BEST VPNS TESTED
GOLD AWARD Express VPN www.expressvpn.com
With more than 3,000 servers in 160 locations across 94 countries, ExpressVPN lets you unblock content and browse privately by pretending to be almost anywhere in the world. While other providers have more servers in total, few have such a wide spread, which means you’ll always enjoy a speedy, reliable connection. The company is based in the British Virgin Islands, so isn’t subject to Fourteen Eyes surveillance (see previous page).
ExpressVPN lets you connect five devices at once and offers easy-to-use desktop and mobile apps, extensions for Firefox and Chromium browsers, and support for streaming sticks and smart TVs. In addition to industry-standard AES-256 encryption, ExpressVPN’s own Lightway protocol (www.snipca. com/41664) further increases its security and speed, while its handy Smart Location option (see screenshot above right) automatically connects you to the fastest available server. All ExpressVPN servers are RAM-only, which means none of your data is stored on physical drives, and its strict no-logging policy has been independently audited by business consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to confirm that it doesn’t collect or share user data.
ExpressVPN does a brilliant job of unblocking geo-restricted web content, letting you access BBC iPlayer from abroad and international versions of Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video, without any problems. It’s also packed with useful security features, including a ‘kill switch’ that immediately halts internet traffic when your VPN connection drops; split tunnelling, which lets you specify which apps are routed through its servers; and a new Threat Manager that blocks trackers and malicious sites, though currently only on iOS, macOS and Linux.
The only drawback is that it’s expensive compared with rival services.
SILVER AWARD NordVPN www.nordvpn.com
Coming a very close second to ExpressVPN, NordVPN actually offers more servers – nearly 5,500 - but in fewer countries, and lets you connect six devices rather than five. It offers impressively fast connections and excellent security complementing the standard
AES-256 encryption with a Double
VPN option that encrypts all your internet traffic twice.
Like ExpressVPN, NordVPN includes a kill switch and threat protection, and its no-logs policy has been audited by PwC, but it goes even further to ensure your privacy with an exclusive feature called ‘Onion Over VPN’ (see screenshot below). This lets you access hidden sites that have onion addresses without needing to use Tor Browser. Instead you can open them in your usual browser, while NordVPN’s encryption ensures that nobody can see where you are or what you’re doing.
NordVPN’s desktop and mobile apps are easy to set up and use, though its map-based interface works better on larger screens – on a smartphone it can be fiddly to navigate. It’s also frustrating that destination cities aren’t listed in alphabetical order.
However, there’s no denying NordVPN’s efficiency at unblocking streaming services and apps, including YouTube TV, Disney+, HBO Max, BBC iPlayer, Prime Video and many more.
It’s cheaper than ExpressVPN if you sign up for a year or two.
BRONZE AWARD Surfshark surfshark.com
Surfshark is one of the cheapest VPNs, costing a mere $3.29 per month. This low price doesn’t mean Surfshark skimps on quality – indeed, it beats ExpressVPN and NordVPN by letting you connect an unlimited number of devices to its servers. This means you can protect your whole household with one subscription and, in theory, friends and family members, too.
Like ExpressVPN, Surfshark is based in the British Virgin Islands and has a strict no-logs policy, which was audited last year by independent researchers Cure53. Its impressive array of features includes a kill switch, split tunnelling, AES-256 encryption, ad and tracker blocking, a double-VPN option called MultiHop (see screenshot below) and a Camouflage Mode that stops your ISP seeing you’re using a VPN.
Such versatility makes Surfshark a strong contender for our favourite VPN, but in practice it lags behind our other award winners. Although it now offers more than 3,200 servers in 65
countries, its connection speeds are variable, its apps are pretty basic and it’s unable to unblock Netflix in some countries. But Surfshark is constantly improving and it’s fantastic value.
BEST OF THE REST CyberGhost www.cyberghostvpn.com
With more than 7,900 servers in 91 countries, CyberGhost’s vast VPN network gives you plenty of choice. It’s incredibly fast and great value, its apps offer useful streaming features such as Netflix and iPlayeroptimised servers, and it can unblock those services from abroad, too, as well as Disney+, Prime Video and Hulu. You can install CyberGhost on up to seven desktop, mobile and streaming devices, and use its ‘Smart rules’ feature (see screenshot below) to connect specific apps to your preferred VPN servers. On the downside, although it publishes regular ‘transparency reports’, CyberGhost hasn’t yet undergone an independent security audit to verify its claimed no-logs policy.
ProtonVPN protonvpn.com
From the makers of ProtonMail, ProtonVPN offers a choice of plans based on your VPN needs. Its free option has servers in only three countries, allows one connection at a time and is fairly slow, but it’s fine for occasional VPN use. The annual Plus subscription is more versatile, offering 1,700 servers in 63 countries, 10 simultaneous connections, speeds of up to 10Gbps and streaming service support. Based in Switzerland, with a strict no-logs policy and protection against ads, trackers and suspicious sites, ProtonVPN Plus also has a feature called Secure Core (see screenshot left), which can route your most sensitive data through servers in “privacy-friendly” countries, away from the Fourteen Eyes.
Windscribe windscribe.com
With only 400 servers in 65 countries, Windscribe can’t compete with our award winners for flexibility, and its connection speeds are only average. However, it trumps those VPNs with its generous free plan. This offers most of the features of its paid subscription, including split tunnelling, tracker blocking and a firewall (see screenshot above) that works like a kill switch, plus access to servers in the US, UK and eight other countries (though you need to pay to unblock Netflix). Best of all, Windscribe gives you 10GB of data for free each month if you enter your email address when you sign up (you still get 2GB if you don’t). There are Windscribe apps for most devices and no limit on how many you can use.