PrivadoVPN is very cheap and easy to use, but has no outside audits

PrivadoVPN is one of the cheapest VPNs on the market, and CNET found it simple to use. The catch is trust and speed. The company does not have third-party security audits, and it cut internet speeds by almost half in CNET's latest tests. A VPN is a service that hides your web activity from others.

What it costs

The annual plan costs $20 for the first 15 months. After that, the price rises to a more typical rate. For comparison, ExpressVPN costs $75 and NordVPN costs $66 for 12 months. The monthly plan is $11. A two-year plan costs $30 for the first 27 months, though CNET generally advises against committing to a VPN for more than a year.

All paid plans include the same features: unlimited data, servers in 66 cities across 49 countries, up to 10 devices at once and an ad blocker. An antivirus add-on costs extra.

The speed problem

Every VPN slows your connection a little. The best keep it small. ExpressVPN, Windscribe and Mullvad each cut download speeds by 26% or less on average. PrivadoVPN cut them by 48.5%, the second worst result in the latest round of tests.

In plain terms, a 300Mbps connection would drop to about 156Mbps. On a Mac using an Ethernet cable, the loss rose to 65.7%. The reviewer still noticed no difference during two weeks of use, but that was on a fast connection without many speed-heavy tasks.

The trust problem

PrivadoVPN does not undergo third-party security audits, meaning no outside experts check its claims. CNET would not recommend it for people with serious privacy needs, such as political activists, investigative journalists or heavy torrent users. The company moved from Switzerland to Iceland after CNET's 2024 review. Its privacy policy is described as transparent.

The free plan

The free version gives 10GB a month. After that, speeds fall to 1Mbps, enough for email and basic browsing but not reliable video. It covers 13 cities and works on one device at a time. CNET says it does not show the usual free VPN sins, such as weak encryption or selling your data. For most people, it suggests Proton VPN instead, which has unlimited use but does not let you pick a server.

Other drawbacks

• The company says it has only hundreds of servers, versus 3,000-plus at most top picks.
• Apps are fairly bare-bones.
• There is no live chat or phone support.