Reddit is hands down one of the biggest internet forums in the world. The platform is an excellent source of information for just about anything and everything. At the time of writing this, Reddit has over 500 million monthly visitors and is currently valued at $5 billion.
One of the main reasons why the platform is so popular is because all of its content is user-created, which means that their opinions on different topics are honest and unbiased.
One of the most heavily discussed topics on Reddit is about the Best VPNS. There are a lot of users who discuss VPN services and even recommend them depending on their experiences.
However, a bigger percentage of users often recommend some VPNs more than others.
We took the liberty of scouring through the VPNs Subreddit on the Reddit platform to find out the 5 best VPNs that Reddit users recommend.
During our search, we unearthed 5 VPN services that were being heavily and positively being discussed within a period of 2 years.
The main aim of this research is to find the best and most reliable VPN services in terms of speed, performance, number of services, security, safety, privacy, and so much more.
Let’s dive right in;
Best VPNs According to Reddit Users in 2020 (A Comprehensive Review and Buyer’s Guide)
1. NordVPN- Best VPN for Fast Streaming and Bypassing Internet Censorships
NordVPN is undoubtedly one of the best and most popular VPN services on Reddit and everywhere else in the VPN world. Whenever a user asks for a VPN recommendation on the Reddit platform, NordVPN is often mentioned more compared to other VPNs.
So what do Reddit users love most about NordVPN?
Well, based on our research, most users claim that NordVPN is among the best in terms of online security, safety, privacy, torrenting, streaming, and even affordability.
NordVPN is a Panama-based VPN service that was first released in 2012. The VPN supports multiple platforms including Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, including an application for Android TV. It also offers encrypted proxy extensions for Chrome and Firefox browsers.
Even better, NordVPN allows you to connect and secure up to 6 devices at the same time.
As far as security is concerned, you’ll be happy to know that NordVPN uses the popular and powerful AES 256-bit encryption to protect you from prying eyes and hackers on the internet.
To ensure that you’re completely safe while going about your online business, NordVPN offers your double protection by changing your IP address twice and covering your web traffic with an extra layer of security. You get a dedicated personal IP that only you will use.
Additionally, through their CyberSec feature, NordVPN blocks dangerous malware, annoying ads, as well as malicious websites that may try to steal sensitive data while connected to the internet.
The VPN further enhances your online security and privacy through the Onion Over VPN which adds an extra secure VPN tunnel over the layers of Onion anonymity. No third-party snooping whatsoever.
Reddit users have also praised NordVPN’s lightning-fast speeds across its numerous servers across the world. At the time of writing this, NordVPN currently has about 5662 servers in at least 59 countries. These numbers are expected to rise steadily over time as NordVPN is still growing.
The VPN service has the highest number of servers in Europe with about 2501 servers. The US comes second with 1779 servers across different states. Asia comes in third with 704 servers while Africa, India, and the Middle East combined have a total of 131 servers.
These numbers are quite impressive as almost every single continent is covered. You can enjoy super speeds while downloading torrents and streaming movies and games. Of course, users who are located further from their servers
We also cannot forget to mention another reason for NordVPN’s popularity on Reddit- a strict no-logs policy.
NordVPN is one of the few VPN services that offer a strict no-logs policy, which means that the company does not keep or collect any connection logs or any other sensitive data while connected to the VPN. This is good news for users who take their online privacy seriously.
NordVPN also works well with online streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer, HBO, and others. Not to mention that its SmartSelect feature allows you to easily bypass geoblocks.
To top it all, NordVPN offers affordable plans which include monthly, 1-year, 2-years, and 3-year plans. You also get to try it out and decide if it works for you thanks to their risk-free 30-day money-back guarantee.
Simple research on Reddit VPN recommendations will easily reveal that NordVPN is without a doubt a popular VPN service, especially given the countless positive reviews it has received over the years.
So if Reddit users agree that NordVPN is the fastest, secure, and most reliable VPN provider, then you can trust and believe that.
2. ProtonVPN- Best Budget-Friendly VPN Service
ProtonVPN is a Swiss-based VPN service. It’s a well-known fact that Switzerland has some of the strongest privacy laws in the world.
Switzerland is one of the countries that are outside of the EU and US jurisdiction and is not a member of the Fourteen Eyes Surveillance Network.
Unlike some VPN services, ProtonVPN is mainly built and designed with users’ security and safety as the main focus. The VPN provider uses the most powerful encryption to completely secure your internet connections.
Any internet traffic that passes through your network while connected to ProtonVPN is heavily encrypted with AES-256 bit encryption while the key exchange is done with 4096-bit RSA, while HMAC and SHA384 are used for message authentication.
ProtonVPN also uses the Perfect Forward Secrecy whose main purpose is to ensure that your encrypted data can’t be captured and decrypted later in case the encryption key from subsequent sessions becomes compromised.
ProtonVPN also uses some of the strongest and most secure protocols known in the VPN industry. The VPN uses both OpenVPN and IKEVv2/IPSec. You can rest assured that your VPN tunnel is protected by the most secure and reliable protocols.
The company goes to extreme lengths to protect its physical security as their servers are located in an underground data center, which is a former Swiss army fallout shelter that is at least 1000 meters below the surface.
This ensures that their servers are well protected to ensure you enjoy the utmost reliability at all times.
As far as privacy is concerned, ProtonVPN is simply impressive. As stated earlier, the VPN company is located in Switzerland, a country that has some of the most powerful privacy laws in the world.
The company’s privacy policy indicates that the VPN does not keep any user connection logs. This includes anyone using their Free VPN.
To further enhance your privacy, ProtonVPN comes with a built-in Tor Over VPN that routes all of your internet traffic through the famous Tor anonymity network and even allows you to anonymously access the dark web.
With just a single click, ProtonVPN in combination with Tor allows you to access any Onion sites with great ease and with a great sense of security.
In addition to adding an extra layer to your internet traffic, ProtonVPN also prevents DNS leaks by routing all your DNS queries through an encrypted tunnel.
It also comes with a built-in Kill Switch feature that automatically blocks all network traffic in case the VPN server accidentally disconnects and compromises your privacy by leaking your actual IP address.
We cannot forget to mention that ProtonVPN has some of the fastest servers as the majority of them use the 10 Gbps connection and their servers have a minimum of 1 Gbps bandwidth.
Despite having a strong encryption system and powerful protocols which often slow down connections, ProtonVPN still manages to deliver lightning-fast speeds across most of its servers around the globe.
The VPN service supports multiple platforms including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. It also allows the connection of up to 10 devices, which is higher than the industry standards of around 4-6.
ProtonVPN also works with online streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and more. Users in regions with internet censorship like China can also access geo-blocked websites and content using this renowned VPN.
Their customer support is top-notch according to its users as well as Reddit users and of course, their user interface provides a great user experience for its customers.
3. Mullvad VPN
Mullvad VPN is yet another popular VPN service that a lot of Reddit users swear by.
The name is surely not the biggest in the industry but Reddit users seem to be quite intrigued by its highly cost-effective plans, great privacy features, and of course, the highest standards of encryption.
Mullvad VPN is a Swedish-based open-source commercial virtual private network that was launched in the year 2009 by Amagicom B.
Although this provider is significantly smaller compared to services like NordVPN, Mullvad does offer several hundreds of servers in a few dozen locations.
The majority of Reddit users who recommend Mullvad VPN say they love its strong security and unrivaled privacy.
It offers a strict no-logs policy, allows users to generate completely anonymous accounts, not to mention it accepts multiple forms of secure payment methods like Bitcoin.
Users also love the fact that it’s budget-friendly compared to most of its competitors at only $5.50 per month.
Reddit users also consider it one of the simplest and most trustworthy VPN providers in the market right now.
As far as security and privacy are concerned, Mullvad takes an extra step to protect their users’ security and privacy. For example, Mullvad generates random account numbers for all of its users, instead of the usual usernames and email addresses.
The purpose of all this is to ensure that the account number is the only thing that identifies you on the internet.
Besides offering the strongest encryption which ensures that all the traffic to and from your computer is encrypted, Mullvad VPN also has a strict no-logs policy.
This means that the VPN does not collect or keep any connection logs. Additionally, the company does not ask for private information and even replaces your real IP address by theirs, ensuring that your device’s online activities and locations cannot be traced back to you.
Mullvad VPN further enhances your online safety and security as it only encourages anonymous payments like cryptocurrencies and cash.
Additionally, the VPN features a Kill Switch that prevents IP and DNS leaks by immediately blocking your internet connection in case the VPN disconnects.
As far as the speeds are concerned, Mullvad VPN offers high connection speeds which make it great for streaming and torrenting.
However, many speed tests indicate that users located near their Sweden servers and other parts of Europe receive the best and fastest connections. However, the connection speeds in regions like the US and Australia are also pretty decent.
With only 636 servers, Mullvad VPN does not measure up to its competitors like NordVPN.
However, the lack of many servers doesn’t make it any less good. It’s one of the best and most reliable VPN services that have time and again been recommended by Reddit users.
So if you’re looking for a strong, secure, and affordable VPN service, you can never go wrong with Mullvad VPN.
4. Express VPN- Best VPN for Blazing Fast Speeds
ExpressVPN is yet another highly popular VPN service among Reddit users. Besides offering blazing fast connection speeds on their servers, ExpressVPN is also packed with immense privacy and security features.
Besides hiding your real IP address and combining your internet traffic with that of other users, ExpressVPN also encrypts any traffic between their highly secure servers and your device. This ensures that your traffic cannot be monitored third-parties like your ISP.
Expressvpn also uses the most powerful “military-grade” known as the AES 256-bit, the same encryption standard that is used by the US federal government and has also been adopted by most security experts around the world.
The AES 256-bit encryption is top-level encryption that is considered hackproof, so you can be sure that your online activities are completely hidden from prying eyes.
ExpressVPN further enhances your online security by using a variety of VPN protocols like OpenVPN. Also included is the HMAC message authentication code that prevents your data from being altered while in transit by a malicious attacker who may have the ability to read your sensitive data in real-time.
We also can’t forget to mention that ExpressVPN has a Perfect Forward Secrecy which makes it impossible for an attacker to decrypt any traffic from your past sessions, even if they can gain access to your computer or VPN during a single session.
Generally, ExpressVPN is one of the few VPN providers who go to extra length to ensure optimal performance, security, and safety.
Security and privacy aside, ExpressVPN is undoubtedly one of the fastest and most reliable VPN providers in the market right now.
Regardless of its strong encryption features which are known to slow down connection speeds, ExpressVPN offers lightning-fast speeds for fast streaming of content and torrenting.
You can stream TV shows or movies without experiencing those annoying interruptions and even download large files without any downtimes.
All you have to do is choose the fastest server to ensure you’re getting the fastest speeds so you don’t have to wait long to download or stream content.
According to Reddit users, ExpressVPN is also an excellent choice VPN when it comes to unblocking content and certain websites.
It does this by routing all your traffic through an encrypted tunnel to prevent it from being tracked, censored, or manipulated.
This simply means that you can easily unblock sites like Netflix in case they are blocked in your country, office, school, or any other place.
ExpressVPN also boasts of over 3000 VPN servers in 160 VPN server locations in 94 countries.
This is quite impressive considering most VPN providers don’t even surpass the 1000 servers mark. The company has servers in practically every continent- users are spoilt for a choice.
The VPN also supports multiple platforms including Windows, Mac, Android, Linux, iOS, and a wide variety of routers. It also supports some network-assisted storage such as Synology, QNAP, and Asustor.
The app’s user interface is quite simple and intuitive as the main aim is to enhance users’ experience.
Their customer support has also been widely praised and overall, ExpressVPN does deliver its promises, which is one reason why most Reddit users highly recommend it.
5. SurfShark VPN- Best Fast, Cheap, and Reliable VPN Service
At only $1.99 a month, Surfshark is currently one of the cheapest and most affordable VPN services right now- a feature that most Reddit users claim to appreciate so much.
But with their affordable pricing, one may automatically assume that SurfShark doesn’t offer industry-standard VPN services. Wrong! SurfShark is highly reputed as one of the best VPN services for so many reasons.
Besides their reasonable pricing, SurfShark’s privacy, security, and online safety are among the best in the market.
The VPN service protects your data with one of the strongest and most secure encryptions in the industry- the famous AES 256-GCM encryption.
The VPN further increases your security and safety through its default IKEv2/IPsec VPN protocol, although you can also choose to use the popular OpenVPN protocol on the app.
SurfShark VPN is also dedicated to providing you with the best possible online privacy. The VPN protects your online identity by hiding your real IP address that can be easily connected to your digital identity.
Also, there is a Camouflage Mode that keeps your identity hidden even from your ISP, allowing you to always remain private.
And thanks to their MultiHop feature, SurfShark VPN also allows you to connect to multiple countries at the same time, further enhancing your safety by keeping your IP address a secret.
Another incredible feature that a lot of Reddit users who recommend SurfShark love is their “Strict no-logs policy.”
This simply means that SurfSharkVPN does not track, monitor, or keep any connections or activities. In other words, SurfShark VPN has no business monitoring your online activities.
You can browse the internet, stream, or even torrent and no one will know what you’re doing. This is great news for users who value their privacy.
Even better, SurfShark VPN offers excellent DNS leak protection as they have a private DNS on each server as well as the IPv4 stack. Your IP or DNS requests will not be leaked even if your VPN loses its connection.
They also have a Kill Switch feature that immediately disconnects you from the internet whenever your VPN connection drops unexpectedly.
Hate annoying ads while browsing certain websites? Well, you’ll be happy to know that SurfShark VPN, through its CleanWeb feature, comes with a free VPN ad blocker that actively blocks annoying ads and malicious websites, thus protecting your device from malware and phishing attempts.
With SurfShark, you get to connect an unlimited number of devices all at once as the VPN service supports a wide range of platforms including Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, iOS, and others.
SurfShark VPN has over 1700 servers in over 63 countries all over the world. This number may not be as high as Expressvpn or NordVPN’s but since it’s still growing, we expect more servers shortly.
Nevertheless, SurfShark is a perfect choice for users who are looking for a great and reliable hideout while performing their online activities at an affordable cost.
Their level of encryption is impressive plus its one VPN service that does not compromise on its users’ privacy and safety.
Best VPNs According to Reddit- Bottom Line
We all know that a huge percentage of product reviews we read on the internet are not often genuine and can be very biased. After all, most of them are often written specifically for financial gains.
But Reddit is different.
It’s a forum where people from all over the world give their opinions on a wide range of topics, including VPNs.
These are people who give their opinions based on their true experiences. How can you not trust them when they say that these 5 VPNs are the best performers?
Well, it’s hard not to trust real people giving unbiased reviews, which is why we took it upon ourselves to find out what VPN services are recommended most by Reddit users. So there you have it, the top 5 best VPNs according to Reddit!