A VPN, or a virtual private network, is a little tool that masks your internet identity inside a virtual tunnel, hiding your IP address from your internet service provider, websites and other prying eyes. When you use one, an encrypted connection is established between your device and a server somewhere in the world, tricking everyone into thinking you’re browsing from a different location.
The use of VPNs has been growing astronomically over the past few years, partly because the proportion of employees working remotely has increased.
VPNs are a pretty big deal for organisations needing to protect their sensitive information. “Businesses use VPNs to grant access to networks remotely, as well as to protect their data traversing across multiple networks and boundaries across the internet,” explains Rick McElroy, a principal cybersecurity specialist at cloud computing company VMware. “For people who are concerned about governments around the world infringing on their privacy and security, VPNs create a great way to prevent this behaviour.”
But the adoption rate is also growing because of another (less privacy or security-focused) reason. People want to watch films and TV shows that they can’t get on their streaming service of choice, so are using VPNs to access international versions of the platforms instead.
While accessing streaming services in this way normally violates content provider’s terms, it’s one of the most common reasons why people use VPNs today.
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The world of VPNs can be a confusing, messy place, and because of the continuing consolidation happening in the industry, it’s getting even more complicated. Kape Technologies – which already owned CyberGhost and Private Internet Access – took control of ExpressVPN in September 2021. And earlier this month, Nord Security (who owns Nord VPN) recently acquired Surfshark. This means that your data is now in the hands of fewer and fewer companies – which is something to be aware of as it pertains to ownership of your data. However, that doesn’t make these VPNs bad.
There are hundreds of free and paid-for VPNs out there, and they’re not all created equal. Lots of free VPNs are ad-supported, while others claim to protect your privacy while selling off any data gleaned from your browsing history.
Thankfully, there are indeed some stand-out, trustworthy VPN providers out there. Most of the best VPNs charge for their services, but they also have free trials. If you want to save money on a VPN, check out our round-up of the best VPN deals. To help you sort through the glut of virtual private networks, we’ve rounded up all the best VPNs for Android, iPhone, PC and more below.
We tested these VPNs on an iPhone 12 pro, a Samsung Galaxy S20 FE and a MacBook pro laptop. In each case, we trialled how speedy each VPN was when pitted against their competitors, looked at their level of security and whether they kept logs of our browsing data, and we investigated what features they each had, such as support for split tunnelling or the inclusion of a kill switch.
To see how well these VPNs performed when it came to bypassing geographic blocks, we took them for a ride through Netflix’s US library as well as Amazon Prime Video in the US on our Android, iOS and Mac devices.
Best: Overall VPN for PC, Mac and Fire Stick devices
Rating: 9/10
ExpressVPN is the best all-round VPN for any consumer user. It’s flaming fast, is simple to use and runs on a laundry list of operating systems and devices – whether that be Mac, Windows PC, Linux, Android, iOS, Kindle Fire stick or even your PlayStation console or home router.
All the main requirements of a good VPN are checked off. It’s speedy thanks to its “lightway” protocol, masks your IP address and has a nifty kill switch (preventing network data from leaking out if the VPN fails). It also has features like split tunnelling, which lets you route a portion of your traffic through the VPN while other devices use the internet directly from your service provider.
ExpressVPN encrypts your data using AES-256, the military-grade encryption standard for complete protection, but also supports “perfect forward secrecy”, automatically assigning you a new secret key every 60 minutes. Plus, if you’re ever confused about anything, ExpressVPN has a 24-hour live support team.
It’s also one of the best VPNs in terms of security and privacy. ExpressVPN doesn’t keep logs of any of your internet activity, your IP address, how long you’ve connected to the server or even what time you’ve connected. They are marvellous claims that have actually been proven true – a Turkish server was seized in 2017 and no logs of any user activity were found.
In terms of streaming, ExpressVPN passes the US Netflix test, giving us access to the streamer’s broad catalogue, as well as Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, HBO Max and Disney+. The only downside is that ExpressVPN is pricier than much of its competition, probably because of how feature-packed it is, and that it makes all of its revenue from subscriptions. There is a 30-day money-back guarantee if you are unhappy, however.
Read the full ExpressVPN review
