VPN Comparison 2.0
After making a post about comparing VPN providers, I received a lot of requested feedback. I've implemented most of the ideas I received.
Providers
- AirVPN
- IVPN
- Mozilla VPN
- Mullvad VPN
- NordVPN
- NymVPN
- Private Internet Access (abbreviated PIA)
- Proton VPN
- Surfshark VPN
- Tor (technically not a VPN)
- Windscribe
Notes
- I'm human. I make mistakes. I made multiple mistakes in my last post, and there may be some here. I've tried my best.
- Pricing is sometimes weird. For example, a 1 year plan for Private Internet Access is 37.19€ first year and then auto-renews annually at 46.73€. By the way, they misspelled "annually". AirVPN has a 3 day pricing plan. For the instances when pricing is weird, I did what I felt was best on a case-by-case basis.
- Tor is not a VPN, but there are multiple apps that allow you to use it like a VPN. They've released an official Tor VPN app for Android, and there is a verified Flatpak called Carburetor which you can use to use Tor like a VPN on secureblue (Linux). It's not unreasonable to add this to the list.
- Some projects use different licenses for different platforms. For example, NordVPN has an open source Linux client. However, to call NordVPN open source would be like calling a meat sandwich vegan because the bread is vegan.
- The age of a VPN isn't a good indicator of how secure it is. There could be a trustworthy VPN that's been around for 10 years but uses insecure, outdated code, and a new VPN that's been around for 10 days but uses up-to-date, modern code.
- Some VPNs, like Surfshark VPN, operate in multiple countries. Legality may vary.
- All of the VPNs claim a "no log" policy, but there's some I trust more than others to actually uphold that.
- Tor is special in the port forwarding category, because it depends on what you're using port forwarding for. In some cases, Tor doesn't need port forwarding.
- Tor technically doesn't have a WireGuard profile, but you could (probably?) create one.
Takeaways
- If you don't mind the speed cost, Tor is a really good option to protect your IP address.
- If you're on a budget, NymVPN, Private Internet Access, and Surfshark VPN are generally the cheapest. If you're paying month-by-month, Mullvad VPN still can't be beat.
- If you want VPNs that go out of their way to collect as little information as possible, IVPN, Mullvad VPN, and NymVPN don't require any personal information to use. And Tor, of course.
ODS file: files.catbox.moe/cly0o6.ods
Private Internet Access: The Best VPN Service For 10+ Years
PIA VPN is 2025's top-rated VPN service – with ultra-fast speeds, worldwide streaming servers, and 100% open-source software. Try PIA risk free for 30 days.Private Internet Access
VPN Comparison
I made a spreadsheet comparing different open source VPN providers.
Part 2 here
Providers
Notes
- Please do not start a flame war about Proton.
- Please do not start a flame war about cryptocurrencies. Monero is the only cryptocurrency listed because of its privacy.
- The very left column is the category for each row, the middle section is the various VPN providers, and the right section is which VPNs are the best in each category.
- IVPN has two differing plans, which is why "Standard" and "Pro" are sometimes differentiated.
- For accounts, "Generated" means a random identifier is created for you to act as your account, "Required" means you must sign up yourself. Proton VPN allows guest use under specific conditions (e.g. installed from the Google Play Store), but otherwise requires an account.
- Switzerland is seen as more private than Sweden. Gibraltar is seen as privacy neutral.
- All prices are in United States Dollars. Tax is not included.
- Pricing is based on the price combination to achieve the exact time frame. For example, Proton VPN does not have a 3 year plan but you can achieve 3 years by combining a 2 year plan with a 1 year plan.
- The availability section is security based. Availability is framed around a GrapheneOS and secureblue setup.
- The Proton VPN Flatpak is unofficial, but based on the official code.
- Availability on secureblue is based on the
ujust install-vpncommand. Security features must be disabled on secureblue in order to use the GUI for IVPN and Mullvad VPN, but not for Proton VPN. Mozilla VPN and NymVPN are available as Flatpaks, which are safer than layering packages.- I wanted to include more categories, such as which programming languages they are written in, connection speed, and security, but that became far too difficult and complex, so I decided to omit those categories.
Takeaways
- NymVPN is very very new, but it's off to a strong start. It wins in almost every category. I actually hadn't heard of it until I started this project.
- If you want a free VPN, Proton VPN is the only one here that meets that requirement.
- If you want to pay week-by-week, IVPN is the only one that allows that.
- If you're paying month-by-month on a budget, Mullvad VPN is the cheapest option.
- NymVPN is the cheapest plan for anything past 1 month.
- If you want to use Accrescent as your main app store, IVPN is the only VPN available there for now.
- If you want to pay for a bundle of apps, including a VPN, Proton sells more than just a VPN.
- Mozilla VPN is terrible. The only thing it has going for it is a verified Flatpak, but NymVPN also has that so it doesn't even matter.
Questa voce è stata modificata (1 settimana fa)
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somerandomperson
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •The 8232 Project
in reply to somerandomperson • • •somerandomperson
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •The 8232 Project
in reply to somerandomperson • • •somerandomperson
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •The 8232 Project
in reply to somerandomperson • • •This is the website
This is the source code
This is the Google Play Store link (just in case)
The Tor Project / Applications / vpn · GitLab
GitLabsomerandomperson
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Corridor8031
in reply to somerandomperson • • •"Tor VPN is beta software. Do not rely on it for anything other than testing. It may leak information and should not be relied on for anything sensitive"
in case you did not read the disclaimer
somerandomperson
in reply to Corridor8031 • • •Hubi
in reply to somerandomperson • • •The 8232 Project
in reply to Hubi • • •Hubi
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Tundra
in reply to somerandomperson • • •Its available through FDroid, you have to enable the the guardian repo first:
support.torproject.org/tormobi…
Is Tor Browser available on F-Droid? | Tor Project | Support
support.torproject.orgThe 8232 Project
in reply to Tundra • • •immobile7801
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Ŝan
in reply to immobile7801 • • •I've been concerned about performance lately; after having been on Mullvad forever, performance dropped to "abysmal" on every server, so I tried ivpn and got much better speeds. Still, it's a fraction of my fiber capability, wiþ VPN off. I looked at Nym, but haven't tried it; it doesn't seem like þroughput is a primary selling point for þem.
If you do try it, could you report back on speed impact?
I get 8% of my raw þroughput on Mullvad's servers. I get 28% on ivpn. Neiþer seems like a reasonably cost for Wireguard, and should be better.
scytale
in reply to Ŝan • • •Ŝan
in reply to scytale • • •Yeah, please report back if you do.
I don't know what's up w/ Mullvad. Þey were great for years.
ISOmorph
in reply to Ŝan • • •like this
Kami likes this.
Ŝan
in reply to ISOmorph • • •online
in reply to Ŝan • • •It's more private, but you'll sacrifice speed as a result of having to go through at least 2 servers.
They even have a 5-hop mode, which I don't know, probably would be slower than tor xD
scytale
in reply to online • • •Dr. Wesker
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •I appreciate the attempt to quantify availability, but don't most of these providers allow you to generate OpenVPN and Wireguard configs, which can be used practically anywhere?
Nevertheless, your work is appreciated.
null_dot
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •I've been using one of these since forever and it just works. Should I look at the others?
I don't want this to be a "I use x and its the best" type comment so I won't say which one.
I only use wireguard and wouldn't touch openvpn just because it seems so complex in comparisson.
The price is fine, the speed is fine, wireguard makes it ubiquitous, never had a problem with reliability.
The 8232 Project
in reply to null_dot • • •null_dot
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •AtariDump
in reply to null_dot • • •sp3ctr4l
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Very much appreciate this work, but I am again gonna ask if there is some way to include I2P, perhaps in its own thing, perhaps segregated by outproxies.
Yep, its super slow compared to basically all VPNs, and is a bit of struggle to set up compared to most VPNs.
But, it is also entirely free, and you can use I2P with outproxies to access the wider internet outside of I2P's... I2P-net... allows port forwarding, works very well for a slow but steady churn of uh, filesharing, etc.
I would also argue I2P is a better way that TOR to protect your IP and your actual net traffic, due to TOR nodes being known to be run as honeypots ...
Its possible an I2P outproxy could also be operated as a honeypot, but as I understand it, ... so long as you are not unlucky enough to just directly route through an outproxy without first bouncing through other I2P users/hosts... you're basically good.
And even in that scenario, its would be very difficult to reverse engineer all the packets and figure out which parts were going to who, as well as the actual contents of those packets.
Brickfrog
in reply to sp3ctr4l • • •Agreed, if OP is going to add Tor in a "VPN" list then may as well add I2P. I2P + outproxies are pretty much the same thing as Tor + Tor Exit Relay. It's not the best way to utilize I2P but the option does exist.
Then again neither Tor nor I2P should be in a "VPN" list, the whole thing seems more of a VPN provider topic.
aprehendedmerlin
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •dumpster_dove [he/him]
in reply to aprehendedmerlin • • •webghost0101
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Honestly i wish these kind of vpns had a different name.
Wireguard isnt even on the list and its entirely free, but also it doesn’t serve this same purpose.
Vpn stands for private personal network, selfhosted vpns do exactly that, i can use my
Phone to connect to all my home services which replace expensive subscriptions without actually exposing those services to the net or requiring a domain for them.
Vpns are amazing, but most people i know irl that use them barely understand what they are or what they can be used for.
Eager Eagle
in reply to webghost0101 • • •ObsidianZed
in reply to webghost0101 • • •dirakon
in reply to webghost0101 • • •prole
in reply to webghost0101 • • •Ermm....
webghost0101
in reply to prole • • •Virtual private network,i know, i know, but i just wrote the wrong thing on accident.
Since its been up for so long feels dishonest to change it. I am owning up to my mistakes and my sentiment that the post is about providers only still stands.
prole
in reply to webghost0101 • • •Telorand
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •PIA does not have WireGuard configs available. To get those, you have to use third-party tools to capture and generate the necessary info. Otherwise, you have to use their client, or else no WireGuard.
Users have been asking for years (since 2018, I think), and they've never provided them.
Droolio
in reply to Telorand • • •GitHub - pia-foss/manual-connections: Scripts for manual connections to Private Internet Access
GitHubLuke
in reply to Droolio • • •Chulk
in reply to Telorand • • •PIA was also purchased by the Israeli company, Kape Technologies, which is tied to Unit 8200. If your concern is privacy, I would recommend do against it.
Private Internet Access VPN to be acquired by malware company founded by former Israeli spy
Telegraphbulwark
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Oberyn
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •ObsidianZed
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Ersatz86
in reply to ObsidianZed • • •mkhopper
in reply to ObsidianZed • • •I have the same question about PureVPN.
Does Pure fly under the radar, or just not as well known?
I've been using it for years and never any problems.
dubyakay
in reply to ObsidianZed • • •Since September 2021, ExpressVPN has been a subsidiary of Kape Technologies, a company wholly owned by Israeli billionaire Teddy Sagi.
Teddy Sagi is an Israeli businessman and convicted criminal based in London and Dubai.
PIA is also owned by Sagi btw. Shouldn't even be on this list.
ColeSloth
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •TankieTanuki [he/him]
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •All VPNs are blocked on my university's network
I live off campus, thankfully, but it sucks that I can't have any privacy on my laptop while on campus.
chaoticnumber
in reply to TankieTanuki [he/him] • • •dirakon
in reply to TankieTanuki [he/him] • • •_cryptagion [he/him]
in reply to TankieTanuki [he/him] • • •tunnel to your home connection then. unless you live an hour or two away from your campus, it's not gonna add a delay that's noticeable to you.
ATS1312
in reply to TankieTanuki [he/him] • • •Mullvad on desktop has QUIC protocol encapsulation so that wireguard just looks like normal https traffic.
There's also shadowsocks protocol encapsulation to look like ssh traffic. And that's even available on mobile too.
veee
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Lemmchen
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Catbox
catbox.moeThe 8232 Project
in reply to Lemmchen • • •redhilsha
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •don't like this
Kami doesn't like this.
Kami
in reply to redhilsha • • •If you care about privacy no.
If you just need to unlock regional content then it should be good.
redhilsha
in reply to Kami • • •Keyword being "free".
Could you suggest a better VPN that's free?
don't like this
Kami doesn't like this.
Kami
in reply to redhilsha • • •_cryptagion [he/him]
in reply to Kami • • •don't like this
Kami doesn't like this.
Kami
in reply to _cryptagion [he/him] • • •LMAO
First of all Mullvad isn't German.
Second, they have already proved they respect customers privacy.
Get your facts straight and don't cry if someone criticizes your favorite corporation.
prole
in reply to redhilsha • • •like this
Kami likes this.
redhilsha
in reply to prole • • •I agree.
Though, it's not that deep. I was saying how it's the best amongst the free ones. I'm not saying it's the best in general.
prole
in reply to redhilsha • • •Brickfrog
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •One thing you may want to update - listing Tor's logging policy as "No Logs" is a bit misleading, that's really more of a voluntary recommendation for individual Tor exit relay operators.
Tor exit relay operators absolutely can store logs of outgoing connections if they choose to. And technically they could even snoop on non-secure traffic if they choose, there's a reason you should be using HTTPS if you're going to use Tor for clearnet browsing.
Of course most Tor exit relay operators aren't going to do these things but it's all voluntary, seems incorrect to claim all exit relay operators follow no log principles.
EDIT: Also AFAIK you can't forward a port from the clearnet through a Tor exit relay's public IP address back to your own Tor client, Tor doesn't do port forwarding like that. It's definitely not needed to run Tor Browser (and Tor VPN I think) but that isn't needed for any of the other VPNs either, a bit confusing how you listed that one.
prole
in reply to Brickfrog • • •Undertaker
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •like this
Kami likes this.
abominable_panda
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •like this
Kami likes this.
Valmond
in reply to abominable_panda • • •ehyuman
in reply to Valmond • • •olenkoVD
in reply to ehyuman • • •AdrianTheFrog
in reply to Valmond • • •Valmond
in reply to AdrianTheFrog • • •Show me where he endorses Trump.
Oh, you can't? But you read it on Facebook or something so it must be true?
Common, show me your information.
This is bullshit based on some old tweet Andy Yen did about trump doing good going against big tech. You can read about it here or search for it elsewhere.
It always comes out when someone says something nice about ProtonVPN, who have an amazing track record IMO.
Does Proton really support Trump? A deeper analysis (and surprising findings)
ovenplayer (Medium)AdrianTheFrog
in reply to Valmond • • •Valmond
in reply to AdrianTheFrog • • •Thank you!
And sorry if I came around a bit agressively. Kudos to you for checking the link and updating your view.
MangioneDontMiss
in reply to AdrianTheFrog • • •porcoesphino
in reply to Valmond • • •That write up does seem to ignore the doubling down here:
lemmy.ca/comment/13913116
Calling out that JD Vance was the only one to answer is pretty troubling to me after reading about some of his new-right ties. It's way, way too close for my liking to a mouse telling everyone that will listen that the cat was amazing for inviting him and all his friends to his house in a week. ie. Playing into what just seems like an obvious strategy.
That said, I'm pretty ignorant about the CEO. I just remembered this lemmy comment and I didn't notice it included in the write up that was being linked.
egerlach
2025-01-15 16:06:05
eldavi
in reply to Valmond • • •Valmond
in reply to eldavi • • •eldavi
in reply to Valmond • • •eldavi
in reply to Valmond • • •Valmond
in reply to eldavi • • •_cryptagion [he/him]
in reply to eldavi • • •eldavi
in reply to _cryptagion [he/him] • • •I do not use Windows and I do everything in my power to use non American phones.
The difference is that proton's founder voiced support whereas Microsoft has always had a relationship w my govt and it's dragnet for the Gazan genocide is quiet.
_cryptagion [he/him]
in reply to eldavi • • •eldavi
in reply to _cryptagion [he/him] • • •brb
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •MrSulu
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •like this
HeerlijkeDrop likes this.
don't like this
Kami doesn't like this.
Kami
in reply to MrSulu • • •like this
HeerlijkeDrop likes this.
dubyakay
in reply to Kami • • •prole
in reply to dubyakay • • •theintercept.com/2025/01/28/pr…
and
Proton Mail Says It’s “Politically Neutral” While Praising Republican Party
Nikita Mazurov (The Intercept)cmhe
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •The 'availability' is misleading. If they offer OpenVPN or Wireguard then they are available pretty much anywhere.
Using just plain Wireguard or OpenVPN configs would also be much better than installing random VPN provider apps.
ki9
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •cryptostorm - The VPN service provider for the truly paranoid
cryptostorm.isATS1312
in reply to ki9 • • •I'd love to see them audited.
Back when they were in the US, they closed shop and moved to Iceland to avoid turning over data for a subpoena.
That's both admirable and an admission that they had longs to turn over.
But that they generate accounts on the fly like the best? Is promising in context.
Kami
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •pineapple
in reply to Kami • • •cmhe
in reply to pineapple • • •Corridor8031
in reply to cmhe • • •cmhe
in reply to Corridor8031 • • •The issue there AFAIK is that some app builds aren't fully reproducible, because if they were the developer signature would still apply and be used. In the reproducible case the security of the build infra wouldn't matter, because the same app would be produced the same regardless were they are build.
Without reproducible builds, you cannot really trust the software anyway, because the Dev could hook some hidden code only for the released binary app and sign that.
Corridor8031
in reply to cmhe • • •uhm no not really?
I mean reproducible builds are used to cross verfiy that it is the same binary in this case, but like android has no mechanism to do that, this is not how it works.
that a build should be reproducible is more about your second point and doesnt really have anything to do with fdroid, as far as i know
Edit: these links should explain it all:
discuss.grapheneos.org/d/21675…
FDroid Security - GrapheneOS Discussion Forum
GrapheneOS Discussion Forumcmhe
in reply to Corridor8031 • • •f-droid.org/en/2025/09/29/goog…
F-Droid and Google's Developer Registration Decree | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository
f-droid.orgpineapple
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •online
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •I haven't looked at all providers, merely Nymvpn as I was interested. Turns out they have a 2TB/month cap. Might not be an issue for some, but might be for others.
Valmond
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •ProtonVPN: only 8 years old: RED FLAG!
Well reddish flag at least, is there a rationale behind this? I mean 8 years is quite a long time.
Ferk
in reply to Valmond • • •Valmond
in reply to Ferk • • •So you also think the choices were not that good?
I mean what you are saying is that if there had been a 50 year old one, all the others should be red?
Ferk
in reply to Valmond • • •I'm just explaining the reason why it's more reddish (but not as red as others). It's something most spreadsheet software (this was clearly MS Excel) can do automatically with numbers for visual indication so we can more easily see the distribution, it does not mean 8 years old is bad.
If there's a big unbalance in color it would just make it more visible that there's a big unbalance in ages. Probably if that had happened more colors could have been added to the gradient, maybe maroon->red->yellow->green->blue->white. But I think it was not seen as necessary in this case (or the author was lazy, since these are one of the defaults I believe).
Valmond
in reply to Ferk • • •Who cares about why it happened? I mean it's kind of obvious. No one questioned why excel shows a specific colour, but I did why the person making the spreadsheet did in fact use what you go to lengths to explaine, in a specific way. It's like saying sorry your paycheck was halved because we have this software and today it divided your salary in half. Not saying that's not ok or anything, but explaining how "dividing by 2 halves a number".
I feel you explain something, while correct, had nothing to do with what I said.
The 8232 Project
in reply to Ferk • • •LibreOffice Calc, actually. You are correct about the color grading.
I changed the conditional colors from the default to match the colors that LibreOffice uses for "Good", "Neutral", and "Bad".
Calc | LibreOffice - Free and private office suite - Based on OpenOffice - Compatible with Microsoft
www.libreoffice.orgTunaSlap
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Edit: I so I thought. I had set it up and apparently not kept up with the times
Bruhh
in reply to TunaSlap • • •TunaSlap
in reply to Bruhh • • •Corridor8031
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •For anyone who considers getting the tor vpn android app
"Tor VPN is beta software. Do not rely on it for anything other than testing. It may leak information and should not be relied on for anything sensitive" (it is a disclaimer from their website)
Thank you for adding the created date column and making sweden green
rirus
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •mnemonicmonkeys
in reply to rirus • • •BlueRhinos
in reply to rirus • • •GnuLinuxDude
in reply to BlueRhinos • • •Yes. The owner/developer is Kape technologies, an Israeli spyware/adware company.
To quote from cnet
Whether or not PIA or ExpressVPN or the other providers owned by Kape fulfill this data scraping and ad-serving pipeline in my mind is irrelevant. Choosing to do business with them rewards bad actors when there are other VPN sellers who don't have such a tainted lineage.
loxdogs
in reply to rirus • • •rirus
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Ferrous
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Good work. Might be valuable to add a "allows port forwarding" row.
Edit: whoops, I'm a silly willy. It's right in front of me! My bad.
typhoon
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •I see that Windscribe was included. Their price tier is always in promotion so I'd take that in consideration.
Also, they have app for Linux: windscribe.com/features/linux/
It is not in Electron like many others. It is native Linux.
Get the Fastest VPN for Linux | Windscribe
windscribe.comHulkSmashBurgers
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •I think it's worth noting NYMVpn uses a quite advanced mixnet for security which is different from other VPNs and theoretically more secure than even TOR. I say theoretically because it hasn't yet been proven with large scale use.
nym.com/blog/what-is-a-mixnet
What is a mixnet? Unparalleled online privacy with a VPN
Casey Ford, PhD (Nym)dirtySourdough
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •upstroke4448
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Checklists Are The Thief Of Joy - Dhole Moments
Dhole Moments∞🏳️⚧️Edie [it/it/its/its/itself, she/her/her/hers/herself, fae/faer/faer/faers/faerself, love/love/loves/loves/loveself, des/pair, null/void, none/use name]
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •C tor/little-t-tor/etc. is licensed under the "3-clause BSD" license
I dont know a lot about wireguard, but of the cuff answer would be no.
LICENSE · main · The Tor Project / Core / Tor · GitLab
GitLabInnerScientist
in reply to ∞🏳️⚧️Edie [it/it/its/its/itself, she/her/her/hers/herself, fae/faer/faer/faers/faerself, love/love/loves/loves/loveself, des/pair, null/void, none/use name] • • •The 8232 Project
in reply to ∞🏳️⚧️Edie [it/it/its/its/itself, she/her/her/hers/herself, fae/faer/faer/faers/faerself, love/love/loves/loves/loveself, des/pair, null/void, none/use name] • • •Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 Internationalbut the actual license file is a different license.∞🏳️⚧️Edie [it/it/its/its/itself, she/her/her/hers/herself, fae/faer/faer/faers/faerself, love/love/loves/loves/loveself, des/pair, null/void, none/use name]
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •The reason gitlab says it is, is because the LICENSE file contains all licenses for the codebase, including stuff like geoip which is destributed under CC BY-SA 4.0
The 8232 Project
in reply to ∞🏳️⚧️Edie [it/it/its/its/itself, she/her/her/hers/herself, fae/faer/faer/faers/faerself, love/love/loves/loves/loveself, des/pair, null/void, none/use name] • • •Matt
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Echolynx
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •stupid_asshole69 [none/use name]
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Last time I said it was hard to figure out if this was some kind of malice or just someone without much experience/knowledge.
I been thinking about what this post and the one before it actually are though. They’re not disinformation, I don’t think they’re misinformation although I think that argument could be made if there was actual intent (and a person could also make the argument that there is intent).
This just kind of seems like white noise or what would be called slop if it were generated by ai.
It’s not useful in making a decision.
A vpn is a tool and you use the right tool for the job. A chart comparing the various similarities and differences between a box and open end wrench, flare nut wrench, socket set, power drill, impact driver and torque wrench would be useless for decision making about what tool to buy because they’re for different jobs.
If you need to take the lug nuts off a truck the right tool is an impact, if you need to replace brake lines you’re gonna use a flare nut wrench.
It’s not useful to compare pia and mullvad. If all you need is a cheap way to reliably bypass geofencing then pia is the right tool. If you need deniability and trust then mullvad is the right tool.
It makes no sense to compare air and nord. If you need the cheapest per device service for bypassing content blocks then the tool is nord. If you need port forwarding for torrents, soulseek and usenet all at once then the tool is air.
The problem with posts like this is that they don’t really provide any useful understanding or decision making process and wouldn’t be useful from an educational perspective like the comparison between various wrenches made above (if it were in some kind of Tools for Dummies publication) because they’re not even contextualized as such.
A better start for this kind of post would be “here are some reasons to use a vpn service” or “here are some actual important differences between different vpn services apps”, not weather they’re available on Jim’s cut rate Secure I Promise (tm) alternative android App Store.
hellinkilla [they/them, they/them]
in reply to stupid_asshole69 [none/use name] • • •Totally disagree with the first few paragraphs. Someone makes a post you feel has inadequate depth and you think they're the goddamned CIA? I don't see any basis for the hostile tone.
But like it's nice to be able to have a reference to quickly exclude certain options without having to wade through all their various websites. If you already know that you need port forwarding, then a chart like this will help you exclude several mainstream options. If there is some other criteria you already know about it could save you a lot of time.
Those do exist elsewhere and I don't think there is much wrong with summarizing the current state of things for an informed audience. We are on lemmy here! I wouldn't mail this chart out to the whole neighbourhood or anything, it's probably not a good very first intro for most people. Although even for a person just getting started, having the column of criteria on the left could be useful to point out "what are the things to consider". Like maybe you wouldn't even guess that the number of devices would be limited.
Long narrative comparisons can be hard to follow. They are good for understanding the differences but then once you are having an understanding how do you pick? It's very convenient if someone else goes to the trouble to sift through the information. On wikipedia there are some subjects that have tables comparing things and I find them very helpful. Otherwise I'd just have to spend hours making my own tables.
BTW wikipedia has a table comparing different kinds of wrenches so obviously someone thought it would be useful!!
The main issue is that the information could become out of date or erroneous in the first place so you need to verify for yourself whatever is key to your decisions. That's just the nature of third party info.
tool used to provide grip and mechanical advantage
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)stupid_asshole69 [none/use name]
in reply to hellinkilla [they/them, they/them] • • •So like I said, I don’t think the post is malicious.
I tried to be careful not to take a hostile tone. It’s possible you’re correctly identifying a critical tone, because my comment was intended as criticism of the post.
There are ways of presenting factual information that are not helpful or useful and actually serve the opposite purpose. You certainly don’t need to use prose to present information in a useful way, but consider how much closer to the old car paint color versus mileage chart (or whatever example they used to teach you about uncorrelated data in school) the posters chart is than the Wikipedia wrench table you linked.
The Wikipedia wrench table is in the context of “tools for dummies” that I said might be appropriate for that type of presentation, just as an aside.
The whole point of using some kind of chart or table is to make understanding easier, not more difficult. The posted chart does the latter. I think its because the op doesn’t understand both what they’re trying to say or the information they’re trying to show to convey it and because they chose a really excessively dimensional way to do so. A flowchart, infographic or anything other than a three dimensional chart would be better but since it’s so unclear what they’re trying to express, except possibly how much they love nymvpn and how people should really take a look at that previously underrepresented option, I can’t really make a recommendation.
hellinkilla [they/them, they/them]
in reply to stupid_asshole69 [none/use name] • • •OK well then I should divulge to you full disclosure that I think you, like OP, are also probably not a hostile actor who is commenting to fuck with me specifically or ?lemmy users? in general. More likely someone who's got a bit spun up their head. But I can't say for sure......
As it happens, last time I was looking at different VPN vendors I had to spend a ton of time basically creating an abbreviated version of this chart that had the items most salient to my use case. To sift through the websites, forums, support sections etc, because the information isn't clearly presented was annoying. They are all trying to emphasize their strengths to make a sale based on their marketing strategy.
I can say that this chart, exactly as it is, would have saved me significant time had it been available. I found similar but they were old. And I looked at it to see if the conclusion I came to is still the right one for me--- it is. I can clearly see the required information.
stupid_asshole69 [none/use name]
in reply to hellinkilla [they/them, they/them] • • •Good! You’re on a public forum and people do that shit! Our instance is slightly better than the other Reddit offshoots but most of them haven’t kicked the social media curse and everything you read on lemmy needs to get the sidest of ways glances.
I have trouble taking your statement that you can see the required information seriously when the required information literally isn’t there. Important stuff like weather a service accepts cash anonymously, is owned by what company and what that company’s affiliations are (talking about kape and israel here, not the proton red herring) and how forwarded ports are allocated are not included in the chart.
Of course, that kind of information doesn’t fit neatly into a table so it’s another example of the format of the data being inadequate.
I can believe that a broad generalized table like this is useful in the context of learning the ropes of what’s out there in terms of vpn services, but it isn’t being presented in that way. If this kind of table were around years ago when I was getting my feet under me I would have made bad choices based on it.
My comments saying “hey, this is bad and not something to use” are not coming from my seat of power at the player haters annual dinner and awards ceremony but from clear recognition of misleading information based on experience.
Chivera
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •dogs0n
in reply to Chivera • • •Mozilla VPN is just Mullvad, so you are on a very good vpn service.
As long as you are happy, I don't see why you should swap.
(Going to mullvad directly could be slightly beneficial if you want a generated account that has no direct metadata to link to you, using a card to pay would negate that benefit, but theres other options.. in the end you are using a good service already)
LastYearsIrritant
in reply to dogs0n • • •marcie (she/her)
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Sadness Nexus
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •utopiah
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Since you do not seem to list self-hosting options, e.g. WireGuard or OpenVPN, then IMHO it'd be good to at least have a line on each about what's the actual backend, e.g. does service X runs on WireGuard, OpenVPN, something else, something proprietary that has been audited by 3rd party if so whom and when.
Edit: suggested self-hosting (but not at home) WireGuard in the previous thread lemmy.ml/post/37270537/2153605…
beSyl
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •dogs0n
in reply to beSyl • • •It's not entirely a big deal to me.
I think I agree with the staff reply on this thread: airvpn.org/forums/topic/56799-…
audits?
AirVPNshoebum
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •BuyCat VPN - Secure & Private Internet Access
BoyCat👀
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Also this post is from Lemmy, so I retooted a Lemmy post
thermogel
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Obscura VPN | Privacy that’s more than a promise
Obscuraconspiracypentester
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •bowreality
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •