How I learned the difference between a good VPN and a bad VPN
With new VPNs popping up all the time, there are dozens of VPNs to choose from. But how do you know which one to choose? Before trusting a VPN to provide online privacy and security, you should consider the following.
Data Policy
How private is a virtual private network if the VPN provider collects all your information and sells it to the highest bidder? More often than not, free or low-cost VPNs track your online activity to build a profile of you before selling the collected data to advertisers or data brokers.
The type of data collected usually falls into three groups:
- Activity logs: Your online activity, such as the websites you visit and the files you download
- Connection protocols: The frequency at which you connect, popular connection times and servers you connect to
- Aggregated logs: Amount of data transferred, VPN connection time and other metadata
The difference between a good VPN and a bad VPN is simple. A good VPN has a zero-log policy, which means it doesn’t collect any of your data. Anonymized policies mean that data is collected, but is encrypted or anonymized, making it incredibly difficult to read or identify who the data belongs to. Most VPNs have a no-logging policy; however, be aware of free or cheap VPNs as they most likely collect and sell data for profit.
Connection speed
It’s natural to experience a slight drop in speed when using a VPN. After all, VPNs work by encrypting your data and connecting to one or more servers before connecting to your final destination. While this process takes a long time, some VPNs take longer than others. Things like encryption type, routing, VPN server location, and the number of people using the VPN you’re connecting to can affect connection time.
According to Security.org’s 2024 test, these are the three fastest VPNs on the market:
|
VPN |
Average download speed (Mbps) |
Average upload speed (Mbps) |
Average Ping (ms) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
PureVPN |
90.85 |
90.63 |
86.1 |
|
IPVanish |
90.78 |
89.93 |
78.8 |
|
NordVPN |
89.11 |
90.72 |
78.3 |
Number of servers and server location
If a VPN provider only has a few servers to connect to, it’s likely that those servers may have slower connection speeds at certain times of the day. When there are many users and everyone wants to connect, it is likely that these servers will be overwhelmed and the speed will decrease. A good VPN will offer a variety of servers to choose from.
Second, you want the servers to be located in different geographic areas. Most importantly, you want to be able to connect to a server near you. Connecting to a nearby server is one of the best ways to ensure that your connection speed is not compromised. Offering VPN servers around the world also allows users to access geo-restricted content and provides an extra level of privacy should someone try to reveal your identity.
Detectability
If a website receives a large number of visitors from a single IP address, it will quickly detect that it is a VPN. As a result, they may block it, especially if the site provides geo-restricted content.
A good VPN provider will have thousands of servers to choose from and will use obfuscation technology to disguise VPN traffic as normal web traffic.
Device compatibility and ease of use
A good VPN has apps on multiple devices. It should work on your computer, phone, tablet, streaming devices, and any device you want to connect to. It should also work on Windows and Mac operating systems. Generally speaking, if you’re paying for a VPN, it should be supported on a variety of devices and operating systems.
Another point to remember is how many simultaneous connections your VPN allows. Maybe you have multiple devices that you use it on, or you share it between friends or family. One of my favorite VPNs, NordVPN, allows you to connect to ten devices simultaneously.
It should also be easy to use. Most free and paid VPNs are incredibly easy to set up. You download an app or website extension, log in, pay, and boom, you’re in. However, this all changes when you sign up for certain free VPNs, such as OpenVPN or VPNBook, which require more knowledge about VPNs. configuration files and so on. Still, most VPNs are incredibly easy to use out of the box.
Cancellation Policy
There may come a day when you want to cancel your VPN subscription. When the time comes, you want to be able to cancel said subscription quickly and easily. As you well know, not all service subscriptions can be canceled easily. Fortunately, this may be easier after the FTC implemented a new “Click to Cancel” rule. That being said, some companies implement this rule faster than others.