Best VPNs for speed, tested by a tech expert

Using Surfshark knocked just six per cent off my connection speed, making it the best on test for speed alone. It automatically picked the fastest server for us, which was in the UK, so if using the VPN to circumvent geoblocks, you might see a greater reduction in speeds. Switching to an Australian server, I saw a more significant drop of more than 51 per cent, which is only to be expected considering the distances involved. Switching to a closer country – for example, Ireland – provided a much smaller drop, providing the same kind of speed seen from the UK server. There's a quick connect option in the app’s settings, which will automatically connect you to the fastest location.

Elsewhere, Surfshark offers a broad suite of VPN tools. You can create multi-hop connections, where your connection is routed across multiple servers in different countries, and you can switch from the WireGuard protocol to OpenVPN. But in the interests of speed, there's an automatic option that chooses the protocol for you, and it’s probably best to leave this on.

The app’s interface is easy to understand, with servers in different countries simple to switch between, and those that are recommended or recently used are displayed prominently. You can add favourite servers too, if there's one you keep going back to. The mobile app offers a widget so you can switch it on and off quickly, which is a much better idea than opening the full app or delving into your phone’s settings.

Surfshark also comes with antivirus, ransomware shielding, dark web monitoring and ad blocking, all available to be added to your subscription. Many of these features can be accessed through Surfshark’s browser extension, which offers automatic filling of online forms, too.

Read the full Surfshark VPN review now

Malwarebytes is an excellent overall internet security package, and when connected to a UK server, it only showed a six per cent loss of speed, putting it up there with the best. However, when connected to servers further afield, such as Australia, the download speed reported by the speed tester was 65 per cent lower than without the VPN connected. Connecting to Belgium saw a 29 per cent drop, while an Irish server sent the speeds back up to UK levels again.

Options include switching between the WireGuardNT protocol and Malwarebytes’ own MBTun, but there's no automatic option. Likewise, the app won’t automatically choose the fastest server for you, which means there's a little trial and error involved in picking the best one, as they’re listed in alphabetical order. The desktop app keeps things simple, with a slider to turn the VPN connection on and off, and a simple ‘change’ button to select a new server location. The internet kill switch, which prevents your device from connecting to the internet without the VPN, is buried in the settings, and while this useful feature could be easier to find, the clean look of the app is generally successful at making it easy to use.

You can subscribe to the Malwarebytes Privacy VPN on its own, but it’s also available as part of the wider security suite, with a host of scanning and protection options to help fend off malware, ransomware and even detect if rootkits have been installed on your PC. It’s an excellent choice for a VPN and computer security, but not the absolute fastest in our tests.

NordVPN initially showed an American server as being the fastest and connected automatically after pressing the Quick Connect button, with a 28 per cent drop in speed, but connecting to a British node proved better, with just a six per cent drop over the native line. The same figure applied to a server in Dublin, while connecting via Brussels, dropped speeds by 27 per cent. Australia, being so far away, gave a 48 per cent drop.

NordVPN is an excellent VPN service, well known for its ability to unblock streaming services, and also offering a service it calls Meshnet, which allows users to be connected on an encrypted virtual network for gaming sessions or to share files securely. It’s perfect if you’re working on a project from home and want to share your work with other contributors, acting in a similar way to company VPNs that allow access to office servers.

The desktop app is well laid out, with a Quick Connect menu and a list of recently used servers, while a bar chart provides a rundown of your recent connection time. There's a mobile app too, with a simple ‘turn on’ button. Linux users should be aware that Nord is still entirely command-line-based on that platform, so you’ll need to brush up on your typing syntax.

There are protocol options to switch between NordLynx (based on WireGuard), OpenVPN and the new NordWhisper that attempts to disguise your traffic further by mimicking normal web traffic and attempting to avoid filters that are looking out for one particular type of communication, but for the best speeds this can be left on automatic, allowing the app to work out the technicalities of what moves data faster.

Read the full NordVPN review now

The free version of Proton VPN (there is a subscription version too) gave a surprisingly good result, with a drop in speeds of just seven per cent, putting it right up there with the best VPNs on test. However, this comes with a caveat – the free version of Proton’s VPN doesn’t give you any choice over the location of the server you connect to. Ours was in the Netherlands first, then changed to Japan with a press of the change server button. Things were different the second time around, with a 53 per cent decrease in transfer speed.

So while this free VPN might look like a good deal, if you’re looking for pure speed, it’s too much of a lottery. Add to this the timer on the change server button, which locks you out from changing again until a set amount of time has passed. If you want control over which server you connect to, you’ll have to subscribe, which starts at £8.09 a month for the VPN Plus package.

Its app looks great, with a stylised map and large, obvious buttons for features such as split tunnelling, which sends some traffic through the VPN and some through your normal connection, depending on your preferences. Profiles – bundles of settings you can use to access features and make changes quickly – allow you to choose optimised servers for your intended use, such as gaming or streaming, while the smartphone app has a widget for quick access to the VPN.

Proton VPN offers WireGuard, OpenVPN and Stealth protocols, along with a Smart option that automatically chooses. Many of its more advanced features are locked behind the subscription, but as a basic VPN that is capable of good speeds if you’re lucky with the server allocation, then it’s hard to ignore a free option like this.

Read the full Proton VPN review now

A VPN that’s slightly different to the others, thanks to its emphasis on anonymity and security, Mullvad is very easy to set up and pay for, as it uses a pay-per-month model at a flat rate instead of different tiers of subscription.

Mullvad’s UK server was feeling pretty sprightly on the day we tested, with just a five per cent drop in speeds, which is very good. After this, I tried Belgium (37 per cent decrease in speed) and Ireland (25 per cent drop) before moving on to Australia for a 67 per cent drop.

Paying for Mullvad can be achieved in many ways, including the usual credit cards and PayPal, to cryptocurrency (Bitcoin and Monero), bank transfers and, astonishingly, envelopes full of cash (though they’re not accepting Danish krone). This ties in nicely with the firm’s security and anonymity ethos, as does the way you log into the Mullvad site not with a username and password, but with a single 16-digit number it generates for you and which you’d better not lose.

The Windows app is a fairly basic one, operating as a system tray popup rather than as a floating window. It’s not difficult to use, with simple ‘connect’ and ‘switch location’ buttons, and there's a Firefox extension too – Chromium-based browsers, such as Chrome and Edge, aren’t supported.

Mullvad has options such as DAITA – an attempt to hide your traffic from AI analysis at the expense of slowing down your transfers – multihop routing, and a choice between the WireGuard and OpenVPN protocols, but operates as a pure VPN without any of the extra security software that other providers like to bundle. The firm does, however, offer its own (free and open-source) browser, which is designed to minimise tracking and the leaving of digital fingerprints, and could be a good option if complete online anonymity is your goal.

ExpressVPN’s East London server saw a 52 per cent drop in internet speeds, its Ireland server provided a 62 per cent drop, and a trip to Belgium led to a 60 per cent decrease. Using its Australian server, located in the splendidly named Sydney suburb of Woolloomooloo, saw speeds drop by 79 per cent.

This was until we started poking about in the app’s settings, and found an option to enable lightway turbo under the protocol list, where previously it had been on automatic. This, when connected to the London server, provided a speed that was much more in keeping with what we’d seen from the best VPNs, with just a five per cent drop, giving a similar figure for the Belgium server too. Lightway is ExpressVPN’s own protocol, and the Turbo version uses multiple data transfer lanes to make it even faster. It was only introduced to the app in 2025, so you’re using some pretty cutting-edge tech.

The ExpressVPN app is highly user-friendly, with a simple ‘connect’ button to immediately route your traffic to the nearest server, which is often the fastest. More complex options are to be found in the app’s menu, and can get extremely technical, but there's usually no need to bother with them unless you really know what you’re doing.

ExpressVPN’s subscription process is a straightforward one. It offers its services across a boggling number of devices and platforms, with plugins for popular browsers as well as PC and mobile devices. But while ExpressVPN’s speed is impressive, the fact that its best performance is tucked away behind a switch in the app’s settings means many users might not even know it’s there.

Read the full ExpressVPN review now