Best VPN Service Providers to Evade Five Eyes

With more than 14 million users, NordVPN is one of the industry's most popular VPN service providers. It's a stand-out platform, thanks to its large server farm, excellent speeds, and long list of add-ons and features. The service is based in the Panama, which is outside the jurisdiction of any government spying mechanisms, including the Five Eyes. Furthermore, NordVPN refuses to comply with government requests for user data, having gone so far as to shut down servers in Russia and India in response to such requests.

NordVPN's user-interface is compact and easy to use. It has a Light Mode and a Dark Mode, and offers several languages, including English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese. A set of icons allows you to navigate the app for features and settings, each of which has a "Learn more about" link, in case you're not sure how that feature works. If you have a question about the service, you can always use the Contact Us interface to communicate with NordVPN's expert staff.

Among NordVPN's advanced features is the Dark-Web Monitor, which crawls the Dark Web looking for indications that your email address has been leaked, traded, or sold. NordVPN offers dedicated servers for p2p and torrenting, as well as a powerful Double-VPN system that masks your IP with a new IP, and then masks that IP, as well. Similarly, you can protect your VPN via The Onion Router (TOR)—a multi-layered encryption system that uses a collection of servers to hide each user's internet traffic—by using NordVPN's Onion Over VPN feature. None of these features cost extra, meaning you're getting a lot of protection with your membership.

If you want even more features, go to the Settings menu and select "Discover other Nord Products." There you'll find several paid add-ons, including NordPass, which generates strong alphanumeric passwords and stores them for you under a master password. You can also use NordPass to safely store your credit-card information. There's also NordLocker, which lets you store files to a secured cloud, and NordLayer, a business-network security mechanism. To be sure, the total cost for all those products can be prohibitive, so make sure to check out our various articles so you know you're only buying what you need.

PureVPN is housed in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), which are not actually within the jurisdiction of the UK—or any of the other Five Eyes agencies—despite the name. To the contrary, the BVI have strict privacy laws, making them an ideal home for a VPN. PureVPN enjoys expansive reach, due to its 6500+ servers, strategically placed in nearly 80 countries. PureVPN has over 3 million daily users worldwide. The platform reports some of the lowest speed-losses in the industry, with several servers yielding only 5% speed loss at 100Mbps. This makes it an obvious pick for torrenting, especially if you're hoping to download large files.

You should find the PureVPN user-interface straightforward. In the center of the Dashboard is a large button that clearly indicates whether you're connected, and below that are recommended locations. Initially, the app will recommend the fastest servers nearby, and overtime it will adjust to your needs. If you watch a lot of shows on Netflix the app will start to recommend the fastest streaming servers. If you mostly torrent, it will recommend the best p2p servers. You always have the option to select a different server manually—there are thousands of them.

There are certain features for which you'll have to pay extra. PureVPN offers a DDoS Protection that helps prevent hackers from shutting down your operation by overwhelming your system. PureVPN also offers Port Forwarding, which allows you to route certain activity through the VPN, while whitelisting other traffic. You can also order a Dedicated IP, and you can package that with the Port Forward at a reduced price. 9Ranks recommends DDoS-related protections for anyone running a business online, because the effects of a DDoS attack can cost thousands more than the dollar and change of the monthly add-on.

If you are interested in bundling your VPN with other services, PureVPN has you covered. PureKeep is a sophisticated password manager that generates and assigns alphanumeric passwords, securely stores your financial data and other private files, and allows for one-click logins and auto-fills. PurePrivacy is a digital security system that crawls your social-media accounts looking for data breaches and leaks. It also blocks targeted ads. PureEncrypt is an encryption tool you can use to protect all your personal files, before uploading them to your favorite cloud.

With its minimalist user-interface, lighting-fast performance, proprietary encryption protocol, and extensive list of servers, ExpressVPN has managed to create a world-class VPN. The company is based in the British Virgin Islands, well outside the reach of the Five Eyes. ExpressVPN reports over 3 million daily users taking advantage of the platform's 3000+ servers. Those servers have been strategically placed at 150 locations in over 90 countries, meaning you shouldn't have much trouble finding a relevant location. If you're not sure which location is best, try the Smart Location, which appears right under the Selected Location. Over time, the app will learn your habits and suggest the best possible locations for your needs.

The ExpressVPN interface was designed to be extremely intuitive. A large button in the top-center of the app tells you whether you're connected, and offers Suggested Locations and Smart Locations. That all you'll find on the dashboard—clean and simple. In the top-right corner is the so-called "hamburger menu," where you'll find the entire list of VPN Locations and the Options section. You'll also find the Help & Support link, as well as a prompt to Secure All Your Devices. Select this prompt and the app will send an email to the account you used to set up your membership. Simply open that link from any device to download a compatible version.

If you're looking to make adjustments to the interface, go to the Settings section, where you can choose different protocols, languages, and other important features. For example, you might want to try ExpressVPN's proprietary Lightway protocol, which they describe as a "next generation protocol, optimized for speed, security, and reliability." You can also create shortcuts to your favorite apps, such as Netflix, Chrome, and YouTube. If you're interested in split-tunneling, go to the bottom of the General section and select "Manage connection of a per-app basis."

ExpressVPN's TrustedServer system maximizes user safety by using RAM-only servers, which get wiped with every reboot. The information on these servers never reaches a hard drive, which means even if the authorities confiscate the physical servers, there won't be any usable data on them. ExpressVPN even re-installs its entire software stack every time they restart the servers. Nevertheless, whenever possible you should connect to a server outside the Five Eyes domain, just to be extra cautious.

Few countries have placed as much of an emphasis on privacy as Switzerland. Not only is the right of privacy guaranteed in the Swiss Constitution, in 2010, the Swiss Supreme Court ruled that country's right of privacy and strict data protections extent to one's IP address. As a result, no entity can compel the release of data held in a Swiss account without going to extreme measures. The consequences for sharing a digital data without permission is a fine of up to 250,000 Swiss franc (slightly over 250,000 euro). It's no surprise, therefore, that Switzerland is home to one of the top VPN and secured-email providers: Proton.

ProtonMail and ProtonVPN are the brainchildren of scientists and programmers from Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (CERN). When they weren't smashing atoms and trying to unravel the Big Bang, they were creating a state-of-the-art email service users could feel certain was safe from hacking and government intrusion. With the success of ProtonMail, they moved on their VPN service. There's a top-notch free version for those who only use a VPN on rare occasion, and the paid version offers all of the features one needs for daily security.

The desktop app has several language settings, including English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Polish, and Farsi. You can toggle most of the important features, including DNS protection, port forwarding, and alternative routing. There's also an accelerator that increases speed by as much as 400%, allowing you to stream in high-definition without any buffering issues. You can also create and easily toggle between various profiles, in case you've already selected your favorite servers.

ProtonVPN'S security standards are second to none. They use the most advanced encryption available, regularly updating the platform as the technology progresses. You can choose between OpenVPN, IKE2v2, and WireGuard, and you can activate the NetSheild ad-blocker to avoid all those annoying pop-ups. The ad-blocker helps speed up page loading, as those ads require time to load. The only feature that seems to be missing from ProtonVPN is access to dedicated-IP servers or addresses. Also, Proton would do well to add more servers, as its 1500-server count is well behind the competition.

Bitdefender is household name in cybersecurity, due to its ward-winning antivirus of the same name. The company currently controls around 5% of the global VPN market, and partners with a few dozen companies, including Scuderia Ferrari. Located in Romanian, Bitdefender is outside the jurisdiction of the Five Eyes and their European cohorts. The company doesn't store user IPs or traffic, which means your activities will be difficult, if not impossible, to retrace.

The free version of BitdefenderVPN actually comes bundled with the antivirus package, with its own button on the antivirus user-interface. The free version isn't bad, if you're an occasional VPN user. Unfortunately, it limits you to a mere 200MB per day, which means you can't use it for gaming, torrenting, or streaming. Serious users looking to save money will enjoy BitdefenderVPN's prices, which are below the market average.

BitdefenderVPN's Premium version has several important features, including an auto-connect mechanism that recognizes high-risk sites, financial sites, and sites with file-sharing protocols. Users can also input specific URLs for auto-connection. It also offers split-tunneling, which allows you to whitelist websites you do not believe require VPN protection. There's also a Dark Mode, for those with sensitive eyes.

Working in conjunction with the rest of the security suite, BitdefenderVPN does a very good job at protecting your computer against most dangers. You will suffer some speed loss, which is common when using a VPN, though Bitdefender's 40% drop in speed can be a tough irritating. Still, considering the price is below most of its competitors, and the option to enjoy a fully-integrated suite, users without extreme demands will find BitdefenderVPN more than adequate for their daily needs.

Boasting one of the largest server fleets in the industry, CyberGhost has become a popular choice for VPN users on a budget. The company is under Romanian jurisdiction, so there's no reason to worry about the Five Eyes, and the platform has a strict (and publicly audited) privacy policy. CyberGhost goes so far as to declare they have "no idea" what you do, as the "browsing history, traffic destinations, data content, and search preferences...are not monitored, recorded, logged or stored" by the platform. For that claim to have withstood a third-part audit indicates CyberGhost takes your privacy very seriously.

The CyberGhost interface is perhaps its only major flaw. It's not that the desktop app is difficult to use, but it does get a touch confusing at times. For example, when you select the My Account tab you land on the My-Account section, which has a button labeled "Manage Account," which opens a browser page. With so little else in that section, the process is needlessly complicated. Similarly, the Settings tab has a My Account button, which initiates the same unnecessary process. These might seem like "first-world problems," but in the super-competitive VPN market, such minor details can make all the difference.

Where CyberGhost shines is in its server fleet, which nears 10,000 servers strategically distributed across 90 countries. The fleet includes optimized servers for various activities. For example, there are Dedicated-IP servers available for the US, the UK, Canada, France, and Germany, but you'll notice that includes three of the five "eyes." It's not clear to what extent location translates to access, but those looking to avoid the Eyes entirely should be wary of those servers. On the other extreme, there are NoSpy servers located in Romania, and they are accessible to anyone with an annual subscription. These servers as a multi-hop mechanism that routes your VPN through yet another VPN.

Unfortunately, if you're looking to breach the Great Firewall of China, you'll have to look elsewhere. None of CyberGhost's 10,000 servers work well enough against China's technology to be considered reliable. The gaming servers are also a bit sluggish, due to an exaggerated ping-rate, but they do work. You'll just have to deal with a bit of lag. Streaming servers, by contrast, are brilliant. They successfully bypass all the geo-restrictions imposed by most streaming sights, including Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, and even the heavily restricted Amazon Prime.

Golden Frog, the parent company of VyprVPN, is extremely committed to internet privacy. In their 4000-word Vision Paper, "Peace, Prosperity, and the Case for the Open Internet," they delineate their views on privacy and freedom. To quote from the paper, "A society that dictates what we have the right to read and learn and seek and explore cannot be prosperous. Only a free and informed people can achieve prosperity and peace, and protect their liberties." This attitude toward freedom was the motivation behind their move from the United States (a Five-Eyes participant), to the privacy haven that is Switzerland.

To make things even better, Golden Frog's developers have created a world-class VPN protocol designed to maximize security. The Chameleon protocol is intended to prevent even the most sophisticated hacking attempts. Tests have shown that the protocol works well, but at the cost of speed. You should prepare yourself for speed-losses of up to 80% while running Chameleon. If you're focus is gaming and streaming, you might want to consider a faster platform. On the other hand, if you're focus is security, VyprVPN is one of the very best platforms on the market.

For example, if you're planning a trip to China, you'll want to use the Chameleon protocol to circumvent their restrictions. The geo-spoofing technology will even hide your location when you're on your mobile device. Tracking your whereabouts becomes all but impossible, which is important for journalists and political activists. The platform has version for Windows, MacOS, iOS, Android, Blackphone, Blackberry, most routers, and even specialized systems likes Synology NAS.

The VyprVPN interface is sleek and intuitive, and new users shouldn't have trouble navigating it. The dashboard clearly indicates whether you're connected, and a button at the bottom invites you to select a different server. While VyprVPN only has around 700 servers, they are intelligently distributed. You can toggle the Wi-Fi Protection, the Kill Switch, the Automatic Reconnect, the various protocols, and all the other features from the settings menu. If you want to set specific apps to open with VyprVPN, go to the Connection Per App section, which is VyprVPN's split-tunneling interface.

Surfshark is an award-winning VPN that offers a long list of premium features, excellent speeds, extensions for most devices, and a successful track record. Because Surfshark is housed in the Netherlands, they are technically exposed to the Nine-Eyes system, but they are not directly exposed to the Five-Eyes system. Furthermore, the platform doesn't collect any user data, and uses RAM-only servers, which don't store anything. That means even if some government agency were to show up and confiscate the servers, it would be extremely difficult to extract any user-information.

The Surkshark GUI is very easy to use, and shouldn't take more than a few minutes to master. There's a connect/disconnect button on the bottom of the dashboard, along with a short list of suggested servers. At the top you have buttons that take you to your Favorite list, the Locations list, as well as Static-IP servers, and MultiHop servers. If you don't want to use the suggested servers, you can browse all of these for better connections, based on your needs. Then you can select the star next to the server you choose, to save it to your Favorite list.

It's important to understand that speed is directly linked to distance, so if your goal is to stream something, you'll want to select the closest server from the Fastest Server list. Similarly, the MultiHop feature needs to run your connect through several points, which means it's more secure in exchange for much slower speeds. To its credit, Surfshark is extremely fast, with speed-losses rarely exceeding 20%, unless you use the MultiHop. It's also important to use the WireGuard protocol whenever possible, as it's by far the fastest protocol.

Surfshark also offers CleanWeb, a comprehensive security mechanism that blocks ads, trackers, and any attempts to add malware to your computer. The ad-blocker is quite powerful, allowing you to enjoy sites like YouTube without interruption. The Bypasser features is basically a split-tunneling system that allows you to select websites that don't require VPN. The No Borders feature allows you to sneak past oppressive firewalls, such as the Great Firewall of China.

While much of Europe has latched on to the idea of government surveillance, Greece remains a bastion of personal privacy. ZoogVPN elected to move their operations there from the Isle of Man to Greece for that very reason. ZoogVPN takes great pride in their privacy policy, which among the strictest you'll find. According to the policy, they have a "zero-logs VPN," that only collects your email address—and even that only for administrative purposes. It also promises that email "will never be given away or sold."

ZoogVPN has several key features, including a kill-switch, leak protection, and torrent-friendly servers. It also offers ZoogShadowing, which promises to breach the most restrictive firewalls, such as those in the UAE, China, Iran, and Turkey. In addition, ZoogVPN boasts impressive speeds, making it an excellent option for streaming and gaming. On the other hand, it doesn't manage to unlock Netflix, so there's still some work to be done. It fairs better with the other streaming services, such as Disney+ and BBC iPlayer.

The problem with ZoogVPN is that it's server county is so low, you're likely to face repeated connectivity issues. That places gamers in a tough spot. On the one hand, they get the speeds they want at a very attractive price, but they have to risk getting disconnected at a critical juncture and perhaps even losing their character. It can also be a problem for games like chess, where a disconnect can lead to forfeit. Torrenting isn't as much of a problem, as torrent clients can easily start from where they left off.

If you're in the market for a very cheap VPN, ZoogVPN is an option, though there are several other platforms offering cheap VPN services. On the other hand, if you're not a gamer and your only reason for getting a VPN is to avoid government surveillance, ZoogVPN offers a good service at one of the lowest price points on the market.