A VPN, or virtual private network, is a service that lets you route your traffic through an encrypted connection to a remote server before it's set free on the public internet. It hides who and where you really are from everyone except the VPN provider itself.
Here at Mashable, we aim to review and recommend the best VPNs to our readers — and above all, a VPN needs to be trustworthy to get our seal of approval. The service gets exclusive access to all of your personal data and traffic, after all; a VPN that doesn't prioritize user privacy is a nonstarter. However, we also need to make sure a VPN works. Therefore, our VPN reviews blend analysis of providers' approaches to privacy and transparency with insights from hands-on testing.
The bulk of our VPN testing happens as part of an everyday workflow. We believe it's important to see exactly how a VPN functions in a real-world setting, not in a lab, to accurately capture the user experience. This testing is conducted on Mashable staffers' work-issued laptops and personal smartphones.
We supplement this testing with easily repeatable benchmarks that shed further light on three specific aspects of a VPN's performance, including a DNS leak test, speed tests, and content unblocking tests. The results of these benchmarks are not created equal and have different degrees of influence on our final VPN recommendations. (More on that below.)
We record the findings of our analysis and testing in a rubric, and each VPN provider gets scored on a five-point scale on the basis of trustworthiness, performance, user friendliness, and value. This rubric standardizes scoring across our VPN reviews and makes it easy to draw granular comparisons between different VPN services. A 0/5 is a flop that should be avoided at all costs, while a 5/5 is a VPN we can't live without. Any VPN that scores a 4.5/5 or higher receives a Mashable Choice Award.
The highest-scoring VPNs are featured in our roundup of the best VPNs.
We've got trust issues
In creating this testing methodology, Mashable spoke with two cybersecurity experts in 2023 about choosing a VPN. These experts were Mallory Knodel, then-Chief Technology Officer at the Center for Democracy and Technology; and Nick Feamster, Neubauer Professor of Computer Science at the University of Chicago, Faculty Director of Research at the UChicago Data Science Institute, and founder/co-director of the DSI's Internet Equality Initiative.
In separate interviews, Knodel and Feamster both said that much of what separates the good VPNs from the bad can be gleaned before anything is installed.
When you surf the internet freely without a VPN, you're being tracked online constantly by multiple third parties, including your Internet Service Provider (ISP), search engines like Google, and possibly even your employer or school. Connecting to a VPN means taking your traffic away from them and putting it in the hands of one lone entity instead, conceding unfettered access to all of your browsing data. It's a privilege that needs to be earned, and the true caliber of a VPN ultimately comes down to whether you can wholly believe it's keeping you safe. You'll need to trust it more than your ISP.
Throwing a wrench in things is the fact that the VPN industry is notorious for hyperbolic marketing, especially when it comes to privacy practices. This can "give VPN users a false sense of security if they don’t realize that the protections offered are not comprehensive," according to a Consumer Reports investigation into 16 providers. (Many popular VPNs shout about offering "military-grade" encryption, for example, which isn't really a thing.) It's unwise to take a provider's claims at face value.
So how can we tell if a VPN is trustworthy? On the most basic level, a single Google search can be enlightening. A good VPN provider won't have a long rap sheet for mishandling users' personal data or succumbing to server breaches, and bad headlines should raise a red flag — including those about a VPN's ownership or parent company. A swift, effective response to crises and a healthy dose of corporate accountability can offset these concerns in some cases, but we place a high value on a pristine reputation.
The best VPN services are also willing to open themselves up to scrutiny. As part of our analysis, we track down a VPN's privacy policy and read through it to determine exactly what it entails — i.e., what kind of user data is collected, stored, or logged, if any (and for what purpose). This policy should be clear and easy to understand. We then look to see if the provider submits itself to third-party audits, which provide an even higher level of assurance that it doesn't have anything to hide. (These can include audits of its apps, website, server infrastructure, and/or privacy policy.) The results of these audits should be available for anyone to read, even if they don't have an account with the VPN.
On top of these audits, the most trustworthy VPNs will issue regular transparency reports disclosing any requests for data they've received from government or law enforcement agencies. We read them to find out how the providers have responded to said requests. (They won't yield anything if their privacy policy holds up.)
A VPN provider can go the extra mile by making its apps' code open source so anyone can inspect it for potential security vulnerabilities, and by offering a bug bounty program to encourage such dissection.
Finally, a paid subscription model can be a marker of a trustworthy VPN. If a provider isn't charging users for its service, there's a chance it's selling their data to third parties (or worse). We verify exactly how providers earn revenue — and how they subsidize nonpaying users, if they offer a free tier or trial.
How is a VPN protecting you in practice?
When we're actually testing a VPN, we have it connected for at least one work week as part of our daily routines (if possible — some free VPNs have usage limits). This includes surfing the web, typing in documents, sending emails, scrolling through social media, participating in video calls, and watching YouTube videos. We do this to get a general sense of the user experience as part of the average person's workflow. Most of this testing is conducted on Apple MacBooks, but we've also tested some VPNs on Windows laptops and iPhones.
Our main objective here is to determine how well the VPN is protecting our privacy while it's active. (That's the whole point of using a VPN, after all.) Here's how we gauge this metric:
Does the VPN pass a DNS leak test?
Often described as "the internet's phone book," the DNS (Domain Name System) is basically a back-end directory that translates website domain names into computer-speak, aka internet protocol (IP) addresses. An IP address is a unique number that's assigned to a device when it's connected to the internet; it identifies the device's general location and the name of the ISP.
When you search for a website, your browser sends a request to one of your ISP's DNS servers to track down its matching IP address(es) so it can send you to that page. Without the DNS, you'd have to type out a long string of numbers every time you wanted to visit a website. For example, instead of "Mashable.com," you'd enter "104.18.33.218" or "172.64.154.38" into your search bar.
A VPN is supposed to reroute your DNS requests to its own DNS servers while you're connected to it — that way, your ISP (and possibly other snoops) can't see where you are or what sites you're looking up. If the VPN is faulty, it may continue to send DNS requests to the ISP's DNS servers, putting your security at risk. That's the gist of a DNS leak.
Some VPN apps have built-in DNS leak tests that tell you if your connection is secure and whether your traffic is being hidden. Otherwise, you can perform them via DNSleaktest.com. When we test a VPN, we run that site's standard test twice: once with the VPN off, and once with it connected to a UK VPN server. The first test should produce requests that match our true ISP and location, while the second test should show requests associated with a different ISP and a UK location.
What protocol does the VPN use?
A VPN's protocol is the set of instructions that determines how data gets communicated between its servers and your devices. OpenVPN remains the most popular and widely respected option: It's stable, secure, and open-source, meaning anyone can inspect its code for vulnerabilities. WireGuard is another good pick that's newer than OpenVPN and supposedly faster. In the past few years, many VPN providers have also developed proprietary protocols.
What kind of encryption does the VPN use?
A VPN protects your data by encrypting it, or scrambling it up into unreadable "ciphertext" that can only be decoded with a secret key or password. Virtually all premium VPNs use an encryption algorithm called Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 256-bit encryption, which is pretty much uncrackable to third parties.
As an aside, many VPN providers call this "military-grade" encryption. Yes, the National Institute of Standards and Technology has approved AES for government use, and the National Security Agency recommends AES-256 for protecting top secret information, but it's really not as special or exclusive as the "military-grade" descriptor implies. Consumer-facing products like Google and Telegram both use AES-256, for example.
What sort of privacy tools do the VPN's users have access to?
A kill switch will immediately take your device offline if your VPN connection ever drops. (This one's a must-have.) Support for multi-hop connections that route your traffic through two or more of the VPN's servers adds an extra layer of protection. And split tunneling, a tool that sends some of your traffic through the VPN and some outside it, lets you customize your level of protection for different activities or connect to different locations simultaneously. (It also conserves bandwidth, which can be useful for streaming and gaming.)
It's important to note that providers will often bundle their VPN with additional security features like malware/adware blockers, email leak detectors, and cloud storage. These won't make the VPN itself any better, but they're good to have alongside your go-to antivirus software and password manager. If you have to choose between a reputable VPN or one that comes with a bunch of add-ons, always go with the former.
Other criteria we use to evaluate VPNs
Here are some other things we consider in the process of testing VPNs that can impact their performance and contribute to their overall value (or lack thereof).
How fast is the VPN?
The connection speed of a VPN depends on a lot of different variables, but it will almost always be slower than your regular internet connection, so it's not a huge factor in our final recs. A general rule of thumb for any VPN is that your connection speeds will be fastest when you're using a server that's geographically close to your actual location. That said, if a VPN is noticeably sluggish to the point where it affects usability, we'll call it out.
We pay attention to two speed variables as we try a VPN. One is how long it takes the VPN to make a connection (i.e., how long it takes to get us on a server for the first time). The other is whether there's any noticeable lag when loading different pages and media.
We supplement our anecdotal speed testing with Ookla Speedtests. (Editor's note: Ookla is owned by Mashable's publisher, Ziff Davis.) This free tool gives us more concrete data about the VPN's effect on our download speed, measured in megabits per second (Mbps), which we record in a spreadsheet.
We perform three back-to-back Speedtests per provider: one with the VPN off, one with the VPN connected to a local server, and one with the VPN connected to a UK server, if possible. (Some providers don't let their free users pick specific server locations, and when that's the case, we use any European server available.) We then calculate how much speed was lost by each of the VPN servers. An average speed loss of less than 20% is ideal.
Can the VPN unblock regional content?
As mentioned, the No. 1 purpose of VPNs is to make it difficult for anyone other than the provider to identify and track your online activity, so every VPN we recommend must do that well — no exceptions. However, VPNs are also widely used to spoof user locations and skirt geo-restrictions on content, especially overseas streaming libraries. (Services like Netflix limit their libraries abroad because of region-specific distribution rights.)
We recognize that this secondary use case is important to many of our readers, so while a VPN will never be disqualified simply because it can't get users access to geo-blocked content, we still test for it. We do so by connecting to one of the VPN's UK servers and attempting to watch Love Island UK on the UK streaming services ITVX.
How big is the VPN's server network?
Picking a VPN with a large server network means there's a lower likelihood of you sharing one with a bunch of other users, which is especially valuable for streaming (since there's more bandwidth to go around).
Relatedly, a VPN with a geographically diverse network of servers in many different parts of the world will make it easier for you to spoof specific locations and find one close to you to optimize connection speeds. Most premium VPNs maintain servers throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia; few have a big presence in Africa.
How many simultaneous connections does the VPN allow?
Most VPNs can be used on five to 10 devices per account, which should be plenty for individual users. A handful of them support unlimited simultaneous connections to better serve bigger households.
What platforms/devices does the VPN support?
We look to see what kind of apps VPN providers offer and whether their features differ from platform to platform. A VPN should at least cover users on both mobile (iOS and Android) and desktop (macOS and Windows).
How user-friendly is the VPN?
A VPN app should be easy to navigate regardless of how many features or servers it includes, or the platform it's being used on.
What kind of customer support does the VPN offer?
Users should have convenient access to some kind of help in case an issue arises with their VPN connection or account, whether it's by phone, email, or live chat. (Online help forums and tutorials are nice, but not enough on their own.) We also give preference to VPNs that offer some kind of money-back guarantee; in most cases, it's 30 days long.
How much does the VPN cost?
Top-notch privacy practices and an immaculate reputation justify higher costs, more so than extra features. Expect to pay somewhere between $5 to $15 per month for a premium VPN, depending on the length of your plan. And be sure to read the fine print: Most VPNs offer a sizable discount to users who sign up for a long-term subscription (annual or beyond), then renew at a much higher rate after the first term.
Many VPNs accept anonymous payment options like Bitcoin and/or cash. A couple even let users create an account without providing any personal identifiers, such as an email address.
What about jurisdiction?
It's important to mention that many popular VPN providers posit their jurisdiction, or the legal location of their headquarters, as something that can have serious privacy implications based on local surveillance laws (such as the Five, Nine, and 14 Eyes alliances).
We wanted to find out if this was true, so we reached out to Paul Ohm, Professor of Law and Chief Data Officer at Georgetown University Law Center. Ohm also serves as a faculty director for Georgetown Law's Institute for Technology Law and Policy and a faculty advisor for its Center on Privacy and Technology, and he sits on the steering committee of the Georgetown University Tech and Society Initiative.
Ohm told us over email that the importance of a VPN provider's jurisdiction largely hinges on the citizenship and residence of the user, as well as the potential threat they're worried about — whether it be government or employer surveillance, copyright issues, or something else entirely.
In most cases involving possible third-party-snooping, users should consider picking a VPN that's headquartered somewhere they don't live, Ohm said. "Requiring the entity surveilling you to deal with the laws and institutions of two countries will always be more burdensome (and thus afford more security) than dealing with just one country," he told Mashable.
On the flip side, users concerned about deceptive marketing might be better off choosing a VPN headquartered in the U.S. or a country in the European Union, where there are strong consumer protections, Ohm said. These could come in handy if a provider's privacy policy was ever questioned.
All of that being said, authorities will generally get access to user data one way or another if the need is great enough. What's most concerning — to bring things full circle — is whether any data is being retained by a VPN provider in the first place.
Why you should trust us
Mashable has been testing and reviewing VPNs since 2018. This guide was written and based on methodology designed by Senior Shopping Reporter Haley Henschel, who's been covering VPNs since she started working for Mashable in 2019. She also created our VPN testing rubric. Henschel has reviewed several of the most popular VPN services and conducted the aforementioned interviews with cybersecurity experts.
The best VPNs are upfront about their business practices, so in that same spirit, we want to disclose the behind-the-scenes logistics of our testing. VPN providers supply Mashable's reporters with short-term subscriptions for testing purposes. This has zero impact on our ultimate recommendations or scores. We also include affiliate links in our VPN reviews and "best of" roundups, and may earn commission from these links to support our journalism. Reporters don't cover products or services based on whether they earn commission, nor do they receive any commission from their work. Reporters also don't write sponsored stories, which are handled by a separate team and always identified as such.
Final thoughts
Some of Mashable's older VPN reviews and "best of" roundups may not be based upon this methodology. Refer to the "How we tested" section at the bottom of each story to find out how we tested a particular VPN. We're a small team, but we do our best to make sure all of our most popular stories are updated at least every few months.
Lastly, we strive to have the most accurate and fair VPN reviews, so we're always looking out for better ways to test them. As such, we consider this to be a living document. If you have ideas on how we can improve our VPN testing process, or if you'd like us to test a new VPN, reach out to the Mashable Shopping team at [email protected].
This guide was written by Senior Shopping Reporter Haley Henschel. It was edited by Global Shopping Editor Joe Green, Deputy Shopping Editor Miller Kern, and former Shopping Editor Jae Thomas. It was last updated in March 2025.