In years past we published speed test results for all our top VPN services every quarter. While we’ve continued to test the providers on a regular basis, the results have not been shared in some time. That is changing as we plan to run speed tests on leading VPNs and share them on a regular basis going forward. Refer back to this post for the latest performance data.
The speed of your VPN connection is important. You want to find a provider that comes close to matching the performance of your Internet connection without the VPN. You can expect some decrease in speed as the data is encrypted. Even so, there is a big difference between the top VPNs and others. We tested our top 5 VPNs and are excited to share the results.
You will notice a lot of companies advertising the “fastest VPN” so we decided to put them to the test. We chose OpenVPN (UDP) with 256-bit whenever possible to even the playing field and ensure a high level of encryption. Let’s take a look at the ping time, download, and upload speed for each of our five fastest VPN services.
| Rank | Provider | Download | Upload | Ping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  | 69.67 Mb/s | 4.08 Mb/s | 28 ms |
 |  | 62.52 Mb/s | 4.09 Mb/s | 44 ms |
 |  | 61.26 Mb/s | 4.12 Mb/s | 50 ms |
 |  | 59.17 Mb/s | 3.88 Mb/s | 106 ms |
 |  | 53.28 Mb/s | 3.93 Mb/s | 35 ms |
Here are the full details of each speed test:
- IPVanish – OpenVPN, server in Atlanta, Ga.
- PIA – OpenVPN, server in Chicago, Il.
- OverPlay – OpenVPN, server in Ashburn, Va.
- ExpressVPN – OpenVPN, server in Chicago, Il.
- VyprVPN – OpenVPN, server in Washington, DC
We ran all our performance testing through speedtest.net. The site provides a number of servers to use for testing in different areas of the world. For the purpose of our testing we used the nearest server in the United States for the best results. You purpose for using a VPN will determine which VPN best meets your needs. Your will also want to perform your own speed tests.
If you plan to stream content then I suggest you connect to a VPN server in the desired country and watch some HD content. You may also want to stream a live sporting event to ensure the provider meets your needs. Torrent users will want to download large files to ensure the connection is fast and reliable. You will also want to ensure that the VPN supports P2P / file sharing access. Providers like IPVanish, VyprVPN and PIA offer a VPN kill switch for extra privacy protection.
We added the table above to make the data easier to read but we also want to share the screenshots of each speed test. Here they are in order of performance:
IPVanish – 69.67 Mbps
Private Internet Access – 62.52 Mbps
OverPlay – 61.26 Mbps
ExpressVPN – 59.17 Mbps
VyprVPN – 53.28 Mbps
We were very excited to see all of our top VPN providers perform well above 50 Mbps. As Internet speeds continue to increase you can expect the leaders in the VPN industry to keep up with the demands. Before you consider the next dirt cheap VPN deal please remember that the service is only as good as their network. If you can’t stay connected or hold a decent speed then the VPN is useless. You won’t find this problem with our top VPNs.