Which VPN is worth your time, and who should you trust with your money? Well, that’s exactly why we have designed our VPN Tier list into five tiers to help our readers make an informed decision.
BecausetThere are a lot of VPNs out in the market, with new ones seemingly popping up every single day. From ads on websites to YouTube, it’s almost impossible to avoid them if you spend any significant amount of time on the internet. And we’re here to help you narrow your choices.
Key Points
- The article has ranked a total of 19 VPNs.
- These VPNs are ranked based on their services, capabilities, and price.
- You will see Nord VPN, Atlas VPN, and Surfshark VPN among the top ranks.
- In the bottom ranks, you will find Opera VPN, Celo VPN, Hola VPN, etc.
Summary
To categorize the VPN into tiers, we have attached a table below.
| S Rank | A Rank | B Rank | C Rank | D Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nord VPN | Express VPN | Cactus VPN | VPN.AC | Avast SecureLine VPN |
| Surfshark VPN | Torguard | Hotspot Shield | Trust.zone | Celo VPN |
| Atlas VPN | Vyper VPN | Hide.me | Fastest VPN | Hola VPN |
| Cyber Ghost | Betternet VPN | Zenmate | Opera VPN |
S Tier
S Tier.The S tier includes the best of the best without any doubt. It includes those VPNs that are perfect in all aspects and used for high-end applications. They provide the highest security, privacy, and other similar services to their customers.
Nord VPN
Nord VPN is normally considered the first choice of someone who can’t compromise on privacy security-oriented people. The second fascinating thing about it is its headquarters in Panama. Meaning that non of your data or history is getting into the hands of the Government. According to the no tax and accountability law working in the country. Nord VPN is a trusty choice even in countries like China, where VPN use is restricted.
Nord is a paid service offering various plans for their users to experience. Like most good VPN services, it also powers Netflix and has a service ranging to almost 5200 in the count, spread around 60 different countries, making its access way broader. It also offers great speeds and not just that, it also includes anti-virus and a kill switch. Nord offers its users great pricing, easy payment options, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
| Monthly | $14.49/$12.99/$11.99 |
| Yearly | $89.88/$71.88/$59.88 |
| 2-Year | $143.76/$107.76/$83.76 |
Surfshark VPN
Surfshark ranks second in the run of best VPN available globally. Compared to Nord VPN, it has a lesser number of servers. 3200, to be precise, spread in 95 different countries with 160 data centers. It has relatively lower pricing than the other top-rated VPNs in the business. This factor makes it consumer-friendly in many backward and third-world countries too. Moreover, another exciting fact about Surfshark is that it is supported on many devices.
It can be powered on Gaming Consoles, Smart TVs, Windows, Android, Mac, IoS, and much more. That makes its diversity very high, making it one of the customer favorites. Surfshark is a consumer-friendly VPN because it offers customers a free 30 days trial before making their payments. In addition to that, you can power unlimited devices simultaneously. Interestingly, it also includes GPS faking functions, making its layers of security even more efficient. Lastly, its encryption policy is very strict, making it a safe option.
| Monthly | $12.95 |
| Yearly | $47.88 |
| 2-Year | $59.76 |
Atlas VPN
Lastly, we’ll talk about the third VPN from the S Tier of the VPN Ranking List. Atlas is a good all-around service at comparatively good rates. It offers infinite device connections at the same time for their customers. It is available for windows, ios, macOS, and Android, giving rise to its versatility. Atlas provides a high level of security to its users. It can be known that when you’re joined on the same server, it has a feature that will automatically keep your online activity anonymous.
The VPN has 750 servers in more than 40 locations globally. Atlas VPN offers a wide range of P2P connections, which it widely supports. Rapidity is one of the many features of the VPN. It is considered to be an outstanding value for money. It has a superior level of customer support and services. They also offer their customers VPN Protocol. In 2022 Atlas VPN was declared one of the most reliable services. The data encryption level is of Military Grade Security.
| Monthly | $10.99 |
| Yearly | $49.01 |
| 3-Years | $71.49 |
A Tier
A Tier.The next rank of the VPN Tier List 2023 comprises the second-best set of services that are used by customers according to their needs. These are not as good as the ones in the S tier.
Express VPN
Express VPN is known for respecting the user’s privacy and for the absence of data-sharing contracts with various other countries. Therefore, the demand for Express VPN is quite high due to the enhanced number of server locations, device flexibility, and multiple software for its routers. This company operates in the British Virgin Islands and is a private entity. Moreover, the company has claimed that the VPN provides a single package with unlimited bandwidth and easy access to all supporting apps. The company also ensures the availability of its support team 24/7.
It costs an individual around $12.95, but the company makes sure to give discounts to users willing to pay in advance for the next 6-12 months, which results in the reduction of costs from $9.99 to $8.32. Express VPN can be used for almost 30 days without interruption. In addition, the VPN’s download speed is calculated to be 475 Mbps within all locations; its working is considered faster than CyberGhost and IPVanish. While using Express VPN, a user can’t complain about slow speed. The company asserts that Express VPN utilizes a military-grade encryption protocol to protect against leaking any of its user’s data.
| Monthly | $12.95 |
| 6-Months | $59.95 |
| Year | $99.95 |
TorGuard
Torguard’s network to date is spread across 50 different countries and 68 physical locations. The website brags about Torguard being one of the fastest VPNs and claims it provides 3k+ gigabit sites with limitless internet capacity. That results in higher speeds and is considered an advantage. The supplier of TorGuard assures that it is one of the safest VPNs one can have since it respects the user’s privacy. Torguard can be easily used from any location within China. However, the services are no more provided in Mainland China but can be easily accessed from within Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Japan.
Moreover, TorGuard uses AES-256 security by default; just like all other top-notch VPNs. It also lets you choose between opting for blowfish encryption or completely turning off the encryption. However, by now, these settings can only be manually configured for the TopGuard app. In addition, guards no longer utilize the SHA-512 algorithm that was once considered highly reliable within the verification process.
Using TopGuard has both its pros and cons, but considering it to be in our top tier, the pros weigh more than the cons; hence it provides great privacy to the users by making them eligible to take control of their authentication system, encryption strategy the ports to block both IPv6 and WebRTC leaks automatically.
| Monthly | $9.99/$12.99 |
| Yearly | $59.99/$69.99 |
Vyper VPN
Vyper VPN uses AES-256-GCM, SHA384HMAC, and TLA-ECDHE-RSA-2048, which safeguards OpenVPN traffic with the support of military-grade protection. If an attacker wants to attain your network’s information, the VPN protects your previous data, and only the current session is accessible to them. In addition, Chameleon 2.0 is considered a unique protocol to VyperVPN that aids in avoiding restrictive VPN firewalls. Although because of some imposed restrictions upon virtual private networks in countries like China and Iran, one can’t check out the feature.
Moreover, the plus point of a VPN is that it aids in getting rid of any security issues within networks. In case of the connection dropping, all the applications using this specific VPN will shut off the user’s internet access to respect their anonymity. A technique used by VyperVPN is called Chameleon, which aids in limiting internet traffic caused by corporations, governments, or internet service providers. In avoiding any kind of firewalls, the chameleon is considered an incredible protocol compared to PPTP, L2TP/IPsec, and OpenVPN. Moreover, all the transmitted data using VyperVPN is fully encrypted.
| Monthly | $10 |
| Yearly | $60 |
Cyber Ghost
Cyber ghost provides its customers with a 45 days satisfaction guarantee. Moreover, it performs incredibly amazing with both the WireGuard as well as with OpenVPN. Cyberghost is making several amendments to its service and still doesn’t take any blame from the customers in case there’s a glitch while working. Just like any other VPN service, the cyber ghost also logs some selected amount of information. However, it also promises that it won’t record pieces of information regarding data transmitted, locations visited, and connection timestamps.
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In addition, it is practically impossible with any VPN to confirm or refuse any company’s no logs guarantee. Zero tolerance logging policy is known to be a prominent CyberGhost’s marketing campaign. These are easy words that mean that the company won’t have any records of website cost by the user, any information shared by the user, or anything a user typed in the search engine. The service also ensures that it won’t keep any records of the IP addresses used by the user or the total time they spend on the website. Moreover, the company also ensures its users that the servers provide the fastest download speeds.
| Monthly | $12.99 |
| 6-Months | $41.94 |
| Yearly | $56.97 (first-timers get extra 15 months with this) |
B Tier
B Tier.B rank is the next category on the VPN Tier List 2023. It comprises some solid and recognized services, but they have some factors that they lack a bit compared to the ones that lie under the S and the A tier.
Cactus VPN
Speed is considered fast when we connect the servers set nearby; however, the speed seems to get slow when servers are set further apart. Moreover, during multiple testing, a was considered that the internet speed reduces when CactusVPN is being connected. In addition, the download speed from different country servers was also recorded, considering 21.16 Mbps from an American, 18.04 from a British, and 14.81 from a Canadian server.
A user’s protection while using cactus VPN is satisfactory, as it provides Open VPN and IKEv2. The built-in kill switch is easily transformed into however and whatever the user needs. An appropriate email address and a unique password are required to create an account on the website.
CactusVPN claims its users can have hands-on experience with multiple restricted websites and services, and Netflix US is considered top of the list. Connecting to Netflix is easy and can be easily done by connecting to the website’s 4 domestic data centers in the United States. After getting in touch with customer support, it was clear that geographical factors in no way restrict the service provided by the service.
| Monthly | $9.99 |
| 3-Months | $23.99 |
| Yearly | $69.99 |
| 2-Year | $94.99 |
Hotspot Shield
Provides clients with different packages, be it a paid or free VPN service. Currently, it’s been used by about 650 million users; hence it’s safe to say that it’s the most widely used private network provider. When a user upgrades to the VPN’s commercial version, he gets exempted from advertisements, whereas the bandwidth increase, and the server can be used within 70 countries. The applications are Ip, DNS, and WebRTC leak free. In addition, the VPN’s subscription enables its user to view premium content on HBO, DAZN, Hulu, and other sites. The claims and statistics show that hotspot shield got 3000 servers in around 80 countries.
The customers can’t be satisfied even though customer care is always there to answer clients’ questions. However, the website doesn’t provide the user with in-depth information regarding their concerned areas. Moreover, the premium subscription allows its client to use the service on up to 5 gadgets at a time. In addition, the hotspot shield’s guidelines and customer care help its clients get the router set up right, and the firm gives away routers with already installed VPNs.
| Monthly | $12.99/$19.99 |
| Yearly | $95.99/$143.88 |
Hide.me
Hide.me was introduced to the public in Malaysia back in 2011. The VPN service is trying its best to provide the best services from its end. However, sometimes issues arise that the service doesn’t work efficiently. Hide me has introduced proxy extensions for all Mac, android, iOS, windows, and fire Tv. While considering the company’s claim, it’s been said that more than 10 million people are using this service. Moreover, the VPN can be used free of cost since a user’s freedom of choice isn’t questioned. The company states an extensive server network is part of the premium membership in around 66 cities and 2000 countries.
Many servers have been tailored according to the unique needs of America in American streaming providers; however, many don’t work. Moreover, if a client has access to the free version of hide.me VPN, then his use is restricted to only 5 servers, along with a data cap of 10 GB each month.
| Monthly | $9.95 |
| Yearly | $69.95 |
| 26-Months | $89.95 |
Betternet VPN
Betternet VPN is considered a risky service since it doesn’t provide its clients the privacy it promised its clients, along with poor security options. Also, they don’t provide customer contact information since they don’t have anymore. The VPN is considered a total flop as it doesn’t connect to several commercial video-sharing websites. The plus point of using the service is that it won’t require any registration by the users, saving them a good 10 mins. However, the subscription price, etc, is very reasonable and affordable. The service came into being back in 2015 by a known Canadian firm which now is a subsidiary of Pango company.
The company isn’t reliable since it is known for covertly being indulged in spyware and various monitoring programs within the VPN software. The speed of the service is very unpredictable, and nothing can be said regarding it. Also, a contributing factor to it is the location, as it has a great impact on the VPN’s service. Within France, Germany, and the Netherlands, the VPN’s speed is quite appreciable, and the performance is great; however, there are multiple distortions while playing games, downloading files, and streaming videos and music. The privacy services are so down because its headquarters are in Canada; hence it’s concluded that the company isn’t located in a country that can safeguard users’ data.
| Monthly | €12.99 |
| Yearly | €95.88 |
C Tier
C Tier.Fourthly we will talk about the C rank of the VPN Ranking List. The tier comprises the average or slightly below-average VPNs and the major issue with these is usually their security issues.
VPN.AC
VPN.AC is an online community that’s been in action since 2009. To date, it can’t be anticipated that what contributed to its success was the quality of products or the eye-catching advertisements that brought a bunch of customers. The VPN isn’t considered as reliable as it claims while considering its streaming speeds and various security protocols. Although promising not to keep the connection logs records, it still manages to keep them for the next 24 hours, which is not everyone’s cup of tea.
Server migration of the VPN also takes ages, and even then, the performance isn’t up to the mark. Moreover, according to the company’s claims, torrenting is allowed on these VPNs. Hence the client can easily download music, movies, or games of their interest, considering the limitations imposed by the server. But after sever tests, it’s been concluded that torrenting is only accessible by a few servers. VPN.ac works efficiently in iOS and Android gadgets and supports routers like OpenWRT, Tomato, etc.
| Monthly | $9 |
| 3-Months | $24 |
| Yearly | $58 |
| 2-Year | $90 |
Trust.Zone
The performance is good but considering its speed, that doesn’t satisfy the clients. Moreover, with reasonable prices, it’s only accessible to clients with Windows and a very limited server network. Trust.zone’s each subscription provides only 3 licenses to its clients. AES-256 encryption is used by all the protocols neglecting WireGuard and SOCKS5. It is a safe option to keep up with a client’s privacy. The VPN also provides other options that one should consider, such as FTP and HTTP, which are both unsafe to be used.
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Trust.Zone provides a limited option of 170+ servers to choose from. However, it provides its services within most countries, considering that it is provided in 90+ time zones. Using their application, one can easily browse the servers from countries like Asia, the US, Africa, North America, etc. While considering the server’s speed, it easily gets affected when you are distant from the server. That might be caused due to lower number of available servers.
| Monthly | $8.88 |
| Yearly | $39.95 |
| 2-Years | $55.99 |
Fastest VPN
The service was started in 2016 by a Cayman island-based VPN company. Initially, only a limited number of servers and other basic functionalities were offered. However, in 2020, several customers can easily find more than 350 servers installed in 31 regions. Although the company states that it’s high on privacy, despite all the claims, it still struggles to be ranked high with other top-class VPNs. Users are eligible to install this software anywhere because it supports OpenVPN. However, not everyone has access to a streaming subscription.
FastestVPN is easily supported by all the modern gadgets introduced fill date. It can also be easily accessible by Linux; however, it doesn’t have any software. There are many downsides to using the VPN, considering it costs too much per month. Moreover, daily maintenance and upgrades are considered necessary for running the application. In addition, it doesn’t use the WireGuard security protocol. A lot of complaints are recorded, claiming glitches and unnecessary disruptions.
| Monthly | $7 |
| Yearly | $24.95 |
| Lifetime | $40 |
Zenmate
Zenmate is a very common and mediocre-level VPN, which we often see on our phones as well. The VPN is relatively cheap and supports Netflix, too, in the US. Despite being a very low-rated VPN, it still offers P2P file sharing and decent security settings. They also offer subscriptions for their continuous access.
The VPN can stream Netflix, BBC Iplayer, and Amazon Prime videos, but it has flaws. It is considered that its privacy statement is not very clear. They are also reported to cause a generalized slowdown in browsing pace. It also faces issues with a limited number of mobile applications to which it can be applied. Its speed has been tested quite a several times, and it was found that its operating speed wasn’t impressive at all.
| Monthly | $10.99 |
| Yearly | $53.88 |
| 3-Years | $59 |
D Tier
D Tier.Lastly, we will discuss the D rank of the VPN Tier List 2023. The VPNs mentioned under the D Tier have the worst attributes and are the least liked by customers. Some of these VPNs are reported to be not even called VPNs. They need many things to be improved about them to be consumers’ first choice. They have serious security and functionality concerns.
Avast SecureLine VPN
The service became accessible to customers in 2014 either as a subscription to Avast or as they were willing to pay for it on their own. It is a time-saving service since it can be downloaded quickly. Moreover, it’s designed to be pretty convenient for the users. In addition, the implementation is very simple and provides strong encryption that makes it very convenient for the military to bring it into their use.
Moreover, it provides very weak streaming, too, with weak p2p servers. The interference it provides is pretty complicated. While using the service, Netflix streaming isn’t child’s play. However, to provide customers with the privacy they require, this service has employed a convenient combination of military-grade 256- bit AES encryption, OpenSSL, and OpenVPN.
| Yearly | $55.08 |
| 2-Years | $105.36 |
| 3-Years | $158.04 |
Celo VPN
Celo protects its client’s data with the help of two-factor authentication and uses SOCKS5 and SHADOWSOCKS proxies. The VPN also includes DDoS protection for all the memberships it has granted, free of cost, preventing cyber attacks on one’s system. Celo is very cheap, which means an easily affordable VPN. The best part about the VPN is that it keeps no data records, respecting clients’ privacy. Moreover, it provides a free trial session for individuals to attract them to their service and gain loyalty. Moreover, it can be used on six gadgets that too at once; however, in other words, it means 6 active connections.
The downside of it is that it can only be used on PCs and not mobile phones, making it very inconvenient. Technical assistance by the company is too slow, as the response time is too slow. While accessing the web and applications like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Netflix, doesn’t have to rely on any other application since Celo avoids any sort of restrictions imposed by the content providers and ISPs and circumvents the geo-blocks. The bandwidth is too low, and the services aren’t up to the mark. Moreover, because it is situated in Australia, it doesn’t save any records to its servers.
| Monthly | $6 |
| 3-Months | $16.50 |
| 6-Months | $32 |
| Yearly | $58 |
Hola VPN
Although it provides free services to people around the globe, that generosity by the company doesn’t mean that you can overlook all its flaws. This connection is built up due to the peer to peer networking. However, the company also makes use of the peer to peer caching. Moreover, clients must use geo-blocking if they are accessing some domains.
Hola application lets the requests go across the internet connections and computers of clients in areas that aren’t blocked which further doesn’t allow any sort of blocking. Those clients who have access to the company’s free service are eligible to share idle upload bandwidth to provide the cache data to other clients.
| Monthly | $7.49 |
| Yearly | $46.68 |
| 3-Years | $53.64 |
Opera VPN
The problems that makes Opera one of the worst picks are numerous. Its bad network performance makes it a very low-priority pick for customers waiting to use good VPNs for all-day use. It is sometimes not considered a VPN because of its poor customer service and reservations. The VPN is very particular, as it works only in Sync with the Opera browser. Things do not end there. It has some serious privacy concerns.
Reportedly the VPN has given its user information to the police quite a few times. Hence, it can be a marketplace for the rest of the people to access your personal information. Unfortunately, the service does not use VPN tunneling technology. Instead, it simply uses the simple TLS encryption Technology, which is of a very base level and is used in HTTPS websites.
| Monthly | $7.99 |
| 6-Months | $29.94 |
| Yearly | $47.88 |
Comparison Table
| Name | Tier | Monthly | Yearly | 2 Year | 6 Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nord VPN | S | $14.49/$12.99/$11.99 | $89.88/$71.88/$59.88 | $143.76/$107.76/$83.76 | |
| Surfshark VPN | S | $12.95 | $47.88 | $59.76 | |
| Atlas VPN | S | $10.99 | $49.01 | $71.49 | |
| Express VPN | A | $12.95 | $59.95 | $99.95 | |
| Torguard | A | $9.99/$12.99 | $59.99/$69.99 | ||
| Vyper VPN | A | $10 | $60 | ||
| Cyber Ghost | A | $12.99 | $56.97 (first-timers get extra 15 months with this) | $41.94 | |
| Cactus VPN | B | $9.99 | $69.99 | $94.99 | |
| Hotspot Shield | B | $12.99/$19.99 | $95.99/$143.88 | ||
| Hide.me | B | $9.95 | $69.95 | $89.95Â | |
| Betternet VPN | B | €12.99 | €95.88 | ||
| VPN.AC | C | $58 | $90 | $90 | |
| Trust.zone | C | $8.88 | $39.95 | $55.99Â | |
| Fastest VPN | C | $7 | $24.95 | ||
| Zenmate | C | $10.99 | $53.88 | ||
| Avast SecureLine VPN | D | $55.08 | $105.36 | ||
| Celo VPN | D | $6 | $58 | $32 | |
| Hola VPN | D | $7.49 | $46.68 | ||
| Opera VPN | D | $7.99 | $47.88 | $29.94 |
Verdict
So we finally conclude the tier list after extensively explaining the five basic tiers into which VPNs are divided. There are a lot more on the market, but we could not possibly include all of them in a single article.
There is also a high chance that you might disagree with a lot of our placement, and that’s fine. If you think we made an error in judgement, please let us know in the comments below.