Comparing VPN providers
One approved commercial option is available to review. One option is not a comparison, so there is no league table or winner here.
Why there is no table here
A ranking implies a methodology. Ours would have to say where we tested from, on what line, at what times of day, against which servers, over how many runs — and publish it, so you could judge whether the result applies to you.
We have not done that work. Publishing a league table anyway would mean either copying somebody else’s numbers or making up our own, and a comparison table is the format readers trust most. That makes a fabricated one worse than no page at all.
Circle Utility has one approved VPN relationship today. A provider table needs at least two eligible options and a documented comparative method; until both exist, one commercial option stays visibly separate from any editorial ranking.
What a comparison would need to cover
If you are reading someone else’s, these are the columns that decide whether it is worth anything:
- Where their servers are, relative to you. The biggest single factor in the speed you will actually get, and the one most tables omit.
- Which protocols are supported. Newer ones are meaningfully faster.
- Simultaneous connections, and whether the router counts as one.
- What happens when the connection drops. A kill switch is the difference between a brief outage and silently browsing unprotected.
- What they log, and whether anyone has checked. A no-logs claim that has never been audited is a marketing statement.
- The renewal price, not the first-year price. The gap is often large, and it is the number you will actually pay for most of the time you are a customer.
What to measure instead
A figure from your own connection beats any table, because the thing you want to know is what a VPN costs you — not what it cost a reviewer on a different line in a different city.
- VPN speed test — two measurements, one with the VPN off and one with it on, and a band that says whether the difference is worth acting on.
- How to test a VPN fairly — what to hold constant so the comparison means something.
- What actually decides VPN speed — the four factors, three of which are free to change.
There is no provider table today. One commercial relationship cannot make a comparison, and Circle Utility has not completed a provider-wide comparative test. This route remains out of the search index until it can satisfy that promise.