Methodology

How We Score Every VPN

Every provider on this site gets a single overall score out of 10, built from three weighted criteria applied identically across every review. We publish the exact weighting because a security-focused score you can't audit isn't one you should trust.

Security — 50% of the Score

This carries half the total weight because it's the entire reason to use a VPN in the first place. We look for a no-logs policy that's actually been verified by an independent third-party audit — not just claimed in marketing copy — along with real encryption strength (current, unbroken protocols, not deprecated ones kept around for legacy compatibility), a documented audit history rather than a one-time report from years ago, and the provider's actual jurisdiction and its practical exposure to data-sharing agreements between governments. A provider with slick branding but no audit history at all scores worse here than a less flashy one with a recent, credible third-party report.

Speed — 30% of the Score

A VPN that tanks your connection defeats the point for most real-world use. We measure throughput directly, across WireGuard and OpenVPN where both are supported, on nearby servers and on long-distance connections, since a provider's real-world speed profile changes a lot depending on which server you actually connect to. Consistency matters as much as peak speed here — a provider that's fast on a good day but wildly inconsistent scores lower than one with a slightly lower ceiling but reliable day-to-day performance.

Price & Value — 20% of the Score

We score this as value relative to the plan lengths a typical buyer would actually choose, not just the cheapest advertised rate. A provider that looks affordable only on a rarely-chosen three-year plan, with a much steeper monthly or annual rate, scores lower here than one with honest, consistent pricing across its plan lengths. We also weigh how many simultaneous connections a plan actually includes and whether a genuinely usable free tier or a real (not artificially short) money-back window exists.

Why Security Outweighs Everything Else Here

Unlike some review categories where the top criteria split evenly, we weight security at half the total score on purpose. A VPN that's blazing fast and cheap but has never been independently audited is not a good VPN by our standard — it's an unverified privacy claim wrapped around a fast connection. We'd rather rank a slower, pricier, thoroughly audited provider above a faster, cheaper one with no verifiable no-logs history.

What We Weigh Qualitatively, Beyond the Score

Some things resist a clean number but still shape the written verdict: how a kill switch actually behaves when a connection drops mid-session (not just whether the feature exists), whether split tunneling works reliably across the apps we tested it on, and how a support team responds to a real technical question versus a scripted response. None of this moves the numeric score directly, but it's always addressed in the review text.

Review Update Policy

We don't test a provider once and freeze the score. We re-test continuously and refresh a score whenever a provider ships a major client release, commissions a new audit, or when independent security research surfaces a real finding about the service. A confirmed leak or a lapsed audit gets a provider re-tested immediately, not on our normal cycle — every review page shows when it was last updated.

Why Independent Testing Matters This Much in This Category

VPN marketing claims are uniquely hard to verify from the outside — "no logs" is a promise, not something a user can check themselves. We think a review site that doesn't actually push for independent audit evidence before trusting that claim isn't doing its job. Every score here reflects genuine testing and a real look at audit history, not a repackaging of a provider's own claims.

The Honest Limits of This Methodology

No formula can fully verify a private company's internal logging practices from the outside — even a strong independent audit is a snapshot in time, not a permanent guarantee. Treat our scores as the strongest publicly verifiable signal available, and read the full review for any provider you're seriously considering, since that's where the specific audit details and jurisdiction nuance get explained in full.