this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2025
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Privacy

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A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

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submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by Charger8232@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
 

VPN Comparison

After making a post about comparing VPN providers, I received a lot of requested feedback. I've implemented most of the ideas I received.

Providers

Notes

  • I'm human. I make mistakes. I made multiple mistakes in my last post, and there may be some here. I've tried my best.
  • Pricing is sometimes weird. For example, a 1 year plan for Private Internet Access is 37.19€ first year and then auto-renews annually at 46.73€. By the way, they misspelled "annually". AirVPN has a 3 day pricing plan. For the instances when pricing is weird, I did what I felt was best on a case-by-case basis.
  • Tor is not a VPN, but there are multiple apps that allow you to use it like a VPN. They've released an official Tor VPN app for Android, and there is a verified Flatpak called Carburetor which you can use to use Tor like a VPN on secureblue (Linux). It's not unreasonable to add this to the list.
  • Some projects use different licenses for different platforms. For example, NordVPN has an open source Linux client. However, to call NordVPN open source would be like calling a meat sandwich vegan because the bread is vegan.
  • The age of a VPN isn't a good indicator of how secure it is. There could be a trustworthy VPN that's been around for 10 years but uses insecure, outdated code, and a new VPN that's been around for 10 days but uses up-to-date, modern code.
  • Some VPNs, like Surfshark VPN, operate in multiple countries. Legality may vary.
  • All of the VPNs claim a "no log" policy, but there's some I trust more than others to actually uphold that.
  • Tor is special in the port forwarding category, because it depends on what you're using port forwarding for. In some cases, Tor doesn't need port forwarding.
  • Tor technically doesn't have a WireGuard profile, but you could (probably?) create one.

Takeaways

  • If you don't mind the speed cost, Tor is a really good option to protect your IP address.
  • If you're on a budget, NymVPN, Private Internet Access, and Surfshark VPN are generally the cheapest. If you're paying month-by-month, Mullvad VPN still can't be beat.
  • If you want VPNs that go out of their way to collect as little information as possible, IVPN, Mullvad VPN, and NymVPN don't require any personal information to use. And Tor, of course.

ODS file: https://files.catbox.moe/cly0o6.ods

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[–] redhilsha@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 days ago (8 children)

Proton is essentially the best free VPN huh.

[–] kami@lemmy.dbzer0.com -3 points 1 day ago (7 children)

If you care about privacy no.

If you just need to unlock regional content then it should be good.

[–] redhilsha@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Keyword being "free".

Could you suggest a better VPN that's free?

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There probably aren't any, because when a product like that is free, that means you are the product nearly 100% of the time.

[–] redhilsha@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I agree.

Though, it's not that deep. I was saying how it's the best amongst the free ones. I'm not saying it's the best in general.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 19 hours ago

And I'm saying that they're probably all shit.

[–] kami@lemmy.dbzer0.com -2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is the Privacy community though and the keyword should be "privacy"

[–] _cryptagion@anarchist.nexus -1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

you recommended Mullvad, a VPN service in Germany of all places. the same Germany that works with the IDF and the United States on intelligence sharing and spying on citizens. I don't think you should be criticizing people about privacy.

[–] kami@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago

LMAO

First of all Mullvad isn't German.

Second, they have already proved they respect customers privacy.

Get your facts straight and don't cry if someone criticizes your favorite corporation.

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