- Hey guys, my name is Christian Taylor.
Welcome back to Craylor Made where I like to talk about
all things branding, marketing, and entrepreneurship.
Today, I'm taking a look at seven popular VPNs
to determine which one is right for you.
I'm going to dive right into the pros and cons of each VPN,
so I'm assuming you already know you want a VPN
and you know why.
If you're curious about the benefits of VPNs
or how they work,
I've got some links in the description below
to other videos that explain it well.
For this comparison,
I tested these VPNs with both Mac and PC
using a one gigabit ethernet connection.
I tested streaming on Netflix,
Hulu, Disney Plus and Prime Video.
I've got a link to a spreadsheet in the description below
where you can see my testing results in detail.
Be sure to subscribe to the channel
if you aren't already subscribed.
And without further ado,
let's jump into the comparison.
We're kicking things off with NordVPN.
Operating under Panama jurisdiction,
NordVPN charges $59 a year or $89 per two years
for six simultaneous connections.
NordVPN showed the fastest speeds of any VPN on this list
thanks to their new NordLynx protocol.
On Mac, I saw average download speeds
of 735 megabits per second
and 586 megabits per second on Windows.
NordVPN has a strict no-logs policy
and they do not store connection timestamps,
traffic logs, browsing data
or anything that could be traced back to you.
Now, NordVPN doesn't have the most squeaky clean reputation
with security.
They confirmed a hack of one of their servers
in October, 2019.
But the concerning thing is that this hack actually occurred
in March, 2018.
Since NordVPN doesn't keep logs of any traffic,
there was no historical data present for hackers to access,
but it would theoretically be possible
for them to access network traffic in real time.
But there are two takeaways from this situation.
First, NordVPN waited well over a year to disclose the hack.
It's unacceptable that people learned about the hack
via rumors first and NordVPN had to come out and confirm it.
Were they ever going to disclose the hack
if rumors didn't leak?
It makes you wonder.
Additionally, NordVPN basically threw their data center
under the bus, saying,
"Oh yeah, we didn't know
that insecure remote management system existed.
That was put in place by our data center."
Well, it's kind of your job to know what exists
in the data centers you rent from.
This poorly handled hack
mixed with the fact that NordVPN doesn't speak much
about their server technology and security practices
on their website just gives me a bit of an uneasy feeling
when it comes to true privacy and security.
There's a lot to love about NordVPN though.
The NordLynx protocol is wicked fast
and NordVPN crushed it in my streaming test.
I was able to watch Netflix on every server but one
and successfully streamed
UK and Canadian exclusive titles on Netflix.
The NordVPN interface is clean and simple
and they make it easy for you to select your country,
city or even the exact server you'd like to connect to.
The CyberSec feature
does a nice job of blocking ads on mobile.
For desktop, I could care less about this feature.
I have an ad blocker plugin for my browser
that I'm happy with
and I don't have to always be connected to a VPN
for ad blocking to work.
But CyberSec is great,
especially if you use iOS and you enjoy using Safari.
The ad blocking works well.
So overall, I'd recommend NordVPN
as the best entertainment VPN.
If you want to VPN for streaming and ad blocking
to enhance your entertainment experience,
NordVPN offers a great value with blazing fast speeds.
If you're buying a VPN for security and privacy, however,
I personally would shy away from NordVPN.
If you're comfortable with their security practices,
by all means, go for it,
but I think there are better options on this list
for a security first VPN.
Next up is Private Internet Access.
PIA is a classic choice for a budget no frills VPN.
They charge $40 a year or $5 a month
for an account with up to 10 connections at once.
PIA currently operates under US jurisdiction,
but they were recently acquired by Kape,
the parent company of CyberGhost and Zenmate.
For now, it seems like PIA has remained their own entity
and Kape has not stepped in and "Kape-i-fied" it yet,
but I wonder if that's inevitable in the future.
PIA doesn't keep logs,
and while they do operate under US jurisdiction,
they have a transparency report on their website
proving that no data is ever supplied
because there is no data
when they are required to respond to a subpoena or a warrant
being under US management.
At this point, it's become difficult
to recommend PIA for any use case.
They're already at a disadvantage in the past
being under US jurisdiction,
but I used to recommend PIA as a solid budget VPN.
Recently, since the Kape acquisition
and the significant improvements
other VPN providers have made,
PIA has fallen even further behind.
The speeds are mediocre,
around 300 megabits per second down,
and streaming is mostly a fail.
I was unable to stream a UK exclusive title
even while connected to the London streaming server.
I saw literally no difference
between their streaming servers and their regular servers.
They do offer PIA MACE,
which is a similar ad blocking feature
to NordVPN's CyberSec,
but PIA MACE is not offered on iOS,
which is a big bummer.
There is a scale down Safari content blocker,
which is a form of ad blocker for iOS,
but it will not work in any other apps besides Safari.
My overall thought on PIA is that it's a meh VPN.
It's under US jurisdiction now controlled by Kape,
which I'm not a fan of.
The speeds are mediocre,
streaming is largely a fail
and there's just better value for your money elsewhere.
Next on the list is Surfshark.
And I'll just say it now,
Surfshark is my favorite budget VPN
that I'd recommend over PIA.
It's $60 for two years with unlimited connections
making it actually cheaper than PIA
from a cost per month standpoint.
Surfshark also has faster speeds on average over PIA
with my Windows testing
averaging at 447 megabits per second down
compared to PIA's 221 megabits per second.
Surfshark is based in the British Virgin Islands,
so they're not subject to US data laws.
They're more open about their security practices,
featuring an independent security audit on their homepage,
although this audit is from 2018
and a bit old at this point.
Surfshark did pretty great with streaming.
Location spoofing worked properly,
and a few times their servers were blocked by Netflix,
but not often enough for it to be a big concern for me.
When this happens, you can just change servers
and be unblocked and go about your way.
Their clean web ad and malware blocker
is fully functional on iOS,
though I find it's not as effective as NordVPN's CyberSec.
I like Surfshark's static and multi-hop options.
If you ever need a static IP address for whatever reason
and you want to know it's never going to change,
this could be a good option for you.
The multi-hop feature allows you to route traffic
through two VPN servers for extra peace of mind.
But honestly, I can't think of much benefit to this.
In my mind, you're creating a second vulnerability point
by passing the traffic through more servers.
If you use this feature,
let me know why in the comments below.
But overall, at $60 for two years,
Surfshark is a killer budget VPN.
It's not quite as good as NordVPN functionally,
but Surfshark has a cleaner reputation
and seems to be more upfront
about their security track record.
Next step is IPVanish.
And this one honestly leaves me puzzled.
I've never been impressed with IPVanish.
It's affordable at $40 per year,
but with it being under US jurisdiction
and having overall poor performance,
I find it to be worse than Private Internet Access.
The UI feels cluttered and clunky,
and I averaged 200 megabits per second down on Windows,
which was better than the 192 megabits per second down
I averaged on Mac.
Streaming was a huge fail
with every platform except Netflix blocked on every server
and location spoofing didn't even work on Netflix.
I was not able to watch UK or Canadian exclusive titles
even when connected to UK or Canadian based servers.
There's no extra bonus features
like an ad-blocker or multi-hop server,
and overall, I just don't see the appeal to this VPN.
everything about IPVanish just makes me ask, why?
The price is attractive, sure,
but so is the price of Surfshark.
At least at Surfshark,
you can get decent speeds and streaming performance,
not to mention a wide variety of bonus features.
Next is ExpressVPN.
ExpressVPN is the most expensive option on this list
at $99 a year.
So does it live up to the price tag?
In every way, ExpressVPN is a simple vanilla VPN.
The interface is straightforward,
there's no ad block feature
and there are no advanced features
like dedicated IPs or multi-hop connections.
It's very much set it and forget it.
ExpressVPN has the second fastest speeds
of the VPNs I've tested,
getting an average of 466 megabits per second down on Mac
thanks to their new Lightway protocol.
ExpressVPN performs great for streaming
and can successfully spoof your location
to allow you to watch region-locked
shows from other countries.
In my prior comparisons,
I described ExpressVPN as the VPN that just works.
It's like the iPhone of the VPN speeds.
There's no advanced settings or features,
but it's simple, fast and reliable.
However, this year things have really heated up
in the VPN space.
Cheaper VPNs have gotten significantly faster
and better in performance
and ExpressVPN hasn't been able to innovate as much
with their Lightway protocol
compared to NordVPN with NordLynx.
So is there any reason at all to pay $99 a year
for a VPN that's marginally slower
than NordVPN at $59 a year?
If privacy and security is number one concern,
then yes, absolutely.
ExpressVPN shows a commitment to your privacy
unlike any other company on this list.
They're based in the BVI,
so they aren't subject to data collection laws,
and they have a strict no logging policy.
But that's not exactly unique for a VPN company.
This is where things get interesting.
First, their trusted server technology
is an innovation that still blows my mind.
Their servers run on RAM only
meaning it's physically impossible for logs
or an operating system to be saved to the server.
Now, to be fair,
ExpressVPN uses terms like,
"Only with ExpressVPN"
when talking about trusted server technology,
but of course,
that's because they made up their own name for it.
But I tried to see if I could find information
about similar server technology
being used at competitors like NordVPN and Surfshark
and I couldn't seem to find anything.
Additionally, ExpressVPN is the only company on the list
who has a detailed trust page on their website.
I enjoyed reading about all the detailed procedures
ExpressVPN follows to keep data safe,
even down to mentioning that employees are required
to use password managers and two factor authentication.
It's seriously so cool.
Go to their website,
look at that trust page and just read.
You can see in the print
that ExpressVPN is just so committed to privacy
and they take it extremely seriously.
I want to be clear here
that a lot of these practices ExpressVPN follows
may very well be followed by other VPN companies too,
but I haven't seen the same kind of transparency
as ExpressVPN provides.
So here's the conclusion I've come to.
If we're just looking at performance,
I think NordVPN has the edge now.
Their NordLynx protocol is slightly faster
and the CyberSec feature
is something I really enjoy on mobile.
But if we look at the VPN providers as a whole,
we've got a company that's been hacked in the past
and doesn't say a whole lot about their security practices,
then we've got a company who is open and transparent
about their level of commitment to your data.
It's a personal decision,
but since ExpressVPN is more than capable
in the performance department,
I would rather pay the extra cash
for a company I feel confident I can trust with my data.
Overall, I'd say ExpressVPN remains king
as the best VPN money can buy
and is my personal VPN of choice.
Next is TunnelBear.
Available for $60 a year,
TunnelBear is a bare-bones VPN
that has an even simpler UI than ExpressVPN.
With TunnelBear, you can change countries
but you can't select cities
and the streaming performance is generally bad.
Location spoofing did not work.
Even when connected to UK and Canadian servers,
I couldn't pull up region specific titles on Netflix.
I got an average of 323 megabits per second down,
but it's honestly hard to find much to like
about TunnelBear.
Their marketing and UI is a lot of fun,
but let's face it,
that cute bear isn't a valid reason to buy a VPN.
They do show a good commitment to privacy on their website,
showing off their independent security audits
and having a clear straightforward privacy policy
with a no logging policy.
There's no ad-blocker or any extra features in TunnelBear.
You basically open the app,
pick a country,
connect and go about your life.
There's also no router protocol available for TunnelBear.
So unlike every other VPN on this list,
you won't be able to run it directly on your router.
TunnelBear is owned by McAfee
which is a turnoff for some users.
I'm not a fan of McAfee,
but after several years of them owning TunnelBear,
it's clear they've allowed TunnelBear
to continue operating as a separate independent team.
So as long as this remains the case,
I don't have a problem with it.
In the end though,
TunnelBear simply isn't worth the $60 a year ask.
Look, if this were a 30 or $35 a year
and could undercut options like PIA,
I could recommend TunnelBear as a very basic budget VPN.
But when you can get Surfshark for $60 for two years
that offers significantly better performance and features,
I simply can't recommend TunnelBear for anything.
Last on the list is Windscribe.
Now, Windscribe is really a unique VPN
for a number of reasons.
First, it's already a compelling budget offering
at $49 a year,
but Windscribe offers a build your own plan option
billed at $1 per location per month.
This package offers you unlimited data,
and let's say you want a VPN based in your home country
then you want a VPN based in the UK, Canada
or Australia for streaming,
it could be any country,
but maybe I want a US server and a UK server for my needs,
I can get that for $2 a month billed month to month.
That's an insane deal.
Windscribe doesn't have impressive speeds on Windows
for whatever reason.
On Mac, I got a respectable
313 megabits per second download average,
but on Windows, I saw just in 98 megabit per second average.
I realize that speed
isn't the most important aspect of a VPN,
but there comes a point
when the speed is a serious bottleneck,
and at 98 megabits per second,
it was painfully slow loading shows on streaming.
But streaming worked wonderfully.
Windscribe just does streaming right,
I saw very high success rate across all platforms,
including Prime Video,
which is rare to see.
Prime Video seems to be the pickiest
of the streaming platforms when it comes to VPNs
and Windscribe totally crushed it.
Location spoofing worked for region-locked shows as well.
I also enjoy trying R.O.B.E.R.T,
Windscribe's ad-blocker on steroids.
Not only can you toggle categories
including a device wide ad-blocker,
you can also choose to block social media
or even make a custom domain blacklist.
From a privacy standpoint,
Windscribe is based in Canada
and has a strict no logging policy.
There's not a ton of information
on how their servers function on their website,
but they have a good track record
for keeping your data safe.
If you can get value out of the build your own plan package
or if you see value
to the advanced DNS features of R.O.B.E.R.T,
Windscribe is a great option.
So in conclusion,
if you're looking for the best streaming VPN,
NordVPN is for you.
Windscribe is a close second for streaming
especially with their build your own package plan.
If you want a great Jack of all trades VPN on a budget,
Surfshark is for you.
And finally, if you want the best VPN money could buy,
try to ExpressVPN.
So which VPN do you use?
I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments down below.
And if you liked this video,
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With that said,
I'll catch you guys next time.