The best VPN services for 2024, tested and reviewed

Here's who to trust with your privacy (and money).

By Haley Henschel

July 25, 2024

The best VPN services for 2024, tested and reviewed

Credit: NordVPN

NordVPN

Best For Security

You can't go wrong with Nord. It's a well-known and reliable VPN that has over 5,000 servers worldwide and doesn't track your activity.

Pros & Cons

CyberGhost VPN

Best For Simplicity

CyberGhost makes staying protected on your Android device easy.

Pros & Cons

Tunnelbear

Best For Beginners

This VPN offers a simple and fun user-interface that'll show your connection through cute animations.

Pros & Cons

Don't let it go to your head, but everybody wants you — more specifically, your browsing data. Personal information about the links you click on and the sites you visit is highly valuable to third parties, including your internet service provider (ISP) and Google, who may want to share or monetize it. Certain government and law enforcement agencies are also eager to peek at your activity online for their own surveillance purposes, as horny Texans learned earlier this year.

One way to reclaim some of your digital privacy is by getting a virtual private network, or VPN, a service that creates an encrypted connection between your device and one of the VPN provider's private, remote servers before spitting it out onto the open web. In plain English, that means you can browse the internet without being tracked.

Why do you need a VPN?

Even the best VPNs can't make you totally anonymous on the web — the providers themselves can still see what you're doing while you're using their servers. But they can secure your data and hide your true IP address from prying eyes on the outside. Likewise, a "no-log VPN" promises not to collect or log any information about your activity. (To ensure your data stays safe, we follow a lengthy testing protocol before recommending a VPN.)

While not its primary purpose, a VPN's ability to conceal your real IP address also makes it useful for spoofing your location. This will allow you to bypass geo-restrictions on content that's not available in your country or region. If you're someone in the U.S. who wants access to a streaming service like BBC iPlayer or ITVX, for example, a VPN can make it happen.

What is the No. 1 best VPN?

Deciding which VPN to trust with your privacy and your money can be tough, especially if you're not familiar with the technology, which is why we're testing and re-testing a slew of popular VPN services. As of mid-2024, we believe TunnelBear is the best free VPN we've tried so far and NordVPN is the best premium VPN we've used. Read on to learn more about them (and a couple of alternatives).

Note: Prices for most VPN providers' long-term plans change frequently. The rates below were accurate at the time of publication.

NordVPN

Best For Security

The good

One of the sturdiest, most reliable VPNs Fast servers Can connect six devices Doesn't log activities

The Bad

It's expensive

The Bottomline

If you want a VPN that has a fast service and allows you to connect to multiple phones at once, try out NordVPN.

Specs

Monthly: £10.39/month
One-year plan: £3.99/month
Two-year plan: £3.19/month

Read our full review of NordVPN.

NordVPN has a reputation for being amongst the sturdiest, most reliable VPNs out there. NordVPN has fast servers that are also not on any blacklists. You should be able to stream Hulu or Netlfix shows in several European countries without any issues.

NordVPN says it offers over 5,000 servers worldwide. It lets you connect six devices at the same time, and it claims to keep no logs of your activities. INordVPN is one of the most secure VPNs, with a wide range of advanced security features that combine to protect your data and identity.

CyberGhost VPN

Best For Simplicity

The good

Great security features Easy to use with Android Generous money-back guarantee

The Bad

Speeds can drop

The Bottomline

CyberGhost VPN keeps things real simple, and focuses on strong security features.

Specs

Monthly: £10.89/month
Six-month plan: £6.19/month
Two-year plan: £1.92/month

Read our full review of CyberGhost VPN.

Cyberghost VPN has a really simple interface with easy-to-understand terminology explaining all of its features. It keeps things easy and focuses on strong security features. It’s very fast to set up and has intuitive apps for a variety of popular devices.

CyberGhost might be easy to use but that doesn't mean it's not on par with other options on this list. Users have access to 3,600 servers in over 60 locations around the world, with unlimited bandwidth and traffic. This makes for reliable streaming, but some users have said connections can be slower than with other VPN offerings.

Tunnelbear

Best For Beginners

The good

Simple Fun animation Friendly user-interface

The Bad

Only get 500MB for free

The Bottomline

TunnelBear makes using a VPN less intimidating through its animated user-interface.

Specs

Monthly: £7.78/month
One-year plan: £3.89/month
Three-year plan: £2.59/month

Read our full review of TunnelBear.

TunnelBear's main selling point is simplicity and ease of use, and it delivers. After downloading the app, all you need to do is create an account (only your email address and password is needed), confirm the registration via email, and you're good to go. The animation of a bear actually tunneling from one place to another is pretty great, too.

The app is free, but it only gets you a monthly 500MB, which will be enough for a little bit of work but definitely won't do for video streaming. If you want more, you can get a paid account with unlimited data.

Topics: Tech, VPN (Virtual Private Networks), ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Tunnelbear, CyberGhost VPN