The best VPN for price, free trials and internet speeds tried and tested

The best VPNs you can sign up for now

VPNs are often associated with nefarious activities such as watching illegal sports streams or bypassing blocked websites or those that are restricted to certain regions.

However there are legal reasons to sign up for a VPN. A good VPN can protect your internet connection especially when using a public Wi-Fi network. 

They work by masking your IP address and allowing you to access geo-restricted sites that you previously could not access from a UK or Irish server. It means if, for example, you pay for Netflix in one country but you are on holiday in another, you can choose a server from your country to access your account.

There are a few benefits of this; it can be used for shopping on websites from other countries and can even save you money on things like hotels and flights if you book from the airport’s local site. 

We have tried and tested a number of the best VPNs over the course of 12 months to find the best value and best performing options. From price, to ease of setup on laptops and mobile devices, we have narrowed it down to three brilliant VPNs that offer solid performance with low prices.

The best VPN 

The best VPNs need to combine three things; speed, ease of use and low price. NordVPN is the pick of the options here.

It promises an optimised server network and something called NordLynx Protocol to offer faster speeds. In practice we found internet streaming and gaming was as quick as when we were not using a VPN, and it worked across multiple devices.

NordVPN also ticks the box for price. It costs just £2.69 for the basic package but we would recommend the £3.49 Plus package for the faster speeds. There is also a 30-day trial available that lets you cancel your contract whenever you wish.

Setup is simple on laptops and mobile devices and finding and connecting to a server is as easy as clicking a location on a drop down menu. 

NordVPN is also throwing in a free £20 Amazon gift card for people who sign up for a short time only. 

Other VPN options

Surfshark costs as little as £1.89 per month, although that will tie you in to a 24 month contract. If your VPN use is casual I would go for the one-month option that still comes in at less than £10.

We have been testing Surfshark for over a year and it has proved to be one of the more reliable VPNs in terms of consistent speed. It has a huge selection of servers and have proved to be a useful option for shopping in other countries and when booking flights and hotels locally.

Streaming and gaming speeds are solid and Surfshark is one of the easiest VPNs to set up and get going, with easy to use buttons and dropdown menus to choose your required server.

If internet security is your main concern then ProtonVPN is a superb option. A popular choice in countries where it is used to bypass government restrictions on some social media and censored sites, it provides end-to-end encryption that protects your browsing from malicious attacks.

ProtonVPN also comes with a handy NetShield Ad-blocker that stops advertisers from using your browser history to serve you unwanted adverts. It will even tell you how many it has blocked.

There is a free version of ProtonVPN so you can test it out without needing to pay anything up front. You can get that here.