Don’t let it go to your head, but everybody wants you — more specifically, your browsing data. Personal information about the links you click on and the sites you visit is highly valuable to third parties, including your internet service provider (ISP) and Google, who may want to share or monetize it. Certain government and law enforcement agencies are also eager to peek at your activity online for their own surveillance purposes, as horny Texans learned earlier this year.
One way to reclaim some of your digital privacy is by getting a virtual private network, or VPN, a service that creates an encrypted connection between your device and one of the VPN provider’s private, remote servers before spitting it out onto the open web. In plain English, that means you can browse the internet without being tracked.
Why do you need a VPN?
Even the best VPNs can’t make you totally anonymous on the web — the providers themselves can still see what you’re doing while you’re using their servers. But they can secure your data and hide your true IP address from prying eyes on the outside. Likewise, a “no-log VPN” promises not to collect or log any information about your activity. (To ensure your data stays safe, we follow a lengthy testing protocol before recommending a VPN.)
While not its primary purpose, a VPN’s ability to conceal your real IP address also makes it useful for spoofing your location. This will allow you to bypass geo-restrictions on content that’s not available in your country or region. If you’re someone in the U.S. who wants access to a streaming service like BBC iPlayer or ITVX, for example, a VPN can make it happen.
What is the No. 1 best VPN?
Deciding which VPN to trust with your privacy and your money can be tough, especially if you’re not familiar with the technology, which is why we’re testing and re-testing a slew of popular VPN services. As of mid-2024, we believe TunnelBear is the best free VPN we’ve tried so far and NordVPN is the best premium VPN we’ve used. Read on to learn more about them (and a couple of alternatives).
Note: Prices for most VPN providers’ long-term plans change frequently. The rates below were accurate at the time of publication.