VPN Comparison

After making a post about comparing VPN providers, I received a lot of requested feedback. I’ve implemented most of the ideas I received.

Providers

Notes

  • I’m human. I make mistakes. I made multiple mistakes in my last post, and there may be some here. I’ve tried my best.
  • Pricing is sometimes weird. For example, a 1 year plan for Private Internet Access is 37.19€ first year and then auto-renews annually at 46.73€. By the way, they misspelled “annually”. AirVPN has a 3 day pricing plan. For the instances when pricing is weird, I did what I felt was best on a case-by-case basis.
  • Tor is not a VPN, but there are multiple apps that allow you to use it like a VPN. They’ve released an official Tor VPN app for Android, and there is a verified Flatpak called Carburetor which you can use to use Tor like a VPN on secureblue (Linux). It’s not unreasonable to add this to the list.
  • Some projects use different licenses for different platforms. For example, NordVPN has an open source Linux client. However, to call NordVPN open source would be like calling a meat sandwich vegan because the bread is vegan.
  • The age of a VPN isn’t a good indicator of how secure it is. There could be a trustworthy VPN that’s been around for 10 years but uses insecure, outdated code, and a new VPN that’s been around for 10 days but uses up-to-date, modern code.
  • Some VPNs, like Surfshark VPN, operate in multiple countries. Legality may vary.
  • All of the VPNs claim a “no log” policy, but there’s some I trust more than others to actually uphold that.
  • Tor is special in the port forwarding category, because it depends on what you’re using port forwarding for. In some cases, Tor doesn’t need port forwarding.
  • Tor technically doesn’t have a WireGuard profile, but you could (probably?) create one.

Takeaways

  • If you don’t mind the speed cost, Tor is a really good option to protect your IP address.
  • If you’re on a budget, NymVPN, Private Internet Access, and Surfshark VPN are generally the cheapest. If you’re paying month-by-month, Mullvad VPN still can’t be beat.
  • If you want VPNs that go out of their way to collect as little information as possible, IVPN, Mullvad VPN, and NymVPN don’t require any personal information to use. And Tor, of course.

I want to upload the ODS file, but I don’t know of any places to upload it that don’t require an account. If anyone knows, I’ll update this to include it.

  • Scoopta@programming.dev
    92·
    4 days ago

    Calling Tor a VPN is a bit scuffed. Yeah you can kinda use it as one but ultimately it’s really a TCP proxy and has a lot of limitations because of that which traditional VPNs don’t. There are some ways to make a VPN out of Tor but it doesn’t change the fact that it ultimately isn’t one.

    Also I might add that in 2025 whether or not a VPN has IPv6 support should be relevant.

  • CrayonDevourer@lemmy.world
    2·
    3 days ago

    You know Windscribe is like $2/month if you choose the build your own plan right? I’ve been using them for 6 years now on a wireguard split tunnel, and they’ve been amazing. On VPN I can saturate a 1gbps symmetrical connection.

    • 0_o7@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      1·
      4 days ago

      Can you explain a bit more? You get choose which servers or features to use and get priced accordingly?

      I went to their sitw to try for myself but it needs an account to build the plan.

      • CrayonDevourer@lemmy.world
        1·
        3 days ago

        Yep, basically if you take off all the ad-blockers (you should run that yourself anyways), and extra shit and you just need a barebones VPN, it can be like $1/month. Mine is $2/month so that I have a wider range of servers to choose from.

        • TomAwsm@lemmy.world
          1·
          3 days ago

          Just to add here, since I got curious and looked it up: They say “minimum $2 purchase required” on their website. Still a great price though!