Virtual private networks (VPNs) are enjoying a revival thanks to massive marketing budgets as well as influencer partnerships. It’s not easy to navigate the rapidly growing VPN market, and many of the vpnde.me/a-brief-guide-to-opera-vpn claims made about its features and benefits might not be true. Consumer Reports’ online security expert Yael Grauer recommends looking for open-source software, reproducible builds, and up-to-date support for industry standard protocols.

CyberGhost’s zero-logs policy is a fantastic selling feature. It claims that it will not record your online activity or IP address. Apps are available for the majority of major operating systems and include 256-bit encryption with a kill button leak protection, as well as the option of connecting via an unidentified port. It also scored higher on our tests of speed on the internet than many of the other VPNs we tested, though that might be a fluke or a result of the shaping of traffic by your ISP. It also comes with additional tools such as Threat Protection, Onion Over VPN and Double VPN.

Nord is another option that has a high score in our tests, with an impressive performance in our testing of geoblocking and streaming. The apps are incredibly powerful and a bit user-friendly however a map-based interface could be a bit clunky on smaller screens. It’s compatible with a range of routers and Kodi TV set-top boxes. It also has one of the broadest geographical reach of our selections. It’s a great choice when watching Netflix outside of the United States and also has dedicated Windflix servers for this reason. It recently added a feature called Perfect Forward Secrecy, that protects your information with an updated key each time you log in making it difficult for hackers to decrypt your previous activity.