When looking for the finest VPN, security, dependability, and affordability are all crucial factors to consider. However, speed is an important aspect. Whether you’re working from home, watching movies, or gaming, you’ll need a fast VPN that can handle the enormous volumes of data travelling through your coaxial line.
Which VPN service is the fastest? That’s where our list of the fastest VPNs comes in. Countless VPN providers have been tested so that you can decide the quickest VPN for streaming films, playing games, and other activities.
A few things to keep in mind: It's tough to make practical recommendations for consumers when it comes to testing a virtual private network. Some review sites use automatic monitoring techniques because the speed of a VPN can vary from day today. Furthermore, using any virtual private network, regardless of speed, will slow down your browsing.
If you use a VPN service in the United States, you should be aware that underlying internet speeds might vary substantially depending on your VPN provider and the state in which you live. This means that testing a VPN service provider’s product in a lab-like test environment eliminates all potential variables, from network interference to individual machine quirks, resulting in testing in an operating environment that bears little resemblance to the operating environment in which most of us work and live.
Best Fastest VPN
PureVPN
PureVPN is one of the fastest VPNs in the industry and has been a brand of reliability for more than a decade.
Get PureVPN Read The ReviewNordVPN
NordVPN covers all types of privacy and security needs of its users and makes them completely anonymous online.
Get NordVPN Read The ReviewExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is the best VPN service provider when it comes to providing great downloading speeds while being under the umbrella of a VPN.
Get ExpressVPN Read The ReviewSurfsharkVPN
Surfshark VPN offers a great list of privacy & security features with a clean user interface and easy-to-use nature.
Get Surfshark Read The ReviewHow to Test a VPN's Speed
What is Internet Speed Tests Used For? The degree to which they are correct is controversial.
Your internet speed will be used to determine the speed of a virtual private network (VPN). To begin, disable your VPN and do a speed test without it.
The easiest way to measure your internet connection speed is to use SpeedTest.net, which is maintained by the analytics company Ookla. SpeedTest is largely recognised as the best substitute for Fast.com. Several speed tests employ the Ookla clone.
- A huge, circular “Go” button may be seen on the webpage. You’ll see your IP address on the left, and the server you’ll be connected to on the right. You have the option of altering the server, although this isn’t required for our needs.
- The Ookla speed test’s principal screen
- To test your download and upload speeds hit the big button and wait for 30 to 60 seconds for the procedure to finish. When the measurements are finished, you will be presented with the test results. These parameters are used to calculate ping, latency, and download/upload speeds. When it comes to Internet service in Larnaca, Cyprus, you have to take what you can get.
- Ping is important in this circumstance because it influences latency, which is a measurement of how fast changes are conveyed over your connection, for users who want to game online while using a VPN. Everyone is worried about download speed since it affects how fast you can browse the web and view movies. Professionals who use a VPN should pay attention to upload speed since it impacts file sharing and other activities.
What Influences VPN Speed?
VPNs will always stifle your performance and increase your latency. In essence, there is no way to prevent it. According to VPN Area developer Dimitar Dobrev, three variables contribute to this: the server’s location, the quantity of traffic on it, and the level of encryption utilized throughout the connection.
In other words, how far away from the server are you?
The time difference between you and the server will be the most significant impediment to your connection. Even though it’s tempting to conceive of the internet as instantaneous, the packets that contain the bits and bytes that hold the information you’re communicating and receiving must travel physically across the links. Even if the time is measured in microseconds, it is still a time measure.
As a consequence, a server placed close to the user will always be faster than a server positioned far away. When connecting from Cyprus to servers in Amsterdam and New York, the one in New York is nearly always much slower. This might be due to the server being overworked.
1. Virtual Private Networking in the Cloud
A VPN server’s capacity is restricted. If you want an ultra-fast VPN service, you should seek servers that can handle a big number of clients at the same time. Nonetheless, performance will be delayed during peak hours or on more popular servers. There are numerous VPN providers that will give you a server load indicator, but not all of them. Avoid the heavier ones to maintain your pace.
2. Encryption
Finally, it is critical to consider the encryption mechanism used. Encrypting using a more secure encryption cypher, such as AES-256, will take longer than encrypting with 128 bits. Dobrev claims that the bulk of VPN companies utilize encryption levels that have little to no effect on the ordinary user. As a consequence, encryption is the least likely factor in determining VPN speed.
Testing VPNs Speed
VPNs speed is being tested by TechNinja PRO and evaluated results are stated as:
1. Surfshark
Surfshark’s 27 percent speed loss in testing put it considerably ahead of all of its competitors, with the exception of the seemingly unstoppable speed leader ExpressVPN, which experienced less than 2 percent speed loss in testing. Nonetheless, by the end of 2020, Surfshark was leading the pack with a 17% speed decline, while ExpressVPN speeds dropped to 52% in the most recent tests.
Surfshark distinguishes out for its ability to consistently outperform the competition in each test zone. On race day, this beast emerged and took the gold award for the fastest speed without blinking. Non-VPN speeds averaged out to 161Mbps for the whole average while testing at 194Mbps per second. It was being observed that no single average was less than 100 Mbps after averaging the results from five distinct locations. Across the board, this represents a tremendous victory against the company’s competitors.
Note: Surfshark beat its competitors in our tests, averaging 204Mbps on U.S. connections, which revealed them to be slower.
Because the VPN service provider allows you to choose which server to connect to, it’s likely that skewed the data hereby manually selecting servers in the United States with the lowest VPN traffic load (with a useful visual symbol to indicate the general crookedness of each VPN server location).
In addition, TechNinja PRO would have loved to report on the speed of New York City, for example. As a result, TechNinja PRO chose Surfshark’s automated server selection option because NordVPN does not provide this feature. During testing, NordVPN was unable to match Surfshark’s speeds in the US, with an average of only 89Mbps on US connections.
Surfshark outperformed the competition once again, with an average download speed of 165Mbps and an average upload speed of 171Mbps in both the UK and Europe. When utilising a VPN, Frankfurt’s speeds are typically slower than those in Orange and Paris. Surfshark’s German speeds were still faster than the competition’s average, albeit this was not unique to Surfshark.
TechNinja PRO detects a decline in numbers in Australia on average due to its considerable distance from my Kentucky test location. Despite the high latency, this fast VPN service performed admirably, with an average download speed of 126Mbps. ExpressVPN’s European connections, on the other hand, averaged 122Mbps.
Note: VPN connections from the United States are the quickest accessible, with a 16.9 percent decline in speed (faster than a 27 percent loss in the prior test).
Australia has the slowest internet connections in the world.
Singapore is at the epicentre of tremendous technological progress. Singapore’s internet speeds were ranked the fastest in the world in 2018 by Ookla, the speed-testing service the majority of other reviewers use, with an average national speed of 181Mbps. How did Surfshark do in the situation? A download speed of 142Mbps is typical.
Is this just a coincidence? TechNinja PRO VPN connection had a fantastic day. Surfshark’s overall server traffic was particularly low on this day. Every single one of those scenarios is feasible. So keep testing this newly crowned speed queen, and it is always recommended that you use VPNs that provide money-back guarantees and 30-day trial periods. However, none of the VPNs used has delivered such fast speeds.
2. ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN has observed a slow down compared to the lightning-fast speeds recorded for it just a year ago. If you want a high-quality VPN service, this one is well worth the extra money. It has a long history and strong cryptography, making it an excellent investment.
ExpressVPN’s overall speed has dropped by less than 2% in the last year. This year, it lost 52% of its speed. Despite the huge decline, this is still an above-average score when compared to other VPNs. However, ExpressVPN remains a speed demon, consistently ranking in the top ten of sites that run large automated VPN speed testing. ExpressVPN isn’t laggy because Surfshark was first this time. It is still fast enough for the majority of folks to play games, stream videos, or torrent.
Note: The entire global average speed of ExpressVPN was 93Mbps, compared to my non-VPN speeds of 193Mbps. Speeds of up to 122Mbps have been measured on European cables between Frankfurt, Berlin, and Paris.
In Australia and the United Kingdom, the average speeds were 101Mbps and 86Mbps, respectively. While Australia had the greatest single-round score of 136Mbps, the UK had the highest individual high score of 157Mbps, which was higher than Australia’s individual high score of 136Mbps. Singapore’s speeds, at 89Mbps, beat out those of the United Kingdom. Despite a single test round reaching a maximum speed of 134Mbps, ExpressVPN’s average speed in the US was only 66Mbps.
First instinct to examine ExpressVPN has a track record of surpassing its competitors in speed tests. As soon as discovered that TechNinja PRO results were consistent, It was checked in with a few sites that are being trusted for automatic speed testing and compared notes. ExpressVPN has lost ground in the last two months due to a lack of consistency, according to speed tests done by Top10VPN and ProPrivacy at the end of October.
When ExpressVPN’s speeds started to decline recently, it was contacted to find out what was causing the problem. In numerous of its internal testing, the business discovered that OpenVPN protocol speeds varied from 200 Mbps to 275 Mbps. Those figures were significantly higher than what I was able to attain.
According to an ExpressVPN representative,
"We believe one likely culprit was network saturation between your ISP and our data centre during the time period that you tested."
The company also stated the new protocol, which is still in the works.
Lightway, a VPN protocol developed in-house to provide WireGuard-like speed while providing much stronger security, will replace our legacy OpenVPN infrastructure, according to the spokesman. After a few months, TechNinja PRO is confident that Lightway will be as fast as, if not quicker than, the fastest WireGuard systems from other providers. It is currently in beta, but we are convinced that when it is fully released, it will be as fast as or quicker than the quickest Wireguard arrangement from other providers.
What Should You Look for in a Fast VPN?
To ensure that you have the fastest VPN, consider server coverage and server quality while making your pick. It’s easy to figure out how many servers are available: If you’re interested in a certain VPN, look at their server list. The following step is to see if there are any servers in your neighbourhood. As a result, browsing at a reasonable speed should be possible.
However, if you want to overcome regional limitations by employing servers in another country, server quality becomes much more critical. ExpressVPN, as well as other providers with only a few servers capable of managing massive traffic (like as IPVanish), are ideal examples of this (NordVPN comes to mind.).
Before joining up for any VPN service, be sure they have a refund policy in place. To observe for yourself, go to SpeedTest.net and perform the following speed test: If you are dissatisfied with the results, you can get your money back.
How to Boost the Performance of Your Virtual Private Network?
Even if you use a high-quality VPN, you may see a slight decrease in download speeds or an increase in ping rate. Encryption isn’t dead yet, and there are several methods to accelerate things.
1. After you’ve disconnected and rejoined, reconnect
A good VPN service will have servers placed in densely populated locations. For NordVPN, for example, there are over 2,500 servers in the United States alone. If your internet connection is slow, try connecting to a new server in your desired location to see if it addresses the problem.
2. Modify your security procedures
If you need to increase the speed of your internet, you should consider switching to a different security protocol. In the NordVPN app, you can choose between the IKEv2 and NordLynx protocols.
3. Choose a new location to visit
If the problem is caused by a geographical location, a new server in another nation might be selected. NordVPN has over 5,000 servers spread across 59 countries. When it comes to finding the greatest internet service, you can always find a location that meets your requirements.
Note: Security and speed do not have to be mutually exclusive.
How to Improve the Accuracy of the Speed Test for Your VPN Connection?
The results of the speed test on a network of more than 500 servers throughout the world can vary widely. You can see if your connection speed changes by switching servers with lower speed test results.
1. Change Your DNS Settings
VPN performance can be affected by your DNS settings. You may check the speed of a few popular websites using the DNS settings listed below:
https://69.63.181.12/facebook
http://72.14.213.99/Google.com
http://128.121.243.228/twitter
Using these sites and settings, if you see fast VPN speeds, your DNS servers may be to blame for any troubles. In this situation, you have a number of choices:
2. Make use of the servers provided by Google
8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4
3. Use OpenDNS’s free public DNS servers to test it out
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220
FAQs
We regularly test each VPN and display the most current three-month average or overall average speed. There are numerous variables that can affect testing, so we strive to eliminate them all. To keep hops to a minimum, we always take measurements within the same country.
The number of steps in a normal speed test and our in-house speed test varies significantly. We don't include any operations that aren't absolutely necessary, and we only reach a conclusion after gathering enough data to avoid daily swings in the top spot.
This is one of the various methods for displaying an average VPN speed. You can also examine these numbers on their own and generate your own figures.
- We put these VPNs through their paces for a number of reasons.
- We are presently testing just the finest and most popular VPNs. These are the most popular VPNs in terms of speed, and they're also more trustworthy than the rest.