The Best VPNs in Canada

In cybersecurity, trust is important. You are entrusting a company to keep your information and online activity private, and some VPNs come up far short in protecting you. With transparency comes trust, and Mullvad is easily one of the most transparent VPN companies there is. Mullvad has one of the most respectable business models amongst an industry where shady companies are as common as shady sites online. With a flat fee of 5 Euro per month, no required information of any kind, and a no logging policy that they really mean, it is clear why Mullvad is loved by tech nerds and security experts alike.  

Upon signing up, you will realize the Mullvad means business. You do not need an email to sign up, instead you generate a unique code that you can enter in the VPN’s application when you get started. Using numbered accounts mean Mullvad will never require information that is best left personal. Users can pay by any standard method, like by card or PayPal, but Mullvad also accepts cash, bank wire and Bitcoin. Whether or not you want to go month-by-month or you want to invest long term in Mullvad, the price is the same regardless. While you may miss out on long term savings, we can appreciate the company does not aim to trap users into long term plans, giving users the freedom to shop around.   

In terms of what you get with Mullvad, the features overall seem standard: for starters, you can connect to up to 5 devices at once with the same account. With applications for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android, you can be supported on most of your devices that might need your VPN. The features of these apps do vary slightly, but for desktop operating systems, you get an advanced kill switch for if your VPN connection fails, traffic obfuscation to make your VPN connection look like a regular connection, and multi-hop connections if you want to double up on VPN protection. Since transparency is so central to Mullvad’s business model, Mullvad is dedicated to releasing the majority of the source code they use or develop as open source. Mullvad was one of the first to embrace WideGuard protocol, which is an open-source and highly – encrypted protocol that has since caught on more widely among VPN companies. Mullvad uses highly secure AES-256 encryption to keep your data safe.  

In terms of scope, Mullvad has 754 servers in 36 countries, which is a smaller number compared to some of the VPN giants out there, but the entire list of servers that Mullvad uses is available online. Mullvad is organized under the parent company Amagicom AB, based in Gothenburg, Sweden. While Sweden is a member of the international alliance 14-Eyes, who are involved in exchanging signal intelligence, since Mullvad has a strict no-logging policy and does not monitor its users, we generally do not think using Mullvad puts users at a higher risk of having their information falling into the hands of world governments.  

From our research, we determined that Mullvad has established a reputation for being trustworthy and secure. Their transparency is refreshing in a market that is oversaturated with dishonest marketing –Mullvad does not have an affiliate link program, and has claimed to make no money outside of their VPN service. However, users have found accessing geo-blocked content through streaming hit or miss.  

ExpressVPN is one of the largest VPN companies in the world, but it is one that we feel that users can trust. While other VPN’s can struggle with accessing geo-blocked streaming content, users online found that ExpressVPN shines in this regard for its fast speeds, sheer number of servers, and user-friendly design.  

Lots of VPN companies make grand claims, but either do not stand by those claims or hide the truth behind walls of jargon. ExpressVPN logs no information that can be used to identify you. This was verified when cybersecurity firm Cure53 independently audited ExpressVPN, finding only some minor vulnerabilities that ExpressVPN has since fixed. Audits are not everything, but they can be helpful understanding if a VPN lives up to what it says it does. There is even more evidence of ExpressVPN keeping no logs – In 2017, a ExpressVPN server was seized in Turkey during an investigation. The seizure turned up no information, since ExpressVPN had none on their servers. Additionally, ExpressVPN has made their browser extension code open source to the public, so anyone can look into the browser to see for themselves that the browser is using the requested permissions responsibly. Between all 3 examples, I think it is safe to say that ExpressVPN has earned some trust. 

Signing up with ExpressVPN requires little in terms of information, however you will need to provide your email. Users can pay in a variety of ways, including by Credit card, Paypal or with Bitcoin, as well as through a variety of ways through Paymentwall. Users can pick between 1-month, 6-month and a 12-month term that features an additional 3 months free, however ExpressVPN comes out to be one of the more expensive VPN companies, and even at the longest term, there are cheaper VPNs available. We do not particularly recommend long-term plans unless you know you like and trust the VPN, but ExpressVPN does have a 30-day trial period for users to test out the service risk-free.  

Buying ExpressVPN will get you many features that are standard with what is typically offered with VPNs. Users can use a single subscription to browse anonymously on five devices at once, can multihop from one VPN sever to another, and can use split tunneling – meaning running local internet connections and VPN connections simultaneously, which are great if you need to use your internet to access your banking website. If your connection fails when using ExpressVPN, you can rely on the network killswitch to ensure your information stays private. Express VPN uses secure AES-256 encryption to keep your information safe and private.  

ExpressVPN is compatible with a wide range of VPN protocols, including L2TP, OpenVPN, IKEv2, PPTP, WireGuard, SSTP and even ExpressVPN’s own protocol Lightway. To most people, these acronyms might mean nothing – and that’s okay. ExpressVPN will automatically pick which protocol will work best for you regarding your internet connection, or if you know a thing or two about which protocol you prefer, you can adjust your settings so you can pick which protocol suits you best.  

ExpressVPN overall has over 3000 servers in 94 countries all over the world – which would make it the most widespread VPN service available. This makes ExpressVPN one of the better choices if you are looking to get around regional blocking, especially if you need to access content from a particular region. ExpressVPN has several virtual server locations – servers with IP’s that are from one country but are located somewhere easier to connect to. Although these virtual servers make up less than 3% of Express VPN’s locations, some of the smaller or harder to access countries in the world that ExpressVPN features will entirely be virtual. These virtual servers are listed on their website.  

Overall, users online seem to be overall happy with ExpressVPN, for the fast internet speeds available and their no-logging policy. If there is one criticism that I have seen more than others of ExpressVPN, it is the price. $12.95 USD per month is quite a lot, and even picking the longest term sees rates that are higher than that of other services. However, some users will find the price worth it for the performance, especially when it comes to streaming.  

AirVPN is a VPN that we saw was heavily recommended on online forums for high-end security at an inexpensive price. AirVPN proudly displays on the top of their homepage that they are operated by “activists and hacktivists,” clearly indicating this is a VPN for those who have a tech background or are invested in privacy and net neutrality. If privacy and transparency is more important to you than streaming geo-blocked content, we think AirVPN is a solid option. 

The signup experience highlights AirVPN’s commitment to privacy, as when you open an account, you are not needed to enter any personal info, letting you enter fake emails instead – although opting to submit an invalid email address will prevent you from resetting your password if you forget. We generally found that the less information you need to sign up usually comes hand-in-hand with a dedication to privacy. Users can pay in a variety of ways ranging from average to highly private – credit card, Paypal, or cryptocurrency (of which they accept 6 different crypto). You also get way more choice in what type of plan you get, with 7 different lengths of plans available. Many VPN companies incentivize long-term subscriptions, but the versatility offered is nice so users have more options to what commitment they want to make. 

For features, AirVPN allows users to connect with up to 5 devices on one account simultaneously, as well as additional features like port forwarding and dynamic DNS. AirVPN has applications for Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, iOS and even chromeOS, so you can be covered, no matter what operating system is on your computer. AirVPN uses the OpenVPN protocol to establish the connection between your computer are the company’s servers, however the company claims they do not discriminate to any service, protocol or application. AirVPN features a config file generator, which lets users to generate an OpenVPN configuration files for those who want or need an alternative to AirVPN’s client. You can rest easy with AES-256 encryption protecting your connection.  

AirVPN’s desktop software is named Eddie, a free and open-source OpenVPN wrapper that features a wide range of features including a network lock that is proactive in preventing network packets leaving your computer outside of your VPN connection, additional leak prevention, and more advanced and customizable options.  

AirVPN has 243 servers in 22 countries,  including 15 high performance servers. This is not very many servers, which makes sense due to the company’s focus on privacy. All AirVPN’s servers are listed on their website, and you can see which servers will have the fastest speeds and most available bandwidth at any given time. Due to the few servers available, it seems that many of AirVPN’s servers have been blocked by Netflix, making it not an optimal choice if your number one goal is accessing geo-blocked content.  

Users generally trust AirVPN, and it was highly recommended online. However, if AirVPN has one flaw, that flaw would be an obtuse user experience. The number of features and customizations you can make are a lot, and are going to be next to useless if you do not have a computer science background or you just need to add some extra privacy to your online life. We found the website is not laid out very well and there is very little information in the details that a layperson could make use of. AirVPN will provide people who really know what they are doing a customizable and secure VPN experience. 

For a fast, yet surprisingly cheap VPN option, SurfShark is an excellent choice. If the extent that you are going to use your VPN is going to be trying to watch Netflix from other countries, SurfShark performs the task better than most VPNs available.

Signing up with Surfshark is easy, although it will require an email address to sign up. Surfshark’s base rate is high, but we appreciate that Surfshark lists their prices in CAD. At longer terms, Surfshark becomes cheaper, with an affordable 6-month plan and an extremely cheap 2-year plan. While the long terms savings are there, we find longer term options restrictive and often muddled with fine print – SurfShark’s 24-month plan will automatically bill you annually after the first term, meaning the price will be effectively doubled the advertised price after the first 24 months. While the price in this longer-term option will still be affordable, we wanted to highlight that reading the fine print on these billing options will be important as many VPN companies use misleading tactics. If you want to try Surfshark out before biting the bullet, Surfshark offers free trials on iOS, macOS and Android applications, as well as a 30-day money back guarantee. Users can pay with Credit card, Paypal, Google Pay, Amazon Pay and with cryptocurrency including Bitcoin and Ethereum.

SurfShark offers an impressive list of features, starting with unlimited devices that you can use the VPN on simultaneously. CleanWeb is Surfshark’s native ad blocker, that also blocks adware and malware, and is included with every Surfshark plan, although you will need to enable it through the Surfshark app. Surfshark offers Whitelister, a split tunneling feature that lets you select certain websites you trust that do not work with a VPN on, like banking applications for example. There are other features you may or may need, depending on your purpose: multi-hop servers, a kill switch, and Camouflage Mode, which obfuscates your connection, making your connectivity through a VPN network look like a standard internet connection. For a little bit extra, you can enable Surfshark Alert and Surfshark Search with your VPN subscription. Alert is a breach detection tool that can alert you about leaks of your information, and scans the web to see if your email address is out there in leaked online databases. Search is a non-tracking browser tool that keeps your searches secure and private. Surfshark uses IKEv2/IPsec as a default protocol, but you can use OpenVPN if you prefer. Surfshark keeps your connection secure with AES256 encryption.

Surfshark has a no-logging policy, however there are some information that Surfshark does use to improve the performance of their service, including diagnostics information for fixing crashes and anonymous “traffic data” provided by Google Analytics. While SurfShark promises that none of your personally identifiable information is retained, and you can opt out of these services, we think that for users with a high security-threat level, Surfshark might not be the VPN with your best interests in mind. That is not to say SurfShark is untrustworthy – the company clearly states this in their privacy policy. Additionally, SurfShark’s browser extensions has independently been audited by cybersecurity company Cure53, which concluded that the tested applications were not vulnerable to privacy or security issues, with only two low-severity vulnerabilities in the browser, which Surfshark has since amended.

SurfShark has an impressive 3200 servers in 65 countries, giving users a lot of server options for their VPN purposes. This becomes useful evading the IP blacklists of Netflix and the other streaming services, who routinely block the IP address of servers belonging to VPN companies. If you do find the IP of your go-to server blocked, all you will need to do is find an unblocked server to use instead. Users have even had luck bypassing Amazon’s formidable geo-restrictions with SurfShark, making it a powerful VPN for streaming.

Overall, users online found Surfshark one of the better VPN’s for accessing geo-blocked content, due to Surfshark’s speed and collection of servers. Surfshark gets points for its coverage and price, as well generally well-regarded customer service. However, Surfshark does have trackers within their app for anonymous analytics and crash reporting, which means that Surfshark is not as serious about privacy as some of the other VPN’s in this list. I do not think this is a large concern to users unless they have a high threat level, but for the people who will only use their VPN for streaming US Netflix or torrenting, this should suffice.

ProtonVPN is a subsidiary of ProtonMail, a Swiss based company that has been in the privacy game for a while and offers fully encrypted emails. ProtonVPN is a reputable VPN provider, and the free version is easily one of the best free VPN’s available. With tons of features available and no data restrictions, Proton VPN easily beats out many other free VPNs. However, with several tiers of pricing and privacy available, you might think it is worthwhile to make the upgrade.  

Signing up with Proton is easy, and requires only an Email address, but you can use a ProtonMail account to access ProtonVPN as well. Proton offers 4 different tiers, with a range of lengths for each. The Free version is limited: you only can access the VPN on 1 device, and free users get lower priority when it comes to internet speeds than those with the full version. However, you do not have any data-restrictions in the free tier, which makes it one of the more attractive free VPN options automatically. However, it is important to note that there are some limitations that might convince you to upgrade to the full version, so you may see the speed of your VPN drop during peak times. 

The next tier up is the basic tier, which for 5 Euro per month grants you an additional connection, for up to two simultaneous connections on the VPN, as well as faster speeds, P2P and BitTorrent support, and access to NetShield – ProtonVPN’s Adblocker. For a base price of 10 Euro per month, Proton VPN’s Plus account gives you 5 simultaneous VPN connections, as well as all the features included in the Basic Tier, with additional features including Secure Core VPN, TOR Over VPN, and the ability to access geo-blocked content.  The final tier, ProtonVPN visionary, combines a Plus account with 10 VPN connections with a ProtonMail Visionary account, for a combined VPN and encrypted email package that can keep up to 6 unique users secure – perfect as a family plan or for a small office. Each plan can be selected on a monthly term, or 1- and 2- year terms with added savings.  

There are more features that are available among the different tiers of ProtonVPN that we think are notable to talk about.  Firstly, that Secure Core VPN we mentioned: ProtonVPN ensures privacy that could be at risk if a server was to be compromised by allowing users to multihop through ProtonVPN’s “Secure Core”, servers located within high-security data centres in countries hand-picked by Proton due of their strong privacy laws, including Switzerland, Iceland and Sweden. Other measures that protect the privacy of their users include split tunneling, always-on VPN and Kill switch features, and DNS leak prevention that encrypts your DNS queries, so you do not have to worry about DNS leaks that many VPN’s do nothing to protect against. Proton VPN only uses the protocols that they trust the most, which are IKEv2/IPSec and OpenVPN. P2P is optimized on all the paid plans. Proton VPN uses AES-256 encryption to keep your connections highly secure.  

ProtonVPN has 1,246 servers in 55 countries, which makes the worldwide availability solidly middle of the pack. However, on the free version, you only get access to servers in 3 countries: US, Japan and the Netherlands. These countries provide decent diversity in terms of where you can browse from, however it may contribute to slower internet if none of these locations are particularly close to you. ProtonVPN requires a Plus account to access geo-blocked content regardless, so ProtonVPN is not the most recommended for watching Netflix from other countries, unless you are okay at paying a significant chunk of change each month. If you do want to ensure your privacy on top of accessing geo-blocked content, ProtonVPN is a great choice.  

In terms of transparency, it is very easy to trust ProtonVPN. All ProtonVPN apps are 100% open-source and have been audited, which highlights the transparency of the company and the trustworthiness of their apps. ProtonVPN keeps no logs, and you are protected by Swiss Privacy Laws. 

In terms of online reputation, Proton has one of the better ones. Users typically have a lot of trust in the company for their transparency, customer support and privacy-orientated business model. In terms of company that offers free VPN services, users find Proton extremely trustworthy and useful, albeit limited.  

Another generally trusted VPN company that offers a free tier, Windscribe is an excellent Canadian choice for users looking for a budget VPN but do not want to skimp on privacy. Windscribe offers a browser extension and desktop application that can be used together or independently, all while having a solid free experience and the option to upgrade.  

Creating an account with Windscribe is easy, and requires little personal info as signing up with an email is optional. You can sign up for the free version of Windscribe, which offers 10GB of data per month, unlimited connections, and access to Windscribe’s servers in 10 different countries, all with no strings attached. Windscribe’s full service offers unlimited data, access to all Windscribe’s servers in 63 countries, and other handy features like a config file generator and R.O.B.E.R.T., Windscribe’s domain and IP blocking tool (more on him shortly). The paid version costs 9 USD per month but is over 50% if you opt for their yearly plan. Windscribe also offers a bargain deal with their “Build-A-Plan” option, which costs $1 for unlimited bandwidth, and additional $1 for pro location you wish to add, on top of the free servers, which means you can pay as little as $2 USD a month for unlimited bandwidth. The options to pay for Windscribe include credit card, PayPal, Bitcoin or Paymentwall.  

Windscribe offers many features that make Windscribe an attractive VPN for most uses. Windscribe features R.O.B.E.R.T., a customizable tool that lets you apply block domains and IP’s from a set of lists to prevent being tracked or being subjected to ads. Also available for Windscribe users is a Config generator, so you can generate configurations for different VPN protocols that are supported for your devices. Other general options include Static IP’s, port forwarding and split tunneling.  

Windscribe offers apps and extensions for a wide range of operating systems and browsers. Operating systems, Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iPhone, and even FireTV and Routers can run Windscribe. The desktop app adds more features, including a powerful Firewall to block connectivity outside the tunnel, reducing the chance of your information leaking, and the ability to turn your computer into a secure hotspot or create a proxy server so you can safely and securely browse the internet on all your devices. Windscribe has browser extensions for both Chrome and Firefox that work only within the browser. For optimal protection, Windscribe recommends using both the app and the browser extension.  

In terms of logging, Windscribe claims that they do not store any identifying logs, however the company is upfront about storing when you last used the service and the bandwidth used, in order to enforce their free tier. We personally think this transparency is very attractive when shopping for a VPN, and if this amount of tracking concerns users, it is good to know upfront rather than find out the hard way. However for most people that do not have a high threat level, using Windscribe will improve your privacy online sufficiently.  

Unfortunately, since Windscribe offers a free-tier, users with malicious intents may flock to this VPN and as a result, some of Windscribe’s servers will have their IP’s blacklisted from certain sites. This issue is easily worked around, but is frustrating to deal with repeatedly, especially if finding non-blacklisted servers in a certain location.