Here’s who to trust with your privacy (and money).
By Haley Henschel on March 10, 2026
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Don’t let it go to your head, but everybody wants you — more specifically, your browsing data. Personal information about the links you click on and the sites you visit is highly valuable to third parties, including your internet service provider (ISP) and Google, who may want to share or monetize it. Certain government and law enforcement agencies may also be eager to peek at your activity online for their own purposes.
One way to reclaim some of your digital privacy is by getting a virtual private network, or VPN, a service that creates an encrypted connection between your device and one of the VPN provider’s private, remote servers before spitting it out onto the open web. In plain English, a VPN lets you browse the internet more stealthily than usual. With the best VPN services on your side, you can browse the internet without worrying too much about your privacy.
Why do you need a VPN?
Even the best VPNs can’t make you 100 percent anonymous on the web. Cookies and other trackers can still follow you around, and your ISP can see that you’re using a VPN. But a good VPN will secure your traffic and hide your true IP address so that prying eyes on the outside can’t see which sites you’re visiting, what you’re downloading, or your general location. The most trustworthy VPN providers operate transparently and abide by independently verified no-logs policies to prove that they don’t collect or store any user data in the process.
For casual users, VPN services are useful tools for staying safe on public WiFi networks. For journalists, activists, and those in critical situations where digital privacy is paramount, the best VPN can be a legitimate lifesaver.
Beyond these scenarios, the top VPN services also have a popular secondary use case as location-spoofing tools. By connecting to a VPN server across a border or ocean, you can bypass geo-restrictions on content that isn’t available in your own country or region. This is pertinent intel for folks in France, the UK, and 23 U.S. states where sites with explicit content are restricted by age verification laws.
The best VPN for 2026? Proton VPN.
I believe Proton VPN is the top VPN for most people. It’s the most privacy-forward VPN I’ve tried, with open-source apps, a no-logs policy that’s held up in court, and a history of supporting digital freedom efforts. It’s also a stellar value: Paid Proton VPN users get full access to its huge fleet of reliable servers and useful features like multi-hop and split tunneling, with up to 10 simultaneous VPN connections per account. Their subscriptions also include bonus security tools like a password manager, encrypted cloud storage, and ad, tracker, and malware blockers.
The free version of Proton VPN is extremely limited in comparison, but it’s the only free VPN I’ve encountered with unlimited data and zero ads. For all these reasons, Proton VPN is the first (and only) VPN to win a Mashable Choice Award.
FYI: Prices for most VPN providers’ long-term plans change frequently. The rates listed here were accurate at the time of publication.