Speed Test

Picture this: a household with four people, two laptops, three phones, two tablets, a smart TV, and a gaming console — 12 devices that should probably be on a VPN. With NordVPN, that’s two subscriptions. With ExpressVPN, two subscriptions. With ProtonVPN Plus, two subscriptions. With Surfshark, it’s one. (affiliate link) But that single difference — unlimited simultaneous connections at $2.49/month on the long-term plan — is Surfshark’s headline advantage. But a VPN isn’t worth any price if speed, privacy, or streaming reliability fall short. So we put it through a 10-server speed benchmark, a 5-platform streaming test, and a full privacy stack check to see whether the unlimited-device pitch holds up in practice. ...

Disclosure: Some links below are affiliate links. If you sign up through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. NordVPN — starts at $3.49/mo (2-year plan) Surfshark — starts at $2.39/mo (2-year plan) DigitalOcean — $200 credit for new users Your ISP sees every site you visit. Streaming platforms block entire countries. And somewhere in a data center, a server logs the fact that you connected at 2:14 AM. ...

ProtonVPN is not just another VPN. Swiss jurisdiction, open-source apps, independent security audits, and Secure Core multi-hop routing — it checks a lot of boxes on paper. But how does it actually perform on a 1 Gbps fiber line in the middle of 2026? And does the Proton ecosystem (Mail, Drive, Pass, Wallet, Calendar) justify the $12.99/month Unlimited price tag compared to a pure VPN like Mullvad at $5.50/month? I ran a full five-node benchmark across Europe, the US, Asia, a Secure Core multi-hop route, and a free-tier server. Here is the data. ...

NordVPN is one of the most recognized names in consumer VPNs. But does the marketing match reality? So we spent a full afternoon in early June 2026 running speed tests across four server regions, checking streaming platform access, and verifying privacy claims. Here’s what the data shows. TL;DR: NordVPN is genuinely fast — NordLynx delivers the best throughput we’ve seen on a WireGuard-based protocol. Streaming unblocking is consistent across major platforms. And the Panama jurisdiction plus PwC’s independent audit gives the no-logs claim real weight. But the service is closed-source, and the renewal price jump is steep. If source transparency and a fully auditable stack matter more to you than raw speed, check out our ProtonVPN review — it’s the closest open-source alternative with comparable privacy credentials. ...

ProtonVPN’s Swiss jurisdiction has been audited three times for no-log compliance since 2020 — zero violations found. And Surfshark runs 4,500+ servers across 100 countries and doesn’t cap device count. And one prioritizes verifiable privacy at the architecture level. The other prioritizes feature breadth and unlimited connectivity. But these are two different philosophies competing for the same user. And depending on what you actually need, the wrong pick costs you either more than you should pay or more privacy than you intended to give up. ...