What’s everyone’s opinion on a VPN provider? I’ve used Nord for a long time, but my subscription is up next month and I’m exploring my options. I use a vpn 24/7 on my laptop and most of the time on my phone as does much of the family.
Requirements:
- Support for family plan/multiple devices
- Apple Ecosystem - macOS/iOS clients (Linux nice to have)
- Fast enough to always be running on the device
- Easy to switch between servers and countries
- Not on a lot of deny lists
I did a couple searches here and was surprised I didn’t come across this question before. I hope it’s not asked too often!
E: Currently leaning towards Proton
https://www.privacyguides.org/en/vpn/
I start any research journey at privacy guides, they always have a good explanation of why they came to their decisions, and links to discussions to get into the nitty-gritty
Mullvad all the way
I see a lot of support for Mulvad but they don’t own their hardware afaict. How can you trust that the hosting provided doesn’t have backdoor access? Azire for example owns, collocates and minimize their hardware (driverless etc.)
They own some of their servers and rent others. From their FAQ:
All of our VPN servers are encrypted and are either owned by us or dedicated servers that we rent.
- Our rented servers are all dedicated, meaning they are not shared with anyone else. We do not use virtual servers.
- With the servers that we own, we have physical control over these, which means they tend to be faster and more secure.
When connecting, you can filter to only show owned servers.
Mullvad has been very good for me.
I’ve got Mullvad on my Android and a Linux virtual machine for when I need a textbook that’s overpriced. That would be all of them.
Mozilla, because:
- rebranded Mullvad
- funds Mozilla
- can buy a year subscription
Why not just mullvad?
Their privacy approach is top notch
Because:
- Mozilla needs money, and I’m assuming there’s a financial incentive for them
- buying Mullvad one month at a time is annoying as shit
- a years subsection is half price
- it’s pretty much the same thing. I just had to change my Mullvad public key with my Mozilla one and my connection still worked.
For anonymous proxy (which is what you seem to mean instead of VPN) I just keep using Tor for almost everything. Sure, some services do block it - more than your usual commercial offering. But TBF that mostly saves me time from tying to deal with them.
I use ivpn, because you can remain completely anonymous. Even pay in cash if you choose.
Here is a good overview: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/11IZdVCBjVvbdaKx2HKz2hKB4FZ_l8nRJXXubX4FaQj4/htmlview
It’s Proton for me me hands down
I actually went with proton, but it’s blocking so many things! Apple Music being the big one.
Might have to go back to Nord :(
What are you using it on? We run on everything. Even on Android TvOS and can access Netflix, Disney+ etc with it running. It’s never off on my iOS either and have no issues
I run it on iOS and Mac OS (sometimes Linux), but the problem only seems to be with desktop client.
However, there was update yesterday and now the issue is resolved. Not sure if that was the fix or something else changed, but for now I’m good.
ProtonVPN
I’ve been on Proton for years and I’ve had a Visionary account for years. Proton’s price doesn’t really go up, but the quality and features does immensely. They give me extra storage every year. I get more VPNs, more password managers, more and more and more. IMO they have a track that shows they care about privacy and want to make things better.
I find it always weird how people don’t trust their provider (in some cases reightly so) but then trust a random VPN provider in central asia.
A random vpn in asia won’t sue me for torrenting.