VPN service providers compared

Data pro­tec­tion is an in­creas­ingly important issue in today’s in­creas­ingly online world. Sensitive data such as personal details, bank details, and con­fid­en­tial in­form­a­tion is shared via the internet – encrypted and un­en­cryp­ted. Fur­ther­more, the internet has also re­volu­tion­ised the world of work. On the one hand, the internet makes it possible to de­cent­ral­ise work by enabling access to work platforms and servers from anywhere (in theory). Home offices and mobile work­sta­tions make use of this flex­ib­il­ity, but also pose new chal­lenges for data security, com­mu­nic­a­tion tech­no­lo­gies, and en­cryp­tion methods.

One of the most popular solutions to these issues are virtual private networks (VPNs). A VPN is a virtual com­mu­nic­a­tion network that uses a physical network as its base, but provides a logical sep­ar­a­tion from it. In this “tunneling,” each con­nec­tion has different en­cryp­tion and au­then­tic­a­tion methods. VPNs make secure and anonymous com­mu­nic­a­tion of data possible, even via con­nec­tions that would or­din­ar­ily be deemed hazardous. One of the basic functions of VPN is being able to conceal your own location and IP.

There are now many VPN services out there. They all promise absolute pro­tec­tion against hacker attacks, pro­tec­tion of privacy, and the pos­sib­il­ity to get around the country-specific locks worldwide through “geo-spoofing.” VPN services are tech­nic­ally complex and require a stable and powerful server in­fra­struc­ture. This is another reason why VPN services are usually subject to a charge or, in the free version, are usually quite re­stric­ted. It is therefore advisable to compare the different VPN providers with each other.

VPN providers are currently booming in business. However, it is not always clear to web users how these providers differ from each other. The following are the criteria that are important for a good VPN service:

• Con­nec­tion speed. Long loading times when con­nect­ing to the VPN server are frus­trat­ing, and cost valuable time. Your provider should have the capacity to quickly provide you with a con­nec­tion – re­gard­less of where the server is located.
• Speed of uploads and downloads. An existing VPN con­nec­tion shouldn’t slow down internet browsing sig­ni­fic­antly. This also applies to download and upload speeds. A slow download may also have an influence on the quality of streaming, for example. If you want to use VPN primarily to bypass country barriers in streaming services, your VPN provider should be able to cope with this sort of data exchange.
• Choice and location of servers. The more servers your provider can offer in different countries, the higher the like­li­hood is that you will find a suitable server for your in­di­vidu­al needs.
• Sim­ul­tan­eous con­nec­tions. You often want to connect to a VPN through different devices at the same time or have friends, family, and col­leagues share the VPN account. In this case, your provider should allow as many sim­ul­tan­eous con­nec­tions as possible so that you remain as flexible as possible. It sometimes costs more to allow sim­ul­tan­eous con­nec­tions.
• Software. The user interface of VPN software is also vital to how you use it. If the software is pro­grammed care­lessly, this has a negative effect on web browsing and other functions. The same applies to annoying software barriers that make the ap­plic­a­tion un­ne­ces­sar­ily com­plic­ated – keep it simple!
• Security. After all, this is the main reason people use VPNs. The security of data transfers as well as the en­cryp­tion and trans­mis­sion is one of the most important functions of a VPN. A VPN pro­vider­'s security standards should always be tested by strict quality control.
• Con­fig­ur­a­tion options. Options for in­di­vidu­al­ising VPN servers are always good. However, these options should not un­ne­ces­sar­ily com­plic­ate usage, and instead should at best represent op­tim­isa­tion pos­sib­il­it­ies. However, con­fig­ur­a­tion options are usually a good bonus feature. A big plus is also if you can configure the VPN server for a specific router.
• Stability. Server failures make a VPN provider look bad. Per­form­ance fluc­tu­ations also unsettle customers, and cause annoying per­form­ance losses. A pro­vider­'s servers should usually run stably and operate at a con­sist­ently high standard. Online ex­per­i­ence reports usually provide a picture of what you can expect from your provider in terms of server stability.
• Com­pat­ib­il­ity. VPN servers and the as­so­ci­ated software are usually optimised for systems running Windows and macOS. In the mobile sector, most platforms are available for Android and iOS. However, there is often interest in con­nect­ing “secondary” devices such as smart TVs and game consoles to the VPN server (e.g. when it comes to cir­cum­vent­ing country barriers in streaming services). Your provider should be able to provide in­form­a­tion about com­pat­ible operating systems and lesser-known systems as trans­par­ently as possible. Only then can you ensure that your VPN access also works on all devices with which you want to use VPN. However, manual con­fig­ur­a­tion options can help here because the user then sets up access to the server himself.
• Price and trial periods. Last, but not least, the price is often the most important factor. However, it is also important to consider what you get for how much. In the area of VPN services, for example, there are certainly “cheap providers” whose offer is subpar. In addition, many providers may tempt you with test periods – but make sure you know if the con­ver­sion to a real contract is automatic or not. Dubious business tactics have also found their way into this area. This com­par­is­on will only cover good VPN services.

We introduce you to reliable, popular VPN providers. Please note that the VPN method is under constant criticism because these services also conceal digital crimes – but that is not their main function. Streaming services such as Netflix or Amazon, are also critical due to their licensing re­stric­tions. VPN services are a tricky issue because they bypass geo-blocking, which makes certain content available only in selected countries. There are constant changes in this area of VPN services.

In many countries VPN services are legal grey areas, in others there is spec­u­la­tion that some of these providers are working with gov­ern­ment or­gan­isa­tions. It should therefore be noted at this point that VPN services function primarily on a basis of trust. Today's security can be a security risk tomorrow. VPN is still very young in this com­mer­cial dimension, and here is a list of the best options.

NordVPN is the market leader in VPN software (as of July 2018). Since its founding in 2012, NordVPN has es­tab­lished itself as the industry leader and is one of the reasons why VPN services are now on everyone’s lips. Headquartered in Panama, NordVPN also has a location that has proven to be excellent for privacy.

NordVPN is available for Windows, macOS, and Android. The provider has over 4,700 servers in more than 50 countries worldwide. These servers belong to NordVPN (dedicated server) and are con­sidered stable and powerful. In addition, the market leader is dis­tin­guished by its high security standard for en­cryp­tion. VPN con­nec­tions via NordVPN are generally regarded as not vul­ner­able. They can establish up to six con­nec­tions in­de­pend­ent of the payment model. NordVPN does not keep any logs on user activ­it­ies according to its own in­form­a­tion. It is possible to use TOR via VPN as well as double VPN access.

NordVPN's software is quick to set up and, with its ease of use, is aimed primarily at customers who are not very tech­nic­ally ex­per­i­enced. Nev­er­the­less, an expert mode is offered with the help of which experts can control a VPN server’s con­fig­ur­a­tion. NordVPN is flexible here. Should you encounter any problems, NordVPN offers 24/7 chat support. In addition, there are numerous guides and tutorials in the support area of their website.

According to most reports, NordVPN's servers have very fast con­nec­tions. Only a few servers are said to have somewhat slower download speeds. You can switch to another server with one click if one of the more than 4,700 servers (as of July 2018 – absolute world class) should cause problems. This will enable you to find a favourite server re­l­at­ively quickly, which can be used to auto­mat­ic­ally establish the VPN con­nec­tion. Basically, it is rarely necessary to change a server for NordVPN.

NordVPN uses AES (Advanced En­cryp­tion Standard) with three different strengths (128/192/256-bit) as their en­cryp­tion method. It depends on you which strength is used, but it has no influence on the security of the en­cryp­tion. In fact, there is still no known method to bypass AES. In short, with NordVPN you are not only anonymous, but also ab­so­lutely secure.

On the cost side, NordVPN convinces with a good price-per­form­ance ratio. There are four different models:

• $3.99/£3.00 per month for a 2-year plan
• $11.95/£9.00 per month on a monthly plan
• Sometimes offers sales and discounts

Within 30 days of purchase, you have the op­por­tun­ity to refund your NordVPN sub­scrip­tion. NordVPN accepts PayPal, credit cards, crypto cur­ren­cies, and various virtual payment services. In terms of costs, NordVPN is fair con­sid­er­ing the quality of the service. There are cheaper providers, but they lag behind NordVPN in terms of quality.

NordVPN has few short­falls worth men­tion­ing. A “dis­ad­vant­age” with NordVPN is the high profile of the provider. Streaming services such as Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime vehe­mently block the best-known VPN providers because they allow users to bypass country barriers. This is precisely why streaming services want to defend them­selves against VPN services. However, NordVPN is trying to keep a list of servers up to date, through which Netflix can be reached. In addition, the “Smartplay" option allows automatic con­nec­tion to in­ter­na­tion­al services such as the Netflix platform. However, one can expect that Netflix will take legal action against these features.

Cy­berGhost VPN has its technical headquar­ters in Romania, although it is a German company. The company has had its fair share of ups and downs, and in 2017 the sale of the company to the Cross­rider Group became known and was heavily cri­ti­cised. The step towards crowd­fund­ing was also unusual in 2012, when it was possible to collect enough donations for a data centre and to turn Cy­berGhost VPN into freeware af­ter­wards. Cy­berGhost VPN used to be available free of charge for a long time until it returned to a payment model (since then, only the web proxy tool can be used free of charge).

In principle, Cy­berGhost works like any other VPN service, in that the user connects to the VPN server with their own IP address and the VPN server conceals the identity of the user. The en­cryp­tion method AES (256-bit) ensures a secure con­nec­tion similarly effective as with NordVPN. The quality of the more than 2,000 servers is decisive. Although Cy­berGhost has an im­press­ive rep­er­toire with locations in Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, Canada, South America, and the US, most of these servers are only rented and not actually owned by the company. As a user, you must be aware that you’re leaving the en­cryp­tion of your con­nec­tions to some unknown third parties.

In addition, there are in­creas­ing reports of poor per­form­ance on these servers. Speed losses and even con­nec­tion in­ter­rup­tions are common problem patterns. In terms of server per­form­ance and stability, Cy­berGhost appears to have issues.

When it comes to privacy, there are a few factors that make Cy­berGhost less at­tract­ive. The company openly ad­vert­ises not to keep logs, but this only applies to user activity and not to logon data. With this help, a third party can the­or­et­ic­ally un­der­stand when who logged on to a VPN server from where.

The terms and con­di­tions of Cy­berGhost also contain a passage in which the company un­der­takes to “cooperate with the public and private criminal and pro­sec­u­tion au­thor­it­ies and in­sti­tu­tions in the event of legal vi­ol­a­tions of the user [...] in ac­cord­ance with the statutory pro­vi­sions or at its sole dis­cre­tion.” While Cy­berGhost complies with EU law, this raises doubts about the promise that users will remain anonymous.

Romania as a location, on the other hand, is a positive bonus – the Eastern European country has a good IT in­fra­struc­ture and, according to various sources, takes the pro­tec­tion of user data very seriously.

On the user side, Cy­berGhost VPN is clearly a good com­pet­it­or. The software is available for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS and is func­tion­ally com­pre­hens­ive, fast, and elegant. Up to five devices can be connected, whereby these must be created in­di­vidu­ally and manually. Cy­berGhost also offers con­vin­cing features such as ad­vert­ising blockers and security tools such as antivirus scanners. Another practical feature is the data com­pres­sion tool, which can be used to achieve a faster internet con­nec­tion.

The price of Cy­berGhost VPN has mid-range prices – like NordVPN’s prices. The service is free for 7 days, after that the following prices apply:

• $2.75/£2.00 per month for an annual sub­scrip­tion
• If you would like to use Cy­berGhost VPN on a monthly basis, you will have to pay around $11.99/£9.00.

Tun­nel­Bear VPN is a com­par­at­ively small service that has been available since 2011 and is mainly operated in Canada. In March 2018, it became known that Tun­nel­Bear had been purchased by McAfee, which will not initially have any con­sequences for users. The biggest dif­fer­ence to the com­pet­i­tion is that you can use Tun­nel­Bear for free, as long as you don't exceed the 500 MB data volume per month. However, you have to pay for traffic beyond this limit. Tun­nel­Bear is therefore a freemium VPN provider. Other positives? Secure en­cryp­tion method AES (256-bit)

The range of over 400 con­trol­lable servers, which are located in 20 different countries in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia, is rather man­age­able compared to the com­pet­i­tion. The en­cryp­tion tech­no­logy according to the AES standard (256-bit) is proven and is con­sidered to be extremely secure. Tun­nel­Bear com­mis­sioned the Berlin-based company Cure53, which rated the VPN provider as secure, to check its security.

What is striking is the pretty, colourful user interface of the software, which also comes with useful tools. Tun­nel­Bear is available for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. However, the con­fig­ur­a­tion options of the VPN server are rather limited, so you cannot control any servers in­di­vidu­ally as soon as you have decided on a target country. Higher flex­ib­il­ity would make sense here, because Tun­nel­Bear is known for slowing down internet speed more than the com­pet­i­tion. This seems to be partly dependent on the assigned server.

Un­for­tu­nately, the lack of con­fig­ur­a­tion options means that Tun­nel­Bear can only be accessed directly on smart TVs and game consoles. Therefore, the service is less suitable for users who want to use a VPN server with several devices. Tun­nel­Bear is user-friendly for internet access via PC, Mac, or mobile phone, and can be set up easily in practice. If you are still satisfied with 500 MB of encrypted traffic per month, Tun­nel­Bear as free software is re­com­men­ded. But that's not ne­ces­sar­ily enough data; today, 500 MB is used up fast, even if you're looking for low data con­sump­tion.

The free version of Tun­nel­Bear is quite re­stric­ted due to this data limit. On the other hand, the paid version of the provider is re­l­at­ively in­ex­pens­ive compared to the com­pet­i­tion, es­pe­cially in the flexible monthly sub­scrip­tion:

• The Tun­nel­Bear VPN service costs around $10/£7.50 per month
• There are sometimes sales where you can get 50% off

At Ex­press­VPN the name means business, as the provider is trying to be the “fastest” VPN service on the market. The company is based in the British Virgin Islands and therefore bypasses American and European law re­stric­tions. As a user, you can therefore be sure that your data will not get into the hands of gov­ern­ment au­thor­it­ies. However, this is a double-edged sword, because it can ef­fect­ively conceal crimes – making it somewhat dubious. Ex­press­VPN therefore faces constant criticism. In terms of price, the service is pretty expensive. But how does Ex­press­VPN compare with the com­pet­i­tion?

Ex­press­VPN is tech­nic­ally im­press­ive. More than 900 VPN servers are located in 148 different countries, giving the provider the greatest flex­ib­il­ity in server selection. Industry-standard 256-bit AES en­cryp­tion protects every con­nec­tion with a proven en­cryp­tion method. Ex­press­VPN assures users that they will not keep any logs.

The software is available for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, and is pleasing for users due to its fast setup and con­nec­tion to the VPN server. In addition, practical manual con­fig­ur­a­tion options are available to help you directly control a dedicated VPN server. This should also enable service for most smart TVs and game consoles.

The variety of options should be high­lighted as well, as you can select the last used server, start an automatic search depending on the location, and keep a fa­vour­ites list for the best servers. Un­for­tu­nately, Ex­press­VPN is not the top of the class when it comes to the server list with important in­form­a­tion, such as server load. On the other hand, the “network lock” feature, which im­me­di­ately in­ter­rupts the internet con­nec­tion if the con­nec­tion to the VPN server is in­ter­rup­ted, is a great feature.

But what about the speed? Most reports cite high download speeds, although the upload cannot maintain this level. With downloads of 70-90 Mbit/s, Ex­press­VPN more than lives up to its name, because even HD streams run smoothly. Only when es­tab­lish­ing a con­nec­tion to the VPN server does it take a bit longer to connect.

Ex­press­VPN is somewhat more expensive than the com­pet­i­tion. Although the price of the monthly sub­scrip­tion ($12.95/£10.00) is about the same as that of the other providers, Ex­press­VPN doesn’t have the best annual prices ($8.32/£6.50 per month), which is sig­ni­fic­antly more expensive than the com­pet­i­tion's offers.

Headquartered in the USA, Hotspot Shield has an unknown number of VPN servers at 25 different locations. Whether these servers are operated by Hotspot Shield itself or are rented is not clear enough. Users can’t be sure that their login data will not end up with third parties. It is probably in this lack of in­form­a­tion that spec­u­la­tions arose that Hotspot Shield would work closely with American or­gan­isa­tions such as NSA and FBI, which could provide some of these servers.

Hotspot Shield offers its software for Windows, Android, macOS, and iOS. A manual con­fig­ur­a­tion, e.g. for routers and game consoles, is un­for­tu­nately not possible – cor­res­pond­ing options are prac­tic­ally un­avail­able. Hotspot Shield VPN allows the sim­ul­tan­eous use of up to three devices and is also weaker than the com­pet­i­tion in this area. However, access to the major streaming providers works smoothly and ef­fect­ively conceals the user's location. The greatest strength is probably the speed of the service, so the internet con­nec­tion is probably not affected.

Overall, however, the software does not have any sig­ni­fic­ant features that could set it apart. Although the basic use of VPN servers for web browsing is pleasant and straight­for­ward, further pro­tec­tion mech­an­isms against specific attack patterns would be desirable. For example, neither your IP, nor your login data, are spe­cific­ally protected in Windows. The con­nec­tion of TOR is also excluded. Hotspot Shield VPN does its main job very well, but doesn’t shine in face of the com­pet­i­tion.

Users of Hotspot Shield VPN cannot access servers directly, but are first connected to an American server before they can select a dedicated server and location. In concrete terms, this means that every con­nec­tion to this VPN service starts with the main server in the USA. This fact fuels spec­u­la­tion that Hotspot Shield would open the door to American gov­ern­ment or­gan­isa­tions. There is even talk of a sur­veil­lance Trojan that allegedly continues to spy on the affected device even after the software has been un­in­stalled. All this di­min­ishes the trust in the vendor, which is essential for this kind of service.

Hotspot Shield VPN is free to use for seven days. In addition, the provider offers a 30-day money-back guarantee if you do not like the service. The price of Hotspot Shield, however, is com­par­at­ively expensive:

• With a monthly sub­scrip­tion, you pay around $12.99/£10
• If you secure Hotspot Shield for 6 months in advance, you pay about $8.99/£7.00 per month
• Hotspot Shield is cheapest if you secure the service for a whole year, around $5.99/£4.50 per month