I made a spreadsheet comparing different open source VPN providers. I will be making a version 2.0 to add some requested changes.
Providers
Notes
- Please do not start a flame war about Proton.
- Please do not start a flame war about cryptocurrencies. Monero is the only cryptocurrency listed because of its privacy.
- The very left column is the category for each row, the middle section is the various VPN providers, and the right section is which VPNs are the best in each category.
- IVPN has two differing plans, which is why “Standard” and “Pro” are sometimes differentiated.
- For accounts, “Generated” means a random identifier is created for you to act as your account, “Required” means you must sign up yourself. Proton VPN allows guest use under specific conditions (e.g. installed from the Google Play Store), but otherwise requires an account.
- Switzerland is seen as more private than Sweden. Gibraltar is seen as privacy neutral.
- All prices are in United States Dollars. Tax is not included.
- Pricing is based on the price combination to achieve the exact time frame. For example, Proton VPN does not have a 3 year plan but you can achieve 3 years by combining a 2 year plan with a 1 year plan.
- The availability section is security based. Availability is framed around a GrapheneOS and secureblue setup.
- The Proton VPN Flatpak is unofficial, but based on the official code.
- Availability on secureblue is based on the
ujust install-vpncommand. Security features must be disabled on secureblue in order to use the GUI for IVPN and Mullvad VPN, but not for Proton VPN. Mozilla VPN and NymVPN are available as Flatpaks, which are safer than layering packages. - I wanted to include more categories, such as which programming languages they are written in, connection speed, and security, but that became far too difficult and complex, so I decided to omit those categories.
Takeaways
- NymVPN is very very new, but it’s off to a strong start. It wins in almost every category. I actually hadn’t heard of it until I started this project.
- If you want a free VPN, Proton VPN is the only one here that meets that requirement.
- If you want to pay week-by-week, IVPN is the only one that allows that.
- If you’re paying month-by-month on a budget, Mullvad VPN is the cheapest option.
- NymVPN is the cheapest plan for anything past 1 month.
- If you want to use Accrescent as your main app store, IVPN is the only VPN available there for now.
- If you want to pay for a bundle of apps, including a VPN, Proton sells more than just a VPN.
- Mozilla VPN is terrible. The only thing it has going for it is a verified Flatpak, but NymVPN also has that so it doesn’t even matter.
ProtonVPN has started to become blocked on tons of websites. I have to switch servers all the time, to the point I won’t be able to keep a VPN connection up like I used to.
I’ve read Mullvad has worsened as well. There seems to be a general ban on VPN use (there was always some of course)
My last hope: non profits who offer VPN. They keep logs, don’t allow torrenting, and require a real name to subscribe. Very few server choices, if any.
I’m… fine with that. I just want privacy. No surveillance. And I trust the non profit. Plus I torrent on a VPS anyway
What I would like to see are local VPNs, with a small enough pool of users on each server to not get flagged. A rotation between servers from time to time. Compliant with the law of course (as long as the law doesn’t require total surveillance, evidently). The goal is to hide everyone’s activity from the providers and websites (yes, I know, fingerprinting)
But maybe there’s some other existing tool/service I’m not aware of?
Does using a VPS truly enhance safety while torrenting? Isn’t it still possible for downloads and uploads to be traced back to your identifiable IP address, especially considering that the VPS provider logs your IP and email details?
VPN on VPS (easy to do with gluetun)
Basically you use a container that’s a VPN connection and connect other containers to it.
Exactly this, the commenter above even mentioned they have a VPS already, what’s stopping them from (this is just an option) slapping tailscale on there, enabling it as an exit node and being done with it? Would literally take 5 minutes and suddenly your traffic is coming from a datacenter and not your home IP