The Best VPN Services in 2026

After thousands of streaming tests, ExpressVPN continues to be the best VPN for streaming, unblocking 95% of the 120 platforms we tested it with.

Its ability to reliably access geo-restricted content in 109 countries, paired with exceptional streaming speeds, is unmatched.

The VPN’s greatly improved IP location accuracy has made it even easier to bypass the toughest geo-restrictions, especially regional and city-specific blocks.

ExpressVPN’s US VPN servers stand out for their exceptional ability to unblock the likes of HBO Max, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video. Covering 57 cities, they also beat NFL, MLB, NBA, and other US sports blackouts, too.

While ExpressVPN is the undisputed best VPN for US Netflix, with an astonishing 100% success rate, it also unblocks 17 other regions, including Australia, Canada, India, and the UK.

ExpressVPN is the most effective at unblocking Netflix.

It’s a similar story getting round UK geo-restrictions, with vastly improved consistency in streaming BBC iPlayer and Sky from abroad.

On TVs specifically, we enjoyed using the VPN’s simple yet effective Fire TV app, its MediaStreamer (Smart DNS) solution on game consoles, and its unique VPN router app with Roku.

As we’ve already said, ExpressVPN is by far the easiest and most widely-compatible VPN we’ve used. It’s as close as you can get to a plug-and-play VPN.

While most VPNs require tinkering with settings, or selecting specific servers for certain activities, ExpressVPN makes a lot happen automatically in the background.

All key preferences are preset for you on first load, including Automatic Protocol Selection (for best performance) and the VPN kill switch activation.

Every single app, even the router one, is incredibly well designed, uncluttered, and homogeneous across platforms.

The red, green, and white color palette sits well against any device display and makes it very easy to read the app’s labels.

Using it on your computer is almost the same as on your smartphone, which is ideal for VPN beginners.

We love how the mobile apps keep getting better and better, in particular the iOS one which is even easier to use thanks to newly-added Siri, widget, and shortcut integrations.

And out of all the VPNs we tested, ExpressVPN was the quickest (within three seconds) to connect to server locations, whether nearby or far away.

ExpressVPN performed strongly in our security and privacy tests, too.

All its apps routed our data through secure VPN protocols (the quantum-ready Lightway 2.0, OpenVPN and WireGuard) using AES-256 or ChaCha20 encryption, and RAM-only (diskless) servers that never log activity data.

Real-world tests, including server seizures and independent audits, have confirmed this fact several times.

While ExpressVPN doesn’t offer as many extra features as Surfshark, like multi-hop servers or Android GPS spoofing, it offers all the vital ones.

These include a standard kill switch to prevent IP leaks during (extremely rare) VPN connection failures, and an advanced version that blocks all your device’s network traffic rather than just your internet connection.

Most of ExpressVPN’s servers also use ShuffleIP, built-in technology that automatically assigns you a new IP address (within the same location) for each new website or app you use.

As a paid add-on, you can also get your own dedicated anonymous IP address from one of 22 countries, including the US, UK, Canada and Australia.

A token-based system prevents these static IPs from being linked to your account, preserving your internet privacy.

While ExpressVPN has carried a “premium” price tag for many years, things have changed. A recent pricing overhaul has brought prices roughly in line with NordVPN.

While its cheapest price of $3.49/mo over 28 months isn’t the absolute lowest on the market, you really get your money’s worth thanks to the VPN’s superior capabilities and user experience.

If you can afford it, you can’t go wrong with ExpressVPN.

If you want to try it first, ExpressVPN offers a 7-day free trial as well as a 30-day money-back guarantee, which the company has always honored in our experience.

What we love about NordVPN is how much it has improved its security standards since a minor server breach in 2018.

All apps use the quantum-ready NordLynx protocol, a variation of WireGuard, which encrypts traffic through the ChaCha20 cipher.

We analyzed the packets passing through our network using Wireshark, and NordVPN made all our traffic data completely illegible.

We used Wireshark to verify that NordVPN encrypted our internet traffic.

Alongside the mandatory kill switch, NordVPN also offers multi-hop (double VPN) servers, which routed our web traffic through two separate VPN servers and encrypted it twice.

And just like ExpressVPN, NordVPN uses RAM-only (diskless) servers, making it almost impossible for a third-party to extract user activity data from them.

NordVPN doesn’t log any web activity data anyway: no IP address or internet history logs, nor bandwidth used.

However, it does keep a temporary log of your username and the last connection date for 15 minutes after each session.

NordVPN continues to deliver exceptional VPN speeds across its network of 10Gbps servers.

On nearby connections, speeds only dipped by 4%, which almost matched ExpressVPN’s 2% slowdown.

On longer-distance connections, NordVPN roughly equaled ExpressVPN’s performance, with an average impact on speed of only 14%.

Connecting to specific locations, NordVPN even beat ExpressVPN. For instance, we experienced superb speeds connecting to its VPN servers in the UK and Canadian VPN locations, allowing us to stream local TV content seamlessly.

Overall, NordVPN’s global server coverage is unmatched, spanning across 127 countries — more than any other VPN right now.

What’s even more impressive is that this extensive reach hasn’t compromised the quality of connections, which remain stable and free of interruptions.

We rate NordVPN highly, but we feel slightly let down by the VPN’s less user-friendly and intuitive apps.

Its VPN apps for Mac and PC need design improvements in our opinion. They’re by no means hard to use, but they’re cluttered by ‘Threat Protection Pro’ and ‘Dark Web Monitor’ on the home screen.

NordVPN’s PC and Mac applications.

NordVPN’s mobile apps are a lot more enjoyable to use, although the kill switch on Android requires fiddly configuration, and it interferes with split tunneling.

While NordVPN has many great features, like its free remote access tool called Meshnet, the “Pause” function is one we really dislike. It only temporarily disables the VPN, automatically reactivating it after a set amount of time.

This makes fully turning off the VPN a two-step process, which on mobile becomes irritating after a while.

There are only a handful of verified no-log VPNs on the market, but Private Internet Access is one of them.

The provider’s logging policy has been externally verified several times, and the company releases regular transparency reports to support this.

Not to mention that all the provider’s apps are open-source, for even greater transparency and trustworthiness.

Thanks to its strict no-logs policy and powerful security, Private Internet Access easily outperformed its rivals for anonymous torrenting.

We downloaded multiple test files without any issues.

We were even able to torrent on all of PIA’s servers, including American ones. This is refreshing, considering many VPNs often exclude certain servers from P2P activity for dubious reasons.

And unlike most VPNs, PIA also offers VPN port forwarding, which is useful to increase the number of peers you ‘talk with,’ speeding up torrent speeds.

Using qBittorrent, we downloaded a file at a formidable rate of 9.6MiB/s, which not even ExpressVPN or NordVPN could match.

You can even sign up to PIA anonymously by using a throwaway email address and one of the several anonymous payment methods available.

Not only is PIA’s server network completely no-logs but it’s also one of the largest for sheer number of endpoints.

Alongside ExpressVPN, it’s also one of only two services to offer VPN locations in every US state.

PIA VPN’s US servers in the Android app.

This extensive pool of American IP addresses made bypassing state-level geo-blocks a piece of cake.

Outside of the US, PIA has servers in all popular countries, but ExpressVPN and NordVPN cover more especially in Asia and Africa.

While PIA’s privacy and torrenting test results are unrivaled, and its subscription price very appealing, the software’s usability was a little disappointing.

Simply put, PIA’s apps aren’t as nicely designed as ExpressVPN, and aren’t the easiest to use. There are too many settings to tinker with for the typical VPN beginner.

The macOS app, in particular, is rather frustrating to use, and it even takes over three seconds to load as a windowed app.

We also found out that 75% of US server locations on the Firestick app don’t work with streaming services, and the Smart DNS solution unblocked none.

On the plus side, PIA’s mobile apps are probably the nicest-looking and easiest to use in its arsenal.

Surfshark is a secure service, offering many of the essential security features we expect from high-quality VPN providers.

All its applications use ChaCha20 encryption, WireGuard as the default protocol, and include a VPN kill switch.

Some of the settings available in Surfshark’s Mac app.

On the plus side, the VPN logs almost nothing about its customers and only uses diskless servers, meaning no identifiable data can be extracted in the event of a breach or server seizure.

Additionally, Surfshark offers a ‘Rotating IP’ feature which, when enabled, changes your IP address every five to 10 minutes without modifying the server location you’re connected to.

The Rotating IP function, which worked smoothly for us, further increases your anonymity and security online without ever revealing your true location.

Surfshark has the rare ability of spoofing your GPS location on Android phones. Windscribe is the only other recommended VPN able to do this.

The ‘Override GPS location’ function prevents Android mobile applications using GPS to detect your real location. It’s simple to use, and works as intended.

Surfshark’s Override GPS location function on Android.

When activated, this integrated function spoofs your Android device’s GPS coordinates to match your chosen VPN server location.

This is a game-changer for bypassing geo-restrictions on mobile apps like ESPN+ and NBA League Pass, which rely on GPS rather than just an IP address to verify location.

Beyond streaming, Surfshark is an elite VPN for mobile gaming. It allowed us to unlock region-exclusive content (via ‘Override GPS location’), while its MTU setting helped us adjust packet sizes to stabilize ‘wobbly’ cellular connections.

Remarkably, neither ExpressVPN nor NordVPN come with these specific built-in tools.

The issues we have with Surfshark revolve around its disappointing server connection times and speeds across all its applications.

We often found ourselves waiting several seconds trying to connect to popular servers. Once connected, the speeds were definitely not as fast as other top-tier services.

On short-distance connections, our internet speed dipped by 4%, which is comparable to many high-quality VPNs, but worse than ExpressVPN’s 2%.

Over long-range connections, we experienced slowdowns of 17% versus ExpressVPN’s 15% and NordVPN’s 14%.

Despite a full 10Gbps server network, and the experimental ‘FastTrack’ route optimization technology, we’ve only seen speed boosts in small pockets.

The company has started deploying 100Gbps servers, but we don’t expect radical improvements until they’re rolled out beyond the initial testing hubs.

IPVanish remains our highest-rated VPN for the popular Fire TV Stick, and other Fire TV devices.

The app is straightforward to use, and it provides fast speeds connecting to nearby VPN servers. In recent tests, we registered a mere 4% slowdown in our download speeds.

The IPVanish home screen on Amazon Fire TV Stick.

Above all, we found that the VPN app worked perfectly with Kodi and IPTV apps.

The only downside to using IPVanish is that it might not always access your favorite streaming service. It works brilliantly with platforms like Netflix (16 regions), Hulu and HBO Max, but not so well with the likes of Kayo Sports and DAZN.

Where IPVanish really stands out is keeping internet data transfers private at home and on the go.

All 3,100 physical servers, entirely owned by IPVanish, are completely no-logs. They don’t monitor or store any of your internet activity.

The company is also rolling out RAM-only (diskless) servers, a smart move that follows the industry’s best practices to further protect customers’ privacy.

And you’ll get access to over 55,000 anonymous IP addresses, which is a staggering number of IPs rare among VPN companies.

The IPVanish server network is both self-owned and sizeable.

In our security tests, we’ve never suffered an IP or DNS address leak using IPVanish, unless we were switching servers on the Mac app. The company needs to fix this small yet important flaw.

The IPVanish app does have a VPN kill switch, but it isn’t enabled by default, which we really don’t like.

We’ve been told this is by design, to stop new users from inadvertently blocking their internet connections by leaving the app running but not actually connected.

At least, the kill switch toggle on the app’s home screen is prominent and does stay on once activated.

While this is a reasonable compromise, we always push VPN providers to enable kill switches by default, as this is by far the safest option for consumers.

IPVanish’s Fire TV software works great but in general the VPN’s apps, especially those for desktop computers, suffer from an out-dated design.

Despite a redesign in 2023, the Windows and macOS apps still don’t look as pleasant and aren’t as user-friendly as ExpressVPN’s.

There’s still too much clutter on the home screens. The prominent data waveform and map don’t provide enough value to justify the space they take up.

IPVanish’s macOS app (bottom) now uses the same design as Windows.

A recent update introduced sliders to adjust whether the waveform or map area is more prominent, but you still can’t collapse this oversized aspect.

The desktop apps take up a lot more screen space than some other VPNs. Yet more than three-quarters of the home screen could simply be removed – with no real loss of functionality – for a more streamlined experience.

More frustratingly, there are no traditional web browser extensions, Smart DNS proxy, or a router app. The latter two omissions complicate unblocking content on Roku and game consoles considerably.

Not all is bad, though. We love that IPVanish was one of the first VPNs to release a VPN app for Apple TV, which many services still don’t offer.

There’s also an apk file you can use to side load IPVanish on Android devices with no access to Google Play Store (e.g. Android boxes).

Proton VPN’s free app is without a doubt the best free VPN there is. Thanks to its unlimited bandwidth policy, you can leave it running all the time.

In our latest tests, we also recorded impressive speeds connecting to all 10 free server locations. With just 7% average speed loss, it even beat some paid VPNs!

That said, we found 10 free server locations extremely limiting, compared to the 126 available with the paid plan.

But what really frustrated us was that you can no longer choose a free server location: you’re automatically connected to the “fastest” available server, with connections to the Netherlands or Romania just as likely as to the US or Japan.

Proton VPN’s free iOS application.

This means you won’t be able to use Proton VPN’s free service to access geo-restricted content. And to add insult to injury, all free servers block P2P traffic. For these activities, Windscribe is a much better choice.

Proton VPN is synonymous with highly-secure and encrypted VPN connections.

You have the choice of using either OpenVPN or WireGuard protocols (hence AES-256 or ChaCha20 encryption), and it enforces Forward Secrecy (FS).

The paid version of Proton VPN has been constantly improving over the years, especially on the streaming front.

Paid plans also offer Secure Core technology, which further enhances your security by tunneling traffic through one of its 112 dedicated data center servers.

Proton VPN’s settings including Secure Core servers and VPN accelerator.

None of these security credentials impact Proton VPN’s usability: the VPN’s apps look good on every platform, and even its most advanced features are easy to use.

But for a security-focused leader like Proton, the absence of post-quantum encryption is a really surprising oversight. We expected them to be pioneers in this space, not latecomers.

Proton VPN would rank a lot higher if it weren’t for two key shortcomings: slower internet speeds and a high subscription price.

While it’s not a slow service, the paid version of Proton VPN has fallen behind its main rivals speed-wise. This is a big and unexpected surprise.

Even using the WireGuard protocol, its download speeds connecting to nearby locations are consistently slower than ExpressVPN, NordVPN, and all other providers in our Top 10 list.

It’s unclear what’s causing this persistent downtrend, but it’s certainly affecting the Proton VPN’s overall performance.

The good news is that its long-distance speeds are still on par with other high-performing VPNs.

While Proton VPN is a strong choice in general, it just doesn’t represent as good value for your money as the other VPNs ranked higher.

CyberGhost is the only top VPN to offer VPN free trials that don’t require upfront submission of payment details.

There are three free trials available: a 24-hour free trial on PC and Mac, a seven-day free trial on iPhone/iPad, and a three-day trial on Android devices.

CyberGhost has the best free trial and the longest money-back guarantee.

You can even combine these free trial periods with the VPN’s 45-day refund guarantee to use CyberGhost for free for over 50 days.

CyberGhost’s dedicated streaming servers are a lot more successful at unblocking streaming platforms than in the past.

CyberGhost’s past inconsistencies are now gone, and it now unblocks major content platforms like Netflix (10 regions), Disney+, Prime Video, Hulu, and BBC iPlayer.

We streamed BBC iPlayer using CyberGhost’s UK servers.

The service’s Smart DNS service is what really stood out in our tests, though.

In our experience, it’s the most effective DNS tool offered by a VPN service, unblocking geo-restricted content in the US, UK, Netherlands, Germany and Japan.

The tool even has specific configurations for Hulu as well as the American and British Netflix libraries.

CyberGhost’s features aren’t quite as plentiful as PIA’s or NordVPN’s, but they’re sufficient for the average VPN user.

CyberGhost’s limited settings on iPhone.

The most notable are Wi-Fi Auto Protect, to automatically secure connections on public networks, and Force HTTPS, which redirects insecure HTTP URLs to their HTTPS version.

One of CyberGhost’s main drawbacks is its speed inconsistencies, especially connecting to far-away servers.

Internationally, CyberGhost slowed down our internet speed by 19%, which trails ExpressVPN’s 15% and NordVPN’s 14% by some margin.

This has been the case for a few years now, and we haven’t seen any improvement on this front.

As a result, live streams are blurry at times, and file downloads are generally slower, especially during peak usage.

Hide.me isn’t the fastest VPN we’ve tested, but it’s among the fastest in our top 10 list.

Wherever you are in the world, Hide.me delivers connection speeds fast enough for you to not even notice you’re using a VPN.

We were especially impressed with the service’s upload speeds, which resulted in lag-free video calling and improved P2P file sharing in our tests.

Its download speeds on close connections are also fantastic, losing just 3% connecting to the closest VPN server.

As a result, Hide.me is a good choice if you want VPN protection without having to frequently configure it. You can simply connect once and leave your VPN running 24/7 without any noticeable downsides.

In the past 12 months of testing, Hide.me’s premium version has been able to unblock international websites and apps from China 84% of the time.

We used Hide.me’s multi-hop feature to bypass the Great Firewall in our tests.

The VPN’s obfuscation technology, in combination with its highly-customizable multi-hop feature, worked effectively to bypass strict web censorship.

To get the most out of the multi-hop servers, ask the service’s helpful customer support for the latest recommended entry and exit nodes. Do this before you travel.

Also, if you connect to standard VPN servers then the VPN won’t be as effective in bypassing aggressive internet filters.

In terms of basic functionality, Hide.me is a good product. Having tested Hide.me for years, we particularly appreciate how much it has improved in recent years.

In the past, Hide.me’s apps suffered from regular crashes and abrupt disconnections, but they now offer a reliable experience.

All the VPN’s apps are visually unappealing, though, with outdated designs and unattractive color combinations. They’re also not as easy to use as we’d like them to be.

The Windows client in particular is overly-complex, with unnecessary protocols (SSTP) and adapter configuration options.

What sets Windscribe apart is how easily the VPN beats Netflix geo-restrictions around the world.

In our tests, we unblocked 32 Netflix regions, including:

• Australia
• Brazil
• Canada
• Germany
• India
• Japan
• Italy
• France
• Mexico
• Netherlands
• South Korea
• Spain
• UK
• US

We unblocked 32 Netflix regions using Windscribe.

While the free VPN no longer unblocks US Netflix, it still works with 5 other Netflix regions, HBO Max, Hulu, and more. This is a huge achievement for a free product.

The VPN also works with BBC iPlayer and popular platforms like HBO Max, Hulu, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video.

Keep in mind that Windscribe’s free VPN is limited by a 10GB monthly data cap, which equates to roughly four hours of HD streaming.

Windscribe’s great streaming capabilities are sadly hindered by its disappointing international speeds, which are much slower than ExpressVPN and NordVPN.

For instance, we measured losses of up to 20% and 16% when connecting to South Africa and Australia.

These slower speeds visibly affect the quality of the picture. We experienced a blurry broadcast several times in our recent tests.

Furthermore, connecting to certain Windscribe servers took many seconds at best, but many minutes at worst. Sometimes we couldn’t even connect at all.

Because of the lack of 24/7 live chat support, when we couldn’t connect to a server, we had to wait over 24 hours for a support agent to help fix issue.

To put that into perspective, with providers like ExpressVPN and PIA, our issues are typically resolved in under 10 minutes.

Windscribe is the only VPN to offer American (Chicago, Dallas) and Canadian (Toronto) residential IP addresses, provided by AT&T and Beanfield respectively.

Residential IPs make your VPN connection appear as a typical household/cellular one, so they’re far less likely to be detected and blocked by web services.

Since these IPs are static and never change, they’re ideal if you need to keep using the same IP address. They do cost an extra $8.00 per month, though.

They’re also shared with a handful of users, so if you want to use your own static dedicated IP address then go for either ExpressVPN’s or PIA’s anonymous dedicated VPN IP solution, instead.

PrivateVPN’s applications are not only beginner-friendly, but they’re also sufficiently secure. Protection is rather basic, but it’s enough to shield you from simple connection attacks.

Through a simple interface, the VPN software encrypts internet connections using the AES-256 cipher and a 2048-bit RSA handshake.

By combining simplicity with good security, PrivateVPN is ideal for securing free public WiFi in airports, hotels, and coffee shops, where there is an increased risk of man-in-the-middle attacks.

That said, the lack of advanced security settings compared to other top-shelf VPNs is apparent. For instance, none of its servers are diskless, and there’s no multi-hop feature.

Moreover, PrivateVPN has yet to implement post-quantum algorithms to protect against future quantum-computing threats.

Despite its limited server park, PrivateVPN is surprisingly good at unblocking region-locked websites and applications.

The VPN currently works with 10 Netflix regions as well as Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and Hulu, to name a few.

PrivateVPN unblocked Prime Video USA from abroad.

Compatibility is limited, though. There is no Smart DNS service, so you’ll have to set up PrivateVPN on your router to use it with devices like your PS5 or Xbox, which don’t allow direct VPN installation.

Since the service hasn’t developed a dedicated router app, you’ll have to configure the VPN manually which can be challenging if you’re a VPN newbie.

As we’ve already mentioned, PrivateVPN’s main drawback is its small network of 200 servers, which pales in comparison to PIA’s 18,651 and Proton VPN’s 15,370.

This limited server network often causes congestion issues on the network, which is why PrivateVPN’s long-distance connections are often slower than its competitors.

As an indication, we experienced speed losses of 39% and 24% connecting to South Africa and Australia respectively.

As a result, you can’t always expect UHD and 4K quality when streaming international video content.