I run linux, so this might only be helpful for those who do (although they are most likely far more learned than I am).
First off, NordVPN, it’s not bad on things like android and windows as it can be used on pretty much any device, at least of those I’ve tested, however it’s a bit tricky to get working properly on Linux and while NordVPN has Linux support, it isn’t great. The installation is pretty straightforward, but it’s very buggy, the privacy offered by NordVPN seems great, and they’re not particularly pricey, so as long as you’re not on Linux, it works well enough in my experience.
Mullvad VPN, this is the one I currently use, more or less recently, they stopped support for port forwarding, but otherwise the VPN does what it’s supposed to do. It’s a lot cheaper when compared to other VPNs and is quite user-friendly with an elementary design and quick access. It works great on Linux with both .deb and .rpm files readily available.
I haven’t actually tested many others, but from what I can see apart from ProtonVPN, and ExpressVPN, those two are quite popular, so just my two cents from the perspective of a Linux user.
Well, Protonvpn has free servers for all to test it out. I have tried it on linux and it works with no hassle but without port forwarding and netshield.
PIA has by far the best Linux app IMO. It’s fully graphical, fast af cos its written in c++ and even has advanced features like split tunnel and even inverse split tunnel. Port forwarding and dedicated ip too.
Vpn providers with a GUI for Linux users
:
Airvpn – Italy
Astrillvpn – Liechtenstein
Ivpn – Gibraltar
Mullvad – Sweden
Ovpn – Sweden
:
Protonvpn – Switzerland
Purevpn – British Virgin Islands
Surfshark – Netherlands
Vpnac – Romania
Vpnarea – Bulgaria
:
Mozilla – USA
Private Internet Access – USA
Torguard – USA
Vpnunlimited – USA
Windscribe – Canada
Ive only used OVPN, and it works great on Linux GUI or CLI. A bit pricey, but so worth it. Their support is top notch too. kinda like the geek squad.
I believe Surfshark has a GUI on linux as well. And with Nordvpn, once you have it installed on linux, grab the Nordvpn widget if you can. I use it on Kubuntu. That makes it very easy to use
Try Perfect Privacy. A little bit expensive but perfect on Linux. They offer any features you can imagine and the support is amazing.
I’ve been using IPVanish with OpenVPN on Linux for a few years, not much in the way of extra features but I haven’t yet had a need for them. My main issue is that I used to be able to come close to maxing out our 300Mbps bandwidth but last I checked it’s gotten no higher than 175Mbps… I did try jumping to different servers in the same location, next will have to try other locations, will maybe also try wireguard if memory serves and it is in fact supported.
Do people use the apps? I’ve used various VPNs over the years on linux, and only ever downloaded the openvpn (or more recently wireguard) config file and used that.
sudo openenvpn config.ovpn
Trusting another app just seems to add more insecurity.
Bruh i just checked it out. Its trash. It doesn’t even have wireguard, just openvpn and Ipsec. No split tunnel either and their app looks like its from 1992.
Do they have split tunnel?
Because apps add advanced features? Like split tunnel, a bunch of firewall options, various dns configs, automation, etc
Where they roam you don’t need an app. Split tunnel worked perfectly.
those are all features of the underlying operating system, at least for a GNU/Linux computer.
I’d be wary of letting a VPN provider’s app just start changing e.g. the firewall rules on my computer.
They don’t have Linux split tunnel. I just checked it out, unless I’m looking in the wrong place ?
I triple checked, they do not have split tunnel. It’s the shittiest app I’ve ever used. My god, some crappy python thing with a truly horrible UI and zero features. Why do you like this muck?
They’re non trivial to implement, how would you go about implementing an app based split tunnel yourself?