN protocol, we recorded average download speeds of 1256 Mbps to our nearest VPN server and 626 Mbps to a server on the other side of the Atlantic.

That's not bad at all but it's still pretty comfortably bettered by Proton VPN (1521 Mbps / 1242 Mbps) and ExpressVPN (1479 Mbps / 1374 Mbps), although it's important to note that ExpressVPN's quoted speeds are through using the Lightway Turbo protocol which is only available using the ExpressVPN app for Windows.

NordVPN's OpenVPN speeds are arguably the best of all, though. They're certainly the most consistent, with the local download average recorded at 974 Mbps and long distance at 857 Mbps. Only ExpressVPN (1038 Mbps / 808 Mbps) managed better but only by a fraction.

Compare that to Surfshark (978 Mbps / 430 Mbps), which dropped by half over long distance, and Proton VPN (240 Mbps / 173 Mbps) which did not fare well with OpenVPN speeds at all.

Speed and performance score: 9/10

Unblocking

Putting NordVPN to the test in unblocking scenarios was, as ever, successful. We used NordVPN with Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, 10Play, 9Now, iPlayer, and Channel 4. We even stretched our testing across Netflix libraries in the US, Japan, Canada, the UK, and Australia.

NordVPN performed flawlessly across all our tests. Regardless of the device we used, including our Windows 11 test desktop, Fire Stick, iOS, and Android, we had no issues accessing any streaming services, nor did we encounter any sudden VPN detection warnings. Full marks there, then.

Plus, as we’ve already mentioned, NordVPN’s speeds were superb. This meant we never encountered slow loading times or buffering, even when connecting across different countries.

Unfortunately, NordVPN only offers a handful of server locations that are P2P-friendly. Plus, while speeds are impressive, the lack of port forwarding capability means you can't make the most of any torrents you're seeding. If that's a problem, it's worth checking out Proton VPN.

Unblocking score: 10/10

Privacy and Security

NordVPN’s security capabilities are built from the ground up. It supports two protocols, OpenVPN and NordLynx, NordVPN’s proprietary protocol built on WireGuard.

OpenVPN is the industry standard for a high-security connection, while WireGuard, and specifically NordLynx, is built for speed and usability with mobile devices, but is also impressively secure.

The encryption methods partnered with these protocols are AES-256 on OpenVPN and ChaCha20 on NordLynx. Against current technologies, these methods are some of the most trustworthy and secure available.

If you're worried about quantum computing, NordVPN is already on the case. Post-quantum encryption was introduced to the NordLynx protocol in September 2024, and NordVPN continues to secure itself further in preparation.

Alongside its secure protocols and encryption methods, NordVPN employs a strict no-logs policy, meaning no browsing data is logged by its servers.

This policy was most recently audited by Deloitte at the end of 2024, and the results, as always, were positive. Deloitte did not find any issues or concerns. As NordVPN's fifth overall no-logs audit, the provider is clearly committed to transparency, proving that you can trust it not to keep logs.

What’s more, being headquartered in Panama means NordVPN isn't subject to data retention laws, meaning it wouldn’t have any data to hand over should it face an unavoidable warrant.

Within NordVPN itself are several additional security features. Firstly, the provider offers a kill switch and DNS leak protection. Thankfully, finding the killswitch takes a matter of seconds within the apps, and should you have any concerns surrounding DNS leaks, you can use NordVPN’s free DNS Leak Checker to settle doubts.

We’ve mentioned NordVPN’s Onion Over and Double VPN capabilities already, and, while our testing environment isn’t exactly the environment they’re intended for, we were successful in using both connections to access data in a timely manner.

Threat Protection and Threat Protection Pro are the final security functions NordVPN has up its sleeve. Both aim to provide the same added layer of protection; however, standard Threat Protection works via DNS blocking and requires a VPN connection, while Threat Protection Pro is a standalone system with more advanced capabilities.

This differentiation manifested in testing, as Threat Protection only managed to block 24% of malware links and 34% of phishing links, whereas Pro blocked 79% of malware links and 87% of phishing links.

In practice, we’d always recommend you use a dedicated antivirus software alongside anything a VPN provides, but either way, Threat Protection Pro’s results are a solid foundation to build upon.

As mentioned already, when we put it to the test, we were pleasantly surprised with how it performed, despite a couple of interesting site block attempts and an unusually high demand on our processing power. It was simple to set up and forget about.

Privacy and security score: 10/10

Track record

NordVPN’s track record is nearly flawless. Its most recent misstep came in 2018 when it was discovered that one of its Finnish servers was compromised through an undisclosed remote access management system.

Despite being left by the data centre providers rather than NordVPN, it prompted a complete overhaul of how NordVPN approached security.

Since this overhaul, no further issues have occurred, with NordVPN continuing to invest in improving the core service, server network, and security. As already mentioned, NordVPN has undergone numerous security and no-logs audits, both before and since the incident.

This, therefore, serves as strong evidence of the work NordVPN has put in and provides reassurance that no such issue might recur.

Track record score: 8/10

Customer support

NordVPN offers a whole host of ways to get in touch if you run into roadblocks. The first port of call is typically the 24/7 live chat manned by an AI chatbot.

This live chat was useful to a degree, but is only really capable of directing you to relevant support articles or escalating your case to a human support agent.

The limitations of the chatbot were apparent during testing while trying to troubleshoot issues we encountered with our connection, but thankfully, human support agents were quick to identify and resolve the problem.

Should you require a different avenue of support, NordVPN also offers an email ticketing system, though, as you’d expect, replies tend to be slower.

If you'd rather do your own problem-solving, you can sprawl through a wide array of support articles, video guides, and FAQs, all of which we found pretty helpful throughout testing, to find the answers you need.

Customer support score: 9/10

Pricing and plans

NordVPN is one of the best cheap VPNs available, though it doesn’t quite beat Surfshark when it comes to value for money.

Plans start from $2.99/month, but as with most VPNs, the cheapest plans are billed upfront, so you'll pay $71.76 immediately. This does include three months free as a bonus right now, however. If you’re in the UK, this deal is £2.29/month, or £61.83 (plus VAT) upfront.

The issue NordVPN's plan have is that they vary by country – an issue shared by ExpressVPN. If you're in the US (or elsewhere in the world), your plan options differ from those available in the UK.

So, in the US, the best subscription you can buy is the NordVPN Prime plan, costing $6.99/month ($165.36 upfront). Whereas in the UK, your best choice is the Ultimate plan, costing £4.79/month (£129.33 upfront, plus VAT).

The difference between these plans is that while the Prime plan in the US gives you everything NordVPN offers, plus the full NordProtect suite, the Ultimate plan gives you Cyber insurance covering scam loss and ID theft.

Luckily, its best-value plan, the Plus plan, is available on any side of the pond. Costing $3.89/month ($93.96 upfront) in the US and £2.89/month (£78.03 plus VAT upfront) in the UK, which includes all of NordVPN’s VPN features, Threat Protection Pro, and NordPass with data breach scanning.

So if you’re looking for the best subscription to start your NordVPN journey with, this is the one we’d recommend.

Pricing and plans score: 8/10

Should you use NordVPN?

Yes, you should use NordVPN. It ranks as our best VPN for a reason - it doesn’t have any major weak points that dent its armour or give us reason to be concerned about its security or capabilities. Its speeds are superb, its unblocking capabilities are flawless, and it’s got a full suite of airtight security measures.

That said, in some specific circumstances, you might look elsewhere. Want the absolute best speeds out there? Check out Surfshark. Want security that no one comes close to matching? Look for ExpressVPN. Want server coverage in underserved locations? Proton VPN is your bet.

What makes NordVPN special, however, is that if we couldn’t recommend these providers, for whatever reason, NordVPN would provide a near-identical experience that, to most, would leave you wondering what the difference truly is.

Overall score 89/100

NordVPN alternatives

NordVPN FAQs

ExpressVPN is one of the biggest players in the game, and regularly ranks among the best VPN services. It's well known for offering impressive speeds, fantastic unblocking capabilities, and a global server network – but did you know it's also one of the most secure VPNs around?

While its security is unmatched, it's still lagging behind NordVPN and Surfshark when it comes to overall offering. So keep reading to see how Express stacks up in terms of speeds, unblocking capabilities, features, ease of use, and overall value for money.

Features

This isn’t a VPN that comes as part of a suite with other security programs. ExpressVPN is primarily a virtual private network that’s built to do the core VPN work very well, but there are a few extra features tucked away designed to make your life easier too.

Bundled with the VPN, you'll find Express Keys, which is a password manager available for iOS, Android, and Chrome. This uses the same zero-trust encryption that the rest of ExpressVPN’s architecture uses, ensuring you’re the only one with access to your key vault. It’s not quite as customizable as some of the best password managers, but otherwise, Express Keys is a perfectly functional way to share passwords between your devices.

If you go through the app settings, you'll find an impressive ad blocker – the best among the big-name providers in our tests. You'll also find parental controls if you're looking to install the VPN on your child's devices and stop them from accessing anything they're too young for.

There's even a built-in tracker and malware blocker that operates at a DNS level to prevent viruses and fake websites before they have the chance to strike. It's worth noting that our test showed this feature was having some serious issues with fake websites, but we're working with ExpressVPN to dig deeper and ensure the issue is resolved as soon as possible.

If there's anything you don't want going through the VPN's encrypted tunnel, you'll love the split tunneling feature that lets you pick what does and doesn't get the VPN treatment. I love using it for Android Auto because it saves me from plugging my phone in every time I get in the car.

If that's not enough, there are even dedicated IP addresses on offer, and ExpressVPN is the first and only VPN service to offer a truly anonymous IP allocation system for dedicated IPs. It leverages Amazon's Nitro Enclaves to enable provably anonymous delivery without compromising you if you refund the IP address or VPN altogether.

Features score: 7/10

Server network

With over 148 locations to choose from in 106 countries, ExpressVPN has one of the most comprehensive networks in the industry. It’s particularly strong in Europe, with 57 locations, but also does pretty well in Asia and North America.

In fact, as of July 2025, ExpressVPN now boasts servers in all 50 states across America – something only Private Internet Access could claim, previously. This is a big deal, as geo-restrictions mean content can vary massively between even neighboring states, and connecting to a nearby server can help to ensure a fast, consistent online experience.

ExpressVPN covers all of the popular locations in the US and Europe, as well as areas traditionally underserved by VPN providers, like Laos, Macau, and Mongolia. We're also impressed by the coverage in Oceania – no other VPN has as many server locations in the area.

We did notice that ExpressVPN lacks servers in Russia, but this is a commonality among today's top VPNs, given the privacy concerns and global legislation.

If there's a weak spot in ExpressVPN's coverage, it's in the Middle East, with only 4 locations served. That's below the average, and might warrant some shopping around if you need access to a broader selection of local servers.

Server network score: 9/10

Apps

ExpressVPN's fleet of apps is available on every platform. This includes Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, and smart devices like Amazon Fire TV, routers, and game consoles.

The Windows and Mac apps are virtually identical. So, if you often switch between the two platforms, you won't notice a huge difference in the ExpressVPN environment.

In March 2025, ExpressVPN delivered a huge update to its Linux app, which, most strikingly, finally replaced the command line interface with a full Graphical User Interface (GUI). Although the new Linux app is still in beta testing, it's a huge step up that brings the Linux experience in line with ExpressVPN's other offerings visually and allows Linux users to navigate through the VPN's tools and servers with more ease.

Considering that Proton VPN and Private Internet Access already have fully-fledged Linux GUIs, however, it's fair to say that ExpressVPN is behind the trend here.

We're also glad to see that the new Linux upgrade includes core VPN features, including a kill switch and split tunneling functionality.

On desktop, it’s pretty easy to get started. There’s a small quirk of the install process where you’ll have to enter login credentials you get from the ExpressVPN dashboard instead of your email, but once you’ve found and entered them everything else is business as usual. One-click connect from the home screen enables your VPN, and that’s it.

Switching over to its mobile apps, the interface is just as intuitive and uncluttered, perfect if you need to dive into the app quickly while you’re on the move. The mobile apps also include a “shortcuts” feature that allows you to create quick access to specific apps after connecting to the VPN, further streamlining your use.

ExpressVPN is also available on both its in-house AirCove router and certain Netgear, Linksys, and Asus routers. You will have to flash your router firmware to upgrade to Aircove, which isn’t a difficult task but could potentially brick your router if it goes wrong. I was pleasantly surprised at how much control AirCove gives you over your ExpressVPN connection. The real standout here is Device Groups, which lets you manage completely different VPN settings for groups of devices connected to your router.

Apps score: 8/10

Ease of use

It feels like ExpressVPN’s apps have been built to be particularly user-friendly. The app UI itself is pretty self-explanatory: Click connect to get the nearest server, or choose the location dropdown for more choices. It’s a perfect VPN if you’ve never used one before, whereas some providers like Proton VPN can overwhelm you with options. Because of this, Express finds itself at the top of our best VPN for beginners guide.

Of course, for the more advanced VPN user there are also your VPN protocols and split-tunneling hidden behind a separate menu should you need them. Express has even gone a step further in recent months, letting you further customize your cipher between AES256 and ChaCha20, and setting up NAT heartbeats. I'd only recommend toying with these settings if you know what you're doing – otherwise, you'll increase your battery consumption needlessly.

Ease of use score: 10/10

Speed and performance

In our testing, ExpressVPN proved itself to be able to provide an impressively fast service, with low latencies throughout. While it still may not be the fastest VPN overall, the quality of the network meant we rarely saw buffering as a result of the VPN when testing with streaming services, but we'll talk more about this later.

ExpressVPN's Windows-only Lightway Turbo Dual Tunnel is an excellent performer. It came in third in our local connection download speed test at 1479 Mbps, only a short way behind Surfshark (1615 Mbps) and Proton VPN (1521 Mbps).

What really stands out, though, is that Lightway Turbo got close to maintaining those speeds even over long distance connections. Our transatlantic test for ExpressVPN clocked in at 1374 Mbps with Proton VPN at 1242 Mbps and Surfshark much reduced at 355 Mbps.

Of course, it's important to remember that Lightway Turbo is not available on all devices unlike Proton VPN and Surfshark's fastest VPN protocols.

Interestingly, though, ExpressVPN scored very well using OpenVPN – a protocol which all top VPNs and devices support.

We recorded local download speeds of 1038 Mbps and long distance at 808 Mbps. Compare that to Surfshark (978 Mbps / 430 Mbps) and Proton VPN (240 Mbps / 173 Mbps). Only NordVPN (974 Mbps / 857 Mbps) gets close to that kind of speed and consistency.

That's quite the improvement for OpenVPN on ExpressVPN which we last recorded at a paltry 160 Mbps.

The bottom line here is that ExpressVPN has come on leaps and bounds for speed. It shouldn't hold you back for performance, whatever you're trying to use it for.

Speed and performance score: 8/10

Unblocking sites and content

ExpressVPN has set consistently high expectations in unblocking geo-restricted content and it continues to perform here, albeit with a few inconveniences. We test all our VPNs by attempting to access some of the biggest streaming sites, such as Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, iPlayer, 10Play, and a whole bunch more. This includes regional variants so we end up checking Netflix in the UK, Canada, Japan, and Australia as well as the US. ExpressVPN allowed me to stream in each case, but for both the Japanese and Australian variants I had to swap servers to get access.

We also check some more regional sites, such as BBC iPlayer, ITV, Channel 4, 9Now, and 10 Play. Most sites performed fine the first time, but once again I had to shop around to be able to access 10 Play. On the plus side, all of ExpressVPN’s servers are optimized for streaming, so as soon as you find one that works you’ll be in for the best experience possible. If you're ever stuck, just ask ExpressVPN's customer support, they're always quick to give you a server that's sure to work.

Because of this, it's a great VPN for unblocking your favorite content, but it's not quite at the top of our list for the best streaming VPN.

Although the MediaStreamer DNS service ExpressVPN offers isn’t a VPN and doesn’t offer the same privacy benefits, it’s a great way to access content from devices you can’t install a VPN on, such as older smart TVs.

They’re all enabled for P2P too, making ExpressVPN an okay choice for torrenting. The only issue is that ExpressVPN’s servers don’t allow for port forwarding, making it so you won’t be able to accept incoming requests in a P2P service. Essentially, you’ll be getting slower torrenting speeds on ExpressVPN because you can’t connect to some peers in the swarm.

Content, streaming, and torrenting score: 9/10

Privacy and security

ExpressVPN is one of the most well-tested VPNs out there. Even paranoid privacy purists like myself will be impressed by Express’ extensive audit history, which includes several separate audits of its no-logs policy and overall security. Most recently, in May 2024, the results of ExpressVPN’s 18th audit reaffirmed that its TrustedServer technology ensures no data is retained, as all servers run on volatile RAM, meaning every reboot wipes any stored information.

While you’ve got access to both OpenVPN and IKEv2, ExpressVPN also uses its proprietary Lightway protocol, which is built from the ground up as a mobile-first solution with speeds far beyond what OpenVPN can provide. It’s open-source and rigorously audited, so you won’t have to compromise on security to use it. Personally, we think it's a super-safe and speedy replacement for OpenVPN nowadays, and ExpressVPN is going above and beyond to make it the protocol of the future – partnering with the amazing WolfSSL to give it maximum security.

We're also glad to see that ExpressVPN has finally embraced the WireGuard protocol. In fact, the provider has taken an extra step by combining the protocol with the next-generation encryption algorithm, ML-KEM, making it quantum-secure. So, although ExpressVPN has no plans to ditch Lightway, it's great to see the provider giving users more choices and standing behind its implementation of post-quantum protection.

ExpressVPN uses AES-256 encryption, alongside a hybrid 4096-bit RSA and quantum secure 1000-dimension ML-KEM key exchange and Perfect Forward Secrecy. Even if your data was captured by a third party, ExpressVPN uses encryption so strong that it’d take thousands of years to decode with today’s computing power. Perfect Forward Secrecy guarantees that your encryption keys are rotated regularly, so even if a key is compromised, it won’t affect past or future sessions.

The built-in kill switch is a key security feature, immediately severing your internet connection if the VPN drops to prevent your real IP address from being exposed. ExpressVPN also offers DNS leak protection, ensuring your DNS queries are routed securely through their servers, further protecting your browsing data. Express' team was the first to identify and categorize a type 2 DNS leak, and now protects against needless DNS requests that won't resolve. Just in case anyone's keeping track.

Perhaps my favorite security feature is Shuffle IP, which allocates a random IP address for every site you visit, meaning you don't have a correlation between your online activity, so it's even harder to track your online activities, where a poorly-configured rotating IP would create a pattern of waves, making you stand more. It's a little detail, but one that's indicative of the sheer attention to detail that goes on behind the scenes.

With all that said, I would like to see ExpressVPN improve its malware and phishing protection. This is where it falls behind competitors like Surfshark and NordVPN. To test out ExpressVPN’s anti-phishing protection, we tried to open 294 brand-new malicious URLs from anti-phishing experts OpenPhish.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work at all for us. We’re currently investigating why our block rate is so low alongside ExpressVPN, but for now, I have to say that ExpressVPN completely failed to block any phishing or malware sites. It’s a pity, especially considering its ad-blocking score sits at the highest of any of our providers at a 90% success rate.

Still, if you want a VPN that is as secure as can be, ExpressVPN is the one I'd stake my life on. The level of ingenuity that goes into securing the VPN itself is unmatched anywhere else in the industry. However, until it improves its supporting antivirus features, you may want one of the best antivirus apps to help boost your protection.

Security score: 10/10

Track record

ExpressVPN has had its fair share of controversies, but none of them are particularly pressing to discuss at the moment. The biggest issue is that ExpressVPN was purchased in 2019 by a VPN brand, Kape Technologies, which has a bit of a reputation problem. Kape previously traded under the name "Crossrider", and gained notoriety for selling potentially unwanted apps that many deemed malware. It's not fair to hold this against Express, especially since Kape has kept a fairly clean record since its rebrand.

Thankfully, ExpressVPN has always been very diligent in scheduling multiple third-party audits to demonstrate and prove its no-logs policy is legitimate. At last count, it's commissioned 18 separate audits of its apps, architecture, and privacy policy. The most recent of these is a privacy audit from KPMG, showing that TrustedServer does what it says on the tin.

Audits are a regular part of ExpressVPN's operations and a testament to its commitment to protecting users. A thoroughly audited no-logs privacy policy is a fantastic indicator of a VPN you can trust.

On June 13, 2025, ExpressVPN was hit with a class action lawsuit accusing the provider of allegedly "illegal" auto-renewal fees. The crux of the case boils down to transparency and clarity - the lawsuit claims that ExpressVPN failed to gather "affirmative consent" from consumers before enrolling them in auto-renewal payment systems. It's too early to tell how the suit will resolve (and it's the same for NordVPN's class action issue), it could spark a wider discussion about auto-renewing plans and, ultimately, a switch to something more granular.

Track record score: 9/10

Customer support

ExpressVPN charges a premium but, we're glad to say, it's justified when it comes to the customer service experience. 24/7 live chat is always available if you run into any roadblocks or have a burning question, and we received responses within ten minutes or so.

When we pivoted to email and reached out to ExpressVPN, the replies landed in our inbox after 12 hours, though you might get a quicker response.

All in all, we were impressed by the friendly, knowledgeable ExpressVPN staff, and their willingness to troubleshoot some of our more technical queries. At no point did we feel brushed off or simply redirected to a bare-bones FAQ page. Ideally, in the future, ExpressVPN will invest in a direct phone line, too, but the live chat is responsive enough to act as a decent replacement.

If you prefer to do your own problem-solving, you'll be glad to learn that ExpressVPN's library of support content is excellent. It boasts an extensive library of guides and tutorials covering everything from installation to protocol and port selection. If we had to pick out a flaw, we'd like to see more content focused on Aircove, but it's not a deal breaker.

Customer support score: 9/10

ExpressVPN cost and pricing plans

ExpressVPN used to have some of the steepest prices in the industry but things look a lot more reasonable since it restructured its prices with a tiered plan system in September 2025.

Now, a single-month subscription can be as low as a more competitive $3.49 per month on the ExpressVPN Basic plan. Basic includes the VPN and not much else.

Advanced is the next plan up. That's the VPN plus password manager ExpressVPN Keys, and the Advanced Protection package which includes advert, tracker and malicious site blocking for $4.49 per month.

Top of the tree is ExpressVPN Pro which adds monthly credit reports, dedicated IP, and data removal services for $7.49 a month.

The recent change to the price tiering system put ExpressVPN much more on a par with NordVPN, although it's still a few cents more. You'll have to try the likes Surfshark, PrivadoVPN or PIA for cheap VPN.

As with any VPN service, you'll save money by signing up for a longer period and paying up-front, but ExpressVPN is still one of the most expensive of our top five.

There isn’t a free plan for ExpressVPN, but a 30-day money-back guarantee means you'll never risk a penny – so long as you refund your subscription within the period.

Pricing score: 7/10

Should you use ExpressVPN?

If you need a VPN that doesn't pull punches when it comes to safeguarding your online security, or if you need a service that's nice and simple to set up and use, you won't find better than ExpressVPN. The price may deter some potential users, but the overall attention to detail and quality of features more than make up for it.

Overall score: 86/100

ExpressVPN alternatives

Wondering if ExpressVPN is the right choice? Here are our three top alternatives to consider:

ExpressVPN FAQs

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.