Security tools can sometimes force users to make trade-offs between convenience and security. This is especially true for VPNs, which almost always slow your uploads and downloads and increase the latency of your internet connection due to the physical requirement of hopping between servers to obfuscate traffic. Rest assured, some VPNs affect performance less than others. We've been testing VPNs for more than 10 years, and part of that process includes speed tests. In our latest round, NordVPN comes out on top of download speed results, trailed closely by ExpressVPN. Scroll down to see all of our top VPNs ranked by speed, followed by testing details and the actual performance we observed with each one.

What's the Fastest VPN?

Although everyone wants a fast VPN, value and privacy protections are far more critical when choosing a service. We tend to de-emphasize speed in our reviews unless it is impressively good or abysmally bad. Still, you're understandably concerned about a VPN's impact on their online experience. That's why we test.

In October 2024, we retested most VPNs we cover using an Intel NUC 13 Extreme Kit ('Raptor Canyon') benchmark PC located in Manhattan on a Verizon Fios 1GBps simultaneous up/down connection. The VPNs are listed in descending order of fastest download speeds achieved, and each VPN is retested for a new result when a review for the provider is updated. All performance values for VPNs are measured off the base network in PC Labs, which returns results of 1,040MBps for downloads and 1,180MBps for uploads while connected to the ISP directly.

Click on the column headers to sort by a particular variable in the table. The results we test for include download speeds, upload speeds, and latency jitter:

Keen-eyed readers should note that NordVPN actually increased the download speed in our tests, and there are a few possible explanations. For one, it's not uncommon that during peak congestion hours, ISPs are overloaded with what are known as "default path" connection types. Downloads and uploads on default path connections may not be routed through ISP networks as efficiently as your VPN traffic, which ISPs can't classify because of the VPN's encrypted tunnel.

There's also the matter of distance. If a VPN server is physically closer to your device than the ISP, data caching operations on the VPN could make delivering that data even faster than traveling from the ISP's servers. This is why, in instances like NordVPN, we see an increase in our download speeds but also increased latency of roughly 30%. Because of the extra hop between our test PC and the open internet, the line still physically covered more distance for each new request, but Nord's servers cached the data.

How We Test VPNs for Speed

When we test to find the fastest VPN, we use a custom tool provided by Ookla that uses the same technology as Speedtest.net. The only difference between our tool and the one online is that ours automates the test and doesn't rely on a browser to access Ookla's network. When we test VPNs, we get a sense of a service's impact on internet performance by finding the percentage change between using the VPN and not using the VPN for several speed measurements.

(Note: Ookla is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag.com's parent company. For more, see the ethics policy in our Editorial Mission Statement.)

We run Ookla tests without a given VPN active to find the median of the results. We then do the same thing but with the VPN active. By comparing the median results with and without the VPN, we find a percent change between the two. The bigger the change from the baseline performance, the more impact the VPN has on your internet speeds. We repeat this process for every VPN we test.

Ookla's test measures three metrics: download speed, upload speed, and latency. Download and upload speeds measure how much data is moved over your internet connection in a certain amount of time. Both are measured in megabytes per second (MBps). Latency measures the time between when your computer sends a request and when it receives a response. It's also called ping time. Many things can affect latency, such as the distance your data physically travels. Latency is measured in milliseconds, however, so even a seemingly large number for the increase may not be noticeable to the average user. Latency is important when playing video games over a VPN, as lower latency means a more responsive experience with less lag.

We have tested each of these services in as repeatable a manner as possible, but we added some limits to level the playing field. The biggest variable between our results and what you may see on your personal device is that our tests are conducted in New York City, optimally during the hours of 10-12 p.m. on weekdays.

These stress tests, run in one of the world's most populated areas, are designed to push VPNs to their breaking point. If the same tests were performed on a 1GBps line in a different part of the country or at a different time of day, we'd almost certainly get better results than our NYC peak congestion runs.

You can read a lot more about how we test VPNs and, importantly, how our testing has changed over the years in how we test VPNs. 

How to Speed Up Your VPN Experience

You can offset the speed-reducing effects of using a VPN in several ways. First, choosing a service with many servers may (emphasis on may) make it more likely you find one that isn't crowded with other people all trying to use the same bandwidth. Some VPN services let you select specific servers and show you the current load on those servers to make that decision easier.

Having many servers to choose from in different locations means you're more likely to find one physically close to you, shortening the distance your data must travel. This usually translates to lower latency and (hopefully) better overall performance. A few VPN clients include a ping test to help you zero in on the closest option, but it's unusual for a VPN client to do anything other than automatically select the nearest server.

A word of caution: A VPN with more servers is not necessarily better. Consider that a VPN service likely needs more servers to support more subscribers, and we don't know how those servers are allocated among those subscribers. The size of a VPN server fleet may simply reflect a company's popularity and not the quality of its service.

Split-tunneling is the generic term for when a VPN lets you define which apps send data through the VPN tunnel and which send data outside the tunnel. It lets you separate more sensitive activities, like web browsing or online banking, from higher-bandwidth activities like streaming music or playing video games.

Note that some VPN companies offer free versions that limit the number of servers available. In general—depending on the time of day, usually—expect those servers available to free users to be crowded and, therefore, slower. Proton VPN, for example, limits the number of servers available to free users but notably does not limit the amount of data a free subscriber can use. This makes them a popular pick, but the more popular a free VPN is, the less bandwidth there is for each person using it.

The protocol the VPN service uses is also important. OpenVPN and WireGuard have become the standard for the latest and greatest in VPN technology, and each offers much leaner and faster experiences than its predecessors. If speed is your main concern, choose one of those instead of aging, less-secure alternatives like SSTP/PPTP, IKEv2, or Open UDP.

The Fastest VPN Service Isn't Always the Best VPN Service

Though we've discussed which VPNs won the year in outright bandwidth results, speed shouldn't be your only consideration when shopping for the best VPN. For one thing, your internet experience will almost always be faster without a VPN. For another, speeds depend so much on which server you use, where you are, your network environment when you're using the VPN, and so on. You might find the service is as fast as lightning today and barely chugging along tomorrow.

Instead of speed, our VPN reviews stress value, company trust, and feature sets first and foremost. We prefer VPN services with a good geographic distribution of servers and clear privacy policies. VPNs that are easy to set up and use for first-timers and include a well-made local client packed with extras also go a long way toward getting PCMag's endorsement.

It's important to remember that while VPNs are an easy way to improve your privacy, they do not protect against every ill. We highly recommend that readers install a standalone tracker blocker and that readers make use of the advanced privacy tools available in most browsers. We also encourage using a password manager to create unique and complex passwords for every login, enable multi-factor authentication wherever available, and install antivirus software. 

Max Eddy contributed to this article.