6 best VPNs for staying anonymous online

If you’re unfamiliar with a virtual private network, or VPN, there’s no better time to get to know them.

There are a number of reasons why you might want to use a VPN, including but not limited to masking all of your internet traffic or accessing websites and services that may be blocked in certain countries (like in China). 

Search for VPN and dozens and dozens of results come up. Which VPN should you get, and which ones can you trust? Here are our picks for the six best VPNs.

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The best VPN deals this week*

• NordVPN — 75% off three-year plan ($107.55)

• Private Internet Access — 65% off two-year plan ($83.87; Original Price $238.80)

• TunnelBear — 58% off two-year plan ($99.99; Original Price $239.76)

• TorGuard — 50% off one-year plan ($29.99 after coupon PCMAG)

• IPVanish — 20% off one-year plan ($62.31; Original Price $77.99)

*Deals are selected by our partner, TechBargains

Editor’s Note: IPVanish is owned by J2 Global, the parent company of Ziff Davis, Mashable’s publisher. Any J2 products featured on Mashable are covered independently by our content team.

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Choosing a VPN can be tricky. Oh, who are we kidding, it requires a lot of research. And you should absolutely do your homework. 

We recommend avoiding most free VPNs; their terms and conditions are usually total crap, or they come bundled with spyware, or the companies behind them might sell the data they’re logging from your usage.

True privacy on the internet doesn’t come free. Some VPNs come with a free trial, but you’ll have to pay up to get an ounce of real privacy. So choose wisely. Below are our our favorites in no specific order.

Image: screenshot: raymond wong/mashable

Private Internet Access VPN is our VPN of choice. It installs in a jiffy and comes with a ton of features for all types of users, no matter if you’re a beginner just starting out with a VPN or an advanced user who likes noodling around with settings.

You get your standard secure VPN account, encrypted Wi-Fi, P2P, IPv6 leak protection, a VPN kill switch, and a whole lot more. Private Internet Access VPN sure as hell isn’t a sexy app you want to open all the time (so just set it to automatically open when you log in), but what it lacks in aesthetics it makes up for with a long list of features. It also has a solid backbone, claiming over 3,100 servers in 28 countries worldwide.

It’s also relatively speedy. We noticed our “naked” download and upload speeds dropped by only about half or two-thirds (common for most VPNs). It may not be the fastest VPN around, but it’s definitely not the slowest, either. 

Private Internet Access VPN is available in three plans: 1 month ($6.95), 1 year ($39.95; $3.33 per month), and 2 years ($69.95; $2.91 per month). A single account works on up to five devices simultaneously. 

Private Internet Access VPN has apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android and an extension for Chrome. Get it here. 

Image: Screenshot: Raymond Wong/mashable

Pick this VPN if you care about your download and upload speeds. In our tests, though, our “pure” download speeds still dropped by about a third once it was turned on (again, pretty common across most of the VPNs we tested), and upload speeds dropped about the same.

This VPN has over 750 VPN servers in over 140+ different countries worldwide. Whether you’re streaming content, or want to unblock geo-restricted websites, or share files, the app makes it really simple to switch between modes. Advanced users also have access to features like split-tunneling, which lets you choose where to route your data through (either through your ISP or VPN).

PureVPN is available in three plans: 1-month ($9.95), 6-months ($47.70; $7.95 per month), and 3-year ($68.76; $1.91 per month). One account works on up to five devices simultaneously. 

It works with Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome, and Firefox. PureVPN even has apps for media streaming boxes such as Android TV, Amazon Fire TV Stick, and Kodi. Get it here. 

Image: screenshot: raymond wong/mashable

NordVPN is one of easiest VPNs to set up across all of your devices. It works on a variety of platforms including Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, and more. It’s also one of the better-designed VPNs out there. 

Connecting to Nord’s various servers is easy — just click on the country you want to connect with on the map. We also like that NordVPN comes with a built-in ad blocker called “CyberSec.” In addition to blocking ads, the company says CyberSec will shield your device from malware and phishing.

Moreover, Nord comes with a number of useful advanced features power users will appreciate. There’s an “Internet Kill Switch” that will let your device access the internet only when it’s connected to a VPN, an “App Kill Switch” that can force quit apps you’ve pre-selected, and also the ability to connect to a Double VPN, which encrypts your traffic twice for extra protection.

NordVPN is available in four plans: 1-month ($11.95), 1-year ($83.99; $6.99 per month), 2-year ($95.75; $3.99 per month), and 3-year ($107.55; $2.99 per month). A single login works on up to six devices simultaneously. Get it here. 

Image: Screenshot: Raymond Wong/mashable

If you’re new to VPNs and maybe find computer interfaces intimidating, TunnelBear is the VPN for you. You won’t find a simpler and (dare we say) adorable VPN out there.

The app consists of a world map that shows you where your server is connected. To connect to a server in another country, you click on a tunnel and, er, tunnel to it. It’s stupid easy and looks great.

TunnelBear doesn’t have as many features as the other VPNs we’ve tested, the number of countries in which it has servers is on the low end (20), and it doesn’t support P2P. But if these omissions don’t bother you, TunnelBear is as straightforward as it gets.

There are three plans for TunnelBear. The free “Little” option gives you access to all of its features, but will limit your browsing through the VPN to 500MB of data per month. (Pro tip: Tweet about it and the company will toss in another 1GB for free.) The “Giant” plan costs $9.99 per month and gives you unlimited data. And if you want to pay up front for a year, you can get the “Grizzly” plan for $49.88 (which works out to $4.16 per month) and also gives you unlimited data.

TunnelBear is available for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and the Chrome and Opera web browsers.

Image: screenshot: raymond wong/mashable

If you’re a heavy BitTorrent user, TorGuard is the VPN you’re looking for. It works like any regular VPN to mask your internet traffic and includes several several encryption options such as AES-128, AES-256, and Blowfish.

But where it really shines for torrenters is its subscription add-ons. $7.99 gets you a dedicated IP address and $11.99 per month gets you a DDoS-protected IP address. Spring for another $19.99 per month and you can connect to the company’s much faster 10Gbit network located in the U.S., Netherlands, or Canada.

TorGuard is available in several plans: $9.99 per month, $19.99 for three months, $29.99 for six months, and $59.99 per year. A single login works on up to five devices simultaneously. You pay another $1 per additional simultaneous connection.

The VPN makes apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, as well as web browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox. Check it out here. 

Image: screenshot: raymond wong/mashable

Streaming video on services like Netflix or Hulu can be more difficult when you connect to a VPN because your internet speeds slow down.

If you’re, say, in a country where certain video services are blocked, but you still want to access them, we recommend KeepSolid VPN Unlimited.

This VPN has special dedicated servers that are just for streaming. They’re easy to identify in the app because they’re labeled as so. There’s a general server for streaming in San Francisco, one for Netflix and Hulu also in San Francisco, and one for BBC iPlayer located in Hampshire, UK.

Users looking for lots of settings to adjust and fiddle with should look elsewhere, as this is one of the most bare-bones VPNs around.

VPN Unlimited is available in several plans: $9.99 per month, $49.99 for 1 year ($4.17 per month), and $499.99 for a lifetime (there’s a limited time price reduction to $119.99 at the time of this writing). A single login works on up to five devices simultaneously.

KeepSolid makes VPN Unlimited apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Windows Phone (yeah, really), and an extension for Chrome. Check it out here.