The Truth About VPN Services
These sources have been archived on the Wayback Machine and/or Archive.Today. Scroll down or click here if you just want the "Too Long; Didn't Read" (TL;DR) version.
VPN services are often useless for protecting your privacy, security, and anonymity
- VPNs | Madaidan
- Don't use VPN services | joepie91
- You want Tor Browser ... not a VPN | Matt Traudt
- VPN - a Very Precarious Narrative | Dennis Schubert
- Why you don't need a VPN | Viktor Vecsei from IVPN
- VPN + Tor: Not Necessarily a Net Gain | Matt Traudt
- Can I use a VPN with Tor? | Tor Project
VPN services can be harmful, sketchy, or provide inadequate protection
- A Glance through the VPN Looking Glass: IPv6 Leakage and DNS Hijacking in Commercial VPN clients
- Hola VPN found to be detrimental to privacy and security
- (HideMyAss VPN logs lead to LulzSec arrest) | John Leyden
- "No Logs" IPVanish Embroiled in Logging Scandal | Sven Taylor (This source is a VPN affiliate site, ignore their recommendations)
- PureVPN Logs Users Despite "No Logs" Claims | Sven Taylor (This source is a VPN affiliate site, ignore their recommendations)
- Proxy.sh VPN Provider Sniffed Server Traffic to Catch Hacker | Andy Maxwell
- (ExpressVPN and Astrill VPN had used weak encryption) | Marc Bevand
- (NordVPN fails to disclose security breaches in a timely fashion) | Zack Whittaker
- Free VPN App Study: Secretive Chinese Ownership Revealed | Simon Migliano (This source is a VPN affiliate site, ignore their recommendations)
- 105 VPNs run by just 24 companies | Jan Youngren (This source is a VPN affiliate site, ignore their recommendations)
- CDT requests FTC to investigate Hotspot Shield's poor privacy and security practices
Why you can't trust most "VPN review" sites
- The Trouble with VPN and Privacy Review Sites | Jonah Aragon
- VPN review sites and how affiliate programs affects their opinion | Skadlig Kod
- How a VPN Review Site Dominated Google Search With a Scam | Michael Kan
When you should use a VPN service and which provider you should choose
- Do I need a VPN? | IVPN (This tool is offered by a VPN service, however they are honest/objective with their results)
- VPN Overview | Privacy Guides
- VPN Services | Privacy Guides
- An in-depth guide to choosing a VPN | David Huerta from Freedom of the Press Foundation
- VPN Chart | Techlore
Other considerations
While this article has primarily been focused on privacy, security, and anonymity, one important factor is too often forgotten- that being freedom. In addition to being inherently unethical and unjust, non-free/proprietary software often has negative implications for transparency, privacy, security, and anonymity. GNU, Kicksecure, and Whonix cover some examples. Furthermore, proprietary products and intellectual property as a whole is harmful and problematic in and of itself. I won't go into it here since it is out of the scope of this article but this video essay from Second Thought covers just some of the issues with intellectual property. An effective way to combat this is to use and support works which use a copyleft license, and to license any of your own works using a copyleft license.
Needless to say, I would strongly encourage people to use free/libre software, including the software you use to connect to a VPN server. When selecting a VPN service (if you've determined you would benefit from using one) you should take into consideration whether the software they require you to use is free/libre software or non-free/proprietary software. At the time of writing this, all VPN services recommended by Privacy Guides should provide users with free/libre software to use their service. If for whatever reason you decide to use a VPN service which pushes you to use non-free/proprietary software, I would at least consider using a free/libre third-party client such as WireGuard or OpenVPN Connect. Also, depending on why you're using a VPN, there are many possible free/libre alternatives you can look at, (some of which may even be better suited for your needs) including Shadowsocks or Outline VPN, as well as certain darknets such as Tor.
TL;DR
VPN services are often times useless for achieving better privacy/security/anonymity and sometimes they can actually harm the user. If you just want a quick way to see if you should use a VPN service, I recommend you use the Do I Need A VPN? tool. Based on your circumstances and needs it well tell you whether or not you may benefit from using a VPN service. If it says you will not benefit from using a VPN service, don't use a VPN service. If it says you may benefit from a VPN service but suggests you also use additional tools/practices, feel free to use a VPN service and look into the additional resources they direct you to so you can do a better job at implementing the necessary tools and practices to suit your needs. If it says you will benefit from a VPN service full stop, feel free to use a VPN service.
The easiest way to pick a VPN service it to choose one which has already been thoroughly investigated and recommended by unbiased experts who do not personally benefit from whether you use said services or not. Privacy Guides does exactly this. I personally prefer IVPN, but really any of these providers can work fine for you.