There’s way too much hype over VPN Providers, but do not forget, you are routing all your traffic through their servers
As a general advice, if a VPN provider keeps logs of your activity, does not allow you to pay with crypto, and generally spends way too much on youtube ads is probably not an ideal choice.
Do not follow any advice/recommendation blindly, do your own research on which one offers the best service for your own needs.
Something that people need to realize: If you want a VPN for PRIVACY, Mullvad (edit: also maybe IVPN) is the only good option on this list. They make it very easy for you to maintain complete anonymity, they don’t even WANT your email address, you can use crypto, or you can literally mail them an envelope of cash with a note inside containing your unique ID and they’ll load up your account with that value. It’s ridiculous how seriously they take this stuff. And if you’re really concerned about privacy, you should also be taking extra steps like using a hardened OS and browser, and using disposable virtual machines. But I suspect that most of us here aren’t that concerned with actual privacy.
If you want a VPN for PIRACY, any of these options are probably fine as long as they don’t block or slow torrent traffic. Just use the fastest one here that you can afford. The only thing you’re really doing in this case is blocking your torrent traffic from your ISP. Remember, if you give them a credit card and your email address, then that’s not private! It’s just for piracy. It’s important to look at your priorities and pick a VPN accordingly.
IVPN and Mullvad are probably the only two that give a shit about privacy. Neither require email or credit cards, and accept cash.
Upvote for the mention of IVPN. Only viable alternative to Mullvad.
I personally don’t care if a vpn requires email as I can create an alias / burner email to use.
I like how IVPN does it, as you have a choice to use a random id or username and password.
Nice, didn’t know IVPN was as private as Mullvad. I’ll edit my comment.
Does that mean when you’re opting for the latter the payment method doesn’t matter as much?
In my opinion, no. I live in the US where people don’t actually get prosecuted for piracy anymore, so I’m really not that concerned. I just want to stop getting letters from my ISP and having them (temporarily) cut my internet off until I watch their “educational” video. If they step up enforcement here, I might become more paranoid and lean more in the privacy direction.
This is why I love mullvad. No signing in with username and password, no account information, just keep track of your account number and sign in with that.