Our experts spend hundreds of hours regularly testing VPN apps to give you only the best and most up-to-date buying advice. Well, after another round of deep dives, there are some big changes in our best VPN rankings.
While some testing sessions have been less eventful – often confirming rather than revolutionizing our top VPN list – there have been quite a few interesting changes this time around. From checking unblocking and threat protection capabilities to speeds, server network, pricing and new releases, some providers have scored major wins at the expense of some big names.
Keep reading to see what’s changed, what hasn’t, and what it all means for you. Understanding the reasoning behind our rankings is crucial to choosing the best software today based on your needs.
NordVPN remains Ny Breaking’s favorite
Before we look at what has changed with the new VPN rankings, let us first confirm what has not. Good news for all our loyal readers who have trusted our previous buying advice: NordVPN confirms itself as Ny Breaking’s top choice again this time. This round of testing again reveals brilliant performance from Nord, in fact across all its apps. We are especially happy to see that the speeds and unblocking results are still at the top of the rankings.
Did you know?
A VPN, short for Virtual Private Network, is security software that encrypts your internet connection to secure all data leaving your device. It also spoofs your real IP address and location to increase your online anonymity and give you access to otherwise geo-blocked content.
We’ve also recorded many improvements to the browser extensions, including location spoofing, which tells your browser to use the VPN’s virtual location, and completely rebuilding the Firefox extension to improve security. Likewise, there are also some improvements with the Meshnet feature, including faster file sharing and the ability to personalize device names to make them easier to recognize.
More importantly, NordVPN has significantly upped its game in terms of malware and phishing protection. The recently launched Threat Protection Pro has already proven to be a highly effective security tool and uses AI to help identify newly created threats. Yes, you’ll need to upgrade to a higher level than the basic plan to use this tool, but our results show it’s worth it for your online security.
Surfshark steals second place
Now let’s look at something juicier: the ranking changes.
Surfshark has achieved a silver medal in our top VPN list for the first time ever. While the best cheap VPN provider rose to second place, ExpressVPN fell to third place as a result. Multiple factors influenced our decision, which can be summarized as Surfshark offering more consistent performance at a fraction of the price of Express.
For example, let’s look at the speed results. NordVPN and Surfshark were still consistently faster than ExpressVPN, if only slightly. While the latter peaked at 898 Mbps with the WireGuard-based protocol, the others consistently reached over 950 Mbps this time as well.
When using Surfshark, we also enjoyed more stable streaming unblocking. That’s because ExpressVPN had a few failures with some Netflix connections. Eventually every country was unblocked, but sometimes it took two or three tries – making Surfshark a much more reliable Netflix VPN option.
Last but not least, ExpressVPN is a much more expensive service compared to Surfshark or NordVPN. In the past we placed performance and technical infrastructure above this factor, but in the absence of the former we had to take this difference into account.
That said, Express recently dropped its price for the first time. The one-year subscription dropped from the previous monthly amount of $8.33 to just $5.32 per month. While this is still a far cry from the convenience of Sursfhark ($2.79 per month for the same plan), it certainly puts Express in a more competitive place in the market.
Proton VPN knocks PIA out of the rankings
The changes among our top VPN picks don’t end there, though. The Swiss provider that is also behind one of the most secure email services and cloud storage solutions, Proton VPN has risen from #6 to #4.
Once again there is a mix of reasons behind this choice. For starters, Proton VPN was once again among the fastest VPNs we tested, peaking at 950+Mbps alongside the top two choices when connected to the WireGuard protocol.
We were also impressed by the boost from the server network, which now has locations in 112 countries – even more than NordVPN or ExpressVPN. Proton VPN’s global dominance is also significant as the provider focuses on areas that competitors may overlook, such as Africa (Proton has 22 servers as opposed to NordVPN’s 7) and Asia (42, compared to ExpressVPN’s 34 and 32 from NordVPN).
While PrivadoVPN, the best free VPN service of the moment, remains in the same position (#5), a popular provider had to say goodbye to the top five. Private Internet Access (PIA) has now fallen to sixth position after a few years in fourth place.
This decrease is mainly the result of Proton’s improvements. In addition, the PIA speeds did not make much of an impression: 436 Mbps when connected to WireGuard. Ny Breaking’s lead reviewer Mike Williams also found the provider’s customer support experience a bit “poor” as the team stopped answering his questions at one point.
How we test VPNs
We take our review process very seriously and strive to conduct regular VPN testing to provide only up-to-date recommendations. To do this, our experts conduct a rigorous series of tests designed to determine the strengths and weaknesses of each VPN service.
The testing process begins by gathering as much technical detail as possible about each product. These details range from network size and server locations to supported protocols, encryption methods, security features and independent audit results. Reviewers then compare the information and conduct internal testing accordingly.
Many factors need to be verified to assess the reliability of VPN software. Is the privacy and security infrastructure in line with industry standards? Does it work as promised? Does the VPN offer fast connections? Does it unblock geo-restricted content without any problems? How is the provider’s customer support?
To answer all these questions, reviewers perform many practical tests, including speeds, unblocking streaming, and various security checks. You can read more about our testing process on our methodology page.
Mike Williams
Mike is a real nerd and has been our main tester for years. He is responsible for our speed analysis, stream unblocking tests, and functionality testing. He’ll discover if a kill switch isn’t holding up under stress, and if your IP address is likely to be leaked. Mike always peeks behind the scenes to see how a VPN app is coded to reveal the truth about a VPN’s build quality. He also tests VPN apps on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Fire Stick and Roku. View author page
In short
It is important to emphasize that these ranking variations are an accumulation of many factors, but do not mean that ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access (PIA) are no longer valid services.
All providers listed in our guide are safe and worth subscribing to. With these new pieces of information, you can shape your purchasing choices according to your own needs.
Do you need more servers in Africa and Asia? Proton VPN may be the best choice. Is connection speed a determining factor for you? You should probably consider NordVPN or Surfshark instead of PIA. And so on.
It’s also worth reminding you that all of the VPN services in our rankings have some form of money-back guarantee (typically 30 days). This means you can try them out risk-free and decide for yourself whether the software is really good value for money – for you, that is.