Virtual Private Networks
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Mullvad is one of the best for privacy, they have a totally anonymous sign up process, you don't need to provide any details at all, you can choose to pay anonymously too (with Monero, BTC or cash).
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Azire is a Swedish VPN provider, who owns their own hardware with physically removed storage and a no logging policy. Pricing starts at €3.25/mo, with crypto (including XMR) supported. Note that they've not yet been audited, and client applications are not open source, for more info, see #140.
Not Open Source -
Independently Security Audited VPN with anonymous signup, no logs, no cloud or customer data stored, open-source apps and website. Strong ethics: no trackers, no false promises, no surveillance ads. Accepts various payment methods including cryptocurrencies.
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From the creators of ProtonMail, ProtonVPN has a solid reputation. They have a full suite of user-friendly native mobile and desktop apps. ProtonVPN is one of the few "trustworthy" providers that also offer a free plan.
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A court-proven VPN service with support for Wireguard and OpenVPN support, and optional ad-blocking. Running on dedicated hardware, with no hard drives.
Objective of this page
Find the best free, open source, E2E encrypted and private alternative to nordvpn, expressvpn, cyberghost, surfshark, ipvanish, hotspot shield, now.
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Notable Mentions
If you don't trust a VPN provider not to keep logs, then you could self-host your own VPN. This gives you you total control, but at the cost of anonymity (since your cloud provider, will require your billing info). See Streisand, to learn more, and get started with running a VPN. Digital Ocean provides flexible, secure and easy Linux VMs, (from $0.007/hour or $5/month), Here is a 1-click install scriptfor on Digital Ocean, by Carl Friess. Recently distributed self-hosted solutions for running your own VPNs have become more popular, with services like Outline letting you spin up your own instance and share it with friends and family. Since it's distributed, it is very resistant to blocking, and gives you world-wide access to the free and open internet. And since you have full control over the server, you can be confident that there is no logging or monitoring happening. However it comes at the cost of anonymity, especially if it's only you using your instance.
Notes
While choosing a VPN, consider the following: Logging policy (logs are bad), Jurisdiction (avoid 5-eyes), Number of servers, availability and average load. Payment method (anonymous methods such as BTC, Monero or cash are better), Leak protection (1st-party DNS servers = good, and check if IPv6 is supported), protocols (OpenVPN and WireGuard = good). Finally, usability of their apps, user reviews and download speeds.
Word of Warning
- A VPN does not make you anonymous - it merely changes your public IP address to that of your VPN provider, instead of your ISP. Your browsing session can still be linked back to your real identity either through your system details (such as user agent, screen resolution even typing patterns), cookies / session storage, or by the identifiable data that you enter. Read more about fingerprinting
- Logging - If you choose to use a VPN because you do not agree with your ISP logging your full browsing history, then it is important to keep in mind that your VPN provider can see (and mess with) all your traffic. Many VPNs claim not to keep logs, but you cannot be certain of this (VPN leaks). See this article for more
- IP Leaks - If configured incorrectly, your IP may be exposed through a DNS leak. This usually happens when your system is unknowingly accessing default DNS servers rather than the anonymous DNS servers assigned by an anonymity network or VPN. Read more: What is a DNS leak, DNS Leak Test, How to Fix a DNS Leak
- Stealth - It will be visible to your adversary that you are using a VPN (usually from the IP address), but other system and browser data, can still reveal information about you and your device (such as your local time-zone, indicating which region you are operating from)
- Many reviews are sponsored, and hence biased. Do your own research, or go with one of the above options
- Using Tor (or another Mix Network) may be a better option for anonimity
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