Over the past few years, the number of free VPN apps on platforms like Google Play has increased. Many users understandably are looking for a quick and free solution to access blocked content, protect their privacy, or bypass firewalls specially in places like Iran or China. I find it really disturbing to see so many people’s phones loaded with unknown VPN apps from unknown sources. Here's the uncomfortable truth that has also been mentioned in this sub's FAQ:

If you’re not paying for the product, very likely you are the product.

I am someone who never used vpn until last year and since then i have used almost a dozen vpns in pursuit of a reliable and better one.

Few things I would like to say,

1. Internet isn’t reliable place to find honest vpn review. Now I realise almost all the websites give sponsored reviews favouring the ones who pay them. Most of them are misleading, at least I did not find any honest review in my search.

The VPN i used over the year

1. Tunnelbear until they stopped working in my country

2. PureVPN 3.Proton Free tier 4.Surfshark 5.PIA 6.Hotspot 7.Kaspers 8.CyberGhost 9.Express VPN 10.Nord VPN

•Nord is not the worst of the lot but its most misleading VPN in the market and that makes it most dislikable from the lot for me

•Tunnelbear was quite good until they stopped their service in my region

• PureVPN/PIA/Kaspers/Hotspot are in same league, below average in real world use. They work but u can never rely on them nor anything they offer is better than others

•ProtonVPN - although I used free tier but 7/10 times it would just work if all u need is to stream and download from other region/play games on cloud etc. almost made me subscribe to their premium but felt it was a bit pricier for their offering. Although secure/safe/fast.

• CyberGhost it appealed me initially knowing it was owned by same company as Express and it was a lot cheaper too compared to others. I subscribed to its 1 year programme but then asked for refund. Its above the 4th tier but not better than third tier. I have a hunch if I subscribed to paid version of Proton, proton would surpass this one. Its iOS app is too limited and almost useless, PC version is relatively better. Its slow most of time, frequent disconnection but some servers did have decent performance and would almost give me 60% of my actual speed for few hours before slowing down again. Not worth it unless u r on very tight budget then this can work.

• Surfshark - its quite better among the lot. Almost near the top. I would give it second place in my testing. 8/10 times it would work. Would unblock content like Nf etc. almost 65-70% speed of original plan attainable. Would reliably work 8/10 times, disconnects but not as often as others. I would have loved to subscribe it annually if i got a better deal.

• Express VPN - I am not an expert who can talk about its parent company and who manages the company etc but as normal everyday user I would say Express is KING of the VPN market and its NOT EVEN CLOSE. I used it for longest time ie 6 months and only reason I stopped using it cause its costliest among all i found in my country. I couldn’t justify spending that amount for my use case so i stopped. I read many reviews doubting it or placing it 5th or 6th rank in their reviews online but its not true. Its absolutely best of the lot. I would almost get 80-85% of my original plan speed on almost all 6 servers i would usually visit. Would unblock all the content I wanna see, almost 1-2 times disconnection on its own in my 6 month use. Extremely reliable, fast and safe. Its experience is just too good to not have it. I regret my decision of not saving money and spending on its renewal now. If you can afford it then its probably best VPN right now. So many countries and so many servers with reliable connection.

• Nord VPN - its unique VPN, its most promoted vpn on internet in my view, I would see its ad on almost every place I visit. Almost all the websites and many reddit posts would recommend it, the shoving of it in my brain was the reason I stayed away from it for long but in the end I gave in, subscribed to its annual plan at a very discounted rate early this morning and been extensively testing it for almost 10 hours. I would say “ its more hype than actual substance”

Many reviewers would give it rank above Express or would call it close second but let me say it’s nowhere in same league as express or even surfshark for that matter.

Its slowest among the lot. Express > SurfShark> Proton (when it works) > Nord

Although I did not see disconnection but the connection is unreliable most of time. Many times I would search something on google and it wont load until i disconnect and reconnect manually. It advertises thousands of servers but I guess its all in air. Just 3 reliable servers among the lot. It pains me to say even at servers closest to my location it would hardly cross 50-55% of actual speed. Though in 3 servers it would go around 65-70% of actual speed. Its sad that it brought back google captcha issue which i never faced on express. In my short testing even Shark did not have captcha issue. Netflix worked for me but its slowest among every VPN I user on US servers. Would buffer and degrade quality very often. Though it does unblock almost every website i tried but slow and not consistent on most of servers. Though one particular lat server is really good. Security wise its good, app is good on pc as well as ios. Offers more functionality than others while compromising core functionality.

I wouldn’t say its the worst of all because its not. Its okayish-decent VPN but the hype around it, the fake reviews that call it the best is all untrue. Its nowwhere near the best ones.

I tried asking for refund because its not what ai wanted but apparently there is no refynd policy if u subscribe through apple store. So i guess I am stuck with it for an year which isn’t bad since I am not someone who needs VPN all day but If I could have then i would have opted for costlier express or surfshark vpn, they are costly but the experience is worth it.

PS : its not a sponsored post and i am not affiliated to any company, I am just a student who struggled for long to find better VPN experience and i shared it here because there are many who struggle like me to find genuiine review and end up subscribing to most hyped and most advertised isrd for whole year and regret later.