There certainly are a lot of VPN review sites out there. Of course I’m biased, but I think I’ve got the best VPN review site out there.  There are a couple of reasons why my VPN reviews are the best.

• + I’ve used the VPNs I review
• + I give full disclosure about making commissions on the VPNs I review
• + I review VPN services in a concise, easy to understand way
• + I don’t outsource my reviews

To tell you the truth, a lot of other websites just outsource their content, stick it up on the web, and then pay other people to link to it.  Though you’re more likely to find their web pages in Google, you’re more likely to stick with a service you find on my site.  Anyway, enough about how great I am.

I’ve included some reviews of my favorite VPN services, and highlighted some of their features to help you find the right service.  VPNs have a wide variety of uses – some may be more appropriate for anonymous browsing, others for privacy features, and still others for streaming foreign TV and movies online.

Top VPN For Anonymity

IP Vanish is a relatively new company, but one thing that is unique about them, and stands out among VPN services is that they own their own VPN server network. I know that sounds strange, but surprisingly, a lot of VPN services use ‘Hosted” networks which means that they don’t have full control.  Sure, privacy policies and all that stuff say they protect your data, and they don’t keep activity logs, but at the end of the day, without full control of the network, you can’t do much about it.

IP Vanish also has a very simple system of $10 per month for full access.  Unlimited bandwidth, unlimited server switching, and access to PPTP, L2TP, and OpenVPN servers in one package.  There are 39 servers in 15 countries which is impressive considering that they own and maintain all servers in their network.

>>> Go To IP Vanish

Top VPN For Server Location

This one has to be IAPS Security or Hide My Ass.  IAPS has something like 120+ country locations including Antarctica, Iraq, Kazakhstan (Borat anyone?).  Plus, there’s a huge variety of VPN protocols, and they’re not badly priced.  You can choose 1, 3, 6, or 12 month options.  IAPS VPN also has an impressive privacy policy and offers other privacy-related features on their site.

Hide My Ass also has an impressive server network, spanning almost 50 countries and growing.  HMA’s website is easier to navigate, and includes PPTP, L2TP, and OpenVPN in one package.  They also come with a 1 month money back guarantee which is impressive.  There’s a support forum, and lots of freebies on the site, plus they frequently offer discounts for renewing members, so there’s plenty to be happy about if you sign up for HMA.

The main difference to note is that with IAPS you must choose 1 country, while with HMA you get access to ALL countries with one subscription.

>>> Go To IAPS

>>> Go To HMA

Top VPN For Device Support

12VPN has a lot of nerdy features which will appeal to those who have specific requirements about how they want to run their VPN.  One of these features is an extremely broad device support, including various smartphones, VPN routers, and even connection in VPN censored areas of the world.    You can complete and order in 2 clicks, and use the promo code “promo7286″ for a 10% discount.  iOS, Mac, Windows, Linux, Nokia, DD-WRT, Tomato, and more devices supported.

>>> Go To 12VPN

Top VPN For Price

StrongVPN offers an impressive VPN package for just $55 per year.  You get access to US and UK servers, or a choice of European servers.  The package is for PPTP VPN or OpenVPN for $85.  PPTP uses a dynamic IP and OpenVPN uses a static IP.  StrongVPN is a trusted VPN service that has been operating in the industry for many years.  They also offer live support.

>>> Go To StrongVPN

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France, The UK The US, New Zealand, and Australia are really on the internet monitoring bandwagon recently.  If it’s not piracy, it’s hackers, and they’re looking for ways to keep tabs on what you’re doing online.  Sometimes they say its for our own good. Sometimes they say it’s for the good of society.  Every time it’s super annoying.  An offshore VPN is going to be the best way to combat big brother, not matter where you are.

Now the term ‘offshore’ is going to depend on where your shore actually is, but chances are that you mean something in Central/South America or Asia.  I’ll try not to sound too shady when I say this, but their laws are different there, and there are a lot of advantages and work arounds involved with having an IP or rerouting your internet traffic through these locations.

***DISCLAIMER***

Before you get to excited, it should be noted that VPN services are NOT FOR ILLEGAL ACTIVITY.  While things like online gambling websites, P2P, and some types of site content are permissible by international standards, if you are breaking international law, YOU WILL GET CAUGHT.  I don’t even want to mention some of the stuff that people do online for fear that my site will turn up in the search engines for those keywords, but you have an imagination.

REMEMBE: Using an offshore VPN hides your online activity from your ISP and own government.  It however, does not hide the virtual IP address from the VPN.  IF you use the IP address from the offshore VPN to do something that breaks international law, the IP address can be traced back to the VPN service.  With a court order, or sometimes even just a complaint from a foreign government, you could get your account disabled or worse.

For example, if you are in The USA and want to connect to a P2P site, you should not use a French IP address.  France’s government will see that a french IP is downloading torrents, contact the VPN service, and there could be consequences.  This is possible even if the VPN service is not located in France, or The USA.

***Notes About Anonymity***

Sorry for all the warnings.  No matter what VPN service you choose, they will keep logs of some sort. Most will not log your activity.  They do not know what you’re doing online.  They do however keep time logs, which means you activity can be traced back to you.  Continuing from the example above, if France logs a complaint that an IP address is downloading copyrighted content and traces it back to the VPN service, they can see what time the content was downloaded.  If you are on record of having used that IP at that time period, that labels you as the culprit.  All VPN services do this to maintain server and service integrity, and if they don’t, it’s probably a rubbish VPN service or they’re lying to you.

>>> Best Offshore VPN Services <<<

***it should be noted that with whatever VPN service you choose, regardless of the location of their ‘home base’, you can choose your IP address location. The following services are located in Hong Kong, but have many IP options including Malaysia, Russia, Switzerland, and more.

#1

The obvious #1 choice is 12VPN.  They have broader device support than other services, offer OpenVPN (more secure VPN protocol), SSL encryption upgrades (military grade), and are dedicated to great customer service.  Installation and setup is fast and easy, and it comes with a money back guarantee.  For an offshore VPN service, that’s all you can really hope to find: Privacy, Anonymity, Professionalism, Guarantees.  Servers are fast, and they offer two package options (US IP, and World VPN)

>>> Go To 12VPN

#2

PureVPN another Hong Kong based VPN service. They’re home base is located in Hong Kong.  They allow P2P on Russian, Netherlands, and a few other servers.  They’ve got live support, and unlimited server access to 14 different countries.  The standard service gives you 30 GB of bandwidth per month for the mega low price of $74.95 (I know that sounds like an advertisement, but it really is low).  There’s an unlimited bandwidth upgrade, and a dedicated IP server upgrade.  Definitely a high quality, fast offshore VPN service.  They don’t offer OpenVPN, but do have SSTP for Win 7/Vista.  VPN servers in Panama, Switzerland, Malaysia, Russia, and 10 other countries.

>>> Go To PureVPN

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I know that most top 10 VPN lists come in the form of a chart that lays out all the reviews in a start system, but I’m going to do things a bit differently.  To tell you the truth, many of these ‘star rated’ VPN charts are arbitrarily assigned by the owner of the site.  They often reflect the percent of commission that is paid for each sale, rather than the actual quality of the VPN service, which defeats the purpose of the review.  In fact, not all VPN services are suited to all people, and each user experience is going to be different.

So my Top 10 VPN list highlights some of the features, and I may make a few comments about which ones I like better than others.  This is not an ‘official review’, there is not rush to ‘order now’ because the deals are going fast, and there are not ‘exclusive offers’.  Just plain old facts. And if you want to know, yes, I make a commission off of these.  I believe in full transparency, unlike some blogs about personal VPNs or online privacy.  VPNs are listed in random order.

1.
StrongVPN

A reliable, and well established service.  If you want it, they have it.  PPTP, L2TP, OpenVPN, and SSTP.  Smartphone, PC, Mac, and Linux VPN, live support, and a wide range of options.  Choose plans based on your region, level of security desired, and budget.  314 servers in 19 countries.

• Best Deal: $55 / Year
• Best Feature: Fast, Reliable Servers
• Visit StrongVPN

2.
Hide My Ass

Come for the FREE stuff: Web based proxy, link cloaker, anonymous uploader, and anonymous email.  ProVPN is cheap and gives you free access to (2012) 43 server locations.  Simple download and installation, and choose servers based on speed. PPTP, L2TP, and SSTP for iOS, Android, Mac, Linux, and Windows.

• Best Deal: $ $6.55 / Month
• Best Feature: VPN Servers in 43 Countries, 30 day guarantee
• Visit HMA

3.
PureVPN

Live support, PPTP, L2TP, SSTP, dedicated IP servers, dynamic IP servers, and custom VPNs for China or other blocked regions. 3 plan options, 14 countries, and torrent access to dynamic IP servers.

• Best Deal: $74.95 / Year
• Best Feature: SSTP for Win 7, Dedicated IP Servers
• Visit PureVPN

4.
12VPN

Widest support for internet devices including DD-WRT, Nokia, Windows Phone (some models), and more. Custom VPNs for China and Middle East.  Friendly and fast support team, and simple installation are some of the highlights of 12VPN.

• Best Deal: $79 / Year
• Best Feature: Broadest Device Support, Military Encryption Upgrade
• Visit 12VPN

5.
SwitchVPN

Mega-cheap plan and 11 server locations.  Live support, and VPNs for most devices.  Good VPN service for the price you pay.

• Best Deal: $3.95 / Month
• Best Feature: Live Support
• Visit SwitchVPN

6.
IP Vanish

Simple plans means no headache for you.  $10 a month across the board – for anything and everything. It’s as simple as that.  Choose servers based on speed. 39 servers is 15 countries, and 29,000 IP addresses.

• Best Deal: $10 / Month
• Best Feature: Choose Servers Based On Speed
• Visit IP Vanish

7.
ibVPN

They’ve definitely got a unique setup, and divide plans based on user needs.  VPNs for families and small businesses available, and torrent ready VPN servers are also on the menu.  This is a very budget minded VPN service, and the even offer a free trial.

• Best Deal: $36.95 / Year
• Best Feature: Package Deals: Torrent VPN, Multi-VPN (family,business), +more
• Visit ibVPN

8.
My Private Network

This is a UK oriented VPN service that also simplifies things.  Privacy, security, and a fake IP address for one price – 5 GBP per month for 1 location, 9 GBP for full access.  Sometimes simplicity says a lot. A cute dog says more.

• Best Deal: 5 GBP / month
• Best Feature: UK based, Easy To Use
• Visit MPN

9.
Black Logic

There seems to be a difference between ‘anonymity’ and ‘privacy’.  With a man in a black trench coat and shaded glasses, this is clearly a service for anonymous-minded individuals.  Just remember – no illegal stuff compadres.  Kind of a low-key service, they’ve been around for a couple of years and mentioned in several PC magazines over the years.

• Best Deal: $8 / Month
• Best Feature: Anonymity
• Visit Black Logic

10.
IAPS Security Services

With recent improvements to the site, and plans for expansion, IAPS is upping their game.  They already offer a pretty comprehensive service – over 100 countries, various types of encryption, SSH proxies, SSL encryption upgrades, and more. They are clearly dedicated to your PRIVACY, as clearly stated in their ‘about-us’ page.  It’s a pit I’ve got this as number ten, because it truly is an amazing service.  Transparency is a key highlight of IAPS, and they really lay everything out on the table so there are no misunderstandings about what their service provides.

• Best Deal:  $30 / Year
• Best Feature: IP Address in Antarctica? Yeah, it’s true. + 120 other countries you’ve never heard of
• Visit IAPS

Previous Post

The problem with most personal VPN service reviews and VPN review sites is that they pretty much repeat what you can find on the site itself.  The truth of the matter is that a lot of these sites are ‘cookie cutter’ websites – just a formula repeated to make commissions off of potential customers and tossed into the wilds of the internet to be found on Google. That’s not always the case, but more than just a few of them are.

Now you might be wondering – how could he know that? Well, I too make commissions off of this website.  Of course!  Who on earth would blog about privacy software on the internet? The topic is not all that interesting – at least not interesting enough to devote free time to it as a hobby.

But I, unlike many other bloggers, actually use the services that I write about.  I try not to indulge in promotional material too much, and tell it how it is.  I mean, sure, I may profit more in the short run, making sales off of users that don’t know any better, but most VPN services have a money back guarantee policy, so the performance (or lack thereof) of the personal VPN service will show in the end.

If you have used VPN services before, then you can use this as just another bit of info to help you make a better decision now that you’ve decided to switch VPN services. Perhaps you too were duped by one of these “cookie cutter” automated sites.  If you’ve never used  VPN service before, you don’t have to venture further than these few VPN services.  They’re some of the most popular, reliable, and well price private networks out there, and I’ve had particularly good experiences with them all.  It’s not an exhaustive list, but hey, do you really want to compare 50 services side by side?

So lets get started.

1. Best Personal VPN Service Based on Price

Price, is unfortunately, not so easily compared.  You’ve got to compare features, subscription length, and quality of service in conjunction with price to get a true feeling of whether or not the VPN service offers value to the customer.  Here’s my take on some of the most well priced VPN services.

The cheapest by far is SwitchVPN.  They recently added a scaling pricing feature which means you get a discount for signing up for a longer period of time.  This is standard with other services, but new to SwitchVPN.  For a single month for a single VPN server, you pay $5.95 which is already pretty cheap.  Sign up for a year, and you pay just $3.95 per month. This is a real steal, especially considering that SwitchVPN is one of the better VPN services out there.  There are of course other price plans available at SwitchVPN, but these are your cheapest options.

12VPN also offers a very competitive price plan, ant $79 dollars for a US IP package.  You get unlimited bandwidth and server switching, but a wider range of support than other services. The only restriction is that you only get access to their US servers, but there are about 10 different cities to choose from.

Hide My Ass is right up there, offering a year of service for $78 USD.  They cover all of the standard operating systems (iOS, Mac, Windows, Linux, Android), and give you over 40 different country IP locations (yes, 40+), 25,000+ IP addresses, and hundreds of servers. By the time you read this, their network will surely have expanded as they’re constantly growing.

StrongVPN also offers very cheap packages for $55 USD per year, which will limit you to PPTP VPN and a choice between US and UK VPN servers, but hey, do you really need an Estonian IP address? Probably not.  Hulu, Netflix, iPlayer, Pandora, and Spotify are yours anywhere in the world for a few dollars a month.

I guess there are no shortages of high quality, cheap VPN services because PureVPN also has a limited bandwidth account (30 GB per month) for just $75 USD. Not bad for 11 servers which are all torrent compatible.

2. Best Personal VPN Service Based on Service

This is kind of a broad category, because I don’t want this review to get too long and bore you out of your skull.  I’ve grouped the idea of features, customer service, and server speed into one category in an effort to save you and me some time.

I’d say the fastest VPN servers I’ve used are with StrongVPN.  Setup was kind of a pain (but I was a newbie back then), but I really have had a hard time finding a service that compares to the quality and speed of connection I had with StrongVPN.  Of course, there are a lot of factors to consider when determining connection speed – some review site have tried this but most speed tests are deemed false or outdated by commenters.  For what its worth, I think StrongVPN is fast.

For the best customer service, it’s no doubt that I’d choose 12VPN.  Though they don’t have live support, they are very fast with email ticket support. Their support team is not just friendly and fast, but also very helpful,and thorough.  If I ever run into any problems, it’s usually solved within 2 or 3 emails max, all within the same day.  With some ticket response services I have to wait 1 or 2 days between responses, which is very annoying.

The VPN service with the best features would have to be HMA (Hide My Ass).  They’ve got a cool thing where you can organize and choose your VPN server based on speed, which means you don’t have to waste a bunch of time trying out VPN servers.  They allow torrents.  They (as mentioned above) are a constantly growing network of (as of April 2012) 40 country locations and hundreds of VPN servers.  They offer a FREE web based proxy (available to non-members also), a free open proxy list, free anonymous email, free uploading tool, and free anonymous referral tool. Yeah, that’s a whole lotta free.  Plus they offer the longest money back guarantee of any service, – 30 days.

Personal VPN Services Featured in This Article

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Previous Post

When writing an article about anonymous internet surfing, it’s tough to know what the reader is looking for. There are a lot of different kinds of people that need to be anonymous online.  Of course, as soon as ‘anonymity’ comes up, you might think of some guy huddled in the basement of his parents house watching fetish-porn worried about his mom finding out.

It’s none of my business.

But chances are, you’re not that guy.  You probably fit into one of these other categories.  These are common reason to use an anonymous IP when connecting to the internet.

1. You have an online business and want to keep you data private
2. You work for a company and need to access company servers from remote locations
3. You want to unblock websites/bypass firewalls on networks you don’t control (work, school, public)
4. You want to access foreign movie/music/TV/download sites, but they block your IP
5. You worry about your government spying on you, or private organizations tracking your IP
6. You got kicked out of a forum/website unfairly and want to access it under a different name
7. You want to create multiple accounts, but need multiple IP addresses to do this.
8. You download movies and music (P2P/Torrents), but don’t want to get in trouble

There are of course other reasons, but I think these 8 categories hit most of them.  Whatever the reasons, anonymous internet surfing is TOTALLY LEGAL.  It may sound kind of creepy if you’ve never heard of it before, but don’t think about it as “hiding”, but more as “protecting” your privacy.

For example, when you browse the net, all of your information goes through your ISP.  Every website you visit, ever link you lick, every song you download, and ever video you stream.  That information is stored, and can be accessed later.

How would you feel if the mailman could read every letter you wrote and then made a copy to store at the post office for later reference.

How would you feel if every time you went shopping, the store made a record of your name, address, phone number, and what you bought so that next time they knew what items to advertise to you?

How would you feel if the guy at your local DVD rental place followed you home and watched a movie with you?

Yeah. When you take the situation off the internet and into ‘real life’, it sounds pretty invasive.

So protect your privacy with anonymous surfing software.

It’s called a VPN (virtual private network).

It’s fast to download, easy to install, you can choose an IP from your home country or a foreign country.  It can be installed on your phone and laptop, or you can route your laptop to change the IP on your Xbox 360 or PS3.

I could go into details, but that would be boring. It’s best to download it and play around with it to see for yourself.  I’ve reviewed some services below (that I’ve personally used).  They all have money back guarantees, so try it out, and if you don’t like it or want to try another service, you can just get your money back.

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Best VPN Services
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StrongVPN

This is a great service because they have something for everyone.  It can be a bit of a challenge for a noob to find what they want – there’s just so much of everything, and too many options.  But it’s worth it to take a look if you know what you need.  You can also ask live support, and they can direct you to a product.   You can also choose a product based on location.  The most confusing thing for new users is deciding which VPN protocols to get.  IF security/anonymity online is your goal, you should be using a L2TP VPN for your smart phone or OpenVPN for your computer. IT’s as simple as that.

>>> Take me to StrongVPN!

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12VPN

This is actually the service I use on a regular basis.  Their customer service team makes all the difference, and if I run into any issues, they’re always fast and ready to help.  I’ve communicated with plenty of VPN services over the years, and many support (live/ticket) guys are very short in their response, unhelpful, and sometimes just rude.  Perhaps the worst experience was with a VPN live support person who told me, “That doesn’t concern me. Submit a ticket”, an signed out without saying bye.  12VPn also has a great prices and simple installation, which makes it a great VPN for noobs.  Data encryption options available as well.

>>> Take me to 12VPN!

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Hide My Ass

This is one of the most popular VPN services in the world.  They boast over 23,000 IP addresses in 38 countries and they’re still growing. Over the past year they’ve added several thousand IP addresses and 5 or more countries.  Six dollars a month is an excellent price for full access to all servers and unlimited bandwidth.  The 30 day money back guarantee pretty much seals the deal.

>>> Take me to Hide My Ass!

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Previous Post

You may see that a VPN dedicated IP be referred to as a static IP address as well. This are the same thing.  Static, or dedicated IP addresses are in comparison to “dynamic”, or “shared” IP addresses.  Both are common ways to browser/download anonymously on the internet, and you’ll find a variety of combinations available at different VPN service providers.  Not all VPN services offer dedicated IPs, or at least not all are explicit about offering them.

Having a dedicated IP address is good for a number of things. If you’re using a VPN for gaming or business online, you may find that sharing an IP address, or having a dynamic IP (frequently changing) can present a number of problems.  For one, an IP addresses your identity online, and when your identity changes every ten minutes or so, it can set off some red flags.

1. You may get banned from servers (gaming)
2. You may cause mistrust with other users and their machines (business)

Depending on what your security needs are, some users prefer to have dynamic IPs, as it’s harder to trace and spy on.  But for reasons of trust and reliability, it may be necessary to use a VPN dedicated IP address.

Here are the best services for dedicated IP addresses.

StrongVPN

One of the most trusted names in VPN services, all of their OpenVPN servers are dedicated IP addresses. You’ll notice that many services offer free and unlimited server switching, while StrongVPN does not. This is probably why. Each time you sign into an OpenVPN server, you’re assigned a static/dedicate IP, which will not change until you do so manually. Even signing out of the VPN server and signing back in will result in you having the same (still anonymous) IP.  There are options for PPTP and L2TP static IP addresses, but much fewer.

There are a large variety of plans available, which can be overwhelming to a new user.  Take your time.  a “Lite OpenVPN” package will cost you $10 per month, which isn’t a bad price for 5 city locations in The US (170 VPN servers), and you can get more server location options (as well as more server switches) with upgrades of $15, $20, or $30. There are of course discounts for signing up for one year.  You can actually save somewhere between $30 and $130 dollars per year depending on which package you sign up for.  There is also a deal for $85 per year for USA/UK OpenVPN.

My head is already spinning just listing all the option, so take a look for yourself.  There’s 24/7 live support to answer any questions. You can’t go wrong with StrongVPN

Go To StrongVPN

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PureVPN

PureVPN is another good service to go with.  They’ve simplified the sign-up process to make it much easier to find what you’re looking for, which may appeal to some customers.  They don’t offer OpenVPN however. Their dedicated IP addresses are for PPTP and L2TP.  Though they do offer SSTP, they don’t have dedicated IPs for this VPN protocol.  Their dedicated IP plan is $145 for the year (or $15 per month).  There is a 30 GB bandwidth limit, but that will only affect torrent freaks.  Even an average amount of browsing and downloading (yes, they allow P2P) won’t even come close to 30 gigabytes in a month.  There are also other plans available, including an unlimited bandwidth one, but they are for dynamic IP addresses.

They offer live support, which is very friendly, and I had a great experience with both their PPTP and L2TP VPN, even from China.

Go To PureVPN

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