Testing beats opinion
A claim only reaches the page if we measured it. Server counts come from our own connections, speeds from twelve daily runs, streaming results from a rig that checks nine regions every week.
About us
We got tired of VPN “reviews” that nobody had tested.
VPNHonest started in 2019 as a spreadsheet between three colleagues who travelled too much and trusted airport Wi-Fi too little. It is now a four-person team in Amsterdam with a test rig on three continents and one firm rule: we publish what the tests say, even when it costs us a partnership.
- Every subscription bought anonymously at retail price
- Every score traceable to a published scoring sheet
- Every affiliate relationship disclosed on the page it appears
What we believe
Three commitments that shape every review
Say the price out loud
Intro pricing is a marketing tool. We list the renewal price beside it, note what a refund actually took, and flag services that quietly raise the rate in year two.
Teach, then recommend
You should be able to disagree with us and still leave better informed. Every guide explains the reasoning, so you can weigh speed against price against jurisdiction yourself.
The team in numbers
Small team, stubborn process
- 2019
- Year we published our first comparison, on a borrowed server
- 4
- Full-time testers and writers, all in Amsterdam
- 310k
- Readers a month across reviews, deals and news
- 7
- Services downgraded after re-testing, two of them partners
How we make money
Affiliate commissions, explained without the fog
When you buy a VPN through a link here, the provider pays us a commission. You pay the same price you would pay going direct — often less, because we negotiate reader discounts. That commission funds the subscriptions, the test servers and the salaries.
What it does not buy is placement. Scores are set from the test sheet before anyone looks at commission rates, and we have kept services in the top five that pay us nothing while dropping partners that failed a leak test. If we ever cannot test something ourselves, we say so in the review.
Commission rates vary by provider between 25% and 100% of the first payment. No provider sees a review before publication, and none has editorial approval.
Our scoring sheet
- Speed — 30%
- Throughput retained on near, mid and far servers, peak and off-peak
- Privacy — 25%
- Logging policy, jurisdiction, independent audits, leak results
- Streaming — 20%
- Nine Netflix regions plus iPlayer and DAZN, weekly re-checks
- Value — 15%
- Intro price, renewal price, device limit, refund experience
- Apps & support — 10%
- Setup time, platform coverage, live chat response in our own tickets
Straight answers
About our independence
Can a provider pay to rank higher?
No. Rankings come from the scoring sheet above, and the sheet is filled in before commercial terms are discussed. Two current partners sit outside our top five because that is where their test results put them.
Do you accept free accounts from VPN companies?
We decline press accounts and buy anonymously instead, because a provider that knows which account is ours can route it through an uncongested server. It costs us a few thousand euros a year and it is the only way the speed numbers mean anything.
How often are reviews updated?
Streaming tables weekly, speed runs monthly, full reviews every quarter or immediately after a security incident. Each page carries the date of its last test, not the date of its last edit.
What if you get something wrong?
Write to corrections@vpnhonest.com. We fix the page, note the change at the bottom of it, and leave the original claim visible so you can see what changed.
Put it to use
Read the rankings the process produced.
Forty-two services tested, six worth recommending, all scored on the sheet above.