Every year, each of our VPN experts spends around 3,000 hours testing VPN apps and services. That includes over 28,000 speed tests, 2,200 streaming tests, and hundreds of VPN reviews.
Is there anything more frustrating than slow internet? Pages taking forever to load and continually facing the buffering circle of doom can be a real online low – and this issue of speed is just as important in the world of VPNs.
While the best VPNs protect your anonymity by routing your internet traffic through secure servers dotted around the globe, the fastest VPNs will do this with no impact on your browsing speed. So, to help get you off the mark, I've shortlisted the fastest VPN providers available today.
The TechRadar VPN team is constantly putting VPN providers through their paces (and most of us use VPNs every day), regularly checking their speeds to identify which services go like a rocket – which is massively important if you'll be using your VPN to stream or play games. That said, my top picks consider more than pure speed. I've seen mega-fast VPNs that don't perform as well in other areas, so you won't find them on my list.
The three fastest VPNs at a glance
Recent updates
Surfshark has retained the number-one spot after an awesome performance in our latest VPN tests. Though our latest tests have introduced three new providers to the list, all of which improved their speeds since our last round of testing to an impressive degree.
The fastest VPN services in 2024
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Let's dig into my top five picks, where I compare not only the speeds, but also overall performance, stability, ease of use, and, of course, the privacy-enhancing features that make VPNs a must-have. I'll also tackle what I liked about each service compared to the competition – and any reasons you might want to avoid them.
The fastest VPN overall
✔️ You're looking for a beginner-friendly VPN: with apps for almost any device, a clean and intuitive interface, and impressive live chat support, Surfshark continues to be a top choice for VPN newcomers.
✔️ You want to say goodbye to ads: Surfshark's CleanWeb tool is superb at blocking annoying ads that get in the way of your browsing, streaming, or gaming.
✔️ You want real value for money: Surfshark has long held the top spot in our cheap VPN rankings – and for good reason. Enjoy incredible speeds and an awesome roster of features at bargain prices.
❌ You want comprehensive antivirus protection: Surfshark's antivirus isn't useless by any means, but for total protection and peace of mind, you'll want to opt for one of our best antivirus solutions.
❌ You need an airtight kill switch: I like that you can tweak the Surfshark kill switch to suit your risk case, but tests did show some issues – If you'd rather not risk an IP leak, try NordVPN.
🔒 Surfshark performs incredibly well across the board. It's the fastest VPN on the market today, offers incredible value, and you can check out its full suite of security capabilities and unblocking power with its 30-day money-back guarantee.
Head on over to our Surfshark VPN review to see why this speedy service continues to impress.
Surfshark has previously been a half-step behind NordVPN in our speed rankings – but the results of our last few VPN testing sessions have had Surfshark claim, and retain, the top spot. With a wicked performance that's ideal for streaming HD and 4K content from just about any device you own, plus, blistering speeds for prices that are, frankly, borderline criminal, Surfshark is always going to be amongst the very best VPNs.
Surfshark's WireGuard speeds clocked in at over 950 Mbps, maxing out my test line, and easily earning its place in our rankings. These speeds are more than enough to handle resource-intensive activities (think gaming, streaming, video calls, and torrenting) without slowing your internet to a crawl. It's worth noting that Surfshark's OpenVPN speeds are also impressively quick, clocking in at 460 Mbps in our latest round of testing. This improvement comes as a result of Surfshark adopting DCO (Data Channel Offloading) on its OpenVPN protocols, which enables faster travel through OpenVPN vast amounts of integral coding and consequently higher speeds for you, the user. This improvement, while initially great, does come at a small cost to security, as this method is less easily obfuscated and consequently can be subject to more risks.
▶ Try Surfshark with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Currently, there are more than 3,200 Surfshark servers scattered across 140 locations – which is a pretty impressive network. It's good to see that the VPN extends its coverage into Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa, which isn't something you'll see all VPNs doing. You'll have no trouble hopping from location to location via the handy list. I like that Surfshark supports P2P traffic on most of its servers, and even offers Camouflage mode when you want to disguise the fact you're using a VPN entirely.
The functionality doesn't end there, however. Surfshark backs up tough encryption and a no-logs policy with a customizable kill switch. It's up to you whether you set it to block your internet connection entirely unless you're connected to Surfshark, or whether it only cuts the internet if the VPN drops by accident. I also like the CleanWeb feature which gives ads, trackers, and malicious links the boot. Armed with all these tools, you'll be able to go about your day-to-day browsing without worrying whether your ISP or an opportunistic hacker is watching your every move.
Surfshark gets top marks for its unblocking capabilities, too. Plenty of VPNs promise to access big names like Netflix and BBC iPlayer with varying levels of success, but Surfshark was able to consistently unblock these sites during my testing. I could check out Netflix libraries from overseas, including the US, UK, and Japan, and even browse content on Asutralia's 9Now and 10 Play services. Surfshark is, basically, your streaming skeleton key.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about Surfshark is its value for money. You're getting incredible speeds, all of the aforementioned privacy features, unblocking power, and even unlimited simultaneous connections at prices that won't hurt your wallet. If you're still unsure, however, you can use the 30-day money-back guarantee to take Surfshark for a test drive before committing.
| Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Design | Elegant, simple, and intuitive | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Ease of use | Great for beginners, and seamless connections | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Performance | Today's quickest VPN | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Unblocking | Unblocked every service in every region we tested | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Security and privacy | Some kill switch issues, and the built-in ad blocker and antivirus wasn't as good as we were expecting | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Customer support | Lots of supporting articles, but awkward to navigate to when you need help on the fly | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Price | The best cheap VPN on the market | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
The best VPN with antivirus
