Pros
- Strong commitment to privacy and transparency
- Forward-thinking security enhancements
- Excellent for streaming
Cons
- DNS leaks detected (but immediately addressed)
- Expensive
- Only eight simultaneous connections
- Apple TV app needs work
ExpressVPN is currently CNET’s pick for the best VPN overall, scoring an 8.8/10 on our VPN rating scale. It’s a veteran VPN provider that consistently demonstrates a strong commitment to privacy and transparency. It’s also excellent for streaming and the easiest VPN app to use on any platform. For the best, you’ll need to pay a premium -- ExpressVPN is one of the most expensive VPN providers currently on the market. The service costs $13 a month, $60 every six months or $100 a year, which is considerably more expensive than the $11 a month or $60 a year that Surfshark charges. NordVPN is more in line with ExpressVPN on price at $13 a month or $100 annually (after a promotional $60 price for the first year).
Although fast enough for most any online activity, ExpressVPN’s speeds aren't quite as fast as some of its competitors, based on our latest speed tests. In 2024, we measured a 24.875% average speed loss with ExpressVPN. This is still fast, considering that many VPNs can slash your internet speeds by 50% or more. We saw substantially better speeds from NordVPN (11% speed loss) and Surfshark (17% speed loss). Still, ExpressVPN’s speeds were largely consistent and aligned with our expectations across protocols and server locations. Overall, we registered the fastest speeds through ExpressVPN’s proprietary Lightway protocol on MacOS (7% speed loss). On the other end of the spectrum, the slowest speeds we measured were through OpenVPN on Windows, at a 48% speed loss. Overall, speeds were generally faster with relatively close server locations like New York and the UK, and slower to distant locations like Australia and Singapore. Either way, ExpressVPN’s speeds were still fast enough for general browsing and data-intensive activities like streaming, gaming and videoconferencing -- especially if you use Lightway.
When we most recently evaluated ExpressVPN for privacy and security, we uncovered an alarming bug in its Windows app that sent our DNS requests to our ISP instead of to ExpressVPN’s dedicated DNS servers when we had the split tunneling feature enabled. This meant that our true IP address, general location and the websites we visited were exposed. We notified ExpressVPN, who immediately disabled split tunneling from its Windows app as a temporary solution while engineers got to work on a permanent fix. We were impressed with the transparency with which the company acknowledged the situation, promptly publishing a and a comprehensive . Shortly thereafter, ExpressVPN was able to roll out a fix to its Windows app that resolved the DNS issue and . During our tests with the updated app, we detected no leaks with or without split tunneling enabled.Â
How we test VPNs
Our hands-on testing and review process is designed to cut through that hype. When we look at each VPN service, we're not just examining them for their technical weaknesses, but we're also scrutinizing their individual performance strengths. We want to know what each service does best. We test each VPN across over 20 factors, and we're continually improving our methodology as we learn more.
We test VPNs for browsing and streaming speed in multiple countries, as well as their connection stability and even the smallest potential privacy leaks. By testing across multiple devices and platforms, we're able to assess which VPNs are best for gaming versus those best for streaming, torrenting or sharing sensitive information. Most importantly, we focus on doing the deep-dive research necessary to vet each VPN's historical credibility and its ownership in a notoriously murky market.Â
The VPNs on this list earn our recommendation for more than just boosting their digital privacy strengths -- they enable easy streaming to overcome geo-blocked media, have torrenting-friendly servers, and are fast enough to support gaming globally. Based on those continued evaluations, you'll see a few bullet points on each entry in our list, highlighting each VPN's strengths and the uses we recommend it for most. Because we strive to keep on top of a fast-changing market, you'll notice that the rank of each VPN service changes as we learn more and retest.Â
CNET speed test data
This table shows the speeds we experienced in our testing. Your speeds will vary depending on factors like your internet service plan and connection type. The percentage of speed lost is intended as a general indicator of how much the VPN slows down your connection -- lower numbers represent a faster overall connection.
| Provider | Avg. VPN speed (Mbps) | Avg. non-VPN speed (Mbps) | Speed loss |
|---|---|---|---|
| ExpressVPN | 173 | 231 | 25% |
| Surfshark | 153 | 193 | 17% |
| NordVPN | 206 | 230 | 11% |
| Proton VPN | 175.54 | 273.57 | 36% |
| IPVanish | 250 | 342.25 | 26% |
How to choose the right VPN for you
Picking a VPN requires knowing two basic things to start with: What you want to use it for, and what you're willing to pay. The range of VPN offerings is vast, but those two things will help you find a VPN that has the right blend of speed, security and cost.Â
Below, you'll find specific FAQ sections on picking a VPN based on the most common needs: gaming, streaming media, working from home and privacy-critical professions. In general, you'll want a VPN that provides sufficient encryption, doesn't log your activity, offers essential security features like DNS leak protection and a kill switch, has server locations where you need them and can give you fast connection speeds. Our top five VPNs have all these features, although connection speeds will vary based on your internet provider and the server you connect to.
For a deeper dive, check our detailed walk-through of how we evaluate and review VPNs. If you're looking for some quick pointers, here are universally applicable advice guides for beginners:
Additional VPN factors to consider
Don't use free VPN providers: Except for Proton, you'll find only paid VPN options on this list above because they're the only ones we can recommend.
Look for a no-logs VPN, but understand the caveats: The best VPNs keep as few logs as possible and make them as anonymous as possible, so there's little data to provide should authorities come knocking. Even "no-logs" VPNs aren't 100% anonymous.
There are limits to the privacy VPNs currently provide to iOS users: Recent independent research has surfaced suggesting iPhones and iPads running iOS 14 or later may be vulnerable to device-only VPN leaks, regardless of which VPN is used. Apple users concerned with potential leaks can take extra precautions by installing their VPN on a home router to ensure their entire Wi-Fi network is encrypted. Some iOS users may potentially reduce the likelihood of leaks while outside of a home network by enabling their VPN's kill switch and selecting OpenVPN protocols. You can also try closing all apps, activating your VPN and then enabling and disabling Airplane Mode before using your device normally. Apple advises users to activate their device's Always On VPN profile for additional protection.Â
VPN transparency is important, but warrant canaries are only the beginning: Many services use "warrant canaries" to passively note to the public whether or not they've been subpoenaed by a government entity. This is because many investigations from national security agencies can't be actively disclosed by law. Like the no-logging issue -- warrant canaries aren't always as straightforward as they seem. You should spend more time investigating whether your prospective VPN has cooperated with authorities in the past, and how and when it's disclosed that fact.
Think twice about using a US-based VPN: The Patriot Act is still the law of the land in the US, and that means US-based VPNs have little recourse if and when the feds show up with subpoenas or national security letters in hand demanding access to servers, VPN user accounts or other data. Yes, they may have little data to access if the service has a strong no-logs policy, but why not just choose a service that's based outside Uncle Sam's jurisdiction? (If this is a concern for you, you'll also want to avoid countries with which the US has intelligence-sharing agreements.)
VPN FAQs
In today's hyper-connected world, online privacy and security are increasingly critical. From online banking to communicating remotely with colleagues, we're transferring more data on our computers and smartphones than ever before. Much of that data is confidential information that we need to keep safe from hackers and snoops, so VPN use is on the rise as people take steps to secure their digital lives.
