VPNs Compared: Tested Providers, Alternatives and VPNs to Avoid

Top VPNs Compared

We tested VPN services for speed, security, privacy, usability and useful features. The services below include alternatives worth considering, as well as VPNs that performed poorly or raised privacy concerns.

Other VPNs We Tested

Surfshark

I’ve personally used Surfshark for several years. If I had not been so impressed with Proton, I would still be using it. Surfshark is easy to use: the app opens, connects quickly and stays out of the way so you can continue browsing.

A two-year plan costs less overall, with the Starter plan costing about $54 for two years. Surfshark is also one of the most feature-rich VPNs I’ve used. Its features include double-hop connections, split tunneling, an ad blocker and email masking. More expensive plans add security tools such as antivirus and dark web monitoring.

Surfshark is somewhat less privacy-focused than Proton. The company says it has a no-logs policy and publishes a transparency report and warrant canary. However, because the Surfshark app is not open source, you must place somewhat more trust in its app security than with some other VPN providers.

Event VPN

Event VPN is a free, ad-supported VPN from ExpressVPN. Advertising and VPNs do not usually make a natural combination, but Event VPN says it uses Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) and Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) to serve ads without collecting personal data.

The main problem is how frequently the ads appear. A banner remains at the top of the app, and you must watch a full 30-second advertisement every time you connect or disconnect. Some servers also showed unreasonably slow speeds, making the service inconvenient to use. Event VPN is a unique concept, but ProtonVPN and Windscribe offer better free VPN options with fewer interruptions.

IVPN

IVPN is a privacy-focused VPN provider with an approach similar to Mullvad. Instead of creating an account with a username, password and email address, IVPN generates a random ID for you. If a security incident occurs, that ID is not associated with your personal information, which can help preserve your anonymity.

IVPN accepts cryptocurrency payments, including Bitcoin and Monero. Unlike Mullvad, it offers one-year, two-year and three-year plans, as well as an unusual weekly plan. The weekly option can be useful if you need a VPN while traveling; IVPN’s standard price is $2 per week. These options are more affordable than Mullvad’s monthly fees.

However, IVPN lacks some of Mullvad’s privacy features, including RAM-less servers. IVPN had a security audit scheduled for 2025, but the results had not been published as of January 2026. The standard plan also limits users to two devices. The Pro plan supports seven devices, but costs $10 per month, making it more expensive than Mullvad, which supports five devices. This remains true even with a multi-year IVPN plan.

IVPN is still a strong alternative if you want an annual plan. Most VPN apps perform their basic function, but I find IVPN’s app more attractive and easier to use than Mullvad’s.

—Matthew S. Smith

Private Internet Access (PIA)

Private Internet Access has a long history in the VPN industry and has maintained a track record of protecting user privacy, including when facing criminal investigations. In 2016, criminal charges were filed in Florida against Preston Alexander McWaters for making online threats. McWaters was ultimately convicted and sentenced to 42 months in prison.

Investigators traced the threats to PIA’s servers and subpoenaed the company. According to the complaint, PIA could provide only the information that the relevant IP address cluster was located in the eastern United States. Investigators identified McWaters through other activities, but PIA did not provide information identifying him. This supports the provider’s no-logs policy.

Despite that history, PIA did not impress me during testing. It had the slowest speeds of any VPN I tested, with a drop of more than 50% on the closest US server. By comparison, Windscribe slowed my connection by 15.6%.

Mysterium VPN

Mysterium VPN is a decentralized VPN, or dVPN. Decentralized VPNs use residential IP addresses to route traffic and can help users avoid increasingly common VPN server blocklists. Mysterium builds its network through MystNodes, where people purchase nodes and join the network to earn cryptocurrency.

That model is not inherently bad, but routing traffic through a single residential IP address raises concerns. Mysterium was also slow and did not provide privacy materials such as third-party audits, warrant canaries or transparency reports.

PrivadoVPN

PrivadoVPN is a popular free VPN with a usable free plan. It provides a small number of full-speed servers and 10 GB of data per month. The service works, but signing up requires going through four redirects asking you to purchase a subscription.

PrivadoVPN’s history is also difficult to evaluate. It has no available transparency reports or audits, and its speeds were decent but slower than Proton, Windscribe and Surfshark. PrivadoVPN is not a poor option, but it is difficult to recommend when Proton and Windscribe offer similarly capable free plans.

VPNs to Avoid

Many free VPNs claim to protect your privacy, but most do not. The following VPNs raised significant concerns during testing.

Hola

Hola is a well-known name in the VPN industry, but it has continued to operate in a way that raises serious privacy concerns. The free service uses a peer-to-peer network to remain free. Hola also owns the data collection company Bright Data, formerly known as Luminati.

In 2015, Hola sold access to its free users’ network through Luminati. That network was later used in a distributed denial-of-service attack against 8chan. If you do not pay for Hola, your device may be used as an exit node on Bright Data’s network. Hola’s privacy policy also states that it records usage data such as your IP address, visited pages and timestamps.

X-VPN

X-VPN is available on desktop, but it appears most often in Apple’s App Store and Google Play as a free mobile VPN. Although it does not exhibit the same obvious behavior as Hola, several inconsistencies make it difficult to recommend.

X-VPN uses a proprietary VPN protocol and hides details about it within the app. Proprietary protocols such as NordVPN’s NordLynx and ExpressVPN’s Lightway are based on existing open-source protocols, while X-VPN’s protocol is less transparent. X-VPN was also highlighted in a Tech Transparency Project report about free VPNs with links to the Chinese government. X-VPN is based in Hong Kong.

This is not conclusive evidence of wrongdoing, but the service has other disadvantages. Its speeds were not impressive, the app lacks basic features such as split tunneling, and its paid plans cost about as much as those from leading VPN providers.

How We Test VPNs

A VPN must do two things well: maintain reasonable internet speeds and protect browsing data. Those were the core priorities in our testing. Extra features, an attractive interface and customization options are useful, but they do not matter if a VPN fails at its primary functions.

VPN Speed Testing

Speed can vary depending on the time of day, network connection and VPN server. To account for these variables, I recorded a baseline speed on an unsecured connection immediately before testing. I then ran each test three times using both US and UK servers.

We also spot-checked baseline speed drops at different times of day over a week to determine whether the results remained consistent.

VPN Security and Privacy Testing

Every time we connected to a server, we checked for DNS, WebRTC and IP leaks using browser-based leak tests. I also performed a quick packet inspection with Wireshark to confirm that transmitted data was protected by the VPN protocol in use.

For privacy, the top recommended VPNs on this list have undergone independent audits and maintain some form of transparency report. In most cases, formal documentation is available. In some cases, including Windscribe, transparency has been demonstrated through legal proceedings.

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