Welcome to this page which is devoted to VPN comparison. If you are willing to get an overview of the advantages of using a VPN service, the aspects you need to pay attention to when choosing a provider, as well as the best contenders, then you are in the right place.

It is not a coincidence that VPNs are considered to be a great solution for any type of online user. Why? Well, thanks to VPNs we can enjoy a higher level of privacy while running our virtual activities. This benefit is not to be underestimated having in mind how many potential threats we can encounter. However, it is also true that it is not so simple to pick up the perfect VPN fit for our needs. Therefore, it helps to have access to opinions and recommendations, as well as some comparisons of the features and services.

We hope that by the end of your reading you will have all the answers to your burning questions related to this topic. So, take the time to go through the article and do not forget to enjoy it!

Why Use a Virtual Private Network

It is often said that VPN services are extremely needed and useful when it comes to the business context. Even if this is 100% accurate, we also need to take into consideration the role they can play in the process of ensuring greater protection for personal users than traditional firewalls. In fact, VPNs enable users to hide their true identity and avoid potential hacks that otherwise might be harder to deal with.

As far as personal VPN users are concerned, the majority of them are really placing the most importance of being able to navigate the internet without being concerned about being tracked and monitored. And this is not surprising, at all. Whether you are aware of it or not, being allowed to block cookies when using a browser does not guarantee that you are not traced when you search for information online. On the other hand, you will be able to enjoy browsing and searching whatever you are interested in, as long as you make use of the encryption offered by VPNs.

When it comes to business, a VPN comparison is necessary. What VPNs do is provide users with the opportunity to access the internet of their company even if they are outside the office firewall. As a result of this, businesses are capable of extending their private network across public services (like the internet). This process resembles the utilization of wide area networks (WAN) by websites. One limitation associated with traditional VPN services has to do with the fact that they do not always support broadcast domains. However, we need to admit that providers have been working on that issue for a while, so various solutions are already popping up.

All in all, we can summarize the benefits of using VPNs in the following way. First, you can enjoy complete privacy when you download and upload files. Second, you can gain access to restricted secure content without being inside the respective network. Third, you do not need to worry any longer about privacy when you happen to use public Wi-Fi hotspots. Also, you are protected against monitoring and tracking. And last, but not least, you can cloak VOIP phone calls, too.

About The Top 3 VPN Providers

In the coming section about VPN comparison, we are about to present to you our top 3 VPN providers, as well as the most relevant features associated with each one of them.

1. AirVPN

The first contender we advise you to have a look at is called AirVPN. It has an interesting story actually. A couple of activists and hackers came up with it in the form of a project back in 2010 at a Pirate festival in Rome. Since then AirVPN has been recognized for providing both fast, reliable, and transparent service, as well as high security for the customers. What also contributes to the popularity of the company has to do with the excellent technical expertise. Thanks to it individual claims are always precisely taken care of in no time.

If we need to summarize the features of AirVPN, when we make a VPN Comparison, then we would like to mention the transparent server status and bandwidth reports; the shared IP; as well as the lack of any logs. In addition to that, they provide up to 3 simultaneous connections; support for Tor, OpenVPN over SSL and SSH; great forward secrecy and port forwarding on Ports 80 TCP/UDP, 53 TCP/UDP, and 443 TCP/UPD. Last, but not least, if you choose AirVPN, you can gain access to more than 60 servers in 14 countries.

2. Private Internet Access (PIA)

Private Internet Access, or PIA, is the second provider that is worth taking into consideration when you make your selection. What it is famous for is the consistency in speed performance and its encryption. What is more, have in mind that PIA belongs to the few U.S. based companies that manage to provide their service at affordable prices without keeping any logs. The multiple security scandals associated with businesses headquartered in the United States have resulted in some consumers having doubts whether to work with them. In spite of this, according to the PIA representatives, they have never come across any challenges when it comes to the NSA.

As far as the most attractive features of Private Internet Access are concerned by VPN comparison, we need to definitely mention that users who are not willing to get 100% of their connection proxied can benefit from the so-called SOCKS5 proxy. In addition to this, there is support for DD-WRT, pfSense, and Tomato routers. You can make use of simultaneous device connections and P2P, too. When it comes to protocol, you can choose between PPTP (simpler to set up, but less secure), L2TP/IPSec and OpenVPN. And the countries where PIA has servers apart from the US include Canada, the United Kingdom and 8 more.

3. BolehVPN

Last, but not least, let us bring to your attention BolehVPN – a provider founded in 2007 and based in Malaysia. Even though it is quite a small company, BolehVPN is considered to be one of the leaders when it comes to the Asian market. As a result of the lack of data retention laws there, there are really no logs that are kept by BolehVPN. What is more, not only is there a full-featured desktop client which makes the service easy to use, but the whole technology is really focused on increasing privacy and avoiding censorship.

Once again, the main features are considered to be the lack of logs, the SmartDNS (in the US), the VPN through Tor and the desktop client with VPN kill switch and DNS leak protection. In addition to them, it is worth mentioning that there are shared or dedicated IPs, servers in 11 countries, and up to 2 simultaneous connections available. Furthermore, you can benefit from both OpenVPN and L2TP/IPSec protocols, as well as port forwarding.

What to Focus on by VPN Comparison

As we said, making up your mind which contender to go for might be really challenging and confusing if you do not know where to start from. Therefore, we consider VPN reviews quite useful. Figuring out what the advantages and disadvantages associated with each respective provider are, you can pick up the perfect fit for you without wasting a lot of resources. So, the categories we encourage you to take into consideration whenever you check VPN providers include the software, performance, pricing, and features, privacy, security; transparent operation, as well as website and customer support. Getting informed about all these aspects and using them as criteria in the selection process will definitely help you a lot!

What VPN Pitfalls to Avoid

No matter what kind of service we use, there are always factors that can lead to not picking up the perfect fit for our needs and preferences. So, however, useful VPN comparison charts might be, do not make the mistake of completely relying on them. Instead, analyze the information that is provided to them and then bases your decision on your particular case. Nobody can know your own reality better than you, right? In the rest of the article, we present four typical pitfalls we encourage you to avoid when choosing a VPN.

1. Do not expect your VPN to be the ultimate security measure

Even if VPNs undoubtedly contribute to a higher level of security, you cannot rely only on them. After all, they are supposed to actually serve as a way of extending device security features, not replacing them. Also, do not forget that the user’s ISP is more or less critical for the VPN service to take place. So, make sure you check thoroughly the compatibility between your ISP and VPN, as well as whether the ISP can handle the protocols.

What is more, we need to warn you that it is not 100% accurate to say that VPN services do not log consumer traffic. For instance, when it comes to some free and subscription options, keep in mind that they do not always care that much about consumer privacy. As a result of this, there might be some bottlenecks and holes that might enable other users on the VPN to log user activity.

2. Misunderstanding bandwidth usage can lead to performance issues

When we talk about VPN comparison, companies can get guaranteed bandwidth thanks to the dedicated lines of data service, regardless of the traffic load. So, having in mind the sharing protocols used in the public network sector, nobody can provide you with any guarantees related to bandwidth use. This is why performance issues are not uncommon even if the VPN software is correctly installed. Unfortunately, VPNs cannot work faster than the slowest internet connection between the two endpoints, in addition to which there might be issues associated with real-time applications and interactive software (for instance, streaming video or voice conferences). Last, but not least, be clear about the fact that there are various standards and protocols followed by the separate providers. So, it would not be a surprise if they are not always compatible with each other.

3. Be prepared for complexity and costs

VPN Comparison can’t be easy. Newcomers often find it challenging to deal with the compound nature of the VPN service which is caused by the multiple network protocols, topologies, hardware equipment and even providers necessary for establishing a tunnel. Still, it is much easier to create a network when you are a personal VPN user rather than when you are a corporate one. What you need to do, is just subscribe to a service and download their software. And after that, you just log into the system by using the credentials. In comparison with this, it is not uncommon for companies to be forced to hire network specialists to be able to get the network configured, deployed, and administrated. So, as you can imagine, it might turn out to be quite costly to benefit from such an additional personnel and equipment when it comes to the average consumer.

4. Do not overlook what protocols are offered

Last, but not least, take the offered protocols into consideration. This is where VPN comparison charts come in handy. As we mentioned above, PPTP is a simpler installation option provided by a lot of contenders. However, it is less secure than OpenVPN or even L2TP/IPsec protocols. Having in mind that security applies both to the VPN and the user’s system it is worth being aware of these details, right?

It is not realistic to believe that every provider is going to be good for you no matter what kind of user you are. Despite the fact that all VPN services are supposed to be focused on privacy take a note that the protocols they follow are not the same. So, make sure you are clear about the differences between the various services before you move on to providing yourself with a paid subscription. Also, do not make the mistake to base your decision йуст on the monthly fee. Other features and services might turn out to be as crucial if not even more.

Final Words

As we saw, there are multiple reasons why it is worth to at least consider using a VPN service. Also, we had a look at the top 3 VPN providers (AirVPN, Private Internet Access, and BolehVPN) you might be willing to pay attention to in the selection process. Last, but not least, we outlined some common pitfalls associated with VPNs, as well as what you can undertake to avoid them. We hope that this article focused on VPN comparison has helped you gain clarity so that now you can quickly move on and take care of your privacy by picking up the perfect VPN for you.

VPN References