this post was submitted on 08 Oct 2025
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Privacy

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Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

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VPN Comparison (lemmy.ml)
submitted 17 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) by Charger8232@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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VPN Comparison

I made a spreadsheet comparing different open source VPN providers. I will be making a version 2.0 to add some requested changes.

Providers

Notes

  • Please do not start a flame war about Proton.
  • Please do not start a flame war about cryptocurrencies. Monero is the only cryptocurrency listed because of its privacy.
  • The very left column is the category for each row, the middle section is the various VPN providers, and the right section is which VPNs are the best in each category.
  • IVPN has two differing plans, which is why "Standard" and "Pro" are sometimes differentiated.
  • For accounts, "Generated" means a random identifier is created for you to act as your account, "Required" means you must sign up yourself. Proton VPN allows guest use under specific conditions (e.g. installed from the Google Play Store), but otherwise requires an account.
  • Switzerland is seen as more private than Sweden. Gibraltar is seen as privacy neutral.
  • All prices are in United States Dollars. Tax is not included.
  • Pricing is based on the price combination to achieve the exact time frame. For example, Proton VPN does not have a 3 year plan but you can achieve 3 years by combining a 2 year plan with a 1 year plan.
  • The availability section is security based. Availability is framed around a GrapheneOS and secureblue setup.
  • The Proton VPN Flatpak is unofficial, but based on the official code.
  • Availability on secureblue is based on the ujust install-vpn command. Security features must be disabled on secureblue in order to use the GUI for IVPN and Mullvad VPN, but not for Proton VPN. Mozilla VPN and NymVPN are available as Flatpaks, which are safer than layering packages.
  • I wanted to include more categories, such as which programming languages they are written in, connection speed, and security, but that became far too difficult and complex, so I decided to omit those categories.

Takeaways

  • NymVPN is very very new, but it's off to a strong start. It wins in almost every category. I actually hadn't heard of it until I started this project.
  • If you want a free VPN, Proton VPN is the only one here that meets that requirement.
  • If you want to pay week-by-week, IVPN is the only one that allows that.
  • If you're paying month-by-month on a budget, Mullvad VPN is the cheapest option.
  • NymVPN is the cheapest plan for anything past 1 month.
  • If you want to use Accrescent as your main app store, IVPN is the only VPN available there for now.
  • If you want to pay for a bundle of apps, including a VPN, Proton sells more than just a VPN.
  • Mozilla VPN is terrible. The only thing it has going for it is a verified Flatpak, but NymVPN also has that so it doesn't even matter.
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[–] Imhotep@lemmy.world 1 points 15 minutes ago

ProtonVPN has started to become blocked on tons of websites. I have to switch servers all the time, to the point I won't be able to keep a VPN connection up like I used to.

I've read Mullvad has worsened as well. There seems to be a general ban on VPN use (there was always some of course)

My last hope: non profits who offer VPN. They keep logs, don't allow torrenting, and require a real name to subscribe. Very few server choices, if any.

I'm... fine with that. I just want privacy. No surveillance. And I trust the non profit. Plus I torrent on a VPS anyway

What I would like to see are local VPNs, with a small enough pool of users on each server to not get flagged. A rotation between servers from time to time. Compliant with the law of course (as long as the law doesn't require total surveillance, evidently). The goal is to hide everyone's activity from the providers and websites (yes, I know, fingerprinting)

But maybe there's some other existing tool/service I'm not aware of?

[–] maximumbird@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

I was grumped by not seeing PIA on this break down. I’ve been using it for years and have always had a good experience with it. But I’m not so sure I know their privacy side now that I see this great break down

Edit: just re read the post again and I think PIA isn’t on here cause it’s not open source?

[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 hours ago

I have never heard of NymVPN

[–] apotheotic@beehaw.org 5 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Why is proton VPN excluded from the winners for open source, license, and based on, despite having the exact same values populated as the other 4 winners?

[–] Charger8232@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 hours ago

That's another bug on my part. I'll fix this in version 2.0 :)

[–] RaoulDook@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

What about logging policies? Seems like that would be an important category to visit - which providers store logs or don't etc. I've heard of some that use RAM-only logging that allegedly never gets stored on disk.

[–] potpotato@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Isn’t Mozilla VPN built on Mullvad? Also, why this instead of https://thatoneprivacysite.xyz/#detailed-vpn-comparison

[–] Charger8232@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 hours ago

Isn’t Mozilla VPN built on Mullvad?

Yes. That's included in the comparison.

Also, why this instead of https://thatoneprivacysite.xyz/#detailed-vpn-comparison

They don't include NymVPN.

[–] Corridor8031@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

I do not agree with placing switzerland over sweden in that location category

and i think a category should included, that tracks age of vpn or something like that, considering this is nymvpns biggest flaw.. still hard to say how trustworthy it is + their software is less battle tested

(~~and just for someone curiouse, it should be mentioned that nymvpn does use mullvad servers/ has a deal with mullvad~~ sry i mixed that up obscura and mullvad had partnership, not nymvpn)

[–] Charger8232@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I do not agree with placing switzerland over sweden in that location category

I'd be happy to hear your elaboration on this. From what I know, Switzerland is seen as the gold standard in terms of privacy.

and i think a category should included, that tracks age of vpn or something like that

The issue is that age doesn't correlate with security. There could be an outdated, insecure VPN that's been around for 10 years, or a modern, secure VPN that's been around for 10 days. If I included it, there would be no "good" or "bad" values. Nevertheless, I will include this in version 2.0.

(and just for someone curiouse, it should be mentioned that nymvpn does use mullvad servers/ has a deal with mullvad)

I knew NymVPN used a small bit of Mullvad VPN's code, but I didn't know they used their servers. Could you link to this?

[–] Corridor8031@lemmy.ml 1 points 37 minutes ago

this is awkward i am sorry it seems like my memory failed me, for one it is was mullvad and obscura that have a deal, not nymvpn..

and then i also thought somehow that vpns are in sweden protected by the constitution, but it appears its more like normal laws. Which appear to be effective tho. But mainly i thought about that recently switzerland was proposing laws like this https://tuta.com/blog/switzerland-surveillance-plan (possible that laws like these get proposed in sweden aswell ofc) which makes it sound like the privacy stands of the goverment is not that strong anymore, but there are probably no effects really at the moment. I think i would rank sweden and switzerland equally i guess, i mean the famouse mullvad example kind of proofs that they are safe i think...

But like my research into the countries is not that deep, so if you really looked into this deeply and switzerland is really better for some reason, than i guess it is like this.

But i still think the age is important, like sure its completly possible that an old vpn suddenly gets infiltrated or idk what really, but since for vpns are mostly trust based, i think that the track record is the best option for this.. and new vpns just dont have that long of a record (personally i would not use like a 1 month old vpn for example, whoever good it sounds)

or can nymvpn offer garantuees similar to tor?

[–] utopiah@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (3 children)

FWIW took me less than 1h yesterday to setup WireGuard on 4 different devices :

  • server with wg-easy and thus easy to use Web UI (before 2-step auth)
  • peers
    • BananiPi 3 F (RISC-V) headless via nmcli
    • desktop on Debian via NetworkManaged
    • mobile phone on /e/OS via the WireGuard client (with Ente Auth to login back on server as admin)

... and it was the first time I used WireGuard.

So I'm trying to imply that one shouldn't use commercial VPNs or benefit from their services, solely that setting up your own depending on your abilities and needs might not be as complex as you initially imagine.

PS: I did have experience with OpenVPN before and a running server already with Docker and nginx as reverse proxy.

[–] HereIAm@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

I assume you're talking about creating a VPN into your own personal network? Unless you have family or friends in a different country I fail see how you're circumventing geo restrictions or gain anonymity on the internet.

[–] rothaine@lemmy.zip 4 points 3 hours ago

Maybe I misunderstand wireguard, but don't you still need a VPN provider to connect to? If it's just your home server, how would you get any anonymity?

[–] Analog@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 hours ago

Don’t do this if you want to use a VPN to pirate stuff. It’s a fine suggestion for anything else, using a VPS w/self hosted VPN to provide a basic degree of anonymity.

[–] Rose@lemmy.zip 17 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

Why is being on the Google Play store a feature worth highlighting? To use an F-Droid expression, that would be an anti-feature.

[–] Charger8232@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

As I mentioned, the availability section is security focused. F-Droid has potential security issues compared to Accrescent or the Google Play Store.

[–] Rose@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

I didn't suggest F-Droid for inclusion though. I merely used its applicable terminology. Still, with Google Play, you trust Google to ensure that the apk is from the actual source, and with F-Droid, that's delegated to F-Droid. I don't see that as being less secure.

[–] Charger8232@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 hours ago

I didn’t suggest F-Droid for inclusion though. I merely used its applicable terminology.

My bad, I understand now.

Because it's security focused, it includes app stores that are good for their security (regardless of privacy). Other app stores, such as F-Droid, have security issues that Accrescent and the Google Play Store don't share. This topic has been argued to death countless times before, and I don't want to start a flame war, but do try researching it and see what comes up.

[–] wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

With the upcoming restrictions on third-party apps that Google has announced maybe? It'll be easier to get from Play, and may not be available otherwise at all.

[–] Rose@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 hours ago

I don't think giving into Google seizing more power is the way. People doing that is what enables the corporation to continue and have more control over their lives, including their privacy.

[–] hexagonwin@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 4 hours ago

I believe Wireguard/OpenVPN/etc profile availability is more important than Google Play Store.

[–] christov@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Nice comparison. Thanks for sharing! Any reason NordVPN was excluded?

[–] Charger8232@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 hours ago

It isn't open source.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 4 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

No .ods file?

[–] Charger8232@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 hours ago

Soon :)

I plan to make a version 2.0 with some requested changes.

[–] floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (5 children)

Does anyone have experience with the Mullvad, NymVPN, or AirVPN clients (if they exist) on Linux? I'm still mad Proton removed support for their Linux client and replaced it with an intern-level gnome-only taskbar applet. Also, do they support generating plain Wireguard configs?

[–] RubberElectrons@lemmy.world 0 points 44 minutes ago

I don't use the official client, but airvpn with pure wireguard works perfectly.

[–] Charger8232@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 hours ago

(if they exist) on Linux

secureblue is Linux.

[–] Joseph_Boom@feddit.it 4 points 5 hours ago

I can confirm that Mullvad VPN client works quite well on Linux.

[–] mholiv@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

The AirVPN client works well on Linux. They provide really good Linux support. https://airvpn.org/linux/

[–] beSyl@slrpnk.net 5 points 6 hours ago

Yes, I use mullvad VPN on Linux. It works fine. You don't need their client, of course, but it is good.

[–] pineapple@lemmy.ml 2 points 7 hours ago

Nymvpn seams great! I've never heard of it either. I just hope it stays around and gets a name for itself.

[–] dastanktal@hexbear.net 17 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Where is AirVPN? Arguably much better then these VPN providers offering static port forwarding among their features.

Provides configurations built for Wireguard and OpenVPN with each server having unlisted IPs to completely get around VPN blocks.

Owned by a "hacktivst" lawyer in Italy.

Multiple audit along with police attempting to sieze running servers. These are configured to dump there configuration on shutdown and run entirely in ram.

This is a battle tested VPN that has existed since 2010. They allow for completely anonymity using Creptocurrencies payments.

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