Who is your VPN provider, and why?

Question

I'm 24 hours away from the end of my three-year NordVPN subscription. I've been mostly happy with it from a technical perspective, but given the time that's elapsed since I subscribed, I'm scoping out options for alternatives.The commercial VPN space is affiliate- and referral-heavy, so I'm checking here for war stories, advice, perhaps brands or services to shortlist or avoid, etc.Thanks in advance.

candrews1 · Accepted Answer

I personally prefer using Private Internet Access, although I believe the HN scene is a bit sceptical of them after they were acquired.
Although this Reddit post does make me feel a bit more comfortable with them - https://www.reddit.com/r/PrivateInternetAccess/comments/dz2w...
YMMV, since your post hasn’t quite indicated why you choose to use a VPN.

Someone1234 · Answer

Without knowing what the purpose of the VPN is, it is hard to know what to recommend.Most people shouldn't be using a commercial VPN at all given the security and privacy problems inherent with doing so. The only popular reasons are to bypass geo-locking for services, full piracy, or because you're in an authoritarian country, and then you may want to ask in more niche communities for those things (since those are externalities beyond the scope of the VPN itself).

throwanem · Answer

Mullvad's been as good as any I tried, and you can just get an OpenVPN profile from them and use your own client rather than theirs. The price is good, too.

Egoist · Answer

I use IVPN. While it&rsquo;s pricey, the company cares about security and privacy. They publish a third party security audits frequently. I haven&rsquo;t had any issue using their service. They also support wireguard, which is a plus.

jqpabc123 · Answer

A VPN is really a security and privacy "black box" --- it's impossible to know that happens inside.That said, I wouldn't recommend anything that doesn't allow you to use your own client.

Trias11 · Answer

I use VPN that is not mentioned in any these threads.This was my principle and guarantee that VPN is not actually ran or controlled by the same actors you actually trying to avoid.

Who is your VPN provider, and why?

Mullvad's been as good as any I tried, and you can just get an OpenVPN profile from them and use your own client rather than theirs. The price is good, too.

I use IVPN. While it’s pricey, the company cares about security and privacy. They publish a third party security audits frequently. I haven’t had any issue using their service. They also support wireguard, which is a plus.

A VPN is really a security and privacy "black box" --- it's impossible to know that happens inside.
That said, I wouldn't recommend anything that doesn't allow you to use your own client.

I use VPN that is not mentioned in any these threads.
This was my principle and guarantee that VPN is not actually ran or controlled by the same actors you actually trying to avoid.