Readers' Choice Awards 2019: VPN Services

You already know what a virtual private network (VPN) service is and why you need one, even at home, and anyone who follows the industry knows some VPNs may be a lot more trustworthy than others. We put our trust in PCMag readers, who helped rate the overall best VPNs they're using daily. The results are consistent with what we've seen in the past, as well as in our own tests.

WINNER: VPN SERVICES

Readers' Choice 2010 Award Private Internet Access
We've only rated VPNs twice in Readers' Choice, but both times Private Internet Access—which is also one of our Editors' Choice VPNs—has come out on top. Readers especially praise its ease of use and simple setup. Rock-solid reliability doesn't hurt either, especially with software this important.

A service like Private Internet Access may be close as we can get to a VPN rock star. The service, unlike many others, does not offer a free version—but that doesn't stop users from rating it as the best in most major categories.

For example, in addition to rating highest in our two most important rankings (overall satisfaction at 8.9 and likelihood to be recommended at 9.1), it's also on top for reliability (tying with ExpressVPN at 9.0) and trustworthiness (tying with NordVPN at 9.0). In the categories where Private Internet Access isn't the tippity-top, it's never far behind.

The only exception is in value, where KeepSolid VPN Unlimited earns a 9.4, a full half point lead; Private Internet Access still has a more than respectable second place value score of 8.9 (tied with Nord again).

ExpressVPN's also a standout product; it lags only a tenth of a point behind Private Internet Access in overall satisfaction at 8.8. ExpressVPN is on top in setup (tied with Nord at 9.4), reliability (9.0), ease of use (9.3), tech support (8.7), device performance (8.9), and device internet speed (8.6).

Third runner-up is NordVPN, which only managed to be on top in categories where it tied with others: setup, value, ease of use, and trustworthiness. Readers didn't take to it as much as our analysts, who awarded NordVPN a perfect 5/5 stars earlier this year; in 2018, it was also one of our Best Products of the Year. Chances are with any of these top three VPNs you're going to feel pretty safe and secure.

Other standouts include KeepSolid's impressive 9.4 score for value earned—$99.99 gets you three years of service (around $2.78 per month) for five devices; pay $200 for lifetime service.

At the bottom of the pack is the biggest name on this list: Symantec's Norton Secure VPN. It brings up the rear on almost every category. A couple VPNs that made the cut last year like TunnelBear, a PCMag Editors' Choice, and PureVPN didn't get enough response to make it this year.

Editors' Note: IPVanish is owned by j2 Global, the parent company of PCMag's publisher, Ziff Davis.

The PCMag Readers' Choice survey for VPNs was in the field from August 12, 2019, through September 3, 2019. For more information on how our surveys are conducted, read the methodology.

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About Our Expert

Eric Griffith

Senior Editor, Features

My Experience

I've been writing about computers, the internet, and technology professionally since 1992, more than half of that time with PCMag. I arrived at the end of the print era of PC Magazine as a senior writer. I served for a time as managing editor of business coverage before settling back into the features team for the last decade and a half. I write features on all tech topics, plus I handle several special projects, including the Readers' Choice and Business Choice surveys and yearly coverage of the Best ISPs and Best Gaming ISPs, Best Products of the Year, and Best Brands (plus the Best Brands for Tech Support, Longevity, and Reliability).

I started in tech publishing right out of college, writing and editing stories about hardware and development tools. I migrated to software and hardware coverage for families, and I spent several years exclusively writing about the then-burgeoning technology called Wi-Fi. I was on the founding staff of several magazines, including Windows Sources, FamilyPC, and Access Internet Magazine. All of which are now defunct, and it's not my fault. I have freelanced for publications as diverse as Sony Style, Playboy.com, and Flux. I got my degree at Ithaca College in, of all things, television/radio. But I minored in writing so I'd have a future.

In my long-lost free time, I wrote some novels, a couple of which are not just on my hard drive: BETA TEST ("an unusually lighthearted apocalyptic tale," according to Publishers' Weekly) and a YA book called KALI: THE GHOSTING OF SEPULCHER BAY. Go get them on Kindle.

I work from my home in Ithaca, NY, and did it long before pandemics made it cool.

The Technology I Use

My first computer was a Laser 128, an Apple II-compatible clone with an integrated keyboard, matched with an eye-straining monochrome green monitor. I used it to type papers in college for other people for money...until I discovered the Mac SE in the college computer room. That changed my life. My first cellphone was a Samsung Uproar—the silver one with the built-in MP3 player from the Napster days (the pre-iPod era).

I use an iPhone 15 Pro hourly and an iPad Air infrequently (but I'm always in the market for a cheap Android tablet). I have a PlayStation 5 just to play Spider-Man, and several Windows machines, including a work-issued Lenovo ThinkPad. I talk to Alexa and Siri all day long. I do the majority of my computing on a 15-inch LG Gram laptop attached to a Thunderbolt hub to run a multi-monitor setup—I overdid it on the power needed to simply work from home.

I'm most at home in Microsoft Word after decades of writing there. More and more, I turn to services like Google Docs, using tools like Grammarly. I use Google's Chrome browser due to an addiction to several extensions I think I can't live without, but probably could. I use Excel extensively on data-intensive stories, but for chart creation, we've switched over entirely to using Infogram for interactive features that are hard to find elsewhere. I do a lot of graphics work for my stories, but limit myself to the free and amazing Paint.NET software to edit images.

I'm a firm evangelist for using the cloud for backup and syncing of files; I'm primarily using Dropbox, which has never failed me, but I also have redundant setups on Microsoft OneDrive, plus extra picture backups on Amazon Photos and iCloud. Why take chances? For entertainment, mine is a streaming-only household—my kid has never seen network TV and barely been exposed to commercials, thanks to Roku and Amazon Music. The house is peppered with smart speakers from Amazon for instant gratification and control of smart home devices like multiple Wyze cameras and Nest Protect smoke detectors. I've got accounts on all the major social networks, to my horror. I have a robot vacuum for each floor of the house. I want a 3D printer, but not sure what I'd use it for.

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