If you’re looking for a VPN, you’ve probably considered ExpressVPN and NordVPN. They’re the darling of YouTube ads around the world, and you’ll often find the names next to each other at the top of the best VPNs list (including our own). They’re actually some of the best VPN services you can buy, but they’re not necessarily the right choice for everyone.
Both are among the most expensive VPN services on the market, and in the case of NordVPN, a data leak in 2019 raised some open questions about the service’s security. Whether you’re concerned about your security or just want to save some money, here are five VPNs to keep an eye on. If you’re looking to bag a bargain, keep our best VPN deals page handy.
Surfshark
If there’s a third major player in the world of VPNs, it’s Surfshark. The Netherlands-based service has been slowly gaining ground against ExpressVPN and NordVPN, costing the same at $13 per month. But it can really make its mark with generous multi-year deals. You can get two years of service for just $60, which is less than the price both NordVPN and ExpressVPN charge for one year.
Surfshark also offers some unique benefits. Most importantly, it allows unlimited simultaneous connections. Both ExpressVPN and NordVPN limit your connections to five and six devices respectively, but Surfshark lets you connect as many devices as you want. It supports virtually any device you might use, from your phone and laptop to an Apple TV—and with a dedicated app in tow.
Additionally, Surfshark has NordVPN’s unique Double Hop feature. This allows you to connect to two servers one after the other, adding an extra layer of security (albeit at the expense of speed). For most people, though, you’ll only need to connect. Surfshark automatically chooses the fastest server in your area and selects the VPN protocol with support for OpenVPN and Wireguard. You also get a kill switch to instantly break your VPN connection in the event of a DNS leak and a range of static IP addresses to choose from.
The biggest downside to Surfshark is that there’s no easy way to try it out for free, at least not on your desktop. Surfshark offers a seven-day free trial, but it’s only available for Android, iOS, and macOS—Windows users are out of luck.
Mullvad VPN
If you’re a security fanatic, Mullvad VPN is for you. The YouTube sponsorships and affiliate programs of the bigger VPN brands can get boring quickly, but Mullvad doesn’t mind. There’s no affiliate program, and you’ve probably never seen Mullvad appear in a YouTube ad. In fact, you don’t even have to enter your email address to create an account – or provide any personal information – and you can pay in cash or cryptocurrency.
It’s truly anonymous. Instead of your credit card and email, Mullvad works like a prepaid phone. You generate an account number on the Mullvad website and enter that number into your app. From there, you can add time to your account and pay as you wish. And yes, cash works. You can send Mullvad your money using a randomly generated payment token, and it even accepts a variety of currencies.
The biggest downside to Mullvad is that it’s much more limited than some of the more popular VPN brands. You only get a fraction of the servers available on services like NordVPN and ExpressVPN, and there are no discounts for multi-year plans. Everyone pays the same price of 5 euros per month (about $5.50). However, if your main concern is your privacy, it’s hard to get much better than Mullvad.
ProtonVPN
Proton VPN is one of the few truly free options on the market. It comes from the same company that developed Proton Mail, the encrypted email service often used for confidential messages, such as when journalists need to talk to sources. Proton VPN expands on the company’s security offerings, and you can download and use Proton VPN for free with no strings attached.
Note that the free version of Proton VPN is extremely limited. Although you can use Proton VPN for as long as you want, the free plan serves more as a trial. You only get one device, are limited to a handful of servers, and speeds are much slower. However, you are protected by Proton VPN’s no-logs policy and don’t have to fight through ads on the free plan.
Paying unlocks a whole lot, including support for 10 simultaneous connections, over 4,500 servers, double-hop connections, and even split tunneling. Split tunneling is particularly worth highlighting, as it’s one of ExpressVPN’s core features. Split tunneling allows you to maintain a VPN connection, but only for a portion of your traffic. You can route sensitive traffic through the VPN tunnel while maintaining your normal internet connection for everything else. This is especially useful for external devices that use your local area network (LAN), such as printers.
Proton VPN is also a bit cheaper than ExpressVPN and NordVPN at around $10 per month. However, it’s the Proton Unlimited plan at $13 per month that really makes it stand out. With an Unlimited plan, you get access to Proton Mail, Calendar, Drive, VPN, and Pass (a password manager), all of which are encrypted. You also get some generous storage limits, with support for 500GB of encrypted storage and 25 calendars.
CyberGhost
Cyberghost isn’t cheaper than ExpressVPN and NordVPN, but like Surfshark, it offers a generous multi-year discount. You can get two years for just $57, plus four months of protection for free. Unlike most other VPNs, Cyberghost also gives you 45 days to get a refund if you’re not happy with the service. There’s even a free trial for Cyberghost that lets you access everything the service has to offer for a limited time (24 hours for Windows and macOS, three days for Android, and seven days for iOS).
Cyberghost’s pricing is truly outstanding. Otherwise, it’s pretty similar to ExpressVPN and NordVPN. You’ll have access to a huge number of servers – Cyberghost claims to have well over 7,000 – and you can install it on everything from your laptop to your router. VPN protocols like OpenVPN and Wireguard are also available and Cyberghost maintains a no-logs policy that’s been independently audited. If there’s anything where Cyberghost really has an edge, it’s device support – you can have up to seven simultaneous connections.
Additionally, Cyberghost maintains a list of peer-to-peer (P2P) servers, similar to NordVPN. These are great for torrenting if you do that for some reason, and will give you the fastest speeds in the notoriously slow P2P file sharing process.
Private Internet access
Private Internet Access, or PIA, has been around for years, and in that time it has built up a dizzyingly large network. The service has more than 29,000 servers spread across 140 locations in 91 countries, including servers in all 50 US states. The vast majority of locations support both OpenVPN and Wireguard, so you don’t have to resort to a weaker VPN protocol when tunneling to an exotic location.
Although it’s not much cheaper than ExpressVPN and NordVPN at $12 per month, PIA offers some unique benefits. It supports up to 10 simultaneous connections to begin with and is on par with ExpressVPN and Proton VPN with a split tunneling feature. Similar to Mullvad, you also have anonymous payment options here. PIA accepts gift cards with a one-time payment and you can pay in cryptocurrency.
But PIA’s biggest advantage is its open source code. The company hosts all of its code on GitHub, from the main VPN stack to features like split tunneling on the Mac, and you can browse the code at your leisure to spot any issues.
