Want to hide your IP address? Looking for anonymous web surfing? How about the best security over a public Wi-Fi? Looking for the best way to download torrents or access blocked websites while at school or work? Traveling and need to unblock those geographically restricted websites? Get all that and more by renting from one of the top VPN services.
Often word of mouth and personal recommendations work well for finding hairdressers, discovering new restaurants, or selecting a family dentist, but buying service from a provider requires a little research. Customers want a VPN for specific individualized needs. It is important to know that the server you connect to will work with you and for you.
Unfortunately not all services are created equal. Some are not as anonymous as they claim while others deliver less than expected services. The market space for VPN providers is becoming crowded and the consumer can quickly get frustrated.
Let VPN Hawk help. Below are the top VPN services for the most popular categories. If you are looking for some sort of specialty service we have many reviews that you can see towards the end of this page.
Top all-around service: Private Internet Access (PIA)
Highly anonymous VPN: NO logs, can sign up anonymously, can pay anonymously
Servers: fast VPN Servers and a lot of them. Servers are located in only 10 countries but adequate coverage for most users with higher concentrations providing better service.
Best VPN client software: uses all major protocols and highest encryption
Customer service: support you can count on
Devices: supports Linux, Mac, Windows and every major mobile device
Other recommendations: featured on Business Insider, Lifehacker, Forbes, PC Magazine, Torrentfreak, MSN money, Gizmodo, Kiplingers’s, PC World, Network World, and more.
Private Internet Access starts with anonymity requiring almost no information during sign up. They accept payment by almost every means known to man including bitcoin and all major gift cards. Their VPN servers are the best and they have more than most other VPNs. Great service, great, support and great price makes them best all-around VPN. Click here to read more in our Private Internet Access VPN Review or visit their site directyl HERE.
Best China VPN and best for torrenting: Tourguard VPN service
Highly anonymous: NO logs, can sign up anonymously, can pay anonymously
Best for China: One of the few VPNs that get around deep packet inspection used by countries like China, Egypt, Iran to sensor and block VPN access.
Best for torrents: Has special torrent proxy servers set up specifically for torrenting
Best client software: uses all major protocols and highest encryption
Devices: supports Linux, Mac, Windows and every major mobile device
Torguard is the best at overcoming censorship and geogragical restrictions through the use of its stealth VPN and smartDNS services. It will connect where other VPNs fail. Click here to see a more in depth review of the Tourguard VPN service or go directly to their site HERE.
Best geographic coverage: Hide My Ass (HMA)
Anonymous: Does store a time stamp and IP address at long on. Does not store details or monitor websites. Can sign up anonymously and pay anonymously.
Best for geographic coverage: HMA has servers in over 70 countries.
Best client software: uses all major protocols and highest encryption
Devices: supports Linux, Mac, Windows and every major mobile device
If you need to hide your IP address and access to a lot of different countries then Hidemyass is for you. They manage over 77,500 IP address in over 70 countries to mask your IP address.See our complete Hide my Ass VPN review HERE or Click here to go directly to the HMA website.
Best for small business and best for China: VyprVPN
Anonymous: Does store for 30 days user’s IP address, connection start & stop, bytes used. Does not log websites or monitor traffic
Best for small business: Business admin account, two logins per user – one mobile device and one computer, NAT firewall, write their own software, and own all their own hardware.
Best for China: VyprVPN’s proprietary Chameleon technology allows it to conquer the “Great Firewall of China”.
Devices: supports Mac, Windows and every major mobile device
Other recommendations: featured in The New York Times, GIGAOM, PC Magazine, Lifehacker
Cheap VPN with just about everything a small business needs. Business administrator account gives your employees two logins each for unlimited fast connections with over 200,000 IP addresses on 700 servers across 40+ countries. Company offers online storage as an additional service. Click here to learn more about the VyprVPN service or you can visit the VyprVPN site HERE.
StrongVPN
Based in the United State, StrongVPN is a large and popular provider of virtual private networks. There have been some issues regarding its reputation and attitude around privacy. Their privacy policy seems adequate on paper, but they have developed a reputation of taking immediate action against those sharing files on torrents. StrongVPN has also been found to not be the most forthcoming when it comes to details regarding their technical security. Learn more about this top rated VPN in our StrongVPN Review.
Express VPN
The simplicity of the Express VPN service is what makes so many people choose this as their VPN service. With both computer and mobile applications, Express VPN has quickly become one of the easiest services to get up and running for any level of user. Learn more about this top level service in our Express VPN Review.
BTGuard
With a major endorsement from TorrentFreak, an activist website that promotes torrent privacy, BTGuard has become a very popular service. With an obvious emphasis toward bit torrent users this particular service is a prime destination for those who want to downloads lots of information. They do have full VPN services and you can read more about them in our BTGuard Review.
Specialty VPN reviews
While the four services above are definitely the most used we see there are serveral other types of service that are niche VPNs. These allow you to get the exact service you need and many times pay a little less for that service. The specialty VPN services that we have reviewed so far are:
- Laptop and personal computers
- Mobile devices
- Multiple simultaneous login
- Small businesses
- Best services for Canada
- Best services for China
- Best services for UK
- Best services for USA
More and more Internet users are becoming aware of the fact that almost every move they make on the Internet is being tracked, and for what little that is not being tracked there is someone out there actively seeking to do so. With ISPs, schools, businesses, and governments spying, throttling connections, or outright blocking connections, privacy and access are being trampled on constantly. Today accessing the Internet over a public Wi-Fi easily exposes users to those trying to sniff log-ins, passwords, and banking information. The Internet has become a dangerous place, an accident just waiting to happen.
So it is not at all surprising that millions of people have decided to take matters into their own hands. Most people want to protect their rights to access, privacy, and security over the Internet. Singing up for a personal VPN service is easy and there are now many inexpensive options available. Unfortunately some VPN services are not as anonymous as they claim while others deliver less than expected services. With the market space for VPN providers becoming crowded reading all the reviews and trying to determine which service best meets a particular need can quickly become frustrating.
We here at VPN Hawk will make finding the best VPN service providers quite easy. We have done all the leg work, read the VPN reviews, visited all the top VPN providers, and in general given the VPN market a shake down. We make one recommendation for the best all-around VPN service provider. We also provide information on other notable top VPN providers that may specialize in an area or provide other interning services. WE even put together this guide to help you understand how a VPN works for you.
Save money, frustration, and be secure. Pick one of the top services from our VPN reviews. Thank you for visiting VPN Hawk.
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