The best US VPN

There’s not a corner of the world where you shouldn’t be using a top-notch VPN, find yourself in the states and you'd benefit greatly from a US VPN. As a matter of fact, there are select countries where the protection of a Virtual Private Network is that much more important. USA is one of these very countries, as a member of The Five Eyes alliance, the US government routinely carries out online surveillance. Only the best US VPN can guarantee your privacy in the states.

Anyone can take advantage of a reputable VPN in the US of A, whether you’re a born and bred American or you’re just visiting. Online privacy is the right of all sentient beings (the ones that can use the internet that is). When it comes to choosing a VPN to use in the US, there are certain requirements you’ll need to prioritise that you otherwise might not have considered.

This is exactly what you’ll need to keep an eye out for when you pick your US VPN. This one might be a tad obvious, but you’ll need a provider with plenty of US servers. The wider the coverage the better. Most of the VPNs on our ranking have an impressive resume of North American server locations, in cities across the whole country. This is so important from a connectivity stance, the more servers, the better chance you’ll have connecting the US. We mentioned the boogeymen of online privacy – the Five Eyes alliance, and it goes without saying that your chosen VPN would ideally not operate from a country that’s a part of this group. No matter how credible the provider may seem, if they’re merely based in a Five Eyes nation you cannot guarantee the true safety of your online privacy. Five Eyes nations include USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

The best US VPN to use in or outside USA at a glance:

• The best US VPN overall: ExpressVPN - View on ExpressVPN
• The best US VPN for security: NordVPN - View on NordVPN
• The best US-based VPN: Private Internet Access - View on PIA

There’s a flood of privacy features and credentials that providers will bombard you with, but none are nearly as important as having a verified no-logs policy. A no-logs policy is a promise from a VPN that they don’t store any of your personal information. All of the most private VPNs will have them. While your online data is protected from the rest of the world wide web, it's technically accessible by the provider you’re entrusting. The best way to know if a Virtual Private Network is legit with their no-logs claim is if they run reputable independent audits. An independent audit is when the VPN provider hires a third-party organisation to investigate their operations, to determine that they don’t store any customer information.

Please note: All prices are correct at time of writing. VPN deals and savings are subject to change at short notice.

About our expertise

At What’s The Best, we live and breathe technology. Among our team of tech experts, we have pretty much every base covered - from televisions and speakers to cameras and smartphones.

To say we spend a lot of time on the internet is a bit of an understatement, and most of the time, we’re using a VPN. Whether for work or recreation, we’re regularly connecting to VPN servers near and far.

It’s by collecting this shared knowledge, experience and passion, that we are able to select the best VPNs for you. We trust each of our picks implicitly - in fact, many of them we use ourselves. That's because at What’s The Best, if we wouldn’t buy it ourselves, we don’t recommend it. Simple.

Essential terms

VPN – Virtual Private Network

Encryption – The method in which your data is converted into code to prevent unauthorised access

No-logs – When a VPN providers stores zero data form customers

Kill switch - When internet connection is lost, it’s a feature that kills any internet connection until a secure VPN link can be attained once more

What is Five Eyes?

The Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It was formed in 1946 and is the world's most extensive intelligence sharing arrangement. The alliance has been instrumental in gathering intelligence on a wide range of threats, including terrorism, cyberwarfare, and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. However, it has also been criticized for its secrecy and for its potential to violate the privacy of individuals.

The name "Five Eyes" comes from the security classification of intelligence documents shared between these countries: "SECRET—AUS/CAN/NZ/UK/US EYES ONLY."

It's worth noting that even if a country isn't a Five Eyes member, there may still be unique privacy obstacles for that nation. You'll still need a UAE VPN and VPN for China as these countries do not conduct goverment surveillance (that we know of), but they still require an effective VPN.

What is a VPN?

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. It’s an online privacy tool that encrypts your internet connection from device to the network. It’s a security safeguard, but it also has some extra VPN benefits like allowing users to change their IP address and access regionally blocked content.

Are VPNs legal in USA?

Yes, VPNs are completely legal in USA, that goes for using them in the country and accessing their servers from another. You're legally allowed to use a US VPN just as much as you are a Canada VPN. You only instance you’d acting unlawfully, is if you were using a VPN to mask criminal activity.

Free VPN USA

There are plenty of free VPNs that you can use in or outside USA, it will depend on your internet usage though. Free VPNs are typically very restricted on data, bandwidth, and features, so we’d only recommend a free provider if your internet usage is on the lower side.

Jack Barrell is the Commercial Content Writer for VPNs. He's hands-on when it comes to producing best-of articles, how-to guides, and product reviews for Virtual Private Networks. On his off-days, Jack can be found in the gym, at the movies, or flicking through a car mag.