Best VPN Service of 2020 – Choose The Best VPN for Your Needs
Choosing the best VPN service can be overwhelming, especially with over 300+ VPN providers (both free and paid) available. Each provider claims to be the best, and navigating through these options can be tricky. Plus, if you search online for the best VPN, you’re likely to come across numerous biased reviews.
Many top-ranked VPN review sites prioritize VPNs that generate the most revenue for them, rather than ranking them based on actual performance or testing. This creates a misleading landscape for users like you, who are genuinely looking for the best VPN service.
How Do You Choose the Best VPN?
At BestVPNGuru, we aim to make the process much easier for you. Unlike most affiliate and review sites, we use a proper testing framework to ensure the VPN services we recommend are based on actual performance, not revenue.
Out of 300+ available VPNs, we tested 50 top providers based on strict criteria such as:
- Jurisdictions
- Logging Policies
- VPN Leaks
- Transparency
- Server Performance
- Compatibility
- Obfuscation
- Ability to Unblock Netflix & P2P Support
NordVPN: The Best Versatile VPN Service ($3.49/month)
One standout from our tests is NordVPN, which excelled in every category. Here’s why we think it’s the best:
Features:
- Blazing-fast servers (5,750+ servers in 60 countries)
- Unblocks Netflix from anywhere
- Supports P2P/Torrenting
- No-logs policy (including no IP, traffic, or connection logs)
- User-friendly VPN apps across all platforms
- Zero IP/DNS leaks
- Double encryption for enhanced security
Drawbacks:
- No discounts on monthly plans; however, long-term plans offer significant savings.
NordVPN is based in Panama, which means it’s located outside the surveillance jurisdictions of countries in the 5, 9, and 14 Eyes Alliances—making it a safe choice for privacy-conscious users.
In terms of server count, it offers over 5,750 servers across 60 countries, the highest number among all VPN providers. Plus, its servers are blazing fast and support double encryption to ensure your connection is highly secure.
We also tested NordVPN’s ability to unblock Netflix. Out of 10 US servers, 8 successfully unblocked American Netflix on both 100 Mbps and 30 Mbps connections. This makes NordVPN a reliable option for streaming.
You can connect up to 6 devices simultaneously across platforms, including Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and even routers. While NordVPN’s monthly plan costs $11.95, you can take advantage of long-term discounts, bringing the price down to $2.99 per month. Plus, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee—though we’re confident you’ll love the service and won’t need it.
For more details, check out our in-depth NordVPN review, or visit their official website.
Pro Tip: Make sure to explore our guide on What is a VPN and How it Works for a deeper understanding of VPNs and their benefits.
And don’t miss out on our Black Friday VPN deals, where you can save up to 83% on top services!
Surfshark – Best “Pocket Friendly” VPN ($1.99 Monthly)
Features
- Unlimited Simultaneous Connections
- Uncompromising No Log Policy
- P2P/Torrenting allowed
- Unblock Netflix from anywhere
- Offers Ultimate Security
- Offers Multihop & Adblocker add-ons
Drawbacks
- Limited servers
- Standard speed
Found in land of BVI (British Virgin Islands), Surfshark falls in privacy friendly jurisdiction, offers 800+ servers in 51 countries with strong protocol and encryption features: AES-256-GCM across OpenVPN and IKEv2/IPSec.
Similar to NordVPN, we tested Surfshark’s servers to unblock US Netflix from anywhere. All of the tested servers succeeded in unblocking Netflix at average speed.
Surfsharks apps on different OS are packed with all the security features such “Kill Switch” to protect your actual IP from leaking and Multihop is also there.
We see Surfshark as one of the few top VPN service that offers unlimited simultaneous connections. It means there is no certain limit to use one account only with few devices.
In short, you can use only one Surfshark account with unlimited devices simultaneously.
The VPN apps Surfshark are lightweight and super handy to use and P2P/Torrenting are allowed too.
Even Surfshark is most budget friendly VPN among all the top providers, it is available on every popular device these days.
You can use this best cheap VPN service on Windows, MacOS, iOS, iPadOS, Linux and Android.
Moreover, we tested Surfshark on five different leaks test and we failed to find any leaks at all.
Another unique Surfshark feature worth mention here is its “Camouflage Mode”.
When you switch on Camouflage mode, it makes your usage of a VPN so anonymous that even your ISP couldn’t figure out whether you are using VPN or not.
At last, what’s the price you are going to pay to use this best pocket friendly VPN? Well Surfshark’s two year plan is the cheapest we have found.
Furthermore, one more thing we want to clear here not a single VPN service is 100% flawless. While testing Surfshark’s servers, we experienced slight fluctuation in speeds.
For in-depth review see our Surfshark review 2020 or you can also visit provide official site.
ExpressVPN – Best for Unblocking Streaming Services ($6.67 Monthly)
Features
- Apps available for all devices
- Fastest Servers (very minimal speed loss)
- Multiple server support to Unblock US Netflix from anywhere
- Zero IP/DNS leaks found
- P2P and Torrenting allowed
- Uncompromising No Logs Policy
- Very handy to use
Drawbacks
- Expensive as compare to other top VPN providers
Founded in 2009, ExpressVPN is another best VPN service to choose, especially for unblocking Netflix from anywhere.
A single account gives you access to over 3000+ fastest servers in 94 countries and 160 different locations.
This fastest VPN to unblock US Netflix offers multiple protocols including OpenVPN, IPSec and IKEv2 with the strongest encryption standards (AES-256), compatible with all the available devices.
Jurisdiction is also privacy friendly since it is based in BVI (British Virgin Islands). We run ExpressVPN on five different leak tests and couldn’t find any WebRTC, DNS or IP leaks.
Moreover, plus all their apps are free from malicious malware or viruses.
All ExpressVPN apps are handy to use and also offer “Kill Switch” feature. Its uncompromising zero logs policy actually means no logs as compared to other average VPN providers who have vague logging policy.
For all the users who are looking for VPN for torrenting and unblock any version of Netflix from anywhere with optimum servers speed, must go for ExpressVPN.
The only drawback about ExpressVPN that it is costly if you compare it with rival VPN’s. The monthly subscription starting between $6.67 and $12.95.
But as per its outstanding performance, we think it’s a very small cost to pay for almost every feature it offers.
For more details you can check our ExpressVPN review.
PIA (Private Internet Access) – Fast but Located in 9-Eyes (US)
Features
- Massive servers coverage (3300+)
- Low Pricing
- Plus Average servers speed
- Uncompromising No log policy
- Torrenting is allowed
Drawbacks
- Located in US (Five Eyes)
- Customer Support/Live Chat is only available for paying customers
- 3/7 servers successfully unblock Netflix
PIA (Private Internet Access) is the fourth fastest VPN service out of 50 VPN’s we have tested so far.
Additionally their total sever ratings is actually the best (fastest) among all the Best VPN providers listed in this blog.
The reason behind PIA’s super speedy servers is that they offer an option to purposefully downgrade the security encryption from AES-265 to AES-128.
And let me tell you, technically AES 128 is more secure and well designed as compared to AES 256. For further explanation see this guide from here
Another great feature about this fastest VPN is that it allows P2P sharing since Torrenting is limitless.
You can connect up to 10 devices simultaneously through PPTP, OpenVPN, IPSec/L2TP or Socks5 proxy protocols.
PIA is compatible with almost every popular device and OS including MacOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android and Chrome extension.
It is among one of the most affordable VPN services. The plans starting from $3.49 up to $9.95 monthly along with seven days refund policy.
What’s not here? Well their amazing customer support is only available for paying customers. However, humongous amount of fast servers (33,000+) in 32 countries.
And if you are looking for a VPN that works flawlessly to unblock different version of Netflix from anywhere, PIA should not be your choice.
Another big concern about PIA that it is a part of US jurisdiction. Although there is no evidence or incident found that indicates that the provider has ever corporate with mass surveillance agencies.
Due to its speedy servers and uncompromising no log policy, there is no doubt PIA is one of the best VPNs in terms of security, privacy and performance.
Read our PIA review for a detailed insight.
Perfect Privacy – Infinite Simultaneous Connections ($10/Monthly)
Features
- Privacy friendly jurisdiction (Switzerland)
- Uncompromising No Log Policy
- Unblock Any Version of Netflix anywhere
- Torrenting allowed
- Unlimited Simultaneous connections
Drawbacks
- Average downloading speeds
- Most Costly VPN service
This VPN provider name itself is true picture of what you get while using its services called “PerfectPrivacy”.
Its uncompromising zero log policy is 100% legit. It means, they don’t stores or collects any kind of users information.
“Perfect Privacy” further features include zero DNS and IP leak incident, strengthen 256-AES encryption and protocols (OpenVPN, SSH and IPSec)
But the best feature is still yet to come, do you want to know what it is?
Well Perfect Privacy offers unlimited connections on one account simultaneously. Most of the Best VPN providers offers very limited simultaneous connections (up to 3-5 maximum)
This justifies its high price when it comes to use large group of people at once on difference devices including Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, Mac, IPTV or even routers.
To add, Torrenting is allowed and also works fine with Tor. Although it doesn’t work really well to unblock different version of Netflix anywhere.
I tested 7 different PerfectPrivacy servers to unblock US Netflix. 2 out 7 were able to unblock American Netflix.
So, if you are looking for a VPN for both security and flawlessly unblock Netflix from anywhere, then NordVPN must be your choice.
Unlimited connections simultaneously is a great feature. But remember that not a single VPN comes without any major drawback except NordVPN, Surfshark and ExpressVPN.
Few major drawbacks I have noticed during testing PerfectPrivacy. Speeds were average. Not as fast as the first two options. They are under Switzerland jurisdiction which is generally good for privacy (and logs).
However, they are known to cooperate with countries under the five eyes jurisdiction. Last but not least, they have only handful of servers in 26 countries only.
Read more at our Perfect Privacy review.
IPVanish – Speedy Servers with Optimum Security but US Based ($6.49/Monthly)
Features
- Great Download Speed
- Uncompromising zero log policy
- Unblocks Netflix
- Allowed Torrenting
- Support all standard devices
- Offers 10 simultaneous connections on one account
Drawbacks
- Below average customer support
- Expensive among other best VPN services
- Part of StackPatch US based organization/li>
With IPVanish, customers have access to more than 1,300 servers located in in 75 different countries around the world.
All of the major security protocols are supported through this VPN. They use bank-grade AES-256 encryption which ensures that no one will be able to track you. IPVanish can be used on up to five Windows, Mac, iOS, or Android devices at a time. They also offer up to 10 simultaneous connections. There are no limits imposed on server connections or bandwidth.
Netflix worked on one of the four servers we tested. While they tout themselves as the fastest VPN in the world on their website, we clocked them at the 26th position overall on our speed list. That’s out of over 78 reviews so far. That’s still an excellent speed, outpacing more than 50 other services.
Here are a few of the biggest cons we noticed.
IPVanish’s pricing comes in slightly high for some of their long-term plans as compared to other services of the same size. They range from $4.87 – $7.50 per month. Their prices used to go above $10 per month with no commitment period, so we’re happy to see that they are moving in the right direction.
They don’t support Tor and discourage torrenting, so don’t count on either. Their customer service was unreliable during our tests.
They’re also located in a Five Eyes-friendly jurisdiction, meaning authorities can demand your personal information and share it among the U.S., U.K., Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.
CyberGhost – Astonishing Features but Average Server Speeds
Features
- Affordable pricing
- Very simple to use application
- No log files
- Torrenting/P2P is allowed
- Works with Netflix
Drawbacks
- Questionable parent company
- Average download speed
- Unresponsive customer support
CyberGhost has an impressive number of servers, offering 3,999+ servers across 60 different countries. While that’s not as huge as some of the others we’ve reviewed, it’s definitely up there.
If privacy is your chief concern, Cyberghost has you covered with a winning combination of Romanian jurisdiction coupled with a strict ‘no logging’ policy. Your privacy will remain intact, no mater what. On top of that there were no DNS or WebRTC leaks, whatsoever. We should know, we tested it six different times to be sure.
Cyberghost also includes a kill switch, that will shut your session down immediately if any leak springs in your VPN tunnel. This is a perfect Plan B in case you have any concerns about your connection.
As of last year, CyberGhost was sold to Kape Technologies, formerly knows as Crossrider Plc – which is infamous for creating and distributing malware.
Downloading one of their apps on your Windows, Android, Mac, iOS, Linux, or router only takes seconds.
On the plus side, they’re fully Tor compatible. But on the downside, not all servers are torrenting friendly. It’s easy to find torrenting servers, though. Cyberghost’s new user interface features a search function that allows you to limit your results to only show torrenting servers.
We tested four different servers from all over the world to see if CyberGhost can unblock Netflix, as it claims. They even have specific servers that are marked as Netflix safe. When we tested four of those, only one was able to stream Netflix content successfully.
CyberGhost supports most major VPN protocols, including OpenVPN, PPTP, L2TP, and IPSec.
The $2.75 to $12.99 average monthly cost means you can land a great deal by committing to a longer term.
The only other drawbacks we noticed were average server speeds (tested on two chosen at random). Customer service was also a little spotty.
The Best VPNs for Torrenting
A paid VPN provides you unlimited bandwidth and data that helps you in fast torrenting.
Paid VPNs are very inexpensive too and offer an annual or a two-year plan with reduced prices which costs around a couple of dollars every month.
Torrents are very popular for downloading legally and in certain cases not-so-legal things (it does not mean that it condones any copyrights).
Most of the users share bits of a large file with one another to potentially enable very fast speed for downloading purposes.
There is one catch to all of this, while torrenting you could get in to to trouble with the Government or the ISP.
You could get slapped a fine or worst you could go to jail. If you are living in a country where there are strict privacy laws then you need a VPN to hide your torrent activities.
We have covered this topic in detail in our best vpn for torrenting Guide.
Best VPN for Android
Android by Google has the biggest base of installed smartphones across the world with more than two billion active users on a daily basis.
Therefore, it is to no surprise that there are various VPN applications that supports the operating system (OS).
Various providers of best VPN services have limited themselves to Android applications, whereas, a small number of them lets its users set up service using the manual configurations.
Even though, some of the offerings do not provide support to mobile at all. It is important that all the users avoid dodgy ones present on Google Play as most of the free players that promise a free service, but do not mention the issues that are attached to it.
There are various VPNs that provide significant Android support. When it comes to determine the best VPN for Android, it is important to consider a few things.
A dedicated android application helps in making the activities hassle-free. Also, this application must be user-friendly and offers significant options which allows tweaking for most of its experienced users.
We have covered this in detail in our Best Android VPN guide.
For a detailed list of best VPN services. Check out VPNMentor.com
Best VPN for Beginners
The best VPN for beginners is Tunnel Bear. Tunnel Bear is considered to be a go-to option for the new users of VPN who are willing to protect their Android devices.
An innate client has been designed to be simple, but it manages to include decent number of features, that includes GhostBear option which attempts to hide because you are using VPN connection and a kill switch.
The performance of VPN is speedy on small local connections, but for the farther locations it can be slower, but it is still usable. Tunnel Bear offers free 500 MB bandwidth monthly. Tunnel Bear has an option for upgrading to unlimited data plans that are paid, and the annual plan is a better option and more affordable.
Best VPN for Reddit
Reddit is one of the highest visited site, with more than 542 million visitors each month. This means that Reddit has been doing something correct. Also, it means that the community members are unaware of things that Reddit is regarding which VPN is the best.
Most of the VPN providers claims of high speed are not true when they are tested. Other people might submit fake reviews on behalf of their users in order to increase their rankings.
Reddit looks for the best VPN for not just hiding the identity, but also to use Netflix with a high-speed torrent and a lower cost. The following are the best VPNs based on the Reddit’s evaluation.
(1) ExpressVPN
VPNs that are highly recommended for using Netflix are TorGuard and ExpressVPN, both of these are the leaders in different categories.
ExpressVPN is considerably expensive, but is known widely based on the speed it offers, therefore, it is not easy for any VPN to beat ExpressVPNs capabilities when it comes to Netflix. Reddit has described ExpressVPN as amazing and simple.
Although, not all the users are a fan of ExpressVPN, as another user of Reddit has described it as shady and that its IP addresses are unreal.
In comparison with Express VPN, TorGuard is affordable and Reddit’s user mertcan1k2 said that it unblocks Netflix if you can buy a dedicated USA IP address.
More on this in our best VPN as per Reddit blog.
Best VPN for Kodi
Kodi lets its users to stream media from their homes. It offers limitless virtual access, but has certain risks associated to it. A way for avoiding these risks is by making use of Kodi through VPN. Use of VPN overrides the geo-political restrictions that are being applied to certain services.
Although, Kodi is considerably an awesome way for streaming TV shows, live sports, and movies for free, but your ISP (Internet Service Provider) can report your Kodi as an infringement of copyright.
A court in EU has setup a rule that using Kodi for streaming is illegal, similar to downloading pirated movies which is why you need the best Kodi VPN.
There are certain Kodi applications and streams that restricted geographically and are subjected to the copyright law (which includes Netflix, BBC iPlayer and YouTube).
Kodi has major security issues associated to it, which makes it easy for the hackers to target the users of Kodi. All these security and privacy issues must worry the users of Kodi.
Therefore, these issues can be overcome by making use of a VPN (Virtual Private Network) with the Kodi device.
Best VPN for Chrome
Using Google Chrome concurrently with VPN is considered to be a great way for the browsers to protect their privacy and online data.
Using Chrome, VPN can also offer its users with an unrestricted access to content that is geographically restricted from all across the globe.
Best VPN for Windows
All the best VPN providers provides separate applications to their users for their devices main operating systems including Mac and Windows.
If your device runs on Windows 7, Windows 10 or any other version of Windows, you will require to download a VPN version for Windows so that your virtual network runs smoothly on your device.
Best VPN for Iphone
iPhone by Apple is widely known as a secure and a stable smartphone, it is not important to understand that iOS has its own problems relative to privacy and security- specifically in today’s world of security breaches and hacking.
There are dodgy applications that are present on the Apple’s app store, but compared to Google Play Apple’s app store is far more secure.
It is important to make use of the best VPN service that helps you retain digital privacy, and allows access to content that is geographically restricted and circumvents censorship.
VPNs are a commonplace to safely access the internet. The use of VPN is growing significantly in countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey and Brazil.
The use of smartphones is also increasing across the globe. Therefore, more people are connecting to the internet using their smartphones compared to any other device.
Best VPN for Netflix
Netflix is one of the top most streaming services across the globe for movies and TV. It is unfortunate that not every individual can have access to Netflix and if you are located in US who travels globally, you might face trouble in accessing Netflix.
Security and privacy are important for whichever VPN you use and most of all good encryption and no logs policy are definite to have.
For a good Netflix service, it is desired that the provider offers a money-back guarantee as it will be useful if the suddenly things change, because they do change unexpectedly with Netflix and a specific VPN that you have chosen ends up performing bad on the streaming platform.
We have tried and tested various VPN services that work with Netflix. You can read all about it in our best VPN for Netflix study.
Best Cheap VPN
Everyone likes to get a good deal. If you want a premium VPN, but do not want to spend much you are at the right place.
In this section, all the low-cost VPN services that have the most important features. All these low cost VPN have no restrictions and featured fully.
They offer high security and privacy levels and have the fastest servers that are located all across the world; it is perfect for viewing the geo-restricted content, to stream in HD, and to perform tasks that are data intensive.
If you are looking for a cheap VPN then we have compiled a list of Cheapest VPN services in our blog.
Best VPN for Gaming
A Gaming VPN? It is a daft idea, but can be well thought of, that is by using one of the top VPNs that encrypts the traffic and routes it from the server might have a possible effect on the performance, with dangers of having a greater ping time and a slow connection generally.
It is not suitable to argue regarding the potential pitfalls, but there are various benefits for which you would want to use VPN for online gaming.
The most obvious one is that it offers an unrestricted access and allows you to unblock geo-restricted games, play freely from any country across the globe and lets you access servers that have been locked for other regions.
Security consideration is always present. Therefore, using a VPN increases user protection against any DDoS attacks, and it is cannot be used as a weapon against online gaming opponent when competitive gaming is involved.
There is chance that a VPN reduces its user’s ping time and also improves the downloading speed, which has an impact on the game’s responsiveness.
Yes, it is tough to present it categorically and everyone has a different mileage, but in our VPN testing, we found that our connections work faster when the VPN is turned on in comparison to the standard rates.
If you are looking for a gaming VPN for your online adventures then head on to our guide.
Best VPN Provider for Canada to Unblock Geo-Block Streaming Services
There are tons of streaming services that can’t be accessed in Canada because of content copyrights agreements. So if you love binge-watching and want to access popular geo-block streaming services in Canada.
With a VPN you can watch American Netflix in Canada, Sling TV, Hulu in Canada, HBO Max, YouTube TV, Voot in Canada, Peacock TV in Canada, Zee5, and others. You can get more information on “howtowatch.ca“, it is the best place to find guides on how to unblock geo-blocked services in Canada.
Best VPN for FireStick
When you want to watch your favorite content online on your own set terms, Amazon FireStick is a preferred choice. Amazon FireStick is a cost effective device which developed on a USB style and it provides access to a larger database of TV Shows, Movies and other content on media.
For a secure and fast streaming, the Amazon FireStick requires a VPN application. Although, you can easily stream the free content that is available on the Amazon FireStick after you have installed Kodi on your FireStick.
Look no further, we have the best vpn for firestick in our guide.
Best VPN Service for Streaming
When it comes streaming online content in different countries, be it any kind of sports events or popular TV shows, it is lot easier to stream them by using one of the best VPN services.
A good VPN service also provides its users to by-pass the geographical content blocking and restrictions by providing an extra security layer with the least performance loss or even better and improved speed in certain cases.
Read more on VPN for streaming Guide.
FAQs about VPN Services
Is VPN Legal?
Answer: VPN services are legal all over the world except for a handful of countries. If you are living in the following countries then it is illegal for you to use a VPN.
- Belarus
- Iraq
- North Korea
- Turkmenistan
There are some countries where VPN services are government controlled, in these countries you can only use state approved VPN services. These countries include China, UAE and Turkey.
Can I get a free VPN?
Yes, you can. But we wouldn’t recommend relying on a VPN service that is free. Most of the free vpn services are unreliable and most of them log your online activities and sell your data online.
If you are still looking for a free vpn then you can check out our free vpn guide.
What is a vpn and why do I need it?
We have a detailed article on this topic, you can check it out.
Should I always use a VPN?
It depends on your usage. If you are using a public wifi hotspot or if you are about to share sensitive information online, like logging in to your bank account, you should use a VPN
You should also use a VPN when you are travelling abroad. With the help of a VPN you can bypass geo-restrictions, block prying eyes, save money with VPN and stay safe online.
To cut it short, if you are concerned about your online security all the time then you should use a VPN all the time. If not, use it on a need basis.
Is VPN worth getting?
Answer: If you value your online freedom, privacy and security then yes, VPN is definitely worth getting. You can use a VPN for a number of things, we have discussed various scenarios in our blog. Make sure you check it out from time to time. We have reviewed a few VPNs on our site you can check them out in our VPN reviews section.