What is the best VPN service? What do you use? & how does it compare in pricing? | Hacker News Reader

What is the best VPN service? What do you use? & how does it compare in pricing?

5 pointssneha19956 comments

What is the best VPN service? What do you use? And how does it compare in pricing?

Some popular VPN services with good reputations and features include ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Surfshark, CyberGhost, and Private Internet Access (PIA). Each of these VPN services has different strengths and weaknesses, such as speed, security, user interface, and server locations, so it's important to compare them and select the one that meets your needs.

In terms of pricing, VPN services usually offer different pricing plans, which can vary based on the length of the subscription you choose. For example, if you sign up for a longer-term subscription, you may get a lower monthly rate. ExpressVPN is typically the most expensive of the popular VPN services, with plans ranging from $6.67 to $12.95 per month depending on the length of the subscription. NordVPN and Surfshark are both relatively affordable, with plans starting at around $3.71 and $2.49 per month, respectively. CyberGhost and PIA are also relatively affordable, with plans starting at around $2.25 and $2.08 per month, respectively. However, keep in mind that pricing can change over time and may vary based on promotions and discounts.

I'd like to hear more about benefits for daily use and not in advertisement form or with someone's X% off code as I see that as purely selling something (stares hard at content creators). Regarding the features/weaknesses you list, my perspective is:

Speed - gotta be slower than without since its pushing your network traffic through somewhere else and/or encrypting it. Encryption and re-routing isn't a time-free computation. Gaming is probably impacted by this, especially if I already deal with NAT inside the LAN for multiple people/systems.

Security - I want to understand more practical use cases around this. Do all VPN's mask your traffic to your ISP? What are practical uses for a VPN with security features for someone that isn't downloading content or using streaming services from other countries?

UI - meh. If I can figure out my router and other crappy UI's built w/o good design/UX I can figure out a VPN's UI.

Location - I can't think of practical use cases where I care to change/spoof my internet location.

Paying $2-13/month for something needs to have some hard, practical benefits and I can't see what they are for a VPN. What do HNers use it for?

What’s your use case?

Mine may differ from yours but I’m on the road a lot and I wanted protection while using a wifi at a coffee shop, etc.

If you are a google one subscriber(more drive and photo storage) then their vpn is free. It’s useful because there’s a app for devices and they auto connect. Never had a issue with speed.

I know folks use vpns to change locations for geo location based content, which this doesn’t do, but if your looking at a similar use case as me you may already have google vpn.

I run my own on a few VPS providers

In the "run my own" category, I run OpenVPN or Outline

I use clearVPN because it comes standard in my Setapp subscription and it does a good enough job for my limited use (geo unblock, occasional p2p download) I’d only recommend it in context of it being included for “free” thru the setapp bundle

Why is this upvoted? This is clearly a spam post

It's Mullvad.

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