Comparing VPNs isn’t a simple activity. There are quite a few providers available on the market, their options are typically moderately homogenous, and their pricing buildings will be complicated. Nonetheless, in at this time’s world of heightened privateness considerations and private information mining, it’s essential to decide on the precise VPN to maintain your self protected on-line. That’s why we at PCWorld have developed a radical and complete methodology for reviewing VPN providers. 

All of the VPNs we check are evaluated by the identical standards. We take a look at:

• The variety of servers and their areas
• The pace of the VPN’s connections
• Privacy protections provided, and the transparency of the house owners
• Software expertise and value
• Additional options that include the service
• The value and worth of subscriptions

Our aim is to offer meticulous and reliable info that can assist you simply decide the very best VPN in your private wants. Bottom line: We need you to really feel assured in your alternative of VPN, and aid you arrive at the very best conclusions based mostly on the knowledge we offer. 

All of the VPNs we evaluation are assessed by PCWorld employees with complete editorial independence. Our selections incorporate thorough hands-on testing, and are by no means influenced by exterior events. In order to make our record of Best VPNs, a VPN service should present that it excels within the standards listed above.

How we consider a VPN’s servers and areas

An necessary part of a superb VPN is the variety of servers and their areas throughout the globe. In at this time’s age of worldwide journey and leisure, VPN customers demand vast and unrestricted entry to content material in each area. As such, a VPN’s international server unfold is now probably the most necessary elements in analysis.

In our critiques, we element what number of servers and nations a VPN covers and attempt to level out extra granular particulars, corresponding to which servers are digital and that are bodily. Furthermore, we check a VPN’s servers all all over the world for his or her potential to unblock geo-restricted content material. Can the VPN entry streaming providers corresponding to Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+? Does the VPN have designated streaming servers? Is there a robust historical past of continued success in unblocking these websites?

These are the sorts of questions we search to reply throughout our evaluation course of. Combined with the quantity and areas, we analyze the outcomes of their unblocking capabilities and notice any strengths and weaknesses we discovered to give you a complete evaluation of a VPN’s server surroundings.

How we consider a VPN’s speeds

Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry

A VPN’s pace is without doubt one of the most necessary components when contemplating if it’s value shopping for. The very nature of a VPN implies that your web site visitors might be rerouted by way of a unique server. This will doubtless trigger a drop in obtain and add speeds in comparison with the bottom pace you get out of your web service supplier. Therefore, it’s essential {that a} VPN impacts your base speeds as little as doable.

To check a VPN’s speeds, we evaluate connection pace throughout its servers in six completely different nations all all over the world for a number of days. We then evaluate these connection speeds to our baseline web pace and not using a VPN. Our comparisons embody each obtain and add speeds.

How we consider a VPN’s privateness and belief

Privacy is the centerpiece of any good VPN, so we weigh it closely when evaluating any service. Determining a VPN’s privateness requirements requires extra than simply studying the corporate’s privateness coverage. We do in-depth analysis into an organization’s background and privateness data. We then discuss to representatives from the VPN itself and mix all of this with our personal testing.

In order to establish a VPN service’s privateness requirements, we comb its privateness coverage, paying specific consideration to issues corresponding to information assortment, information sharing, and information logging. We then test these coverage claims in opposition to historic data, corresponding to potential information breaches and lawsuits, or different reported incidents. 

We additionally search for third-party audits to confirm an organization’s privateness claims. These audits assist in substantiating sure privateness declarations, however they might have been carried out within the distant previous. Therefore we examine what number of audits have been revealed and the way steadily they’re undertaken.

Of course, a VPN could make the entire proper privateness guarantees and publish a number of unbiased audits, however which will all be for naught if the service is topic to authorities data-sharing necessities. So, in assessing a VPN’s total privateness, we analysis the place the corporate operates out of, and if that jurisdiction is a member of any data-sharing alliances corresponding to Five Eyes, 9 Eyes, or 14 Eyes. 

A VPN that’s positioned in a member state of those alliances isn’t essentially marked down, however we make certain to notice this truth and talk about its implications in order that customers could make their very own judgment name.

How we consider a VPN’s safety

Sam Singleton

Security goes hand-in-hand with privateness and is one other vital issue when testing a VPN. A service ought to have a minimal of AES 256-bit encryption—though an possibility to vary to AES 128-bit encryption will be helpful in the precise circumstances as nicely.

Additionally, we test to see what server infrastructure the VPN is working. Ideally, we wish to see diskless, RAM-only servers. While most VPN providers have begun utilizing these, if it has an older or much less safe server infrastructure, we mark down our evaluation accordingly. 

We additionally take a look at the quantity and sorts of VPN protocols accessible. Older or outdated protocols are highlighted with a view to convey them to the eye of readers. And we conduct DNS leak exams throughout a number of servers and all protocols to detect if a person’s authentic IP deal with is being leaked whereas linked to the VPN. 

How we consider a VPN’s usability and extra options

Sam Singleton

As VPNs grow to be increasingly well-liked, corporations are starting to supply extra options to their providers to make them stand out in a crowded market. Some of those options are fairly welcomed and helpful whereas others appear moderately gimmicky. 

When PCWorld critiques a VPN service, we think about all of those extra options in our last evaluation. Of course, we imagine that some options are extra necessary than others and thus we weigh them extra closely. Features corresponding to split-tunneling, multi-hop, and advert/tracker-blocking can significantly profit a person and are highlighted in our critiques.

Finally, we purpose to offer a way of the much less tangible elements of a VPN: person expertise. A service could also be loaded with nice options, but when a person can’t intuitively perceive find out how to use them, then this can be a enormous disservice. Including each hands-on descriptions in addition to screenshots all through our critiques, we endeavor to offer the reader a superb overview of how this VPN feels to work with, and what sort of person may get probably the most out of the service.

How we consider a VPN’s pricing

When we’re evaluating costs amongst VPNs, we embody the usual month-to-month pricing in addition to a yearly, or bi-yearly plan if it’s accessible. This is as a result of nearly each VPN offers a reduction for customers who join long-term subscription plans. 

Our aim is to match and distinction the usual pricing in addition to any incentivized reductions in order that customers could make an knowledgeable determination on which pricing construction for every VPN is finest for them.

In our critiques, we prioritize month-to-month subscriptions, as they’re the only solution to immediately evaluate two or extra VPNs’ subscription pricing. Also, usually we imagine that when signing up for a brand new VPN, it’s advisable to begin with one month with the intention to get a really feel for the service earlier than making a longer-term dedication.

How to interpret our VPN score system

At PCWorld we attempt to maintain it fairly easy with scores. We fee a VPN on a scale of 0 to five stars, with 5 being the very best. An excellent VPN with nice speeds, a demonstrated historical past of defending person privateness, strong safety, and good further options might be given a 5 star score. If any of the aforementioned standards are missing in any manner, we’ll cut back the score accordingly. Some standards corresponding to privateness are weighted extra closely and can subsequently trigger the score to drop extra considerably if there are any points to be discovered.

We additionally award Editor’s Choice badges, which signify the VPN is really distinctive and top-of-the-line providers available on the market. The Editor’s Choice badge might be awarded to a VPN if it will get a 4.5 or 5 star score.