Best VPN Comparison 2026: 10 VPNs, Prices and Evidence

Compare 10 VPNs by price, renewal cost, free-plan limits, privacy, speed and refund terms. Every figure is sourced, with leak checks you can run yourself.

We compared ten VPN providers head-to-head in 2026 across two tiers: the premium group (NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark, Proton VPN, Mullvad) and the budget group (PrivadoVPN, hide.me, FastVPN, iTop VPN, AdGuard VPN). Instead of picking a single winner, this guide helps you match the right VPN to your actual use case, budget, and threat model, with verification steps you can run yourself using our free diagnostic tools.

Where the numbers come from, up front. Pricing, specifications, refund terms, and free-plan limits are checked against each provider's own pages and dated in the Sources section below. Throughput and leak-behaviour figures are drawn from published independent testing and attributed there too. What we contribute is the part you can reproduce: the leak checks linked throughout this article run against your own connection, which is the only result that actually describes your setup.

If you want a fast answer, jump to the verdict by use case. If you want the reasoning, read through the comparison dimensions. Every claim here is something you can verify with Is My VPN Working, the DNS leak test guide, the WebRTC leak test, and the IPv6 leak test.

Ten VPNs at a glance

10 VPNs compared by price, free plan and use case

The providers are grouped by tier, not forced into one artificial overall score. Compare the use case and billing context first, then read the evidence for your shortlist.

Ten VPN providers compared by tier, use case, advertised price, rolling monthly price, and refund or free-plan terms

Provider	Best for	Advertised from	Rolling monthly	Refund / free tier	Next step
NordVPNPremium	Balanced speed, privacy, and everyday use	$3.49/mo	$14.99/mo	30-day money-back guarantee	See plansRead review
⚡ExpressVPNPremium	Simple premium apps and travel	$2.99/mo	Not verified	30-day money-back guarantee	Read review
SurfsharkPremium	Households with many devices	$2.49/mo	$16.45/mo	30-day money-back guarantee	See plansRead review
Proton VPNPremium	Privacy evidence and a usable free tier	$2.99/mo	~$9.99/mo	Free plan with unlimited data	See plansRead review
MullvadPremium	Anonymous accounts and flat pricing	$5.60/mo	$5.60/mo	Flat price; 14-day withdrawal where applicable	Read review
PrivadoVPNBudget / free	A lower-cost free-to-paid path	$1.11/mo	$10.99/mo	Free plan with 10 GB every 30 days	See plansRead review
hide.meBudget / free	Advanced controls and a limited free tier	$2.50/mo	$2.50/mo	Free plan with 10 GB per month	See plansRead review
FastVPNBudget / free	A simple low-cost paid setup	$1.00/mo	$7.88/mo	Refund available; verify current terms	See plansRead review
iTop VPNBudget / free	A feature-heavy free starting point	$2.31/mo	Not verified	Free plan; limits vary by platform	See plansRead review
AdGuard VPNBudget / free	Networks that block conventional VPN traffic	$2.99/mo	Not verified	Free plan with 3 GB per month	See plansSee evidence below

Advertised prices are editorial snapshots, not guarantees. Verify the current prepaid term, upfront total, renewal, currency, taxes, refund exclusions, and eligibility with the provider.

How we evaluate VPNs across both tiers

Our review methodology scores every VPN across the same seven dimensions so premium and budget providers can be compared on a common scale.

1. Privacy posture — jurisdiction, audit history, ownership transparency, no-logs enforcement.
2. Speed consistency — published independent lab results, plus the protocol and routing factors that decide speed on your own line.
3. Streaming reliability — what independent testers confirmed, with dates, because access changes often.
4. App quality — UX, documented kill switch behavior, split tunneling, protocol choice, platform coverage.
5. Leak protection — DNS, WebRTC, and IPv6 results from independent tests, plus the checks you can run yourself with our tools.
6. Pricing honesty — promo vs renewal, upsell traps, refund policy, free-plan disclosure.
7. Support and documentation — live chat quality, knowledge base, protocol-level guidance.

Privacy posture and jurisdiction

Jurisdiction is a tiebreaker, not a headline. What matters more is audit cadence, infrastructure design (RAM-only vs disk), and whether the no-logs claim has ever been stress-tested in court or subpoena.

Premium tier privacy rankings

1. Mullvad — Sweden-based, email-free numbered accounts, cash or Monero payment. Audited multiple times. The purest privacy setup among mainstream VPNs.
2. Proton VPN — Swiss jurisdiction, open-source apps on every platform, recurring independent audits, built on top of Proton Mail's encrypted ecosystem.
3. NordVPN — Panama, RAM-only servers, four completed no-logs audits, large transparency reports. Ownership (Nord Security) is public.
4. ExpressVPN — BVI, TrustedServer RAM-only tech, multiple audits. Owned by Kape Technologies, which has historical marketing-focused reputation concerns.
5. Surfshark — Netherlands (moved from BVI), RAM-only, independent audits, no-logs policy. Now part of the Nord Security group.

Budget tier privacy rankings

1. PrivadoVPN — Switzerland, no-logs claim, same infrastructure for free and paid users. Audit cadence is lighter than premium tier.
2. hide.me — Malaysia, commissioned no-logs audits, anonymous sign-up supported, accepts crypto. Long-running operator.
3. FastVPN — USA (Namecheap), no-logs claim but no independent audit at the level of the premium tier. US jurisdiction is a consideration if your threat model includes legal process.
4. AdGuard VPN — Cyprus, operated by AdGuard Software Limited, outside the 5/9/14 Eyes arrangements but inside GDPR. States it keeps no traffic logs on VPN servers, and retains byte counts for 90 days to enforce plan limits. No independent audit of the apps or the no-logs claim has been published, which is the gap between it and the premium tier.
5. iTop VPN — Documented ownership ties to Chinese software entities, privacy policy broader than industry norm, jurisdictional claims have shifted over time. Not a choice for privacy-sensitive work.

Speed consistency

The most recent independent lab comparison covering several of these providers is AV-TEST's VPN Comparative Test, run in February 2025 and published in October 2025. It was commissioned by Kaspersky, whose own products took the top places, so treat it as one dated data point rather than a neutral league table. AV-TEST ran each app with default settings on identical Windows 11 virtual machines in Microsoft Azure, in three regions (US West Coast, the Netherlands, and Japan), several times a day for a week. "Local" means the VPN server was in the same region as the test machine; "overseas" means a different region.

• Surfshark — about 2,493 Mb/s local and 1,377 Mb/s overseas download, the highest download results of the four providers in this comparison that AV-TEST covered.
• NordVPN — about 2,091 Mb/s local and 1,047 Mb/s overseas download, plus one of the best local upload results (about 2,732 Mb/s).
• Proton VPN — about 1,061 Mb/s local and 800 Mb/s overseas download.
• ExpressVPN — about 834 Mb/s local and 839 Mb/s overseas download, but the best overseas upload of every product tested (about 863 Mb/s).

For scale, the average across all ten products AV-TEST measured was about 1,412 Mb/s local and 800 Mb/s overseas download. Those are data-center connections, far faster than a home line, so the absolute figures will not repeat at home; the ranking is the useful part. AV-TEST did not include Mullvad, PrivadoVPN, FastVPN, hide.me, iTop VPN, or AdGuard VPN. We found no comparable independent lab results for the first five, so we do not quote speed figures for them.

AdGuard VPN sits outside that list deliberately. Published reviews measured it on connections between roughly 28 and 65 Mbps rather than a gigabit line, so quoting an absolute figure next to the numbers above would invite a comparison the underlying tests do not support. What those reviews consistently report is the shape: close to baseline on nearby servers, and a 25 to 35 percent drop on intercontinental routes, with one reviewer noting speeds holding above 60 percent of baseline everywhere except Brazil.

That shape is what you would expect from the protocol. TrustTunnel carries traffic inside TLS over HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 rather than using WireGuard, and the extra framing costs more on long routes than on short ones. The long-haul penalty is the price of a connection that looks like ordinary HTTPS. If that trade matters to you, measure it on your own line with our speed test rather than trusting any figure here, including these.

Streaming reliability

Streaming access changes week to week, because Netflix, the BBC, and Disney block VPN IP ranges as they find them, so any success rate goes stale quickly. The most recent independent check we found is AV-TEST's February 2025 test, which confirmed access to US Netflix. It did not cover the other providers here, or other streaming services.

• US Netflix confirmed by AV-TEST (February 2025) — NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark, Proton VPN.
• No independent confirmation found — PrivadoVPN, FastVPN, hide.me, iTop VPN, AdGuard VPN.
• Not marketed for streaming — Mullvad.

Whichever you pick, check the exact services and countries you care about during the money-back window, before the refund period ends.

App quality and platform coverage

App quality is where the premium tier justifies its price most clearly. NordVPN and ExpressVPN have the most polished clients on every platform. Mullvad has the cleanest, most minimal UI. Proton VPN is the only one with fully open-source clients on every major platform.

In the budget tier, hide.me has the broadest platform coverage including Linux GUI and router guides. PrivadoVPN offers solid desktop and mobile apps. FastVPN ships simplified clients. iTop VPN has a Windows-first experience; its other platforms lag.

Protocols, kill switch, and leak protection

AdGuard VPN is the one genuine exception to the protocol pattern below. It runs neither WireGuard nor OpenVPN, using its own protocol, TrustTunnel, which carries traffic over HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 inside TLS so that the connection resembles ordinary HTTPS rather than a recognisable VPN handshake. That is a real advantage on networks which fingerprint and block conventional protocols, and AdGuard published the specification under Apache 2.0 rather than keeping it proprietary. It is also why speed and leak figures from the other providers do not transfer to it by analogy.

All ten support WireGuard or an equivalent modern protocol on at least desktop. NordVPN uses NordLynx (WireGuard wrapped), ExpressVPN uses Lightway, Mullvad and Proton use stock WireGuard, and Surfshark supports both WireGuard and its own stack.

Kill switch reliability matters more than most marketing pages admit, and the published tests show it depends on the failure. In AV-TEST's February 2025 Windows tests, the kill switches of NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark, and Proton VPN all cut the connection with zero delay when the network dropped, and none of the four leaked DNS, IP, or WebRTC data. RTINGS found that Surfshark's kill switch still lets some unencrypted traffic out after a system reboot or an app crash, while NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Proton VPN, Mullvad, and AdGuard VPN held in its tests. The budget picks without lab data are covered below. Whatever the reports say, run your own checks:

• DNS leak test guide — DNS must go through the VPN tunnel, not your ISP
• WebRTC leak test — your browser must not leak your real IP
• IPv6 leak test — IPv6 must be tunneled or disabled

Pricing breakdown

Promo pricing is misleading across the board: the rate you see covers only the first term, and most of these VPNs renew higher. The figures below are the longest-term rates listed in October 2026. Renewal prices and refund terms follow in the renewal section further down, and each provider's plan page keeps the dated price table.

Premium tier pricing

• NordVPN — $3.49/month for Basic on the 2-year plan plus 3 months ($94.23 up front).
• ExpressVPN — $2.99/month for Basic on the 2-year plan plus 4 months ($83.72 up front).
• Surfshark — $2.49/month for Starter on the 24-month plan, or $3.39/month on 12 months. Best unlimited-devices deal.
• Proton VPN — $2.99/month for VPN Plus on the 24-month plan in the offer Proton's site showed us, or $3.49/month ($83.76 up front) on its public pricing page. A real unlimited-data free tier is also available.
• Mullvad — a flat EUR5/month, about $5.60, on every term. No discounts, no upsells. Accepts cash and Monero.

Budget tier pricing

• PrivadoVPN — $1.11/month on the 24-month plan with 3 free months. 10 GB/month free plan on the paid server network.
• hide.me — from $2.50/month in the offer its site showed us; 2026 reviews put the two-year plan at $69.99 for 26 months. Minimal upsells.
• FastVPN — $1.00/month for the first year ($12 up front); the 3-year plan works out to $1.88/month ($67.68). Cheapest respectable option of the ten.
• AdGuard VPN — $2.99/month on the 2-year plan. The refund window is the detail to read: 30 days, but only on one- and two-year subscriptions bought directly, so the monthly plan carries no guarantee at all. 3 GB/month free tier.
• iTop VPN — $2.31/month in the offer its site showed us; the public purchase page listed $1.66/month for 24 months plus 12 extra ($59.99) and $2.50/month for 24 months. Check the cart for add-ons before paying.

Free plans compared

Five of the ten have real free tiers, and they are not comparable in any simple way.

• Proton VPN Free — No data cap, medium speed, one device, and connections selected from servers in 10 countries. Best overall free plan from a premium provider, and the only one here you will not exhaust mid-month.
• PrivadoVPN Free — 10 GB/month at full speed across 12 locations, no ads. Best free plan in the budget tier.
• hide.me Free — 10 GB/month, 8 locations, full protocol choice, anonymous sign-up.
• AdGuard VPN Free — 3 GB/month, the smallest allowance here, but on the same TrustTunnel protocol as the paid plan. Useful as a way to test whether that protocol gets through a network that blocks WireGuard before paying anything.
• iTop VPN Free — Unlimited data but intentionally throttled and ad-heavy. Usability suffers.

Verification steps (run these after you install any VPN)

1. Visit Is My VPN Working with the VPN off. Note your real IP, ISP, and location.
2. Connect the VPN. Reload. The IP, ASN, and country should match the provider, not your ISP.
3. Run a resolver-aware DNS leak test (see our DNS leak test guide). The server list should show only the VPN's DNS, not your ISP.
4. Run the WebRTC leak test in the browser you actually use.
5. Run the IPv6 leak test. If IPv6 leaks, disable it at the OS level until the VPN tunnels it properly.
6. Deliberately kill the connection. The kill switch should block traffic until the VPN reconnects.

Which VPN should you actually pick?

If you want the best overall experience

NordVPN. Strong independent speed and kill switch results, US Netflix access confirmed in AV-TEST's 2025 test, audited no-logs, deep platform support. Read the full NordVPN review.

If you want the most polished apps

ExpressVPN. The smoothest out-of-the-box experience, especially on mobile. See the ExpressVPN review.

If you want unlimited devices at low cost

Surfshark. Part of the Nord Security group, with unlimited simultaneous connections and the best download results of the providers here that AV-TEST tested in 2025. See the Surfshark review.

If you want privacy-first with a usable free plan

Proton VPN. Swiss, open-source apps, unlimited free tier. Read the Proton VPN review.

If you want hardline privacy with no compromises

Mullvad. Flat 5 euros per month, no email, cash accepted, Swedish jurisdiction. See the Mullvad review.

If you want the best free plan in the budget tier

PrivadoVPN. Swiss jurisdiction, 10 GB free on the paid server network. See the PrivadoVPN review.

If you want privacy on a budget

hide.me. The budget tier provider that most resembles a premium VPN in approach. See the hide.me review.

If you want the cheapest respectable option

FastVPN. Around $1/month on long-term billing from a known hosting brand. See the FastVPN review.

If you just need a Windows app to unblock something

iTop VPN works but avoid it for anything privacy-sensitive. See the iTop VPN review for the full context.

If conventional VPN protocols get blocked on your network

AdGuard VPN. The only provider here that does not run WireGuard or OpenVPN. TrustTunnel disguises the connection as ordinary HTTPS, which is the practical answer when a school, office, or country-level filter fingerprints and blocks standard VPN handshakes. The 3 GB free tier is enough to confirm it gets through before you pay. On leak behaviour, vpnMentor and SafetyDetectives both report no DNS, WebRTC, or IPv6 leaks across the servers they tested; those are their results, not ours, and both are listed in Sources. The outstanding gap is that AdGuard has published no independent audit of its apps or its no-logs claim, which is what separates it from the premium tier.

Common VPN misconceptions

• "Lifetime" VPN deals. If a VPN costs $30 once forever, assume the business model is selling data, selling bandwidth, or the company will close within 24 months.
• Unlimited free plans. Unlimited free VPN bandwidth is paid for somewhere, usually tracking, ads, or reselling your connection as an exit node for strangers.
• "No logs" without an audit. A no-logs claim without independent audit is marketing copy. Prefer providers with recurring audits.
• VPNs make you anonymous. They do not. They shift trust from your ISP to the VPN provider and make it harder (not impossible) to link activity to you.
• Server count equals quality. 10,000 servers across 100 countries is a marketing number. Server health, load, and IP reputation matter more than raw count.

When to re-evaluate your VPN choice

Revisit your VPN choice at least once a year. Triggers for switching include: the provider missing an audit cycle, leadership or ownership changes, documented logging incidents, streaming services blocking the VPN for months, significant price hikes at renewal, or new laws in the VPN's jurisdiction that force data retention.

Final verdict

NordVPN is our overall pick for most users. It combines strong independent speed and kill switch results, confirmed US Netflix access, and a long audit history. Proton VPN is the pick for privacy-first users who still want a mainstream experience and a real free tier. Mullvad is the pick for users who treat privacy as non-negotiable. In the budget tier, PrivadoVPN is the best value and hide.me is the privacy-focused runner-up. FastVPN wins on pure price. AdGuard VPN is the pick for one specific problem: networks that detect and block conventional VPN protocols, where its TrustTunnel protocol gets through by resembling ordinary HTTPS. iTop VPN only makes sense for narrow casual use.

Protocol support matrix across all ten providers

Protocols are not marketing fluff. The wire protocol determines speed ceiling, reconnection behavior, firewall penetration, and how hard the connection is to fingerprint. Every provider in this comparison supports at least one modern protocol, but the combinations differ in ways that matter for specific use cases.

WireGuard is the default on NordVPN (NordLynx), Surfshark, Proton VPN, Mullvad, hide.me, and PrivadoVPN. It is the fastest option on every platform in published benchmarks and uses modern cryptography (ChaCha20-Poly1305, Curve25519, BLAKE2s). ExpressVPN uses its own Lightway protocol instead of WireGuard. Lightway Turbo is the 2025 upgrade that adds multi-threaded packet processing and closes most of the historical speed gap. FastVPN and iTop VPN both offer WireGuard, but only on selected apps.

OpenVPN remains the universal fallback. Every provider supports it. You will notice the speed hit immediately: expect roughly 30 to 50 percent slower than WireGuard on the same route. OpenVPN is valuable when you need to traverse a restrictive firewall because it can run on TCP port 443 and look indistinguishable from regular HTTPS traffic at the network layer.

TrustTunnel is AdGuard VPN's own protocol and the one genuine outlier in this comparison, because AdGuard ships neither WireGuard nor OpenVPN. It carries traffic over HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 inside TLS, which is the same camouflage idea as running OpenVPN on TCP 443, except built in from the start rather than bolted on. The practical difference is that OpenVPN pays a 30 to 50 percent speed penalty for that disguise while TrustTunnel is designed around it. AdGuard published the specification and a reference implementation under Apache 2.0, so it is no longer a proprietary black box, though it has had far less external review than WireGuard. Choose it when a network fingerprints and blocks conventional VPN handshakes; there is little reason to prefer it otherwise.

IKEv2/IPsec is still shipped by NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark, and hide.me. Proton VPN still documents IKEv2/IPsec for manual and third-party-client setups, but its current app story centers on WireGuard, OpenVPN, and Stealth. The main practical reason to keep IKEv2 around in 2026 is mobile roaming. IKEv2 handles interface changes (cellular to Wi-Fi handoff) more cleanly than either WireGuard or OpenVPN, especially on iOS where the OS aggressively tears down idle tunnels.

Obfuscated protocols are where the list narrows quickly. NordVPN offers obfuscated OpenVPN servers. ExpressVPN has automatic obfuscation baked into Lightway and OpenVPN when it detects interference. Surfshark offers NoBorders mode. Proton VPN has Stealth, built on TLS over TCP. Mullvad can wrap WireGuard in Shadowsocks or UDP-over-TCP. hide.me has no dedicated obfuscation mode, but its SoftEther and SSL tunnels are fallbacks for networks that interfere with VPN traffic (its StealthGuard feature binds apps to the VPN; it does not disguise traffic). PrivadoVPN, FastVPN, and iTop VPN do not meaningfully obfuscate traffic, which rules them out for use inside networks that actively block VPN signatures.

Kill switch behavior: what independent tests found

Every VPN in this comparison advertises a kill switch. What differs is how it behaves when the tunnel drops unexpectedly, how long traffic is exposed before the block, and whether DNS is covered during the gap. We have not run our own kill switch stress tests, so this section reports the published ones and then shows how to test your own device.

Network drops (AV-TEST, February 2025, Windows 11). AV-TEST disabled and re-enabled the network adapter and unplugged the network cable for set periods. The kill switches of NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark, and Proton VPN disconnected the internet with zero delay in every scenario.

Reboots and app crashes (RTINGS, reviews checked October 2026). RTINGS also tests what happens when the system restarts or the VPN app crashes. NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Proton VPN, Mullvad, and AdGuard VPN kept traffic blocked. Surfshark let some unencrypted traffic leak after a reboot or a software crash, which AV-TEST's network-drop scenarios would not catch.

Not independently tested. Neither lab covered PrivadoVPN, hide.me, FastVPN, or iTop VPN. Treat their kill switches as unverified until you test them yourself.

To test any kill switch: connect the VPN and open Is My VPN Working. Force a drop by unplugging the network cable, switching Wi-Fi networks, or ending the VPN app from the task manager, and reload the page during the gap. Your real IP should never appear; if it does, the kill switch does not cover that scenario. Repeat after a reboot and after waking the device from sleep.

Platform-specific deep dives

The native client is where you live. A provider with a beautiful Windows app and a rough Linux client is not the same product on both platforms. Here is how the ten providers compare on each platform, based on their documented apps.

Windows. NordVPN and ExpressVPN have the most polished Windows clients, with granular split-tunneling, auto connect on untrusted Wi-Fi, and built-in speed tests. Proton VPN is close behind with the cleanest network debug panel for power users. Surfshark has GUI parity. Mullvad is minimal by design and some users find the lack of toggles refreshing. hide.me, PrivadoVPN, FastVPN, and iTop VPN all ship functional clients; only iTop noticeably lags on UI polish and translation quality.

macOS. All ten have native Mac apps. NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Proton VPN, and Mullvad use the system Network Extension framework, which is the modern approach Apple recommends. Surfshark, hide.me, and PrivadoVPN ship both Network Extension and legacy tun/tap builds; prefer the Network Extension variant. FastVPN and iTop VPN are still catching up on Apple Silicon optimization.

Linux. The gap widens here. Mullvad and Proton VPN have by far the best Linux experience, with real GUI clients that match the Windows and Mac versions. NordVPN ships a Linux CLI (good) and a GUI only for Ubuntu and derivatives (limiting). ExpressVPN ships a CLI that is feature-complete but text-only. Surfshark and hide.me support Linux via CLI or WireGuard config files. PrivadoVPN, FastVPN, and iTop VPN treat Linux as an afterthought. If you live on Linux, shortlist Mullvad and Proton VPN first.

iOS. Apple tightly constrains what any VPN app can do. All ten work. The differentiators are how well the app handles background reconnection and whether per-app exclusions exist. None of the ten can do per-app exclusion on iOS because Apple does not expose that API.

Android. Per-app exclusions work here and every provider except iTop VPN implements them well. Mullvad stands out for shipping a reproducible build and an F-Droid release. NordVPN and Surfshark have the best polished Android apps with split-tunneling and auto-connect based on Wi-Fi SSID.

Router. NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark, Proton VPN, Mullvad, and hide.me all publish up-to-date router configuration guides. ExpressVPN is the only one in this comparison that ships a custom firmware (Aircove router) for users who want plug-and-play router coverage. PrivadoVPN, FastVPN, and iTop VPN can be loaded on routers via OpenVPN or WireGuard configs, but documentation is thinner.

Where these numbers come from

Speed and leak figures are easy to manipulate, so it is worth being exact about their provenance rather than presenting everything as one undifferentiated set of results.

• Specifications, pricing, refund terms, and free-plan limits come from each provider's own pages and are dated in the Sources section. These we check directly, because they change often and are the claims most likely to be stale elsewhere.
• Throughput and leak-behaviour figures are drawn from published independent testing, attributed in Sources. We do not operate a multi-continent benchmark lab, and a comparison that pretends otherwise is worth less than one that tells you where its numbers came from.
• What we verify ourselves is the part any reader can reproduce: whether a given connection leaks DNS, WebRTC, or IPv6 right now, using the tools linked throughout this article. That is the check that actually matters for your connection, and it is worth more than a benchmark taken on hardware that is not yours.

Speed figures are also less transferable than they look. The headline number a provider quotes is almost always the nearest-server result. What matters is the long route, where protocol efficiency and peering quality show up, and that varies by your own ISP and location in ways no published benchmark can predict for you. Treat the numbers below as a ranking of orders of magnitude, not a promise about your line.

The useful version of a speed test is the one you run yourself, and it takes two minutes. Measure your unprotected baseline with our internet speed test and write the number down. Connect the VPN, pick the nearest server, and measure again. Then repeat on a server in the country you actually need, because that second figure is the one that decides whether a provider works for you. A modest drop on the near hop is normal for a modern protocol; a collapse on the long hop is the result worth acting on, and no review can measure it from somewhere else.

The closest published figure to "how much of my line do I keep" is AV-TEST's torrent test, because it reports speed as a share of the same connection without a VPN. On local servers, Surfshark kept about 70 percent, ExpressVPN about 65, NordVPN about 64, and Proton VPN about 46 percent. On overseas servers, Proton VPN kept about 53 percent, Surfshark about 49, NordVPN about 48, and ExpressVPN about 43 percent. No comparable figures were published for the other providers here.

Streaming: which services work where

Streaming access changes week to week, and we have not run our own streaming tests, so this section separates what an independent tester confirmed from what is only advertised.

Netflix. AV-TEST confirmed US Netflix access with NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark, and Proton VPN in February 2025. We found no independent confirmation for hide.me, PrivadoVPN, FastVPN, or iTop VPN. Mullvad does not market streaming access, so treat any success there as luck of the exit IP.

BBC iPlayer, Disney Plus, Hulu, Prime Video, Max. None of the independent tests in our sources covered these services across the providers in this comparison. Check the provider's current streaming page before you buy, then confirm the service works during the refund window.

Sport-specific services like DAZN, ESPN Plus, and Sky Sports are the hardest to unblock because they often tie access to the country of your payment method, which a VPN cannot change.

Torrenting and P2P

If you torrent, you want three things: a port-forwarding or dedicated P2P server option, a real kill switch, and a clear no-logs posture. NordVPN, Proton VPN, and Mullvad are the strongest picks. Proton VPN offers port forwarding on paid plans, which is essential for seeding efficiently. Mullvad deprecated port forwarding in 2023 citing abuse. NordVPN offers dedicated P2P servers, but port forwarding only with its Dedicated Server add-on. ExpressVPN allows P2P on all servers but does not offer port forwarding. Surfshark allows P2P and includes an IP rotator that shuffles exit IPs on a schedule.

Budget picks for torrenting: PrivadoVPN allows P2P at a low price, though it does not document port forwarding. hide.me allows P2P on all of its servers and includes dynamic port forwarding on Premium. FastVPN allows P2P. iTop VPN does not list explicit P2P support and we do not recommend it for torrenting.

Gaming

Latency matters more than bandwidth for gaming. The decisive factor is your route from home to the game server, not raw encryption overhead. AV-TEST's February 2025 test is the most useful published reference: on local connections, where the line without a VPN measured 1 to 2 ms, NordVPN averaged about 3.1 ms and Surfshark about 3.4 ms. ExpressVPN averaged about 11.8 ms and Proton VPN about 36.1 ms, both pulled up by slow US connections in that test. We found no comparable figures for Mullvad or the budget providers. Ping the game server you actually use with and without the VPN; that difference is the number that matters for you.

For competitive FPS players, added latency above 20 ms is usually noticeable. For MMOs, MOBAs, and most casual gaming, any of the premium picks is fine. Split tunneling is especially useful here: route only the game client through the VPN if you want geo-unblocking for a regional server, and leave voice chat on the open connection for lower jitter.

Travel and public Wi-Fi

If your primary use case is hotel Wi-Fi and airport lounges, the decision flips toward reliability and obfuscation rather than raw speed. Captive portals, enterprise firewalls, and flaky hotel networks are the real world. For networks that block VPNs, look for documented obfuscation: Proton VPN Stealth, Surfshark NoBorders, NordVPN obfuscated servers, Mullvad Bridges, and ExpressVPN's automatic obfuscation. We have not tested them on captive portals ourselves, so connect once on the hotel network and run Is My VPN Working before you rely on it.

Auto connect on untrusted Wi-Fi is a feature we consider mandatory for travel use. NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark, Proton VPN, Mullvad, and hide.me all implement it. PrivadoVPN has partial support. Check FastVPN and iTop VPN's current apps for the option before relying on it.

Journalism and high-threat privacy

If you are a journalist, researcher, or activist whose threat model includes a well-resourced adversary, the picks narrow sharply. Mullvad and Proton VPN are the only two we comfortably recommend. Both have clean audit histories, neither requires an email for signup (Mullvad) or can be paid for with cash (both). Mullvad goes further by letting you generate a random account number on the website with no identifying information at all.

For high-threat use, also layer with Tor through your VPN or Tor through a trusted exit, use a dedicated device, and assume that the VPN is only one part of your operational security. No VPN by itself defeats a determined adversary with legal subpoena power and traffic analysis capability.

Pricing, renewal traps, and refund terms

Long-term VPN pricing is deliberately confusing. The discount covers the first term only, so the renewal price and the refund terms decide what you actually pay. This is what each provider listed in October 2026.

NordVPN: Basic renews at $139.08 a year after the first 27 months, about $11.59 a month; month-to-month is $14.99. The 30-day refund covers the initial purchase, not renewals.

ExpressVPN: Basic renews at $99.95 a year after the first 28 months, about $8.33 a month. 30-day money-back guarantee for new users.

Surfshark: month-to-month Starter is $16.45. Its published plan rates do not list renewal prices, so check the renewal amount at checkout. The 30-day refund covers the initial purchase, one refund per service.

Proton VPN Plus: the 24-month plan renews every 12 months at $83.88, so the yearly cost roughly doubles after the first term. 30-day money-back guarantee on paid plans.

Mullvad: a flat EUR5 per month on every term, so there is no renewal jump. The money-back window is 14 days, except for cash payments. Mullvad also accepts cash in envelopes mailed to Sweden.

hide.me: its pricing page says plans renew at the same price and for the same duration. Refunds need a written request within 30 days of the first order; renewals are excluded.

PrivadoVPN: $1.11 a month on the 24-month plan against $10.99 month-to-month, the steepest headline discount in this comparison. Renewal prices were not listed, so check them before the term ends. 30-day money-back guarantee on the 12- and 24-month plans.

FastVPN (Namecheap): the $12 first year renews at $34.56 a year, and month-to-month is $7.88 after a 30-day free trial. There is one 30-day refund window, and no refunds after it.

AdGuard VPN: introductory discounts apply to the first term only, and automatic renewals use the full standard price. Refunds within 30 days cover one- and two-year subscriptions bought directly; monthly subscriptions are nonrefundable.

iTop VPN: aggressive discounting, but the purchase page does not list renewal prices; iTop emails a notice 7 days before an automatic renewal. Read the specific plan page before purchase.

Common migration scenarios

Switching VPNs is common. Three typical moves: ExpressVPN to NordVPN (speed and price), any provider to Mullvad (privacy concerns), and free-tier to paid (when the user hits data caps or streaming blocks).

For any migration, follow this sequence: (1) cancel auto-renewal on the old provider but keep the service active through the refund window, (2) install and configure the new provider on every device, (3) verify leaks on all devices using Is My VPN Working and DNS Leak Test Guide, (4) uninstall the old client only after you are satisfied, (5) request the refund from the old provider if you are still inside the guarantee window.

Expanded FAQ

Do I need a VPN at home? On a home network protected by WPA2 or WPA3, the network threat model is low. A VPN at home is mostly about preventing your ISP from profiling your browsing and unblocking geo-restricted content. If that matters to you, yes. If not, you can run a VPN only on public networks.

Do I need a VPN if I only use HTTPS sites? HTTPS protects the content of your traffic but leaks metadata: DNS queries, SNI (the hostname in TLS ClientHello), the exit IP you are talking to, and packet sizes/timing. A VPN hides those from your ISP and local network. If your threat model includes your ISP or local network operator, a VPN still helps.

Are free VPNs safe? Free plans from Proton VPN, PrivadoVPN, and hide.me are safe because they are funded by paying customers. Avoid free-only providers whose sole product is a free VPN; their revenue model is usually your data.

What is a double-hop or multi-hop VPN? Your traffic exits through two VPN servers instead of one. NordVPN, Surfshark, Proton VPN, and Mullvad offer it. The privacy gain is small against most adversaries and the speed cost is real. Use multi-hop only when your threat model specifically calls for it.

Does a VPN protect against malware? No, and any VPN that claims it does is overselling. Built-in blockers like NordVPN Threat Protection and Proton VPN NetShield block known-bad domains at the DNS layer, which helps, but they are not a substitute for an endpoint security product.

Can I use a VPN on a smart TV or console? Most smart TVs and consoles do not accept VPN client apps directly. Options: (a) run the VPN on your router, (b) use the provider's DNS-only Smart DNS feature, (c) share a VPN connection from a laptop to the TV via virtual hotspot. NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark all offer Smart DNS.

Will a VPN slow down my internet? Yes, slightly. Expect a 10 to 25 percent drop on nearby servers with WireGuard, more on distant servers or older protocols. If the drop is larger, see our troubleshooting section below.

Troubleshooting: slow speeds after connecting

If your speeds drop more than 30 percent on a nearest-city server, work through this list:

1. Switch protocol to WireGuard (or NordLynx / Lightway equivalent) if you are on OpenVPN or IKEv2.
2. Change server. Some servers are congested at peak hours. Pick a different city in the same country.
3. Disable any always-on obfuscation if you do not need it. Obfuscation adds CPU overhead and a small speed penalty.
4. Check your local CPU. Older devices can bottleneck on AES if they lack AES-NI. Switch to a ChaCha20-based protocol like WireGuard.
5. Re-test your underlying connection first to rule out ISP issues. The VPN is rarely the only variable.

Troubleshooting: streaming service says you are using a VPN

The message varies ("streaming error", "unblocker or proxy detected", a generic region notice). Steps that work in practice:

1. Clear cookies for the streaming site. Stale cookies contain a previous location hint that contradicts your current IP.
2. Switch to a different server in the same country. The specific exit IP gets flagged, not the whole country.
3. Try a dedicated streaming server if the provider offers one.
4. Flush DNS on your device and in the app. Particularly on iOS and smart TVs, DNS caches persist beyond IP changes.
5. Contact the VPN's support. The premium providers actively rotate streaming IP pools when servers get burned.

Final methodology note

This comparison is research-based. We do not run our own speed, streaming, or kill switch tests: performance and leak results come from the independent testers named above (AV-TEST and RTINGS, plus the AdGuard VPN reviews cited), with their dates, and specifications, pricing, and refund terms come from each provider's own pages. We update the comparison when something material changes: new audit reports, ownership changes, infrastructure migrations (for example to RAM-only servers), renewal price shifts, or newer independent test results. If a provider we ranked highly misses its next audit window or has a documented logging incident, the article is updated and the change dated.

Related reading

• Our top VPN picks (continuously updated)
• Is My VPN Working — verify any VPN in under a minute
• How to hide my IP address
• What is a VPN and how it works
• DNS leak test guide: is your VPN leaking DNS?
• Our VPN review methodology

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By Tudor Uzun

Founder and Senior Software Engineer, IP Trackers

Published April 17, 2026Updated October 24, 2026Editorial standards