Best VPN 2026: Surf the web securely

If you don’t want to spend any time diving into the details and would rather get straight to enjoying the benefits of having a VPN, then ExpressVPN is where your search ends. This is by far the best VPN that we’ve tested, with incredible speeds and a variety of countries to connect to.

During our testing we picked up on unbelievable download speeds across the board, including 278.4Mbps in the UK and 195.2Mbps in the United States. For productivity users who don’t want to be caught out by web pages that take an age to load, this is the service to go for.

It’s not just the speed of ExpressVPN that’s impressive though, as the service boasts one of the most expansive suites of extras that we’ve come across. There’s ExpressKeys which can be used to safely store and access all of your passwords, and can be handy if you’re constantly forgetting them, alongside ExpressMailGuard which can stop phishing emails from ending up in your inbox.

One of the most recent additions to the company’s toolbox is ExpressAI. This service lets you converse with an AI chatbot for help with any queries or issues that you might typically use AI for, except that unlike those other options, ExpressAI doesn’t log your conversation so it’s all private.

It should be said that ExpressVPN isn’t the cheapest VPN service available, but for all that you get here, it’s well worth the expense as you certainly won’t be wanting for anything. The company also lets you connect with no less than 105 countries so you have plenty of options available to you when hiding your IP address.

Although ExpressVPN, for our money, provides the best overall VPN package that you can buy right now, if you’re someone who is solely focused on speed and wants to make sure that they can access the fastest possible internet connection whilst masking their IP address then Surfshark VPN is the option for you.

When putting the service to the test, we picked up on 264.8 Mbps download speeds in the UK, 297.6 Mbps in the Netherlands and 228 Mbps in the US, which averaged out to around 263.47 Mbps. That average comes in only ever so slightly behind NordVPN in our tests, but consistency is the name of the game with Surfshark – helpful for when you’re working for a long period of time and need to keep a connection going without interruption.

In terms of security, Surfshark is one of the best companies out there for transparency so you can surf the web with peace of mind in knowing that your data and browsing history isn’t logged. The company also publishes a Transparency Report to let you know if it’s been contacted by government agencies over access to information.

Going one step further, Surfshark also makes use of independent audits to make sure that everything’s in check and that there’s nothing for customers to be worried about. It’s gestures like these that go a long way towards consumer confidence in a VPN service, and we would love to see them adopted industry-wide.

With regards to the connections on offer, Surfshark currently uses more than 4500 servers across 100 countries. Although that’s slightly less than the 105 countries connected to ExpressVPN, it’s still a significant amount and won’t leave you wanting. Just bear in mind that Surfshark’s renewal prices can be higher than what you initially paid to sign up, so double-check the rate ahead of renewal to make sure you’re happy with the cost.

Out of all the VPN services we’ve tested, it’s NordVPN that provides the best alternative package to ExpressVPN. Although the latter can be more affordable in the long run, you may appreciate NordVPN’s more robust approach to online security, so it’s best to compare the features that these two services have before deciding on which to sign up to.

For starters, NordVPN can connect up to six devices simultaneously, so if you live in a large household and you want to protect everyone as they browse the web then this is the option for you. Plus, with dedicated apps for iOS, Android, Windows, MacOS, Linux and Google TV, NordVPN has put in the work to meet you where you’re at and make the process of getting connected a simple one.

Once you are connected to the service, you have a ton of features at your fingertips. Anyone who uses the Tor browser can enable Onion over VPN so that Nord and Tor can work hand in hand for a highly secure session. Regardless of your chosen browser, Nord’s Threat Protection Pro goes one step further than an average VPN by ensuring that phishing scams and malware can’t access your device, so you have an extra layer of security as you search.

In terms of your own data and how it’s stored by NordVPN, the company presents a clear no-logging policy so your internet history isn’t tracked, and the brand has built up a solid degree of trust in this area thanks to regular audits to ensure that everything is still working to the company’s vision.

NordVPN now provides access to servers in 211 locations which isn’t quite as varied as what we’ve seen on some of the other services we’ve tested, but what you do get from those locations is an impressively stable connection. In fact, NordVPN came out on top with regards to the average speed recorded when all of our test locations were taken into account.

As much as we recommend opting for a paid VPN service as you’ll get so much more in return, especially with features like malware protection and an onboard password manager which feel more essential than ever in the modern age, there are options available to you if you have no cash to spend. While quite a few free VPNs have popped up in the last few years, the only one you need to concern yourself with is ProtonVPN.

What’s most surprising about ProtonVPN is that unlike a lot of free VPNs which throttle the available bandwidth as a means of enticing you towards a paid version of the same service, ProtonVPN lets you surf the web with unlimited bandwidth. This is great if you have a particularly speedy router at home as you won’t feel capped by going down the freebie route.

ProtonVPN has also made privacy a core tenet of its business practices. The company has a regularly updated transparency report to let users know of any changes they should be aware of, but the company does currently employ a strict no-logging rule so your data isn’t stored. However, the Swiss Government does have the right to order the collection of data in the event of a criminal case.

There’s also a kill switch feature built into the brand’s free VPN service so you don’t have to worry about any gaps in your internet connection that bad actors could exploit. Although there’s a decent number of countries included with the free tier, it’s worth upgrading to the paid version of ProtonVPN if you want a wider variety of locations to choose from.

Still, if speed is your main concern then we reckon that you’ll be quite pleased with what ProtonVPN is able to offer. Across our testing of speeds in the UK, the Netherlands and the US, we noted an average speed of 164.27Mbps which is more than enough for the average user and excellent value when you consider that it’s available at no cost whatsoever.

If there’s one complaint that can be thrown at most VPN services, it’s that things can get a bit out of control when it comes to renewing your subscription. Oftentimes you’ll see very tempting introductory prices which get you through the door, but once your subscription runs out you can be presented with a nasty bill if you’re not careful. For those who would rather avoid that scenario entirely, Mullvad VPN is our go-to pick.

Mullvad VPN costs just €5 (roughly £4.35/$5.84) a month, and in the face of rising costs for pretty much every aspect of the tech industry, that monthly rate has stayed the same. It’s brilliant value for money, and a much better option for anyone who doesn’t want to get tied into a long-term contract or who only needs a VPN for a few months.

What’s even more impressive is what you get for that low monthly cost. Mullvad has a strict no-logging policy, and that was put to the test in 2023 when authorities carried out a search warrant at the company’s office in Gothenburg and came away with no customer data. The brand also uses RAMdisk servers which are far more secure than the standard servers typically used by VPN companies.

Beyond that, a Mullvad subscription comes with a ton of extra security features including a kill switch (ensuring that you’re never connected to the internet unless there’s a VPN protocol to go with it), split tunnelling and an ad blocker that can stop you from accidentally clicking on junk ads as you surf the web.

It’s not a perfect service however as we did notice some irregularities when trying to access streaming websites, although the general speeds that we noted were fairly solid. Across our three test countries, we noted an average download speed of 229.87 Mbps which is very respectable. Unless you want a wider suite of features, the likes of which ExpressVPN and Nord VPN can provide, Mullvad is a great option to go with.