Which VPN is Right for You?

Seems like everyone these days wants a VPN — whether it’s for circumventing network restrictions, hiding your internet activities from your ISP, or whatever else you might want it for.

There’s a few things we should get out of the way first, however.

First, despite what your favorite YouTuber might say, a VPN does not protect you from most online threats. It only reroutes your internet traffic through a server — which means you still have to trust your traffic going through said server, otherwise using a VPN exposes you even more than without it. Many VPN providers have even been caught selling your data online or using it to sneakily replace ads online with their partners’.

Second, there is no such thing as a good free unlimited VPN. There is always a catch. Some VPN providers might offer a free trial or half a gig of data, etc, but any VPN that offers unlimited traffic without a paid plan is stealing your data and selling it online… or worse. The fix is simple: pay for your VPN.

So, which VPN is best? There are a few different factors that you might want to consider. Your threat model (AKA tinfoil-hat-ness), price, speed, and locations are a few to start. We’re mainly going to be comparing NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Private Internet Access, Mullvad, and ProtonVPN, however you may see some other VPNs mentioned in this article.

Threat Model

Let’s dive in, starting with your personal threat model. Are you an activist or wanted by a government agency? Or are you just some random guy online trying to get a couple free movies? The VPN you choose will depend on this. If your threat levels are high, you’re going to want a VPN with a solid history of denying legal requests and proven no-log policies, that has never been compromised, and that has zero connections to data brokers or malware companies. (*cough* Kape Technologies *cough*) Anyway… you can decide whether or not these details matter to you, based on your threat model.

First off, Kape Technologies (formerly Crossrider) is an Israel-based company, which has a history of producing and distributing malware. While they say they are done with these illicit activities, you may consider not buying a VPN which is under their control. Kape Technologies owns CyberGhost, Private Internet Access (PIA), ExpressVPN, and ZenMate. Tesonet, a data mining company, also owns SurfShark and NordVPN, making those not an option for the data-conscious.

VPN Log Policies

1. NordVPN keeps a strict no-log policy, and a third-party audit has “verified” this, but no legal battle has proven this in court. NordVPN is based out of Lithuania.
2. ExpressVPN keeps a log of non-identifiable connections but no other details, has completed a third-party audit, and a court case proved this policy true. ExpressVPN is based out of British Virgin Islands.
3. PIA keeps a strict no-log policy, releases transparency reports, and a court case has confirmed this. PIA is based out of the US.
4. Mullvad keeps a strict no-log policy, and is transparent about their OpenVPN setup. Mullvad is based out of Sweden.
5. ProtonVPN also keeps a strict no-log policy, is third-party audited, releases transparency reports, and a court case proved the policy is accurate. ProtonVPN is based out of Switzerland.

You may find a list of VPNs and their log policies here, but keep in mind that it may not always be accurate. Companies sometimes lie about their policies, as is the case with PureVPN — a VPN provider which said that they didn’t keep any logs, and yet logs were released in court. See the court documents here.

Price

Many VPN companies will show “$X per month,” when they are referring to a two or three year plan divided into 24/36 months, so keep that in mind. NordVPN does this often with their $3.50/mo banners, when in reality the month-by-month pricing is $11.99. In this section, we’ll be comparing the month-by-month pricing for convenience of purchase, but if you’re able to buy in bulk, you may be able to get a discount.

1. As stated earlier, NordVPN offers only one tier, which is $11.99 per month.
2. ExpressVPN offers one tier as well, coming in at $12.95 per month.
3. Private Internet Access offers one tier, which is $9.95 per month.
4. Mullvad offers one tier, coming in at $5.60/mo. (5 euros, converted at the time of writing.) Mullvad only offers month-by-month pricing, never has discounts, and has had the same price since its inception — so you’re getting the most dependable pricing model here.
5. ProtonVPN offers three VPN tiers: free, basic, and plus. The free tier offers 24 servers, 1 VPN connection, and medium speeds. The basic tier offers 400 servers, 2 VPN connections, and high speed. Finally, the plus tier offers 1500+ servers, 10 VPN connections, and the highest speed (up to 10Gbps).

Speed

This speed comparison is based of PCMag’s testing.

With NordVPN, there was a 28% download loss and a 24% upload loss.

With ExpressVPN, there was a 60% download loss and a 74% upload loss.

With PIA, there was an 11% download loss and a 19% upload loss.

With Mullvad, there was a 19% download loss and a 47% upload loss.

With ProtonVPN there was a 15% download loss and a 1% upload loss.

Overall, ProtonVPN takes the cake on speed, second only to Private Internet Access and NordVPN.

Locations

NordVPN has 5342 servers in 60 countries.

ExpressVPN has 3000+ servers and 160 server locations in 94 countries.

Private Internet Access has servers in 84 countries.

Mullvad has 780 servers and 68 server locations in 38 countries.

ProtonVPN has 1596 servers in 63 countries.

* I reached out to each of these companies individually if information was unavailable, this is what I was able to retrieve.

Conclusion

Personally, I would recommend either ProtonVPN or Mullvad. If you’re looking to maintain your internet speeds, go with ProtonVPN. If you don’t care, go with Mullvad. Mullvad is slower than Proton, but it’s much more secure — there are no email addresses (only account numbers), and you can pay with cash by mail or crypto.