10 Of The Best VPN Services Available In 2025

There's never been a better time to get yourself a paid VPN. Dozens of great providers offer their service for a couple of dollars a month with all the bells and whistles included. VPNs aren't immune to the monopolization happening in the rest of the tech industry, but they are competitive enough that you're never forced to stick with one over another. Ironically, it's this paradox of choice — having so many choices that you might end up making no choice — that makes selecting a VPN more difficult than it should be. Which one should you go with?

Everyone's use case is different; some use a VPN daily to unblock sites abroad, while some just need a VPN for their phone to watch Netflix. Instead of grading VPNs from "best" to "worst," I'm going to focus instead on VPNs that cater well to their niche. I've tried every single one on this list, and the following are my personal opinions on 10 excellent VPNs that might suit you.

Mullvad is my personal favorite on this list. For starters, it gathers no personal information on its customers instead using passwordless account numbers and accepting crypto or mailed cash as payment options. In addition to a comprehensive no-logs policy, their code is open source, their headquarters in Sweden grants them strong privacy protections, and their most recent 2024 independent security audit crowned them with a "high-security level."

Mullvad has 694 servers in total. Though seemingly small compared to big hoss VPNs with thousands of servers, I've always had fast speeds, likely owning to the fact Mullvad has a smaller user base. Most features you would expect to find in other VPNs — like split tunneling and multihop — are here. They support the fastest modern standards, like WireGuard, plus DNS content blockers to keep ads from slowing down your connection.

Mullvad doesn't do "deep sales," keeping itself priced at €5 ($5.42) a month. Nor do they pay for reviews or affiliates, a rarity in the VPN space; it's encouraging that they rely instead on honest reviews from users who stumbled upon them. Mullvad seems committed to quality above all else. Their $5 asking price is certainly justified, in my view, since they own a good chunk of their servers, develop privacy-improving VPN technology, and offer a browser and search engine, too.

Cryptostorm dubs itself the "VPN service provider for the truly paranoid," and I quite agree with that assessment. Cryptostorm has open source code, bare metal servers with Linux-hardened kernels, multihop support, quantum-resistant encryption (for resisting decryption by future quantum computing), DNS encryption, and anti-leak protection, and the list goes on. Half of their payment options don't require an email. Per their privacy policy, they allege that it's impossible to identify a customer from the necessary logs they collect, although this assumes you use an anonymous payment option.

Cryptostorm operates with a so-called "decentralized organization," having no central office and keeping their operational "entities" private. In theory, if one entity went down, the others could keep chugging along. They've gone to absurd lengths to make sure that none of their servers across the globe can be compromised by someone with physical access.

Surprisingly, CryptoStorm only costs $52 a year for four devices, with options to pay per week or per month. Windows is the only platform with a dedicated Cryptostorm app, but you can access the service from any device you like with OpenVPN and WireGuard. They also get a thumbs up in my book for having very friendly and responsive customer service.

ProtonMail is an easy recommendation as a free, private email provider (and Proton Mail has the best alternatives if you're not a fan) but these days, it's better to think of Proton as an entire privacy-centric ecosystem. Proton includes cloud storage, a password manager, a calendar, a wallet, and, you guessed it, VPN. The VPN had a rocky start — high pricing, limited features, few servers — but it's matured into a top contender.

Proton VPNs ticks all the right boxes. Its apps are open source and it's meticulous about how it runs its no-logs servers. Its features include gigabit speeds with a "VPN Accelerator," protections for network-based attacks, and a "Stealth" feature for subverting VPN-blocking methods. What makes it especially unique is its Swiss HQ, which ensures it doesn't belong to Western surveillance agreements.

Just who is Proton for? In my view, those who already use — or plan to use — the other services in the Proton ecosystem. Proton Unlimited gives you access to the premium version of Mail, Calendar, Drive, Pass, and Wallet (in addition to the VPN) for only $7.99 per month, billed bi-annually. That's a wicked deal, even if you only use two or three of the services. My only misgiving about Proton is that it complies with thousands of legal orders for user information each year. To be clear, most VPN companies do, and I appreciate Proton's transparency. I suspect most legal orders are well-intentioned. Still, I'm left wondering how vulnerable the average person's data is.

NordVPN owes a good chunk of its fame to appearing in thousands of YouTube channel sponsorships. That may put a bad taste in the mouth of some, but overall, NordVPN is a bang-up service. It has a commendable 7,413 servers in 118 countries, with servers designed specifically for torrenting and bypassing censorship. Rather than running WireGuard servers, NordVPN has a proprietary NordLynx protocol. For years, it's had an uncompromising no-logs policy.

In my time using it, NordVPN always seemed to be rolling out new features. There's Threat Protection Pro to block ads and malware, a dark web monitor to notify you if your accounts have been compromised, and a "Meshnet," which, according to NordVPN, lets you create your own private encrypted network across the globe. Those who do a lot of streaming will love the SmartPlay feature, which automatically sets up the VPN for streaming. NordVPN has three pricing tiers: Basic (VPN only), Plus (Threat Protection Pro and other premium features), and Complete (an extra terabyte of cloud storage and a password manager). They are priced at $3.39, $4.39, and $5.39, although pricing drops dramatically when on sale.

Note that NordVPN did have a data center security breach in Finland in 2019. Data breaches happen to everyone these days, but it was disappointing how NordVPN dissembled; they waited a long time to announce the breach and shifted the blame to others. However, they did perform extensive audits of the entire server network and changed to RAM-based servers so your logs cannot be stored permanently.

Full disclosure: Surfshark and NordVPN are owned by the same parent company. Using Surfshark, I immediately noticed similarities to the latter. I think of it like Nord's budget version, without skimping on features. The service has over 3,200 RAM-only servers in 100 countries that have received multiple audits. Surfshark users get things like Camouflage Mode and NoBorders (obfuscated servers in censored countries that the service connects to automatically), split tunneling, and the proprietary CleanWeb ad blocker. Alternative ID redirects emails and calls to your real accounts, and there are tons of little things like rotating IP addresses, GPS override, and support for unlimited connections. On the privacy front, it has a strict no-logs policy, and its warrant canary alleges that it's never complied with any legal requests.

Surfshark offers three tiers: Surfshark Starter, Surfshark One, and Surfshark One+ for $2.19, $2.69, and $4.29 a month respectively when billed biannually. Starter is VPN and Alternative-only, while One+ throws in Incogni data removal on top off all the major features. Though the budget price belies the feature set, I'm concerned that having so many features for such a low price leads to cutting corners. That, and Surfshark's YouTube sponsorships are just as proliferate. My experience using the service was relatively painless. I did notice a few more captchas than I would have liked, but I would be content with Surfshark — and so would my wallet.

ExpressVPN calls itself "the VPN that just works," and I agree. This is the VPN I would recommend to a tech Luddite who just wants to connect by clicking the big button. On the technical side of things, Express is very respectable. It runs RAM-only servers in 105 countries, its no-logs policy has been extensively audited to prove Express doesn't keep personally identifiable user information, and there is at least one instance where they shut down servers rather than comply with authorities. They're also the only VPN I know of with a proprietary alternative to WireGuard called Lightway. I also love just how many platforms it supports; finding a VPN with an app for Apple TV and game consoles like PlayStation and Xbox is a rarity.

ExpressVPN recently dropped its once steep price to a respectable $4.99 a month, billed biannually. The other VPNs I've mentioned in this list tend to be more feature-rich than ExpressVPN, but I give an extra point or two here for the high standards of performance and privacy. There is, unfortunately, one wrinkle that needs mentioning: ExpressVPN is owned by Kape Technologies, a company that used to distribute malware. That doesn't mean it can't be a reliable, trustworthy service, but new subscribers deserve to know.

Private Internet Access is the cheapest VPN that I would recommend, cheaper even than budget providers like Surfshark; if you get their three-year plan, it costs you only $2.03 a month. Like Surfshark, don't let that price make you think you'll be left wanting. The fully open-source VPN supports everything you need, like split tunneling, ad blocking, and WireGuard. There's an audited no-logs policy, support for anonymous payments, dedicated IP addresses, and extra little benefits, like an email breach scanner. Most impressive for me is PIA's jaw-dropping 35,000 servers in 91 countries.

I really only have two major concerns with PIA. Number one, they are also owned by Kape Technologies, making them a sister company to ExpressVPN (and others, like CyberGhost) under the umbrella of a company that once distributed malware. Again, this isn't to suggest that PIA can't be a good service, but it's worth knowing.

Second, my user experience with PIA could have been better. The apps are buggy and confusing to understand. I also had some very strange account issues. One time, after my account had been secured with two-factor authentication, I was able to log in to a different device with only the username and password. However, the speeds were good. I recommend this VPN for people on a budget who just need a VPN.

IVPN is one of the lesser known VPNs on this list, and I've chosen them in large part due to their honesty. The VPNs I've mentioned so far might have good no-logs policies and go to extra lengths to protect user privacy, but they tend to make fantastical claims about what a VPN can really do. Scroll down just a bit on the IVPN homepage and they very clearly state that a VPN is useless at making you anonymous, preventing companies from collecting data on you, and protecting you against hackers. They're very realistic about what a VPN actually does: concealing browsing activity from your ISP, getting around region blocks, and bypassing censorship.

That aside, IVPN is still a rock-solid service. Their no-logs policy is as good as it gets, their apps are open-source, and they run yearly independent security audits. Unlike most VPN providers, they run all of their own servers instead of leasing the majority through third parties. Most everything you could want is here: WireGuard protocols, the AntiTracker ad-blocker, multi-hop options, and obfuscated servers.

My concerns about IVPN are only minor. One, they are on the expensive side; their two-year plan costs $100, and you have to go for three years to get the cheapest rate for a total of $140. Two, the apps have somewhat low reviews in certain stores; while the iOS app sits at an OK 4.1 stars, the Android app has a concerningly low 3.3. However, my experience with IVPN has been great.

Lately, a lot of VPN companies have been branching out to offer more and more comprehensive services tacked on to their regular VPN. For example, Surfshark now partners with an eSIM service, and ExpressVPN partners with an ID Theft Insurance provider. If your goal is to get as much bang for your buck as possible while paying as little as possible, IPVanish might be for you. Its two-year $3.29 plan (billed monthly) includes the VPN with unlimited device connections, plus a browser and one terabyte of cloud storage.

Feature-wise, it's still a great VPN. IPVanish supports an ad-blocking service, split tunneling, and double hop. It has about 2,400 servers in 140 locations. The no-logs policy, like others, has been audited independently. I'm also impressed with how many different devices it runs on; IPVanish has even got an app for the discontinued Nvidia Shield devices. Users can connect to as many devices as they want and still get unlimited bandwidth. All in all, IPVanish is a solid VPN for the price you pay. My experience with it has been overall positive.

Most of the VPNs on this list offer obfuscated servers, or at the very least, a "stealth" mode that hides the fact you're connected to a VPN. However, in almost every case this is tacked on to a long list of features rather than being a primary focus. VyprVPN puts a lot of marketing thrust behind its proprietary Chameleon Protocol, a dedicated anti-censorship feature. In theory, the Chameleon Protocol is resistant to deep packet inspection and can get around the most restrictive networks, be that controlling government regimes or networks that tightly control what users can do. VyprVPN doesn't beat around the bush about which countries it's talking about; it claims that Chameleon works in China, Russia, India, Turkey, Iran, and the Middle East.

I've never been in China (or a country that blocks VPN usage, for that matter) but VyprVPN does go above and beyond the competition in trying to keep the internet free for people in the above countries. This may also be the perfect VPN if you, say, have a restrictive network at your workplace, university campus, or any other place you frequent. Aside from that, VyprVPN offers a solid VPN service with over 700 servers at $3 a month, billed biannually.

With all the fervor around VPNs in the past 10 years, a lot of people are probably asking why they ought to pay for a VPN with so many free options. It's a similar situation with social media: if you're not paying for the service, then you're likely paying with your compromised privacy. This isn't just a hunch, by the way. Free VPNs have been demonstrated to share your data in the majority of cases.

I highly recommend against using a free VPN for any reason, but if you do use one, avoid doing anything private. Better yet, use a free VPN that you can trust, like ProtonVPN. Proton offers a free VPN for one device with only a handful of servers as a marketing tool to get you to subscribe. It comes with all the privacy guarantees that paying customers get and doesn't limit your speeds or data usage.

Marketing for VPNs would have you believe that they can make you anonymous online, protect you from hackers, and conceal your activities from the government. As IVPN makes clear, none of this is true. In my article "Can a VPN really keep you anonymous?" I go into great depth as to why anonymity is effectively impossible when using a VPN. A VPN can't protect you from hackers, nor can it protect you from data collection and profiling — even when using a private browsing tab. No-logs policies are also hard to conclusively verify.

In my view, VPNs really only succeed in four specific situations: concealing your browsing activity from your internet service provider, letting you bypass region blocks and censorship, keeping you protected on public Wi-Fi, and protecting you when torrenting. Otherwise, a VPN is just going to slow down your connection and make reCAPTCHA not work in your browser, among other connection issues. The vast majority of your internet traffic is already protected with encrypted HTTPS anyway.

Only use a VPN as needed. For the rest of the time, I recommend using something like iCloud's Private Relay service, or changing your DNS server to a private one instead of the default. Lastly, I'd recommend against sticking with one VPN provider after the initial, cheap two or three year discount. Once your subscription expires, switch to another; from personal experience, they always raise the price for your renewal, and this gives you an excuse to try something new.