List of VPN Service Providers - 2025

[JessieJames13]

For Mullvad users who solely rely on the OpenVPN protocol like me, in a year's time ^[roughly], WireGuard will be the only protocol on Mullvad: Removing OpenVPN 15th January 2026
^{- Considering that I have to switch to another provider soon, I wonder if someone could also recommend a good VPN for online gaming (NordVPN was awful while Mullvad is somewhat okay).}

wireguard is the superior protocol over OpenVPN.
much less lines of codebase make it more auditable to find bugs, its also faster and more modern.

OpenVPN has a huge codebase, its slow and clunky.

[joniboini]

wireguard is the superior protocol over OpenVPN.
much less lines of codebase make it more auditable to find bugs, its also faster and more modern.

I don't know if this is related but some games I played also have slow connection if I choose WireGuard over OpenVPN on my Mullvad. Sometimes failed to connect after multiple retries. Their servers are located in China though, so other factors might be at play here. That being said, I used Proton with WireGuard as of now and I've found no problems at all. From my limited experience, Proton is quite okay for gaming unless you need very low ping (keep in mind that the servers you choose will affect this too). CMIIW.

[Synchronice]

wireguard is the superior protocol over OpenVPN.
much less lines of codebase make it more auditable to find bugs, its also faster and more modern.

I don't know if this is related but some games I played also have slow connection if I choose WireGuard over OpenVPN on my Mullvad. Sometimes failed to connect after multiple retries. Their servers are located in China though, so other factors might be at play here. That being said, I used Proton with WireGuard as of now and I've found no problems at all. From my limited experience, Proton is quite okay for gaming unless you need very low ping (keep in mind that the servers you choose will affect this too). CMIIW.

It's funny how each VPN has a different speed for all of us. As far as I remember, LoyceV has said that Mullvad is one of the fastest VPN for him while it was one of the slowest for me (especially US servers).
From my experience, NordVPN and Surfshark are the best for gaming because they offer me the lowest latency in nearby countries but I also want to say that overall, for high speed and high privacy, my favorite VPN is IVPN. I believe that IVPN is much safer bet than NordVPN or Surfshark.

[LoyceV]

LoyceV has said that Mullvad is one of the fastest VPN for him while it was one of the slowest for me (especially US servers).

Mullvad is the only VPN I use, so I can't compare. It reaches the maximum my own internet connection can reach, which isn't that fast anyway.

[apogio]

I believe that IVPN is much safer bet than NordVPN or Surfshark.

Have you heard or had any negative experiences with NordVPN?

[Synchronice]

I believe that IVPN is much safer bet than NordVPN or Surfshark.

Have you heard or had any negative experiences with NordVPN?

Service itself is good and fast, it's useful for gaming and streaming but I wouldn't use it for privacy reasons because there have been issues around this VPN.
There is a data mining company called Tefincom SA that has ties to Tesonet. NordVPN was co-founded by Tesonet co-founder Tomas Okmanas.
In 2022, NordVPN and Surfshark merged under the company Nord Security (the one that owns Nord VPN).
There are so many details to write, it will take me hours but this is a good article that sums everything well: https://windscribe.com/blog/the-vpn-relationship-map/
This is also a good Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/VPNTorrents/comments/9adi37/i_investigated_the_nordvpn_ordeal_here_is_what_i/

[dkbit98]

It's funny how each VPN has a different speed for all of us. As far as I remember, LoyceV has said that Mullvad is one of the fastest VPN for him while it was one of the slowest for me (especially US servers).

It depends on your location and the load for their server locations.
Maybe for you using one VPN server would be fast, but for someone else in different country this would be slow.
Some VPN services also have different type of connection protocols (WireGuard, IKEv2, TCP, UDP, etc), that can affect quality and internet speed.
Note that fastest is not always the best and the most private.

[LoyceV]

Mullvad now supports Bitcoin Lightning!

[dkbit98]

Mullvad is one of the best VPN services accepting Bitcoin, and privacy payments with Monero, but there are other good alternatives.

I recently tested new decentralized VPN service NYM, and I think is very good for privacy, it deserves to be added on this list.
NYM is accepting Bitcoin, Lightning Network, Monero, Liquid L-BTC, L-USDT, Nym token, with 50% discount.

Another good service is LNVPN that is accepting Lightning Network, USDT/USDC and other coins.
Note that Bitcoin mainnet and Monero payment options are currently greyed out.

[apogio]

Hello, my current VPN subscription will end by June and I want to find a new one.

My main focus is privacy, but I want a decent speed as well, not for gaming, but I don't want to have a bad experience when watching a youtube video for example.

I am somewhere between Mullvad (which I 've used in the past) and Mullvad 

So, if you had to choose today, with the current pricing and conditions, which one would you choose?

[dkbit98]

So, if you had to choose today, with the current pricing and conditions, which one would you choose?

I would first test several VPN services to see what works best for your specific case.
Mullvad is great but it is to expensive for me, and NYM vpn is better for privacy in my opinion, because it is decentralized.
You are not going to send any personal information to NYM if you pay with privacy options they support, and it's impossible to log your data.

[apogio]

and NYM vpn is better for privacy in my opinion, because it is decentralized.
You are not going to send any personal information to NYM if you pay with privacy options they support, and it's impossible to log your data.

Have you tested the speed? I will do it, but I am asking for info beforehand.

Why do you think Mullvad is expensive compared to NYM?
Mullvad costs 5 euros per month no matter the duration.
NYM costs minimum 4.49 CHF per month if you do the 2 year subscription.

I consider the fact that NYM is registered in Switzerland to be a good thing for privacy, because Switzerland is good in terms of privacy-protecting rules.

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

So, if you had to choose today, with the current pricing and conditions, which one would you choose?

I would first test several VPN services to see what works best for your specific case.
Mullvad is great but it is to expensive for me, and NYM vpn is better for privacy in my opinion, because it is decentralized.

Everything has it's cost. With Mullvad you do not even need an email address and such things. You can pay using crypto [Bitcoin]. It means if you know how to remove your fingerprints then even purchasing Mullvad is 100% privacy protected.

Disclaimer: Not a Mullvad marketing agent LOL

[apogio]

Everything has it's cost. With Mullvad you do not even need an email address and such things. You can pay using crypto [Bitcoin]. It means if you know how to remove your fingerprints then even purchasing Mullvad is 100% privacy protected.

Disclaimer: Not a Mullvad marketing agent LOL

I am not 100% sure I want to remove my fingerprints entirely, but since I asked for a privacy-oriented VPN, I understand why you mention it. I am leaning more torwards finding something that will not keep logs (or at least keep minimum logs) and that will support some features like Double-VPN or TOR-over-VPN. You know, little things like that can help me be well private all the time and, super well private when I need it with the click of a button.

[Synchronice]

Mullvad is one of the best VPN services accepting Bitcoin, and privacy payments with Monero, but there are other good alternatives.

I recently tested new decentralized VPN service NYM, and I think is very good for privacy, it deserves to be added on this list.
NYM is accepting Bitcoin, Lightning Network, Monero, Liquid L-BTC, L-USDT, Nym token, with 50% discount.

Another good service is LNVPN that is accepting Lightning Network, USDT/USDC and other coins.
Note that Bitcoin mainnet and Monero payment options are currently greyed out.

I'll have a look at those VPNs these days, do a little more research myself and then I'll update the list if that VPN is really good enough.

My main focus is privacy, but I want a decent speed as well, not for gaming, but I don't want to have a bad experience when watching a youtube video for example.

I am somewhere between Mullvad (which I 've used in the past) and Mullvad  

I'd suggest you IVPN. For me, IVPN offers better speed than Mullvad and to my mind, privacy level is the same, both are great VPN providers.

Mullvad is great but it is to expensive for me, and NYM vpn is better for privacy in my opinion, because it is decentralized.

Are you sure about that? Mullvad is one of the cheapest VPN and the best thing with mullvad is that 1 month worth 4.5 Euro if you pay with crypto and unlike to other VPN providers, you don't need to subscribe 3 yearly plan to get a low price.
Windscribe is also good solution in terms of price. Create a custom plan where you'll include two countries (there are some free servers of other countries included) and also mark Unlimited Data + R.O.B.E.R.T checkbox and you'll have a VPN with unlimited bandwidth for $3.

[apogio]

I'd suggest you IVPN. For me, IVPN offers better speed than Mullvad and to my mind, privacy level is the same, both are great VPN providers.

The way I see it IVPN vs Mullvad:

(a) both allow you to create an account without using any information, like email etc.
(b) mullvad gives you multi-hop VPN with the main subscription that costs 60 euros for 1 year, whereas IVPN needs 100 euros for 1 year to offer the multi-hop feature.
(c) both can be paid with Monero and Bitcoin payment.
(d) both offer WireGuard and OpenVPN.

So, I see very few differences in terms of feature. Mullvad is a bit cheaper. Since you mention that IVPN is better in terms of speed, I think it's worth a try.

I 've found a cool feature (not sure if it's used too much), that IVPN has, which allows you to pay instantly (via the Lightning Network) for a limited period of time to use the VPN.

[SFR10]

Are there any macOS users here who have tried Obscura VPN? Mullvad partnered with them three months ago to help with their multi-hop setup ^{[first hop is from Obscura VPN while the exit (second) hop uses Mullvad's WireGuard servers]}.

• For more details, refer to the following blog posts:
  - Mullvad has partnered with Obscura VPN
  - Trust, 2-Party Relays, and QUIC

(d) both offer WireGuard and OpenVPN.

In roughly eight months, Mullvad will no longer have OpenVPN ^[source].

[LoyceV]

I've basically only used Mullvad, but it's often disconnecting. I forgot the exact error, but when I searched for it, I wasn't the only one with that problem.
Also, although it's been a while since I used it on my spare laptop, it disconnected up to the point where I couldn't get the laptop online again even without Mullvad and eventually just reinstalled my laptop.

I stumbled upon this thread on Lowendtalk. Note that I wouldn't trust that VPN, comments say it's not encrypted and basically only meant to avoid the Great Firewall of China, but I like the price model: €1/TB, unlimited time. Especially for light users, paying per TB could be a better deal than unlimited bandwidth while you pay per month. But I haven't seen any other VPN provider offer that.

[apogio]

I've basically only used Mullvad, but it's often disconnecting. I forgot the exact error, but when I searched for it, I wasn't the only one with that problem.
Also, although it's been a while since I used it on my spare laptop, it disconnected up to the point where I couldn't get the laptop online again even without Mullvad and eventually just reinstalled my laptop.

I installed Mullvad again yesterday. I didn't have any disconnection issues so far. I paid with Monero. I tried both WireGuard and OpenVPN. As far as settings are concerned, I 've only disabled trackers & ads. So far so good.
Next month I will install IVPN and I will try the same, to see if it suits me better.

[Synchronice]

I'd suggest you IVPN. For me, IVPN offers better speed than Mullvad and to my mind, privacy level is the same, both are great VPN providers.

The way I see it IVPN vs Mullvad:

(a) both allow you to create an account without using any information, like email etc.
(b) mullvad gives you multi-hop VPN with the main subscription that costs 60 euros for 1 year, whereas IVPN needs 100 euros for 1 year to offer the multi-hop feature.
(c) both can be paid with Monero and Bitcoin payment.
(d) both offer WireGuard and OpenVPN.

So, I see very few differences in terms of feature. Mullvad is a bit cheaper. Since you mention that IVPN is better in terms of speed, I think it's worth a try.

I 've found a cool feature (not sure if it's used too much), that IVPN has, which allows you to pay instantly (via the Lightning Network) for a limited period of time to use the VPN.

Mullvad gives you 10% discount if you pay with cryptocurrencies, so it's 54 Euro for 1 year. IVPN costs up to 90 Euro per year, a little bit cheaper, depends on the USD/EURO exchange rate but there is definitely a significant difference in price. I really think that IVPN worth the try, especially after that feature that you just linked, I didn't know about the existence of that, it's really very good but you can only select up to 5 locations on Single-Hop. Anyways, $4 is not a much for 1 week plan to test it before you purchase a long-term plan.

I stumbled upon this thread on Lowendtalk.

You are a lowendtalk guru I've seen your hosting offer catches on lowendtalk and they were very good.