Technologies

Fastest VPN of 2023

Most VPNs will cut your speeds in half. Get one that won’t. Here are the fastest VPNs we tested in 2023.

If you’re using a virtual private network for data-heavy online activities like streaming, gaming, video conferencing or torrenting, your VPN speeds will be a major consideration. Even if your internet is fast, keep in mind that most VPNs will typically cut your speeds in half, which could negatively affect your overall online experience. A fast VPN can help ensure that your streams are smooth, your games are free of lag, your calls are stable and your downloads are quick.

Testing to determine the fastest VPN is a time-intensive, imperfect process that can take various forms. At CNET, we’ve developed a speed testing methodology that seeks to mirror the typical VPN user’s most likely conditions. This way, our analysis of the fastest VPNs can provide the most practical value to VPN consumers.

And while we believe a VPN’s security is of paramount importance, we also understand that many VPN users may prioritize speed over security — if their primary use case is streaming, for example. That’s why we’ve also started taking into account speeds through lightweight VPN protocols like WireGuard and VPN providers’ own proprietary protocols. While WireGuard and other protocols like ExpressVPN’s Lightway and NordVPN’s NordLynx are by all indications highly secure, their security is not as battle-tested in the wild as OpenVPN.

On the flip side, these relatively newer protocols are typically faster than OpenVPN — often by a considerable margin. We still recommend using OpenVPN for the best balance of speed and security (and for anyone with critical privacy needs), but we tested their fastest protocols in order to measure them by their full potential for speed.

Keep in mind that this is a list of the fastest VPNs as we measured them in February and March of 2023, and should be referenced as a general guide to how you may expect these VPNs to perform for you. Your own results may vary, depending on various factors including what platform you’re using, your location and the level of service you’re receiving from your internet service provider.

VPN speeds compared

	2019 tested speed loss*	2020 tested speed loss*	2022 tested speed loss*	2023 tested speed loss*	Net change from previous test
NordVPN	32%	53%	13%	10%	Faster in 2023 tests
ExpressVPN	2%	51%	2%	18%	Slower in 2023 tests
IPVanish	N/A	65%	58%	26%	Faster in 2023 tests
Proton VPN	N/A	9%	17%	36%	Slower in 2023 tests
Surfshark	27%	17%	19%	40%	Slower in 2023 tests

*Lower number is better.

These are the fastest VPNs in 2023

NordVPN

The fastest VPN overall

10% speed loss in February/March 2023 speed tests (improved from 13% in 2022)
Fastest speed tested: 7% speed loss (NordLynx)
Fastest VPN connections: Europe
Slowest VPN connections: Singapore

NordVPN’s speeds have been improving over the past few years. In our 2020 speed tests we calculated a 53% speed loss, and in the summer of 2022 a 13% speed loss. In our most recent testing in February and March of 2023, the speed loss dropped to just 10% on average. The fastest round of testing yielded a mere 7% speed loss through its proprietary WireGuard-based NordLynx VPN protocol from our testing location in Ohio. This steady improvement in speeds has helped NordVPN leapfrog ExpressVPN and take the reins as the fastest VPN.

We were impressed with the consistency of NordVPN’s speeds across the board, regardless of whether we were testing speeds through OpenVPN or NordLynx. Our base internet speeds hovered around 370 megabits per second, and NordVPN’s speeds held consistently between around 320 to 355Mbps to server locations around the globe. We achieved the fastest speeds to servers in Europe, and as expected, the slowest speeds to Singapore. However, Nord’s speeds to Singapore were faster than other VPNs’ speeds to closer locations, which impressed us.

NordVPN offers a decent network of 5,500-plus servers in 60 countries around the world, including servers in 15 cities throughout the US. It pairs solid encryption with its blazing-fast speeds and provides tons of useful features. NordVPN works great on all platforms and is priced at $60 for the first year (then $100 for any subsequent years) or $13 per month. If you’re not satisfied, your purchase is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Read our NordVPN review.

NordVPN

Current fastest VPN we’ve tested
Tons of features
Diskless RAM-only server infrastructure
Solid encryption

59% off with 24-mo plan (+extra months)

$5.99/mo at NordVPN

ExpressVPN

Pricey, but fast and secure

18% speed loss in February/March 2023 tests (worse than 2% in 2022)
Fastest speed tested: 9% speed loss (OpenVPN)
Fastest VPN location: Europe
Slowest VPN location: Singapore

ExpressVPN wowed us with its incredible 2% speed loss last year — a result that placed it handily in the lead as our fastest VPN at the time. However, ExpressVPN’s stratospheric speeds came back down to Earth in our most recent tests, averaging a still respectable 18% speed loss overall. The recent drop in speeds has — for the time being — relegated ExpressVPN to second place behind NordVPN. ExpressVPN’s fastest round of tests yielded a 9% speed loss through OpenVPN. Though the provider’s proprietary Lightway protocol should theoretically be faster than OpenVPN, the fastest round of testing through Lightway was slightly slower at an 11% speed loss. Because we recommend OpenVPN for critical privacy needs (and due to its demonstrated commitment to security and transparency), ExpressVPN is perhaps an even better option than NordVPN for anyone looking for the very best combination of speeds and security.

Though not quite as consistent as NordVPN, ExpressVPN’s speeds were largely stable throughout the multiple rounds of testing we did to various server locations around the world. The fastest speeds we measured through ExpressVPN were to Europe, where we registered 343.31Mbps, and the slowest speeds we measured were to Singapore at 287.43Mbps, but speeds generally hovered in the low-to-mid 300s when testing the VPN’s speeds from Ohio.

ExpressVPN boasts one of the most expansive networks of servers in the VPN industry, with servers in 94 countries around the world. Its speed, security, transparency and impressive suite of privacy features has helped ExpressVPN earn CNET’s Editors’ Choice for Best VPN for 2023. It’s also a great option for streaming and gaming. However, ExpressVPN is one of the most expensive VPNs on the market today. The service doesn’t offer much in the way of introductory pricing like NordVPN does, but you can get your first 15 months for $100 if you purchase the yearly plan (which then renews annually at the same $100 rate). You can also choose a bi-annual plan for $60 every six months or a monthly plan at $13 per month. Like NordVPN, Express also offers a no-questions-asked, 30-day money-back guarantee.

Read our ExpressVPN review.

ExpressVPN

Among the fastest VPNs
Unblocks Netflix, great for gaming and P2P
Solid security and transparency, zero leaks
Excellent customer support, easy refunds

49% off with 12-mo plan (+3 free months)

$6.67/mo at ExpressVPN

How we tested VPN speeds

In the past, we tested VPN speeds strictly through the OpenVPN protocol because of its speed, security and ubiquity. But with all the top VPNs now offering speedier protocols, we’ve begun testing speeds through WireGuard and, if available, the VPN provider’s own proprietary protocol.

We conducted our latest speed tests in February and March of 2023 from testing locations in Cleveland, Ohio, and Budapest, Hungary. In addition to testing OpenVPN speeds from these locations, we tested speeds through WireGuard for Surfshark, Proton VPN and IPVanish. Additionally, we tested ExpressVPN’s speeds through its proprietary Lightway protocol and NordVPN’s speeds through its NordLynx protocol. We conducted five rounds of testing on each VPN, consisting of five separate tests each to five locations around the world. Five rounds of testing for each VPN from both testing locations using multiple VPN protocols added up to more than 2,500 individual speed tests overall.

Prior to each round of testing, we measured our non-VPN speeds five times to calculate the average speeds we were getting from our ISP. Then, we tested speeds five times each to VPN server locations in New York, the UK, Australia, Europe (France and Germany) and Singapore. This way, we’re able to get a good read on VPN speeds to popular locations across the globe. Once we completed the five rounds of testing to each location, we calculated our average VPN and non-VPN speeds to determine the percentage of speed lost overall through the VPN.

Calculating the percentage of speed lost through the VPN allows us to present a clear representation of how you can expect these VPNs to perform for you. Your base internet speeds may be a lot faster or a lot slower than what we got through the internet connections we used during our testing, so saying that we achieved speeds of 341.5Mbps with NordVPN doesn’t paint the full picture without putting it into the proper context of how much of a speed drop that was in relation to our base speeds.

We conducted all of our tests through the Ookla speed-testing platform, because it’s user-friendly and among the most widely used speed testing sites. It’s also the tool that most VPN users are likely to use to measure their own speeds.

What about Surfshark, IPVanish and Proton VPN?

Surfshark, IPVanish and Proton VPN all have the capacity to deliver speeds adequate for just about any online activity. However, their inconsistent speed performance during our testing dropped each one out of consideration for the fastest VPN crown.

You can typically expect to lose about half of your base internet speeds through most VPNs, so we were surprised to see that we lost a whopping 76% of our base speeds connecting through OpenVPN with Surfshark. We conducted more than 250 individual OpenVPN speed tests with Surfshark over the course of several weeks in case what we were seeing was an aberration, yet speeds were poor across the board through each location we tested, each time we tested it. By comparison, Surfshark’s sister company NordVPN only cut our speeds by 9% when connecting through OpenVPN.

Surfshark

40% speed loss in February/March 2023 speed tests (slower than 19% in 2022)
Fastest speed tested: 8% speed loss (WireGuard)
Fastest VPN connections: Europe
Slowest VPN connections: Singapore

See at Surfshark

We reached out to Surfshark to inquire about the issue with its OpenVPN speeds and a representative from the company told us that the poor speed performance must have begun recently because speeds have been consistently good over the past few months. The representative told us that the development team is investigating the issue and hopes to have it resolved soon. We will retest Surfshark’s speeds once the issue has been resolved and update our fastest VPN list as appropriate at that time.

That said, Surfshark’s WireGuard speeds were respectable. In our two rounds of testing Surfshark’s speeds through the WireGuard protocol, we calculated a 22% speed loss on average. In one round of testing, we measured only an 8% drop in speeds — which was actually among the fastest we measured. Surfshark is fast if you use WireGuard, but its OpenVPN speeds leave much to be desired, and ultimately bumped it out of the fastest VPN race. We recommend using OpenVPN for anything privacy critical, so if you want to use OpenVPN for your heightened privacy needs but don’t want to lose more than three-quarters of your internet speeds in the process, NordVPN or ExpressVPN would be a better bet at this time — based on our tests.

IPVanish

26% speed loss in February/March 2023 speed tests (faster than 58% in 2022)
Fastest speed tested: 14% speed loss (WireGuard)
Fastest VPN connections: New York
Slowest VPN connections: Singapore

See at IPVanish

When we tested IPVanish, we lost 58% of our speeds when connecting through OpenVPN from the US and 19% from Budapest. What was especially maddening was that the app didn’t always connect us to the fastest possible server when using IPVanish’s Quick Connect feature. While IPVanish’s speeds within the US were fairly consistent, speeds to other locations fluctuated dramatically. Speeds to Europe, for example, peaked as high as 317Mbps and dropped to as low as 40Mbps. We got faster and more consistent speeds when abandoning the Quick Connect feature and choosing servers manually while connecting via OpenVPN.

IPVanish’s WireGuard speeds were better, dropping our speeds by only 14.5% on average. During one round of testing IPVanish in Budapest, the ISP we were connected through was noticeably throttling our speeds, causing many of our VPN speed readings to be faster than our non-VPN readings, which ultimately resulted in a mere 3% average speed loss for that round. However, despite that anomaly, the inconsistent nature of IPVanish’s speeds along with how unreliably Quick Connect performed was what put it out of the running for the fastest VPN.

Proton VPN

36% speed loss in February/March 2023 speed tests (slower than 17% in 2022)
Fastest speed tested: 23% speed loss (WireGuard)
Fastest VPN connections: New York
Slowest VPN connections: UK

See at Proton VPN

Proton VPN was by far the most inconsistent of the bunch. The peaks and valleys we experienced in terms of speeds were staggering, regardless of protocol or testing location. Speeds would go up to 328Mbps and drop to 3Mbps in the same round of testing. Overall, Proton averaged a 36% speed loss, which is unexceptional, at best. If you’re looking for a VPN that consistently delivers fast speeds, Proton VPN is decidedly not the VPN you’re looking for.

How to get the most speed out of your VPN

There are a few things you can try if you want to speed up your VPN connection. In theory, WireGuard and newer, proprietary VPN protocols that more and more providers are offering should offer faster speeds than OpenVPN. You can try one of these protocols to boost your speeds if gaining maximum speed is your primary objective and you’re not getting what you want out of your OpenVPN connection.

If location is not a concern, you’ll want to connect to the server that’s the closest to your physical location. This will cut down on the physical distance your data has to travel and, in turn, deliver faster speeds.

Connecting to a server that is overloaded with users can result in undesirable speeds. Many VPN apps include information regarding server load, so try to look for a server indicating a light load for optimum speeds.

Fastest VPN FAQ

Which VPN is the fastest?

NordVPN is the fastest VPN right now, based on the extensive testing we conducted in 2023. Out of the VPNs we speed tested, NordVPN’s speeds were the most consistently fast across the board. NordVPN averaged just a 10% speed loss overall, with its best result being a 7% speed loss through WireGuard. ExpressVPN came in second place with an 18% average speed loss, with its best result being a 9% speed loss through OpenVPN.

Do I need a VPN?

You need a VPN if you want to maintain your privacy online and hide your internet activity from your ISP, government entities and other snoops. If you want to evade online censorship or unblock geographically restricted content, you need a VPN. VPNs can also be beneficial for gaming, torrenting, finding deals online and speeding up your internet connection if your ISP is deliberately throttling your speeds. Anyone who uses the internet can benefit from a VPN in one way or another.

How can I test my VPN speeds?

All you need to do to test your own VPN speeds is to use an online speed testing tool like the one provided by Ookla. First, test your base internet speeds with the VPN disengaged and make a note of your non-VPN speeds. Then, connect to a server through your VPN app and run a new speed test and note the speed change. It’s a good idea to run multiple tests both with and without the VPN turned on to get a fuller picture of the VPN’s speed performance. Most VPNs also offer a money-back guarantee, so it’s a good idea as well to test your VPN speeds during that trial period. If you’re not getting acceptable speeds even after trying different server locations and VPN protocols, you may want to give another VPN a try before the trial period ends.

What’s the best free VPN?

If you need to use a free VPN, we recommend using Proton VPN’s free version. It’s the only free VPN worth using, because it’s secure, comparatively fast and doesn’t impose usage or data caps. Otherwise, we don’t recommend using most free VPNs because the majority of them are essentially useless, if not downright dangerous. Free VPNs typically impose data and usage limits, employ weaker encryption and offer fewer server locations than their paid counterparts. Free VPNs also need to make money somehow, so you can expect them to be selling your data to third-party advertisers. Some have even been known to contain malware.

Technologies

Tim Cook Riffs on Retirement Rumors, AI, Phone Addiction and Trump

The Apple CEO discussed a range of topics on Good Morning America.

Tim Cook isn’t going anywhere just yet — not during Apple’s 50th anniversary celebrations, not with the company preparing to introduce its first foldable phone, not while the tech giant is trying to figure out how to beat the AI race.

In a sit-down interview with Good Morning America host and Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Strahan this week, Cook, who turned 65 in November, said there was no truth to the rumors that he is considering retiring from Apple. He became CEO of the company in 2011, 13 years after joining from Compaq.

«I love what I do deeply. Twenty-eight years ago, I walked into Apple, and I’ve loved every day of it since,» Cook told Strahan. «We’ve had ups and downs, but the people I work with are so amazing. They bring out the best in me, and hopefully I can bring out the best in them.»

Strahan interviewed Cook during the Apple CEO’s visit to Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing & Visual Arts in Harlem, where students use Apple technology through the company’s partnership with the nonprofit Save the Music.

Speculation about Cook stepping down has been circulating since last November, when the Financial Times cited unnamed sources saying that Apple was preparing to usher in a new CEO «as soon as next year.» Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman threw water on that report, saying he «would be shocked if Cook steps down in the time frame outlined by the FT.»

During Cook’s tenure as CEO, Apple’s revenue has nearly quadrupled, with the tech giant adding dozens of new iPhone models, several more iPads, and updated Apple Watches and AirPods. This year, Apple has launched several new products, including the MacBook Neo, which at $599 has disrupted the budget laptop market. The company’s first foldable phone could come later this year.

Touch some grass

The GMA interview was short but wide-ranging, including Cook’s thoughts on how much people use their iPhones. Many studies estimate that people across most generations spend at least 4 hours a day on their phones, with millennials and Gen Z spending 5 to 6 hours.

When asked what he worries about most regarding Apple products’ impact on society, Cook weighed in, telling Strahan he doesn’t want people using iPhones «too much.»

«I don’t want people looking at the smartphone more than they’re looking in someone’s eyes,» Cook said, «because if they’re just scrolling endlessly, this is not the way you want to spend your day. Go out and spend it in nature.»

More on Apple from CNET:

AI and privacy

Cook told Strahan that AI «can be so positive,» but his response when asked whether he was «worried» about it was fairly flat.

«Technology doesn’t want to be good, and it doesn’t want to be bad,» Cook said. «It’s in the hands of the user and the hands of the inventor.»

Strahan questioned how much of iPhone users’ private lives are feeding Apple’s AI learning machine. Cook told him that because the smartphone is encrypted, Apple doesn’t have access to it. He went on to say: «When we can’t answer a question on your device, we send it to something called private cloud compute, which is essentially a big device in the sky that has the same kind of security and architecture as your phone.»

On its website, Apple says that it «does not use our users’ private personal data or user interactions when training our foundation models.»

To date, Apple has been cautious in diving into the AI scrum. While Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft are spending nearly $700 billion combined on AI tech this year, Apple is «only» investing $14 billion.

Trump and tariffs

Cook has been criticized for being too cozy with the Trump administration: donating $1 million to President Donald Trump’s inauguration; giving him a 24-karat gold plaque; and attending a White House screening of Melania, a film about the First Lady.

The Apple CEO told Strahan that he’s «not a political person» on either side.

«I’m kind of straight down the middle, and I focus on policy,» Cook said. «So, I’m very pleased that the president and the administration is accessible to talk about policy.»

One of those policies has been tariffs, which Trump has imposed on many nations to varying degrees during his second term in office, purportedly to pressure companies to shift their manufacturing to the US. The president has largely spared Apple, which promised to invest $600 billion over four years to make more products in the US.

Cook told Strahan that the glass for the front and back of an iPhone will come out of Kentucky by the end of the year, and that 100 million chip engines will be manufactured in Arizona this year. He also noted that 20 billion semiconductors will be made in the US. «We’re a very proud American company, and we want to do as much here as we can,» Cook said.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for March 19, #1012

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for March 19 #1012.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle features another tricky purple category, where words hide inside the clues and you have to dig them out. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Children’s stories.

Green group hint: Lucky charms.

Blue group hint: One color, then the next.

Purple group hint: Hidden words relating to music.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Folk tale characters.

Green group: Good luck symbols.

Blue group: Things that change color.

Purple group: Ending in music genres.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is folk tale characters. The four answers are Chicken Little, Frog Prince, Gingerbread Man and Goldilocks.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is good luck symbols. The four answers are evil eye, four-leaf clover, horseshoe and rabbit’s foot.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is things that change color. The four answers are chameleon, mood ring, sunset and traffic light.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ending in music genres. The four answers are baby blues, pet rock, scrap metal and soda pop.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for March 19, #542

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle No. 542 for Thursday, March 19.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is tricky. Remember that many athletes’ surnames look like common words, so if you’re having trouble sorting the answers, think about whether a particular word could be someone’s last name. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Football division.

Green group hint: They catch the pigskin.

Blue group hint: College hoopsters.

Purple group hint: Where’s the glass slipper?