One of the perks of having Windows as your operating system is that you have a lot of options when choosing one of the best VPN services (or any software, for that matter). Virtually every VPN service caters to users of the most popular desktop OS in the world with a variety of features. However, with a massive selection of possible VPN services, that only makes choosing one more difficult. Luckily, as ever, we are here to help.
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How to choose the best VPN for Windows
Microsoft’s latest operating system, Windows 10, is a significant improvement in terms of security and protection. Even so, there are some widely discussed, controversial privacy issues pertaining to the OS, and what’s more you can never be ‘too’ secure, let’s face it.
When picking a Windows VPN service, you should look for good all-round performance with a little bit of everything – a friendly client, P2P support, clearly written and straightforward privacy policy, and so on.
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Then there’s the matter of pricing as not every service is worth the money they’re asking. Sometimes paying a little bit extra ensures a superb experience, but other times a cheaper service provides the optimal quality.
Yes, there are some difficult choices to be made for sure, which is exactly why we’ve done all the legwork and selected our five best VPN services for Windows across various different categories. You won’t go wrong with any of these.
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This VPN features a well-designed client (although we did find that the Windows client may be more susceptible to network issues than rivals) that offers a wide array of both basic and advanced settings, with enough options to satisfy even expert tinkerers. The service is one of the best for torrenting and other P2P traffic, as well.
In our testing, we witnessed a significant increase in download speeds (close to 20%) which is fantastic, obviously. IPVanish has a firm no logs policy in place, and more than adequate protection with 256-bit encryption over OpenVPN, PPTP, and L2TP protocols.
The slight drawback is this is a little pricier than much of the competition, and there’s no free trial either. However, IPVanish does offer a 7-day money-back guarantee across all three of its pricing plans. The 1-year subscription clearly provides the best value. The packages available are:
NordVPN is a mainstay on many ‘best of’ lists for several good reasons – although the one that matters most is its tight security. The service offers a certain number of ‘Double VPN’ servers which pass your data through two separate VPN servers, not just one, which makes things even more secure. You can also route its encrypted traffic over the Tor network, adding another layer of security, along with the existing KEv2/IPsec, OpenVPN, PPTP, and L2TP protocols.
The client is easy-to-use, featuring a compact interface that has all the essentials and then some. NordVPN is P2P-friendly and has a ‘zero logs’ policy, although on the downside, the privacy policy doesn’t make it clear whether any session logging takes place. The performance of this VPN is above-average, too
There's a free 3-day trial (but it's tucked away here), and NordVPN is rather affordable (aside from the monthly subscription), offering four plans with a 30-day money-back guarantee. The best value option is the 2-year plan. The packages available are:
Hotspot Shield’s rather colourful client provides all the necessary basics which are simple enough to use, but lacks extra settings options. The low number of server locations doesn’t help either, but what you’ll really like here is the performance levels. This VPN posted some excellent results in our testing, with only marginal latency increase and a bit faster upload and download speeds compared to our normal rates.
It also features the standard security protocols with an added bonus of cloud-based malware protection. The privacy policy is favourable, deleting data which might be recorded upon ending the VPN session.
Perhaps the most questionable aspect of Hotspot Shield is its pricing. There are four plans, each with a 45-day money-back guarantee, including a ‘lifetime’ subscription which could work out very cheaply in the long run, if you don’t mind making that much of a commitment. The packages available are:
- [$17.19 a month] 1-month
- [$11.90 a month] 6-months - $71.40
- [$7.93 a month] 1-year - $95.16
- Lifetime - $158.83
This Slovakian-based provider runs its own network, DNS servers, and infrastructure. And this definitely shows as the performance levels were well above-average and fairly consistent when we tested TigerVPN. The global choice of available servers certainly helps the cause here.
The dedicated Windows client is very user-friendly, too. However, it only offers some basic options, with advanced settings being few and far between – but that’s not likely to bother novice users. Another issue with the service is that you only get two simultaneous connections with the monthly plan, which means those looking for a genuine multi-device experience need to subscribe to the yearly plan.
TigerVPN is P2P friendly and while there's no trial, there is a 7-day money-back guarantee. There are three affordable price plans to choose from, and subscribing for a year gives you the best savings, plus you get up to five simultaneous connections (rather than two), along with bonus features like a password manager. The packages available are:
VyprVPN owns and manages its VPN network, and it shows. We witnessed blazing speeds in our performance tests, with download speeds more than doubled compared to our regular rates. More than 700 servers in 70+ locations spread across the globe helps to guarantee a reliable and speedy connection wherever you are.
The provider offers an easy-to-use Windows app, packed with features like a kill switch, fastest server selection, and the company’s Chameleon technology that’s designed to enable users to defeat VPN blocking and throttling.
There are some other interesting security features as well. Apart from the standard security protocols and 256-bit encryption, a NAT Firewall and VyprDNS are provided here. The favorable privacy policy clearly states that there is no logging of traffic or online activity. However, note that some session logging occurs in the form of recording connection times and IPs.
Users can try the service for a 3-day period at no expense, which comes in very handy as VyprVPN doesn’t allow refunds in any way, shape or form. There are only two plans, based on monthly and annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are expensive so your best option is the Premium plan (which has the full gamut of security features) with annual billing. The packages available are:
- Basic: $9.95 monthly or $5.00 per month billed annually
- Premium: $12.95 monthly or $6.67 per month billed annually
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