The Best VPNs for Windows PCs

It’s straightforward to start using ExpressVPN on Windows. You simply need to launch the app and click the power button to connect to a nearby server.

We found this process near-instantaneous and the app changed from red to green to confirm the VPN connection. If you’re unsure about your connection status, ExpressVPN also updates you through your Windows notifications.

In particular, we liked how minimal and simple the app’s user interface is with all of the essential features present on the home screen. This was much more accessible than competing services, like Surfshark and NordVPN, which tend to clutter its app interface with extra features.

ExpressVPN also uses a slick red, green, and white color palette which stood out on our Windows display and made the text within the app easy to read.

ExpressVPN is an excellent choice for unrestricted streaming on Windows. It works to access US Netflix from overseas, as well as 17 other regional Netflix libraries.

ExpressVPN unblocked Max without any issues on our PC

It also unblocks popular content platforms like Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, and more.

In each instance, ExpressVPN almost always assigned us a working server for the streaming service, at the first time of asking. Its fast Lightway protocol also ensured that we streamed in maximum video quality with no buffering whatsoever.

Likewise, ExpressVPN was one of the best performing torrenting VPNs with an average bitrate of 9.4MiB/s. In our personal experience, ExpressVPN worked well with qBittorrent’s Windows client and we never had any issues with stalled or blocked downloads.

ExpressVPN remains one of the fastest VPNs available, due to its proprietary Lightway protocol.

As part of our regular testing, we recorded an average download speed loss of just 3% while connected to a local ExpressVPN server. Regardless of your location, you can expect similar speeds when connecting to a nearby server.

For added context, you can use the chart below to see how ExpressVPN’s local speed performance compares to other leading Windows VPNs:

As shown above, ExpressVPN is faster than most of its rivals over short-distance connections. However, ExpressVPN registered an average speed loss of 15% on international connections which is still excellent but falls short of rivals like IPVanish and PIA.

NordVPN includes more advanced features than almost every Windows VPN, which allows you to tailor the VPN to your needs.

We’ve listed some of NordVPN’s extra features on Windows below alongside an explanation of how they work:

As such, NordVPN is one of the safest and most secure apps for PC. Its VPN kill switch was especially impressive as it allowed us to target specific apps on our Windows to be disconnected.

We were pleasantly surprised by how easy this was to do, you just need to click the cog symbol to open Settings and then select Kill Switch > Add apps.

NordVPN’s kill switch is customizable on Windows.

That said, we felt that the Windows app was too saturated with extra features, like ‘Threat Protection’ taking up one quarter of the home screen. The option to hide these features would be a welcome addition and help streamline the UI.

We used NordVPN to unblock 17 Netflix libraries, including US Netflix, Max, BBC iPlayer, and many more.

NordVPN automatically assigned us a server that always worked with the streaming platform, resulting in the perfect user experience. This is much better than our experience with PrivateVPN which sometimes required us to switch servers before the stream would load.

To demonstrate how easy this is, we’ve showcased how to unblock US Netflix with NordVPN in the video below:

With a speed loss of just 5% on a local server, the stream loaded in HD or 4K quality without fail.

NordVPN offers IP addresses from 111 countries, more than any VPN we’ve reviewed except HMA. For example, it has servers in 58 more countries than IPVanish and 42 more than Windscribe.

This ensures you’ll always have a server close by to connect to, even during periods of peak usage.

We also tested our connection to NordVPN’s servers by running our Windows traffic through a packet analyzer. Our results indicated that NordVPN successfully encrypted our traffic with AES-256 encryption, backed by first-party DNS servers:

NordVPN kept our internet traffic private and secure.

PIA has one of the most technical Windows apps we’ve used and we struggled at times to navigate its menus. We think the app would benefit from copying PrivateVPN’s approach of including a ‘Simple’ and ‘Advanced’ view to simplify its UI, especially for beginners.

That said, we liked that we could customize our VPN encryption beyond just selecting a protocol, with the option of different ciphers. We also loved how easy it was to set up VPN port forwarding: you just need to tick a checkbox within the app’s Network settings.

PIA port forwarding can be set up with one click from within the app’s settings menu.

This is far less time-consuming than Windscribe’s setup which requires you to manually enable port forwarding on the VPN service’s website.

PIA’s proven no-logs policy, robust security, and fast download bitrate make it the best VPN for torrenting.

From a baseline of 10.0MiB/s, we recorded an average download bitrate of 9.6MiB/s with PIA. This is exceptional and allows you to download HD movies, e-books, and software in minutes.

In the video below, we demonstrate how much faster PIA is for torrenting than its rivals on Windows:

For added privacy, PIA also comes with an effective kill switch which has never failed in our testing. As such, your torrents and real IP address will remain anonymous even if your VPN unexpectedly cuts out.

Unlike most VPNs, PIA is a genuinely no-logs VPN service. This means that PIA doesn’t collect any information about you when you use its Windows app.

PIA’s transparency report verifies that it’s never provided logs for a court order, subpoena, or a warrant.

This has been proven by real-world court cases as well as PIA’s quarterly transparency report.

PIA also uses diskless VPN servers which automatically delete your data on a regular basis. This makes it virtually impossible for anyone to view your browsing activity or connection logs.

As with all the VPNs on this list, PIA uses industry-standard WireGuard and OpenVPN protocols. These protocols are open-sourced and can be trusted to keep your traffic secure.

You can use Proton VPN for free on your PC with no payment details needed. It also doesn’t sell your data to third-parties or use in-app ads to monetise your usage, like SkyVPN and VPN Proxy Master do.

Another way Proton VPN stands out from most free VPNs is its unlimited data. This is unlike Windscribe which caps you at 10GB monthly, TunnelBear at 2GB, or Betternet at 500MB.

Proton VPN uses a map interface for its PC app, like IPVanish. We found this slightly distracting and were pleased to learn that you can hide it by resizing the app.

We’d like to see Proton VPN streamline its Windows app further by removing pointless graphics like the download speed graph and ‘Session Traffic’ statistics.

It’s simple to start using the VPN, just click the Connect button, and Proton VPN even provides an optional tour of the app upon your first start-up.

As is the case with most free VPNs, Proton VPN imposes several restrictions to encourage users to upgrade to its premium service.

On its Windows app, you are limited to just 200 servers covering 3 countries: the US, Netherlands, and Japan.

Though Proton VPN Free is fast over long-distances, you’re likely to experience slow download speeds unless you live close to these countries.

For instance, we tried connecting to its Japan server and were left waiting for just over 3 minutes. Compared to ExpressVPN’s instant connection time, this is disappointing.

Proton VPN Free also blocks P2P traffic, so torrenting won’t work, and fails to access any streaming services.

Windscribe’s desktop app uses a simple and condensed design, making it accessible to all users.

You just need to click the power button to start your VPN connection and you can activate the kill switch by toggling the widget – there’s no need to go into the settings.

We also liked that you can toggle between a windowed or system tray app, though we prefer the latter.

However, we found it difficult to read some of the in-app text and UI elements, especially the tool tips. We’d like to be able to resize the Windows app to mitigate this issue.

Windscribe is very lightweight on desktop, consuming 32MB of RAM on average. This is the lowest of any VPN we tested and ensures your PC runs at optimal performance.

Windscribe also accommodates the default Windows browser, Microsoft Edge, with custom VPN extensions. Like the VPN app, it’s free to use and offers up to 11 different locations to connect to.

We used Windscribe’s Microsoft Edge extension to unblock BBC iPlayer with ease.

Most VPNs don’t provide a Microsoft Edge extension, and even less make it completely free like Windscribe.

Unlike most free VPNs, Windscribe Free unblocks multiple Netflix libraries, Max, Hulu, and BBC iPlayer.

We used Windscribe’s free UK server to unblock its Netflix library in 4K quality. The stream loaded almost immediately and we rarely had to change VPN servers to get the service to work.

Windscribe Free almost always works with UK Netflix.

We did notice buffering on occasion, especially when streaming live content. We found this quite frustrating, particularly after multiple hours of testing.

It’s also worth taking Windscirbe’s monthly 10GB data cap into consideration. While this may be enough for everyday browsing, it limits you to around 90 minutes of 4K Netflix streaming on desktop.