Is this VPN comparison breakdown trustworthy?
Is this VPN comparison breakdown trustworthy?
I'm shopping for a VPN providers, and really struggling to find a detailed and non-biased breakdown of the various options. A number of years ago, I recall finding an extremely detailed VPN comparison spreadsheet that had 30+ columns, which were contained criteria by which the VPNs were judged both quantitatively and qualitatively. I can no longer find that table, so I suspect it has been removed, but I did find the less-comprehensive table, below:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ijfqfLrJWLUVBfJZ_YalVpstWsjw-JGzkvMd6u2jqEk/edit?usp=sharing
In the thread posted by the owner of this sheet, a few commenters pointed out that the highest rated VPN providers in this table just happen to be the ones that advertise most aggressively and are well-known for buying positive reviews from tech blogs, which are pretty clearly designed to be misleading. I too am suspicious that this table can't be trusted, however I really am not knowledgeable about VPNs, so before passing judgement, I figured I should consult those who know more about it. I also recognize that a strong marketing team and an excellent product aren't mutually exclusive, however I think that generally applies more in markets where economies of scale play a significant role, as does mass-adoption, which fuels loads of well-informed, independent research (ex: the car market and phone market.) That obviously isn't the case with the VPN markets... but I'm still sorta holding out hope.
If I end up excluding this table, I'm not sure where to turn at that point. Shilling is extremely pervasive in the VPN market, so it's tough to trust any one person or any one thread. It's also well established that a few of the large VPNs actually own a number of review blogs, so I can't really trust blogs either.
I guess I'm here hoping to be told that my suspicions about this table are unfounded, and / or that another excellent, unbiased resource for comparative VPN info exists. Any help would be appreciated!
a few commenters pointed out that the highest rated VPN providers in this table just happen to be the ones that advertise most aggressively and are well-known for buying positive reviews from tech blogs, which are pretty clearly designed to be misleading
Exactly. This is unfortunately common practice, so this breakdown can be dismissed as they're obviously biased due to monetary motivations.
Consider to read Privacy Guides' take on the matter instead.
(Perhaps personal) TL;DR would be that Mullvad VPN in combination with Mullvad Browser offers the most private internet browsing experience for people who don't desire to connect to the Tor Network. Furthermore, Proton offers a suite of privacy-friendly services for mail, drive, password manager etc. Therefore, for the sake of trusting the least amount of parties for these services (at the cost of putting all eggs in one basket), one might consider Proton VPN instead; additionally it includes a free tier and some support to port forwarding (read: allows the use of torrent applications).
I did a lot of research a few years ago and settled on ProtonVPN. I won't say anything authoritative regarding privacy as I haven't done any recent research, but I've been very happy with the service so far.
I run a seedbox with all the traffic from qBittorrent tunneled through ProtonVPN and I've gotten up to 200 Mbps down through a few very healthy torrents before, and on dedicated speed tests I can pull down ~250 Mbps on my gigabit service. I've also never had it go down despite using the exact same server 24/7.
Their documentation is also amazing and they generate connection configs for Wireguard and OpenVPN on their website using provided parameters making it dead simple to get started.
I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this comment: https://lemmy.ml/comment/5989977
It seems that he's recommending against Privacy Guides (I assume it's the same one you're recommending?)
Not much to say regarding their first paragraph.
As for their second paragraph, perhaps they are rightfully sceptical regarding Privacy Guides. The body of topics they try to cover is substantial, though. And if TheAnonymouseJoker or whosoever disagrees with them, then they're free to challenge their views.
Privacy Guides isn't any kind of Gospel or whatsoever that you'd have to agree with in its entirety. I do believe, however, that they've done a tremendous job at offering a one-stop shop for those that are conscious regarding their security and privacy. Everyone is free to choose and pick whatever they like from there or not.
I would love to hear about other resources that do a similarly great job at providing at least decent information when it comes to security and privacy; FWIW thenewoil.org exists, however I don't recall any VPN overview/guide/recommendations from them.
I wish there were some descriptions per provider with the ratings. Mullvad gets constant tests by third party against their network and has proven many times they have a no log policy that's working, yet they got a 4 out of 5...
With only numbers and generic descriptions that don't quite match the truth, feels like this sheet is a little misleading. Also, I find it ironic that it's on Google sheets.
General consensus seems to be that it should be ignored. Your point is well received too. Thank you!
You're taking something simple and making it complicated. Go with known trusted VPNs that have a history of proving themselves. Mullvad, iVPN, Proton (most of their history is with the email, but that means something) they're all priced pretty close, no need for insane scrutiny.
Unless you're buying kilos of fentanyl and automatic weapons off the dark web, don't overthink it. Absent that, if your goal is simply hiding your IP and appearing in a different city somewhere, just grab a trusted one.
Thanks for the recommendations. Regarding it being easy and me making it difficult, I respectfully disagree, and would like to provide a bit perspective. If you're here replying I suspect you're at least a minor hobbyist, and I'm sure that privacy and security solution selections seems quite simple to you. I assure you, it isn't easy for everyone.
This particular market is literally overrun with intentionally deceptive and often very outdated information, which make it an absolute minefield for the uninitiated. I'm thankful I dove deep enough that I realized I needed to ask a question, because I may have ended up with one of the many much worse choices had I not asked.
Is this the r/VPN spreadsheet? They love affiliates. They once asked to partner with my r/privatelife subreddit, I pointed out some unreviewed VPNs and inconsistencies and they went silent.
Go to r/VPNTorrents, the only legit source of VPN info on reddit. Datahoarders and piracy people follow their advice. Ignore Techlore, PrivacyGuides and all those copypasta bloggers. They know nothing and are just quick enough to pick up on what's trending among pirates and serious privacy advocates.
Link to r/VPNTorrents' recommendations.
TL;DR: Only AirVPN and ProtonVPN are recommended. While, IVPN and Mullvad used to be until they discontinued port-forwarding; which makes them unviable for torrenting.
Link that provides Privacy Guides' opinion on AirVPN. It's basically rejected because there have been no audits.
Thanks, that is very helpful. For the record though, which PrivacyGuides are you saying I should avoid? Is it the site this comment mentions? https://lemmy.ml/comment/5985755
I also see that the person who replied to your comment linked a didn't Privacy Guides site.
Yes.
There seems to be a lot of discount codes and affiliate links which usually means payment from the providers to the person running the list. When money is involved, truth is often the first casualty, so I would take it with a grain of salt.
https://www.techlore.tech/vpn.html has a pretty good list, its open source so anyone can create an issue/contribute on github https://github.com/techlore/website/tree/master/assets/vpn. They're open about any affiliate links https://discuss.techlore.tech/pub/sponsors-affiliates and are pretty well regarded for an intro in to online privacy
https://www.privacyguides.org/en/vpn/ is also a great resource with a much smaller and stricter list with regards to privacy and tends to be my go to when I'm looking for a new privacy respecting service. I think they have a community here but I don't think its very active and they also have a subreddit which was pretty active the last time I was on it a few months ago
Thank you! This is extremely helpful!
I host my own on a vps where I pay $15 per year
So what if the vps hands your data to the feds and the feds are like hey, why was your vps torrenting Paul blart mall cop 2?
What do you say to that?
That’s my only concern with hosting my own vps.
That 100% correct, literally no different than just using your ISP at that point, zero control over the hardware and no ability to control the IP.
Where tf did you find a vps for 1.25$/month???
I cant find the website right now, but you can some similarly priced vps here: https://lowendbox.com/
@authed @grubbylarry I also used to host my own openvpn and wireshark servers on a vps. But later I shut them down. The thing is, vps will definitely trade your data if Gov pressure is high. Remember, data protecting is not their first priority being a VPS provider, their main priority is giving infrastructure to customers. But with vpn providers, their core business model is based on protecting users privacy (I am not saying all really do that, but many are bound to follow swiss laws or such)
@authed @grubbylarry Proton VPN free plan is even better than hosting vpn on a vps, because they atleast can claim of being protected by the Swiss law, so atleast they can protect your data by that. Whereas you can't even sue your vps if they share your data with anybody, because nobody knows if they really did it. Additionally the problem of dedicated ip is there always.
Check that https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/3080693
Is that July 20th, 2019, or July 19th, 2020? Regardless, I'm under the impression that the VPN world (or really the tech world in general) evolves waaay too quickly to rely on information that's either 3 or 4 years old. Also, as I'm typing this, I also think I saw info that That One Privacy was acquired by a company that sells multiple VPN services, a few of which are included in that sheet if I'm remembering correctly.
EDIT: Confirmed.
I have been using NprdVPN for 5 years. Speed is pretty good, and their zero-log policy have been proved by 3th party. They also use RAM only servers which is better.
It may be a bit expensive though.
I do like that thirth party reassurance
NordVPN undertook three independent audits to prove their no-logs policy. You can check that with a quick search online.
That zero-log thing was not entire true though when they had a leak in a server in Finland or whatever it was?
I am not sure about that particular leak and the kind of data that was leaked, but I am pretty confident about their zerolog policy as today. NordVPN has undertaken not one, but three independent audits, which is more than other known VPNs.
Many websites confirm their clams, like those ones:
https://www.vpnmentor.com/blog/nordvpn-no-logs-policy/ https://www.tomsguide.com/features/nordvpn-logs-is-nordvpn-secure-does-it-keep-logs-and-can-you-trust-it https://www.tomsguide.com/news/independent-audit-confirms-nordvpns-no-log-policy-for-the-second-time
But in the end it is up to you if trust it or not. For me it is pretty good.
It does seem a bit sporadic. Surfshark seems to be on top above other providers like Mullvad and ProtonVPN. It might have a bit to do with how it weights various criteria.
What VPN is best for you really depends on what you value. A bunch of people left Mullvad for example because they no longer offer port forwarding which can complicate things like bit torrenting for example.
I use PIA, it was recommended to me by a cybersec friend of mine. It’s dirt cheap as well. $79usd for like 3 years I think?
I know OP has stopped updating it but, to me, r/vpntorrents still has the best guide on recommending a vpn provider - https://www.reddit.com/r/VPNTorrents/comments/rikthc/list_of_recommended_vpns_2022/
Privacyguides.org is another good resource.
They seem to recommend AirVPN pretty heavily. This comment points out some potential issues with that recommendation.
I just posted a thread on that sub inquiring about it, because I haven't really seen it addressed by that sub yet. I guess we'll see what the response is.
I think between daiqo and the users at privacyguides the concerns you mention are well accounted for. To me, this from daiqo stood out as why AirVPN ends up being an easy choice for a lot of users.
"Additionally, there are not that many alternatives left. Mullvad is obviously the gold standard and IVPN follows, but both don't have port-forwarding anymore. OVPN got acquired by Pango. Proton is a good alternative but not so viable for macOS users. There are a bunch of others but you'll always need to compromise much more than with AirVPN."