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The VPN market has matured and mostly shaken out. There are five or six services worth serious consideration, and the rest are either underpowered or outright questionable.
Here’s the current state, with honest assessments of each.
1. NordVPN — Best Overall
From $3.39/month (2-year plan) | NordVPN
NordVPN has been on top of most category rankings for two years running, and the position is deserved. NordLynx — their WireGuard-based protocol — is the fastest mainstream VPN protocol available. The privacy track record is as strong as any competitor’s, with three independent audits and a real-world government data request that found no logs to provide.
6,000+ servers across 111 countries. Works reliably with Netflix US/UK, Disney+, BBC iPlayer. Threat Protection blocks ads, trackers, and known malicious domains at the VPN level (useful even when you’re not masking your location). 6 simultaneous device connections.
The 2-year pricing at ~$3.39/month is excellent value for a premium VPN. Monthly pricing ($12.99) is steep — the value is in the long-term plans.
Where it falls short: No 8+ device plan without Nordpass combination. Router setup requires manual configuration (no native router app like ExpressVPN). Some servers are inconsistent — manual server selection helps.
2. Proton VPN — Best for Privacy-First Users
Free tier available | Premium from $4.99/month | ProtonVPN.com
Proton VPN is built by the same team that makes ProtonMail, the encrypted email service. They’re Swiss-based, which means Swiss privacy law (among the strongest in the world) applies to their operations. The apps are fully open-source — you can audit exactly what the software does.
The NetShield feature (ad and malware blocking at the DNS level) is included on all paid plans and is among the most effective in the VPN category. Secure Core routing bounces your traffic through multiple servers in privacy-friendly countries before reaching its destination — overkill for casual users but valuable for journalists, activists, or anyone in a high-risk situation.
The free tier is uniquely valuable: unlimited bandwidth, no ads, no data logging, limited to one device and medium-speed servers. It’s the only free VPN I’d recommend without caveats.
Where it falls short: Speeds are solid but don’t match NordLynx at the top. The app interface is more technical-feeling than NordVPN’s consumer-friendly design. Proton’s premium pricing ($4.99-$9.99/month depending on plan) is competitive, but the Proton Unlimited bundle (VPN + ProtonMail + ProtonDrive) jumps to $11.99/month.
3. Surfshark — Best for Device Count and Budget
From $1.99/month (2-year plan) | Surfshark.com
Surfshark’s headline feature: unlimited simultaneous device connections. Every plan. No per-device limit. If you have a household with multiple phones, laptops, tablets, and smart TVs, Surfshark solves the device problem that other VPNs charge extra for.
Speeds are fast — Surfshark uses WireGuard as its default protocol and delivers competitive benchmarks. CleanWeb (ad/tracker/malware blocking) is included. NoBorders mode helps in restrictive network environments.
The 2-year pricing is the cheapest of any premium VPN that actually performs well. At ~$1.99/month, it’s hard to argue it’s not worth trying.
Where it falls short: The privacy documentation isn’t as deep as NordVPN’s or Proton VPN’s. Surfshark is based in the Netherlands (part of 9 Eyes intelligence alliance), which is less favorable than NordVPN’s Panama jurisdiction or Proton’s Switzerland. For serious privacy users, the jurisdiction matters.
4. ExpressVPN — Overpriced, But Still Good
From $8.32/month (1-year plan) | ExpressVPN.com
ExpressVPN was the premium VPN benchmark for years. It still performs well — Lightway protocol is fast, streaming reliability is excellent, and the router app is the best in the category if you want router-level VPN protection.
The problem is pricing. At $8.32/month annual, it’s substantially more expensive than NordVPN, Surfshark, and Proton VPN Premium. The speed advantage that once justified that premium has eroded as NordLynx closed the gap.
The 2021 Kape Technologies acquisition is also a lingering concern for privacy-focused users — Kape’s corporate history includes adware distribution, and while ExpressVPN’s infrastructure and team are unchanged, the ownership change matters for users choosing a VPN specifically on trust.
Worth considering if: router-level VPN setup is your primary use case, or you’re in a region where ExpressVPN’s specific server network performs noticeably better.
5. Mullvad — Best for Maximum Privacy
€5/month flat rate | Mullvad.net
Mullvad is the VPN for users who take privacy seriously enough to pay with cash or cryptocurrency and don’t want to associate an email address with their account. Sign up with a randomly generated account number. No email required. No personal information. Pay with Monero, Bitcoin, or physical cash.
The technical architecture is genuinely privacy-first: WireGuard protocol, no logging, regular independent audits, and the Swedish Privacy Protection Foundation’s backing. Mullvad regularly invites security researchers to audit their infrastructure.
Speed is solid. Server network is smaller than NordVPN or ExpressVPN (600+ servers in 40+ countries) but covers the major locations. No app frills — this is a VPN for people who want a VPN, not a security suite.
Not for everyone. The onboarding is unusual for users expecting account-based services. Streaming performance is secondary to privacy features. No free trial.
Quick Comparison Table
| VPN | Price/month (annual) | Devices | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| NordVPN | ~$3.39 (2-yr) | 6 | Best overall |
| Proton VPN | $4.99 | 10 | Privacy-first |
| Surfshark | ~$1.99 (2-yr) | Unlimited | Budget + devices |
| ExpressVPN | $8.32 | 8 | Router VPN |
| Mullvad | €5 flat | 5 | Maximum privacy |
Common VPN Questions Answered Honestly
Does a VPN make you anonymous? No. A VPN masks your IP address from sites you visit and encrypts traffic from your ISP. It doesn’t make you anonymous — the VPN provider can see your traffic unless they enforce a no-logs policy. And even with a VPN, browser fingerprinting, logged-in accounts, and cookies can still identify you. Think of a VPN as privacy protection, not anonymity.
Should I leave my VPN on all the time? Depends on your use case. For privacy from your ISP: yes, always-on makes sense. For streaming: only when you want to access a different regional library. For speed-sensitive tasks (gaming, video calls): consider whether the VPN overhead is worth it. Modern VPNs add 5-20ms latency typically; that’s noticeable in competitive gaming but irrelevant for most browsing.
What about VPNs on iOS? iOS has a limitation: VPN connections can be bypassed by apps that use the NetworkExtension framework. Apple claims this is for performance reasons, but it means a VPN app running on iOS doesn’t guarantee all traffic is routed through the VPN tunnel for all apps. NordVPN, Proton VPN, and ExpressVPN all have mitigations for this, but it’s worth knowing the limitation exists on the platform level.
Do I need a VPN at home? If your threat model is “someone might intercept my traffic on my home WiFi”: no, that’s relatively rare on a properly secured home network. If your threat model is “I don’t want my ISP seeing my browsing history” or “I want to appear to be in a different country for streaming”: yes, that’s exactly what a VPN is for.
The Bottom Line
Start with NordVPN if you’re not sure. The 2-year plan at ~$3.39/month has a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you don’t like it, get a refund and try something else. But most people stick with NordVPN once they’ve set it up — the setup is easy, the speeds are fast, and it reliably does what it promises.
Related Reading
- NordVPN Review 2026 — full NordVPN breakdown
- NordVPN vs ExpressVPN 2026 — head-to-head comparison
- Proton VPN Review 2026 — Proton VPN in depth