4 ms·

I can't decide between mullvad and private internet access. Any suggestions?

by m_a_g 5y ago

0x0000000 5y ago
Mullvad gets a lot of "grassroots" support in comments, I've noticed here. I've had a subscription with them for a couple months, but I recently found out they intercept DNS requests[0] (supposedly to prevent against "DNS leaks"[1]). For the "keeping me private while torrenting" use case, Mullvad is probably fine, but personally I'm planning to move back to a private VPS for tunneling out of my local ISP. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/mullvadvpn/comments/invjgp/how_and_why_is_mullvad_tampering_with_dns_traffic/ https://www.reddit.com/r/mullvadvpn/comments/invjgp/how_and_... [1] https://mullvad.net/en/help/dns-leaks/ https://mullvad.net/en/help/dns-leaks/
beeboop 5y ago
I use Mozilla's VPN which uses Mullvad.
kiryin 5y ago
I can't recommend PIA anymore after the acquisition. It used to be my choice ever since using a VPN became a necessity, but these it's Mullvad for me. They're relatively transparent, allow me to pay anonymously in cash, and are based on a VPN protocol already included in my kernel.
capableweb 5y ago
Private Internet Access (PIA) is involved in the whole Freenode fiasco, and has Mark Karpelès (of Mt Gox fame) as their CTO of the parent company. They also run ads all over the internet. Everything pointing towards just caring about the profits. Mullvad is a low-profile company based in Sweden (strong guarantees for privacy) where you can even sign up by sending cash in an envelope. It doesn't get more anonymous than that. On the technical side, I've been using Mullvad since probably 2012 or something like that, and lately just their Wireguard implementation. Always have had good performance and never received any complaints, even though I have used it for torrenting and bunch of grey-area stuff. Edit: I see now the author has even highlighted PIA as their "top pick", which for me compromises the integrity of this list. PIA most likely paid the author to add that for them.
- idontwantthis 5y ago
  Can you stream US only like HBO and Hulu with Mulvad?
  - zinekeller 5y ago
    Unfortunately, often not. Unlike other VPNs which tries to blend into residential connections, Mullavad is simply for user privacy and oftentimes is known as AS39351 (which is 31173's AS - https://www.31173.se/ https://www.31173.se/). Note that this simply means that a particular user was using Mullavad, not that it identifies a specific user.
- 4ggr0 5y ago
  I use ProtonVPN myself and am quite happy with it. Lots of countries to choose from, in-built ad- and tracking-blocker and SecureCores which route you through multiple VPN nodes instead of one. Disclaimer: I don't work at Proton and I have no idea if they actually do care about privacy, they at least say it.
- gbrindisi 5y ago
  > Mullvad is a low-profile company based in Sweden (strong guarantees for privacy) What do you mean? Sweden is not at all a strong guarantee of privacy by EU standards. Did you mean Switzerland perhaps?
  - latexr 5y ago
    The address at the bottom of their website[1] confirms it’s Sweden. [1]: https://mullvad.net/ https://mullvad.net/
3np 5y ago
What are your priorities/requirements/motivations, or at least use-case? One has stellar organic reputation and accepts anonymous registrations and payments (cryptocurrency or cash-in-letter). The other spends serious bank on SEO and paid endorsements from "reviewers" and has been acquired by one of the sketchiest owners in the industry. They have a strong track-record of paying to get on top of VPN lists. If privacy is a concern, I wouldn't touch anything under Kape Technologies with a pole and after the acquisition last year, I don't see why anyone would become a customer of PIA. Unless you're purely interested in tunneling your warez and nothing else, in which case I guess NordVPN is a decent choice (I hold them sus and would recommend against them for general use but they do provide great bandwidth-per-buck). You could always do split-tunneling and route your torrents through one place and HTTP(S) through another, for example.
nivenkos 5y ago
Mullvad is much better with first class Linux and Wireguard support.
- clsec 5y ago
  Same with Surfshark. Both have been thoroughly audited by Cure53 as well.
francis-io 5y ago
I know it's not on the list, but look into IVPN. I liked the multi tunnel option. For sensitive things, you might want to chain VPNs, or use Tor through a VPN. Side note: All these ads for VPN services you see now really makes it seem like you should use a VPN. Do most people need a VPN? You trade off an ISP snooping to a VPN provider snooping. Here in the UK, ISPs can't sell my browsing data, and are more regulated than private companies, so maybe that influences my opinion here.
- onychomys 5y ago
  > You trade off an ISP snooping to a VPN provider snooping. Well, you trade off the possibility of a VPN provider snooping even though they claim not to for the 100% definite snooping that you know for a fact is happening with an ISP. And even if you get a VPN that snoops, wouldn't you rather have some random small company doing that snooping than, say, Comcast?
smnscu 5y ago
Someone's recommended AzireVPN to me as a WireGuard-friendly VPN a few years ago and I've been using it without any issues since. I wouldn't use any of the big guys tbh, not going to contribute to the millions they spend on advertising. Here's a random review https://www.vpnmentor.com/reviews/azirevpn/ https://www.vpnmentor.com/reviews/azirevpn/
commoner 5y ago
Consumer Reports' Digital Lab rated Mullvad as the top VPN in a comparison of 16 VPNs, including Private Internet Access: https://digital-lab-wp.consumerreports.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/VPN-White-Paper.pdf https://digital-lab-wp.consumerreports.org/wp-content/upload... (PDF) > Although Mullvad, IVPN, and Mozilla VPN—in that order—rose to the top, there are still improvements that can be made. > Of the 16 VPNs we analyzed, Mullvad, PIA, IVPN, and Mozilla VPN (which runs on Mullvad’s servers)—in that order—were among the highest ranked in both privacy and security. However, PIA has never had a public third-party security audit. Additionally, in our opinion, only IVPN, Mozilla VPN, and Mullvad—along with one other VPN (TunnelBear)—accurately represent their services and technology without any broad, sweeping, or potentially misleading statements.
nvarsj 5y ago
PIA ownership has made many question them. I personally tried Mullvad for about a year but found the speeds on it were terrible. PIA gives me line speed (400/40) no problem. Personally I trust no VPN regardless what HN thinks, so I set my expectations and risk accordingly.

I can't decide between mullvad and private internet access. Any suggestions?

by m_a_g 5y ago

I can't decide between mullvad and private internet access. Any suggestions?

Mullvad gets a lot of "grassroots" support in comments, I've noticed here. I've had a subscription with them for a couple months, but I recently found out they intercept DNS requests[0] (supposedly to prevent against "DNS leaks"[1]). For the "keeping me private while torrenting" use case, Mullvad is probably fine, but personally I'm planning to move back to a private VPS for tunneling out of my local ISP. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/mullvadvpn/comments/invjgp/how_and_why_is_mullvad_tampering_with_dns_traffic/ https://www.reddit.com/r/mullvadvpn/comments/invjgp/how_and_... [1] https://mullvad.net/en/help/dns-leaks/ https://mullvad.net/en/help/dns-leaks/

beeboop 5y ago

I use Mozilla's VPN which uses Mullvad.

kiryin 5y ago

I can't recommend PIA anymore after the acquisition. It used to be my choice ever since using a VPN became a necessity, but these it's Mullvad for me. They're relatively transparent, allow me to pay anonymously in cash, and are based on a VPN protocol already included in my kernel.

capableweb 5y ago

Private Internet Access (PIA) is involved in the whole Freenode fiasco, and has Mark Karpelès (of Mt Gox fame) as their CTO of the parent company. They also run ads all over the internet. Everything pointing towards just caring about the profits. Mullvad is a low-profile company based in Sweden (strong guarantees for privacy) where you can even sign up by sending cash in an envelope. It doesn't get more anonymous than that. On the technical side, I've been using Mullvad since probably 2012 or something like that, and lately just their Wireguard implementation. Always have had good performance and never received any complaints, even though I have used it for torrenting and bunch of grey-area stuff. Edit: I see now the author has even highlighted PIA as their "top pick", which for me compromises the integrity of this list. PIA most likely paid the author to add that for them.

idontwantthis 5y ago
Can you stream US only like HBO and Hulu with Mulvad?
- zinekeller 5y ago
  Unfortunately, often not. Unlike other VPNs which tries to blend into residential connections, Mullavad is simply for user privacy and oftentimes is known as AS39351 (which is 31173's AS - https://www.31173.se/ https://www.31173.se/). Note that this simply means that a particular user was using Mullavad, not that it identifies a specific user.
4ggr0 5y ago
I use ProtonVPN myself and am quite happy with it. Lots of countries to choose from, in-built ad- and tracking-blocker and SecureCores which route you through multiple VPN nodes instead of one. Disclaimer: I don't work at Proton and I have no idea if they actually do care about privacy, they at least say it.
gbrindisi 5y ago
> Mullvad is a low-profile company based in Sweden (strong guarantees for privacy) What do you mean? Sweden is not at all a strong guarantee of privacy by EU standards. Did you mean Switzerland perhaps?
- latexr 5y ago
  The address at the bottom of their website[1] confirms it’s Sweden. [1]: https://mullvad.net/ https://mullvad.net/

3np 5y ago

What are your priorities/requirements/motivations, or at least use-case? One has stellar organic reputation and accepts anonymous registrations and payments (cryptocurrency or cash-in-letter). The other spends serious bank on SEO and paid endorsements from "reviewers" and has been acquired by one of the sketchiest owners in the industry. They have a strong track-record of paying to get on top of VPN lists. If privacy is a concern, I wouldn't touch anything under Kape Technologies with a pole and after the acquisition last year, I don't see why anyone would become a customer of PIA. Unless you're purely interested in tunneling your warez and nothing else, in which case I guess NordVPN is a decent choice (I hold them sus and would recommend against them for general use but they do provide great bandwidth-per-buck). You could always do split-tunneling and route your torrents through one place and HTTP(S) through another, for example.

nivenkos 5y ago

Mullvad is much better with first class Linux and Wireguard support.

clsec 5y ago
Same with Surfshark. Both have been thoroughly audited by Cure53 as well.

francis-io 5y ago

I know it's not on the list, but look into IVPN. I liked the multi tunnel option. For sensitive things, you might want to chain VPNs, or use Tor through a VPN. Side note: All these ads for VPN services you see now really makes it seem like you should use a VPN. Do most people need a VPN? You trade off an ISP snooping to a VPN provider snooping. Here in the UK, ISPs can't sell my browsing data, and are more regulated than private companies, so maybe that influences my opinion here.

onychomys 5y ago
> You trade off an ISP snooping to a VPN provider snooping. Well, you trade off the possibility of a VPN provider snooping even though they claim not to for the 100% definite snooping that you know for a fact is happening with an ISP. And even if you get a VPN that snoops, wouldn't you rather have some random small company doing that snooping than, say, Comcast?

smnscu 5y ago

Someone's recommended AzireVPN to me as a WireGuard-friendly VPN a few years ago and I've been using it without any issues since. I wouldn't use any of the big guys tbh, not going to contribute to the millions they spend on advertising. Here's a random review https://www.vpnmentor.com/reviews/azirevpn/ https://www.vpnmentor.com/reviews/azirevpn/

commoner 5y ago

Consumer Reports' Digital Lab rated Mullvad as the top VPN in a comparison of 16 VPNs, including Private Internet Access: https://digital-lab-wp.consumerreports.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/VPN-White-Paper.pdf https://digital-lab-wp.consumerreports.org/wp-content/upload... (PDF) > Although Mullvad, IVPN, and Mozilla VPN—in that order—rose to the top, there are still improvements that can be made. > Of the 16 VPNs we analyzed, Mullvad, PIA, IVPN, and Mozilla VPN (which runs on Mullvad’s servers)—in that order—were among the highest ranked in both privacy and security. However, PIA has never had a public third-party security audit. Additionally, in our opinion, only IVPN, Mozilla VPN, and Mullvad—along with one other VPN (TunnelBear)—accurately represent their services and technology without any broad, sweeping, or potentially misleading statements.

nvarsj 5y ago

PIA ownership has made many question them. I personally tried Mullvad for about a year but found the speeds on it were terrible. PIA gives me line speed (400/40) no problem. Personally I trust no VPN regardless what HN thinks, so I set my expectations and risk accordingly.