We all live in an era where we are hooked to our laptops, phones, tabs or any other electronic device for our entertainment. All the information we need is at the tip of our fingertips, but along with the convenience comes the risk of being watched by higher authorities, government agencies, or hackers who want to get a peep into your private life. To be secure from prying eyes and get freedom from content limitations and geo-restrictions and keep your identity anonymous, all you need to use is a VPN.
What is a Virtual Private Network (VPN)?
Virtual Private Network (VPN) is an intermediary between two or more connections; it normally creates a secure and encrypted connection tunnel so your device can access the Internet safely and securely. VPN hosting is used by many either for anonymity accessing restricted content and sites or communicating abroad; the use of VPN services is evident throughout the world.
What can VPN be used for?
While VPN is used for privacy reasons where you don’t want anyone to collect your personal data, it’s also used to access restricted content in your country or while you’re traveling abroad. It’s also used by many to access region-specific games and improve the gaming experience. A lot of people and also use VPN to save on hotels, restaurants, and airline bookings as some websites often show different prices depending on your geographical location. While using a VPN, you can get lower prices as you can change your location. VPN also helps you to download torrents if your ISP is restricted to downloading torrents.
Affordability of VPN services:
Just like any service provider in the market, VPN service providers to give their service for free, who in return will keep some of your logs and sell it to the highest bidder. There are also a few cheap providers who will make you pay an annual subscription at a discounted rate but would change the pricing agreement right before the renewal period.
As any technology VPN is also filled with countless service providers who claim to have the fastest and most of all affordable VPNs. The services that claim to have the cheapest VPNs are also the most unreliable, un-secure and painstakingly slow. We should not forget the sole purpose of using a VPN is for personal security and privacy.
Having said that, we couldn’t forget the fact that while selecting a VPN, not only our privacy and security be kept in mind but also our wallets. Most VPNs will cost you $3 to $8/ month, which is pretty affordable.
To save some on your preferred VPN service it’s advisable to prepay for a year or three-yearly subscription. This will ensure you get the cheapest plan and save you money. Or you could also check if the VPN service your selected gives you a free trial.
If you are worried about how the service might be, you can always sign up for the month to month option. The plus point for using a monthly option is you get your money back somewhere in between seven to thirty days in case your unhappy with their service.
If you’re a student, you should check for a student discount on their sites.
Of Course, there are a few in the pile who are worth every penny they charge for. To help you all out, I have made a list of VPN services that are reliable, secure, cost-effective, and fast. This is the list of the five best VPNs of 2020.
Best VPNs List
1) Pure VPN
Pure VPN is headquartered in Hong Kong and is one of the cheapest providers. Their one month plan doesn’t look very budget-friendly; their one year plan is unbeatable. You do end up paying the entire 2 year period upfront, which sets you back $69.99 for the next two years. In return to the nominal price, you pay the services you receive are on par with,
PureVPN has 2000+ servers in 140+ countries, P2P optimized servers,5 simultaneous connections, torrent download, open VPN +AES 256-bit Encryption, unlimited data, and bandwidth, 27/7 365 ’live’ customer support, compatibility with all major devices and access to all major protocols. The drawbacks are they keep some logs and do not work with Netflix.
Plans:
• Monthly: $10.95/month
• 1 year: $5.83/month
• 2 year: $3.33/month
You can pay with PayPal, Credit Card, Alipay, PaymentWall, Coin Payments, BlueSnap, and gift cards. You also don’t have to pay any renewal fees.
2)NordVPN
Nord is headquartered in Panama and is one of the safest VPN providers as they do not store any log details whatsoever also their services are considered truly premium. They are known for running regular promotions along with a 30-day money-back guarantee. NordVPN also does not increase the price of your subscription after the first billing cycle. You get access to all major protocols with compatibility with all major devices. The features are,
Nord has 5200+ servers in 60+ countries, P2P support, no logging policy, 6 simultaneous connections, Openvpn +AES 256 -bit Encryption, torrenting allowed, works with Netflix, secures all devices, access to the global internet, quick connection, blazing speed, kill switch, 24/7 support, access to all major protocols.
Plans :
• Monthly: $11.95/month
• 1 year: $6.99/month
• 2 year: $4.99/month
• 3 year:$3.49/month
You can pay with a Credit card, Alipay, Bitcoin, PaymentWall.
3) SaferVPN
Safer is based out of Israel which has some incredible features and a hard to beat three-year subscription plan. They too don’t charge any renewal fee along with regular discounts and holidays specials on offer on which you can get an amazing deal of up to 50% discount. They also have a 30-day money-back guarantee. It’s compatible with all your devices with blazing speed. Their features are,
Safer has 700+ servers in 34+ worldwide locations, 5+ simultaneous connections, unlimited server switching, 24/7 customer support, IKEv2 by default +AES 256- bit Encryption, works with Netflix, limited torrenting and unclear logging policy.
Plans:
• 1 Mont: $12.95/month
• 1 year:$5.49/month
• 2 year:$3.29/month
• 3 year: $2.50/month
Their three-year plan is hard to beat. Payments can be done through Credit Card, PayPal, and Bitcoins.
4) Private Internet Access
Private Internet Access is headquartered in the US to provide some of the most budget-friendly plans. It offers unlimited bandwidth with P2P support and all the major protocols. They do not run any discount plans and do not increase the price of your subscription after the initial billing cycle. Their features are,
PIA has 3335 servers in 33 countries, 10 simultaneous connections, OpenVPN + AES 256- bit Encryption, No logging policy, torrenting allowed, only 1 server works with Netflix, unlimited bandwidth, P2P support, ads blocker, SOCKS5 proxy.
Plans:
• 1 month: $9.95/month
• 6 months: $5.99/month
• 1 year: $3.33/month
You can pay through Credit Cards, PayPal, Bitcoin, Amazon Pay, Cashu, OKPAY, Mint, Z-cash and Gift cards.
5) SecureVPN
Secure is headquartered in the US. It provides fast connections and easy to install and use. It works with Netflix and unlimited torrenting available. It also has a built-in kill switch which provides an extra layer of security. You get a free account and free mobile apps. They also have 24/7 customer support. They log some of your data and also don’t share the Encryption and Protocol policy.
Secure has 5 servers in 5 countries, 5 simultaneous connections, openVPN AES-256 Encryption, P2P support, logging policy, torrenting allowed, customer support is email only, Netflix works on only 1 connection.
Plans:
• 1 month: $7.99/month
• Year: $69.99/ year
They also have a free plan which has a limited session duration of 20 minutes and data transfer of 1000 Mb/month can connect only 1 device.
The only payment option available is through PayPal.
We hope you enjoy a worry-free browsing experience on any of your devices from any part of the world by using a VPN service of your choice. While keeping yourself anonymous, your data secure and your pockets heavy enjoy one of the safest and reliable services from the list of 5 VPN service providers mentioned in our list.
Do let us know in the comments if you find any other VPN service cheaper and better then these.
