Best VPN service 2025

You've likely heard of NordVPN before, and for a good reason, as it is easily one of the biggest names in the VPN arena. During our testing, this was the fastest VPN service of the bunch, which is good news for anybody who's dealing with slow internet connections. It might be that your internet service provider (ISP) is consciously limiting your bandwidth, and Nord is particularly good at circumventing that.

While other VPNs have connections to fairly dubious organisations or governments, NordVPN has a relatively clean track record, and with the NordLynx encryption protocol in place, your private data is protected instantaneously. You've also got all the other standard privacy features, like a kill switch that severs your connection so there's no leakage if your VPN goes out.

We've seen the service grow and expand over the years, too, which is a solid indication that a subscription is a good investment. Just a couple of years ago, it had connection points in just over 60 countries, but now it spans over 125. Meanwhile, where it once gave just a small handful of simultaneous connections, it now gives ten, which should be more than enough for most individuals and quite a lot of households. It's fast, it's robust, and it's secure.

Read our NordVPN review or get it now.

With servers in 105 countries around the world, compatibility with most major streaming platforms, superb download speeds, and countless other benefits, ExpressVPN is another brilliant VPN with a reputation that almost matches Nord's. It's a simple plug-and-play VPN that has servers for a range of activities.

It's great for gamers trying to find better lobbies, it's great for movie fans who want to access the libraries of their favorite streaming platforms while abroad, and it's excellent for keeping all of your internet activity private and discreet. It recently expanded its allowance on simultaneous connections too, upping it from five to eight, and allowing you to install it on as many devices as you like.

Another neat feature is the TrustedServer system, which prevents any of it servers from being able to record any information about you or what you're doing while the VPN is on. This is pretty cool, though it's not as privacy-friendly as some other providers, as the business was involved in a major data leak in 2024 - and the following year, a whole bunch of people were made redundant. We've yet to see whether this will affect the quality of the service, but it's worth being conscious of.

Read our ExpressVPN review or get it now.

These days, it's not so unusual for a VPN provider to offer an unlimited number of simultaneous connections, but Surfshark has been doing it for years, and we respect it for that. In addition to being a trendsetter, it's also a very decent VPN and one that has continuously expanded the range of its services over the years. It's a fantastic choice for anyone with a smaller budget.

It is compatible with a number of streaming services, including Amazon Prime and Netflix. If you're an ardent streamer, this lets you access regionally exclusive content from 100 different countries, meaning plenty of content to binge on. With speeds of 2x10Gbps per server, you won't have them moaning about buffering either.

If you want to take Surfshark for a spin, then you'll be pleased to hear that it has a week-long free trial, which should give you plenty of time to make sure that it does everything you need it to. The only thing that we can say against it is that, though technically a no-logs VPN, it does record your IP address when you use it. This is deleted very soon after you're done and not a huge issue, but something for privacy purists to be conscious of.

Read our Surfshark review or get it now.

Fans of streaming services know the pain of region-locked content - thank goodness CyberGhost gives you a way to get around that. With more than 11,500 servers in over 100 countries, you can potentially gain access to a lot of film and movie content that would otherwise not be available.

CyberGhost is compatible with all the major streaming platforms, including Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, and Netflix, so you shouldn't have any trouble accessing these services when your VPN is switched on. On top of that, it has a 45-day money-back guarantee, so if there's one show you really want to watch and that's it, you could watch it within those 45 days and then get your money back.

This is also one of the few major VPN providers that let you test it out with a free trial. Admittedly, it only lasts for a day (and the other providers with a trial give you longer), but that's still an opportunity to take CyberGhost for a spin and make sure it does what you need it to. Now that it has started to undergo third-party audits to prove its integrity, it's a more appealing choice than ever before.

Read our CyberGhost review or get it now.

While every VPN on this list is a trusted and respected business, we picked out PureVPN as the most trusted for one key reason: privacy audits. While every provider here has a no-logs policy, PureVPN goes a step further by willingly submitting themselves to third-party audits so that it can be conclusively proven that they aren't making tabs on their customers. For the more privacy-conscious internet user, this will be particularly appealing.

Additionally, these audits help to ensure that the business stays up to date with threats to privacy in the ever-evolving internet landscape. If and when the auditors identify any areas in which the service could be any more privacy-focused, they then make any appropriate changes to rectify the issues.

Annoyingly, there isn't a free trial for this VPN (only a paid one) so you'll just have to rely on the 31-day money-back guarantee if you want to try it out (which we appreciate won't be for everyone). On the other hand, though, PureVPN lets you have up to ten simultaneous connections (enough for most households), which, short of having no cap at all, is one of the most generous allowances you'll find.

Get PureVPN now.

If you're on a tight budget, but don't want to go for a free VPN, then Private Internet Access might be a good choice. We've partnered with them in order to provide PCGN readers with an exclusive deal: for $79 (£43.94), you get 38 months' worth of VPN cover, which works out as just $2.03 (£1.57) a month, and then you don't need to worry about internet privacy again for over three years.

You can also enjoy the added security of a kill switch, and a no-logs policy, plus built-in ad-blocking functionality. The only real downside is that its download speeds aren't quite up to the level of the speedier providers on this list. The service got even better recently too, with the removal on the cap on simultaneous connections, meaning your whole household, no matter how big, can have it on on all their devices at the same time.

The VPN service itself is pretty great too. Private Internet Access has an enormous selection of 35,000+ servers in 91 countries and it's compatible with all the major streaming platforms. Although the range of countries is rivaled or surpassed by other providers, its sheer number of servers puts it quite far ahead of any other providers when the overall total is considered.

Get Private Internet Access now.

There are loads of free VPNs out there, but you have to be careful because a lot of them are kind of dodgy. They may not charge a subscription fee, but instead they make money from you by harvesting all your data from when the VPN is on and selling it off to the highest bidder… kind of negating the whole idea of having a VPN in the first place.

Proton VPN is one of the free VPNs that you can actually trust. While it may not be quite as fast as the premium services, it stands out because its free plan doesn't have any kind of data or time cap. You can essentially use it for free for as long as you like.

So why would you ever pay? Well, for instance, you can't actually choose which region servers you're going to connect through on this plan. Meanwhile, there is no guarantee that any of them will be compatible with any streaming services, whereas Proton actively takes care to ensure that the premium servers can connect to them. Still, if privacy is your primary concern and you don't want to shell out for any of the premium plans, this is a great free option.