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Ask HN: Which VPN?
Which VPN do you recommend?
- oedmarap 8y agoI use a self-hosted OpenVPN install on a Digital Ocean droplet to simply encrypt traffic (UDP/443) from my ISP. One plus is that I have a clean US IP address that isn't blocked by most services. This is just for security and geolocation, not anonymity. For anonymity I use Private Internet Access as they have a fast network, lots of locations, and no logs. They're also very affordable. I also use IPredator sometimes since they're the same folks that run Njalla and I simply like to support them.
- legitster 8y agoAny VPN is better than no VPN. But I use Private Internet Access. The interface has gotten really slick in the last year - very nice to use. You can pay using random anonymous gift cards (essentially cash). And they are the only VPN that has been tested in the court of law (they were ordered to turn over all the records they had on a customer, and they did - nothing).
- blacksmith_tb 8y agoPIA also donates to FOSS projects/organizations[1] and has open-sourced some of their own projects[2] 1: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2016/mar/02/PIA-LCA-matched/ https://sfconservancy.org/news/2016/mar/02/PIA-LCA-matched/ 2: https://pia-foss.github.io/ https://pia-foss.github.io/
- craftyguy 8y agoPIA is also US-based, which makes it a no-go for some folks since they fall under US jurisdiction.
- kup0 8y agoI haven't used it extensively, but so far MullvadVPN has worked well for me and they are one of thatoneprivacysite's top recommendations
- orivej 8y agoI'm using Mullvad. On the plus side, their servers are the most reliable I have seen, and they provide IPv6 addresses (behind NAT, which is reasonable for privacy). On the minus side, since November 2017 they intercept DNS queries and answer them themselves (hence you can not use DNS service of your choice), unless you connect to a specific undocumented OpenVPN port (1400 or 1401) available on a small but diverse subset of their servers.
- kup0 8y agoInteresting. Good info to know. Have they specified a reason for intercepting DNS?
- orivej 8y agoI believe I can quote the response to my support request: «We added iptables rules to hijack all DNS requests on port 53 going via the VPN tunnel, this is to protect users having set a DNS server unknowingly (or by malware). We are aware that not all users want this behaviour, and we intend to add an extra port that OpenVPN listens on, where DNS hijacking will not happen.» Some VPN providers (including Mullvad) have a client-side feature called DNS leak protection that configures the system to use the provider's DNS server. I don't know how Mullvad decided that this was not enough, and they are justified to intercept DNS. (Note that for the server-side intervention to work, the client side must be configured not to use ISP DNS, hence the client-side DNS leak protection is a prerequisite.)
- OnMyPhone 8y agoI've used Mullvad on and off for years. Still my go to when I need it.
- hackermailman 8y agoI use Mullvad when traveling, with wireguard app just to avoid public wifi security issue. It's cheaper than rolling your own Digital Ocean droplet
- blacksmith_tb 8y agoI have a Streisand[1] server running at DO, it's been good. People also like Algo[2] but I haven't tried it. 1: https://github.com/StreisandEffect/streisand https://github.com/StreisandEffect/streisand 2: https://github.com/trailofbits/algo https://github.com/trailofbits/algo
- m-p-3 8y agoDepends what is more important to you. If it's for anonimity I've been told PIA is a good option. If it's to bypass georestriction and protect your traffic from being snooped by your ISP or any clients that could attempt to sniff your traffic, hosting your own on a VPS is a good option. OpenVPN, OCserv or Outline (based on shadowsocks) are some options. Links ----- https://openvpn.net/index.php/download/community-downloads.html https://openvpn.net/index.php/download/community-downloads.h... https://ocserv.gitlab.io/www/features.html https://ocserv.gitlab.io/www/features.html https://openvpn.net/index.php/download/community-downloads.html https://openvpn.net/index.php/download/community-downloads.h... https://getoutline.org/ https://getoutline.org/ https://www.shadowsocks.org/en/index.html https://www.shadowsocks.org/en/index.html
- prrrush 8y agoI'm quite happy with Private Internet Access
- michaelcampbell 8y agoVague question can only lead to a vague answer, but I've been happy with AirVPN.org for my particular use case and needs.
- craftyguy 8y agoThis is a great resource for comparing VPN options, with a focus on privacy and security: https://thatoneprivacysite.net/vpn-section/ https://thatoneprivacysite.net/vpn-section/ Be wary of folks recommending individual services... the VPN market has been hot in the last few years, and most recommendations should be treated with a fair bit of skepticism.
- quizme2000 8y agoThat was a great site. I liked the option for a colorblind readable chart, I have a few colleagues that have to use plugins and other weird gadgets differentiate red and green. Also bonus point for the CC license.
- samblr 8y agoHave been using windscribe - I use it sparingly. But any vpn should be treated with skepticism as many have noted here.
- cyberpip 8y agoOther than that one privacy site already mentioned, Wirecutter did a good analysis recently: https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-vpn-service/ https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-vpn-service/
- mobitar 8y agoI created a subjective guide based on my experiences which might be useful to you: https://vpnreport.org https://vpnreport.org
- mpfundstein 8y agoProtonVPN is super good
- diaz 8y agoAnd there's the free tier which has served me well too.
- mpfundstein 8y agoIf you sign up you get native mac client (beta)! Really good piece of software, much more teliable than Tunnelblick
- PenguinCoder 8y agoI have wireguard setup on a DO instance of <wherever region I need>. It is very fast and easy to setup for technically inclined : https://www.wireguard.com/ https://www.wireguard.com/
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- ej12n 8y agoIVPN (Gribaltar), Mullvad (Sweden) or PIA (U.S.) are the best bet for most users IMO. They are all fast, no logging, and have good apps. IVPN, Mullvad are not in U.S. jurisdiction if you are concerned about that. Most people are not and just want a VPN to hide shit from ISP, etc... Although PIA is U.S. based, they keep no logs and then they have their famous "FBI" case which they did not provide anything to them. I myself personally use IVPN, but I have used Mullvad as well. https://thatoneprivacysite.net/vpn-section/ https://thatoneprivacysite.net/vpn-section/ This is the best resource for vpn reviews, ignore everything else. Also https://www.privacytools.io/ https://www.privacytools.io/ is great overall and they do have a vpn section https://www.reddit.com/r/VPN/ https://www.reddit.com/r/VPN/ has a bunch of more info as well.
- johnboyer 8y agoCannot agree with this enough. When I first started looking for a VPN, the only source of information I found were these disingenuous websites that based their reviews off how much vpns were paying them, with every off-site link being a referral. thatoneprivacysite is by a landslide most unbiased source of information I found on VPNs.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- fwdpropaganda 8y ago> Although PIA is U.S. based, they keep no logs and then they have their famous "FBI" case which they did not provide anything to them. You know the NSA just puts a gag order and connects directly to the targets infrastructure. Doesn't matter that PIA doesn't keep logs, NSA's prism is logging everything.
- willstrafach 8y agoI do not know this and many others probably do not. Would be great to see a source with proof that this has happened with PIA.
- 8y ago
- jasaloo 8y agoNordVPN -- it's one of the best IMO for security/company location. I also made my decision via the spreadsheets and analysis from the already-mentioned https://thatoneprivacysite.net/vpn-section/ https://thatoneprivacysite.net/vpn-section/ It's $79 for two years, but they also have per-month subscriptions.
- hbcondo714 8y agoI got turned off by their tv commercials. They are really marketing towards the "clean your PC" crowd
- vpnless 8y agoTheir tv commercials are so bad I got turned off by vpn.
- jmarinez 8y agoSomaVPN - currently in beta Based on Algo and Wireguard
- subliminalpanda 8y agolink?
- kasey_junk 8y agoEarlier today https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17091618 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17091618
- botskonet 8y agoI currently use IPVanish. I'm pleased with the uptime and service. Every now and then I get disconnected and everything reverts to using my normal connection, which isn't very secure.
- Avaray 8y agoCheck these links: https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/ https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/ https://thatoneprivacysite.net/vpn-comparison-chart/ https://thatoneprivacysite.net/vpn-comparison-chart/ http://vpnspeedtest.org/ http://vpnspeedtest.org/
- staunch 8y agoTo answer "Which VPN?" you first need to answer "Why VPN?" because there are a lot of different reasons for using a VPN. If it's just privacy from snooping, you'll be fine with setting up your own VPS with OpenVPN. It's simple enough that any technical person can do it in a few minutes (or hours).
- jetblackio 8y agoProton VPN is rock solid. I recently made the full switch off gmail to Proton email, and signed up for the VPN as well. It's worked great so far.
- segmondy 8y agoYour own hosted VPN, run one from home for free using a $5-10 raspberry pi zero. Or $60 on DigitalOcean or Linode a year at $5/month.
- tdfx 8y agoSpecific use case thread: which VPNs have worked for you in mainland China?
- donttrack 8y agoExpeessVPN works fine. using it right now in china.
- donttrack 8y agoExpress VPN if you don’t want to bother with setting up your own server. If you want to setup your own server, then Streisand. I used both and they work well. Using ExpressVPN right now in China.
- lming 8y agoWhat's the purpose of the VPN? If travelling to China or other strictly censored countries, I'd recommend https://foxshadowsocks.com https://foxshadowsocks.com
- jason_slack 8y agoI used Astrill while in China and it worked good and the cost wasn't bad. Works on most all OS's. https://www.astrill.com/ https://www.astrill.com/
- inertial 8y agoLots of prior info available https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14974383 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14974383 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13425728 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13425728 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13249523 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13249523 Also DIY options : https://github.com/ttlequals0/autovpn https://github.com/ttlequals0/autovpn https://github.com/jlund/streisand https://github.com/jlund/streisand https://github.com/trailofbits/algo https://github.com/trailofbits/algo https://github.com/Nyr/openvpn-install https://github.com/Nyr/openvpn-install https://github.com/robbintt/popup-openvpn https://github.com/robbintt/popup-openvpn https://github.com/sovereign/sovereign https://github.com/sovereign/sovereign
- aphextron 8y agoThere's no reason for anyone even moderately saavy to use a commercial private VPN. It's really insecure and expensive. Just use Streisand on a DigitalOcean droplet, AWS, etc. https://github.com/StreisandEffect/streisand https://github.com/StreisandEffect/streisand
- ereyes01 8y agoCan't echo this enough. Without a VPN, your ISP can see some of your traffic (unencrypted + who you talk to). When you use a commercial VPN, the ability to snoop like your ISP just transfers to them. As much as we love to hate our ISPs, some of those services seem pretty shady by my estimation, and have very little oversight / no barriers to being unscrupulous. Streisand is just a couple commands + whatever steps your cloud provider requires to get API keys. Take advantage of different regions to place your VPN(s) wherever you want in the world. Each installation comes with detailed instructions to configure VPN clients on your desktop or phone. Works great once you've got it running, and probably ends up being cheaper than most of those other shady services.
- digianarchist 8y agoWhat if the VPS provider logs? My guess would be that DO keep logs of assigned IP to account which is arguably worse than what is done by the private VPNs.
- krageon 8y agoIf you care about privacy, don't host it on US infrastructure. There has been so much exposure about this, that should have been enough to teach you not to burn yourself.
- rlpb 8y agoTunnelling through a hosting provider doesn't provide any additional privacy. It just moves your exposure. Perhaps I am unusual, but I trust my ISP with my privacy more than I trust the typical hosting provider. I understand that this doesn't apply to most of the US because of your monopolistic ISP problem. In other places though, I don't think a blanket "just tunnel through a hosting provider" recommendation is appropriate.
- knguyen0105 8y agoI used to pay for IPVanish but now I'm using Algo with much better speed. Some websites also block requests from commercial VPNs.
- donttrack 8y agoDon’t use strongVPN. They shared my info. Got a letter from some Hollywood lawyers after someone had been running a torrent download over my VPN (would share my WiFi on and off from my phone with visiting colleagues, if they had trouble with our corporate VPN and someone probably had a movie torrent download or seed running in the background by mistake).
- Talentener 8y agoHi. I think this resource should help you with choosing a VPN: https://vpnspecial.com/comparison-table/ https://vpnspecial.com/comparison-table/ I personally use NordVPN for extra security and good speeds. Another worthy consideration is VPN.ac. Or if you want there's a kinda new Surfshark VPN which supports unlimited devices and is quite fast.
- playertuan 8y agoTorrentFreak writes up a comprehensive review and interview with all the popular vpns, https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/ https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/
- apazgo 8y agoAzirevpn[1] (Swedish based) Always been very fast for me. One of the first to implement wireguard I think, which they offer for free at the moment, tho I pay anyway for the service... 1: https://www.azirevpn.com https://www.azirevpn.com
- some_account 8y agoI use bahnhof VPN (Swedish) and they are well known for standing up to pressure from government.
- Medtelleo 8y agoDepends on what you need from a VPN. If you just want a browser extension you may try Surfshark VPN -- I heard it is rapid and supports unlimited devices. If you want to watch Netflix, you may want to try NordVPN, many servers to choose from and secure. Again, what do you want from a VPN?