68 providers assessed · updated 26 September 2026
The limits of the category
What a VPN gives you
A VPN does not give you 100% anonymity, and it does not make a connection secure by itself. What it gives you is privacy from whoever carries your traffic — the network you are on and your internet provider — and that is a narrower thing than it is usually sold as.
When the law asks
A VPN provider answers to the law of the country it is registered in. On a court order or a formal police request, it has to hand over whatever it stores — and can be ordered to start logging a specific user from that day on. Our security score measures how much there is to hand over, not whether the request can be refused.
When a VPN is not enough
If you face political persecution, don't rely on a VPN: the provider knows who pays and where you connect from. When what you need is real anonymity rather than privacy, Tor is the better choice: it passes your traffic through three independent relays, and no single one of them knows both who you are and where you are going.
Shortlists
Three quick filters over all 68 providers we rate. The numbers update themselves whenever the data does.
The ranking
Ordered by the security score alone, 70 down to 20. Usability is the second number, never averaged in, and no place on this list is for sale.
58 more providers sit below this line, and every one of them is in the not recommended band — 53 of the 68 are. 56 of them score the same as another provider on security; the usability score decides which is listed first, so the numbers still run to 68 without repeating. The full list filters by band, jurisdiction, features and price.
Open the full listBefore you click
Security prices eight channels of published evidence into one whole number out of 100: retention, jurisdiction, disclosure, integrity, architecture, hygiene, silence and ignorance. Usability reads twelve capability fields — platforms, countries, price, protocols, devices and the rest — also out of 100.
Neither is folded into the other, because the trade between privacy and reach belongs to you. Rank is derived by sorting on security alone, and the band is read off that same integer, so position, label and number cannot contradict each other.
Every provider carries one class, and the class says which number to read first. Commercial VPN — an operator selling a VPN service; security leads, usability is secondary. Censorship tool — built to reach a blocked internet; usability leads, and its security number is a description, not a verdict. Browser proxy — covers browser traffic only; usability leads, and it is not a privacy tool.
Decentralized — exit nodes are unrelated third parties; read both, nobody operates the exit. P2P exit — other users' devices are the exit and yours is theirs; security leads, because the user is the exit node.
Month to month and per month on a yearly plan are different products, so both sit in the table. Where a provider sells no yearly plan the cell reads — and says what it sells instead.
Everything is converted to US dollars at import, and a promo rate always carries its renewal price beside it.
All 68 records on file, each placed by its security score: 100 at the centre, 0 at the rim. None runs quiet.
Acceptable
Paying monthly
$9.99 per month
Paying yearly
$53.88 billed once a year
Coverage
147 countries server list
Free tier
Yes limited free plan
Security
Usability
Weak
Paying monthly
$6.00 per month
Paying yearly
$60.00 billed once a year
Coverage
41 countries server list
Free tier
No paid plans only
Security
Usability
Acceptable
Paying monthly
$5.69 per month
Paying yearly
$69.60 billed once a year
Coverage
50 countries server list
Free tier
No paid plans only
Security
Usability
Security at 55 or above. The other 66 are weak, insufficient or not recommended.Open the register 41of 68Publish where their servers are
VG
7 of them reach a hundred countries or more. Reach is usability — read the security number too.Open the country index 28of 68Offer a real free plan
Coverage23countries
Paying monthly$8.11monthly
Paying yearly$56.74yearly total
Free tierNopaid plans only
Devices5at once
Security
Usability
Coverage57countries
Paying monthly$11.99monthly
Paying yearly$54.99yearly total
Free tierYeslimited free plan
Devices10at once
Security
Usability
Coverage91countries
Paying monthly$11.95monthly
Paying yearly$47.88yearly total
Free tierNopaid plans only
Devicesunlimitedat once
Security
Usability
Coverage4countries
Price—no published price
Free tierYesfree, no data cap
Security
Usability
Coverage20countries
Paying monthly$12.00monthly
Paying yearly$59.88yearly total
Free tierNopaid plans only
Devices4at once
Security
Usability
Coverage91countries
Paying monthly$12.99monthly
Paying yearly—no yearly plan
Free tierNopaid plans only
Devices7at once
Security
Usability
Coverage25countries
Paying monthly$15.00monthly
Paying yearly$70.00yearly total
Free tierNopaid plans only
Devicesunlimitedat once
Security
Usability
