Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are an easy way to help hide your online activity from prying eyes, and though the technology has been around for a long time, it's received renewed interest lately thanks to recent legislation. But which VPN is the best for gaming? Or has servers in the most countries? And are VPNs safe? IGN has completed deep dive VPN reviews of five of the most popular services to help you figure out which VPN is right for you.
We wrote a beginner's guide to VPNs and why you should use one here, so go read that first if you're not up to speed. The short version? A VPN passes all your network traffic through its own encrypted connection no matter where you are, ensuring no one else, including your ISP, can see what you're doing online. There's a lot of nuance here - like whether the VPN itself is keeping a log of your activities - but that's the gist of it.
Though VPNs are great for security and privacy, at the end of the day they're rerouting your web traffic through their own servers, which impacts upload and download speeds as well as latency - a big drawback for gamers.This doesn't mean gaming is automatically a high-ping lagfest, because if the game's server is close to the VPN's server then all is fine. Gamers using a VPN will also be able to connect to multiplayer servers in Korea or other territories that are sometimes closed off to them, and in some instances can even do so with much better ping. Gaming on a VPN also protects gamers from DDoS attacks. Finally, using a VPN will let gamers purchase and play games not yet released in their own country, although all gamers should remember this may violate a game or service's Terms of Service.
We tested these five VPNs by connecting to game servers both near and far, and examining how it affected our ping and download/upload speeds. We also took into account the number of servers the VPN offers, how easy it was to use, and price. Given all of these factors, there was a clearly superior service, and it is:
Private Internet Access
Private Internet Access is the best example of function over form as it features a rather crude interface but offered the best performance of all the VPNs we tested, has over 2,000 servers, and is quite affordable too. We also like that it offers a few extra features such as the ability to block ads automatically and a kill switch to terminate your Internet connection if the VPN drops. It's not much to look at but who cares? It's fast and affordable, and won't interfere with your gaming much, if at all.
Private Internet Access is offered in three pricing tiers, listed below:
IPVanish VPN - Best Interface
IPVanish delivered excellent performance and has a slick, informative interface, though you'll end up paying a bit more for that fancy UI. It's worth it though as you can see how busy individual servers are before connecting, and even filter them by latency. It even lets you cycle your IP address periodically for increased protection. We really liked IPVanish overall and it's high on our list for sure.
If you'd like to give IPVanish a spin, it offers three pricing tiers for you to check out:
ExpressVPN - Most Supported Countries
ExpressVPN's biggest benefit is that it offers servers in more countries than the competition, with servers in 94 countries. If you really need to connect to a server in a specific location, ExpressVPN is your best bet. It also sports a polished and easy to use interface, features a VPN kill switch, and also doesn't log any of your traffic for optimal privacy.
If you want to try ExpressVPN it's offered in three pricing tiers:
KeepSolid VPN Unlimited - Cheapest Gaming VPN
If you're just looking for the least expensive VPN, look no further than KeepSolid VPN Unlimited. It even offers a lifetime subscription, making it insanely cheap depending on your age. It can be used on up to five devices though, and offers a simple and easy to use interface.
If you want to try KeepSolid it offers monthly, annual, or lifetime subscriptions:
WTFast Gaming Private Network (GPN)
WTFast isn't a VPN, but rather a GPN, in that it's a private network just for gaming. Rather than obscure all your traffic like a VPN, it only handles gaming traffic via its worldwide collection of servers, creating a "gaming network" of sorts. The gist of it is it might have a server that's close to the game server, so if you connect to WTFast you could lower your ping. In theory it could help reduce latency, but it all depends on the speed of your connection and your location, so you might want to take advantage of its 14-day trial before signing up. If you see an improvement and want to sign up, the Basic plan costs $5.99 a month if you sign up for one month, $17.07 for three months, $32.35 for six months, $59.90 for 12 months. The Advanced plan costs $9.99 a month for one month, $28.47 for three months, $53.95 for six months, $99.90 for 12 months.
These best VPN recommendations are a continual work in progress and will be updated on a regular basis as we review more VPN services and test across more cities and countries. As a reminder, read our primer on Everything You Need to Know About VPN to get caught up on why having a VPN matters, and why internet privacy is important.
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