Being able to find the best VPN service is especially hard because of its abundance in the online market. These differ in terms of brand names, features, and more. Choosing the best one for your needs is especially hard. Because of this, in Best Review Guide, we have reviewed the most popular choices and looked for those that especially stand out amongst others based on criteria that are applicable to many users. This includes the speeds provided by the service, their security protocols, their logging policies, their features, and more.
ExpressVPN is easily the best VPN for us. The service was found by Peter Burchhardt back in 2009. Their service is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Android, and more. They are based in the British Virgin Islands which is not included in the list of countries under the Five Eyes or Fourteen Eyes alliances. This ensures that their users can receive utmost anonymity. ExpressVPN is popular because it is one of the few VPNs which can access through China’s Great Firewall that usually blocks outsiders from being able to access their online content. This proves the quality of their technology.
ExpressVPN has always been a part of most technological magazine’s list of best VPN services. This reflects well with the quality of their service that are considered as industry-standards and are followed by most.
Speed
One of the best aspects of ExpressVPN is the fast download and upload speeds they provide their users. No matter the server, users can expect a decrease of only up to half of their original speed. This allows them to freely download, stream, and torrent. This is also made possible by the abundant servers that they have, amounting up to 3,000 that are located in up to 160 different locations. This makes it easier for users to look for the best server for them. This also gives them more options for location spoofing.
Security
With ExpressVPN, users are ensured that their IP addresses will not be exposed while online. To ensure this, we used an IP leak test among other tests, all of which came out with good results. None of the websites you visit while using ExpressVPN will be able to see your real IP address and any one your personal information. The service also uses good security protocols and encryption technologies.
Features
As mentioned, ExpressVPN is among the few which are capable of being able to bypass China’s firewall. Aside from this, it also comes with a kill-switch feature which automatically disconnects your device from the internet in case its security protocols fail to activate.
ExpressVPN supports torrenting which is the main reason for some to use VPNs. This is because without a VPN, users are vulnerable to being hacked by others as they will be regularly uploading some information while using this way of downloading.
Another feature of ExpressVPN is geo-restriction unblocking. This lets users show themselves to be coming from a location of their choice and access content that is not available for their current location. This allows them to be able to access shows in Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and more. With the good speeds of ExpressVPN, they can experience a buffer-free streaming experience.
NordVPN is our second choice for the best VPN. This is also a popular choice for many because of the technology it uses for securing its users, its very fast speeds, and also its features. The service is also available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iPhones and more. It can also be linked to a router to allow more devices to be able to use it.
Speed
NordVPN claims to be the fastest VPN in their advertisements and we were not disappointed when we tested it. Like with ExpressVPN, it offered amazing speeds for both local servers and those on the opposite side of the globe. The worst speeds it gave us were a half of our original speed which is still impressive considering that VPNs really slow down the connection of the user because of the need for encryption.
Security
NordVPN also uses industry standard security protocols such as OpenVPN which a popular choice for many. Users are also given AES 256-bit encryption. This also comes with perfect forward secrecy which creates a new key for your encryption every time you browse the internet which makes it almost impossible for hackers to be able to generate a key for your information. This shouldn’t come as a surprise as the mentioned security protocols are already must-haves for VPNs.
Features
NordVPN, similar to ExpressVPN, can also bypass the Great Firewall of China without much difficulty. When we tested it, the websites we visited were not able to detect that we were using a VPN.
NordVPN also has a split tunneling feature which allows users to select which applications will use the encrypted internet and those that will use it as normal. This allows them to avoid having a slower internet connection for applications where they do not need to be anonymous. This can be useful for those that will only be using the service for specific reasons and not for some apps such as online video games and video calling apps.
They also offer double encryption. This allows users to be able to connect to two servers instead of only one which can maximize their security and anonymity. However, this is not advisable to always be done as it will result to a slower connection.
The service also comes with its own ad-block and antimalware as to provide more security for its users.
The service is located in Panama which ensures users that it does not keep logs of their data as the country is also not included in the list of Five Eyes and Fourteen Eyes alliance countries.