I’ve tried a few VPN’s in the last year and I just thought I’d post here to give my opinions on the services I’ve personally tried. For reference, I’m from the UK using mainly UK servers, and USA servers during streaming. I also am not being paid or encouraged to post these reviews, it’s 100% my honest opinion. I’ve included the prices of the VPN’s on their longest, cheapest plans since 1 month plans tend to be similar prices everywhere and much more expensive.
Express VPN - Constantly saw it recommended online and I was skeptical of the glowing reviews all the time. I checked it out, very expensive to be honest. Probably the most expensive provider, and the longest plan they sell is 1 year. I took out the 1 month plan to try, and switched to the 1 year. I currently use Express VPN and I couldn’t be happier really. The fastest speeds I’ve ever gotten from a VPN. It even works flawlessly on my Fire TV Netflix, which is usually the downfall of VPN services since they’re often extremely overcrowded and Netflix blacklists the IP addresses. Their app could be a little better but it’s still fully functional and the best service I’ve tried. Never had a CAPTCHA on Google either, which is a very good sign. They are the most expensive, but they’re expensive for a reason. (£6.25 a month / £75 yearly).
NordVPN - Trash, seriously. They’re the best known VPN provider in the UK. They even advertise on television and billboards in England, which is previously unheard of for a VPN service. I went with them about 9 months ago to try out. They offer 3 year long plans for very cheap prices which is always a warning sign. This typically indicates a very crowded service with too many users. I was correct. I got below slow speeds and CAPTCHAS on almost every Google search, and the Netflix speeds were abysmal. I left while I could and requested a full refund. It’s obvious they have completely oversold their service and that’s the reason for the very cheap 3 year plans. Their customer service team do everything to make you stay… but if you be assertive, they will refund you. Oh also, they discourage torrenting and throttle your speed. Terribly overcrowded… Avoid. The only positive is their app was the most polished. (£2.74 a month / £33 yearly).
CyberGhost - This is actually a very nice provider if you don’t want to spend top dollar on ExpressVPN but want to avoid overcrowded services like Nord. They are very affordable and the cheapest provider I found - if you take out the longest plan! Their speeds are very reasonable. I got a very nice speed for browsing and torrenting. Their app is nice as well! However, their major downfall is streaming. I installed the app on my Fire TV and practically every US server is blacklisted on Netflix. One server worked, but it was completely unusable because it was so slow. I presume everyone and their mothers was crowded onto this one server that worked to access USA Netflix. This service is perfectly fine for everything except streaming. Go to ExpressVPN if you want to watch Netflix. (£1.99 a month / £23.88 yearly).
TLDR; Express VPN is the best for everything with the fastest speeds, but the most expensive. Nord VPN is cheap but trash, their service is so overcrowded, speeds terrible, torrenting throttled and you get CAPTCHAS on every Google Search. CyberGhost is the cheapest, they’re perfectly fine for browsing and torrenting, but streaming is its downfall. Completely unusable for Netflix.
Great stuff. Will be leaving Nordvpn when my deal runs out. Their updated app is dreadful. It keeps losing the login details and bumps you to a browser where you are exposed. Constantly having to reinstall the app. It’s been crap for a good while now.
Can’t fault their staff though. Always had great help from them.
I would love to know what these " fastest speeds I’ve ever gotten from a VPN " are in numbers or a screen shot.
I have had Express VPN and seen a 60% to 75% drop in my download speeds and never seen speeds above that. Testing on a Gig line using multiple speed check sites and downloading from seedbox’s, also testing against my ISP speed check which goes up to 1000, and while testing on that my normal downloading was 850 to 1000 depending on time of day verse a max of about 200 with Express.
They will also weave and dodge you like Neo from the matrix when you ask them point blank what your expected loss will or should be averagely when using their service.
Gotta say I’ve had an abysmal experience with Cyberghost. I got them for streaming from Japan, and it’s been awful, with constant lag and even the WiFi losing internet connection. Now that I’m trying to claim their guaranteed 45 day refund they’ve put me into an automated runaround.
Would not recommend, ever.
Cyberghost is based in the UK, so I wonder if that has anything to do with the difference in experience from the OP. It’s like Nord and Cyberghost are swapped.
Quick Down speeds for ExpressVPN East Coast US @ 8:29pm ET -Wired- Gig
460mbps - New Jersey
240mbps (peak 340 mbps) @New York
170 mbps nearest me (weird and garbage discovery)
90 mbps Seattle
I have Gig internet.
Not too bad for primetime internet tbh
Express vpn took my 99.00 and does not not work. I can’t get help to “reset password” or anything else from the company. I took screen shots how it says to “log in” to get help— but when I try to sign in — their pop up message says “unable to sign in”
….
Yeah.
They clearly blocked me after taking my 99.00. I tried deleting the app and reinstalling it… same error message. Obviously I can’t get help since the website says you have to log in to send a message. I paid 99.90 for what?
I don’t have VPN because I’ve been “unable to sign in” for over 45 days!! Serious scam. Oh they got 99.00 out of me but I’m warning people. The app and website will you give you an eternal error saying “unable to sign in”. If I can save someone else the headache— it’s all good! But yeah. No way to contact them UNLESS you “sign into your account”— which they will block.
I typically get 60mbps without a vpn. Express VPN gives me 52mbps, Cyberghost gave me 45mbps and Nord gave me 23mbps. I usually use UK servers to gain those speeds. I can’t comment really on USA servers.
I have had the same experience. It seems like they have a limit around 200-250, so if you are normally under that it seems fast, but for us gigabit users, not as much.
You said you used to have them. Are you using one now that is closer to gigabit speeds? Who would that be?
