Below is a summary comparison table of VPN service speeds based on the tests we conduct. There are many factors that go into choosing a VPN, but probably the most important for many users is speed. After all, there is no point being anonymous and secure online if your web surfing slows to a snail’s pace via a sluggish VPN connection.
The speed tests we do are designed to mimic real-world performance as much as possible. We do a bandwidth test, a large file download test, and a p2p/torrent test. This is done from 2 different origin locations (US and UK) testing multiple servers for each service. For even more details of how we conduct our speed tests, read our VPN Speed Test Methodology.
Our ‘rating coefficient’ below is formulated from a calculation based on those speed tests. Bear in mind there are many factors involved with speed and small differences won’t matter too much. This is just a general guide. See the extra notes below this table for more on that.
To see the full detailed results of individual speed tests and user reviews, click on the full review link in the table below.
| VPN | Rating coefficient | Speed Rating % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| IPVanish | 23.12 | 92.5 | |
| Proxy.sh | 23.01 | 92 | |
| AirVPN | 22.43 | 89.7 | |
| PureVPN | 22.28 | 89.1 | |
| HideMyAss | 22.16 | 88.6 | |
| VyprVPN | 22.06 | 88.2 | |
| PrivateInternetAccess | 21.93 | 87.7 | |
| CactusVPN | 21.39 | 85.6 | |
| PrivateVPN | 21.05 | 84.2 | |
| Kryptotel | 20.33 | 81.3 | |
| ExpressVPN | 20.31 | 81.2 | |
| Torguard | 20.22 | 80.8 | |
| ibVPN | 19.36 | 77.4 | |
| Hotspot Shield | 18.02 | 72 | |
| MullVad | 16.07 | 64.3 | |
| BTGuard | 14.13 | 56.5 |
Please note:-
- These results are only meant to be a very rough indicator based on our own tests using a combo of P2P, file downloads, and results from speedtest.net.
- Our VPN speed tests are done from the US and UK and are only snapshots we experienced at single points in time.
- Conditions such as time of day, your location, ISP, operating system, home network setup, etc. could easily produce wildly different results.
- Perfect and definitive speed comparisons of VPN’s simply aren’t feasible because of so many possible conditions.
- Some VPN’s have more server choices than others, which is something to consider. The more servers there are to choose from, the more likely you are to find one that’s fast and user loads are usually more balanced.