Whether you're after better privacy for everything you do on the internet or you have a specific need such as watching HBO Max in the UK or - now that Brexit has changed things - watching Sky from somewhere in the EU, you'll be after a VPN.
The choice is huge and, frankly, confusing. But we'll explain what to look for and recommend the services that you should put on your shortlist.
The great thing about the VPN services here (and many that aren't here because they didn't quite make the grade) is that one account can be used on several devices at the same time. This makes the low monthly prices even better value as the whole family can use the service: one person could be streaming something from HBO Max while another is browsing the web and yet another person could be using it for security on public Wi-Fi.
Even if you're already familiar with the benefits of a VPN, you may not know which service is currently the best. And that's why you're here of course.
Juggling priorities is one of the trickiest aspects of picking a service: cost per month, connection speed, number and location of servers, number of apps on offer, quality of tech support and other important factors such as security. We can't know your exact requirements, but the summaries below should help you quickly identify which is best for you.
What's The Best VPN?
You probably don't have time to pore over the finer details about each and every VPN service and just want to know which are the best value. So here are four that should be on your shortlist for the reasons listed below.
- Best overall: NordVPN
- Best value: Surfshark
- Best for power users: Private Internet Access
- Best for streaming video: CyberGhost
If you want more recommendations, scroll down and you'll also find more detailed buying advice if you do care about the finer points.
1. NordVPN
- From $3.71 per month
NordVPN is easy to use and has a handy SmartPlay feature that will help you connect to the server best suited to your needs.
- 5000+ servers across 59 countries
- Unblocks Netflix & other streaming services
- WireGuard support
- 6 simultaneous connections
- Mobile apps & browser extensions
Based in Panama and with an audited no-logs policy, Nord is a good choice for many reasons. Thanks to WireGuard, it's one of the fastest VPNs around and offers a good range of features including split tunnelling, which was a notable omission until fairly recently.
The two-year subscription is the best value and represents 68% off the usual monthly price. There's a money-back guarantee in case you're not totally happy too. UK readers should note that NordVPN now charges VAT which is why the prices we list are higher than you'll initially see on the website: tax is added when you're at the checkout.
See all prices and plans NordVPN.com.
Read our full NordVPN review
2. Surfshark
- From $2.49 per month
Surfshark costs less than most of its competitors, despite allowing an unlimited number of devices to connect to the service at once. It is constantly improving its offering, too, with new servers, locations and features.
- 1700 servers across 63 countries
- Unblocks Netflix & other streaming services
- Kill switch
- Unlimited simultaneous connections
- Two-factor authentication
- GPS spoofing (Android)
Some locations are virtual, but this won't matter to most people, as it does all the things you'd want including unblocking popular streaming services. MultiHop servers are handy when you want greater security and privacy, and for the price, it's hard to beat.
It's very competitively priced, and you can sign up to Surfshark for just £2.15/$2.49 per month.
Read our full Surfshark review
3. Private Internet Access
- From $3.66 per month
Private Internet Access is a great VPN service with a large number of servers and lots of advanced features.
- Over 25,000 servers across 77 countries
- Unblocks Netflix, Disney+ & BBC iPlayer
- Kill switch
- 10 simultaneous connections
- WireGuard
It's just as well suited to P2P downloads as it is to unblocking Netflix. It also has a built-in ad blocker and malware blocker.
If there are niggles, it's the lack of an app for Amazon Fire TV, and support for IPv6 which some rivals offer.
With this special deal a two-year subscription costs £2.37/$3.66 per month.
Even though it's based in the US, it logs nothing so wouldn't have any data about you to hand over even if it ordered by a court to do so.
Read our full Private Internet Access review
4. VyprVPN
- From $1.66 per month
VyprVPN owns and operates its entire network of over 700 servers and has been audited to prove that it sticks by its no-logs policy. If privacy is your top priority, it’s therefore a good one to add to your shortlist. Just note that you can’t pay truly anonymously for the service.
- More than 700 servers across 70+ countries
- Unblocks Netflix & other streaming services
- Kill switch
- WireGuard & Chameleon protocols
- 5 simultaneous connections
Features vary by device, as they do with all VPNs, but the good news is that VyprVPN supports WireGuard now. Overall, this is a speedy and reliable service.
You can get a special deal with 75% (or more!) off the usual monthly price if you use this link to VyprVPN's website.
Read our full VyprVPN review
5. CyberGhost
- From $2.75 per month
CyberGhost is an easy-to-use VPN which is great for unblocking streaming services and it has a huge selection of servers.
- 6,500+ servers across 90+ countries
- Unblocks 35+ streaming services
- Kill switch (Windows)
- 7 simultaneous connections
The NoSpy servers are owned and operated by the company at its Romanian HQ and provide a more secure option than all the other rented servers.
If you simply need a way to unblock streaming services and websites, CyberGhost is one of the better-value options, and has handy Amazon Fire TV and Android TV apps.
Sign up for the three-year plan and pay as little as £2.16/$2.75 per month.
Read our full CyberGhost review
6. ExpressVPN
- From $6.67 per month
Easy to use and packed with features, ExpressVPN is the one to choose if you're looking for a top-notch, secure VPN service that will work on all your devices.
- 3000+ servers across 94 countries
- Unblocks Netflix & other streaming services
- Kill switch
- 5 simultaneous connections
- Mobile & Amazon Fire TV apps, plus browser extensions available
As well as offering excellent security and privacy, it also unblocks your favourite streaming services (and other websites) and there's friendly tech support available round the clock.
It isn't cheap, though, costing over twice what many rivals charge per month.
Read our full ExpressVPN review
7. PureVPN
- From $2.88 per month
PureVPN is a good choice if you're after a service with servers in as many locations and countries as possible, and don't mind that some of those are virtual servers. It means they're not actually in the countries they claim to be, but they work as if they are, so it's not a huge issue and could even be a benefit if the virtual server is close to you as it means faster connection speeds.
PureVPN is also reasonably priced and is situated outside of the '14 eyes'.
- 6,500+ severs across 140+ countries
- Unblocks Netflix & other streaming services
- Kill switch
- 5 simultaneous connections
See all plans and prices on PureVPN's website.
Read our full PureVPN review
8. Ivacy - Cheapest over 5 years
- From $1.16 per month
Ivacy may not have as many servers as NordVPN or ExpressVPN, but it does tick a lot of boxes. It allows five devices to use its service from a single account, and lets you download Torrent files.
Plus, at the time of writing, it was offering 2TB of encrypted cloud storage with its two-year plan that costs $2.45 per month (around £1.80).
- Based in Singapore
- 1000+ servers
- 5 simultaneous connections
- Torrenting allowed
- Apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV
- Browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox
It offers a good range of apps and some of these have a decent set of features including a kill switch. There are a few niggles such as no automatic connection when your phone or laptop connects to an untrusted Wi-Fi network, nor any way to save favourite servers - or see how busy a particular server is.
If you want the lowest monthly price around, this five-year deal is excellent value at just 96p ($1.33) per month. (You have to use a desktop browser, visit the page, then move your mouse cursor off the page to see the 'secret' deal.)
Read our full Ivacy review
9. Hide.me
- From free (Premium subscription from $5.41 per month)
Hide.me lets you try its service before you buy with a completely free version, but while it now unblocks Netflix and other streaming services, it is still more expensive than certain rivals even with its best offers that bring it down to £4.99 / $5.41 per month.
It has recently rolled out support for WireGuard, and doubled the number of simultaneous devices to 10.
- Free version
- 1700+ servers in 45 countries
- 30-day money back guarantee
- Mobile apps & browser extensions
- 24/7 live chat
- 10 simultaneous connections
Read our full hide.me VPN review
10. Hidden24
- $5.99 per month
Hidden24 is different to the other services here, using a device's own VPN capability, so doesn't require an app. That means it will work on Android, Mac, iPhone or Linux as well as Windows.
Although there are only seven location to choose between, Hidden24 owns and operates its entire network, and is designed from the ground up to be as secure as it's possible to be. That's why it's a solid choice if security and privacy are your top priorities (and why it's ideal for journalists, who can use the service for free).
It also unblocks Netflix, iPlayer and other streaming services, which is a bonus, but only in the seven countries available.
- Servers in UK, US, Germany, Italy, France, Spain & Sweden
- Unblocks Netflix & BBC iPlayer
- One connection at a time unless you use it on a router
- No apps to install
You can only connect one device at a time to the service, which could be a dealbreaker for some, but you can get an exclusive deal on a two-year plan for £3.29 per month.
Find out more about the plans available at Hidden24.co.uk.
Read our full Hidden24 review
If you're interested in knowing why we picked the services we did, read on.
What To Look For In A VPN Service
Because VPN services vary in price quite dramatically, it can be tempting to just go for the cheapest. That's not necessarily a bad idea, but it is still important to choose one you trust and that will offer the features you require. The old adage "you get what you pay for" doesn't really apply to VPN services.
The first major decision is what you want to use a VPN for. If you just want to watch videos from HBO Max, Disney+ or another service that's not available in your country, then you don't have to worry too much about any other details: just go for a well-priced service that offers unblocking for the services you need.
Most offer a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can try them out and make sure they let you access the services you need.
If you're more concerned about privacy and security, you'll want to go for a VPN that doesn't log any data and ideally owns and manages its servers, rather than renting servers from a datacentre. Put simply, if you want to minimise the risk of your VPN service being hacked, opt for one which owns and manages its hardware. And if your life depends upon your VPN connection, don't use a consumer service at all.
Don't be persuaded by a bigger choice of countries: it doesn't mean it's better. What you should look for are servers in the countries you either need to appear to be in or are physically present in, as a local VPN server will always give you the fastest speeds from any given service.
It's highly likely you'll only use handful of the servers available, and you certainly won't want to connect to a server the other side of the world if it reduces your internet connection speed to a crawl.
Testing a VPN service's speed is tricky as it varies all the time. The best way to find out if a service is quick or not is to read our reviews.
Just about all VPNs support Windows, Android, iOS and macOS, but some offer apps for a wider selection of devices including Amazon Fire TV Stick, Linux and web browser extensions for Google Chrome, Firefox and others.
You don't actually need an app if your device supports a VPN connection, so you can enter your username, password and other details into your NAS, router or other device. However, that's a hassle when you want to change to a different server as you need to set up a connection manually for each one. Plus, it means you miss out on advanced features only available in the apps, including a kill switch if the operating system doesn't provide one.
Public / Free Wi-Fi
You should use a VPN is whenever you're connected to an open public Wi-Fi network in a café, hotel, airport or on public transport. When a Wi-Fi network doesn't require a password to connect (and entering your email or other details in a web browser doesn't count here) it means the connection from your phone to the network is unencrypted.
And that means it can be very easy for anyone to spy on your activity. But the simple act of enabling your VPN means the connection is encrypted, and no-one can read your messages, snipe your credit card details or anything else.
Also, look out for any restrictions on usage – some ban P2P (file sharing) while others are fine with it.
In addition to those listed we've reviewed other VPNs that didn't make the cut including: AtlasVPN, IP Vanish, HMA, Bullguard VPN, Bitdefender Premium VPN, Goose VPN, Hotspot Shield Premium.
What Is The '14 Eyes' Collective?
If you're most concerned about privacy, it's important to know where your VPN is based. In recent years some countries have got together to exchange information freely, nominally in a bid to enhance everyone's security. However, many groups are critical of this behaviour, believing that mass surveillance impinges on our freedoms.
The main group of countries that can share information freely is called the Five Eyes. They come from the UKUSA agreement that, although began back in 1941, was only made public knowledge in 2005. The agreement is between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, hence the name Five Eyes. Those countries have agreed to collect, analyse and share information between each other, and much of this intelligence is believed to be related to internet activity these days.
The Five Eyes has grown to include a total of 14 countries, which is why you'll hear a lot about '14-eyes' when reading about VPNs. Third party countries were added over time, and now additionally include Denmark, France, Holland, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Sweden and Spain.
If your VPN provider is based within a country that is part of the 14 Eyes, it can be asked to share data of its customers and will legally have to comply. If your provider promises that it doesn't log any information, you're probably safe within the 14 Eyes, but it is more of a risk if privacy is your main concern and you might want to consider looking for a VPN provider that is based elsewhere.
What Information Does A VPN Keep?
VPN providers generally claim to not log anything. These days it's rare for them to log connection time stamps, IP addresses and bandwidth used: they usually only log anonymous information 'necessary to maintain and improve the service'.
We check carefully using information available to us exactly what each service logs, and include this in each review.
If you're looking for complete anonymity, choose a provider that accepts payment in the form of gift cards or Bitcoin, which makes it near-impossible to trace any activity back to an individual. Just note that a VPN does not make you anonymous online.
VPN Bans In China And Russia
Most VPN services claim to work in China and Russia. The truth is that it's a cat-and-mouse game where the governments work out how to block connections if they detect you're using a VPN and they're very good at doing so.
It means that you can't know for sure if a certain service will let you access Google and other sites on a particular day, and that's one reason why it pays to subscribe to a service with 24/7 live chat support: they'll be able to help you pick the right server and settings to bypass the blocks at that time.
The same goes for unblocking streaming services: they don't like VPNs and crack down on them as much as they can. And, again, having live chat support is useful when you run into problems. At the moment, many VPNs are unable to unblock BBC iPlayer - even big names such as ExpressVPN. So if this is important to you, check with the company first to see what the current situation is. Usually there is a solution: ExpressVPN offers a separate Media Streamer service which allows you to watch iPlayer content abroad.
We have lots more information and articles about VPNs here at Tech Advisor, all of which you can find over in our VPN hub.
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