Hundreds of hours spent testing the biggest and best virtual private networks (VPNs) have all boiled down to this: the latest VPN rankings in 2024. Our experts have picked apart mobile and desktop apps, speeds, features, security, and most importantly value for money to bring you the Best VPN services on the market today.
For six years, ExpressVPN maintained its number one spot thanks to impeccably designed apps, seamless ease of use, and attention to detail that showed perfectionism was at the heart of everything it did. However, with an ongoing cost of living crisis, there’s more to consider than just how well the core service performs and how wellbuilt the apps are.
This time, however, NordVPN finally closed the gap on ExpressVPN thanks to its evergrowing mass of features, reliable content unblocking, and customizable pricing which means you only need to pay for what you want to use.
Read on to find out more about what separates the top VPNs, and how each one compares in our rigorous testing.
As a digital privacy advocate and expert, he’s spent the past four years leveraging his master’s degree to research VPNs, cryptography, and other cybersecurity topics.
The 5 best VPNs in 2024
Attributes | Notes | Rating |
---|---|---|
Design | Apps have a novelty that provides a more visually entertaining user experience | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Ease of use | Good for new users, but more work is needed to make it easier to set up advanced configurations | ⭐⭐⭐ |
Performance | One of the fastest VPNs on the market, maxing out my testing line | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Unblocking | Unblocked everything we threw at it, every time we tried | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Security and privacy | A privacyfirst approach that’s supported with clear investment in improving the security of its apps | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Customer support | Friendly, supportive and professional | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Price | Fantastic value for money | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Attributes | Notes | Rating |
---|---|---|
Design | Elegant and simple, there’s no clutter and everything has its place | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Ease of use | An automated oneclick connect means you get the safest, fastest protection possible—without having to configure it yourself | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Performance | Fast enough for streaming, online gaming, and torrenting, with a big focus on lowlatency bandwidth | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Unblocking | Consistently unblocks every site and region we test | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Security and privacy | ExpressVPN’s teams are constantly improving the industry, but a recent DNS leak (now fixed) caused a stir | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Customer support | Always available, friendly, and helpful | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Price | An expensive option, but if you want something you can stake your life on, it’s worth every penny | ⭐⭐ |
Attributes | Notes | Rating |
---|---|---|
Design | A simple app with a clear layout | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Ease of use | A comfortable middleground between NordVPN and ExpressVPN | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Performance | One of the fastest providers around | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Unblocking | Another full house—Surfshark keeps getting perfect scores in our unblocking tests | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Security and privacy | A muchimproved Antivirus tool, but the Windows kill switch can fail under very extreme circumstances | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Customer support | Support site has come a long way | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Price | So much for so little—no one else can match the value | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Attributes | Notes | Rating |
---|---|---|
Design | Lots of customization, but could do with some decluttering | ⭐⭐⭐ |
Ease of use | Not the best for beginners, but great for advanced users | ⭐⭐⭐ |
Performance | Good speeds, but generally average compared to industry leaders | ⭐⭐⭐ |
Unblocking | Dedicated streaming servers and an enormous global network help you unblock anything and everything | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Security and privacy | The latest and greatest in vpn tech, and a proven nologging policy | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Customer support | A mass of knowledge online and expert support onhand at all times | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Price | Budgetfriendly and offering plenty of features that would normally cost you twice as much | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Attributes | Notes | Rating |
---|---|---|
Design | Dark and edgy, it’s good if you want that “hacker” vibe | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Ease of use | Simple and clear designs make it good for beginners | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Performance | Incredibly fast WireGuard speeds | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Unblocking | Unblocked everything we threw at it | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Security and privacy | Audited and opensource so anyone can verify its claims | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Customer support | Support articles are helpful and usually have plenty of images | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Price | Expensive compared to Surfshark and PIA, but still reasonable | ⭐⭐⭐ |
Our latest test results
This round of testing saw some pretty big shakeups to our best VPN list. NordVPN finally unseated ExpressVPN for first place, and Surfshark still stands strong as our number three pick and the best cheap VPN overall. PIA has maintained its fourth place standing as the best VPN for Linux and torrenting.
IPVanish dropped back down from fifth to seventh place in our rankings, with Proton VPN clawing back to fifth following a big jump in speed and unblocking scores by the bigname brand. privadovpn maintains sixth as our best free VPN.
CyberGhost remains in ninth place due to a series of minor grievances—decent speeds aren’t enough to stand out in this competition, I’m afraid. We want to see a lot more from the provider if it wants to remain in the competition.
Going a step further
It’s not just about which VPN provider has the most to offer, it’s about maintaining a reliable, highquality service.
Mike Williams, our lead VPN Tester, puts it best: “A great VPN isn’t necessarily about having the longest feature list or the highest possible speeds. What really matters is quality, attention to detail, and the kind of consistency that says not only can you trust this provider with your privacy right now, but you can be confident it’ll stay that way for the foreseeable future.”
I agree with him—you’re not just buying a VPN in the here and now, you’re investing in it for the next few years. It’s one of the key reasons ExpressVPN held the crown for so long. We had so much confidence in what Express was doing.
However, with ExpressVPN’s recent DNS leak issue compounding our anxieties after the Kape layoffs, we knew that NordVPN was the right choice for the top spot this time around. With its enormous wealth of features and fantastic value for money, it had finally overtaken its biggest rival.
Stream unblocking results
VPNs regularly claim they unblock all of your favorite shows, but which ones really do? Check out the results from our testing below to see whether a service can access global streaming services:
VPN Provider | Netflix libraries | US services | UK and Australian services |
---|---|---|---|
1. NordVPN | US, UK, AU, CA, JP | Amazon, Disney | iPlayer, ITV, C4, 9Now, 10 play |
2. ExpressVPN | US, UK, AU, CA, JP | Amazon, Disney | iPlayer, ITV, C4, 9Now, 10 play |
3. PIA |
US, UK, AU, CA, JP |
Amazon, Disney |
iPlayer, ITV, C4, 9Now, 10 play |
4. Proton VPN | US, UK, AU, CA, JP | Amazon, Disney | iPlayer, ITV, C4, 9Now, 10 play |
5. Surfshark | US, UK, AU, CA, JP | Amazon, Disney | iPlayer, ITV, C4, 9Now, 10 play |
6. Windscribe | US, UK, AU, CA, JP | Amazon, Disney | iPlayer, ITV, C4, 9Now, 10 play |
7. CyberGhost | US, UK, AU, CA, JP | Amazon, Disney | iPlayer, ITV, C4, 9Now |
8. PureVPN | US, UK, AU, CA, JP | Amazon, Disney | iPlayer, ITV, C4, 9Now |
9. Hide.me | US, UK, AU, CA |
Amazon, Disney |
iPlayer, ITV, C4, 9Now, 10 play |
10. IPVanish | US, UK, CA, JP | Amazon, Disney | iPlayer, ITV, C4, 9Now |
11. StrongVPN | US, UK, CA, JP | Amazon | iPlayer, ITV, C4, 9Now |
12. UltraVPN | US, AU, CA, JP | Amazon | iPlayer, ITV, C4, 9Now |
13. PrivadoVPN | US, JP | Amazon, Disney | iPlayer, ITV, 9Now, 10 play |
14. AtlasVPN | UK | Amazon, Disney | iPlayer, ITV, C4, 9Now, 10 play |
15. Hotspot Shield | US, CA, JP | Amazon | iPlayer, ITV, C4, 9Now |
16. VyprVPN | US, CA | Amazon | iPlayer, ITV, C4, 9Now, 10 play |
17. PrivateVPN | US | Amazon, Disney | 9Now, 10 play |
18. Windscribe (free) | US, CA | Disney | iPlayer, ITV, C4 |
19. PrivadoVPN (free) | US, JP | Disney | iPlayer |
20. Le VPN | UK | Amazon | iPlayer, ITV, C4, 9Now |
21. Astrill | US, UK | Failed | iPlayer, ITV, C4, 9Now |
22. FastestVPN | US, JP | Failed | ITV, C4, 9Now, 10 play |
23. Whitehat VPN | CA | Amazon, Disney | C4, 9Now |
24. Norton VPN | CA | Failed | C4, 9Now |
25. TunnelBear | Failed | Amazon, Disney | iPlayer, ITV, C4 |
26. Hotspot Shield (free) | Failed | Amazon, Disney | iPlayer, ITV, C4 |
27. Mullvad | US | Failed | iPlayer, ITV, C4, 9Now |
28. Mozilla | Failed | Failed | ITV, C4, 9Now |
29. Google One | Failed | Failed | Failed |
30. Proton VPN (free) | Failed | Failed | Failed |
Malware, tracker, and adblocking results
Many VPNs say they have builtin ad, tracker, and malware blocking, and most reviews just take it for granted that these work and deliver useful results. Our lead tester aimed to measure this feature for each provider, and see how they compare to each other.
The tests included the following:
- A custom tool that attempts to access 156 common trackers (Facebook, Twitter and so on), and records whether it’s still available.
- A custom tool that tries to access a selection of URLs (300600ish) from a daily updated curated list of malicious URLs, like GitHub, and records what happens
- Running a couple of adblocking testers (including AdBlock Tester) and recording the score.
Without further ado, lets see which VPNs give you that little bit extra, and which ones are only offer lip service:
VPN Provider |
Trackers blocked |
Malware blocked |
Ad blocking score |
---|---|---|---|
Atlas |
69% |
28% | 3% |
CyberGhost |
96% |
85% | 80% |
ExpressVPN | N/A | 83% | 69% |
FastestVPN | 57% |
87% |
41% |
Hide.me | N/A | 91% | 91% |
IPVanish | N/A | 79% | 34% |
Mozilla |
74% |
99% |
90% |
Mullvad |
74% |
85% |
91% |
NordVPN |
64% | 96% | 51% |
Norton |
69% |
100% |
16% |
PrivadoVPN |
90% |
60% | 74% |
PIA |
96% |
65% | 81% |
Proton VPN |
81% |
85% | 75% |
PureVPN | 15% | 36% | N/A |
Surfshark |
65% |
91% | 3% |
Windscribe |
94% |
100% |
93% |
These tests aren’t large or precise enough to generalize from them, and only offer insight that the services will provide some additional protection. I would recommend taking the results with a pinch of salt. These builtin features are never a substitute for a dedicated antivirus/security app, and I would recommend using the best antivirus and a reliable adblocker to further shore up your security.
When we test the ad blocking capabilities, we were testing using only the app, and not any additional browser extensions as these should operate systemwide. However, it is worth noting that using the browser extension for a provider can greatly increase the level of protection it offers, and some providers, such as Surfshark for example, find their ad blocking capabilities are greatly enhanced through the addition of their browser extensions.
VPN speed testing
It’s a welltrodden sales technique for VPN providers to claim they have the fastest speeds—but they clearly can’t all be the fastest. That’s why we test the speeds on offer from all the top VPNs across different global servers and on a variety of protocols.
Below are the speed results for the top VPN services, during our latest tests:
VPN Provider | WireGuard or proprietary | OpenVPN |
---|---|---|
1. Surfshark | over 950 Mbps (maxed out our testing) | 640 Mbps |
2. Mullvad | over 950 Mbps (maxed out our testing) | 410 Mbps |
3. Proton VPN | over 950 Mbps (maxed out our testing) | 400 Mbps |
4. Windscribe | over 950 Mbps (maxed out our testing) | 240 Mbps |
5. PrivadoVPN | over 950 Mbps (maxed out our testing) | 220 Mbps |
6. NordVPN | over 950 Mbps (maxed out our testing) | 110 Mbps |
7. Norton VPN | over 950 Mbps (maxed out our testing) | 240 Mbps |
8. PureVPN | 880 Mbps | 210 Mbps |
9. Atlas VPN | 785 Mbps | N/A |
10. IPVanish | 770 Mbps | 230 Mbps |
11. CyberGhost | 760 Mbps | 360 Mbps |
12. FastestVPN | 730 Mbps | 170 Mbps |
13. AirVPN | 710 Mbps | 300 Mbps |
14. Hide.me | 690 Mbps | 210 Mbps |
15. Hotspot Shield | 600 Mbps | N/A |
16. VyprVPN | 590 Mbps | 145 Mbps |
17. TunnelBear | 480 Mbps | 180 Mbps |
18. ExpressVPN | 410 Mbps | 210 Mbps |
19. StrongVPN | 395 Mbps | 210 Mbps |
20. Astrill VPN | 390 Mbps (unstable speeds) | N/A |
21. Private VPN | 350 Mbps | 125 Mbps |
22. Private Internet Access | 330 Mbps | 270 Mbps |
23. Mozilla VPN | 360 Mbps | N/A |
24. Google One | 345 Mbps | N/A |
25. UltraVPN | 300 Mbps | N/A |
‘s VPN rankings
There are hundreds, if not thousands of VPNs out there, and you’ve likely heard the names of countless services. Check out our rankings below of popular services and see some honorable mentions that can’t currently compete with what’s on offer with our top services.
VPN service | Rating | Summary | Reviews |
---|---|---|---|
1. NordVPN | ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ | The best VPN overall, it’s perfect for streaming, gaming, and even comes with a whole security suite | Check out our NordVPN review |
2. ExpressVPN | ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ | The best VPN for beginners, and great for streaming content | Check out our ExpressVPN review |
3. Surfshark | ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ | The best cheap VPN, and also the fastest in our tests | Check out our Surfshark review |
4. Private Internet Access | ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ | The best Linux VPN with a dedicated GUI for Linux, and a nologs policy that was proven in court twice | Check out our Private Internet Access review |
5. ProtonVPN | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | A popular free VPN service with a history of advocating for the freedom of the internet | Check out our Proton VPN review |
6. PrivadoVPN | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | The best free VPN—it even unblocks Netflix | Check out our PrivadoVPN review |
7. IPVanish | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | An upandcoming provider that supports Linux | Check out our IPVanish review |
8. Windscribe | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | A fast service with a popular browser proxy | Check out our Windscribe VPN review |
9. CyberGhost VPN | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | A popular and easytouse platform that’s great for beginners | Check out our CyberGhost VPN review |
10. Mullvad | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Good for Linux, and you can even pay in cash | Check out our Mullvad review |
11. PureVPN | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | One of the cheapest premium VPNs on the market | Check out our PureVPN review |
12. Hide.Me | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | A speedy service with plenty of customization | Check out our Hide.me review |
13. Atlas VPN | ⭐⭐⭐½ | A new player in the VPN industry that’s already making waves | Check out our Atlas VPN review |
14. TunnelBear | ⭐⭐⭐½ | A reliable free VPN but no support for content unblocking | Check out our TunnelBear review |
15. Mozilla VPN | ⭐⭐⭐½ | A well known brand with a VPN that currently underperforms | Check out our Mozilla VPN review |
16. Hotspot Shield | ⭐⭐⭐½ | A fast VPN service with lots of great features | Check out our Hotspot Shield review |
17. VyprVPN | ⭐⭐⭐½ | A reliable VPN with a dedicated protocol for bypassing even the most severe censorship | Check out our VyprVPN review |
18. Norton VPN | ⭐⭐⭐ | Known for its popular security suite with a lacklustre VPN | Check out our Norton VPN review |
19. PrivateVPN | ⭐⭐½ | An excellent cheap service that offers plenty of support for streaming and torrenting | Check out our PrivateVPN review |
20. AstrillVPN | ⭐⭐½ | A midrange VPN that’s popular for bypassing Chinese censorship | Check out our Astrill VPN review |
21. FastestVPN | ⭐⭐½ | Making its way up the list, but not yet living up to its name | Check out our FastestVPN review |
22. StrongVPN | ⭐⭐ | Another midrange VPN that continues to improve | Check out our StrongVPN review |
23. AirVPN | ⭐⭐ | Built by hacktivists, for hacktivists | Check out our AirVPN review |
24. Goose VPN | ⭐⭐ | An incredibly cheap midrange VPN | Check out our Goose VPN review |
25. TorGuard | ⭐⭐ | A torrentfriendly VPN that’s good for accessing foreign content | Check out our TorGuard review |
26. UltraVPN | ⭐⭐ | Fast and secure with plenty of server locations | Check out our UltraVPN review |
27. Le VPN | ⭐⭐ | Lots of locations to choose from and integrated SmartDNS technology | Check out our Le VPN review |
28. VPNArea | ⭐⭐ | A midrange VPN that struggles to hold up against the industry leaders | Check out our VPNArea review |
29. ZoogVPN | ⭐⭐ | A fairly underwhelming VPN from Greece | Check out our ZoogVPN review |
30. Google One | ⭐⭐ | Google’s history with and general approach to your data doesn’t give us much faith in the service | Check out our Google One VPN review |
How we test VPN services our review methodology
While our experts use the top VPNs every day, we conduct a comprehensive analysis of the top 30 VPN services every 6 months with the help of Mike Williams and Anthony Spadafora. This allows us to keep track of who’s really the best, and for which use cases.
‘s VPN reviews begin at the provider’s website, where we analyze the claims it makes, its privacy policy, its support options, and any other elements of note. We look for any tracking cookies on the site and if/when they activate to see if the service tracks people using the site.
Next, we ask ourselves the following questions: what security tools does the provider offer? Does it promise the world, or is it more realistic? Does the privacy policy clearly say how your data is handled? Are there any catches in the small print? Is the pricing open and honest? Ultimately, we’re considering not just what the provider says it gives you, but what it really gives, and whether you can trust it with your data.
We don’t take a service at face value
There’s more to a VPN than just what its marketing says. Where possible, we try to go behind the curtains and look at what’s really going on and doing our own testing to see whether the apps really work as claimed.
In order to make sure our reviews are as honest and realistic as possible, we make every effort to sign up for the services anonymously, so our results aren’t skewed by the services knowing they’re being tested by us.
After signing up for a plan, we install and test the Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux VPN apps, as these are the most popular platforms. Then, we move on to testing the features within those apps, like the kill switch, checking for data leaks, and generally confirming everything works as advertised.
As we do this, we play around with the different encryption protocols on offer, connect to different servers, throw malware at it, and generally look for any way we can stress test the service. If anything breaks under any of our tests, we report it back to the provider so they can fix the issue, but we make sure to include both the issue and the provider’s response in our results where appropriate.
We test every VPN provider’s speeds at least 120 times across two sessions, and use both a US home connection and a 1 Gbps UK data center to show us a provider’s potential versus the realworld application. We measure using different encryption protocols, speed test websites, and features and use the average of the best session as the provider’s peak speed. In doing so, you get a better understanding of what you can really expect when you use the service, and not just an arbitrary figure of its fastest speed.
A good VPN should be able to unblock multiple streaming services. To check this, we try to access geoexclusive content from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, and BBC iPlayer, repeating the test from three different locations around the world to get an idea of how the service performs in real life.
In our daytoday testing, we take a more focused approach depending on the needs of the specific use cases we’re writing about. Such as how easy it is to set up the VPN, how much attention to detail there is in the design, and whether a beginner can pick it up easily. We carry out constant realworld testing to make sure our analysis is always accurate and relevant.
However, I don’t just trust what I see on the surface of a VPN provider’s website. I’ll take a peek behind the curtains of the software—view the contents of its RAM, even decompile and browse its source code (if I can) just to find out what’s going on under the hood. Ultimately, I want to know whether the service gives you genuine protection or just a false sense of security.
Want to know more about how we test VPNs? We have a much more indepth explanation on our VPN testing methodology page.
Our VPN testing panel
Meet the experts behind our VPN deep dives:
A privacy purist at heart, Andreas is a VPN expert that believes that the best VPN doesn’t have to be the most expensive—it’s about what’s right for you.
Anthony helps us test realworld VPN speeds in the US so we get a more accurate view of what a service is really like to use around the world.
Mike Williams
Mike regularly reviews our top picks, and loves looking behind the curtains to see how a VPN works in the background. If there’s a skeleton in the closet, he’ll find it.
Mo HarberLamond
One of our leading VPN experts, Mo tests VPN services every day to see what providers say they do, and what it’s really like as a daytoday user.
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:
1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).
2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.
We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paidfor is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.