The 5 Best VPN Services Right Now: Free, premium, and easy to use

Article Summary

A VPN (virtual private network) is the easiest and most effective way to protect your online identity, location, and browsing history. When you connect to a secure VPN server, your internet traffic is routed through an encrypted tunnel that nobody can see into—not the government, your internet service provider (ISP), or even hackers. 

Most VPNs are easy and relatively inexpensive to set up. Here are our top picks:

• ExpressVPN—Best Overall VPN
• Private Internet Access—Best Budget VPN
• SurfShark—Best VPN For Families
• Hotspot Shield—Best Added Value VPN
• TunnelBear—Most User-Friendly VPN

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Best Overall VPN: ExpressVPN

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The tagline for ExpressVPN is “the VPN that just works.” This perfectly summarizes this VPN, and helps explain why it’s our top pick. ExpressVPN supports every device you could think of, including internet routers! Although it’s not cheap at $99/year, it’s a solid VPN that delivers a smooth and reliable connection. 

What we love:

• Smooth connection   
• Very fast  
• Unblocks Netflix, BBC iPlayer, YouTube and Amazon Prime Video   
• 160 locations around the world
• 30-day money-back guarantee 
• Reliable
• Works with streaming on all devices

Best Budget VPN: Private Internet Access (PIA)

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PIA is the best option for consumers interested in saving a few dollars. At ~$3/month or a 2-year plan for ~$83/month, we love that PIA offers a kill switch that will cut your internet connection should your VPN connection flicker or you close your laptop. This means you’ll never be accidentally browsing without the protection of the VPN. 

One of the more notable drawbacks of PIA is that you’ll experience a slight reduction in speed compared to the speed of your home connection. With this in mind, PIA isn’t the best option if you’re looking for killer speeds. It’s not a huge deal, but you definitely get what you pay for.

What we love:

• Budget-friendly
• Kill switch
• Flash blocking, cookie cleaning, camera and microphone protection
• Up to 10 devices simultaneously  
• Secure

Best VPN for Families: Surfshark

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Surfshark’s VPN holds its own when it comes to features like unlimited device connections, speed, and security. We’re most impressed with their unlimited device support— one subscription covers every gadget in your home. If you have a large family, business, or a ton of friends who want to share your VPN network, you can connect everyone to 

Surfshark's VPN. What’s more, they offer 24/7 support and ad blockers. Yee-haw! 

What we love:

• $2/month plans   
• 30-day free trial    
• Unlimited device support   
• Country of jurisdiction: British Virgin Islands

Best Added Value VPN: Hotspot Shield

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Hotspot Shield has changed a lot over the past couple of years, ramping up their security after a few privacy concerns that hit the mainstream media. A subscription to Hotspot Shield will now get you access to 1Password, Identity Guard, and Robo Shield. Given that 1Password costs $35.88 per year on its own, the $95.88 yearly cost of Hotspot Shield is a no-brainer in terms of value.

Hotspot Shield is especially impressive when it comes to speed and streaming. It’s just as fast as ExpressVPN and optimizes HD streaming so you can watch Netflix and Hulu with ease. The quality is perfect, making streaming from another country a cinch.

 What we love:

• $2.99 a month for a 3-year plan 
• 45-day free trial    
• Fast speeds 
• Security suite with 1Password, Identity Guard, and Robo Shield
• Optimized for Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Disney+ and more

Most User-Friendly VPN: TunnelBear 

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Despite its grizzly name, TunnelBear is widely known as the most friendly VPN for casual users. It's also one of our favourite free VPNs available. This neighbourly attitude might come from its polar roots since it was founded and still operates within Canada. That makes TunnelBear a koala-ty choice.

TunnelBear's paid tier balances price and speed and all the features you may want. It’s a great option for the everyday web surfer that wants to protect their data online, and very affordable at $60 per year. Especially given the company’s killer support, fast speeds, and simple-to-use platform.  You just flip the switch to connect and flip it again to disconnect. . . and that's basically it! 

TunnelBear has a clear no logging policy on their website and they don't collect your IP address. Of course, one huge turnoff to users is that TunnelBear doesn’t support streaming, so you won’t be able to stream Netflix or Hulu. 

 What we love:

• Easy to set up  
• Uses AES 256-bit encryption 
• Unlimited data 
• Perform annual security audits and publishes the results
• Clear privacy policy