List of VPN Service Providers - 2024

[LoyceV]

no one talks about Russian VPN service providers

I prefer a VPN with a good image, reliable service and fast uncensored internet connection. Russians can't even reach Bitcointalk without VPN (outside Russia).

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[1714550058]

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[RickDeckard]

In line with Mullvad foundation philosophy, being transparent regarding such events is always good for any company - especially an event that resulted in supporting their privacy policies. Will be interesting to see what the case files say about this warrant (if they ever get released) since it would also validate Mullvad claims.

And it seems that my hope was heard as Mullvad just received a reply from the Swedish authorities[1] regarding their recent search. Here's the full - translated - text:

“Regarding your request for copies of decisions and reports

The Swedish Prosecution Authority has received a request for an international
judicial cooperation from another state, Germany, regarding a case ongoing in
that state. In accordance with this request, on February 17, 2023, I granted a
search of the premises of Mullvad VPN AB and Amagicom AB. This decision
was implemented on April 18, 2023.
According to Section 17, Chapter 18 of the Swedish Public Access to
Information and Secrecy Act, secrecy applies in activities relating to judicial
cooperation at the request of another state for information relating to an
investigation according to the provisions on preliminary investigation in
criminal cases or matters that concern coercive measures, if it can be assumed
that it was a prerequisite for the other state’s request that the information
should not be disclosed.
Your letter also states that the question has previously been raised with the
Swedish Prosecution Authority regarding this event. Unfortunately I can find
no such request or inquiry.”

As for the reasons of the search, it seems that it was related with a blackmail made in Germany somewhere in 2021:

"According to Paul Pfeiffer, prosecutor in the city of Rostock in northern Germany, the operation was connected to a blackmail attack that hit several municipal institutions in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in October 2021. As a result of the attack, the institutions were not able to carry out their tasks.

– During the investigations, which are still ongoing, an IP address was found that led to the VPN service Mullvad. The investigation is not directed towards the VPN service, the prosecutor writes in an email.”

I highly advise anyone interested in knowing more about the case to read the blog entry from Mullvad. I have never seen such a high degree of transparency and effort to show how committed they are with their work and product and this goes to show that you really can't go wrong by using their service.
[1]https://mullvad.net/en/blog/2023/5/2/update-the-swedish-authorities-answered-our-protocol-request/

[Synchronice]

It may be an useful for people to use Trials before they actually purchase the service, so, I found out that some VPN providers from the list offer free trials for Google Pay and Apple Pay users.
CyberGhost - 1-day free trial on PC, | 3-day free trial for Android and 7-day free trial for iOS users.
ExpressVPN - 7-day free trial for Android and iOS users via Google Pay and Apple Pay.
NordVPN - 7-day free trial for Android and iOS users via Google Pay and Apple Pay.
SurfShark - 7-day free trial for Android and iOS users via Google Pay and Apple Pay.

When you subscribe to 7-day free trial, don't forget to unsubscribe them before they charge you.
Also, I hope you understand that company that uses BitPay or Coinbase to process crypto transactions, doesn't care about its privacy and won't care even more about your privacy too.

[NotATether]

When you subscribe to 7-day free trial, don't forget to unsubscribe them before they charge you.
Also, I hope you understand that company that uses BitPay or Coinbase to process crypto transactions, doesn't care about its privacy and won't care even more about your privacy too.

90% of VPNs are sketchy and don't care about your privacy whether you pay them in crypto or not. Most trials are not worth the privacy compromise, and should not even be called Virtual Private Networks.

Besides, what is the point of having a third party deanonymize you with Chainalysis if they can just collect your logs instead?

[At the risk of sounding like a shill for Proton, at least they don't engage in that crappy behavior. Neither does Mullvad, AFAIK.]

[Synchronice]

When you subscribe to 7-day free trial, don't forget to unsubscribe them before they charge you.
Also, I hope you understand that company that uses BitPay or Coinbase to process crypto transactions, doesn't care about its privacy and won't care even more about your privacy too.

90% of VPNs are sketchy and don't care about your privacy whether you pay them in crypto or not. Most trials are not worth the privacy compromise, and should not even be called Virtual Private Networks.

Besides, what is the point of having a third party deanonymize you with Chainalysis if they can just collect your logs instead?

[At the risk of sounding like a shill for Proton, at least they don't engage in that crappy behavior. Neither does Mullvad, AFAIK.]

That's why you see only limited number of VPNs in this thread and those VPNs that offer trials have always been under Non-Privacy Focused Mainstream VPNs hood.
By the way, trials are a good way to measure VPNs speed and latency on different server locations and if one uses this just for testing, I don't think his privacy is compromised.
Some may want VPN for streaming, some may want it for gambling, that's why I included them, ExpressVPN, Cyberghost and some others are very popular for that purpose.

[joniboini]

Some may want VPN for streaming, some may want it for gambling, that's why I included them, ExpressVPN, Cyberghost and some others are very popular for that purpose.

I'd rather discourage them, especially after you've mentioned many times that those VPN companies with trials available are being owned by such a shady company. I think that reason alone is enough to stay away from them regardless of your activity on the network when you're connected to their service. I'd rather be paranoid if the company I'm dealing with is proven to never cares about my privacy. Not to mention most paid VPNs offer a money-back guarantee for at least a month.

[Synchronice]

And there is a news out there from Mullvad: Introducing Mullvad Leta: a search engine used in the Mullvad Browser, but the problem is that it's only available for Mullvad users and isn't public.

Online privacy isn't just about a VPN. That’s why we have developed the Mullvad Browser.
Observant users may have noticed that our browser comes with the DuckDuckGo search engine by default, but also an alternative: Mullvad Leta.

Mullvad Leta is accessible only with a paid Mullvad VPN account; you can set it as default in the Mullvad Browser, or reach it at leta.mullvad.net

Mullvad Leta uses the Google Search API as a proxy, caching each search. These cached results are shared amongst all users, reducing costs and improving privacy. This service is user-supported and doesn't rely on ads or data selling.

Our browser extension simplifies access. Once your account number is set in the settings, there's no need to log in each time. To protect against correlation attacks and manage costs, searches are cached for 30 days, possibly resulting in slightly outdated results.

Each account can make 100 direct searches daily, with unlimited cached searches. Viewing subsequent search result pages counts towards your daily limit. Non-cached searches prompt a Google query from Mullvad Leta, sharing only the search term and keeping the rest of your data private.

The search results are free from third-party tracking links, providing a clean, private browsing experience.

Mullvad Leta has been audited by Assured

To be honest, I would prefer if Mullvad spent more money into increasing server speeds, adding more locations and improving overall performance instead of paying this money to Google for using their search engine because we have duckduckgo too and other alternatives. They are just reinventing the wheel by offering Mullvad web browser and Leta search engine and I see no point into it.

[icalical]

Looking for VPN recently and found windscribe from this list, not as popular as surfshark or nord but its reliable. However tho, many people has mentioned about this thread correlation with Bitcoin and Crypto since its a bitcoin forum, so my advice, and it will be much appreciated if you add some details for the payment method, maybe just a yes/now which vpn accept crypto and which aren't. Anyway thank you for the list.

[RickDeckard]

While it's a bit of old news, I think it's still important to post this information here - As of 2023-07-01, Mullvad has removed the support for forwarded ports[1]. While this is not a deal breaker for some (or most of their clients) I think it's important to highlight considering that it has some uses for people that are a bit more tech savy.

Looking for VPN recently and found windscribe from this list, not as popular as surfshark or nord but its reliable. However tho, many people has mentioned about this thread correlation with Bitcoin and Crypto since its a bitcoin forum, so my advice, and it will be much appreciated if you add some details for the payment method, maybe just a yes/now which vpn accept crypto and which aren't. Anyway thank you for the list.

Both Mullvad[2] and IVPN[3] (which I can vouch for since I've used them both) support payments by means of cryptocurrency. Mullvad offers 10% discount when paying with cryptocurrencies as well. You can also browse kycnot.me[4] to see which more VPN services support that kind of payment.
[1]https://mullvad.net/en/blog/2023/5/29/removing-the-support-for-forwarded-ports/
[2]https://mullvad.net/en/pricing
[3]https://www.ivpn.net/pricing/
[4]https://kycnot.me/services

[LoyceV]

And there is a news out there from Mullvad: Introducing Mullvad Leta: a search engine used in the Mullvad Browser, but the problem is that it's only available for Mullvad users and isn't public.

That's like saying it's a problem Mullvad's VPN is only available for subscribers. That's normal for businesses.

I would prefer if Mullvad spent more money into increasing server speeds, adding more locations and improving overall performance

Did you experience server speed problems? I usually get the maximum my internet connection can handle.
They have 669 servers in 43 countries. I haven't tried most of them, and I can't think of a reason why I'd need more locations.

instead of paying this money to Google for using their search engine because we have duckduckgo too and other alternatives. They are just reinventing the wheel by offering Mullvad web browser and Leta search engine and I see no point into it.

I like Google's search results better, but not it's privacy. So this could be a good solution.

While it's a bit of old news, I think it's still important to post this information here - As of 2023-07-01, Mullvad has removed the support for forwarded ports[1]. While this is not a deal breaker for some (or most of their clients) I think it's important to highlight considering that it has some uses for people that are a bit more tech savy.

Those tech savy people can setup a cheap VPS with OpenVPN and port forwarding.

[Synchronice]

Looking for VPN recently and found windscribe from this list, not as popular as surfshark or nord but its reliable. However tho, many people has mentioned about this thread correlation with Bitcoin and Crypto since its a bitcoin forum, so my advice, and it will be much appreciated if you add some details for the payment method, maybe just a yes/now which vpn accept crypto and which aren't. Anyway thank you for the list.

Absolutely every VPN provider that's listed in this thread, accepts Bitcoin or altcoin payments. Btw it's still not a bad idea. To be honest, as you can see, I rarely have left any space on table for anything but I think I'll figure it out if people wish so.

And there is a news out there from Mullvad: Introducing Mullvad Leta: a search engine used in the Mullvad Browser, but the problem is that it's only available for Mullvad users and isn't public.

That's like saying it's a problem Mullvad's VPN is only available for subscribers. That's normal for businesses.

Of course that's normal for a business but I didn't directly meant that it's a problem, you know. I hope you understand in what way I said that (Like, I've got the protein powder but the problem is that I don't have my shaker with me - actually, there is no real problem but the situation is uncomfortable).

I would prefer if Mullvad spent more money into increasing server speeds, adding more locations and improving overall performance

Did you experience server speed problems? I usually get the maximum my internet connection can handle.
They have 669 servers in 43 countries. I haven't tried most of them, and I can't think of a reason why I'd need more locations.

Yes, if you want anything beyond web browsing (for example, streaming), Mullvad VPN isn't that good. Overall, I get the best speed from iVPN.
Sometimes countries like Australia and Japan give you early access to the content because of their time zone. Btw I just saw that they have New Zealand but these countries would be a good addition too, why not? Also, more servers mean better connection for everyone. If person lives in Indonesia, he will benefit from Australian or Indonesian server.

[RickDeckard]

Those tech savy people can setup a cheap VPS with OpenVPN and port forwarding.

What you're saying is basically setting up a personal VPN with a dedicated IP, or am I wrong? And if that's the case, wouldn't it kinda defeat the purpose of having a VPN since we would be getting a dedicated IP that could be linked to ourselves considering the fact that no more users would be using that same IP? Or were you just referring to the use case of circumventing the limitations imposed by Mullvad regarding port forwarding?

[dkbit98]

And there is a news out there from Mullvad: Introducing Mullvad Leta: a search engine used in the Mullvad Browser, but the problem is that it's only available for Mullvad users and isn't public.

First they created Mullvad browser that is based on Tor browser, and now they introduced new search engine.
I think this is a good idea but it's far from being used as a standard search engine, it only gives text result without images, news and other stuff, and that is very limited.
One more thing I don't like is that Leta search  is just using the same g00gle Search API.  

Talking about centralization and bias censored results in search engines:


https://www.searchenginemap.com/

[LoyceV]

Yes, if you want anything beyond web browsing (for example, streaming), Mullvad VPN isn't that good. Overall, I get the best speed from iVPN.
Sometimes countries like Australia and Japan give you early access to the content because of their time zone. Btw I just saw that they have New Zealand but these countries would be a good addition too, why not? Also, more servers mean better connection for everyone. If person lives in Indonesia, he will benefit from Australian or Indonesian server.

I guess we have a totally different use case. I don't use streaming, and I wouldn't care about a few hours earlier access. I have no idea how fast internet to and from Australia is, it's a remote country and submarine cables are expensive. I usually use servers a bit closer to my location for best results.

Those tech savy people can setup a cheap VPS with OpenVPN and port forwarding.

What you're saying is basically setting up a personal VPN with a dedicated IP, or am I wrong? And if that's the case, wouldn't it kinda defeat the purpose of having a VPN since we would be getting a dedicated IP that could be linked to ourselves considering the fact that no more users would be using that same IP? Or were you just referring to the use case of circumventing the limitations imposed by Mullvad regarding port forwarding?

It depends on what you're trying to accomplish. If you want a static IP in a certain location, a cheap VPS could work very well. Even better if it uses NAT and shares it's IPv4 with many other users. I've seen bundles for multiple cheap servers in different locations for this purpose.
Any adversary will only see your server's IP, and without access to the webhost, won't know your real location. But long-term, if an adversary gains access, you're no longer anonymous. At least with random IPs from a standard VPN provider all traces are (or at least "should be") gone the moment you disconnect.

[NotATether]

Yes, if you want anything beyond web browsing (for example, streaming), Mullvad VPN isn't that good. Overall, I get the best speed from iVPN.
Sometimes countries like Australia and Japan give you early access to the content because of their time zone. Btw I just saw that they have New Zealand but these countries would be a good addition too, why not? Also, more servers mean better connection for everyone. If person lives in Indonesia, he will benefit from Australian or Indonesian server.

I guess we have a totally different use case. I don't use streaming, and I wouldn't care about a few hours earlier access. I have no idea how fast internet to and from Australia is, it's a remote country and submarine cables are expensive. I usually use servers a bit closer to my location for best results.

I don't know why people tend to think that VPNs are really good for streaming purposes. Putting the speed aside, in my experience (of other VPNs), trying 5-10 different locations never really helped me gain access to region-locked Netflix titles (it was different back in the day). So I think the streaming services are catching up with this trend and "neutering" the VPN's IP address.

If you want to watch something region-restricted in your country, your options are: 1 - buy it, 2 - rent it for a few days, 3 - piracy.

Those tech savy people can setup a cheap VPS with OpenVPN and port forwarding.

What you're saying is basically setting up a personal VPN with a dedicated IP, or am I wrong? And if that's the case, wouldn't it kinda defeat the purpose of having a VPN since we would be getting a dedicated IP that could be linked to ourselves considering the fact that no more users would be using that same IP? Or were you just referring to the use case of circumventing the limitations imposed by Mullvad regarding port forwarding?

It depends on what you're trying to accomplish. If you want a static IP in a certain location, a cheap VPS could work very well. Even better if it uses NAT and shares it's IPv4 with many other users. I've seen bundles for multiple cheap servers in different locations for this purpose.
Any adversary will only see your server's IP, and without access to the webhost, won't know your real location. But long-term, if an adversary gains access, you're no longer anonymous. At least with random IPs from a standard VPN provider all traces are (or at least "should be") gone the moment you disconnect.

OpenVPN is a PITA to set up, instructions are too long and complicated. Shadowsocks servers are easier to set up.

[o_e_l_e_o]

I like Google's search results better, but not it's privacy. So this could be a good solution.

Then you can use Startpage or SearXNG for free to return Google's results to you privately.

[LoyceV]

Then you can use Startpage

Not bad, it works instantly without annoying captcha on Tor browser.

The About Us isn't very convincing though:

We were founded and remain headquartered in the Netherlands, which means that our users are protected by stringent European consumer privacy laws, including the GDPR. These are widely regarded as the strongest privacy protections in the world.

Privacy laws in the Netherlands look good on paper, but many companies and government branches violate privacy laws.

[Synchronice]

Yes, if you want anything beyond web browsing (for example, streaming), Mullvad VPN isn't that good. Overall, I get the best speed from iVPN.
Sometimes countries like Australia and Japan give you early access to the content because of their time zone. Btw I just saw that they have New Zealand but these countries would be a good addition too, why not? Also, more servers mean better connection for everyone. If person lives in Indonesia, he will benefit from Australian or Indonesian server.

I guess we have a totally different use case. I don't use streaming, and I wouldn't care about a few hours earlier access. I have no idea how fast internet to and from Australia is, it's a remote country and submarine cables are expensive. I usually use servers a bit closer to my location for best results.

We don't have a totally different use case, I rarely use VPN for streaming but for music, it's true. Servers that are located near you, usually perform well on every VPN provider but the servers that are located far, for example, the USA servers, were slow on Mullvad but on iVPN, I get a very good performance.
If Mullvad performs well for you, then great, it's one of the greatest VPN out there.

I don't know why people tend to think that VPNs are really good for streaming purposes. Putting the speed aside, in my experience (of other VPNs), trying 5-10 different locations never really helped me gain access to region-locked Netflix titles (it was different back in the day). So I think the streaming services are catching up with this trend and "neutering" the VPN's IP address.

If you want to watch something region-restricted in your country, your options are: 1 - buy it, 2 - rent it for a few days, 3 - piracy.

No, VPNs help you to watch region-locked Netflix & Prime Video titles and even more. Here you can see this page of ExpressVPN: https://www.expressvpn.com/vpn-service
To be honest, the VPNs included in Non-Privacy Focused Mainstream VPNs are popular because of streaming, I doubt anyone uses them for privacy. Also, sometimes people use it for gaming too.

Imagine, I live in Bulgaria, watch a lot of animes and movies but some of them, like OG naruto and some netflix/prime/hulu tv shows aren't available in my country. It's better to buy a VPN than to buy or rent titles. Piracy is always possible but I think that's very disrespectful.

Then you can use Startpage

Not bad, it works instantly without annoying captcha on Tor browser.

The About Us isn't very convincing though:

We were founded and remain headquartered in the Netherlands, which means that our users are protected by stringent European consumer privacy laws, including the GDPR. These are widely regarded as the strongest privacy protections in the world.

Privacy laws in the Netherlands look good on paper, but many companies and government branches violate privacy laws.

Would you trust it if there was written Sweden instead of Netherlands?

[o_e_l_e_o]

Not bad, it works instantly without annoying captcha on Tor browser.

Also check out their anonymous view feature.

The About Us isn't very convincing though:

Their privacy policy says everything you would want it to say though. No logging of IPs, no logging of search queries.

Still, if you still don't like using a third party, then set up your own instance of SearXNG.

That would be suck to user who use port forwarding and already paid few months-years in advance.

They are offering refunds: https://www.reddit.com/r/mullvadvpn/comments/13utbmd/removing_the_support_for_forwarded_ports_blog/jm6j7aa/

[LoyceV]

Then you can use Startpage

Not bad, it works instantly without annoying captcha on Tor browser.

The About Us isn't very convincing though:

We were founded and remain headquartered in the Netherlands, which means that our users are protected by stringent European consumer privacy laws, including the GDPR. These are widely regarded as the strongest privacy protections in the world.

Privacy laws in the Netherlands look good on paper, but many companies and government branches violate privacy laws.

Would you trust it if there was written Sweden instead of Netherlands?

From what I've seen, privacy laws are okay there, but I've never been there and I have no idea if they're actually enforcing it.
Note that I have no reason not to trust Startpage, and I'll only use Startpage.com through Tor without sharing any personal information. It's just great that it works without captcha. Cloudflare alone makes more and more websites completely impossible to use through Tor nowadays.

Still, if you still don't like using a third party, then set up your own instance of SearXNG.

I won't go that far.