CyberGhost VPN Premium

SCORE $70 per year from cyberghostvpn.com

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yberGhost is arguably the biggest name in virtual private networks, but it certainly isn’t the cheapest: the $70-per-year cost covers one device alone. Only the Premium Plus service, a pricey $110 per year, provides five simultaneous devices, and even then that’s fewer than our Recommended choice of NordVPN... which costs $69 per year.

CyberGhost’s long experience means extensive coverage: at the time of writing, it has 636 live servers running in 30 countries, and every major OS is covered. There’s also a handy Chrome extension.

The software has an integrated kill switch, which shuts down your internet connection in the event of a service outage, preventing IP leakage. The firm also has a no logs policy (something it shares with all the services on review here). And since it’s based in Romania, there’s less chance that any data the firm holds on you will be shared with others countries; if a VPN service is based in the US, say, then your information could be shared with UK officials.

There’s a whole bunch of extras thrown in to justify the price, from anti-malware protection to ad-tracker blocking to data compression for faster browsing. However, I’m not sure that any number of bonus features makes up for what is, fundamentally, an overpriced service.

If you simply need protection for your wireless-hotspot surfing activities then CyberGhost’s free facility is worth considering, though. You can’t set your location manually, and you have to wait for a few minutes in a “queue”, but there’s no data cap and I found speed to be as quick locally as my non-VPN-protected connection.

ExpressVPN claims it’s the “fastest VPN service on Earth”. It’s a difficult claim to test, purely because there are so many variables involved, but I found speeds similar to rival services: expect rates to drop by around two-thirds when connecting via servers in the US.

There’s no free trial, only a 30-day money back guarantee, and a price of $100 per year is steep considering the level of service offered. For that, you’re only able to establish three concurrent connections to NordVPN’s six.

Security-conscious users should note ExpressVPN is based in the British Virgin Islands, an administrative arm of the UK. Since the UK is part of the “Five Eyes” group of countries that have agreements in place to share intelligence, agencies could sidestep domestic restrictions governing spying on its own citizens.

However, ExpressVPN doesn’t keep records of your activities, it accepts anonymous payments – either via email or Bitcoin – plus it has kill-switch capability, so if you lose connectivity then your session will shut down before your IP address leaks.

It’s a doddle to use, too. Fire it up, pick from the list of locations, and off you go. There’s even a speed-test utility to check how quick any given server is likely to be before you select it. The only real irritation is that you have to disconnect to change server location and settings, and it takes a while to establish a new connection. What rescues ExpressVPN are its user interface and superb customer-service ratings.

HideMyAss (HMA) is a UK-based VPN that distinguishes itself from the competition not only due to its memorable name, but also through its breadth of choice: you can pick between 920 different servers across 120 countries. That means you should always find a server that’s reliable and speedy – which I found to be true, but similar to other services here: on testing, it reduced download speeds by around two-thirds. It’s packed full of features, both core and advanced. HMA is a tinkerer’s dream, allowing you to choose servers randomly, semi-randomly by country, and manually. It gives you the option to change IP address at regular intervals, while IP binding allows users to prevent certain applications from accessing the internet until a secure connection to one of HMA’s servers has been established. There’s even a speed-test utility to help you find the quickest server in your chosen location.

There’s support for Windows, OS X, Android and iOS, and it ticks all of the boxes when it comes to core features bar one: there’s no kill-switch facility (the secure IP binding mitigates this somewhat).

Although there’s no free trial, the firm does offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. What stops it from winning a recommendation is its high price: £48 per year for two simultaneous device connections pales in comparison to NordVPN, and note that this is a special offer that ends on 31 August.

“£48 per year for two simultaneous device connections pales in comparison to NordVPN”