VPNHonest

Updated September 2026

The best VPN for your actual life, not for a spec sheet.

We buy every subscription, run the speed tests on real connections in three countries, and write the review we would want to read before paying. No sponsored rankings, ever.

  • Tested, not summarised — 1,400 hours of speed, leak and streaming runs this year
  • Priced honestly — renewal costs shown next to the headline discount
  • Written for travellers and remote teams — blocked-country notes included

Independent since 2019 · 42 services on the bench

Compare the top VPNs How we test

Top pick 2026

9.9 / 10

NordVPN

Fastest in our 2026 runs, unblocked every streaming library we tried, and the only service to hold over 90% of a 1 Gbps line on nearby servers.

Servers
7,400+ / 118 countries
Devices
10 at once
Speed retained
91% of 1 Gbps
Refund window
30 days
Get 72% off NordVPN

Affiliate link. The price you pay is the same; we earn a commission.

The short list

Six services worth your money this year

Every score below comes from the same test battery: throughput on three continents, DNS and IPv6 leak checks, nine streaming libraries, and a read of the privacy policy line by line.

1

NordVPN

Best overall · Editor's choice

  • 7,400+ servers in 118 countries
  • Audited no-logs policy
  • 10 devices at once
  • Threat Protection included
  • 30-day money-back

The fastest service in our 2026 speed runs and the one we hand to travellers who just want it to work. NordVPN unblocked every streaming library we tried, held 91% of a 1 Gbps line on nearby servers, and its no-logs claim has been audited three times by an outside firm.

9.9/ 10

Outstanding

Deal: up to 72% off + 3 months free

Visit NordVPN
2

Surfshark

Best cheap VPN

  • Unlimited devices per account
  • 3,200+ servers in 100 countries
  • 10 Gbps server network
  • Ad and tracker blocker
  • Best value per month

If you are shopping on price, this is the cheap VPN we recommend without caveats. One subscription covers the whole household, speeds sit within a few percent of Nord, and the two-year plan lands well under three euros a month.

9.8/ 10

Outstanding

Deal: from €1.99/mo + 3 months free

Visit Surfshark
3

Proton VPN

Best for privacy

  • Swiss jurisdiction
  • Open-source apps, audited
  • Genuinely usable free tier
  • Secure Core multi-hop
  • WireGuard + Stealth

Run by the Proton Mail team in Switzerland, with open-source apps anyone can inspect. It is also the only free VPN we are comfortable recommending: no ads, no data selling, and no logs, in exchange for fewer server locations.

9.7/ 10

Excellent

Free plan available · paid from €3.59/mo

Visit Proton VPN
4

ExpressVPN

Best VPN for Netflix

  • 105 countries covered
  • Unblocked 9/9 streaming libraries
  • TrustedServer RAM-only network
  • Router app included
  • 24/7 live chat

Our streaming test rig re-checks nine Netflix regions every week, and Express was the only service that passed all nine on the first try each time. Costlier than the rest, easily the least fiddly if a VPN for Netflix is your main reason to buy.

9.5/ 10

Excellent

Deal: 61% off + 4 months free

Visit ExpressVPN

See all 42 tested services

What the testing adds up to

Numbers we can show you

42
VPN services on the test bench, re-checked every quarter
1,400
Hours of speed, leak and streaming tests run in 2026
3
Countries we test from: Netherlands, United States, Singapore
0
Rankings sold. Placement is never for sale, at any price

Our method

How a VPN earns a score here

Five steps, the same for every service, whether or not it pays commission. If a provider fails step two, nothing else can save its score.

  1. We buy the subscription

    Always at retail, always anonymously. No provider knows which account belongs to us, so nobody gets a tuned server.

  2. Leak and logging audit

    DNS, IPv6 and WebRTC leak checks on every platform, kill-switch failure tests, then a close read of the logging policy and any third-party audit.

  3. Speed runs on three continents

    Twelve daily runs per service from Amsterdam, Chicago and Singapore across WireGuard and OpenVPN, at peak and off-peak hours.

  4. Streaming and travel checks

    Nine Netflix regions plus BBC iPlayer and DAZN, weekly. We also confirm which apps still connect from high-censorship networks.

  5. Price, renewal and refund

    We record the intro price, the renewal price and how quickly a refund actually landed. Cheap for one year and expensive forever does not score well.

Side by side

The comparison most review sites skip: renewal prices

Headline discounts are easy. Below is what each service costs on the cheapest plan, what it costs when that plan renews, and how it performed on the tests most people care about.

Prices checked 1 September 2026. Monthly equivalents on the longest plan, VAT excluded.
ServiceScoreFromRenews atDevicesNetflixFree tier
NordVPN9.9€2.99/mo€4.49/mo109 of 9 regionsNo
Surfshark9.8€1.99/mo€4.39/moUnlimited8 of 9 regionsNo
Proton VPN9.7€3.59/mo€4.99/mo107 of 9 regionsYes, unlimited data
ExpressVPN9.5€4.99/mo€8.32/mo89 of 9 regionsNo
CyberGhost9.2€2.03/mo€4.75/mo77 of 9 regionsTrial only
IPVanish9.0€2.19/mo€5.42/moUnlimited6 of 9 regionsNo

From the blog

New this month

Questions we get weekly

VPN questions, answered plainly

Is a cheap VPN good enough, or should I pay more?

For most people a cheap VPN is fine. The gap between a €2 and a €9 service in 2026 is not encryption — both use the same audited protocols — it is streaming reliability, support response time and how many servers sit near you. Pay up if you travel constantly or depend on a specific Netflix region; otherwise save the money.

Will a VPN really let me watch Netflix from another country?

Sometimes, and it changes weekly. Netflix blocks server IP ranges continuously, so any service that works today may fail next month. That is why we re-test nine regions every week and date every result. ExpressVPN and NordVPN have been the most consistent over the last twelve months.

Are free VPNs safe to use?

Most are not. Running a server network costs money, so a free VPN either limits you severely or monetises your traffic. Of 18 free apps we reviewed, only Proton VPN's free tier passed our privacy and leak tests without conditions.

Why do you recommend NordVPN so often?

Because it keeps winning the tests we run, not because of the commission. Our scoring sheet is published on the About page, and we have downgraded partners before — two services lost their top-five spots this year after failed leak tests.

Does a VPN slow my connection down?

Yes, a little. Expect to lose 5–15% on a nearby server with WireGuard, more on a server across an ocean. On a 1 Gbps line our top pick held 91%, which no one notices in daily use.

VPNHonest earns a commission when you buy through links on this page. It never changes your price, and it never changes a score. Read the full policy on our About page.

Start here

Not sure which one to pick? Start with our top-rated service.

It won our speed, streaming and privacy tests in 2026, and there is a 30-day money-back window if it is not for you.

Get NordVPN — 72% off
Subscribe
Subscribe