Which VPN to choose?

This is a text automatically translated from Italian. If you appreciate our work and if you like reading it in your language, consider a donation to allow us to continue doing it and improving it.

VPNs are one of the most recurring topics within our Telegram and Matrix groups. Which VPN to choose it's a doubt that inevitably creeps into the heads of those who start to think a little more about their online privacy.

In the past we have already covered the VPN topic with the article: Do I need a VPN to avoid being tracked? The short answer is no. Let's try to quickly summarize: a commercial VPN mainly hides your real IP address and hides your traffic from your provider (Fastweb, Vodafone etc) but you will pass it on to the VPN provider you are connected to. So, as you can imagine, trust is literally key.

Which VPN to choose? It's first important to understand if you really need a VPN

Another reason to use a VPN is an encrypted connection. However, nowadays it is really rare to encounter sites without HTTPS, especially if we are talking about sites that require personal data and all the Browsers recommended by us they automatically upgrade HTTP connections to HTTPS connections When possible.

However, using a VPN can be useful if you use public Wi-Fi, especially if left, recklessly, without password.

Using a VPN is therefore an important choice but above all it is a very personal choice and it all depends on what yours is Threat Model, i.e. what potential threats you are trying to defend yourself from.

If, for example, you just want to stay away from advertising profiling a VPN is of absolutely no use to you. It won't even protect you from attempts to geolocation ¹ nor from Fingerprinting ².

Our parameters

That said, if you think a VPN is necessary for you, we believe it's important to choose the right one. We have used some parameters that are important in our opinion:

• the VPN must have received independent security audits that can somehow certify that it is safe and that it does not really keep logs of who you are and which sites you visit. In short, it really is useless that the company says so if it does not have it certified by third-party and independent bodies;

• alternatively, the chosen provider is managed by activists who do not live off advertising and who have no reason to sell your data to third parties or to hand it over to someone without making it public. Be careful, in this case the trust must be greater because there are no certificates that certify that no logs are kept but we trust the word of those who manage it;

• applications must be Open source or they must allow you to connect through OpenVPN or WireGuard.

CyberGhost, Private Internet Access, Zenmate, ExpressVPN are all part of one big family

One of the reasons why some very popular VPNs have been excluded, for example, is that they are part of one large company: the Kape Technologies ³. Among its properties we find: ExpressVPN, Private Internet Access, Zenmate, CyberGhost and it also owns several online sites that coincidentally review and recommend VPNs ^{4 5} (guess which ones?).

Another reason is that many VPN companies do heavy marketing with unethical and not entirely correct methods. Furthermore, some say that many VPN affiliate links pose a privacy concern for users who sign up through these referrals ⁶.

For these reasons, therefore, some VPNs that could potentially be included as NordVPN or ExpressVPN have been excluded in favor of independent and transparent companies. But be careful: as far as we know, these VPNs have no real security issues, but we don't agree with their methods. For this reason we will only mention them at the end, giving them less weight, trying, as always, to be as objective as possible.

You can finally see in this handy map all the connections between the various VPNs to discover that the independent ones can really be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Which VPN to choose?

Finally, here are our choices!

Proton VPN

Open source
free version with limitations
the paid version starts from €4.99 per month
you can pay with Bitcoin
security audits
.onion address available

If you need a free option, as we've said in the past, Proton VPN is the best alternative in our opinion (why not use free VPNs?). It is a serious company that actively fights against censorship ⁷, dictatorships ⁸ and discrimination ⁹ Of every kind. It is a serious company that has never had any security problems and the few criticisms received in the past are mostly speculation ¹⁰.

They have thousands of servers in over 60 countries. Their VPN offers multiple protections including email blocking tracers, support for streaming platforms (Disney+, Prime Video, Netflix), support for P2P/BitTorrent and also allows you to direct your traffic to the Tor network ¹¹.

In addition to the free (limited) version, Proton no longer offers the purchase of just the VPN but in the paid version you will have the whole package: Mail, VPN, Calendar and Drive. A good opportunity to try their services, although we advise against keeping all your eggs in one basket and always differentiating.

• download for iOS

Mullvad VPN

Open source
you can pay with cryptocurrencies
Monero cryptocurrency accepted
totally anonymous purchases
€5 per month
security audits
.onion address available

Excellent VPN service that has stood out over time for its security and reliability. They were also chosen by Mozilla for their Mozilla VPN.

It is a Swedish company that has passed security audits ¹² and has never had any kind of problem. They also recently vowed to never sell their company to anyone ¹³. They have around a thousand servers located in almost 40 countries and do not offer any free version of their VPN.

• download for iOS

IVPN

Open source
you can pay with cryptocurrencies
Monero cryptocurrency accepted
from 2$ per week, 6$ per month or 60$ per year
security audits

Another excellent safe and reliable VPN is that of IVPN. Theirs is a serious company based in Gibraltar, they have received security audits ¹⁴ which certify the fact that they really do not keep any logs of their users and connections. She is perhaps less famous than the previous ones but has never had scandals or problems of any kind. If you have any doubts about which VPN to choose this can definitely be a good option.

• download for desktop

Mozilla VPN

Open source
from 4,99$ per month
security audits

As previously mentioned, Mozilla's VPN uses Mullvad servers ¹⁵ therefore speed and stability will be compatible with those of Mullvad. What can make the difference is their application which offers some interesting features ¹⁶. And then it's Mozilla, so if you want to help a sacred monster of free software become independent from Google, using their VPN can certainly be an idea.

Their VPN is secure and passed independent audits in 2021 ¹⁷. The only real flaw in our opinion is the exaggerated monthly price: in fact it costs €4.99 per month only if you create an annual plan. If you want a monthly plan it will cost you €9.99 (Mullvad on the other hand always costs €5 per month, without annual plans).

Safing Privacy Network (SPN)

Open source
from €9.90 per month or €99 per year
security audits

It's not a VPN and it's not even Tor. It is, precisely, SPN. It is a new technology brought forward by Safing to replace the commercial VPNs we are used to. The system is still in its infancy, it was released in 2022, but it promises very well. Its strengths can be summarized in: each connection is separate and comes out with a different IP (each website will see you with a different IP) and it is possible to reach up to 3 different jump on different servers before arriving at your destination. Here, here And here some graphics demonstrating how it works. Some servers are managed by Safing but there are also community nodes which can be used to make the most of all the potential.

On desktop it works very well and is integrated into Portmaster, on Android it is still in beta but usable. It goes installed via F-Droid and be careful to install version 0.1.* manually because otherwise F-Droid it will install version 0.0.12 which is way behind.

A dedicated article of ours will come later.

VPNs run by activists

The VPNs mentioned so far are all commercial. The ones we will now talk about are managed by independent collectives that are financed exclusively through donations.

RiseupVPN

Open source
free (they live on donations)
independent collective
anonymous use (no registration required)
it is not available for iOS
.onion address available

Riseup is one of the most famous and historic independent collectives old of the web. They offer a free email service and also a VPN service. Their VPN has never been independently audited, yet they say they don't track you ¹⁸. Use is anonymous as you will not be asked for a username or email address. You just have to download the VPN and activate it.

• download for desktop

Calyx VPN

Open source
free (they live on donations)
independent collective
anonymous use (no registration required)
it is not available for iOS

Another pillar of online privacy is the Calyx Institute. Mainly famous for their de-googled version of Android called CalyxOS and available mainly for Google Pixels, they also develop and offer a totally free VPN that you can use freely. Theirs, like that of Riseup, has never received an audit but it is really difficult to have doubts about their work.

• download for desktop

Other less recommended VPNs

As mentioned above, there are also other VPNs that exceed all these parameters but which we cannot fully recommend. Mainly for ethical reasons but also due to a lack of trust in their actions based on the companies they belong to or some things done in the past. If you really don't know which VPN to choose and all the ones we have suggested don't convince you, try taking a look at these too:

• NordVPN, is probably the best known of all. It has received several security audits which also certify their no-logs policy ¹⁹. Their applications are not Open source however you can download the configuration files and use OpenVPN. In 2019 they suffered an attack and, equally seriously, they lied about what happened ²⁰. Perhaps this is the only site where you don't find any offers or affiliate links for NordVPN 😁

• Surfshark, this is also a commercial VPN that recently joined NordVPN. There is no free version, it has received independent audits ²¹ and can be used with OpenVPN.

• ExpressVPN, as mentioned before, is part of the large house of Kape Technologies. Passed security audits ²² and its applications are not Open source but it allows you to use configurations for OpenVPN (even if they themselves advise against doing so 🤦‍♂️)

• IPVanish, another commercial VPN provider that does not keep logs, also proven by independent audits ²³. Their applications are not Open source but you can download the configuration to use OpenVPN.

1. LocateJS[↩]
2. Vytal Extension Scan[↩]
3. ExpressVPN bought for $1bn by Brit biz with an intriguing history in adware[↩]
4. Kape Technologies (Formerly Crossrider) Now Owns ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, Private Internet Access, Zenmate, and a Collection of VPN “Review” Websites – Archive link[↩]
5. These VPN “Review” Websites are Actually Owned by VPNs – Archive link[↩]
6. Who owns your data? A VPN Relationship Map[↩]
7. Proton CEO Is Shutting Down India VPN Servers to Protest Cybersecurity Rules[↩]
8. Does Proton VPN work in China?[↩]
9. Hong Kong civil rights organizations we're supporting[↩]
10. ProtonMail and the activist[↩]
11. Proton VPN[↩]
12. VPN server audit found no information leakage or logging of customer data[↩]
13. The ownership and future of Mullvad VPN[↩]
14. IVPN Privacy & No-Log Audit Report 03.2019[↩]
15. Mozilla subscription services | Terms of Service[↩]
16. Double encryption of your data via Multi-Hop to increase security when using Mozilla VPN[↩]
17. Mozilla VPN Security Audit[↩]
18. Riseup does not log your IP address[↩]
19. NordVPN's no-logs policy aces test second time in a row[↩]
20. NordVPN Breach FAQ – What Happened and What's At Stake?[↩]
21. Surfshark server infrastructure undergoes an independent audit[↩]
22. Express VPN, new security audit published[↩]
23. IPVanish “no-logs” VPN certified through an independent audit[↩]

Join communities