Which VPNs would you recommend?

bartenderstoneware

I'm searching for a paid-free VPN. Is there any you would recommend?

I heard that Proton-VPN should be a good choice...

Thanks for helping!

de0u

bartenderstoneware https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/5050-opinion-on-riseup-vpn

[deleted]

bartenderstoneware
A copy of my post I made over at this forum thread: Opinion on Riseup VPN, mullvad is not free but amazing.

I personally recommend and have used Mullvad for years, they recently got a big boost from the police <3 reasons here:

Mullvad VPN was subject to a search warrant. Customer data not compromised

On April 18 at least six police officers from the National Operations Department (NOA) of the Swedish Police visited the Mullvad VPN office in Gothenburg with a search warrant.
They intended to seize computers with customer data.

In line with our policies such customer data did not exist. We argued they had no reason to expect to find what they were looking for and any seizures would therefore be illegal under Swedish law. After demonstrating that this is indeed how our service works and them consulting the prosecutor they left without taking anything and without any customer information. If they had taken something that would not have given them access to any customer information.

Mullvad have been operating our VPN service for over 14 years. This is the first time our offices have been visited with a search warrant.

Update: The Swedish authorities answered our protocol request

tango

bartenderstoneware

Probably the 3 most respected VPN"s are Proton, Mullvad and IVPN (in no particular order)

They are open source and are all audited to back up what they say. Wireguard protocol is the lightest as far as consuming your data goes and battery for that matter compared to Open VPN protocol which is also secure but very data hungry as it has a lot more code.

Wireguard needs to be implemented properly to avoid any privacy leaks, if you do a search for "Wireguard privacy ProtonVPN" it is explained there. Hope that helps and as already said any of the 3 mentioned are all reliable and in my opinion trustworthy as they have been around a long time and are well audited.

User2288

csis01 My suggestion for VPN in terms of anonymity/privacy, is to use Orbot

This is a suggestion I hear on this forum a lot, and its absolutely a terrible suggestion.

Orbot is not a good suggestion for people for general use. It is not an alternative to a VPN.

VPNs are fast, TOR is slow.
TOR gets blocked on may sites. VPNs don't.
VPNs give you a lot of IP choices. TOR doesn't.
With a VPN you can specifically pick an IP from a particular country. With TOR you can't, or is limited, and often doesn't work as good as a VPN.
TOR nodes are heavily surveilled. Less likely with VPNs.
TOR is definitely "partly" compromised. Not so with VPNs.

TOR and VPNs are two different things, for different uses, each with their own benefits and use cases. TOR is NOT a definite alternative to VPNs.

bartenderstoneware
Good VPNs I know of: Mullvad, proton, iVPN.

A cheap option is surfshark, but don't expect privacy. I think they are a false flag business though, not to be trusted. (nothing to backup that claim though). But good for things like torrenting. Used to have them. Forcefully keeps your credit card info.

Blastoidea

I have been using the free Proton VPN for the better part of a year. I use servers in Netherlands.

My wants are few and my needs are even fewer, so it is quite satisfactory.

csis01

The idea of VPN is not for anonymity or reducing tracking, but for joining a machine into some private network, such as at the office where you work. For this you would use some VPN software like OpenVPN and configure it to connect with your work's network.

When used for anonymity/privacy, its value is limited by the laws in effect in the jurisdiction where (a) the VPN servers are located, (b) where the VPN access is SOLD, and (c) where the company that controls the system is registered, and (d) the trustworthyness of the PEOPLE who run it. Take the combined weaknesses of all 4 of those, and you see where you end up in terms of anonymity/privacy. The answer is.... sketchy.

My suggestion for VPN in terms of anonymity/privacy, is to use Orbot, which simulates a VPN using TOR/darkweb. There can still be pieces of data leaked though, depending on a lot of things about the software you are running and services you are connecting to, so your mileage may vary. Performance of TOR can also be a challenge.

Relaks

csis01 Performance of TOR can also be a challenge.

More than a challenge I'd say. The slowness of the Tor network is enough to defer most people from using it. There's a reason why people prefer VPNs instead of Tor for privacy, namely speed.
Still, I love the concept of onion routing and will recommend Tor to anyone who I think will actually use it and benefit from it.

csis01

Relaks TOR is a hell of a lot faster than it used to be. As the networks that people who participate in TOR get better, so does TOR along with it.

Nuttso

Ivpn

W1zardK1ng

First identify your need...
If you are planning to enable full time, maybe mullvad is better, i see most people suggest mullvad.
But if its to access some websites once in a while you dont have to spend some money on it.
free Proton-vpn is an option but its bit slow. I am using riseup vpn speed is good and you dont need a account to use it. but not lot of servers.

malatoi

On my every day devices (desktop, laptop, smartphone): paid Mullvad
On my test devices and not so often used ones: Riseup VPN, Calyx VPN and Free Proton VPN

214b9821

If you have a capable broadband Internet connection at home and a server (e.g. Raspberry PI) that is always running, I'd recommend setting up your own VPN server.
I'm using Wireguard, which is a lightweight VPN protocol with good support both on Linux (server-side) and Android and Windows (client-side). The Android-client can be loaded from F-Droid. Some of the commercial providers recommended in earlier posts use Wireguard internally (Mullvad).
Setting up your own VPN-server comes with several benefits:

free of charge
No need to trust a 3rd party
You can use your home DNS-server through the VPN. I've set up Pihole on my Raspberry PI, which blocks all kinds of tracking, advertising and offensive URLs and can be fine-tuned to you personal needs. Using it not only at home but also on the go is great.

Oggyo

214b9821
Yeah, I'm using the exact configuration for myself but it may not be suitable for everyone because it presumes you trust your home ISP.

delta

I don't use any VPN because I trust my ISP more than VPN providers... Joking. I use what others mentioned on this thread, quite funny how we live in such a chaotic world

csis01

User2288 VPNs are fast, TOR is slow.

Tradeoff, safety for speed.

TOR gets blocked on may sites. VPNs don't.

Same as above.

VPNs give you a lot of IP choices. TOR doesn't.

False. Change endpoints as much as you like, you can even pick where it comes out.

With a VPN you can specifically pick an IP from a particular country. With TOR you can't, or is limited, and often doesn't work as good as a VPN.

Reverse actually, TOR is the one that gives you choice of endpoint.

TOR nodes are heavily surveilled. Less likely with VPNs.

You think that phoney "privacy" VPNs aren't? Very naive perspective.

TOR is definitely "partly" compromised. Not so with VPNs.

On the contrary, you have NO IDEA how compromised any of those phoney VPNs are. You could be using a service that is provided BY THE FBI!

itsjpb

User2288 A cheap option is surfshark, but don't expect privacy. I think they are a false flag business though, not to be trusted

what gives you this impression? currently using them (not for anything high security), and am always curious why they don't get mentioned, wondered if there was something up.

[deleted]

csis01 User2288
Being a little pedantic: Orbot is not a VPN and there is no VPN version of it. What you are talking about is a system wide proxy that routes all traffic through Tor. There are multiple different tools for that.

Verifiable info from there website:

Orbot is a free proxy app that empowers other apps to use the internet more securely. Orbot uses Tor to encrypt your Internet traffic and then hides it by bouncing through a series of computers around the world. Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security known as traffic analysis.

Blastoidea

I would not be so presumptuous as to recommend, due to limited experience and technical knowledge.

I have used Proton’s free VPN for more than a year, and found it satisfactory.

Not being important enough to attract more than the most casual attention from the routine snoops, I may be more easily satisfied than those who have a real problem.

User2288

csis01 you have NO IDEA how compromised any of those phoney VPNs are.

True. We don't know how compromised any VPN is. However we do know that TOR is FOR SURE "partly" compromised. I'd rather take my chances with the VPN.

And for the rest of your comments, some I partly I agree, the rest I disagree.

Any user doubting what I say is welcome to use TOR as their VPN (as I have in the past), and soon reach the same conclusions as mine. Once you see that you can't watch a basic youtube video with ease, and can't do your banking, you'll come around.

User2288

itsjpb what gives you this impression? currently using them (not for anything high security), and am always curious why they don't get mentioned, wondered if there was something up.

Well I didn't like that they forcefully keep your CC info and don't let you delete it. The rest is purely a gut feeling. As I said, I have nothing to back that claim up with. I have the same distrust of most VPNs (PIA, Express, etc..)

csis01

User2288 It won't do you any good to do your banking through a VPN, since they can tell who you are by your login credentials.