Best VPN Services of 2019

ExpressVPN is a very safe and legitimate VPN provider that has been around since 2009. Our extensive testing continues to show that ExpressVPN is the best all-round VPN on the market. As a whole package ExpressVPN simply can’t be beaten.

ExpressVPN’s consistency is remarkable, with fast and reliable speeds around the world. ExpressVPN is great for torrenting, and it also unlocks Netflix (especially the US library), BBC iPlayer, and other popular streaming services.

Not to mention that it is our number one VPN choice to bypass censorship blocks in countries like China.

ExpressVPN is very private and secure, with great advanced security features like its Network Lock, which is essentially a kill switch to keep you protected if your network connection drops.

You’ll have access to the best VPN protocols (OpenVPN, IKEv2, and more) and your internet connections will be encrypted with the ‘unbreakable’ AES-256 cipher.

ExpressVPN doesn’t collect any personally identifiable logs, and we didn’t find any IP, DNS or WebRTC leaks when we tested all of its VPN apps. It’s also based in a very privacy-minded country: the British Virgin Islands.

Customer support is always very helpful, which you can contact via 24/7 live chat or email. If for whatever reason you’re not happy with ExpressVPN, you can get a refund within 30 days of purchase, no-questions-asked.

ExpressVPN has one of the most user-friendly interfaces out there and is very easy to install and set up on all devices including your PC, Mac, iPhone, Android smartphone and Amazon Fire TV Stick. You can also install the VPN on your router in order to protect all internet-connected devices in your home.

At a higher, but still affordable price, ExpressVPN is the best VPN of 2019.

NordVPN is one of the safest and most secure VPN services we’ve tested.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in privacy-friendly Panama, NordVPN has the biggest server network on the market: over 5,600 fast and secure servers spread around the world.

NordVPN works very well with BBC iPlayer, Netflix and major streaming platforms. You can expect consistently fast download speeds for fast buffer-free streaming in HD/4K. Upload speeds were also very quick in our tests, which makes NordVPN a great VPN for torrenting.

NordVPN has some excellent privacy features, such as a VPN kill switch, Double VPN and AES-256 encryption. When we tested for IP, DNS and WebRTC leaks, NordVPN didn’t experience any whatsoever, so you can trust it to hide your IP effectively.

Just like ExpressVPN, NordVPN has custom VPN apps for many devices including your PC, Mac, iPhone, Android smartphone and Amazon Firestick. You can even install it on your router to protect all internet traffic at home.

You can use NordVPN on six devices at once, which is one of the most generous allowances we’ve seen.

It’s a shame that the NordVPN apps lack the automatic protocol selection provided by ExpressVPN. In fact, if you want to use VPN protocols other than OpenVPN then you’ll have to manually configure them.

If you try NordVPN and don’t like it, don’t worry as you can take advantage of their 30-day money-back guarantee and you’ll get a quick hassle-free refund.

At a very affordable price, NordVPN is a great alternative to ExpressVPN.

IPVanish is a very good US-based VPN service, and one of the fastest VPNs around. It is particularly popular with torrenters, Kodi fans and Firestick users.

The IPVanish server network isn’t huge – around 1,300 servers – but the number of IP addresses available is: over 40,000! All the IPVanish servers we tested were very fast and all VPN connections are secure with 256-bit AES encryption.

Like its top rivals, IPVanish is also available on all popular platforms and devices: PCs, Macs, iPhones, and Android smartphones. IPVanish also has the best VPN app for the Amazon Fire TV Stick. Router installation is also available, if needed.

IPVanish has a kill switch on both Windows and MacOS devices, and you can use it on 10 devices at once with just one subscription, which beats NordVPN’s six simultaneous connections.

Its strict no-logs policy is reassuring, especially as IPVanish is based in the privacy-unfriendly US. No IP, DNS, or WebRTC leaks were detected in our extensive testing.

IPVanish does work with Netflix but disappointingly it doesn’t work with BBC iPlayer and it won’t work in high censorship countries like China and the UAE.

The IPVanish money-back guarantee isn’t great either – you’ll only have seven days before the refund period expires.

While it’s not the best VPN for streaming, IPVanish is still a great VPN choice for privacy-focused users who seek fast encrypted connections on all their devices.

CyberGhost is one the oldest VPN services around and currently one of the cheapest. It was first released in 2004 and launched as a free VPN. While it’s no longer free, it is very affordable and is totally safe to use.

CyberGhost’s 4,600+ servers is one of the biggest server networks available, which includes dedicated streaming servers that work brilliantly with Netflix and BBC iPlayer. CyberGhost is in fact one of the best VPN services when it comes to fast unrestricted streaming.

CyberGhost VPN’s torrenting/P2P optimized servers work well too, but it’s a shame that US and Australian servers won’t allow torrenting or P2P traffic.

First-party DNS servers (CyberGhost owns many of its servers) and a no-logs policy make CyberGhost a superb choice for privacy.

The CyberGhost apps default to OpenVPN (although IKEv2 and other VPN protocols are also available), and connections are secured with AES-256 encryption. Its kill switch worked flawlessly and we’ve never detected any IP, DNS or WebRTC leaks in our comprehensive tests.

CyberGhost provides custom VPN apps for all major platforms such as Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. The CyberGhost native Firestick app has improved massively and is now one of the best around.

You can use CyberGhost VPN on up to seven devices at once, which is great. If that’s not enough, install it on your router at home and protect all your home devices that way.

Customer support is available 24/7 via live chat and CyberGhost’s support staff are always helpful and responsive.

If whatever reason you don’t like using CyberGhost VPN, you have up to 45 days to request a full refund – one of the most generous refund policies we’ve ever seen. If you opt for the 1-month plan though, you’ll only have 14-days to ask for your money back.

Overall CyberGhost is a very strong VPN choice and we’re expecting it to get better and better with time.

PrivateVPN is a relative newcomer in the VPN world, but in little time it has become of the best VPN services out there. Originally founded in 2009, it really started picking up momentum in the last two to three years.

PrivateVPN’s connections are fast and reliable around the world, and unrestricted access to Netflix and BBC iPlayer (and more) make it a great VPN choice for streaming fans.

Torrenting is allowed on the entire server network, with servers optimized especially for P2P traffic too, and low pings make PrivateVPN a great pick for gamers.

PrivateVPN’s server network is very small (only 150 servers) compared to its top rivals, however this shortcoming is compensated by the 7,000 IP addresses available to PrivateVPN users.

We put PrivateVPN’s claims to the test and we found it to be very private and secure: it doesn’t log, it has a working VPN kill switch, and it doesn’t leak your true location.

PrivateVPN’s apps are available on PC, Mac, iPhone and Android devices, although its mobile VPN apps are not as good as its desktop clients. You can also setup PrivateVPN on a home router to secure all internet traffic in your home.

If you decide that PrivateVPN is not for you, remember that the 30-day money-back guarantee is only valid if you use less than 100GB of data during the 30-day period.

PrivateVPN has a lot going for it and we’ve been impressed with this VPN so far, although it does have some way to go before it can challenge the top four VPN services ranked above it.