Comparison of virtual private network services
This article is a comparison of virtual private network services.
In computer magazines, VPN services are typically judged on connection speeds; privacy protection, including privacy at signup and grade of encryption; server count and locations; interface usability; and cost.[1][2][3][4] In order to determine the degree of privacy and anonymity, various computer magazines, such as PC World and PC Magazine, also take the provider's own guarantees and its reputation among news items into consideration.[1][2]
Contents
Definitions
The following definitions clarify the meaning of the column headers in the comparison tables below.
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- Anonymous payment method
- Whether the service offers at least one payment method that does not require personal information. Even if a service accepts a cryptocurrency like bitcoin, it might still require that the customer hands over personally identifiable information (PII) like their full name and address.
- Bandwidth
- Whether the users' bandwidth is logged while using the service, according to the service's privacy policy.
- Diskless
- Whether the service's server hardware is connected to hard drives, according to the service provider. If the servers are diskless, the service provider should be unable to log any usage data.
- First-party DNS servers
- Whether the service provides its own domain name system (DNS) servers.
- Logging
- Whether the service stores information about their users' connection or activity on the network, according to the service's privacy policy or terms of service. If logging isn't mentioned in those sections but denied somewhere else on the website, the particular table cell will be marked as "No" in yellow and include an explanatory note.
- Privacy Impact Score
- An indicator of a website's usage of potentially privacy intrusive technologies such as third-party or permanent cookies, CANVAS trackers etc.[5] The score can be in the range from 0 to 100, where 0 is minimal privacy impact (best) and 100 is the biggest privacy impact (worst) relative to other web sites.[5] The score also has a simplified letter and colour presentation from A to F where A is "No cookies" and F is "Score above three standard deviations from the average".[5] The metric is developed by WebCookies.org.[5]
- Obfuscation
- Whether the service provides a method of obfuscating the VPN traffic so that it's not as easily detected and blocked by national governments or corporations.[6][7]
- Offers WireGuard
- Whether the service provider offers the WireGuard tunneling protocol.
- SSL rating
- The service's website's overall SSL server rating according to Qualys SSL Labs' SSL Server Test tool.
- Supports Obfsproxy
- Whether the service has an implementation of the Tor subproject Obfsproxy.[6][7]
Privacy
PC Magazine recommends that users consider choosing a provider based in a country with no data retention laws, since that makes it easier for the service to keep a promise of no logging.[8] PC Magazine and TechRadar also suggest that users read the provider's logging policy before signing up for the service,[8][3] since some providers collect information about their customers' VPN usage.[9][10] PC World recommends that users avoid free services as a rule of thumb, and asserts that free services either sell their users' browsing data in aggregated form to researchers and marketers, or only offer a minimal amount of data transfer per month.[9] Logitheque explains why there are so many VPN comparison websites on the web.[11]
Notes
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Technical features
Notes
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Availability
Service | No. of simultaneous connections | No. of countries | No. of servers | Linux support (manual config.) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Avast SecureLine | 5 | 34 | 54 | No |
Avira Phantom VPN | Unlimited[145][146] | 25[147] | 36[147] | No |
ExpressVPN | 5[148] | 94[149] | 3,000 circa[150] | Yes[17][19] |
Hotspot Shield Elite | 5[151] | 21 | No | |
IPredator | 1[152] | 1 | Yes[153] | |
IPVanish | Unlimited[33] | 54[33] | 1,500[33] | Yes[154] |
IVPN | 5[93] | 27[155] | 57[156] | Yes[157] |
Mullvad | 5[158] | 36[159] | 667[159] | Yes[160] |
NordVPN | 6 | 58[161] | 5,607[161] | Yes[162] |
Private Internet Access | 10[163] | 74[164] | 11,254[164] | Yes[165] |
ProtonVPN | 10[166] | 54[166] | 1,060[166] | Yes[167] |
PureVPN | 10[126] | 140 circa[168] | 2,000 circa[168] | Yes[169] |
SaferVPN | 5[170] | 35 circa[171] | 700 circa[171] | Yes[165] |
TunnelBear | 5[62][172] | 20[172] | Yes | |
VPN.ht | 3 | 25[139] | 128[139] | Yes |
Website
The rating of the services' websites according to SSL server certificate and HTTP cookie test tools. Also listed is whether the websites maintain a warrant canary.
Service | SSL certificate | Privacy Impact Score | Warrant canary | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Holder | Issued to | SSL rating | |||
Avast SecureLine | Yes[173] | Self[173] | A+[173] | B[174] | No |
Avira Phantom VPN | Yes[175] | Self[175] | A[175] | E[176] | No |
blackVPN | Yes[177][178] | Cloudflare[177] | A[177] | B[179] | No |
ExpressVPN | Yes[180][181] | Self[181] | A+[181] | B[182] | No |
Hotspot Shield Elite | Yes[183] | Self[183] | A-[183] | F[184] | No |
IPredator | Yes[185] | Self[185] | A+[185] | A[186] | Yes |
IPVanish | Yes[187] | Self[187] | A[187] | B[188] | No |
IVPN | Yes[189] | Self[189] | A+[189] | B[190] | Yes |
Mullvad | Yes[191] | Self[191] | A+[191] | A[192] | No |
NordVPN | Yes[193] | Self[193] | A+[193] | B[194] | Yes[195] |
Private Internet Access | Yes[196] | Self[196] | A[196] | B[197] | No |
ProtonVPN | Yes[198] | Self[198] | A+[198] | B[199] | Yes[200] |
PureVPN | Yes[201] | Self[201] | A[201] | B[202] | No |
SaferVPN | Yes[59] | Self[59] | A[59] | Yes | Yes[132] |
TunnelBear | Yes[203] | Self[203] | A+[203] | B[204] | No |
VPNBook | Yes[205] | Self[205] | B[205] | B[206] | No |
VPN.ht | Yes[207] | Yes[207] | A+[207] | B[208] | Yes[209] |
See also
- UKUSA Agreement — multilateral agreement for cooperation in signals intelligence between the Five Eyes countries.
- Internet censorship circumvention — VPNs can be used as a method to bypass Internet censorship.
References
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 32.3 32.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 33.3 33.4 33.5 33.6 33.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 34.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 37.3 37.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 38.0 38.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 40.3 40.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 43.0 43.1 43.2 43.3 43.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 48.0 48.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ U.S.A. v. Lin, p. 22 (D. Mass. 10/03/2017) (“Further, records from PureVPN show that the same email accounts - Lin's gmail account and the teleportfx gmail account - were accessed from the same WANSecurity IP address. Significantly, PureVPN was able to determine that their service was accessed by the same customer from two originating IP addresses: the RCN IP address from the home Lin was living in at the time, and the software company where Lin was employed at the time.”). Text
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 56.0 56.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 57.0 57.1 57.2 57.3 57.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 58.0 58.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 59.0 59.1 59.2 59.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 60.0 60.1 60.2 60.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 61.0 61.1 61.2 61.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 62.0 62.1 62.2 62.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 63.0 63.1 63.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 64.0 64.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 67.0 67.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 71.0 71.1 71.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 74.0 74.1 74.2 74.3 74.4 74.5 74.6 74.7 74.8 74.9 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 79.0 79.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 80.0 80.1 80.2 80.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 81.0 81.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 86.0 86.1 86.2 86.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 92.0 92.1 92.2 92.3 92.4 92.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 93.0 93.1 93.2 93.3 93.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 100.00 100.01 100.02 100.03 100.04 100.05 100.06 100.07 100.08 100.09 100.10 100.11 100.12 100.13 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 114.0 114.1 114.2 114.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Private Internet Access™ is default secure from this vulnerability since we use real bare metal servers.
- ↑ 125.0 125.1 125.2 125.3 125.4 125.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 126.0 126.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 131.0 131.1 131.2 131.3 131.4 131.5 131.6 131.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 132.0 132.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 134.0 134.1 134.2 134.3 134.4 134.5 134.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 139.0 139.1 139.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 147.0 147.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 159.0 159.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 161.0 161.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 164.0 164.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 165.0 165.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 166.0 166.1 166.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 168.0 168.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 171.0 171.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 172.0 172.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 173.0 173.1 173.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 175.0 175.1 175.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 177.0 177.1 177.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 181.0 181.1 181.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 183.0 183.1 183.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 185.0 185.1 185.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 187.0 187.1 187.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 189.0 189.1 189.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 191.0 191.1 191.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 193.0 193.1 193.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 196.0 196.1 196.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 198.0 198.1 198.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 201.0 201.1 201.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 203.0 203.1 203.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 205.0 205.1 205.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 207.0 207.1 207.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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