Price vs. Protection

Price vs. Value: Understanding the True Cost of VPN Services

Understanding that price is a significant factor in consumer decisions, DEVPN advises that customers, before settling on a VPN service, thoroughly evaluate their needs to ensure they know what to look for.

Value for money

DEVPN would like to begin this page by sharing our team's personal opinion on the VPN market:

• There is no such thing as a free VPN provider, you always pay the price somehow.

• Value is personal experience, which is why this chapter covers "Why do you need a VPN provider".

• We believe that most VPN competitors inadequately serve their customers.

Therefore, this chapter does not include a matrix with dollar price comparisons across providers. However, we hope that customers who read this page will learn how to judge prices effectively.

The are no free VPN competitors

With the exception of small and ethical projects that mainly exist for research and development purposes, DEVPN clearly states that there are no truly free VPN providers on the internet.

While some services may advertise themselves as free, they come with hidden costs or compromises, which can include limited functionality, data caps, slower speeds, or intrusive advertisements.

Worse, some are intentionally created under the pretense of being free, sometimes even displaying occasional ads, while in reality, they sell user data to commercial data brokers in the background.

This practice is ethically problematic, as it undermines the very privacy they promise to protect and sadly, this practice is not only found in free VPN providers but also among many commercial ones.

In essence, even if a VPN service appears to be free, there is always a price to pay.

Whether in terms of reduced service quality or potential risks, it is important for consumers to carefully evaluate what they are giving up and whom they choose to trust as their VPN provider.

Why do you need a VPN provider?

Much research conducted among VPN users has revealed that their primary needs can be distilled into a set of key areas that internet users frequently seek, which can be broadly categorized as follows:

• Privacy enhancement

• Ensuring anonymity

• Protection and security

• Access to content

• Speed of connections

While there are only five broad categories, understanding which of these is relevant to your personal needs can significantly help consumers narrow down the list of viable VPN providers to consider.

Privacy enhancement

Typical consumers, who have done slight research on VPN providers, broadly expect a VPN provider to offer strong data encryption, a strict no-logs policy, and transparency about privacy practices.

While some consumers may still consider features like DNS leak protection or IP masking, the average user typically will not delve much deeper into comparing privacy features, assuming that a VPN provider ticking the initial boxes is likely to include all the necessary technical bells and whistles.

Privacy enhancement - attention points

All of these consumer expectations are important topics to research, as the majority of commercial providers may not meet these criteria. This is why DEVPN strongly advises consumers not to make assumptions about these factors or rely solely on VPN provider marketing materials.

To complete our advice, here are other important topics to consider that consumers often forget:

• Does the VPN provider sell or share you data Many users assume their data is fully protected when using a VPN provider, sadly both commercial and free VPNs are known to monetize services by selling user data, compromising user privacy. Verifying this truth is unfortunately difficult, as the majority of VPN providers are not forthright about such practices. Only occasionally do the terms and conditions reveal whether a VPN provider sells or shares user information with data brokers, advertisers, or other third parties.

• Where is the VPN provider headquartered, and what are the local data retention laws? The country where the VPN is based, can heavily impact privacy due to local laws. Consumers often miss asking if the provider is located in a jurisdiction that requires data retention.

• Details of the no-log policy? Many VPN providers claim to have a no-logs policy, but consumers often fail to verify the policy, check its audit status, or review the VPN provider’s terms and conditions for any legal exceptions.

Ensuring anonymity

Typical consumers, who have done slight research on VPN providers, broadly expect a VPN provider to fully obscure their online identity and activities. This includes masking their IP address, which prevents websites, advertisers, and other entities from tracking their location or identifying their device.

Customers also expect that their internet traffic will be encrypted, making it unreadable to anyone who might try to intercept it, such as hackers or their internet service provider (ISP).

Although most VPNs will obscure customer identities, and encrypt data traffic, sadly there is a lot of grey area where VPN providers do not provide sufficient protection to ensure customer anonymity.

To complete our advice, here are other important topics to consider that consumers often forget:

• Does the provider offer sufficient DNS leak protection?

• How does the provider handle IP masking?

• Does the provider offer a multi-platform kill switch?

• Was the VPN provider, or any of there third-party partners involved in data breaches?

These questions, regardless of the answers, will provide consumers with a better method for evaluating whether a VPN provider meets their anonymity expectations or if a competitor should be considered.

Protection and security

When it comes to protection and security, the average customer expects a VPN provider to offer key features that are often also related to anonymity and privacy topics such as encryption.

The challenge is that consumers are often overwhelmed by the technical terms and marketing jargon used by VPN providers. This is why we recommend that consumers at least check these basics:

• Encryption Does the VPN provider offer thorough encryption protocols? Tip: A quick Google search can provide results on the protocols listed by the VPN provider.

• Authentication Does the VPN provider offer features such as multi-factor authentication? Tip: Be highly suspicious of providers not offering good authentication protection.

• Multi-platform kill-switch Does the VPN provider offer a kill switch that works on all devices? Tip: This really is important, and sadly is needed to prevent third-party access to your data.

To complete our advice, here are other important topics to consider that consumers often forget:

• Does the VPN provider offer advertisement blocking (against malicious code)?

• Does the VPN provider offer anti-track?

• Does the VPN provider publish breaches?

Finally when evaluating a VPN focused on security, it’s important to consider their transparency.

While it is not common, VPN providers who publicize technical network problems or even breaches, can be considered to hold greater trustworthiness by demonstrating transparency and accountability.

Access to content

When it comes to access to content, the average customer expects a provider to offer the ability to bypass geographical restrictions and access content that may be blocked or restricted in their region.

Although the reasons can be diverse and include accessing streaming services, websites, and online content restricted by regional licensing agreements or censorship, a significant percentage of VPN users primarily seek access to content on platforms like Netflix from countries other than their own.

A quick answer to this question might be found by searching on Google, for example, 'I live in XXX and want to watch Netflix from the USA' along with the name of a VPN provider. However, to verify this for your specific situation, we recommend using a trial or short-term account to test the service yourself.

For all other questions concerning access, here are a few tips for consumers to verify:

• Does the provider has sufficient nodes in the original and destination country?

• Do the VPN providers' nodes offer sufficient speed for your anticipated tasks?

• Does the VPN provider offer sufficient IPs that are not locked by the destination?

In general, our advice for any access-related questions is to always test a VPN using a trial or short-term account. Many factors can affect how well a VPN meets individual consumers' needs in this area.

Speed of connections

When it comes to the speed of connections, the average customer expects a minimal impact on their internet speed compared to their default experience without using a VPN provider.

When evaluating VPN providers, customers often overestimate the speed they can expect. This is partly due to the anticipation of receiving speeds comparable to their base internet connection and partly because many VPN providers promise exceptionally high speeds in their marketing.

Firstly, it is important for consumers to manage their expectations and understand that while high-quality VPN providers strive to deliver fast speeds, some degree of speed loss is inevitable.

Secondly, a VPN provider should offer an acceptable and stable connection that allows for smooth browsing, quick downloads and uninterrupted streaming without significant slowdowns.

A well-performing VPN service should at a minimum be comfortable and consistent. As mentioned elsewhere on this page, we highly recommend that consumers test their connection, especially regarding speed, as many factors can influence a user's perception of performance.

Our advice on this topic is for consumers to use testing material, such as a video streaming service, on their TV. If they can enjoy the stream uninterrupted at perhaps one resolution lower than ideal, the experience is still very enjoyable, especially if the test stream is being delivered from across the world.

DEVPN's solution

For a detailed overview on how DEVPN provides a solution for the above challenges, see this chapter.