A VPN (virtual private network) helps you keep private & safe while using Internet service, and browse aggressive website blocking by a country or place of work or something else entirely.
Picking a VPN service is a daunting task. With hundreds of different VPN providers out there, choosing the right one means striking the right balance between services, ease of use and pricing.
Those looking for a solid VPN service will obviously want to do their due diligence to find the best match. If that’s you – you’ve come to the right place. Here I will give your the top 8 Best VPN services in 2019.
1. ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN has long been recognised as one of the world’s top VPN providers, with fast speeds and solid customer support.
With 148 locations in 94 countries, paired with plenty of clients, it’s among the best services out there. Regardless of your platform, you will find a native client, as ExpressVPN offers clients for Mac, Windows, Linux, but also iOS and Android, and even BlackBerry (albeit limited to a handful of models).
ExpressVPN also offers routers with custom fireware and VPN browser extensions, making it an all-around great service.
A wide variety of simple and useful web-based tutorials will make sure you’re up and running in no time. This includes P2P support, a kill switch and generally good performance.
The only negative here is that only three connections can be supported at the same time, and it’s hardly the cheapest service out there. There’s no demo, but there is a 30-day money-back guarantee.
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Hotspot Shield is one of the market’s top VPN services, coming with all the necessities at a competitive price and the ability to purchase a lifetime license. Private browsing, “access all content”, and up to five simultaneous devices – those are the aces up Hotspot Shield’s sleeves.
Performance-wise it lacks for nothing, there’s an ever so slight increase in latency, with both upload and download speeds a bit faster after being connected.
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3. NordVPN
One would expect such a powerful solution to be located in one of the world’s largest tech hubs, but NordVPN is located in Central America.
Its key advantages are a large pool of servers (5,000+), and more than 60 locations around the globe. It can support up to six devices at the same time, and the data gets a 2048-bit encryption. Features like DNS leak protection, killswitch, dedicated IP address and being able to pay with cryptocurrency are also very worth mentioning.
Even when it came to the most important part – performance – NordVPN stood strong. Its speeds for short connections were commendable, long-term ones – delicious. The downside is the privacy policy – its stance on session logging is somewhat unclear. IT does state a ‘no logs policy’, though.
4. IPVanish
The company claims to offer “the world’s fastest VPN”, with more than 40,000 shared IPs, almost a thousand VPN servers spread across 60 countries, unlimited P2P traffic, five connections and lo logs.
If the price is your main concern you might want to look elsewhere, but in other case, IPVanish is a serious contender with fast speeds, plenty locations to choose from and a well-built client (even though its latest Windows client could use a bit more work – it suffers from the odd network issue).
Again, it’s not the cheapest product out there, but with this service you get what you pay for, and there is a seven-day money back guarantee.
5. CyberGhost
There’s a lot to say about CyberGhost’s VPN service. For starters, it’s got great speeds and performed stupendously on every speed test. In fact, CyberGhost touts an average of 47 Mbps globally. That’s a great average. What’s more, this company allows you to access Netflix and other popular TV and movie streaming sites, so you can enjoy HD streaming from anywhere.
We like CyberGhost’s competitive pricing plans that offer you a single month for $11.99, but quickly heaps on the savings for bulk month ordering. For 6 months, you’ll save 58%, and for 12 months, you’ll get a 77% savings! But, that isn’t even the most impressive part. In addition to low pricing, CyberGhost has a 30-day money-back guarantee, which is certainly nice, but it gets better. If you are super commitment-phobic, you can try out CyberGhost totally free for 7 days. No questions asked.
In case privacy is important to you, CyberGhost has you covered. For one thing, it has a no logging policy, and when it says no logs, it means it. There is no logging of any of your online activity at any time.
6. ZenMate
ZenMate tries to cater to the newbies in the VPN world. The website is stripped clean of technicalities and tries to be as simple in its language as possible.
This idea has been transferred to the software as well, with the Windows client being extremely simple to use and very streamlined. There really isn’t much to it – just a few clicks and you’re done. Setup is also easy, which is always a plus.
Yet, as with all things that cater to newbies, advanced users probably won’t find anything to their liking here. A lack of controls (you can’t choose security protocols – just L2TP) is a major turn-off for expert users.
However, if you’re not in the expert realm, this VPN service will probably be great for you. There is a 14-day money-back guarantee, and a free offering through browser add-ons. Be advised – these are a bit slower than their commercial counterparts.
If you want a VPN service that will not affect your download speeds, consider KeepSolid. It offers a wide variety of clients, covering Windows, mac, iOS, Android, Linux as well as Windows 10 Mobile. Other devices can be set up, too, as the service offers clear instructions for other users.
KeepSolid does not support torrents, so file sharers might want to look elsewhere.
Things could be a bit better in terms of privacy, though. Our testing has shown that the service does some session logging, and there have been a few DNS leaks.
8. Windscribe
This service offers four native clients – one for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. Be advised that the Android one is still new and could be a bit unstable, so proceed at your own risk. There are also solidly built browser add-ons.
The VPN’s strongest selling point is that it offers unlimited connections with its commercial plans, so it can cover everything, regardless of how many machines you throw at it.
With a clear-cut privacy policy and a simple, powerful Windows client, it’s easy to see why Windscribe made it to this list. Performance might disappoint you a bit as we can only describe it as average.
Still, it offers a free plan with 10GB monthly data (albeit for one device only).