Best VPN 2026 - What Are You Using and Why?

TheRealCher on 02/06/2026 - 17:07
Last edited 02/06/2026 - 19:26 by 1 other user

Hi everyone
My VPN time with Pure is drawing to an end and, as always, I like to shop around. I think I got the 5 year deal for something like 130… ah the days when a worldwide plague kept inflation down. Luxury!

Just wondering

a) what VPN are you using right now to do the usual range of the things (ie surf, stream, overthrow small south american regimes while wearing your Maduro jackets)

b) why are you using that? what makes it good?

For others looking: this spreadsheet on reddit was linked to in an old Ozbargain post and most recently updated about a month ago. Compares things like speed, logging etc, and also offers discounts. No I'm not affiliated - wanted to say thank you to the old ozbargainers who guided me to it.

Mods: I did a search and couldn't find a poll/post within the last 3 years that asked about this in a general way, rather than specifically eg for travel. If there is something general and current, please delete.

Poll Options Thu, 31/12/2026 - 00:00

  • 68
    Nord
  • 12
    Pure
  • 79
    Proton
  • 10
    ExpressVPN
  • 35
    PIA
  • 43
    Windscribe
  • 21
    Surfshark
  • 35
    Other (list in comments)
Internet VPN

Comments

Best
Search through all the comments in this post.
  • SquareCereal724 on 02/06/2026 - 21:32

    Mullvad because privacy

    • 27
    • offside on 04/06/2026 - 15:16

      The best, but way to much $$$

      • -2
      • WhyThingsCostMoney on 04/06/2026 - 21:42

        Just proves the point that privacy costs $$$. Makes you wonder why other VPNs are so cheap.

        • 4
      • lovesabargain77 on 05/06/2026 - 00:48

        $9 a month isn't that expensive for a quality provider

        • 3
        • jlv on 06/06/2026 - 18:02

          Buy the card from Amazon

          • 0
        • vasya on 06/06/2026 - 19:15

          pay with monero - 10% discount usually around $7 per month

          • 0
  • bargaino on 02/06/2026 - 19:49

    Tailscale

    • 6
  • AwesomeAndrew on 02/06/2026 - 18:05

    PureVPN simply because of the 130% cashback offers which frequently happen.

    • 4
  • boomramada on 02/06/2026 - 18:23

    b) why are you using that? what makes it good?

    This is ozb, most obvious answer would be cashback

    • 4
  • 7ekn00 on 02/06/2026 - 18:48

    Kaspersky as part of their Premier AV product for 5 devices for 1 year ($22)!!

    Cheap, fast, effective and easy to use :P

    • 4
    • Gina Rinehart on 04/06/2026 - 17:08

      A little bit too Russian for my taste

      • 2
      • 7ekn00 on 04/06/2026 - 18:10

        That's OK, you can prefer the US / five eye countries to have full access to your data instead ;)

        Personally, I am happy having my data on a non extradition, non English speaking countries server instead of countries that want to prosecute and extradite me for mis-gendering people on the internet (yes, Australians have been extradited to the UK for mis-gendering someone already) !!

        • 0
        • Gina Rinehart on 04/06/2026 - 20:28

          I never said I was going with a five eyes country… but alright if you want to install a Russian AV product on your OS and route your traffic through it. Enjoy.

          • 0
          • 7ekn00 on 04/06/2026 - 20:44

            @Gina Rinehart:

            I never said I was going with a five eyes country…

            Don't have to go thru their country … five eyes has backdoors to ALL VPNs (except the ones that refuse to comply, like Kaspersky) ;)

            and route your traffic through it.

            They are like all VPNs, servers in 100s of countries, including the US … my default is Las Vegas (yes, tested with days of tracert and ping tests) :P

            • 0
            • tenpercent on 04/06/2026 - 20:51

              @7ekn00: Of the list of VPNs in the poll, only PIA, Windscribe, and Surfshark are located in 14 eyes countries (yes it's 14 now).

              Don't have to go thru their country … five eyes has backdoors to ALL VPNs (except the ones that refuse to comply, like Kaspersky) ;)

              Source? Citation?

              • 1
              • 7ekn00 on 04/06/2026 - 20:56

                @tenpercent: Have a look at the articles published by Kaspersky when their AV was banned by the US ;)

                The US spin was "Russia Bad", Kaspersky said they refused to implement NSA backdoors in their product!

                It was backed up by NSA leaks that report having to "reverse engineer" Kaspersky products and poison update servers in order to compromise machines …

                I don't care enough to search for all these old articles for a thread that will be negged and hidden anyway!

                • 0
                • boirganz on 06/06/2026 - 10:22

                  @7ekn00: That's an uneducated take on it.

                  The reality is Russia is an adversary to the US and five eyes, and particularly in regards to the cyber world acts outside of established norms by supporting criminal syndicates who ransomware financial insitutions, healthcare, hospitals, schools etc. They also have standard goals - just like the US or co do - of infiltrating government computer networks to gather intelligence.

                  Technology such as AV and EDR from a conpany with strong links to the regime of a adversarial country is a legitimate potential threat.

                  Its just like you won't see crowdstrike or MSFT defender installed on russian government devices.

                  • 1
        • MrFrugalSpend on 04/06/2026 - 20:53

          "(yes, Australians have been extradited to the UK for mis-gendering someone already) !!"

          Do you have a source of this? I'd be surprised if this was actually true? Maybe, amongst other more serious dual criminality crimes?
          Extradition requires that the conduct is recognized as a serious crime in both countries (Dual Criminality) and is generally reserved for severe crimes. Presumably also for crime committed in UK physically, not online from here (with or without VPN)

          • 0
  • Nugs on 03/06/2026 - 07:05

    no option for none?
    .

    • 4
  • scotty on 03/06/2026 - 09:24

    Nord currently. The reality is whatever provider that has the biggest cashback offer when I last looked around…

    • 4
  • Some Random Guy on 04/06/2026 - 13:28

    Mullvard (paid), proton (free)

    • 4
  • Shame on 02/06/2026 - 19:28

    Whatever is cheapest as I only use it to download linux ISOs and don't trust any of them. If I go overseas then I set up my own one for banking, etc.

    • 3
  • kusama on 03/06/2026 - 15:01

    I just stick to Nord because it's pretty much free with Cashback sites. Have Pure as backup, haven't used yet.

    • 3
    • MrFrugalSpend on 04/06/2026 - 21:05

      careful of the autorenewal

      • 1
    • TheRealCher on 03/06/2026 - 21:26

      Speaking of - https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/961905

      • 0
    • RufRuf on 04/06/2026 - 17:57

      Is often use cashback when selectting my next vpn, but I’m always wondering if it’s 100% cashback , what’s in it for them, do I become the product? Let’s be real, nothing is free in life.

      • 0
  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 04/06/2026 - 10:16

    Windscribe FTW. Used since forever and cheap since forever. Excellent Linux support as well, and a firewall kill switch that actually works.

    • 3
  • Kegsta on 04/06/2026 - 14:34

    I don't even bother with VPN, have Plex, Aars all set up on native connection.

    Just download TOR browser if you want to unlock certain sites, there is also an andriod version.
    It's fast enough to stream video these days, no sign ups or anything.

    • 3
  • Mechz on 02/06/2026 - 18:03

    CyberGhost. About as good as it gets. Need that German tunnel for those recently banned websites in Aus. If you know what I mean.

    • 2
    • TheRealCher on 02/06/2026 - 18:04

      Of course, Captain Hogan. I know nothing about the tunnels!

      • 3
    • Jackson on 04/06/2026 - 16:52

      CyberGhost is Israeli, I won't be providing all my throughput via them if a whole bunch of little kids lives depended on it, they have no respect for human life let alone privacy. That's apart from the fact that I don't want to support an apartheid genocidal regime run by nut jobs with my hard earned

      • 2
    • H3R34TH4C0MM3NTS on 04/06/2026 - 14:29

      Are you talking about those crops used for making high fructose

      • 0
    • b1nch1cken on 04/06/2026 - 15:32

      Arrr.. I use Firefox for those 'banned' websites. Just go to settings and set DNS over HTTPS to Custom and select NextDNS in the dropdown menu, all shall be revealed. For when I need VPN I use my own virtual private server.

      • 0
  • aub on 03/06/2026 - 00:27

    I self-host my VPN endpoints, using a bunch of rented VPSes and the odd azure instance.

    • 2
    • Jamessaba on 04/06/2026 - 18:08

      Could you elaborate a bit on your setup? I am assuming its involves running a vpn server on one of the cloud instance on any cloud provider. How does the cost compare to using a dedicated third-party vpn provider; is the cloud approach more economical?

      • 1
      • aub on 07/06/2026 - 00:21

        Basically, I've gone to lowendbox.com and got relatively cheap VPSes (for VPN endpoint, you don't need much of anything, so you can normally get them for <$10/year). Then I point an ansible script to install and configure openvpn on it.

        It's pretty automated. Probably not as cheap as a commercial VPN, but it gives me more control, and I also get a bunch of VPSes around the world when I need them.

        • 1
  • shaybisc on 03/06/2026 - 09:15

    Nord works for me. Only use Pure if you want your IP address exposed to The Man.

    • 2
    • TheRealCher on 03/06/2026 - 10:54

      can you explain a little?

      • 0
      • shaybisc on 03/06/2026 - 11:20

        When I used Pure the kill switch was a complete joke.

        • 1
  • BronzingStubble on 03/06/2026 - 14:28

    Adguard VPN because I got it cheap with Adguard, plus the two integrate nicely.

    It's not particularly good and i wouldnt buy it just for a VPN: too few servers; it ocasionally chokes/freezes.

    • 2
  • WhyThingsCostMoney on 04/06/2026 - 21:44

    Mullvad VPN. Paid for with gift cards. Switch account numbers each renewal.

    • 2
    • Roe Jogan on 05/06/2026 - 13:24

      damn bro what are you runnin?

      • 0
    • vasya on 06/06/2026 - 19:13

      you can pay using monero which is even better

      • 0
  • daleroy1234 on 05/06/2026 - 18:49

    If it's got a 90% cashback, think about why it's so cheap. They're probably selling your data.

    A bunch of the more popular companies are all owned by a dodgy malware company.

    • 2
    • tenpercent on 05/06/2026 - 21:48

      They're probably banking on you forgetting to disable auto renewal.
      E.g. PureVPN 130% cashback you're paying around US$100 for 2 years subscription, you get back US$130, so you're up US$30. But that US$100 price is after an 80% discount on their RRP. So when renewal comes you get slugged with US$500. Now you're down US$470.
      It only takes about 1 in 16 customers forgetting to turn off auto renewal for them to break even on that promo.

      • 1
    • ozmma on 05/06/2026 - 20:06

      Exactly! People shouldnt get them for privacy. They are still deals only for location spoofing and you dont care about them collecting data.

      • 0
  • kiitos on 02/06/2026 - 17:51

    How has your experience with Pure been? I've just started using it on the back of the recent cashback offer - it seems fine but don't have much to compare it to.

    • 1
    • TheRealCher on 02/06/2026 - 18:03

      Pretty good apart from weird things with windows (for which I don't necessarily blame Pure). What happens is that I will load up my computer and I can't access the internet - windows tells me that my wifi is unavailable but my VPN is. I click onto the VPN icon and it loads only to tell me that it can't access the internet, and that my firewall or antivirus is blocking it. Cue uninstall.
      Cue reinstall.

      Doesn't happen on phones - and have used Pure while travelling across various parts of Northern Hemisphere without many hassles. I think maybe Korea it struggled a little but I was also using a Korean E-sim and it was with local apps which are well-known for getting grumpy mainly because of having to keep out North Korean hackers.

      Only issues I have had, and very rarely, is that a site won't let me in because it says too many people with my IPP (I think) have accessed the site that day, or I get stuck in a loop with CAPTCHA's. And MUBI got grumpy with it.

      • 0
      • cheesecactus on 06/06/2026 - 10:50

        Do you have the vpn killswitch turned on in the purevpn settings? I had similar problems with purevpn.

        Havent had any problems since moving to Nord or PIA which also offer killswitches. I think it's Pure's bad implementation.

        • 0
  • Krosbow on 03/06/2026 - 07:20

    Still rocking AirVPN, still good I suppose?

    • 1
  • Cav1ll on 03/06/2026 - 12:00
    Merged from VPNs - which to use?

    Morning Experts!

    I do not know much about VPNs so will be grateful for your help.

    Part of the year I live in another country with a repressive regime. People who have voiced dissent on social media have been tracked down.

    Looking to do social media via a VPN - what would you recommend?

    • 1
    • Wiadro on 03/06/2026 - 12:02

      Part of the year I live in another country with a repressive regime. People who have voiced dissent on social media have been tracked down.

      Welcome to Melbourne right @jv

      • 9
    • yabingus on 03/06/2026 - 12:11

      Part of the year I live in another country with a repressive regime. People who have voiced dissent on social media have been tracked down.

      Didn't realise Queensland broke free.

      VPN Tier List

      Personal Opinion - Nord, Proton, Mullvad are the best
      Mullvad also allows crypto payments if you are inclined.

      • 2
    • jv on 03/06/2026 - 12:26

      Part of the year I live in a country with a repressive regime.

      Yes, Australia is not longer what it used to be…😢

      • 2
      jv on 03/06/2026 - 12:26 (Collapsed - Offtopic. Show)
      • 7ekn00 on 03/06/2026 - 12:48

        Yes, Australia is not longer what it used to be…😢

        Whatever do you mean?!? Biological males have always been able to get pregnant !!

        • 0
        • jv on 03/06/2026 - 13:08

          males have always been able to get pregnant !!

          According to Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner 'Dr' Anna Cody, biological males are able to get 'potentially' pregnant if they identify as 'trans' women…

          • 1
          • Naigrabzo on 03/06/2026 - 13:40

            @jv: Imagine though, the fuss and we'll never hear the end of it. When they get the flu it's bad enough. am I right JV? ;)

            • 0
          • tenpercent on 03/06/2026 - 14:04

            @jv:

            biological males are able to get 'potentially' pregnant if they identify as 'trans' women

            Can you share a source for that nonsense?

            • 0
          • weezlebub on 03/06/2026 - 14:34

            @jv: Wouldn't they need to identify as a trans-man?

            If they're transitioning to woman, they wouldn't have a uterus

            If they're transitioning to man, they 'might' still have the bits they need

            Unless they are a woman that was changing to a man, but is now going back to a woman, so they would be a trans woman who is able to get pregnant

            Does trans refer to the pre or post gender?
            Is it gender or sex?
            What is a woman?
            What is a a what?

            • 0
            • cfuse on 03/06/2026 - 15:02

              @weezlebub: If words are so mutable as to mean nothing objective to the person speaking them then whatever they're saying is less than worthless.

              • 1
              • TheRealCher on 03/06/2026 - 20:44

                @cfuse: Hi everyone - I'd really appreciate it if you could take the gender stuff elsewhere.
                Much appreciated!

                • 0
    • TheRealCher on 03/06/2026 - 12:26

      thank you for merging :-) appreciate it!

      • 0
  • StalkingIbis on 04/06/2026 - 12:08

    The opera browser has a a built in VPN…..is this any good?

    • 1
    • tenpercent on 04/06/2026 - 20:52

      The opera browser has a a built in VPN…..is this any good?

      It is until the fat lady sings.

      • 1
    • Nebargains on 05/06/2026 - 09:48

      It's 'ok'. I typically don't bother with any VPNs, never really had a need for one but am increasingly coming across more and more websites that will not load in Australia (like page cannot be displayed type thing (don't have an example on hand), content that is blocked or entire websites blocked because they might contain content that eKaren doesn't like. Does it work? Yes, sometimes whatever random country it connects you to is mega slow, you do get the option to choose a different region which sometimes is annoying if the website you go to does some sort of translation to a local language etc.

      • 1
  • morebunnings on 04/06/2026 - 13:16

    PrivadoVPN. Came free with my $25/year usenet subscription.

    Manages to download at ~45Mb/sec on my 500mbit nbn.

    NoordVPN gave me the hebe gebes. Adgaurd was blocking the linux client from phoning home every 15 seconds. No idea why it needed to do that. 6000 requests a day..

    • 1
  • RufRuf on 04/06/2026 - 17:53

    Got a ExpressVPN 2 year deal with 98% cashback , so running with this at the Moment. Missing the Nordvpn kill switch functionality but otherwise brillant so far

    • 1
  • SydneySpendthrift on 04/06/2026 - 22:52

    Not currently using one but I want to get Mullvad

    • 1
  • d86 on 05/06/2026 - 01:12

    I have been using TorGuard since 2010, ~ $24.00USD Annually, not sure if this is an OK price now, but it does the job as a VPN / torrent proxy.

    • 1
    • pn09 on 05/06/2026 - 15:00

      Same here - Torguard since around 2015 or so.

      Does the job for me and haven't had any issues.

      • 0
  • ozmma on 05/06/2026 - 11:37

    Mullvad - Just to support them as they care about privacy. If a vpn provider pay u money for using their vpn, you are the product.

    • 1
  • Roe Jogan on 05/06/2026 - 13:23

    im not using them im using a rando %100 cashback one sufrshark, but the only 2 that are trustworthy and not owned by "you know who" is proton and mullvad

    • 1
  • ESEMCE on 05/06/2026 - 20:05

    Still using Getflix lifetime subscription.

    It's been a ride, but for $50 or whatever it was back in the day, I think I'm now well past breakeven.
    Worth it just for the savings I make on YouTube Premium.

    • 1
  • Guybrush57 on 02/06/2026 - 17:24

    Nord fails to install on my formatted PC. I wonder if their installer is broken?

    • 0
    • TheRealCher on 02/06/2026 - 18:10

      what exactly happens? I wrote below of windows' issues with Pure sometimes - I'm wondering if it's similar?

      • 0
  • cfuse on 03/06/2026 - 15:05

    PIA because I'm too lazy to care about bothering to change to anyone else.

    Still, X banned me the other day because I made the mistake of using their service whilst 'in' Switzerland. On the plus side, if you want to watch videos of mummy and daddy loving each other very much without giving your ID to that revolting E-Karen that nobody asked for then being able to be 'in' New Zealand is always helpful.

    • 0
    • TheRealCher on 03/06/2026 - 20:46

      There are some weird apps asking for age ID - the other day substack demanded it. Never mind that I can access the information freely via the website.

      • 0
  • hasher22 on 04/06/2026 - 00:28

    I use the free version of protonVPN, just connects to a random country. I only use it to bypass the age verification on those….sites

    • 0
    • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 04/06/2026 - 10:15

      They are aware of the spoke in AU usage, so will default you to countries that don't bypass. Then you have to frustratingly disconnect and reconnect to get a "good" random server.

      Download a Singapore config file and use that instead.

      Note - Proton doesn't allow torrents on the free plan.

      • 1
  • Mijora1 on 04/06/2026 - 17:12

    nord got 100% topcashback deal and basically pay $0 for 3 years
    turned off auto renew and will signup a new account using an email alias in 3 years (i think it was around black friday from memory)
    these providers rely on auto renewals, like most consumer subscription based models

    • 0
  • s313 on 04/06/2026 - 20:22

    Surfshark. Happy so far.

    • 0
  • gromit on 04/06/2026 - 22:12

    I usually switch each year to whichever has best deal. CyberGhost currently

    • 0
  • Spic3y on 05/06/2026 - 08:09

    I use PIA and have been for years. Dunno if it's the best though as I haven't tried any others and it does everything I need it to do simply.

    • 0
  • soan papdi on 05/06/2026 - 10:29

    Neptune (ISP) has two free vpn tunnels per account, subject to fair use: https://www.neptune.net.au/fair-use
    If joining, use the ozbargain referral service. Referrer and referee get $25 each. https://www.ozbargain.com.au/deals/neptune.net.au

    • 0
  • Wasabi Ninja on 05/06/2026 - 15:45

    Pure on the 5 year plan, all good until 2029.

    • 0
  • baybaboy on 05/06/2026 - 18:24

    Which country do you set your VPN on mostly for privacy ?

    • 0
  • LCmoob on 05/06/2026 - 20:51

    Getflix also lifetime. had 11 years so far for 35.10 USD!

    • 0
  • skibidigrimacmoggr67 on 05/06/2026 - 21:39

    came back to comment here.

    um best vpn? a free one?

    I'm new to vpn's but quickly found a good free one on microsoft store. they claim they dont share data, it covers drops without giving away your region, it doesn't have ads, you don't have to choose a server that's a premium feature. but whatever free server it uses it works for the pages I wanted to continue posting wthout sending personal info into who knows where.
    the only negative seems to be 500mb daily limit. which I have never run into I don't use the internet nearly enough and I don't use it to download movies.

    anyway the microsoft store version didn't work, would constantly fail to connect they probably updated their servers or something. so I just went to their support page, click home, then download the free version (it's a bit tricky like adobe acrobat, you have to scroll down a bit and really click the download free version button).

    install and minimal skill needed and free just click connect and go!

    • 0
  • bethepro on 05/06/2026 - 23:54

    ExPress VPN - Long time premium user since 2015 —> Love it. Amazing customer service and reliable when I need it. Yes - it's expensive however I want a good product. Previously used PrivateVPN (not as good as ExpressVPN). Have had NORD VPN through a cashback scheme however didn't get all the cash back due to an internal error - so was very annoyed. I share my expressVPN with a close knit of mates - who also find it very useful - so we split the cost hence not that expensive. I am very opened to changing if it's a good product. I'm a tad sceptical when it's 100% cashback as that means that you're the product (as why would they want you as a customer for free). Very open to constructive feedback and opinions.

    P.s. Have previously used discount codes, student discounts etc when renewing ExpressVPN annually.

    • 0
    • tenpercent on 06/06/2026 - 20:33

      There was a 120% cashback and another 105% cashback deal for ExpressVPN the other day. Seems to come up from time to time.

      • 1
      • bethepro on 07/06/2026 - 12:49

        Will keep an eye out! Thanks

        • 0
  • Gimbleguy on 07/06/2026 - 06:13

    I hardly use VPN, but I have FastestVPN and OysterVPN lifetime.

    • 0
  • Worf on 07/06/2026 - 07:56

    How does a vpn work in practice for a streaming services on a tv? Does it create a new wireless network and you just log your tv to that network?

    Also, any suggestions for cheaper countries to subscribe to YouTube premium, Disney+, Apple TV (or is Apple to clever re location) and the like…

    • 0
  • Godanipicprofile on 04/06/2026 - 20:17

    Avoid using purevpn at all cost

    • -1
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