Best VPN service to be (and stay) anonymous

This is a question I get asked a lot: “what is the best vpn service out there?”. Let us take the time to address this once and for all.

There are literally hundreds of blog articles about the “best vpn service” out there. From pcmag.com to cnet.com, though most of them list the same VPN services again and again (PureVPN, NordVPN, etc.) . I guess they did not read about the “small incident” where PureVPN helped the FBI catch a hacker by providing its…wait for it… connection logs (page 22)!

PureVPN’s response is hilarious by the way, where they bend over backwards to justify that it is “normal” to log IP addresses… I will refrain from posting a “you-had-only-one-job-to-do” meme.

Joking aside, my personal favorite VPN service is AirVPN, as I stated many times in my books. The bandwidth is good, the price is reasonnable, and most of all, they have a very tight VPN configuration: network lock down, no DNS or IPv6 leaks, etc.

Of course, each and everyone will have their own favorite VPN service. Allow me though to stress the main criterias you should include in your review:

Operating outside the USA or other Five Eyes countries

The first reflex to have when considering a VPN service provider is to look for the company’s HQ and its affiliate entities. If they are located in any one of these countries: USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, UK, they will be subject to the many (lawful and ulawful) massive surveillance programs in place. It is only natural then to choose VPN providers in Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc.

Accepts Bitcoin, cash, debit cards or cash cards as a payment method

A VPN service provider that does not accept Bitcoin in 2017 is a bad omen, plain and simple. Not to say that Bitcoin is the ultimate anonymous payment method. But, if used properly it does provide more anonmity than a credit card..

If you need absolute anonimty, you can always convert more anonymous friendly coins like zCash to Bitcoin.

No personal information is required to create an account

If you cannot create an account by simply providing an email and a password, look for something else. I see no reason why you need to provide your address, phone number, etc.

So what is the best VPN service?

My go-to list when looking for a VPN service is the one listed on Privacy Tools. You will only find VPN services that respect the above criterias and can safely compare them based on less “sensitive” points: bandwidth, user friendliness, etc.

Most of them have trial periods, so I can only suggest you pick two or three and give them a dry run to see what you like most!

Cheers,