Alternatives to PrivateVPN
A Swedish commercial VPN service with apps for desktop, mobile and routers. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
PrivateVPN
A Swedish commercial VPN service with apps for desktop, mobile and routers.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as PrivateVPN.
NordVPN
Large commercial VPN with the WireGuard-based NordLynx protocol.
NordVPN offers a very large server network with the NordLynx protocol, threat protection and meshnet, though renewals cost much more than the first term.
ExpressVPN
Commercial VPN with RAM-only servers and its own Lightway protocol.
ExpressVPN uses RAM-only servers and its Lightway protocol with published audits and router firmware, at a higher price than most consumer VPNs.
Surfshark
VPN with unlimited simultaneous devices on one subscription.
Surfshark allows unlimited simultaneous devices with RAM-only servers and multi-hop routing, but its renewal pricing is far higher than the introductory rate.
Proton VPN
A VPN from the Proton Mail company with a free tier that has no data cap, and open source clients.
Proton VPN adds a free tier with no data cap and open source audited clients, but streaming and peer-to-peer require a paid plan.
Mullvad VPN
A flat-rate VPN service with anonymous account numbers instead of usernames, and open source apps.
Mullvad VPN replaces proprietary clients with open source apps, uses anonymous account numbers and charges a flat €5 per month.
CyberGhost VPN
A commercial VPN service with apps for desktops, phones, TVs, routers and web browsers.
CyberGhost VPN adds browser extensions and TV apps alongside router support, with a 45-day money-back guarantee instead of 30 days.
OVPN
A Swedish paid VPN service with a no-logging policy and diskless servers on hardware it owns.
OVPN is another Swedish paid VPN, adding diskless servers on owned hardware, a court-tested no-logging policy and port forwarding, but without a Linux app.
PureVPN
A commercial VPN service with apps for desktop, mobile and TV devices and a large server network.
PureVPN adds apps for Apple TV and Fire Stick with kill switch and DNS leak protection, selling port forwarding and dedicated IPs as add-ons.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
DNS Leak Test
A web test that shows which DNS servers your connection is actually using.
Cloudflare WARP
A free WireGuard-based tunnel to Cloudflare that encrypts your traffic without pretending to be a privacy VPN.
