Best VPN Service 2024: VPNs Tested by Our Experts

The best VPNs for private streaming, gaming, torrenting and private browsing, as rated by our expert staff.

What is a VPN?

AVPN, or virtual private network, is an online service that provides a mobile app, desktop app, browser extension or other software that encrypts your internet traffic to help boost your privacy online. A VPN also prevents your internet service provider (ISP) from tracking which websites or apps you’re using. Accordingly, VPNs may circumvent throttling restrictions, thereby boosting an internet connection being slowed down by your ISP. Likewise, VPNs allow you to bypass regional content blocks in some countries to access critical news and educational information, while also opening up your streaming entertainment option. For instance, you can use different VPN servers to watch foreign Netflix or Disney Plus libraries. The best VPN delivers a strong level of privacy protection without compromising on performance. We strongly recommend using a good VPN for everyday use as well as for work, particularly if your job involves handling sensitive information.

At CNET, we rigorously test each virtual private network across major platforms to find the ones that provide exceptional privacy, reliability, speed and value. Our hands-on assessments include hundreds of internet speed tests, comprehensive app usage, poring over privacy policies and streaming from popular services such as Netflix. This list is constantly being updated as we actively test VPNs and look at the latest research, so expect this guide to change throughout the year as we put each VPN through its paces. We’ve recently retestedSurfsharkfrom the ground up, and we’re continuing that process withExpressVPN,NordVPNandPrivate Internet Accessnext.

What is the best VPN in 2024?

ExpressVPNholds CNET Editors’ Choice Award for best overall VPN. It’s a tight race among our top three choices, but ExpressVPN’s service sets the bar when it comes to privacy and usability, making it the best of the best with an 8.9/10 rating. It offers unmatched transparency with a clear, user-focused privacy policy and its Trusted Server technology goes a step beyond traditional RAM-only principles, resulting in maximum peace of mind when it comes to your browsing data. Its Lightway protocol offers consistently fast speeds alongside post-quantum protection, cleanly blending performance and security. Using ExpressVPN’s service is a breeze, reliably unblocking streaming content and offering useful security features with its Advanced Protection suite.

Surfsharkis a close second among our picks and is a great choice for people looking for good features on a budget. Surfshark scored an 8.7/10 rating in our hands-on testing. It offers connection speeds and features that are comparable to ExpressVPN and NordVPN at an annual rate that is considerably cheaper ($60 per year after the promotional period vs. $100 for ExpressVPN and NordVPN). Surfshark also offers support on unlimited devices, which makes it a great option for people with large families or just a lot of connected devices. That said, it doesn’t quite match ExpressVPN’s commitment to privacy, which makes it less suited for users with critical privacy needs.

NordVPNis an excellent VPN provider overflowing with features. NordVPN’s connection speeds were the very fastest we tested, with CNET Labs clocking a best-in-class 11.1% average internet download speed loss. It offers double VPN, as well as Onion Over VPN for extra encryption and Meshnet for secure file sharing, alongside more standard features like split tunneling to let you decide which online activities need VPN protection and which don’t. Most people won’t need all of those features, but they’re a nice inclusion for power users. Overall, NordVPN offers a high-performing service with excellent features for power users, but it trails ExpressVPN on privacy and Surfshark on value.

Each VPN service in the list below has excellent value for a specific use case, and we point out the ideal user for each one. The array of options available means there’s a VPN service suited to your needs, whether your privacy needs arecasual or critical. Also, consider jumping on one ofthese VPN deals, which many of our top picks are offering.

Other VPNs we’ve tested

Not every VPN can be a favorite. These are the ones we reviewed, but they’re not full-throated recommendations for one reason or another, including limited features and concerns over adequately hiding your identity.

Hotspot Shield

Hotspot Shield VPN’s TLS-based Hydra Catapult protocol, US jurisdiction, 128-bit AES encryption support and large percentage of virtual servers might strip away our trust in its ability to provide more privacy protections than its competitors — but those are all key components to its ability to achieve the blazing speeds it delivered during its most recent speed tests.

It’s thesecond-fastest VPN I’ve tested, effortlessly delivers smooth-streaming media and can dance between server connections without missing a beat, no matter how many interruptions you throw at it. A 26% speed loss puts it in second place, falling behindSurfshark— which lost just 16.9% of its speed the last time I tested it — and knockingExpressVPNdown to third place with a 51.8% speed loss at the last measurement. Speed losses on UK connections were under 8%. Gaming, torrenting, browsing, streaming — these speed-dependent services won’t be slowed down for Hotspot Shield users.

We’re not excited about Hotspot’s privacy and security, though. Since the services use a closed-source proprietaryCatapult Hydra protocol, instead of the more transparent open-source OpenVPN protocol, we’d like to see Hotspot give the public morethird-party audits— a necessary step to bring Hotspot up to speed with routinely audited VPNs likeTunnelBear. As recently as April 2021, review site VPNMentor discovered aDNS leakin Hotspot Shield’s plug-in for Google Chrome. Hotspot acknowledged the issue at the time and aimed to improve the product.

We’re also not thrilled about the amount of user data Hotspot collects, and its privacy policy. With its premium product, it gathers and retains much more information about users than most other VPNs. If you’re using the free version of its product, it shares that information — along with even more finite data, including your MAC address and specific phone identifier — with advertising companies.

While its interface is user-friendly and its speeds are thrilling, spending time with Hotspot is going to leave your wallet a little lighter than you might prefer. Its current price is higher than its nearest competitors, its speeds slightly slower and its privacy more questionable. If you’re looking for a VPN purely on the grounds of speed, we still recommend passing on Hotspot until it improves.

TunnelBear

TunnelBear has gotten a lot of hype in the last couple of years. When we looked under its hood and compared it with its VPN competitors, our excitement waned.

TunnelBear’s speeds are reasonable. We lost nearly 63% of internet speed overall when we used it, which is about average for a VPN. TunnelBear’s speeds have steadily improved over the years as measured by other review and testing sites, and the US scores we recorded saw a speed loss of only 54%.

On the plus side, TunnelBear is holding its own in the transparency competition among VPNs by publishing the results of its independent security audits andannual transparency reports. No IP address, DNS or other potentially user-identifying data leaks were detected during our testing, but in the past TunnelBear was observed to have been leaking WebRTC information. TunnelBear’s VPN encryption is standard AES-256 and it supportsPerfect Forward Secrecy.

It’s also a Canadian business owned by US-based McAfee, so if you’re looking for subpoena-proof international online privacy, you’re playing with fire. It holds a paltry 23 server locations from which you can’t manually choose your VPN server or even a city. It doesn’t offer Tor-over-VPN, it offers split tunneling only on Android and it can’t even unblock Netflix.

CyberGhost VPN

In CNET’s previous coverage of virtual private networks, we’ve praised CyberGhost for its roster of competitive features. Our in-depthreview of CyberGhostin 2019 included speed testing, security verification and an analysis of its full suite ofprivacytools. Since then, the VPN company has increased its number of servers and is prepared to roll out new privacy tools, all while remaining one of the cheapest VPNs we’ve reviewed — at$2.03 per month for a two-year plan.

As we’ve bolstered our approach to VPN reviews, CyberGhost has raised some red flags. Itsparent company’s historywarrants skepticism; our previous tests have shown it to expose your VPN use to your ISP; its website and app trackers are more numerous than warranted; and its ad blocker uses an untrustworthy method oftraffic manipulationno VPN should even think about. Its low price previously made it worth considering if you needed to change the appearance of your location online, but not if you wanted best-in-class security.

While CyberGhost’s connection speed and security features appear to be improving, we don’t currently recommend using the VPN service provider if you’re in acountry where VPNs are illegal. We also recommend that anyone in the US review CyberGhost’s parent company before deciding whether to pay for a subscription.

On the plus side, CyberGhost is still faster than Norton Secure VPN and was less taxing on the processing power of our devices. It also offers split tunneling in its Windows client and has its servers neatly organized into categories: NoSpy servers, servers geared for torrenting, servers best for streaming and servers best for use with a static IP address. CyberGhost imposes no data caps, allows unlimited server switching and offers a 45-day money-back guarantee on subscription plans of a year or more.

Norton Secure VPN

Norton LifeLock, long known for excellence in security products, has a relatively limited offering in its VPN product.Norton Secure VPNdoes not support P2P or BitTorrent, Linux, routers or set-top boxes. Its Netflix and streaming compatibility is somewhat limited. Even worse, during testing, we experienced privacy-compromising data leaks.

During CNET’s testing, Norton Secure VPN speeds were comparable to other mid-tier VPNs but not particularly competitive. Although its VPN is only available on four platforms — Mac, iOS, Windows and Android — Norton gets points for its 24/7 live customer service phone support and 60-day money-back guarantee.

Norton Secure VPN’s pricing structure is a bit different than what you typically find in the industry. Pricing is tiered based on how many simultaneous connections you want with your account. For a single device, you’ll pay $30 for the first year and $50 for any subsequent years, or $4.99 a month for the monthly. For five simultaneous connections, the price jumps to $40 for the first year and $80 for subsequent years, or $8 a month for the monthly plan. If you want up to 10 simultaneous connections, the price is $60 for the first year and $100 for subsequent years, or $10 a month for the monthly plan.

Mullvad

Mullvad is an independent and open-source VPN provider that is focused on building trust through transparency and its commitment to protecting the privacy and security of its users. Although there are other VPNs that are considerably more well-known in the industry, Mullvad’s offering overall is just as polished and easy to use as many of the bigger players in the market.

Mullvad’s primary focus is on security. Like most othertop VPN providers, Mullvad employs industry-standardAES 256-bit encryptionto secure users’ connections. Mullvad’s kill switch feature and DNS leak protection are enabled by default and cannot be disabled. Duringour testing, the kill switch worked as expected and we detected no leaks of any kind. The company says it doesn’t keep any logs of its users’ activity, and is, for the most part, pretty transparent about how it operates and what it does to protect user privacy. Mullvad is unique in that it doesn’t require any personal information at signup. While most VPN providers ask users to provide an email address and enter a username, Mullvad generates a random 16-digit account number to activate each new user account. You don’t even need to provide any payment information since Mullvad accepts cash sent via mail.

Mullvad’ssource codebeing entirely open source is a testament to the company’s transparency, but we’d still like to see Mullvad issue an annual transparency report to give the public a view of how many legal requests the company gets and where they’re coming from. Although Mullvad tells us a new security audit is forthcoming, the company’s 2020security audit(conducted by German cybersecurity firm Cure53) concluded at the time that the VPN “does a great job protecting the end user from common PII leaks and privacy-related risks.”

With servers in 68 locations across 38 countries, Mullvad’s VPN server network is comparatively small. Even so, the network covers the most in-demand locations and is pretty well spread out across the globe. And what its network may lack in size, it makes up for in speed. In our latest round of speed testing, we measured just a 23% drop in average speeds (mostVPNs will slow you down50% or more), easily making it one of thefastest VPNswe’ve tested. Though Mullvad’s speeds are fantastic, it’s not the best for geographically restricted content. We were able toaccess Netflixwithout any issues but were denied access to stream Disney-plus when connected to Mullvad’s US servers.

Mullvad’s straightforward approach to pricing is a breath of fresh air, especially with so many other VPN providers concocting ever-more convoluted pricing structures. Mullvad costs about $5 a month, whether you want to use it for a month, a year or a decade — and you’re never locked into a long-term subscription plan. If you’re not satisfied with the service, you can get a refund within 30 days of purchase.

PureVPN

PureVPN says it doesn’t log connection information. The company joined the “no log” movement in 2018 and underwent a third-partyauditbyAlthius IT(albeit one commissioned and paid for by PureVPN).

We like that PureVPN offers a 31-day refund policy and supports bitcoin payments. We also like that PureVPN has both Kodi andChromebookapps available. In addition, PureVPN was the first VPN service we noted to fully implement GDPR compliance.

StrongVPN

StrongVPNblasts onto our list with excellent infrastructure and a decent price. StrongVPN has a strong no-logging policy and picks up kudos for its large base of IP addresses. It has a solid collection of servers and worldwide locations. For those of you who need a dedicated IP, you can get one from the company but you’ll need to contact customer support to get help setting it up.

One ofStrongVPN’sstrengths is the company’s network. It owns and operates its entire network infrastructure, which means it has no externally dictated limits on bandwidth or the type of internet traffic allowed on the network.

StrongVPN’s regularmonthly price of $10.99is in the middle of the pack, but its regular yearly price of $80 is among the lowest of our contenders.

Our hands-on testing and review process is designed to cut through that hype. When we look at each VPN service, we’re not just examining them for their technical weaknesses, but we’re also scrutinizing their individual performance strengths. We want to know what each service does best. We test each VPN across over 20 factors, and we’re continuallyimproving our methodologyas we learn more.

We test VPNs for browsing and streaming speed in multiple countries, as well as their connection stability and even the smallest potential privacy leaks. By testing across multiple devices and platforms, we’re able to assess which VPNs are best for gaming versus those best for streaming, torrenting or sharing sensitive information. Most importantly, we focus on doing the deep-dive research necessary to vet each VPN’s historical credibility and itsownership in a notoriously murky market.

The VPNs on this list earn our recommendation for more than just boosting their digital privacy strengths — they enable easy streaming to overcome geo-blocked media, have torrenting-friendly servers, and are fast enough to support gaming globally. Based on those continued evaluations, you’ll see a few bullet points on each entry in our list, highlighting each VPN’s strengths and the uses we recommend it for most. And because we strive to keep on top of a fast-changing market, you’ll notice that the rank of each VPN service changes as we learn more and retest.

This table shows the speeds we experienced in our testing. Your speeds will vary depending on factors like your internet service plan and connection type. The percentage of speed lost is intended as a general indicator of how much the VPN slows down your connection — lower numbers represent a faster overall connection.

Picking a VPN requires knowing two basic things to start with: What you want to use it for, and what you’re willing to pay. The range of VPN offerings is vast, but those two things will help you find a VPN that has the right blend of speed, security and cost.

Below, you’ll find specific FAQ sections on picking a VPN based on the most common needs: gaming, streaming media, working from home andprivacy-criticalprofessions. In general, you’ll want a VPN that provides sufficient encryption, doesn’t log your activity, offers essential security features like DNS leak protection and a kill switch, has server locations where you need them and can give you fast connection speeds. Our top five VPNs have all these features, although connection speeds will vary based on your internet provider and the server you connect to.

For a deeper dive, check our detailed walk-through ofhow we evaluate and review VPNs. If you’re looking for some quick pointers, here are universally applicable advice guides for beginners:

Don’t use free VPN services: With the exception of Proton, you’ll find only paid VPN options on this list above because they’re the only ones we can recommend.

Look for a no-logs VPN, but understand the caveats: The best VPNs keep as few logs as possible and make them as anonymous as possible, so there’s little data to provide should authorities come knocking. Even “no-logs” VPNs aren’t 100% anonymous.

There are limits to the privacy VPNs currently provide to iOS users: Recent independentresearch has surfacedsuggesting iPhones and iPads running iOS 14 or later may be vulnerable to device-only VPN leaks, regardless of which VPN is used. Apple users concerned with potential leaks can take extra precautions by installing their VPN on a home router to ensure their entire Wi-Fi network is encrypted. Some iOS users may potentially reduce the likelihood of leaks while outside of a home network by enabling their VPN’s kill switch and selecting OpenVPN protocols. You can also try closing all apps, activating your VPN, and then enabling and disabling Airplane Mode before using your device normally. Apple advises users to activate their device’sAlways On VPNprofile for additional protection.

VPN transparency is important, but warrant canaries are only the beginning: Many services use “warrant canaries” to passively note to the public whether or not they’ve been subpoenaed by a government entity. This is because many investigations from national security agencies can’t be actively disclosed by law. Like the no-logging issue — warrant canaries aren’t always as straightforward as they seem. You should spend more time investigating whether your prospective VPN has cooperated with authorities in the past, and how and when it’s disclosed that fact.

Think twice about using a US-based VPN: The Patriot Act is still the law of the land in the US, and that means US-based VPNs have little recourse if and when the feds show up with subpoenas ornational security lettersin hand demanding access to servers, VPN user accounts or other data. Yes, they may have little data to access if the service has a strong no-logs policy, but why not just choose a service that’s based outside Uncle Sam’s jurisdiction? (If this is a concern for you, you’ll also want to avoid countries with which the US has intelligence-sharing agreements.)

VPN FAQs

In today’s hyper-connected world, online privacy and security are increasingly critical. From online banking to communicating remotely with colleagues, we’re transferring more data on our computers and smartphones than ever before. Much of that data is confidential information that we need to keep safe from hackers and snoops, so VPN use is on the rise as people take steps to secure their digital lives.

Do I need a VPN?

Anyone who accesses the internet from a computer, tablet or smartphone can benefit from using a VPN. You don’t have to be an activist, government dissident or journalist to need a VPN; the rise of third-party data brokers, cross-site advertising trackers, IP address collection and mobile geo-targeting have all combined to create an online browsing environment that poses significant threats to everyday users’ basic privacy. Because a VPN encrypts your connection, your browsing data is protected from your internet service provider (and any government entities who request your ISP data), and your network administrator in most cases. A VPN can also shield your private information — like passwords, usernames and bank or shopping details — from anyone snooping on your network.

What is the best free VPN?

Proton VPN’sfree tier is the only free VPN we’ve come across so far that’s worth using. It costs a lot of money to operate a VPN, and free VPN services usually make up for the lack of subscription revenue by selling user data. In addition to being limited in usability and light on security, many free VPNs are fronts for malware distribution, which is why it’s generally best to avoid them. Proton VPN’s unlimited free tier is fast, secure and can be used for most online activities, including streaming Netflix. If you’re on a budget and want access to a premium VPN solution, you can also take a look at our picks for thebest cheap VPNs.

What is a mobile VPN?

A mobile VPN is simply a VPN you can use on your mobile device like your iPhone or Android phone. All of the providers we recommend have mobile versions of their desktop clients. You can use a mobile-focused VPN app to ensure greater data privacy designed for your whole device. Mobile VPNs also generally have a smaller memory footprint and require less processing power than desktop VPNs, so they tend to yield faster connection speeds and don’t eat up your battery as quickly. Keep in mind that most mobile VPN clients will use a lighter form of encryption than a desktop client to achieve those smartphone speeds. Be sure to check your VPN apps’ settings to ensure you’re using the apps’ strongest encryption if your privacy needs are heightened. Our top three VPN picks all have excellent, easy-to-use mobile VPN app options for their services. Some VPNs will only work with one type of mobile platform — like iOS or Android — and some are universally compatible. To find the right mobile VPN for you, check out our mobile-specific VPN guides below. We routinely update them with our retesting information, so check back often.

Are VPNs legal?

VPNs are perfectly legal to use in most countries. There’s nothing wrong with taking steps to protect your privacy online, and you shouldn’t have to worry that using a VPN as part of that process will get you in any kind of legal trouble.

There are countries where VPNs are either banned or outright illegal. If you’re using a VPN in a country like China, Iran, Oman, Russia, Turkmenistan, UAE or Belarus, you may find yourself in legal trouble. The irony here is that these are the countries where internet censorship and surveillance are most common. In those countries, you’ll need to make sure you use a VPN that providesstrong obfuscationso your VPN traffic is disguised as ordinary HTTPS traffic, meaning government entities won’t even know you’re using a VPN in the first place.

You won’t run into any trouble with the law for using a VPN across most of the world. One important reminder, though: VPNs are legal in most places, butengaging in illegal activity online is still illegal regardless of whether you’re using a VPN.

How do I use a VPN for Netflix?

If you live in a country that censors its media or are traveling to one,geo-restricted contentis a pain. You can use a VPN to circumvent censorship or access your home country’s normal media content for anonline streaming servicelike Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video or Disney Plus. Pick a VPN that lets you manually select which country you want to connect through and has something calledobfuscation. (Our top three picks offer this.) You don’t always need to use the obfuscation feature to unblock Netflix, but since streaming services actively try to block VPN connections, obfuscation can help because it disguises your VPN traffic as regular internet traffic.

If you’re looking to try out other VPNs, choose one with a large number of IP addresses, preferably 10,000 or more. This is because one of the ways Netflix and others block VPNs is by blacklisting known VPN IPs — and if your VPN has tens of thousands of IPs, there’s a better chance that you’ll be able to connect to an IP address that Netflix hasn’t flagged.

Once you have your VPN installed, connect to the country whose content you wish to view, restart your browser and go to the streaming site. If your VPN is working, the site should treat you as a resident of your selected country and serve you content assigned to that audience. If you’re still having trouble, you can try using incognito mode on your browser or try clearing your cookies and cache.

How do I know if my VPN is working?

Your first and most apparent indication that your VPN is working is that your IP address will change and your location will be registered as that of the VPN server you’re connecting through. You can check this on a site likewhatismyipaddress.com.

You’ll also want to make sure your VPN is protecting your privacy and not leaking any of your data outside of the VPN tunnel, thus exposing it to your ISP and other entities that may be monitoring your online activity. You can check for leaks by going to a site like dnsleaktest.com or ipleak.net. If your location is registered as the VPN server location, and your leak tests turn up negative, then you know your VPN is working to protect your privacy.

What is a remote-access VPN?

A remote-access VPN uses public infrastructure like the internet to provide remote users secure access to their network. This is particularly important for organizations and their corporate networks. It’s crucial when employees connect to a public hotspot and use the internet for sending work-related emails. A VPN client on the user’s computer or mobile device connects to a VPN gateway on the company’s network. This gateway will typically require the device to authenticate its identity. It will then create a network link back to the device that allows it to reach internal network resources such as file servers, printers and intranets as if it were on the same local network.

What is a site-to-site VPN?

This is when the VPN technology uses a gateway device to connect the entire network in one location to a network in another location. The majority of site-to-site VPNs that connect over the internet use IPsec. IPsec-based encryption protocols are often considered by VPN specialists to be less secure against modern surveillance. Rather than using the public internet, it is also normal to use multiprotocol label-switching clouds as the main transport for site-to-site VPNs.

VPNs are often defined between specific computers, and in most cases, they are servers in separate data centers. New hybrid-access situations have now transformed the VPN gateway in the cloud, typically with a secure link from the cloud service provider into the internal network.

What’s the best VPN?

The best VPN for you depends on your needs when using a VPN.

VPNs for crucial privacy and security
If you’re a journalist, a lawyer or a professional in any other privacy-sensitive field, forget about speed and price when choosing a VPN. Focus, instead, entirely on security. Your VPN may be somewhat slower but, for both VPNs and presidential motorcades, speed is always the trade-off for privacy. Avoid free VPNs andbrowser-based VPNs. If you’re concerned with government monitoring in your current country, choose a VPN headquartered outside of the country you’re currently in, and avoid choosing a VPN with a jurisdiction in an allied country. For example, US journalists should avoid VPNs with a jurisdiction inthe US or other Five Eyes countries. Keep an eye on encryption: Your VPN should offer a protocol called OpenVPN TCP (for its mobile apps, IKEv2 is fine). Right now, the VPN we recommend most for critical privacy isExpressVPN.

VPNs for working from home
If you’re working from home, you may be sharing your internet connection with multiple devices and family members or roommates. That’s a lot of simultaneous connections to a VPN and a lot of drag on a network. Pick a VPN that lets you use one subscription on as many devices as possible and has excellent speeds so your Wi-Fi isn’t bogged down. If your job involves handling sensitive information like financial or medical records, however, your priority VPN criteria is security. Our top three VPN picks are the most secure we’ve found, and each has a different number of connections they’ll allow for a base-level subscription. Depending on your budget and home office requirements, ExpressVPN, Surfshark and NordVPN are all great options for working from home. There are a few other factors worth considering for a home office VPN, so check out our guide topicking the right VPN for working at home.

VPNs for gaming
Most VPNs are chosen based on having a good balance of speed, security and cost. If you want a VPN specifically to connect to game servers in another country, speed is everything. Free VPNs won’t be fast enough; fortunately, high-end security won’t be a cost driver, which gives you moreoptions at modest prices. Sinceall VPNs reduce speed— many by half or more — that means picking one from the set thatperformed best in our speed tests. In our latest tests, NordVPN took the lead as the fastest VPN, though you can get excellent speeds through Surfshark via the WireGuard protocol and with ExpressVPN. If you’re focused on VPNs for game consoles, look atour best VPNs for Xboxandour primer on installing them. Before choosing the one right for your needs, visit the VPN’s official website to see whether they offer servers specifically aimed at gaming in the countries where you most want to connect to other players.

Best VPN Service 2024: VPNs Tested by Our Experts - Xenex Computers (2024)