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With new virtual private networks popping up all the time, you have dozens of VPNs to choose from. But how do you know which one to pick? Before trusting a VPN to provide online privacy and security, you’ll want to consider the following.
Data Policies
How private is a virtual private network if theVPN provider is collecting all your informationand selling it to the highest bidder? More often than not, free or low-cost VPNs track your online activity to create a profile of you before selling the data they collected to advertisers or data brokers.
The type of data collected usually falls into three buckets:
The difference between a good and bad VPN is simple. A good VPN has a zero-log policy, meaning it does not collect any of your data. An anonymized policy means that data is collected, but it is scrambled or rendered anonymous, making it incredibly difficult to read or identify who the data belongs to. Most VPNs have a no-log policy; however, be mindful of free or cheap VPNs, as they are most likely to collect and sell data to turn a profit.
Connection Speed
It’s natural to experience a slight decrease in speed when using a VPN. After all, VPNs work by encrypting your data and connecting to one or more servers before connecting to your ultimate destination. While this process takes time, it takes some VPNs longer than others. Things like the encryption type, routing, location of the VPN server, and the number of people using the VPN you’re connecting to can all impact the connection time.
According to a 2024Security.orgtest, these are the three fastest VPNs on the market:
Average Download Speed (Mbps)
Average Upload Speed (Mbps)
Average ping (ms)
Number of Servers and Server Locations
If a VPN provider only has a handful of servers to connect to, chances are these servers may experience slower connection speeds during certain hours of the day. When users are plentiful, and everyone wants to connect, chances are these servers will be overwhelmed, and speed will decrease. A good VPN will offer various servers to choose from.
Secondly, you want servers to be located in various geographic regions. Most importantly, you want the option to connect to a server close to you. Connecting to a nearby server is one of the best ways to ensure your connection speed is not compromised. Offering VPN servers worldwide also enables users to access geo-restricted content and provides yet another layer of privacy should someone try to discover your identity.
Detectability
If a website receives a large number of visitors from a single IP address, they quickly realize that it’s a VPN. As a result, they may block it, especially if the website provides geo-restricted content.
A good VPN provider will have thousands of servers to choose from and use obfuscation technology to disguise VPN traffic as normal web traffic.
Device Compatibility and Ease of Use
A good VPN has apps on multiple devices. It should work on your computer, phone, tablet, streaming devices, and whatever device you want to connect to. It should also work on Windows and Mac operating systems. Generally speaking, if you’re paying for a VPN, it should be supported on various devices and operating systems.
Another point to remember is how many simultaneous connections your VPN allows. Maybe you have multiple devices you’re using it on or are sharing it among friends or family.One of my favorite VPNs, NordVPN, allows you to connect to ten devices simultaneously.
Cancelation Policy
There may come a day when you want to cancel your VPN subscription. When the time comes, you want the ability to cancel said subscription swiftly and easily. As you well know, not all subscription services are easy to cancel. Luckily, doing so may become easier after theFTC introduced a new “Click to Cancel” rule. That being said, some companies are implementing this rule faster than others.
