Best VPN Services

ProtonVPN holds first at 9.3. iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max go on sale tomorrow, 18 September, and a new phone is the moment a VPN most often ends up quietly switched off. So this week is a setup checklist.

A phone restored from a backup brings your apps back, and your VPN still needs a fresh sign-in and a fresh permission to add its configuration. Until you approve that prompt, the app icon sits on the home screen looking ready while your traffic runs unprotected. It is the most common VPN mistake I hear about after a phone upgrade.

Here is the five minute routine I run on day one. Open the VPN app and sign in. Approve the VPN configuration prompt. Turn on the kill switch or always-on option inside the app. Choose WireGuard as the protocol, which gives me the best balance of speed and battery life on a phone. Then visit a leak test site on both Wi-Fi and cellular to confirm the address you see belongs to the VPN.

Last, remove the old phone's device slot from your account page, so the new one does not hit a device limit next month.

Proton VPN at 9.3 makes this easy, with network at 9.9 and privacy at 9.8, and its five consecutive Securitum no-logs audits give me confidence in what happens after the tunnel is up. CyberInsider's comparison, updated on 15 September, reached similar conclusions on its audit record.

Mullvad at 9.2 is the simplest to move between phones. You type a single account number, with no email and no password, and the flat 5 euros a month covers five devices.

NordVPN at 8.8 holds speed at 9.3 and usability at 9.1, and it is the one I set up for family members who want the app to handle everything automatically. ExpressVPN at 8.5 keeps usability at 9.5, the highest here.

The ranking carries forward unchanged.

ProtonVPN holds first at 9.3. Amazon confirmed Prime Big Deal Days for 6-7 October on 15 September, which means VPN discount season opens now, so this update is about the number that actually decides value: what you pay in year two.

The pattern in this category is a two or three year plan advertised at a low monthly rate, followed by an automatic renewal close to list price. I have watched readers go from about $3 a month to more than $10 a month without noticing, because the charge lands two years after they made the decision and the email goes to an inbox they stopped reading.

Three habits fix it. Put the renewal date in your calendar the day you subscribe. Turn automatic renewal off immediately and set a reminder to resubscribe deliberately. And read the manage subscription page for the actual renewal figure, which is published and is usually well above the headline.

Proton VPN survives that arithmetic better than most. It has passed five consecutive annual audits by Securitum covering 2022 through 2026, holds a SOC 2 Type II attestation, and runs more than 17,800 servers. Its free tier is also the only one on this list I recommend with no conditions attached.

Mullvad at 9.2 removes the problem entirely with a flat 5 euros a month, no annual lock in and no email at sign up. Its price score of 9.5 leads this ranking, and the value improves the longer you stay.

NordVPN at 8.8 stays the streaming pick with speed at 9.3 and network size at 9.6. If that is your use case, October is the month to buy it and the month to set the calendar reminder.

IVPN at 8.6 earns a mention for dropping referral programs and lifetime plans on principle.

ProtonVPN keeps first at 9.3, and this week the case for it rests on paperwork as much as speed. Proton VPN has now passed five consecutive annual audits by Securitum, covering 2022 through 2026, and it holds a SOC 2 Type II attestation. A clean audit every single year is the strongest evidence a VPN buyer can get, and Proton pairs it with more than 17,800 servers and promotional pricing around $2.99 a month.

Mullvad holds 9.2 with the simplest privacy model in the category: no email at sign-up, a flat €5 a month, and a long record of independent audits. One change deserves a reminder. Mullvad became a WireGuard-only service on January 15, 2026, and retired OpenVPN entirely. WireGuard is faster and leaner, and Mullvad's own apps handle it well. If you still run an old router configuration or a third-party client built around OpenVPN, rebuild that setup with WireGuard profiles.

NordVPN stays third at 8.8. CyberInsider refreshed its NordVPN and Mullvad comparison on September 9 and still points to NordVPN's 9,500-plus RAM-only servers and broad security toolkit as its core strengths. For streaming and raw speed across many countries, it is the one I install for family members.

IVPN at 8.6 remains my pick for privacy purists who want a small, transparent company, and ExpressVPN at 8.5 is the most polished app for people who want to press one button and move on.

Autumn travel makes this a good week for a quick check. Before a trip, connect on your phone, open a leak test site, and confirm your real IP stays hidden on both Wi-Fi and mobile data. Five minutes at home saves a frustrating evening on hotel Wi-Fi.

No ranking changes this week.

ProtonVPN keeps first at 9.3, and the latest hands-on testing gives me more confidence in that call. CyberInsider's August 24 comparison of Mullvad and Proton VPN, the most recent head-to-head I have seen, found a large performance gap in Proton's favour, and credits its WireGuard support with making it one of the fastest privacy-focused services available. Proton runs more than 17,800 servers in 129 countries, carries an audited no-logs policy, and promotional pricing drops to about $2.99 a month. That mix of verified privacy, reach, and speed is exactly what my scoring rewards.

Mullvad holds 9.2 on the cleanest privacy design in the category. There is no account email, the price is a flat €5 a month with no promotional ladder, and its record includes more than 15 independent audits across apps and infrastructure. Its network is smaller, with about 700 servers in 49 countries, which is why it sits just behind Proton on my network column.

NordVPN stays third at 8.8 and is the one I recommend to people who mostly want speed and streaming. It runs more than 9,500 RAM-only servers and has passed six independent no-logs audits by firms including PwC and Deloitte, and CyberInsider's testing put it ahead of Mullvad on speed and extra security features.

The bigger story this year is regulation. TechRadar calls age verification the defining VPN topic of 2026, since most national schemes can be bypassed with a VPN, and that keeps these tools under political scrutiny. My advice is simple: pick a provider with audited no-logs claims and a clear jurisdiction, because those are the protections that hold up when rules change.

IVPN at 8.6 and ExpressVPN at 8.5 remain dependable choices. Early autumn travel season is a good moment to test your VPN on hotel Wi-Fi before you actually need it.

No ranking changes this week.

ProtonVPN keeps first at 9.3 and the case rests on things you can verify. Open-source apps, independent audits, Swiss jurisdiction, and a free tier that runs without advertising or bandwidth caps. Most of this market asks you to trust a marketing claim. Proton publishes enough that you can check the claim yourself, and that is the whole reason it sits on top.

Mullvad holds 9.2 on the strongest privacy architecture in the category. No account, a random number instead of an email address, and cash accepted through the post. The flat monthly price with no promotional ladder tells you something about how the company thinks about customers.

NordVPN at 8.8 remains the right answer for streaming reliability. If your actual requirement is watching a service from another country without a nightly fight, this is the one that works most consistently, and I would rather say that directly than pretend speed charts are the deciding factor.

One note on expectations. A VPN moves the point where your traffic enters the internet. It does not make you anonymous, and it does not protect a machine that is already compromised. Buy one for network privacy on untrusted connections and for region access, and keep your threat model honest.

Ranking holds. ProtonVPN stays first at 9.3 and Mullvad sits at 9.2, and I want to explain why these two lead a category where marketing budgets usually decide visibility.

Both have been independently audited, both operate under jurisdictions with meaningful privacy protection, and both have published transparency reports that hold up. Neither runs the affiliate-driven promotional machine that dominates VPN recommendations elsewhere on the internet. ProtonVPN takes first on server coverage and the quality of its apps. Mullvad takes second on a privacy model that is genuinely stricter, including accounts that require no email address at all.

NordVPN at 8.8 has the fastest servers in this list and the widest device support, and for streaming access it is the most reliable performer.

What matters more than any of this: be clear about your threat model. A VPN protects traffic between you and the exit server. It does not make you anonymous, it does not stop a website identifying you when you log in, and it does not defend against malware. If you are choosing one for privacy from your internet provider or safety on public networks, these work well. If you need protection from a state actor, a commercial VPN is the wrong tool entirely.

The SplitVPN breach disclosed this cycle is the story I want readers to take away, and the lesson from it changes nothing about my top three.

SplitVPN, previously operating as NotVPN, exposed millions of customer records including 865,000 unique email addresses, IP addresses, country, and partial payment card data covering the first six and last four digits plus expiry. Read that list again. A VPN provider was holding customer IP addresses in a form that could be exposed. That is the entire thing you are paying a VPN to not do.

Proton VPN stays first at 9.3 and Mullvad stays second at 9.2 because both are built so that this specific breach could not produce the same list. Mullvad does not ask for an email address to create an account. There is no email list to leak because there is no email list. Proton operates under Swiss jurisdiction with published no logs audits. When I score privacy in this category I am scoring what the provider could hand over or lose, and both of these have deliberately arranged to hold very little.

NordVPN at 8.8 and ExpressVPN at 8.5 stay where they are. Both have independent audits and both hold more account data than the top two, which is the gap in the score.

My practical advice this month is to check what your provider knows about you. Log into your account page and look at what is stored: email, payment method, connection history. Whatever is listed there is what exists to be exposed. If that list is longer than you expected, that is your answer about whether to renew.

OpenAI flagging GPT-6 Astra as the first model to reach its critical-cyber safeguard threshold is the security story of the week, and it belongs in a VPN discussion for a specific reason. Capable models lower the cost of scanning, phishing and credential stuffing at scale, which raises the value of every layer that hides your traffic and reduces your exposure. It also raises the value of a provider whose no-logs claim has been tested. Proton VPN holds first at 9.3 because it operates from Switzerland under favourable privacy law, publishes independent audits, open sources its clients, and its no-logs position has survived legal scrutiny. That combination is what a VPN promise should actually mean. Mullvad at 9.2 goes further on anonymity, accepting cash and requiring no email address to create an account, and for anyone whose threat model is genuinely serious it is the right choice. NordVPN at 8.8 has the fastest speeds and the most server locations, which matters for streaming and for anyone connecting from a congested network. Practical advice for Taiwan: test your provider's performance on your actual connection during evening peak, because international routing from here varies enormously by provider and a VPN that benchmarks well in Europe may be slow on your line.

ProtonVPN holds first at 9.3 and the reason is a combination of properties that very few services can claim together: Swiss jurisdiction with strong privacy law, open source clients that researchers can audit, independently verified no-logs claims, and a free tier with no data cap that is genuinely usable. Most free VPNs monetise your traffic, and Proton funds the free tier from paid subscriptions, which is a fundamentally different business model. Mullvad at 9.2 sits very close and it does one thing better than anyone: it does not want to know who you are. You get an account number in place of an email address, you can pay in cash, and there is no personal information to hand over even if compelled. For anyone whose threat model includes a subpoena, that architecture matters more than server count. NordVPN at 8.8 is the fastest here with the largest network, and its audits are credible. IVPN at 8.6 has excellent transparency. ExpressVPN at 8.5 has the easiest apps. Guidance worth stating clearly: a VPN protects your traffic from your internet provider and from an untrusted network, and it does not make you anonymous. Your logged-in accounts identify you regardless of your IP address. Choose one for the actual threat you are addressing.

The most useful thing I can tell you about VPNs is to be clear about what you want one for, because the marketing promises far more than the technology delivers. A VPN moves the point at which your traffic enters the open internet. That is genuinely useful for keeping your browsing away from your internet provider, for accessing services from a different location, and for using untrusted networks. It does not make you anonymous, and any provider suggesting otherwise has told you something about its honesty. Given that, judge providers on three things: an independently audited no-logs policy, jurisdiction and ownership transparency, and payment options that do not require identifying yourself. ProtonVPN holds first at 9.3 because it publishes audits, operates from Switzerland with clear ownership, runs its own infrastructure, and offers a free tier with no data cap that is genuinely usable. Mullvad at 9.2 has the strongest privacy architecture here, using account numbers with no email requirement and accepting cash by post. NordVPN at 8.8 is the fastest and the best choice if streaming access is your main use case. Match the provider to the reason you are buying.