Best VPNs for Chrome 2023

Between work, social media, and online rabbit holes, most of our waking hours are spent on the Internet. Whenever we’re online, our favorite browser is Chrome because of its intuitive interface and compatibility with most applications. Given that so much of our time is spent on Chrome, it’s crucial that we’re protected and secure when going about our business online. We’ve put together our round-up of the best VPNs for Chrome. First, we’ll give you a super quick rundown before getting down into the nitty-gritty.

Features of The Best VPNs for Chrome

How We Test VPNs: Methodology

We take many steps to make sure that the VPNs that we’re recommending to our readers really are the best. We’ve designed a thorough framework that we apply to all of the VPNs that we test out, and we want to let you know exactly what goes into that testing process. It’s a combination of looking at features like encryption standards, IP addresses, the amount of data logged, customer service, and other factors to confirm that the service does all that a VPN should do. We then put each product through our own speed and security tests to make sure that the tradeoff between safety and Internet speed is worth it and that nothing slips through the cracks, data-wise. Below, we take you step-by-step through our process and explain everything along the way.

Speed

Most often, we test our VPNs from our Brooklyn office, where we have a private Optimum network. However, on some occasions, we test VPNs when we travel to the Philippines and sometimes even Poland.

Our Internet speed without a VPN serves as our control, and we only connect one device at a time. We know our readers have all sorts of preferences when it comes to what devices they use, and we want to make sure that we’ve got everyone covered. That’s why we test on both a Macbook Air or Pro and a Windows Vivobook or an Acer Aspire 5. We use the website SpeedTest.net.4 to test download speed, upload speed, and ping (latency). First, we perform tests with the VPN, and then, without. Download and upload speed are measured in megabits per second, while latency is measured in milliseconds. Once we take these two measures, we identify the difference in terms of a percentage to account for any discrepancies between the greatly varied natural speeds of Macs and Windows computers.

Things like distance from the server, operating system, and device type all have an impact on speed, but it’s ideal that VPNs have no more than a 40 percent difference in any of our categories (ping, download speed, or upload speed).

Security

Security is one of the biggest reasons for using a VPN in the first place, so it’s non-negotiable that we feel safe when using the Internet with a VPN product. We would never want something like our domain names (website names) and their IP addresses available to anyone, especially not the government. We also need to confirm that users’ IP addresses aren’t being leaked due to WebRTC, which allows browsers to communicate directly with each other and is the default on browsers like Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Opera. Since we tend to stick to Chrome, this was a big point of concern for us.

We test for DNS leaks by using DNSLeakTest.com. By comparing our computer’s IP address with the IP addresses that the website shows, we can tell if there was a DNS link while using the VPN or not. Then, we test for WebRTC leaks by leveraging a tool available on ExpressVPN’s website. We use a similar tactic where we look at the local and Public IPv4 IP addresses to see if there were any WebRTC leaks.

There’s nothing worse than actually reading the fine print, which is why we take special care to go through companies’ privacy policies in detail. It’s important that we have a thorough understanding of each VPN companies’ data-logging policy. We also put a large emphasis on where a company is located, because it’s what determines if they are members of Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and 14 Eyes. Those are international surveillance alliances that have the potential to legally force companies to surrender customer data to the federal government.

While it’s ideal for a company to not be located in a country impacted by such agreements, we also prefer they log minimal user account information. We find things like names, email addresses, and payment information to be acceptable to log, but we don’t see why VPNs would log additional data, like when customers use their VPNs, how long they used them for, how much data they’ve transferred, what servers they’ve used, what websites they’ve visited and more.

We get even more in the weeds in our full reviews, where we conduct a full analysis of a VPN’s encryption methods and Internet protocols to make sure they meet the industry standards. We prefer VPNs with AES-256 encryption and OpenVPN, which are some of the highest standards of security on the market.

How a company handles IP addresses is also important to note because it impacts our likelihood of being tracked. It’s best if a company offers dynamic addresses that change each time we log on, making it even harder to track what we are doing online. Static IP addresses stay the same every time we connect, which made us easier to track.

Lastly, we check that each VPN has a kill switch. This function shuts down Internet browsers in the unlikely event that a VPN fails. If a kill switch isn’t in place, our activity could become exposed, which kind of defeats the purpose of having one in the first place.

Torrenting and Netflix

Another perk of VPNs is using one to watch movies and shows. We actually go on each streaming service, like Netflix, to try to watch something on Chrome. We also cast shows onto our smart TV through our Chromecast, to get a thorough, first-hand understanding of what we can and can’t access. However, Netflix makes updates to block VPNs consistently, so we can’t guarantee that our readers can access Netflix with any particular VPN, even if we Netflixed and chilled to our hearts’ content.

Split Tunneling and Encryption

Another key feature, split tunneling lets us use both the VPN and a public network at the same time. The lower bandwidth can create faster speeds. In terms of encryption, we prefer double or multi-hop VPNs, because this means that data is encrypted multiple times through multiple servers.

Subscriptions

At the end of the day, we know that as amazing as a VPN is, cost matters, too. That’s why we try to give the pricing to you as simple and straightforward as possible. Most companies offer a couple of options that tend to vary by the length of the contract, though sometimes there are more complicated trade-offs to be made. Some VPNs are very cost-effective, with monthly fees as low as a dollar with a longer-term subscription. The higher end of the price spectrum will put users at around $15 per month.

We spend more time looking at VPNs than the average person, so when we see a good deal, we’ll be sure to let you know. We also prefer when a company offers several options in their pricing structure, like the ability to pay month-to-month or pay less monthly for a longer-term contract. We look for the option to give a VPN a test run through a free trial or money-back guarantee period. Finally, we specify what actually comes in a subscription in terms of how many servers the company offers, how many devices can be connected at once, and if there are any limitations on data usage.

Customer Support

After a reader makes their decision, we want to make sure that they stay in good hands if any issues arise down the road, so customer service is an important lens that we look at VPNs through. Typically, a company will offer a 24/7 live chat option, email support, and compilations of past user questions, public and searchable. Every now and again, a company will also offer support via phone, which tells us that they’re willing to go the extra mile for their users.