Best VPN Service for 2025: Our Top Pick in a Tight Race

However, ExpressVPN is also one of the most expensive VPNs on the market. The monthly subscription plan costs $13 per month, which is pretty standard across the industry. However, if you go for the yearly subscription, you’ll pay $100 for the first year and $117 annually afterwards. You can also choose the two-year plan, which costs $140 total for the first two years combined, but skyrockets to an astronomical $150 per year after the initial two-year term. 

ExpressVPN’s prices are somewhat in line with NordVPN’s pricing structure, which costs $13 per month, $60 for the first year (then $140 per year) or $83 for the first two years combined (then $140 per year). You can get other top VPNs like Surfshark and Proton VPN for much cheaper -- both of which renew at $80 per year after an introductory $60 for the first year. But ExpressVPN’s current pricing structure is messy and forces customers to pay for extra features even if they don’t want or need them. That said, the company is currently working on cleaning up its pricing structure to be more consumer-friendly and offer more value to budget-conscious users.

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ExpressVPN speeds

We measured an 18% average speed loss in our latest speed tests with ExpressVPN. That’s following initial tests earlier this year where we measured a speed loss of 35% -- slower than what we’d normally expect from a top VPN provider. But recent upgrades made Express the third-fastest VPN we tested. As long as your base internet speeds are fast enough, you’ll have no issues streaming, gaming, torrenting or hopping on video calls while connected to ExpressVPN.

ExpressVPN was able to remedy its recent speed woes with some inventive solutions on both Lightway and OpenVPN protocols on its latest Windows app. With the introduction of Lightway Turbo, ExpressVPN is now able to run your connection through multiple tunnels simultaneously, allowing for more data to be sent at once and significantly boosting speeds. With OpenVPN on Windows, ExpressVPN implemented Data Channel Offload (DCO), which boosts speeds by handling data packets more efficiently. In our testing, speed loss through Lightway went from 40% in January 2025 to 17% in March 2025 and 64% to 18% through OpenVPN over the same period, following ExpressVPN’s speed upgrades. Lightway Turbo will be rolled out soon to other platforms as well, potentially boosting the VPN’s speeds even more.

Privacy and transparency

Few VPN providers do privacy and transparency as well as ExpressVPN does. ExpressVPN’s industry-leading 22 independent audits since 2018 leave other VPN providers in the dust and demonstrate its strong commitment to being as transparent as possible. In addition to being one of the most transparent VPNs, ExpressVPN is a privacy leader that continues to consistently roll out innovative privacy improvements.

ExpressVPN was one of the first VPN providers to implement post-quantum protections, which help protect against potential future threats from quantum computers. And as post-quantum security standards have evolved, ExpressVPN has kept pace with those changes by integrating ML-KEM into the Lightway protocol to beef up its post-quantum protections. ExpressVPN’s Shuffle IP feature is another recent privacy enhancement that works in the background and automatically assigns you a different IP address for each site you visit, making it even more difficult to track you online.

And ExpressVPN still does the basics well: Its kill switch works as advertised and we encountered no leaks whatsoever in our latest round of tests. 

Usability

ExpressVPN is perhaps the easiest VPN to use, thanks to its simple interface and consistent user experience across platforms. There’s practically no learning curve, making ExpressVPN an ideal choice for beginners. You’ll get apps for Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS, Apple TV, Android TV, Fire TV Stick and even a newly released GUI app for Linux. 

If you want an excellent VPN for streaming, ExpressVPN is a solid bet. In our latest tests, we had no issues accessing content from a variety of streaming sites including Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, Max and Amazon Prime Video across all devices we tested. You can connect up to eight devices simultaneously with ExpressVPN, which is fewer than what many other VPNs offer, but should still be enough for most users. ExpressVPN offers a seven-day free trial, followed by a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you have the opportunity to try the service before buying or fully committing.

It’s initially a great value at $13 per month, $60 annually or $83 total for the first two years of service, but aggressive price hikes on the one- and two-year plans drive the renewal up to $140 per year. Thankfully, you can stack subscriptions, meaning you can buy a discounted NordVPN plan at Black Friday and add that to your existing account to avoid an extortionate price hike. But we’d like to see the same transparency that Nord has with its privacy assurances extend to its pricing model.

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NordVPN speeds

In our 2025 speed tests, NordVPN emerged as the uncontested fastest VPN with a 3% average internet download speed loss. We find anything under an average 25% download speed loss perfectly acceptable, so Nord’s blisteringly fast server performance should be virtually unnoticeable. Its proprietary WireGuard-based NordLynx VPN protocol delivered the best performance, with a mere 11% average speed loss on Windows compared to a still-solid 21% speed loss on OpenVPN. On MacOS, both NordLynx and OpenVPN speed test results were faster than my base internet speed, which is extremely uncommon, but can happen in cases where internet providers are limiting bandwidth.

Privacy and transparency

NordVPN ticks all of the privacy basics and then some, providing unique features for privacy-critical users. Although we’d like to see improvements in its privacy policy, and more transparency in its pricing structure, Nord is great for casual users who want to stream Netflix or BBC iPlayer and privacy-critical folks like investigative journalists alike. You’ll find standard options, like NordLynx and OpenVPN protocols, a kill switch and split tunneling. Additionally, Nord packs advanced privacy amenities, like its NordWhisper VPN protocol which masquerades as standard web traffic, Onion Over VPN servers (which rely on Tor to make it even more difficult to trace your traffic back to you) and double VPN servers (which beef up your privacy using a pair of VPN connections).

There’s a strict no-logs policy that undergoes annual audits by a reputable third party. Its RAM-only servers reset after each VPN session, so theoretically, none of your browsing data should be saved to a disk anyway. For future-proofing, NordVPN rolled out post-quantum protection, which may guard against threats from quantum computers -- only a handful of VPN providers, including ExpressVPN, have post-quantum encryption. One of Nord’s most useful, albeit niche, features is Meshnet, which lets you create a virtual local area network and even use a PC as a personal VPN server for accessing your home network from anywhere. Meshnet allows you to securely share files, host remote LAN parties, manage home servers from afar and access Netflix while traveling without triggering two-factor authentication. 

While Nord gets most things right, its privacy policy isn’t quite as reassuring as its main rival, ExpressVPN, especially regarding business transfers. Most folks shouldn’t be worried, but anyone with serious privacy concerns about having their user data transferred in the event of a merger may want to consider a different VPN provider.

Usability 

Whether you’re a VPN beginner, seasoned privacy enthusiast or somewhere in between, NordVPN remains intuitive. It’s easy to perform all essential tasks, like changing servers, switching VPN protocols or enabling different settings such as the kill switch. Visually, Nord’s app is busier compared to ExpressVPN’s minimalist app, but it’s not overwhelming or clunky like the PrivadoVPN and PIA apps. We wish split tunneling on Android were a little more flexible -- you can exclude individual apps from your VPN, but not use a VPN connection for only some apps. Still, that’s a minor quibble about an otherwise polished app. 

Most VPNs charge about $10 to $13 for a monthly subscription, but Surfshark’s $15.45 per month rate makes it one of the most expensive monthly subscription prices in the industry. Pricing for Surfshark’s longer-term plans is much more reasonable. If you choose a yearly plan, you’ll pay $48 for the first year and $79 annually thereafter. The two-year plan costs $60 total for the first two years combined, then $79 annually. Although Surfshark’s renewal prices increased this year, its intro and renewal prices are still significantly cheaper than ExpressVPN’s $100 intro and $117 or $150 renewal prices as well as NordVPN’s $60 intro and $140 renewal prices.

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Surfshark speeds

Surfshark’s overall speed performance has been remarkably consistent and fast over the past few years, with an average speed loss hovering in the high-teens. In our most recent speed tests, we measured an average speed loss of 21%, which is technically slower than previous years, but shouldn’t result in a noticeable difference in practice. Surfshark has a vast network of over 3,200 servers across 100 different countries, which can help ensure fast speeds and stable connections by minimizing congestion and offering more options for more users to connect to servers nearby their physical location.

Privacy and transparency

Surfshark has some really cool privacy features in addition to standard privacy protections like its kill switch, no-logs policy and DNS leak protection. Surfshark’s Dynamic Multihop lets you tunnel through any two server locations for an added layer of privacy and its Rotating IP makes it harder to track you online by switching your IP address every few minutes. We also like Surfshark’s Alternative ID, a suite of unique privacy features that allows you to create an alter-ego complete with full name, physical address, and email address that you can use online without divulging your true identity. An alternative phone number is also available for an extra $3 per month. Surfshark also plans to roll out post-quantum protections this year to protect against potential future threats from quantum computers, a move that follows other top VPNs including ExpressVPN, NordVPN and Mullvad.             

Surfshark still has some catching up to do in terms of transparency, but we’re encouraged by company representatives telling us that a no-logs audit has been commissioned for this year (its first since 2022) and that the company is committing to an annual audit cadence. Additionally, Surfshark has begun publishing a quarterly transparency report, which details the number of legal requests the company receives each quarter and states that Surfshark has no useful information to disclose to authorities, in line with its no-logs policy.

Usability

Surfshark’s apps are slick, simple to use and deliver a consistent user experience across platforms. Apps are available for Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Apple TV, Fire TV and Android TV. If you’re into streaming, Surfshark is a good bet because it does well to unblock content on most platforms and streaming services and offers apps for smart TVs as well as streaming devices. We experienced slow loading times with Netflix on MacOS and Hulu detected the VPN when we tried streaming content on Hulu through Surfshark’s Fire TV Stick app. Otherwise, the streaming experience was solid and what we would expect from a top-tier VPN service. Surfshark is also a great choice if you live in a large household or have lots of connected devices because you’ll be able to connect an unlimited number of devices simultaneously. That’s generous, considering that most VPNs limit the number of simultaneous connections to anywhere from five to 10. And like many other VPNs, Surfshark offers a 30-day money-back guarantee in case you’re not satisfied with the service.     

Despite a few shortcomings with Proton’s free plan -- you can’t manually select a server, and you’re limited to one connection at a time -- it doesn’t sacrifice privacy, sell your data or plaster your screen with ads. By contrast, PrivadoVPN lets you pick a server, but limits you to 10GB of monthly usage, which is barely enough for streaming a 4K movie. Moreover, Privado hasn’t been audited and doesn’t publish transparency reports, so unlike Proton VPN, it’s unsuitable for folks with serious privacy concerns. 

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Proton VPN speeds

Boasting a blazing-fast 16% average internet download speed loss in our 2025 benchmarking, Proton VPN remained snappy even on geographically distant servers. Its performance falls comfortably under our recommended 25% average speed loss maximum, and is slower than the pack-leading NordVPN (3%) but slightly faster than our best overall, ExpressVPN (18%). Regardless of the VPN protocol or server we used, Proton provided usable speeds for bandwidth-demanding activities like streaming ultra-high-definition and high-definition videos or online gaming. 

Privacy and transparency

While Proton is great for casual users who want to stream Netflix or travel the world, its unique, helpful privacy features make it an outstanding choice for anyone with serious privacy concerns, like political activists. 

In addition to the industry-standard WireGuard and OpenVPN VPN protocols, Proton packs its proprietary Stealth protocol, which attempts to slip through firewalls disguised as normal web traffic. Stealth could be helpful in situations where VPNs are frowned upon, such as on school Wi-Fi or when traveling to certain countries. Like most VPN companies, Proton undergoes annual third-party audits, which have verified its no-logging policy. Its privacy policy is also one of the most reader-friendly we’ve ever seen, directly addressing concerns about user data and privacy.

Proton VPN’s discreet app icons let you hide the fact that you’ve got a VPN installed on your phone or tablet, making the Proton VPN app icon instead look like a notes or weather app. Proton's hidden app icons could prove helpful if you’re worried about your device getting seized and searched. For beefed-up privacy, you’ll find Secure Core servers, which use a second VPN connection, and Tor Over VPN servers, which use a VPN in conjunction with The Onion Router. Both Secure Core and Tor Over VPN servers make it even more difficult to trace your web traffic back to its source (your computer). 

Usability 

Whether you’ve never used a VPN before or you’re a privacy buff, Proton VPN is fairly easy to use, although its apps aren’t as streamlined as the minimalist ExpressVPN. In particular, power users should appreciate Proton’s customizable apps with features like connection profiles to specify certain servers or protocols. Although Proton VPN is privacy-forward, it’s not all work and no play. We were impressed with Proton’s excellent streaming chops. It effortlessly unblocked many foreign Netflix libraries, including Netflix Egypt, as well as BBC iPlayer, CBC, Max, Amazon Prime Video and Disney Plus.

We had no issues performing VPN basics with its apps across all platforms -- switching servers, changing VPN protocols and toggling on or off the kill switch. While the kill switch works on Windows, Android and MacOS, a design flaw doesn’t properly inform you that your public IP address may be exposed when switching servers on Mac, even with the kill switch enabled. (An issue that plagues most VPNs on Mac.) Especially considering Proton VPN’s strong focus on privacy and transparency, we were disappointed by its unintuitive MacOS kill switch notification functionality. Nevertheless, Proton VPN is a great choice for power users, especially power users, thanks to its unique privacy features and excellent streaming service unblocking.

Mullvad’s pricing is about as straightforward as it gets: 5 euro (about $6) per month, whether you use it for a month, six months or indefinitely. There are no discounts or recurring subscription plans available and you only need to pay for the months that you need the VPN, which allows for maximum flexibility. That said, you can pay up front for as many months as you need at any time. If you purchase 12 months, it’ll cost you 60 euro upfront, which is cheaper than the yearly rate that many other top VPNs charge. Also, Mullvad is unique in that it requires no personal information to purchase or use, which is part of what makes it the best VPN for privacy. At signup, you’ll be assigned a randomly generated numerical code that you use to purchase the subscription and sign into the apps, eliminating the need for a username or password.

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Mullvad speeds

We measured a 24% speed loss in our latest Mullvad speed tests. While that’s a drop from the 13% speed loss we measured last year, it still makes Mullvad one of the fastest VPNs available. And considering Mullvad’s relatively small network of 650 servers across 49 countries, the VPN’s speed performance is commendable. There are other VPNs that have thousands of servers in over 100 countries that don’t perform nearly as well as Mullvad does in terms of speed. Mullvad’s speed performance is plenty fast enough for data-heavy activities like streaming, torrenting or gaming.

Privacy and transparency

Privacy and transparency are where Mullvad really shines. Everything Mullvad does is based on the company’s uncompromising commitment to protecting user privacy, from its innovative privacy features to its anonymous sign up process, always-on kill switch and lack of recurring subscriptions.

On top of getting the basics right, Mullvad offers some additional privacy features that go above and beyond what many other VPNs deliver. Mullvad was one of the first VPN providers to offer post-quantum protections, a forward-looking privacy feature that helps protect users against potential future threats from quantum computers. And unique to Mullvad is another innovative privacy feature called Defense Against AI-guided Traffic Analysis (DAITA) which helps protect users from having their encrypted web traffic identified using artificial intelligence. The feature does this by sending dummy packets while making each data packet the same size in order to prevent adversaries from leveraging AI to identify the patterns of data packets that users send and receive through the VPN tunnel and match it to actual web traffic.

Mullvad also undergoes regular external audits and its apps are open-source, meaning that its source code is publicly available online for anyone to scrutinize. Additionally, Mullvad is working on a way to make its server infrastructure fully user-auditable at any time and in real time.

Usability

Mullvad’s apps deliver a consistent experience across devices and are extremely simple to use. With Mullvad, you’ll get apps for Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, iOS and Android TV, along with browser extensions and router support (which can help you bypass its restrictive limit of five simultaneous devices). Features are easy to access and work as expected on all platforms we tested, but it would be nice to see wider support from Mullvad for streaming devices. While most top VPNs have native apps for Apple TV and Fire TV Stick, Mullvad doesn’t yet. Also, Mullvad’s streaming capabilities overall are hit or miss: We were able to stream content on sites like Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu in our tests last year, but were denied access to content on all of those sites in our latest tests. In our spring 2025 tests, we were able to access content only on Netflix and Max. Other top VPNs typically offer access to a wide array of streaming services and on a larger selection of dedicated streaming devices. Mullvad has a 14-day money-back guarantee, so you can give it a try before fully committing to see if it’s the right VPN for you.