If you spend a lot of time browsing the internet, you’ve probably come across the terms “VPS” and “VPN” before. A virtual private system or a virtual private network can be used to help make browsing easier and more secure.
If you’re trying to do things like spoof your location, hide your browsing from prying eyes, or just avoid marketing software, a VPN is what you’re looking for.
The related term VPS refers to a website hosting service that uses networked servers to simulate the functions of a single service. Typically, security cloud data with VPS server functionality is better than a traditional server. Often, if you’re hosting a website and you want better safety and security, then you’ll want to go with a VPS.
There are tons of VPNs you can use, and they vary in price and features. Here are a few that are the best bang for your buck when you’re looking to browse in private.
Nord VPN
Nord VPN is a service that is very well-known, as it’s advertised heavily on sites like YouTube. It’s also one of the best VPNs out there, offering 5,000 IP addresses for users to choose from, over 5,000 servers in 62 countries, and deals making it as low as $3.75 per month for the service. That range of servers and countries means you can often bypass region locks on websites, allowing free browsing of certain services.
Just keep in mind, doing so technically violates most service terms, so proceed your own risk.
Surfshark
While the name isn’t as recognizable as Nord VPN, Surfshark is another great VPN service. Coming in as low as $2.49 per month with some deals, Surfshark has servers in 65 locations and offers over 3,000 servers for users to browse from. Reviews of the service praise its speed when compared to other VPNs, which can often throttle your browsing speeds.
Among the best features of Surfshark is that you can whitelist some apps to not use the VPN, which is great for people with business uses that might want to use their normal internet for some tasks.
Express VPN
Compared to some of its competitors, Express VPN is a massive service, offering 30,000 IP addresses for users. Part of the company’s promise is that its servers never track users’ data, which is the main draw to VPNs to begin with. As such, Express is preferred by many for its ease of use, security, and speedy connection times.