If you’d like a general introduction to VPNs, see this article.
There are only a limited number of VPN providers that take privacy seriously. When choosing a provider, make sure that:
- They perform no logging of internet activities (not even the time and dates you connect)
- They support anonymous payments, and require only minimal information for registration
- They allow unrestricted internet usage
If a VPN provider restricts your usage of the internet via their VPN, that indicates that they are monitoring your connections in some manner.
It’s a good idea to ensure that the VPN provider doesn’t know who you are. You can do this by paying anonymously, providing artificial credentials, and signing while using a Tor browser.
You can pay Bitcoin, which a pseudo-anonymous payment system. You can increase its anonymity by using it in combination with Tor.
If you use the Tor network while connected to a VPN, it will give you an extra degree of anonymity, because the VPN solves the major issue of compromised or malicious TOR relays. For more info, check our tips for using VPNs, and our general article on Online Privacy.
These are our recommendations for the Best Anonymous VPN:
Private Internet Access
Private Internet Access is a VPN service that is highly regarded by privacy advocates. The company operates out of the United States with gigabit gateways in the U.S., Canada, UK, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
I’ve been testing their VPN service for about 9 months, and so far the service has been fast and reliable. I use it continuously now, and I don’t notice any lag when browsing the web, or downloading files.
Their VPN service supports all the major platforms: Window, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS and Android. They support the following VPN protocols: PPTP, IPSEC, OpenVPN and L2TP. You can also configure Private Internet Access to work on a DD-WRT router or Tomato router (via SSL/OpenVPN) for constant security.
Their VPN client also has handy features like DNS leakage blocking and an “internet kill switch” (a feature that shuts off your internet connection if your VPN connection goes down).
In regards to logging user activity, the company says:
We absolutely do not maintain any VPN logs of any kind. We utilize shared IP addresses rather than dynamic or static IPs, so it is not possible to match a user to an external IP. These are some of the many solutions we have implemented to enable the strongest levels of anonymity amongst VPN services. Further, we would like to encourage our users to use an anonymous e-mail and pay with Bitcoins to ensure even higher levels of anonymity should it be required. Our core verticals are privacy, quality of service, and prompt customer support. We will not share any information with third parties without a valid court order. With that said, it is impossible to match a user to any activity on our system since we utilize shared IPs and maintain absolutely no logs.
For payment they accept credit cards, Paypal, Bitcoin.
The service costs $6.95 per month, or $40 per year. This is about half the cost of the other VPN providers listed here.
Link: Private Internet Access
VPN.AC
VPN.AC is based in Romania. They have good VPN speeds, are committed to privacy, and allow torrenting. They accept Bitcoin, Paypal and CashU. They are owned by Netsec Interactive Solutions — a company with fiftheen years of experience in internet security.
VPN.AC hosts servers in 9 countries (US, UK, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, France, Romania, Hong Kong and Canada) capable of reaching gigabit port speeds and accommodating for the fastest internet connections. VPN.AC offers one VPN package, which grants you access to all of their international servers.
Service Summary
- Website: VPN.AC
- Business Location: Romania
- Server Location: Servers in 27 countries
- Cost: $9 USD per month or $58 USD per year
- Number of connections allowed: 6 simultaneous connections (3 during trial)
- Payment Types: Bitcoin, Credit Cards, Paypal, Alipay, UnionPay and others
- Trial Account: 1 week trial account for $2, also offers a 7-day money back guarantee
- Platforms Supported: Windows, macOS, iOS, Android
- Terms Of Service
I wouldn’t trust anything in the fourteen?,(9+5), eyes community.
Alternatives are, go back to farming and candle making, sadly, too “hooked” on screens for that.
Also, never look up at the sky or have mobile,(while farming), coz satellites…sad,sad, modern “civilized” world.
watch the village and enemy of the state, maybe even enjoy?
Found https://zoogtv.com to be fast privacy solution for my p2p activities. Just use their Swedish end point to protect yourself.
Well, I did have an account with vpn.ac for a few days just this last week. I canceled after 2 days. my main problem was speed. their technology seems to be good based on your other article, but there’s less than 20 servers, and openvpn was around 5 megs for me, in many servers 2megs. Mind you upload would reach 5-9 megs sometimes where download was 2-5.
The first option of encryption, forgot it’s name, is a bit faster, with some servers much faster. but neither your site nor them (vpn.ac) recommend using it. All recommend openvpn and 5 megs wasn’t enough.
I’ll emphasize that I do the same simple test using the vpn, or disconnecting it. I just re-installed windows on my machine after a format two weeks ago, I get 25-27 megs download, then with their openvpn, I get 5 megs sometimes 9 but i have to look for that server.
Does PIA do data compression to give better speeds? Some vpn companies use that as their answer to having lesser speeds than PIA.
I also just tried writing to cyberghost yesterday, they don’t reply unless you have a premium account, so I can only test their speed on the free service, which is quite slow. so I can’t test it.
PIA is US based, and while I do nothing illegal, uncle Sam’s been quite snoopy since the patriot act. But it seems to be the best speed according to many.
I think this list of vpn providers needs a revisit. I’m no expecrt, but I’ve learned quickly in the past 2 weeks. 🙂
It has come to our attention that privacy.io shut down their services. Privacy.io used Anonine technology to provide services to their clients and, unfortunately, Anonine doesn’t have access to any of the accounts of the users that recently suffered from the shutdown. Anonine has tried to contact privacy.io multiple times, however, privacy.io never responded to any of our requests. We pride as a provider who works hard to offer the best service to our clients and values security. Considering that Anonine received numerous requests from privacy.io clients, we would like to announce that every user who has an active subscription with privacy.io, can get free access to our vpn servers by registering on anonine.com and contacting our support for account extension.
Please note that Anonine had absolutely no control over the actions of privacy.io and is not responsible for what happened. We will do our best to help the clients who sufferred from irresponsible company that never delivered on what they promised.
Should you have any questions or comments, please contact our support at https://anonine.com/en/contact
It is possible that this is a good tool, but I prefer the paid services are less known, but reliable SEVIS. For example such as http://www.anonymize.net/ and http://anonymous-proxy-server.net/. Probably the mentioned providers are good, however I am a professional man in need of anonymous VPN for my everyday activities, therefore I use more reliable services (paid, of course) at http://www.anonymize.net/ and http://anonymous-proxy-server.net/ The first one offers offshore VPN either.
It is time for bloggers that compile these lists of which are the best, the most secure, the most anonymous, etc. VPN services to stop selling false security to the public. The worse offender of these is torrentfreak.com.
So, you have been using a VPN service and you feel safe. If you feel safe because this service removes a lot of the trash such as ads, commercial trackings, etc.that is one thing, total anonymity is quite another.
Now, from a different angle, this is why you keep chasing after a pipe dream:
.Child ponography
.Terrorism
.Human trafficking
.Racketeering
.Drugs
.Money laundering
.Paedophilia
And the list is long.
If you have any morals, you would want your VPN provider to allow for a a back entrance
to the solution of these problems.
If you do not have any morals or care about these problems, society will decide for you.
So you see all these promises about no logs, shared IPs, these and that are an empty policy
template that this industry uses in order to sell you their services. The pipe dream keeps many people working.
I don’t agree with anything you said, plus I’m not sure any of it made sense.
It was a pretty idiotic statement on his part. Maybe he should give us all “back entrance” to his house so we can check in on him everyday to make sure he’s not involved in any of the things he listed.
And he may feel confident that he’s not involved with anything in that long list so he’s got nothing to hide. BUT we still need to check every single day at any hour of the day just to make sure. Strip naked and spread while you’re at it.
Sadly idiots are allowed to vote and there’s lots of them.
Agreed.
He is projecting on some level. And overlooks how many simply want their private lives remaining private.
He’s right about porn related stuff. But he forgets what if the activity of ‘watching porn’ in itself is forbidden, or the user would like it private to have peace of mind?
Like you said, he’s an idiot and sadly ‘can’ vote.
Needless to say, i mean watching porn in general. He does mention ‘child porn’ and ‘pedophilia’ twice, which are illnesses.
I’m on Laptop Telly for British VPN access in UAE now
6.99 month (http://www.laptoptelly.com)
See here Faceless.ME
it’s free and power !
Can run smoothly on several OS and devices, such as Windows and Linux, iPhones and iPads.
Provided that you choose to connect via the OpenVPN you can enjoy more than average speed during your online surfing.
And finally you can enjoy online streaming due to the anonymity and the opportunity to substitute IP addresses, leading to the overcoming of any geographical restriction.
what I am going to see about all the vpn in the world, its all about luck… Every tell you there are the best. If you do not get there you will never know. What has been done has been done. Now what need to be done!!! If we are talking about vpn .. torgard.net.. worldvpn.net. hidemyass is out of point for now.. Most of them are just working and cant do noting.. With the vp ip i listed you have to pay.. And you can still get other free vpn depends on how you get them.. So can be good web Brower it does not need to be vpn . newipnow.com check that out one of the best I have know all my life…. If you come across this link and most have read my comment I believe you one of the luck people in the world…. And again when you neeed something good do not look at the cost.. That is that…
No mention of PhantomPeer? They don’t keep logs either (they say). It’s operated by the I-Blocklist person/people, costs $6 a month. But they only seem to have two servers. One in the Netherlands and one in Canada. They support OpenVPN, PPTP, and SOCKS.
Do you know about http://faceless.me/ VPN? It’s both anonymous and free (with ads).
Hey guys, I can recommend you Hide.io VPN. Fast internet, good service, easy to use. Check it out!
This is great, the speeds are often faster through the VPN than not. I leave my computer connected to BTGUARD all the time as it makes no difference! Netflix is the main reason I use this, never had a problem in over 6 months.
Yeah right, most VPN providers suggested here are located in modern EU countries or USA. Thus you should not count on them keeping your privacy very well.
For strong NO-LOGS policy and wide list of offshore vpn providers go for a anonymous vpn provider like VPN Area
They are hosted in Switzerland and have a strong no logs declaration, and you can even pay with LibertyReserve if you want.
Our aim here is to recommend privacy services suitable for average people. If you have special needs, I encourage you to pursue providers in “non-modern” countries.
“Average people”. Average people can be political journalists or bloggers on political subjects. Average people can be downloading torrents. Average people do say the B word in conversations without being terrorists themselves (thus being automatically spied on by the government). Average people do watch alternative porn (most of which is forbidden in UK and by alternative I mean acts between consenting adults, such as BDSM).
Average people do use internet for offshore online banking, to legally avoid tax.
All of the above can lead authorities to your door.
Contrary to your beliefs, 50% of VPN users are ones seeking privacy, when it comes to privacy No-Logs policy and offshore provider is a must for a VPN company.
In today’s reality “PRIVACY” is a “SPECIAL NEED”. There for once again, if you want a truly private VPN go for VPN Area
or some other company with no-logs policy and offshore server locations.
Just my two cents.
Thanks for the reply.
TOR is a good option, but still the fact that those using a VPN may be those with something to hide, makes setting up a VPN service a great way to gather sensitive data.
But that’s true of any ISP too though. If you don’t trust anyone, you’d be better off using Tails and a VPN tunnel as mentioned previously.
How do you know that these VPN sites are not setup as honeypots to gather your information?
It’s unlikely that they are honeypots. However, if you need that level of privacy, see my suggestions in this article How To Be Anonymous On The Internet and this article: Using A VPN Inside A Virtual Machine For Extra Anonymity.
you had me at big boobs in shiny outfit
The selected VPNs are all very good options, another one I would consider is VPNTunnel.com located in Sweden and claiming that they keep no logs. or VPNSecure.me in Australia keeps logs for only 24 hours.
Here are two worthy of consideration despite not meeting the rigorous screening. Neither logs server data and both of them offer affordable plans:
ItsHidden – based in The Seychelles (TOS states jurisdiction is here but does state if there is a dispute under said jurisdiction then UK Law presides, which might indicate the admin office is in UK). TOS is fair and straightforward. Doesn’t keep logs.
TorVPN – based in Hungary. Has a free version with bandwidth limits. Doesn’t keep logs. For free version, customer only has to provide an email address (company suggests using anonymous or disposable email address to do so).
VPN4ALL seems suspect. It is operated out of Netherlands (VPN4ALL Ltd. Prinsenhil 29 4825 AX Breda The Netherlands) and the server network is operated from The Seychelles by Web Broadcasting Ltd. Its TOS and Privacy Policy are disturbing. It gathers all personal information of customers including IP and presumably can tie a customer to server data *if* it suspects customer of violating TOS (which includes distributing “National Socialism” information – I kid you not). Oh, and it can charge customer $175/hour to investigate alleged violations and automatically deduct from credit card/pay pal account without dispute. See its TOS. These policies are bizarre at best.
Another good anonymous VPN in Sweden is PrivatVPN — no logging at all.
10$ per month? No, thank you. I better stick with https://cloudnymous.com with 15 cents a day.
Cloudnymous looks like a reasonable service, although the pricing structure seems unnecessarily complicated. However, it doesn’t qualify for my list because the company keeps connections logs, albeit limited, and it doesn’t seem to accept anonymous payments.
I’ve had good luck with https://privacy.io — good speeds, dead simple to setup, and OpenVPN compatible so it works practically every where.
I also suggest the one I love to use, boxpn vpn (https://www.boxpn.com). They provide incredible range of servers, even SSTP encryption all for 5 USD. Getting 14-15Mbit from my 16Mbit connection.