List of VPN Service Providers - 2025

[Synchronice]

Canaries are trust based and even if there was a warrant why would they announce it when they would lose customers?

A canary is a way of saying something without saying it, so you'll still know something happened even if they're not allowed to disclose it. If they'd lie about this, they loose all the trust they have.

LoyceV summed it pretty well. Do note that Mullvad has been - as far as we are let known - very transparent about search warrants to their service. Do check this[1] attempt of Swedish authorities to seize their data in 2023 and the follow-up here[2].
[1]https://mullvad.net/en/blog/mullvad-vpn-was-subject-to-a-search-warrant-customer-data-not-compromised
[2]https://mullvad.net/en/blog/update-the-swedish-authorities-answered-our-protocol-request

It's ironic how the police always ignores laws when it can. If you don't know the law, the police will disobey law. When I was a kid, I always thought that police follows laws but they always obey when possible, that's catastrophic.
By the way, it's strange that Mullvad has been operating for 14 years and 2023 was the year when their offices have been visited with a search warrant.

Police visited the Mullvad VPN office in Gothenburg with a search warrant.
They intended to seize computers with customer data.

In line with our policies such customer data did not exist. We argued they had no reason to expect to find what they were looking for and any seizures would therefore be illegal under Swedish law.

ProtonVPN is playing games with me. It offered me 55% discount on 2 years plan, then I revisited the pricing URL and it offered 70% discount. Finally, US$71.76 for 2 years, sounds good. I updated the title and the prices. Some VPNs became cheap and some became expensive. To be frank with you, I hate this marketing strategy of VPN providers, there is more than 50% sale all the time, what's the point of that? Just set original prices and stop bullshit marketing and promotions.

[LoyceV]

It's ironic how the police always ignores laws when it can. If you don't know the law, the police will disobey law. When I was a kid, I always thought that police follows laws

In my country, we have a saying that translates to "everyone is expected to know the law", but you'd have to be a lawyer to have the time to read all of them. And study them to remember them, and keep up with continuous changes and new laws. And even so, lawyers specialize in only parts of all laws. So you can't expect anyone including police to understand all details of every law.

ProtonVPN is playing games with me. It offered me 55% discount on 2 years plan, then I revisited the pricing URL and it offered 70% discount. Finally, US$71.76 for 2 years, sounds good. I updated the title and the prices. Some VPNs became cheap and some became expensive. To be frank with you, I hate this marketing strategy of VPN providers, there is more than 50% sale all the time, what's the point of that? Just set original prices and stop bullshit marketing and promotions.

Then ignore those companies that lure in new customers with discounts. Mullvad doesn't do it, vote with your wallet.

[apogio]

ProtonVPN is playing games with me. It offered me 55% discount on 2 years plan, then I revisited the pricing URL and it offered 70% discount. Finally, US$71.76 for 2 years, sounds good. I updated the title and the prices. Some VPNs became cheap and some became expensive. To be frank with you, I hate this marketing strategy of VPN providers, there is more than 50% sale all the time, what's the point of that? Just set original prices and stop bullshit marketing and promotions.

Then ignore those companies that lure in new customers with discounts. Mullvad doesn't do it, vote with your wallet.

I agree with Loyce. It's a product afterall. The best way to show your disatisfaction is to ignore any product that you think has unfair pricing policies. In traditional investing, there is a saying that the companies who put large red arrows pointing at their investor relations section in their website should be red-flagged. It's not the same, but I want to point out that when you disagree with a pricing or financial policy, ignore it.

[Zwei]

To be frank with you, I hate this marketing strategy of VPN providers, there is more than 50% sale all the time, what's the point of that? Just set original prices and stop bullshit marketing and promotions.

yeah, and add to that the bullshit list of claims they make, stuff like "our VPN will protect you from getting hacked" and "complete anonymity online" while most people turn on thier VPN and log in to their gmail.
but my favorite is the "military grade encryption", like dude, 99% of internet traffic is literally encrypted using the same military grade encryption which is just AES-256.

In my country, we have a saying that translates to "everyone is expected to know the law", but you'd have to be a lawyer to have the time to read all of them. And study them to remember them, and keep up with continuous changes and new laws. And even so, lawyers specialize in only parts of all laws. So you can't expect anyone including police to understand all details of every law.

i think every country has a similar saying, in my country, the saying translates to "the law does not protect the ignorant".

ProtonVPN is playing games with me. It offered me 55% discount on 2 years plan, then I revisited the pricing URL and it offered 70% discount. Finally, US$71.76 for 2 years, sounds good. I updated the title and the prices. Some VPNs became cheap and some became expensive. To be frank with you, I hate this marketing strategy of VPN providers, there is more than 50% sale all the time, what's the point of that? Just set original prices and stop bullshit marketing and promotions.

Then ignore those companies that lure in new customers with discounts. Mullvad doesn't do it, vote with your wallet.

mullvad is so underrated tbh, and they are pretty much unknown in the VPN market outside the privacy space, but that's expected. after all, they don't do paid reviews or run an affiliate program like every other VPNs. actually, i don't think i have seen a single mullvad ad before.

[Synchronice]

So you can't expect anyone including police to understand all details of every law.

Police should know the law, they are called law enforcement for a reason but sadly, the government feels fine if the police abuses the law.

Then ignore those companies that lure in new customers with discounts. Mullvad doesn't do it, vote with your wallet.

Of course! There is a reason why there are only two VPNs in Privacy focused cheap monthly VPNs section. I like Mullvad's business model but I'm okay with IVPN's business model too, least they have fixed sale on long-term plans and they do not offer 80% sale all the time, sales are fixed all the time and you save on long-term plans.

To be frank with you, I hate this marketing strategy of VPN providers, there is more than 50% sale all the time, what's the point of that? Just set original prices and stop bullshit marketing and promotions.

yeah, and add to that the bullshit list of claims they make, stuff like "our VPN will protect you from getting hacked" and "complete anonymity online" while most people turn on thier VPN and log in to their gmail.
but my favorite is the "military grade encryption", like dude, 99% of internet traffic is literally encrypted using the same military grade encryption which is just AES-256.

I think that these VPNs are more like an adware and not a thing that protects people from it. These companies play with words and try to catch new victims all the time. Those who don't know things well, easily get captivated by the combination of beautiful words.

[Synchronice]

I randomly downloaded Windscribe app today on my computer and I just noticed that they have an emergency connect option, which I haven't noticed on other VPN apps. It lets you to connect to an emergency server that lets you to access to Windscribe.com and buy their VPN plan. It's a very good feature to my mind because I don't like when I visit a VPN's website via my ISP IP. It's a nice feature and I think it will be good if others copy that.
By the way, I want to mention here that I hugely dislike the fact that they ask you to add your email to get additional free GBs on free plan. Privacy-focused VPN shouldn't be asking for emails to my mind.

[LoyceV]

By the way, I want to mention here that I hugely dislike the fact that they ask you to add your email to get additional free GBs on free plan. Privacy-focused VPN shouldn't be asking for emails to my mind.

Privacy-focused users should have spare email addresses for random registrations

[SFR10]

I randomly downloaded Windscribe app today on my computer and I just noticed that they have an emergency connect option, which I haven't noticed on other VPN apps.

It's a handy feature, but from what I've read in the past, it doesn't always work in countries with heavy censorship ^{[unfortunately]}... Perhaps that's why other VPN providers aren't offering it.

BTW, just wanted to mention some of the changes:

• ExpressVPN is now offering a dedicated IP on its checkout page.
• Lowest subscription price changes:
  
  • CyberGhost = $57 for 2 years + 2 months
  • NordVPN = $81 for 2 years
  • Surfshark = $54 for 2 years + 3 months

[LTU_btc]

By the way, I want to mention here that I hugely dislike the fact that they ask you to add your email to get additional free GBs on free plan. Privacy-focused VPN shouldn't be asking for emails to my mind.

It would be too good if they would just give you free VPN for nothing. Nothing in this world doesn't comes for free, except cheese in the trap. Want some more GB - sacrifice something. After all, as said above, nobody forces you to use your main email for it.
BTW, you made good add - I wasn't aware that they have free plan. I have subscription of other service, but it's not bad to have free alternative.

[apogio]

So, I 've tried NYM and Mullvad.

In fact, I can't see major performance differences, except that I noticed that when I connected to distant small countries (in other continents) NYM had some additional lag, but not too much. I don't connect to small distant countries anyways.

Payment was made with crypto for both services and I had no problem at all. NYM also has a native token with which you can pay, but I wasn't interested in learning more about it.

I am an average user, so I didn't do too much research on the advanced features. For me and my family's tasks, I believe Mullvad behaved better, but again, no major differences in speed, connectivity and reliability.

[LoyceV]

It would be too good if they would just give you free VPN for nothing. Nothing in this world doesn't comes for free

It's just advertising. They know at least some people will start paying when their free trial runs out, which makes it profitable for them.
10 GB is nothing at current bandwidth cost. I've seen 100% cashbacks on 2 year VPN subscriptions, which means they must have a huge profit margin to be able to do this.

I mentioned the €1 per TB VPN before, and after seeing that offer I really wonder why other VPNs are that expensive. It means you're paying for the very few people who consume massive bandwidth on unlimited plans.

[Synchronice]

By the way, I want to mention here that I hugely dislike the fact that they ask you to add your email to get additional free GBs on free plan. Privacy-focused VPN shouldn't be asking for emails to my mind.

It would be too good if they would just give you free VPN for nothing. Nothing in this world doesn't comes for free, except cheese in the trap. Want some more GB - sacrifice something. After all, as said above, nobody forces you to use your main email for it.
BTW, you made good add - I wasn't aware that they have free plan. I have subscription of other service, but it's not bad to have free alternative.

My point is that, if they promote themselves as a VPN focused on privacy, then they shouldn't be asking for email for additional GB (this feature shouldn't even be available from them).

So, I 've tried NYM and Mullvad.

I wrote it many times but did you try IVPN? I don't understand why you hesitate to use it I'm not affiliated with any of them but the reason I usually recommend IVPN is that I like their service and I like projects that they support.

I've seen 100% cashbacks on 2 year VPN subscriptions, which means they must have a huge profit margin to be able to do this.

I mentioned the €1 per TB VPN before, and after seeing that offer I really wonder why other VPNs are that expensive. It means you're paying for the very few people who consume massive bandwidth on unlimited plans.

I don't understand why every VPN uses the same business model. Almost every VPN offers expensive monthly plan but very cheap annual plans. Isn't it better to offer not very cheap but normal price for one month VPN instead of bullshit annual sales? I've said no to many VPNs because I needed them for a month or two and they were expensive for that, so I used either Mullvad, Windscribe or IVPN.

[apogio]

I wrote it many times but did you try IVPN? I don't understand why you hesitate to use it I'm not affiliated with any of them but the reason I usually recommend IVPN is that I like their service and I like projects that they support.

Haha I am sorry, you have indeed mentioned it too many times. I don't hesitate and I am just downloading it again. I used it for a couple of days in the past, gonna retry it now. I will post a feedback when I 'm done. If it's that good, I will switch from mullvad to IVPN. Let's see if they are worth your support. 

[LTU_btc]

My point is that, if they promote themselves as a VPN focused on privacy, then they shouldn't be asking for email for additional GB (this feature shouldn't even be available from them).

I get your point and I think it's right. But they have chosen this way of marketing. In general, I'm very spectical about services which offers free VPN. Mainly because of history of services like Hola.

I don't understand why every VPN uses the same business model. Almost every VPN offers expensive monthly plan but very cheap annual plans. Isn't it better to offer not very cheap but normal price for one month VPN instead of bullshit annual sales? I've said no to many VPNs because I needed them for a month or two and they were expensive for that, so I used either Mullvad, Windscribe or IVPN.

Doesn't it applies to every subscription based services? From things like Netflix or Spotify to VPN's or hosting. In all these services by choosing yearly plans you will save a lot. Maybe in such way they are loosing some customers who are looking for short term plans. Butfor business these users is less beneficial as it's likely thatthey will cancel subscription just after one month.

[LoyceV]

In all these services by choosing yearly plans you will save a lot.

I like this in a company:

we don't want to lock you (and your money) into a long-term payment scheme

It sounds like: "a good product sells itself", and a good product doesn't lock their customers in.

[Synchronice]

Haha I am sorry, you have indeed mentioned it too many times. I don't hesitate and I am just downloading it again. I used it for a couple of days in the past, gonna retry it now. I will post a feedback when I 'm done. If it's that good, I will switch from mullvad to IVPN. Let's see if they are worth your support. 

Haha, I equally like Mullvad and IVPN, no need to switch if you enjoy Mullvad. I experience better speed with IVPN though.

Doesn't it applies to every subscription based services? From things like Netflix or Spotify to VPN's or hosting. In all these services by choosing yearly plans you will save a lot. Maybe in such way they are loosing some customers who are looking for short term plans. Butfor business these users is less beneficial as it's likely thatthey will cancel subscription just after one month.

Are you sure about that? Netflix and Spotify, both have monthly subscription model only, they don't have annual subscription. When it comes to hosting companies, there are millions of them with different style of marketing, so I don't agree with you here too. There are lots of hosting companies that don't have crazy annual deals and have a normal monthly plans and there are also those, who have expensive monthly plans and cheap annual plans. In hosting companies, it's also very common to pay as you go instead of paying upfront.

It sounds like: "a good product sells itself", and a good product doesn't lock their customers in.

That's true!

[apogio]

Haha, I equally like Mullvad and IVPN, no need to switch if you enjoy Mullvad. I experience better speed with IVPN though.

In terms of privacy, I was not able to find any leaks with both services, but I am not an expert.

I am surprised, but IVPN much faster when I was connected to Swiss servers. The ping was almost double with Mullvad (constantly) which means I could stream much faster with IVPN.

I tested multiple servers in Europe (other than Switzerland) and I couldn't see notable differences in speed.

[LoyceV]

The ping was almost double with Mullvad (constantly) which means I could stream much faster with IVPN.

Did you notice any difference while watching? I would expect a slightly larger ping not to matter much, as streaming buffers data.

I don't want to have a bad experience when watching a youtube video for example.

I recently discovered that some countries aren't monetized by Youtube. That means no ads
On my normal system my browser takes care of this, but on TV a VPN in Albania works like a charm. There are more countries, but I expect worse internet speeds in most of them.
If you hate ads at much as I do: try it

[apogio]

Did you notice any difference while watching? I would expect a slightly larger ping not to matter much, as streaming buffers data.

The ping was almost double all the time. It was 35ms with IVPN's server in Switzerland and 75ms for a server in the same country by Mullvad.

I recently discovered that some countries aren't monetized by Youtube. That means no ads
On my normal system my browser takes care of this, but on TV a VPN in Albania works like a charm. There are more countries, but I expect worse internet speeds in most of them.
If you hate ads at much as I do: try it

Cool, I didn't know that. To be honest, we have a paid subscription with Google (my wife), so the ads don't really bother us because we 're connected with her account. But definitely, your point should be important for the great majority of people.

[LoyceV]

The ping was almost double all the time. It was 35ms with IVPN's server in Switzerland and 75ms for a server in the same country by Mullvad.

I got that, but did it matter for streaming? Buffering 0.075 seconds shouldn't be a problem.

To be honest, we have a paid subscription with Google (my wife), so the ads don't really bother us because we 're connected with her account.

I refuse to pay to get rid of ads. That feels like paying for protection. For years, I was okay with ads, as I understand websites need to earn something, but "they" went completely overboard and now I'm done seeing ads. My browser has blocked millions of them, which kinda proves it's too much.