Battle Which privacy VPN for 12 months - Express vs Mullvad vs Nord vs Proton?

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Ink

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Looking for a privacy VPN, that offers double protection and available cross-platform.
  • ExpressVPN
  • Mullvad VPN
  • NordVPN
  • ProtonVPN

Which do you recommend and why?
  1. most reasonably price for features
  2. pass through multiple servers
  3. overall speed on weekdays vs weekends
  4. for a 12 month plan

(Ignore- Windscribe, Netflix, Torrenting)
 
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CyberPanther

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I would choose Express VPN as they have a lot of features, for example quick installation and strong no-logging policy.
It provides more than 3000 servers in 94 countries.
Its speed is reliable on weekdays and weekends.
They offer 15 months plan ($ 6.67/month)
You may refer to VPNMentor review:
VPNMentor-Express VPN Review

Hope this will suffice.
 
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Mar 7, 2020
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I've used both ExpressVPN and NordVPN. I stopped using ExpressVPN due to major speed drops, especially on the last day of a monthly subscription. I switched over to NordVPN. They are great when it comes to speed, and have a decent amount of features/servers. They also have discounts quite often, like three years for the price of one. Keep in mind though that they have been breached, and that it took quite a while for them to release this information to their users. If you want privacy over anything, then I would go with Mullvad. They have less servers than both Nord and Express, and apparently lack usable servers when it comes to Netflix and such. Mullvad also only offers monthly plans, compared to Nord and Express. Mullvad also doesn't require you to use an email/password, but rather a login number, which prevents them from knowing more than they need.
 
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Ink

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Nord looks tempting due to the discounted pricing, and provides the features without having to pay more than double, as with Proton Plus.

However are Nord as good as they claim? Many YT channels recommend them. What have they done to increase their security against infiltrations?
 
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Mar 7, 2020
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According to TechRadar, they did an audit of their servers, and those with a vulnerability were patched or removed. Apparently, they've hardened encrypted storage, and have partnered with VerSprite for penetration testing, intrusion handling and source code analysis. They also promised to do a full-scale security audit of the entire system. They also plan on creating completely owned servers instead of renting them, and running them entirely in RAM(not storing anything).

I have been relatively content with them, with the exception for the breach situation. I've never had any major speed drops, and have easily been able to find a server that works with BBC and Netflix. They do a lot of sponsorship on YT nowadays, which can be seen as both good and bad. If you want to, you could get a 1-month, and if content, switch over to a 1 or 3 year subscription.
 
Mar 7, 2020
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Any thoughts about Surfshark VPN?
Haven't used them before. They have unlimited devices, Nordvpn has 6. Otherwise, they're pretty similar to Nord, it seems. If you use more than 4 devices, then choose something other than Nord, otherwise, you're going to get logged out contantly.
They appear to have a "Whitelister", which I haven't seen anywhere else.
 
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HarborFront

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ExpressVPN

- Very expensive
- Works in China for android (tested myself)
- Has servers worldwide
- Pretty fast even with its current protocols
- Implementing its new Lightway protocol
- No multihop feature
- Proven in court regarding user data privacy
- Only has UDP OpenVPN config files so need modification to TCP format to run VPN-Over-TOR mode

NordVPN

- Cheaper than ExpressVPN
- Has multihop feature
- Has NordLynx(Wireguard)
- Works in China (not tested myself)
- Has more servers than ExpressVPN and worldwide coverage
- Connection is solid and stable provided you can get it connected
- Has TCP OpenVPN config files so can work in VPN-Over-TOR mode

Mullvard and Proton VPNs

From what I know

- Very less servers than the two(2) before mentioned. Servers mainly focused on North America and EU.
- Won't work in China especially for android
- Can pay by cash to Mullvard VPN and email is not traceable to you thus making it truly anonymous
- Mullvard VPN comes with double-hop feature (a VPN + a proxy)
- Mullvard VPN supports VPN-Over-TOR using SOCKS5 proxy setup
- ProtonVPN has Secure Core double-hop feature
 
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Mar 7, 2020
82
ExpressVPN

- Very expensive
- Works in China for android
- Has servers worldwide
- Pretty fast even with its current protocols
- Implementing its new Lightway protocol
- No multihop feature
- Proven in court regarding user data privacy

NordVPN

- Cheaper than ExpressVPN
- Has multihop feature
- Has NordLynx(Wiregyard)
- Works in China (not tested myself)
- Has more servers than ExpressVPN and worldwide coverage
- Connection is solid and stable provided you can get it connected

Mullvard and Proton

From what I know

- Very less severs than the two(2) before mentioned. Servers mainly focused on North America and EU.
- Won't work in China especially for android
- Can pay by cash to Mullvard VPN which makes it truly anonymous
- Mullvard VPN comes with double-hop feature (a VPN + a proxy)
Pretty much covers it. Mullvad can't identify you via an email, instead you get a userID.
 

HarborFront

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Any thoughts about Surfshark VPN?

Very cheap plans

Surfshark is not working well in China. It still haven't implement its Wireguard yet.... maybe by end of this year

Surfshark has TCP OpenVPN config files so will run VPN-Over-TOR without issue like NordVPN. Comes with double-hop feature.
 
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CyberPanther

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Any thoughts about Surfshark VPN?

I used SurfSHark VPN before, it is pretty decent with affordable prices. They offer 24 months subscription which cheaper than 12 months subscription.
I do recommend it.

Currently, I am using VyprVPN. It is based in Switzerland and audited zero logging.
They use Wireguard.
They have a 24 months subscription cost $60.
 

Ink

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NordVPN's ongoing and upcoming plans

This looks promising.
For privacy I'd go with ProtonVPN - they're Switzerland based. Plus they have a free option you can try out so why not? The others seem focused on other features like Netflix.
The Basic and Free plan don't offer the double hop feature, and the Plus plan is fairly pricey when compared to others.

Thanks for the responses.

Is unlimited devices a guaranteed feature down the line, or is 6 enough?
 
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Soulbound

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Nord looks tempting due to the discounted pricing, and provides the features without having to pay more than double, as with Proton Plus.

However are Nord as good as they claim? Many YT channels recommend them. What have they done to increase their security against infiltrations?
Nord is good, however they often have leaks in mass.
This means if your acc was leaked, you need to contact them to begin with, and please do not use the same password of NordVPN to the email address associated with your NordVPN account

Nordvpn accs are being leaked at least once every 2 to 4 weeks en mass, and since most accounts are under multiple years and devices plans, no one really notices until you cannot connect or cannot login because you decided to use a password that is the same as the email address in which your NordVPN is connected to.

Once I finish my subscription (1 month left), I am moving away.

That aside, they do have security, if you choose to ignore the above big issue.
 

SpiderWeb

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This shouldn't even be up for debate. Mullvad is the only truly trustworthy of the bunch. NordVPN had leaks exposing private keys, they also cooperate with the phony HolaVPN and their botnets. ExpressVPN is at risk because it's based in Hong Kong, ProtonVPN is owned by Tesonet or has some connections to it: Link

As usual with these things you can never be sure if the rumors or conspiracies are actually true. The only thing we know for sure is that Mullvad is run by tinfoil hatters who are just as paranoid of NSA spying as most of us. Go with Mullvad or anyone who partners with them (e.g. Mozilla VPN). (y)
 

Cortex

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I have an unused licence for Nord, apart from security issues I really dislike the interface - For me out of the list Mullvad by a long way, Express OK but they really ought to have got either Wireguard or their alternate running by now on PC, I tend to think Express is all talk - My real choice would be and is IVPN, flawless fast Wireguard, perfect.

Edit: IVPN do a $60 a year, 2 user but limitations as to hopping, I'll get that next time I'm due, as I rarely hop, getting a bit old.
 
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