Size Matters

Evaluating VPN Size: Advantages, Limitations, and What Really Matters

When consumers select a VPN provider, they should definitely consider the provider’s size as a significant factor in assessing its ability to offer a robust and consistently high level of service.

Size advantages

Larger VPN providers typically have extensive server networks, which can enhance connection speeds based on a few factors such as likelihood of more server proximity to the user, their ability the manage the quality of the underlying hardware, and the expected lower level of network congestion.

Similar to the points above, the number of nodes and data-center locations in a corporate network should, in theory, provide better access to geo-restricted content across centralized providers.

However, decentralized networks have the upper hand with domestic IPs in this regard, as blocking the IP ranges of data-centers becomes relatively easy once they are exposed.

Large corporations are also more likely to invest in customer support, which is particularly important as user experiences can significantly impact satisfaction and loyalty, whether positive or negative.

And finally, a larger provider potentially offers greater redundancy and resilience against outages, especially assuming their network of nodes is spread across multiple geographical locations.

What does size not cover?

While size can indicate a provider’s quality and ability to offer robust infrastructure and better design set towards overall redundancy, it is important to consider other factors such as their policies, performance, transparency and ethics.

For example, a larger provider does not automatically guarantee better service, especially when considering privacy, an issue we discuss frequently in our GitBook, but one that is difficult to measure.

Size does not guarantee that a provider will refrain from commercializing data. In fact, it is debatable whether size suggests the opposite, as a larger provider has more data to sell to data brokers.

Large size alone does not prevent a provider from oversubscribing, throttling users, or implementing cost-saving measures at the expense of their users, these issues are discovered through trial usage.

To put this into a simple theoretical example: • A small network with 10 nodes vs. 1.000 users provides 1 node to 100 users. • A large network with 1,000 nodes vs. 500.000 users provides 1 node to 500 users.

In this theoretical case, the ratio of the small network is five times better than the large network.

Single purpose audience size exceptions

Single-purpose VPN services are the odd one out too when size is considered, as they do offer several advantages, including optimized performance for specific tasks such as streaming or gaming, a user-friendly interface tailored to the target audience, cost-efficiency due to their focused nature, and specialized customer support trained to address the needs of their specific users.

For these providers size is far less of a concern, and they tend to be small and specialized by nature, offering services to deliberate target audiences in both commercial and non-commercial networks.

They do, of course, have drawbacks, such as a lack of flexibility, which limits their use to the intended purpose and makes them less suitable or even unsuitable for other needs. This is not a judgment, but rather an observation; as long as the customer is aware of these limitations, there is no harm done.

For example, a single-purpose VPN designed for gaming or access might contribute very little to user privacy but offer high-speed performance. Conversely, an ethical VPN may prioritize privacy and, as a result, provide less impressive speeds but offer a high level of protection for certain audiences.

How to determine size?

So, what does 'large' mean? It often depends on perspective and should be compared to how it translates from one VPN provider to their competitors based on the context of comparison.

As mentioned earlier, aside from the minimum number of nodes required for redundancy, the user-to-node ratio often provides as much insight as the total number of nodes. This ratio is difficult for customers to research and could mean that the largest vs smaller provider in the top 100 score equally.

This is extremely difficult to research, but it often becomes apparent during first use of a VPN provider. Therefore, we highly recommend that consumers start with trial accounts or a monthly subscription rather than committing immediately to long-term contracts, such as one- or two-year subscriptions.

Geographical location and size importance

When evaluating a VPN provider, consumers should consider whether their geographical locations of interest are adequately covered. For example, while having 1,000 nodes might sound impressive, the distribution of these nodes is crucial.

For example, if 999 of these nodes are located in countries like Luxembourg, where you do not live and are unlikely to visit websites from, the large number of nodes becomes irrelevant in practical terms.

The effectiveness of a VPN is significantly impacted by whether it has nodes in the regions that matter to you, such as your home country or the locations you frequently interact with online.

For travelers, the locations you are likely to visit can be very important. In this regard, it is crucial to be cautious about the size of the VPN provider's network, as providers may list the number of supported countries but withhold the quantity of nodes in each country.

For example, having two nodes in a rare destination like Tibet might be sufficient, whereas two nodes in a location like Monaco is insufficient, especially during events such as the their F1 Grand Prix.

Size conclusions

When selecting a VPN, size can be a crucial factor in assessing its ability to offer reliable service.

Larger VPN providers often benefit from more extensive server networks, which improve connection speeds due to better server proximity, high-quality infrastructure, and reduced network congestion.

However, size alone does not guarantee better service. Larger providers may still oversubscribe, throttle users, or implement cost-saving measures that impact performance.

Privacy concerns may also arise, as large providers may have more data to sell to brokers. It’s important to consider other aspects such as the provider’s transparency, ethics, and policies.

Many of these factors become clear through trial usage, which is why starting with a short-term plan or trial is recommended before committing to a long-term contract, which we recommend users do across both weekdays and weekends to ensure they operate at comparable speeds and service levels.

DEVPN's solution

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