Key Takeaway
Cyber attacks are up 144% since 2018. Your ISP is selling your browsing data. And the right VPN costs $2-3 per month. There's no good reason not to have one.
Let me save you twenty minutes of reading affiliate-stuffed listicles that all mysteriously rank the same VPN as number one (the one that pays them the highest commission). Here's the short version: NordVPN is the best VPN for most people. Surfshark is the best if you're on a budget. Proton VPN is the best if privacy is your religion. ExpressVPN is the best if you travel constantly and need to unlock streaming content in every country.
Now here's the longer version, for those of you who want to understand why, what the differences actually are, and whether you even need a VPN in the first place.
Do you actually need a VPN?
Yes. Not because you're doing anything shady, but because everyone else is.
Your internet service provider can see every website you visit, and in the United States, they're legally allowed to sell that data to advertisers. Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, and every other ISP monetize your browsing habits the same way Google and Facebook do, except you can't opt out by switching to a different search engine. You can opt out by using a VPN.
Public Wi-Fi at coffee shops, airports, and hotels is functionally an open window into your device for anyone with basic hacking tools. A VPN closes that window. Reported cyber attacks in the U.S. hit 859,532 incidents in 2024, a 144% increase since 2018. The threat isn't theoretical. It's statistical.
And then there's the practical stuff. Want to watch BBC iPlayer from the U.S.? You need a VPN. Want to access your U.S. Netflix library while traveling in Europe? VPN. Want to watch a sports event that's blacked out in your region? VPN. Want to avoid price discrimination on airline tickets (yes, airlines charge different prices based on your location)? Also VPN.
The argument against VPNs used to be that they were expensive, complicated, and slow. In 2026, the best ones cost $2-3 per month on a two-year plan, install in under a minute, and reduce your internet speed by single-digit percentages. The excuses are gone.
NordVPN: the best overall (and it's not particularly close)
There's a reason every credible review site puts NordVPN at or near the top, and it's not just because they pay good affiliate commissions (though they do). NordVPN is genuinely the most complete VPN package available.
The server network spans roughly 9,000 servers across 130 countries. That's not just a big number for bragging rights. More servers means less congestion, which means faster speeds. In testing, NordVPN's proprietary NordLynx protocol (built on WireGuard) consistently delivered speeds above 1,200 Mbps on nearby server connections. Even transatlantic connections to U.S. servers from Europe held around 900 Mbps. Those numbers are fast enough that most users won't notice any speed difference with the VPN turned on.
Security is where NordVPN gets serious. The service uses post-quantum encryption, which means it's already preparing for the day quantum computers can crack current encryption standards. (That day is coming; the timeline is debatable.) The no-logs policy has been independently audited multiple times. In February 2026, NordVPN integrated CrowdStrike's threat intelligence into its Threat Protection Pro feature, which blocks malicious websites, ads, and trackers in real time. In testing against 100 brand-new phishing URLs, it caught 87% of them. That's not antivirus-level protection, but it's a meaningful safety net on top of whatever antivirus you're already running.
Streaming unblocking is reliable across Netflix, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and most other platforms. 4K streaming works without buffering on nearby servers. The apps are clean and intuitive across Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, and smart TVs. You get 10 simultaneous device connections on the Basic plan.
Pricing: $3.39 per month on the two-year plan ($81.36 upfront). $4.99 per month on the one-year plan. $12.99 per month if you pay monthly, which you shouldn't unless you're just testing it out. There's a 30-day money-back guarantee on all plans.
The honest criticism: NordVPN's month-to-month pricing is steep, and the renewal rates after your initial promotional period are higher than the advertised price. Read the fine print on what happens after your two-year term expires. Also, the upselling to Plus and Complete tiers (which add password managers, cloud storage, and enhanced threat protection) can feel aggressive. The Basic plan is all most people need.
Surfshark: the budget king with one killer feature
Surfshark's headline feature is the one that makes it the easiest recommendation for families and households: unlimited simultaneous device connections. Not five. Not ten. Unlimited. Every phone, tablet, laptop, smart TV, and gaming console in your house, all protected under one $1.99-per-month subscription.
That pricing, by the way, is for the two-year Starter plan. It's the cheapest premium VPN on the market by a meaningful margin. NordVPN's equivalent plan costs $3.39. ExpressVPN's costs $2.44. Even the bargain-bin VPNs struggle to undercut Surfshark while offering comparable quality.
Performance is solid. Surfshark runs on WireGuard protocol with download speeds that won't make you wait for buffering. The server network covers 4,500+ servers in 100 countries, which is smaller than NordVPN's but still more than adequate for most use cases. Streaming unblocking is reliable. In January 2026, Surfshark had its network infrastructure audited by cybersecurity firm SecuRing, bringing its transparency closer to NordVPN's and ExpressVPN's levels.
The CleanWeb feature blocks ads, trackers, and malware. Split tunneling (which Surfshark calls "Bypasser") lets you route specific apps through the VPN while keeping others on your regular connection. This is useful if you want to protect your browsing while keeping local services (like a bank app that gets suspicious of VPN traffic) on your normal IP.
Where Surfshark falls short: its server network is smaller, which can mean slightly higher congestion during peak hours. Long-distance connections (say, U.S. to Australia) are a bit slower than NordVPN's. And the apps, while functional, don't feel quite as polished. These are minor complaints at this price point.
If you're protecting a household of devices on a budget, Surfshark is the answer. No other VPN comes close on value.
Proton VPN: for people who actually read privacy policies
Proton VPN is the VPN that privacy advocates recommend to other privacy advocates. Made by the same Swiss company behind ProtonMail, it operates under Swiss jurisdiction, which sits outside the Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and Fourteen Eyes intelligence-sharing alliances. This matters because it means no government can legally compel Proton to hand over user data through those surveillance frameworks.
The apps are open-source, which means independent security researchers can (and do) inspect the code for vulnerabilities. The no-logs policy has been audited. The company accepts Bitcoin and even cash payments for accounts created without an email address. If you want to minimize your digital footprint to the absolute minimum, Proton makes it possible in ways that NordVPN and Surfshark don't.
And Proton VPN has the best free tier in the industry. Not "best free tier" in the sense of "least bad." Genuinely useful. Unlimited bandwidth, no data caps, no ads, no selling your data. The catches: you're limited to five server locations and you can't use it for streaming or torrenting. But for basic browsing protection and public Wi-Fi security, Proton's free plan is better than most paid VPNs from lesser-known providers.
The paid plans start at $2.99 per month on the two-year plan, with 15,370+ servers, 10 device connections, and full streaming/torrenting support. The Proton Unlimited plan bundles the VPN with ProtonMail, Proton Drive (cloud storage), and Proton Pass (password manager) for users who want to build their entire digital life on privacy-first infrastructure.
The trade-off: Proton VPN is slightly slower than NordVPN and Surfshark in speed tests. Not dramatically slower, but noticeably so on long-distance connections. And the streaming unblocking, while improved, isn't as consistently reliable as NordVPN's or ExpressVPN's. If binge-watching international Netflix is your primary use case, Proton isn't the first choice. If keeping your data away from governments and corporations is the priority, nothing else compares.
ExpressVPN: the traveler's VPN
ExpressVPN is the most expensive option on this list, the most polished, and the most reliable for one specific use case: accessing geo-restricted content from anywhere in the world. In testing, it unblocked 95% of 120 streaming platforms across 108 countries. If you travel frequently and need to watch your home country's Netflix, access BBC iPlayer from Asia, or stream live sports that are regionally restricted, ExpressVPN handles it with less friction than any competitor.
The company passed its 23rd successful security audit in July 2025 and earned four ISO certifications (including ISO 27001) in February 2026. It offers a $100,000 bug bounty that nobody has ever claimed. The transparency report confirms that despite receiving over 1.38 million data requests in the second half of 2025, it disclosed zero user data. From a trust perspective, ExpressVPN's track record is impeccable.
The downside is speed. ExpressVPN's proprietary Lightway protocol clocked average download speeds of 489 Mbps in lab testing, which is perfectly fine for streaming and general use but significantly behind NordVPN's 1,200+ Mbps NordLynx results. You won't notice this in daily browsing. You might notice it if you're downloading large files or using bandwidth-intensive applications.
Pricing has gotten more complicated in 2026 with three tiers: Basic ($12.99/month), Advanced ($13.99), and Pro ($19.99). Long-term plans bring these down substantially, with the cheapest option around $2.44 per month on a two-year commitment. The Pro tier includes a dedicated IP address, which is useful for accessing services that block shared VPN IPs (some banks and streaming platforms do this).
ExpressVPN is the right choice for frequent international travelers, digital nomads, and anyone who puts streaming access above all other considerations. For everyone else, NordVPN delivers comparable streaming performance at a lower price with faster speeds.
Mullvad: the one privacy nerds won't shut up about
Mullvad is the contrarian pick. It charges a flat rate of about $5.93 per month (5 euros), no discounts for longer commitments, no promotional pricing, no upsells. You can create an account without providing an email address. You can pay with cash by mailing an envelope. The company has five device connections, a smaller server network, and no streaming optimization.
It's also the VPN that RTINGS (arguably the most rigorous consumer electronics testing site) ranked as their number one pick. Why? Because Mullvad doesn't play the marketing game. It doesn't have an affiliate program. It doesn't pay reviewers. It just provides a VPN that works, protects your privacy, and charges a fair price.
If you've read this far and the words "affiliate commission" made you suspicious of every recommendation above, Mullvad is for you. It's the VPN equivalent of a locally owned restaurant with no sign out front and a line out the door.
What about free VPNs?
Don't. Just don't.
With the exception of Proton VPN's free tier (which is genuinely safe and trustworthy), free VPNs are a trap. A VPN costs real money to operate: servers, bandwidth, engineering, security audits. If you're not paying, you're the product. Multiple studies have found that the majority of free VPNs sell user data, inject ads, or both. Some contain outright malware. Nearly 90% of free VPNs tested by one major review site had significant security flaws.
Proton VPN Free is the exception because it's subsidized by Proton's paid users and its broader ecosystem of privacy products. Every other free VPN should be treated with extreme suspicion.
The quick-pick guide
Most people: NordVPN ($3.39/month, 2-year plan). Best balance of speed, security, features, and streaming access. The default choice for a reason.
Budget-conscious / families: Surfshark ($1.99/month, 2-year plan). Unlimited devices. Comparable security. Slightly smaller server network. Extraordinary value.
Privacy maximalists: Proton VPN ($2.99/month, 2-year plan). Swiss jurisdiction, open-source, audited, no-email-required accounts. The free tier is a legitimate starting point.
Frequent travelers / streaming obsessives: ExpressVPN (~$2.44/month, long-term). Unblocks more platforms in more countries than anyone else. Premium pricing, premium reliability.
Privacy nerds who hate marketing: Mullvad (~$5.93/month, no discounts). No account required. No data collected. No affiliate program. Just a VPN.
Here's what all five of these have in common: AES-256 encryption (or equivalent), independently audited no-logs policies, kill switches that cut your internet if the VPN drops, and 30-day money-back guarantees (except Mullvad, which offers a flat monthly rate). Pick any one of them and you're dramatically more secure online than you are without one.
The cost of a good VPN is $2-3 per month. The cost of having your identity stolen, your ISP selling your browsing history, or your bank credentials intercepted on public Wi-Fi is considerably higher.
Choose accordingly.
