The best VPN services, according to hackers
15 VPN services were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 1 earns the Hacker Approved badge.
Top pick
The most recommended VPN service with the badge. Each figure is one person. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
Trusted and well-regarded in privacy community
People recommend it for its transparency, open-source clients and values closely aligned with Mullvad's, and it has worked behind China's firewall.
All 15 VPN services, ranked
Select a column heading to sort. Approval share is recommenders out of everyone who gave an opinion; the tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs. Months counts the months, out of 13, in which someone recommended it.
| Rank | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mullvad VPN | 255 | 146 | 64% | 12 | 4.5 yrs4 owners | — |
| 2 | Proton VPN | 63 | 35 | 64% | 13 | 3 yrs4 owners | — |
| 3 | iCloud Private Relay | 26 | 20 | 57% | 11 | — | — |
| 4 | Cloudflare WARP | 18 | 10 | 64% | 7 | — | — |
| 5 | Firefox VPN | 16 | 22 | 42% | 7 | — | — |
| 6 | IVPN | 14 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| 7 | Obscura VPN | 12 | 16 | 43% | 6 | — | — |
| Tied 8 | NordVPN | 11 | 24 | 31% | 5 | — | — |
| Tied 8 | Mozilla VPN | 11 | 15 | 42% | 5 | — | — |
| 10 | AirVPN | 9 | 3 | 75% | 5 | — | — |
| 11 | Obscura | 8 | 2 | 80% | 7 | — | — |
| Tied 12 | Windscribe VPN | 6 | 2 | 75% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 12 | Private Internet Access | 6 | 7 | 46% | 3 | — | — |
| Tied 14 | Nym VPN | 5 | 2 | 71% | 7 | — | — |
| Tied 14 | Amnezia VPN | 5 | 3 | 63% | 3 | — | — |
How we rank
Rank is the number of separate people who recommend a product in a Hacker News comment over the past year. Someone who praises the same VPN service in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to VPN services that at least 10 people recommend, with recommenders outnumbering critics at least 2 to 1, recommended in at least 4 of the 13 months.
Rankings are never for sale. We may earn a commission when you buy through our links. It never changes the order.