The best VPN service in 2023

The need to stay private online is at an all-time high, and the best VPN of 2023 is the perfect tool for protecting your digital life. That's why we review all the Best VPN hands-on, stay up to date with industry news and updates from providers, and scrutinize the small print to look for inconsistencies.

Virtual Private Networks anonymize your online activity, and can also make you appear to be in a different physical location. From avoiding government snooping and accessing blocked apps to streaming overseas TV, there's a ton a VPN can offer you – and you'll find the cream of the crop right here.

While VPNs might sound techy, they're now very easy to use. They almost all offer simple, attractive apps for many different devices, and you can get connected in a single click. So, don't be intimidated – if you managed to install Facebook on your smartphone, you can install a VPN as well.

If you just want quick access to the three best VPNs of 2023, simply pick from ExpressVPN, NordVPN, and Surfshark below – in our hands-on expert reviews we rated them as the very best in their respective price ranges. However, If you want more in-depth info, simply keep scrolling for our rundown of the 15 top VPNs available today, and a detailed FAQ section at the bottom of the page.

What is a VPN?

If you're wondering what is a VPN, in short it's an application installed on your device that relirects your internet connection through its own servers around the world. This allows you to virtually change your location online, making you more anonymous and tricking sites like Netflix into showing you content that's blocked in your country.

A VPN also encrypts your traffic, which means that if it's intercepted, your activity can't be seen. That goes for hackers, your government, and even your internet service provider – a VPN lets you browse in total secrecy.

This in turn allows you to access sites that might be banned by your ISP – perhaps that's YouTube or TikTok at school, or Western news and social media if you're in Russia or China.

In short, the best VPN makes the internet a freer place, and allows you to do what you want, when you want to do it – and with the current VPN deals on offer, there's never been a better time to sign up.

What's the best VPN?

The competition between the best VPN providers becomes stiffer every time we re-review VPNs – and with new features and usability tweaks coming regularly from the developers, change is always on the horizon.

However, in our latest round of testing, only one provider earned five stars out of five: ExpressVPN(opens in new tab).

The simple reason for this is because for the vast majority of users, it offers the best combination of rock-solid privacy, excellent apps on a huge range of devices, some very interesting additional features, plus great streaming performance with Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, ESPN Plus, and even more.

To top it off, you'll be coverel by a 30-day money-back guarantee which means you can effectively test out the service and its 3,000+ servers for a whole month risk-free before you buy – you can find out all the details in our in-depth ExpressVPN review.