The Best VPNs for Chrome 

It is not only essential to ensure your personal information is safe and secure. The best way to do this is by using Virtual Private Networks, VPNs.

There are many VPNs in the market, and all of them claim to be the best. So how do you know which is which?

Luckily for you, we have done the hard part. By conducting research and reviewing data and references from users, we have compiled a list of five of the best VPNs to use with Chrome.

The Best Chrome VPNs in 2021

• ExpressVPN (Best Chrome VPN for Encryption)
• NordVPN (Best VPN for Chrome Overall)
• Surfshark (Best Budget VPN for Chrome)
• ProtonVPN (Best Chrome VPN for Free)
• CyberGhost (Best Chrome VPN for Netflix)

Detailed Overview of the Best Chrome VPNs

NordVPN is owned by a company called Tefincom S.A, which is registered in Panama. Essentially, this means that NordVPN is under Panamanian authority. The country is not part of any agreements to share information with other countries, such as the Fourteen Eyes alliance. NordVPN has one of the best browser extensions in the market, and that is why we found it to be the best VPN for Chrome overall (it’s also ranking as the best VPN in general)

Superb Encryption

Encryption is essential when it comes to online information. When using a VPN, so long as it is on, all your traffic will be passing through it, meaning that it will be able to access all your data and information. Without a VPN, any hacker worth their salt will be able to simply hack your chrome and be able to access all your traffic.

NordVPN, we found, has put a myriad of measures to make sure that all your traffic is safe, and it has done so by using two military-grade encryption protocols. The first is OpenVPN, which is more or less the industry standard. This in itself should assure you that you are safe and sound. However, NordVPN has also put in place a second protocol, Ikev2/IPsec, to ensure that you get all the security you deserve. Depending on the website you are in, NordVPN will switch between the two protocols for maximum efficiency and safety.

The CyberSec AdBlock feature

With NordVPN, you will also be getting an ad blocker, therefore ensuring that you will not have to deal with unnecessary media on your Chrome browser. As mentioned in the table, NordVPN also comes with a kill switch that will ensure that traffic is automatically cut off if you lose connection with your Norn servers.

When accessing websites through Chrome, you need to pay mind to the fact that your device and easily be affected by ransomware and malware viruses, amongst other threats; as a remedy for this, has put in place a nascent and yet extremely effective feature, CyberSec. CyberSec, which is inbuilt into NordVPN, will automatically protect you from unwanted ads and provide safety when accessing an unsafe connection.

Supports P2P

We found that NordVPN offers one of the best peer-to-peer support through a myriad of serves globally. We downloaded some torrents through the VPN to test this out, and my word did it work beautifully. The Torrenting speeds are above what is considered the industry averages, so you know downloading movies and music will be in an instant.

Low-cost pricing

We found that NordVPN is much inexpensive than other VPNs in the industry. Granted, what you are getting is some of the best services in the world. For a monthly subscription, you will have to part with 11.95 dollars. A one-year plan will cost you 6.99 dollars per month, and a three-year plan will cost you 2.99 dollars per month. However, with the last two, you will have to pay all the money upfront.

It does not have a free trial, however. NordVPN does not have a free trial version, at least in the traditional sense. Thus, you will have to pay first to get to know what you are paying for.

Surfshark is one of the best budget VPNs in the market. Even though it has some very low prices, it does not acquiesce to low-quality services, and you are still guaranteed that you are getting an effective and efficient VPN for your chrome browser.

Secure and private

Surfshark is based in the British Virgin Islands, which, even though it is still part of UK territory, has its laws. The said laws, as pertains to personal data privacy, are strict and in your favor.  The British Virgin Islands also do not require companies to have any form of logging, and thus Surfshark has a very strict no-logging policy. The only time they do any logging is to process payments regarding your account details and billing information.

Lots of interesting features

SurfsharkVPN has an extensive and intensive list of features, all of which work in tandem to make your chrome browser efficient and effective. Some of them include;

• CleanWeb;

This is an ad and tracker blocker which comes with SurfsharkVPN.

• HackLock

HackLock ensures all your emails and personal information are safe and cannot leak online. The feature can be bought together with BlindSearch for an extra 0,99 dollars per month.

• Camouflage mode

This feature disguises your IP address so that your internet service provider cannot tell that you are using VPN.

• Number of servers

The number of servers a VPN has is a measure of what options you will have for spoofing. SurfsharkVPN has over 1040 servers in 61 different locations. Though it isn’t the largest network on this list, Chrome is still more than enough.

Happy customers and 24/7 support

The best way to know if a VPN is effective is through testimonials and referrals from individuals who have used it. Of course, you cannot simply ask everybody if they have used Surfshark and how they liked it.

However, the rating on Google Play Store should be enough a guiding light as to how effective Surfshark is. Over 8000 android users have given Surfshark a rating of 4.3 stars out of five, with a vast majority of them giving it a perfect score. We found this because Surfshark offers an Unlimited number of Simultaneous VPN Connections, meaning you can sync it to all the devices you.

Low pricing for long-term users

As mentioned earlier, we have found that Surfshark is the best budget VPN for Chrome. It will cost you 11.95 dollars every month. The annual subscription will cost you 5.99 dollars a month. The cheapest option, though, is the 24-month subscription, which only costs 1.99 dollars a month. Surfshark also has a 30-day money-back guarantee on all subscriptions.

It has no free version. Most VPNs have a version that limits the number of servers you can use and the amount of data you can use, all for free. SurfsharkVPN isn’t one of them, and you have to pay to get what you want. However, with the 30-day money-back guarantee on all subscriptions, you have a free version of sorts if you request to get your money back before the stipulated time elapses.

It is true that the longer the subscription period, not only with Surfshark but almost all VPNs, the lower the amount of money that you will have to pay. However, for Surfshark, the long-term subscriptions are a bit confusing. Even though they state the pricing at monthly rates, you have to pay all the money at once for long-term subscriptions.

The best things in life are free, goes the adage. ProtonVPN is a quintessence of this. The VPN is based in Switzerland, a country with no information-sharing affiliates, as with 5-eyes, 9-Eyes, or 14-Eyes surveillance countries. Hence, you are assured of a high level of security and privacy.

Free and Private

ProtonVPN is a no-logging VPN. It does not log any of your traffic, discriminates against Any Internet Enabled Device, or throttle your internet speed or connection. All this is explicitly stipulated in the company’s no-logs privacy policy.

When we conducted a leak test, we found that ProtonVPN is leak-proof with chrome and other apps and browsers. This is because it uses strong protocols like OpenVPN and IKEv2/IPSec, AES-256 level encryptions.

Supports Netflix and P2P

ProtonVPN has a myriad of servers that will make it possible for you to torrent all the media you need, as well as stream from all your favorite streaming platforms. We found that ProtonVPN offers above-average streaming and torrenting speeds with little to no buffering.

ProtonVPN has a bit over 1300 servers in 55 countries. This is still a long way from its competitors’ numbers, and it may leave you with a limited number of options.

In addition, ProtonVPN’s customer support does not have a live chat, and thus it may prove a bit of an onerous task to try and get any issues resolved. They have a support page split into several sections, and all you have to do is go to the section in which your query falls, and you will find the solution there.

Limited version

According to their website, ProtonVPN can offer a free tier because the free service is subsidized by paying customers. This begs the question; if the number of paying customers reduces, or there are no paying customers, will ProtonVPN still offer the free VPN?

The main reason why ProtonVPN is on this list is because of its free option. ProtonVPN offers unlimited free VPN access. However, the free tier comes with lower speed, and it is only limited to 3 specific servers. That being said, it is still head and shoulders above the rest in terms of the free package offered.

Cyberghost is fairly nascent to the market, though it has proven that it can rumble with the big boys.  Founded in 2011, it is based in Romania. Romania does not belong to the 14-eyes jurisdiction and does not require companies to log their clientele.

Cyberghost was recently acquired by an Israeli company called Kape Technologies, which now also owns ExpressVPN. It has 6000 servers that have been strategically placed in over 90 counties, which is why it has high streaming speeds, especially concerning Netflix.

No-log VPN

We went through CyberGhostVPN’s privacy policy, and it clearly states that the servers will not keep logs that will interfere with your data content or your IP address. The only data they will keep is your payment subscription, and thus no third party will have any form of access to you or yours.

CB includes a pre-protection package. When you subscribe to and CyberGhost VPN, you will also get a website, browser, and virus protection, as well as an ad-blocker. You will also get data compression, which will save you a lot regarding mobile data usage. CyberGhost is also able to remove website content that contains trackers.

Numerous features

CyberGhost is very responsive, and we found that within a minute of posting your inquiry, you will get the feedback you need. The customer support center is on 24/7, thus assuring you that you can get help any time on any day.

We found that the email section of the customer support system takes a bit more time to respond but is generally better than most of the other VPNs we tested. This delay is because the email you will get will give you a better and more in-depth answer to your issue.

When we looked into server speed, we saw that CyberGhost ping speed is quite good and consistent, and it seems they have achieved this is by compressing your files. This ensures that you have some of the fastest speeds and that you save on data costs while streaming on Netflix.

Things we don’t like

It does not have a double-hopping feature.

The double-hop feature on a VPN makes it possible to use two servers at once instead of one. This will be able to give you more security and privacy. CyberGhost does not have this.

Server auto-selection. We found that we logged out and then back into the VPN every time we were tunneled to a different server than we had set the last time. You can change the server you want to use, but it is still a bit annoying.

It is a bit expensive.

We found that the pricing for CyberGhost subscriptions is a bit higher than other VPNs with similar features. You will pay 12.99 dollars for the monthly subscription, and you will have a 14-day money-back guarantee. The 6-month plan comes at 7.99 dollars per month and translated to 95.88 dollars a year.

The 18-month plan is by far the cheapest in terms of the monthly payment. It is billed at 45.5 dollars for the first 18-months and then annually from thereon. If you chose the 18-month plan, you get a 45-day money-back guarantee, and if it is not to your liking, they will refund you all your money.

Why do you need a VPN for Chrome?

As mentioned earlier, it is essential to ensure that all your data is safe and secure and that no one with unauthorized permission from you can access it. Without a VPN, and a proper one at that, you can never be too sure about who or what your data has and how it is being used.

All the VPNs we listed have a strict no-logging policy, and we made a concerted effort to go through each of their privacy policy terms so that you don’t have to and so that we can ascertain that your data is safe and sound.

The methodology we used to come up with this list

We had to carry out many tests to collect data, ascertain it, and then come up with the list that we made.

Jurisdiction

We first looked at the privacy and security parameters that the VPNs have to ensure that your data is safe. First, we looked at the countries where the companies were based, as this would give us information on the jurisdiction in which they fell in and if the said countries were part of any alliance to share information, such as the 14-eyes alliance.

Also, we had to go through the countries’ laws about data breaches in terms of jurisdiction. In terms of privacy and security of data, the law should work to your advantage, and anyone who breaches the said laws should be punished accordingly. If the country did not have any data safety and security laws, or they did have them, but they didn’t meet our standard, the VPN was automatically eliminated.

History

We also took a look at the history of the VPN companies. History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes, and an in-depth look at how the companies were founded, their structure, and how they functioned and function was enough to eliminate a host of VPNs, which we did not see fit to make a list.

We also put the culture of the VPN companies under a microscope to make sure that they value the needs of their clientele above everything and everyone else.

Speed

In terms of speed, we had to consider three factors: downloading speed, uploading speed, and ping speed. When you use a VPN, the download and upload speeds are bound to decrease since all your traffic flows through a virtual private network of servers and not directly to and from your internet service provider. Thus, the fastest VPNs are those that have the least amount of speed decrease.

In ping, latency is bound to develop when the VPN is switched on as the traffic flows through an additional channel. Latency is measured in milliseconds. The lower the increase in ping or latency, the faster the VPN.

To come up with the speeds for the various VPNs, we first measured the speed of the chrome browser without switching on the VPN. We then switched on the VPN and then measured the speed at which the traffic was moving. After this, we compared the two speeds, measured the decrease, and put it as a percentage.

VPN	Ping	Download	Upload
NordVPN	655.00%	-4.67%	-10.39%
Surfshark	770.00%	-3.70%	-1.28%
ExpressVPN	600.00%	-8.84%	-6.06%
ProtonVPN	1094.12%	-59.72%	-15.91%
CyberGhost	823.53%	-9.28%	-10.89%

From the table, you can discern that ExpressVPN is the fastest ping, as it has the lowest increase in latency. For both upload and download speeds, Surfshark takes the day, as it has the lowest decrease in speed. However, Surfshark has a high increase in latency when compared to NordVPN.

NordVPN has a perfect balance; low pin increase and low download and upload speeds decrease, which is why we found it to be the best VPN for Chrome.

User experience

The best way to know if a VPN is worth its salt is through referrals and testimonials from people who have used it, and thus we had to consider user experience when coming up with this list. For this, we used highly trustworthy sources such as the ratings and comments on Google Play Store and Apple Store. We also conducted a couple of physical surveys using people who have used and frequently use VPNs.

Customer Support

It was mostly through a user experience that we ranked the VPNs on customer ratings. However, we also did some research on our own, like checking if the VPN has a live chat, whether you could contact them through email, and how long they took to respond to the emails.

Pricing

All VPNs have an official website, where they list all the features they have, as well as the pricing. Through this, we were able to get the pricing metrics and identify the VPNs that had free trials and free versions.