How We Rank VPNs
Our ranking formula scores every VPN against the same 18 dimensions, then combines those scores into a 5-factor composite. Sponsored placements never change the scores.
Five-factor composite
Each provider gets a 0-100 composite per the weights below. The factors roll up the dimension scores and were picked for the kind of decision a real buyer is making - a multi-year subscription to a service that sits between you and every site you load.
Privacy and trust
30%A multi-year subscription to a VPN means trusting the provider with most of your traffic. Jurisdiction, audit history, ethics, RAM-only servers, and bug bounty are all harder to reverse than a price change, so they deserve the largest single slice of the composite.
Price for your usage
25%Long-term plan price per month is the most common decision driver. We compare like-for-like (longest plan per provider) and add a $/device penalty when simultaneous-device counts are low.
Speed and reliability
18%Speed is not the same as privacy, but it is the second thing a user notices. WireGuard implementation, uptime, and bypass capability all live here.
Streaming and unblock
14%For a large share of VPN buyers, streaming unblock is the explicit reason for signing up. We track which services a provider consistently unblocks across the most recent six checks.
Features and support
13%Kill switch, multi-hop, port forwarding, and 24/7 chat are features you only notice when they are missing, so we do not dock providers who ship them by default.
The 18 rubric dimensions
Each dimension is scored 0-5. The rubric is updated whenever a verified change lands (new audit, a streaming service that just changed its detection, a protocol that was deprecated).
Jurisdiction
Where the provider is incorporated and whether the country is in the 14-Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance.
Audited no-logs policy
Number, recency, and independence of third-party no-logs audits, plus the auditor name.
Speed
Internal WireGuard and OpenVPN throughput from US, EU, and Asia test rigs, averaged across three monthly windows.
Protocols
WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, and any proprietary protocol (Lightway, Chameleon, Hydra) on offer across platforms.
Encryption
Cipher suite, forward secrecy, and post-quantum readiness where audited.
Leak protection
DNS, IPv6, and WebRTC leak test results across desktop and mobile apps.
Availability
Server uptime over the last 90 days and time to first connect on a cold session.
Owned servers
Share of the network operated by the provider in its own data centers versus rented capacity.
RAM servers
Whether servers run diskless, the geographic spread, and whether RAM-only mode is enforced on every region.
Ownership transparency
Public disclosure of parent company, ownership structure, and key staff.
Bug bounty
Whether a public bug bounty program exists, the platform, and the payout range.
Payments
Range of payment options including crypto, anonymous payment, and refund window after signup.
Pricing
Long-term plan price per month, refund window, and whether money-back applies without friction.
Bypassing restrictive networks
Stealth protocol capability and verified results from inside China, Iran, Russia, and the UAE.
Customer support
24/7 chat coverage, average response time, and quality of written answers.
Ethics
Marketing honesty, hand-on-heart policies, and any past cooperation with law enforcement.
Ad-blocker
Tracker and ad blocking on the network layer, plus the maintained block list.
Other features
Multi-hop, port forwarding, dedicated IP, smart DNS, and other features beyond the basics.
What is not in the score
Marketing claims ("fastest VPN", "the most secure VPN") are not scored. Brand age is not scored. Trustpilot star averages are surfaced as a Trustpilot label on each review page but they are not part of the composite - they are a different kind of signal, biased toward tech-literate buyers.
Update cadence
The rubric and source list are reviewed quarterly. Live pricing, audit announcements, and streaming unblock changes are pulled in by an automated scrape pipeline on a weekly schedule, then verified by a human before any rubric score moves.
What changes between scores
A score only moves when a verifiable event happens: a fresh audit with a named auditor, a confirmed unblock added or removed, a price change that survives a second scrape 48 hours later, or a public disclosure (court record, transparency report) that affects the ethics or jurisdiction axes. We do not re-score to "shake up the ranking".
Affiliate disclosure
Some outbound links on this site are affiliate links. Affiliate status is tracked internally and never feeds into the composite. A provider with no affiliate program ranks against the same rubric as one with one.