CyberGhostVPN
4.3
- Worldwide coverage
- Most extensive platform and device support
- A great incentive for long-term plans
CyberGhost is known as one of the most user-friendly solutions in the industry, which may explain why it's always one of the top five VPN solutions. It also offers the most support on devices and operating systems out of all the VPNs we observed, which was 15 total, including routers, video game consoles, and smart TVs. CyberGhost is the perfect balance between security, speed, and customization that keeps the tool effective yet simple to use.
Outside of offering many more popular security protocols, CyberGhost also includes WireGuard protocol support, which is unique to the Linux operating system. CyberGhost also has military-grade 256 bit encryption in combination with SHA256 authentication and RSA key 4096. For those that value privacy, CyberGhost offers the ability to use TOR in tandem with the CyberGhost VPN, which helps also disguise your activity in countries where it may be frowned upon.
CyberGhost is one of the more expensive solutions on the market, pushing the envelope at $12.99 a month. It offers a six-month plan at $7.99 per month and a yearly plan at $2.75 per month that encourages users to subscribe for the entire year to reap the benefits. Unfortunately, it only offers a one-day free trial but, on the flip side, it honors a 45-day money-back refund if the user isn't happy.
Pros & Cons
There are many benefits to CyberGhost, including worldwide coverage and its vast support system for multiple devices and operating systems. CyberGhost is deemed a more technical solution that is not as user-friendly for those not technically savvy. It is also more expensive than similar products on a month-to-month basis.
Pros
- Worldwide coverage
- Most extensive platform and device support
- A great incentive for long-term plans
Cons
- Doesn't work out of the box
- More expensive than leading competitors
What Customers Are Saying
Many reviews state that people are happy with the resulting product as it is versatile and speedy, but the initial setup may take additional knowledge to get it working correctly. There were very few reviews on poor performance.
Summary
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Starting Price
- One-month: $12.99
- Six-mont: $7.99/month
- 1 year plan: $2.75/month
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Free Trial/Demo
1 Day Free Trial
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Support
24/7 Live Chat
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Number of Countries Available
90+ countries
ExpressVPN
4.6
- Wonderful customer support
- Many protocols to choose from
- Torrenting is allowed
ExpressVPN is rated one of the best overall virtual private network (VPN) solutions for several reasons. We have found that a combination of speed, reliability, and security features play into why ExpressVPN is rated number one. While its price is more on the high side, users are getting the best bang for their buck with an easy-to-use interface, multiplatform capabilities, and generous coverage across the world. Whether you are a newbie to VPNs or a veteran user, Most will find that ExpressVPN suits all their needs.
ExpressVPN has recently released a brand new VPN protocol called Lightway, this protocol was created to help remove weaknesses and bugs that may reside in some of the legacy protocols. Lightway focuses on using a minimal code base, which allows for faster and more reliable performance as well as enhanced auditing. Lightway also includes a feature that allows for seamless transitions between VPN connections to provide persistence and uninterrupted service.
ExpressVPN is one of the more expensive VPN solutions out there, but it is not without warrant. ExpressVPN backs its one-month price point of $12.95 with top-of-the-line features, security, and speed. ExpressVPN offers incentives for signing long-term agreements, including a six-month ($9.99 a month) and a 15-month ($6.67 a month) deal. As always, ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on its services.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Wonderful customer support
- Many protocols to choose from
- Torrenting is allowed
Cons
- More expensive than leading competitors
What Customers Are Saying
We have seen, for the most part, users of ExpressVPN are delighted with the product overall. There was a wide range of reviews from all operating systems and professional backgrounds with the same messagePeople overall are satisfied with the speeds, security, streaming capabilities, and privacy controls of ExpressVPN.
Summary
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Starting Price
- One-month: $12.95
- Six months: $9.99
- 15 months: $6.67
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Free Trial/Demo
Not Provided
-
Support
24/7 Live Chat
-
Number of Countries Available
94 countries
NordVPN
4.8
- Military-grade security
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Enhanced privacy features
NordVPN is one of the more popular amongst general users. It's best known for its top-of-the-line encryption methods as well as unlimited bandwidth plans. If your main concerns are online privacy and fast speeds, then NordVPN is worth looking at. Comparable to ExpressVPN, NordVPN is just as expensive, to say the least, although Nord offers a two-year plan that brings the monthly cost down to a considerable level.
NordVPN sets itself apart from the competition by offering the best security and privacy in the industry with military-grade encryption. A newer feature offered is Onion over VPN, which provides users with a double VPN to emphasize security further. Lastly, Nord supports all major operating systems, including the top mobile brands, to ensure users have a streamlined experience across all devices.
To own the best, sometimes you have to pay a pretty penny for it. NordVPN is one of the more expensive solutions in the market, charging $11.95 a month for its services. Nord offers several other plans, including a two-year plan that helps thwart the monthly cost by bringing it down to $2.69 a month. Unlike its competition, ExpressVPN, NordVPN offers a 30-day free trial of its solution to allow users to experience all it has to offer before committing to a payment plan.
Pros & Cons
For NordVPN, the pros outweigh the cons. While the monthly price upfront may be scary, features like unlimited bandwidth and enhanced privacy are worth every penny. Lastly, there were some self-reported issues of slowness by NordVPN itself, expressing that it may experience some latency at peak times.
Pros
- Military-grade security
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Enhanced privacy features
Cons
- Monthly price
- Sometimes slow internet at peak times
What Customers Are Saying
Most of the feedback and reviews online are positive, stating that after trying numerous other VPN solutions, they landed with NordVPN due to both performance and customer support responsiveness. Also, there was a lot of good feedback on its custom NordLyn>protocol across all major devices.
Summary
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Starting Price
- One-month: $11.95
- 2-year plan: $3.49/month
- 1-year plan: $6.99/month
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Free Trial/Demo
30-Day Free Trial
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Support
24/7 Live Chat
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Number of Countries Available
59 countries
PrivateVPN
4.2
- Strong zero-log policy
- Unblocking streaming services
- Flexible pricing tiers
PrivateVPN has a firm "zero logs" stance regarding its end users' privacy concerns ? hence the name PrivateVPN. It offers several different purchasing options and supports multiple logins up to six devices per plan. In many ways, PrivateVPN is very similar to the offerings provided by PureVPN. Its infrastructure is extensive ? 60 countries ? but, unlike PureVPN, it has no cap on bandwidth.
PrivateVPN is great at unblocking streaming services quickly and is known for having fast-performance servers. Similar to its competition, PrivateVPN mimics the military-grade encryption standard and supports five protocols ? OpenVPN, L2TP, IPsec, PPTP, and IKEv2. Its killswitch also allows the end-users to select specific devices to apply the killswitch to ? not just a one size fits all approach. Lastly, PrivateVPN offers an obfuscation mode called StealthVPN, which helps with IP masking and tunneling practices.
PrivateVPN offers several subscription plans, all offering a 30-day money-back guarantee. Monthly, quarterly, yearly, and two-year plans are even spread apart to provide a good spread of pricing options. The monthly is a bit expensive, running around 11 dollars a month, and the best deal is the two-year plan coming in at $2.55 a month. One of the most extraordinary things about PrivateVPN is that it is one of the only VPN providers that accept Bitcoin as a payment option, along with all major credit cards and PayPal.
Pros & Cons
PrivateVPN is very similar in many ways to its competition like PureVPN. What makes it stand out is its strong stance on zero log privacy. It's known for being good at streaming services and has decent pricing tiers as well. On the flip side, its customer support live chat feature tends to be faulty, and it has been reported that specific servers are under-resourced, resulting in slower speeds.
Pros
- Strong zero-log policy
- Unblocking streaming services
- Flexible pricing tiers
Cons
- Live chat feature is faulty
- Slower speeds on specific servers
What Customers Are Saying
Honestly, despite the live chat feature not always working, most of the customer reviews are very positive towards PrivateVPN's support time and its timeliness over email exchanges. It sounds like it has a pretty solid process in place to address most issues customers have over email.
Summary
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Starting Price
- One month: $7.67
- 3 months: $4.88/month
- 13 months: $3.82/month
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Free Trial/Demo
7-Day Free Trial
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Support
24/7 Live Chat
-
Number of Countries Available
60 countries
ProtonVPN
4.4
- Leader in privacy with ProtonMail Package
- Large infrastructure
- Tiered pricing (free version)
You may have heard of ProtonMail, the free and secure email service that claims "privacy first." The creators of ProtonMail have now created a VPN solution called ProtonVPN. ProtonVPN, as you might have guessed, is one of the more popular services due to the success that ProtonMail has seen over the past decade. One of the expressed features is that ProtonVPN offers a free version for public use. Let's take a closer look and see if ProtonVPN is everything it is cracked up to be.
One of the more startling details is that ProtonVPN only offers a couple of Protocols for use (OpenVPN and IKEv2), which seems low for a VPN service priced towards the higher end of the spectrum. Many review sites have given ProtonVPN a lower rating because of this. Two things that ProtonVPN does have going its way: its claim to unlimited bandwidth and its server infrastructure presence in over 44 countries.
ProtonVPN offers several pricing options for its professional product as well as a free version. The basic package is around $4 per month, then $8 per month for the plus account, and $24 per month for the individual license. Each license offers additional features. ProtonVPN does offer a seven-day free trial as well. Comparing even the introductory price to those of NordVPN and ExpressVPN, it is clear that ProtonVPN may be trying to ride on the success of ProtonMail to make some extra money. The lack of features and protocol support in ProtonMail are signs of being wary of.
Pros & Cons
While ProtonVPN has flexible pricing, the features included may not be worth the money paid when compared to competitors. Its global presence is an advantage, but the solution can be hard to configure as well.
Pros
- Leader in privacy with ProtonMail Package
- Large infrastructure
- Tiered pricing (free version)
Cons
- Prone to VPN blocks
- Lacking support
- Tough to configure
What Customers Are Saying
Most public reviews on ProtonVPN touted its security and privacy first approach. Obvious complaints were around the pricing for the plus plan, but some stated that the free version is great for the everyday user. Lastly, as of yet, ProtonVPN doesn't include an ad blocker that is effective.
Summary
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Starting Price
- Free version available
- $4/month for Basic
- $8/month for Plus
- $24/month for Visionary
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Free Trial/Demo
7-Days Trial
-
Support
Email, Ticket
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Number of Countries Available
44 countries
PureVPN
4.2
- Largest worldwide infrastructure coverage
- Excellent VPN protocol support
- Free version and money-back guarantee
PureVPN overall offers a significant amount of functionality, services, and features for the price. Some of the high-level incentives include having one of the giant footprints as far as infrastructure goes, with more than 6,500 servers in 140 countries. Its plans can support up to 10 devices, and it offers a good balance of speed and security. Let's dive into some of the details to get a good understanding of what PureVPN brings to the table.
PureVPN offers Military-grade encryption alongside its killswitch and split tunneling capabilities. Video streaming on all major platforms is supported and encouraged with up to 10 GB a month in bandwidth. The service is relatively easy to set up and use, but if users have trouble, there is a 24/7 support line and a set of excellent installation guides. As it pertains to speed, PureVPN tested excellent, including higher than average upload speeds across the globe. Lastly, all major protocols are well-supported security and privacy ? OpenVPN, L2TP, SSTP, PPTP, and IKEv2. PureVPN is located in Hong Kong, a country outside of any privacy laws nationwide.
PureVPN offers a monthly, biyearly, yearly, and two-year subscription plan. The best deal is the two-year plan totaling $3.33 per month and slightly lower than its competitors like ExpressVPN and NordVPN. PureVPN does offer a free trial of its services and is currently supported on all major PC and mobile operating systems. Lastly, it also offers a 31-day money-back guarantee if you aren't fully satisfied with its solution.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Largest worldwide infrastructure coverage
- Excellent VPN protocol support
- Free version and money-back guarantee
Cons
- Customer service lacks technical knowledge
- Unreliable at times in China
What Customers Are Saying
Overall, the customer reviews seem very focused on how stable and reliant the platform is. It has a long list of reviews from long-time customers over five years. Only a handful of issues reported short time server errors that are usually resolved in a few days.
Summary
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Starting Price
- One-month: $10.95
- 6 months plan: $8.33/month
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Free Trial/Demo
Free Trial
-
Support
24/7 Live Chat
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Number of Countries Available
140+ countries
SurfShark
4.1
- 63 countries offering coverage
- extensive offering of ports and protocols
- Smooth user experience
SurfShark is a new player on this stage, making its way onto the scene in late 2018, but don't let its lack of experience scare you. SurfShark has much to offer as far as features, speed, and security go. Offering comprehensive coverage of devices and operating systems, SurfShark came out swinging to capture a share of the market. Lastly, Its flexible payment options may make you reconsider some of the veteran solutions in the industry.
Starting with the obvious, it is fast and offers unlimited bandwidth, which is a huge plus. SurfShark offers strong encryption and guarantees that it sticks to its "no logging sensitive information" policy. Streaming services have been tested and confirmed with SurfShark to work flawlessly ? only having a 12% decrease in speeds within the United States. Lastly, SurfShark claims to be Cure53's independent audit compliant.
Surf shark's month-to-month pricing is comparable to its competition, and truthfully it is warranted with its service offering. A few things to note is that SurfShark offers a 30-day free trial of its product and flexible yearly and bi-yearly subscriptions. When you subscribe to the two-year plan, you can get its VPN for as low as $1.99 per month. The yearly plan averages around $6 per month.
Pros & Cons
SurfShark offers a robust global server infrastructure presence to ensure that it can keep up with its fast speeds and unlimited bandwidth demands. Offering a wide variety of protocols and a smooth user experience makes SurfShark an attractive choice for all users.
Pros
- 63 countries offering coverage
- extensive offering of ports and protocols
- Smooth user experience
Cons
- Customer service is lacking
- Erratic peer-to-peer (P2P) behavior
What Customers Are Saying
After reviewing various sources of feedback for SurfShark, the consensus is that it is a feature-packed VPN for the price. Some of the more negative reviews have reported that the customer service tends to lack their responses, and the overall P2P behavior can be erratic at high peak times.
Summary
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Starting Price
- One-month: $11.95
- 24-month plan: $1.99/month
- 12-month plan: $5.99/month
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Free Trial/Demo
30-Day Free Trial
-
Support
Email
-
Number of Countries Available
63+ countries
TorGuard
4.4
- Best pricing model
- 24/7 customer support
- Strong infrastructure presence (60 countries)
TorGuard is not a VPN in the top five most popular, but it offers a solid solution with four different flexible pricing options. Outside of pricing, TorGuard offers a unique anonymous opportunity that still allows for speed and protocol options. Lastly, its speed is definitely worth the price of admission. Paired with the unlimited bandwidth, it offers you can't go wrong.
One of the most infamous features of TorGuard is its ability to support a plethora of tunneling protocols. These include OpenVPN, PPTP, L2TP/IPsec, IKEV2, and SSTP, to name a few. By keeping these protocols, TorGuard can provide Socks5 and HTTP proxies as an additional offering as well. Lastly, one important detail to note is that even though TorGuard has legitimate anonymous features, it is located in a five-eyes country, which means if required, it could be subpoenaed for its users' information.
TorGuard is competitive with its pricing model and uses its specialized packages to encourage different users and use cases to go with its solution. It offers Standard and Pro packages at monthly and yearly billing cycles. Each package provides a free trial, with the yearly package being $59.99. There are also business VPN services available, with pricing based on the number of users and email accounts needed. Compared to ExpressVPN or NordVPN, the price is about $20 cheaper per year, and TorGuard's price includes a 24/7 customer support line as well.
Pros & Cons
TorGuard offers some pretty good incentives, including a worldwide presence and a versatile price model. To be a bit cheaper on the pricey side, the speeds will suffer a little bit, but keep in mind that unlimited bandwidth is also crucial to consider. Lastly, if you are big on privacy, remember it's located in a five-eye country where authorities can summon records if needed at any time.
Pros
- Best pricing model
- 24/7 customer support
- Strong infrastructure presence (60 countries)
Cons
- Speeds aren't the fastest
- Subject to subpoena
What Customers Are Saying
TorGuard has several reviews stating how good its customer support is, including timely responses. One of the negative reviews indicated from time to time is that specific VPN locations randomly stop working; more notably, during video streaming sessions, the connection tends to seem slow at times for brief periods before correcting itself. Overall, the summary of the reviews was positive from long-time customers.
Summary
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Starting Price
- Monthly: $9.99
- Quarterly: $19.99
- Semi-Annually: $29.99
- Annually: $59.99
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Free Trial/Demo
Free Trial
-
Support
24/7 Live Chat
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Number of Countries Available
50 countries
TunnelBear
4.5
- Offer free version
- Easy to use
- Proprietary kill switch and IP mask
TunnelBear is for users who want to check the box of having a VPN service that does the bare essentials like Security and Privacy for basic tasks like web searching and checking email. TunnelBear is supported on all major operating systems ? excluding Linux ? and is best known for its simplicity. It has a decent worldwide presence and uses top-of-the-line AES-256 military-grade encryption.
Unique to TunnelBear are its proprietary features for paid subscriptions. These features are called VigilantBear and GhostBear. VigilantBear is essentially an internet kill switch that can automatically kill your internet connection if you are disconnected from the VPN. GhostBear can hide the fact that you are using a VPN by preventing internet protocol (IP)-based tracking. This feature can be handy in countries where the use of a VPN is frowned upon. Lastly, while TunnelBear is an easy solution to set up and use, it can also be a disadvantage in the future as it does not have the advanced configuration options compared to its competition.
One of the nice perks of choosing TunnelBear is that it offers a limited free version for one device, unlimited individual license, and a Teams package for up to five devices. The individual unlimited package is priced at $3.33 a month, which is currently below the average per month for a VPN solution. One thing to consider with the free version is that you are limited to 500 MB of bandwidth per month, which most users blow through quickly and can be misleading.
Pros & Cons
While it is nice to have a free version to try out, it may not suffice for the long term as the bandwidth will be throttled. For an easy-to-use VPN, TunnelBear fits the bill and has some excellent unique features.
Pros
- Offer free version
- Easy to use
- Proprietary kill switch and IP mask
Cons
- 500 MB bandwidth for free version
- Unstable speeds at times
What Customers Are Saying
Most public reviews of TunnelBear are positive for users performing simple tasks like web surfing. There were several complaints from users on the Apple products side stating that the VPN can be patchy and flake out. Another complaint was that it tends to want to block access to more sites that are not malicious than its competition.
Summary
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Starting Price
- Free for limited usage (500mb of secure browsing)
- Unlimited $3.33/month
- Teams $5.75/user/month
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Free Trial/Demo
Not Provided
-
Support
Email
-
Number of Countries Available
22+ countries
Windscribe
4.5
- Unlimited bandwidth (10 GB free version)
- Unlimited connections with Pro
- Strong and customizable security
Windscribe is a unique VPN solution as it dabbles in the Internet of Things (IoT) space and specifically Google Chrome extensions. It also offers unlimited simultaneous connections (which is rare amongst the competition) and supports the military-grade encryption that most markets do. Pricing tends to lean towards the higher end with the monthly plan, but it offers a different "build your plan" approach that is sure to entice.
Windscribe takes internet security to the next level with its one-of-a-kind R.O.B.E.R.T. solution. R.O.B.E.R.T. is a server-side domain and IP blocking service that allows end-users to customize different online security actions per device, including blocking ads and trackers, infections alerts, and even access rules for visiting specific online resources.
The pricing plans with Windscribe are pretty straightforward at $9 monthly or $4 per month for a yearly plan. It also offered an attractive "build your own plan" pricing where, if you meet the criteria of several locations, you get bulk pricing for as little as $1 per month, per location. This offering may encourage large organizations to make the switch.
Pros & Cons
Windscribe has a great offering, including unlimited bandwidth and connections with the pro version, which is unheard of, and even its free version offers 10 GB bandwidth. On top of its fast speeds and performance specs, it offers the ability to customize your overall security experience with the web-based security tool R.O.B.E.R.T. Windscribe is against the provider because it isn't worldwide and doesn't have 24/7 support in place currently.
Pros
- Unlimited bandwidth (10 GB free version)
- Unlimited connections with Pro
- Strong and customizable security
Cons
- Servers infrastructure not worldwide
- No 24/7 live support
What Customers Are Saying
Overall, customers love the free version of the tool and state it is one of the best offerings in the market. Some of the reviews even stated that if you reach out to the team at Windscribe on Twitter and ask for more bandwidth, it will give it to you.
Summary
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Starting Price
- Monthly plan: $9.00
- 1 year plan: $4.09/month
- Build a Plan: $1/location/month
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Free Trial/Demo
1 Day Trial
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Support
Email, Ticket
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Number of Countries Available
60 countries
