Honest VPN Reviews & Online Security Research

We buy and test every VPN with our own money, and publish what we find. Below you’ll find our top picks, guides organized by what you actually need, and links to our research – all based on hands-on testing since 2015.

🥇 NordVPN – Best Overall VPN

(#1 out of 30 VPNs tested)

NordVPN is best for most people who want one VPN that “just works” across streaming, speed, and everyday privacy without optimizing for a niche feature. It’s not the best fit if you specifically need port forwarding, or if you’re shopping purely on the lowest possible long-term price. If you want the most balanced pick from our latest results, NordVPN is the simplest default.

🥈 Surfshark – Best Value for Families

(#2 out of 30 VPNs tested)

Surfshark is best for people who want a strong all-round VPN but need to protect lots of devices (or a whole household) without thinking about limits. It’s not the best fit if you specifically need port forwarding, or if you only want a short month-to-month plan. If you want the easiest “covers everyone” plan with genuinely strong test results, Surfshark is the value pick here.

🥉 Proton VPN – Best for Privacy Power Users

(#3 out of 30 VPNs tested)

4. ExpressVPN – Best for set-and-forget simplicity

ExpressVPN is the pick if your priority is a VPN that feels predictable across devices and doesn’t require tinkering. “Set-and-forget” here means a simple setup, broad coverage, and performance that stays consistently solid. It landed at #4 because it delivered strong everyday speed results and wide country coverage, while streaming was good overall but not flawless in the last check.

Read our extensive ExpressVPN review here

5. Private Internet Access – Best cheap VPN (if streaming isn’t your priority)

Private Internet Access (PIA) is the budget pick when your main constraint is price and you still want a legitimate VPN for everyday privacy. The “cheap VPN” label is intentional: PIA makes the most sense when you care more about covering lots of devices for as little as possible than you do about perfect streaming compatibility. In our testing, it held up on speed consistency, but streaming was the obvious weak spot.

Read our extensive PIA review here

6. IPVanish – Fastest download speeds (in our tests)

IPVanish is the speed-first pick in this lineup – the one you choose when keeping downloads snappy matters more than having the strongest streaming score. We don’t decide “fastest” using one screenshot; we look at retention across multiple locations, and IPVanish came out on top in our latest speed runs. Streaming was more mixed, and our notes show connections sometimes needed a second attempt.

Read our extensive IPVanish review here

7. PureVPN – Best for streaming + port forwarding (on a budget)

PureVPN is the niche pick when you’re streaming-first and you also care about port forwarding, but you don’t want to pay premium pricing. That’s a narrower category than “best overall,” so the logic is different: you’re choosing PureVPN because it nailed the streaming check very recently and offers port forwarding (with plan/server limitations), not because it leads the lineup on raw speed.

Read our extensive PureVPN review here

VPN Guides & Resources

Reviews, best-of lists, deals, and learning guides – all based on our hands-on testing.

💰 VPN Deals & Coupons

🎯 Best VPN by Use Case

📱 Best VPN by Device

📝 VPN Reviews

📚 Learn

Our 13-Step VPN Review Process

We buy, install, and test every VPN ourselves. No free accounts, no special access. Every VPN goes through the same process:

• Ran multiple speed tests
• Fact-checked their policies and security standards
• Tested for IP, DNS & WebRTC leaks
• Tested for Netflix and other major streaming services
• Tested for torrenting
• Compared usability, cost and value

We re-test regularly – streaming panels, speed checks, and trust boxes are updated when products or policies change.

Read our full 13-step review process →

Research & Data

Explore our independent findings and cybersecurity statistics:

• Most Common Passwords & How Easily They’re Cracked
• How Much Companies Spend on Cybersecurity
• VPN Usage Statistics in the UK
• How Many Cyber Attacks Happen Per Year
• Phishing Attack Success Rates

Explore the full Data Hub →

Who We Are

We’re a small, independent team that has been testing VPNs since 2015. We buy every VPN with our own money, test on real devices, and publish results with dated screenshots you can verify.

All our reviews are unbiased, transparent and honest. We earn commissions when you buy through our links – this funds our testing – but it never influences rankings or scores.

Frequently Asked Questions