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VPN Comparison 2.0
(lemmy.ml)
After making a post about comparing VPN providers, I received a lot of requested feedback. I've implemented most of the ideas I received.
Providers
- AirVPN
- IVPN
- Mozilla VPN
- Mullvad VPN
- NordVPN
- NymVPN
- Private Internet Access (abbreviated PIA)
- Proton VPN
- Surfshark VPN
- Tor (technically not a VPN)
- Windscribe
Notes
- I'm human. I make mistakes. I made multiple mistakes in my last post, and there may be some here. I've tried my best.
- Pricing is sometimes weird. For example, a 1 year plan for Private Internet Access is 37.19€ first year and then auto-renews annually at 46.73€. By the way, they misspelled "annually". AirVPN has a 3 day pricing plan. For the instances when pricing is weird, I did what I felt was best on a case-by-case basis.
- Tor is not a VPN, but there are multiple apps that allow you to use it like a VPN. They've released an official Tor VPN app for Android, and there is a verified Flatpak called Carburetor which you can use to use Tor like a VPN on secureblue (Linux). It's not unreasonable to add this to the list.
- Some projects use different licenses for different platforms. For example, NordVPN has an open source Linux client. However, to call NordVPN open source would be like calling a meat sandwich vegan because the bread is vegan.
- The age of a VPN isn't a good indicator of how secure it is. There could be a trustworthy VPN that's been around for 10 years but uses insecure, outdated code, and a new VPN that's been around for 10 days but uses up-to-date, modern code.
- Some VPNs, like Surfshark VPN, operate in multiple countries. Legality may vary.
- All of the VPNs claim a "no log" policy, but there's some I trust more than others to actually uphold that.
- Tor is special in the port forwarding category, because it depends on what you're using port forwarding for. In some cases, Tor doesn't need port forwarding.
- Tor technically doesn't have a WireGuard profile, but you could (probably?) create one.
Takeaways
- If you don't mind the speed cost, Tor is a really good option to protect your IP address.
- If you're on a budget, NymVPN, Private Internet Access, and Surfshark VPN are generally the cheapest. If you're paying month-by-month, Mullvad VPN still can't be beat.
- If you want VPNs that go out of their way to collect as little information as possible, IVPN, Mullvad VPN, and NymVPN don't require any personal information to use. And Tor, of course.
ODS file: https://files.catbox.moe/cly0o6.ods
Very much appreciate this work, but I am again gonna ask if there is some way to include I2P, perhaps in its own thing, perhaps segregated by outproxies.
Yep, its super slow compared to basically all VPNs, and is a bit of struggle to set up compared to most VPNs.
But, it is also entirely free, and you can use I2P with outproxies to access the wider internet outside of I2P's... I2P-net... allows port forwarding, works very well for a slow but steady churn of uh, filesharing, etc.
I would also argue I2P is a better way that TOR to protect your IP and your actual net traffic, due to TOR nodes being known to be run as honeypots ...
Its possible an I2P outproxy could also be operated as a honeypot, but as I understand it, ... so long as you are not unlucky enough to just directly route through an outproxy without first bouncing through other I2P users/hosts... you're basically good.
And even in that scenario, its would be very difficult to reverse engineer all the packets and figure out which parts were going to who, as well as the actual contents of those packets.
Agreed, if OP is going to add Tor in a "VPN" list then may as well add I2P. I2P + outproxies are pretty much the same thing as Tor + Tor Exit Relay. It's not the best way to utilize I2P but the option does exist.
Then again neither Tor nor I2P should be in a "VPN" list, the whole thing seems more of a VPN provider topic.