ExpressVPN:
ExpressVPN is one of the most secure Hotspot Shield Alternative VPN Services out there. Unlike others, this popular VPN service doesn’t disclose the number of servers it has but says that it offers over 1,000 servers spread across 136 locations in 94 countries. It supports a maximum of three concurrent connections per account, which is good enough for many persons out there. Express VPN is based out of the British Virgin Islands and, like many of the other services on the list, claims that it doesn’t log or store any user data, ExpressVPN clients use a 4096-bit CA, AES-256-CBC encryption, TLSv1.2 and SHA512 signatures to authenticate the company’s servers. The service also offers the ‘Network Lock’ feature that prevents not just DNS leaks, but also any type of IPV4 or IPV6 leaks. The company doesn’t provide its service for free but charges on the monthly or yearly basis.The company recommends Bitcoin for privacy although accepts payments via VISA, MasterCard, American Express and PayPal also. It also offers a 7-day free trial.
TorGuard:
A privacy-oriented VPN service, TorGuard operates 3000+ servers in over 50 countries. It stands on its idea of not to store any logs or session data on its servers, and runs a shared IP configuration across all servers, which makes it impossible to match any user with either an IP or a time stamp. TorGuard is owned and operated by VPN networks LLC, which is a Caribbean island of Nevis under US jurisdiction which means that the company does have to respond to DMCA notices. TorGuard, unfortunately, doesn’t offer its services for free, unlike Hotspot Shield, but does offer a standard 30-day trial for its paid service.
TorGuard offers a wide range of VPN protocols, including OpenVPN, L2TP, IPsec, SSTP, OpenConnect/AnyConnect (SSL VPN) as well as iKEV2 and, uses TLS 1.2 on all its servers. “For faster speeds and obfuscated Stealth VPN access”, the company suggests that its users employ OpenConnect SSL VPN with cipher option AES-256-GCM. TorGuard automatically disables IPv6 and blocks any potential DNS or WebRTC leaks by employing full-functional kill-switch to protect against unexpected disconnects. The company accepts payments via credit cards, PayPal, Bitcoin, altcoins, Alipay, UnionPay, CashU and more thus offering a great range of payment methods.
VyprVPN:
Switzerland based VyprVPN offers its users a choice of over 700 servers in 73 locations around the world. The company also owns more than 200,000 IP addresses, which means it has the largest collection of IP addresses among the services on our list today. In terms of privacy, the company offers a kill switch to prevent DNS leaks in case of connection drops, and was one of the first services to add scrambled OpenVPN packets when the Chinese government started its deep packet inspection program. The company also offers a wide range of connection protocols, including its own proprietary ‘Chameleon’ technology that uses the unmodified OpenVPN 256-bit protocol for the underlying data encryption.
For all its pros, Golden Frog’s VyprVPN has a couple of issues that prevents it from being our top recommendation. The company maintains a log of its users’ connection and it doesn’t accept payments in cryptocurrency. So, one question you would like to ask ,if privacy isn’t its strength, why is it on our list at all? Simple. Most of VyprVPN’s servers are in tier-1 datacenters, which means its connections are generally stable and fast, so if you’re looking to access geo-blocked content from popular streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime, this could be a very good option. VyprVPN does offer a free tier, although, it’s restricted to just the 500MB of data. Unlike Hotspot Shield, however, sites like BBC, Netflix, Hulu, etc are accessible as long as you stay within that limit.
TunnelBear:
TunnelBear, a Canadian VPN service provider, has made quite a name for itself in a very short span of time. One of the reasons for its growing popularity is that it targets mainstream internet users rather than going after the more tech-savvy ones, who have, traditionally, been the main user-base for VPN services. That being the case, the user-interface of its client software is really simplistic and doesn’t offer all the controls and options that most of the other services on this list offer. While more advanced users may frown at the watered-down, overly-simplistic software, it has worked well for Tunnel Bear, so it’s likely to continue with its strategy going forward.
TunnelBear operates around 1,000 servers across 20 locations and supports 5 concurrent connections from each subscriber. The software is available on all major platforms, including Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. Like Hotspot Shield, TunnelBear also provides a free tier, but it offers a mere 500MB of traffic per month. Although, you can get an additional 1GB of data by posting about the service on social networks. Paid plans offer unlimited usage and start at $9.99 per month or $59.88 per year.
CyberGhost:
If you are searching for a free VPN with unlimited data usage with unrestricted speeds then Cyberghost is made for you. A Bucharest, Romania-based company’s product, Cyberghost VPN is available for free, maintains a “strict no-logs policy” which is a plus point in comparison to hotspot shield. It offers protection from DNS and IP leaks and supports 256-bit AES encryption. The company offers an OpenVPN-based proprietary client that is available on Windows, macOS and Android. If you use Linux or prefer native protocols, you have the option to manually configure OpenVPN, IPSec, L2TP (with IPSec encryption) and PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunnelling Protocol).
The reason why I’ve personally used Cyberghost for the past several years is that its free tier offers unlimited usage with high-speed servers in dozens of countries.
However, CyberGhost’s free tier doesn’t support P2P connections, so if you want to use torrents, you’ll have to pay for its premium service that starts at $10.99 per month. The paid service also offers the ability to choose individual servers. A major frustration for the free-tier users is the automatic disconnection that happens every two hours but you can reconnect immediately.
NordVPN:
NordVPN is one the most well-known names in the industry, and advertises itself as “The world’s most advanced VPN”. The service is owned and operated by Tefincom Co. S.A. and, is based out of Panama, so DMCA and other similar legislation have no legal bearing. NordVPN operates above 1000 VPN servers that are spread across 59 countries worldwide. The company claims not to monitor, record or store any VPN user logs. It also does not store connection time stamps, used bandwidth, traffic logs, or IP addresses of its users. Like major VPNs, they also use Google Analytics, but doesn’t use the tool to track its users’ online activities “by any means”.
NordVPN uses strong DNS leak protection that includes the use of an automatic kill switch. It employs NGE (Next Generation Encryption) in IKEv2/IPsec. According to the company, “The ciphers used to generate Phase1 keys are AES-256-GCM for encryption, coupled with SHA2-384 to ensure integrity, combined with PFS (Perfect Forward Secrecy) using 3072-bit Diffie Hellmann keys”. If you’re looking to subscribe to NordVPN, you’ll only get a 3-day trial, within which you’ll have to decide whether to sign up not. There’s no free tier on offer, not even with severe restrictions, as is the case with Hotspot Shield. The company offers monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, annual as well as biennial plans, while payment options include Bitcoin (for privacy), PayPal and credit cards.
Windscribe:
While most of the above-mentioned VPN services have been around for some time, Ontario, Canada-based Windscribe is a relative newcomer to the industry. Unlike Hotspot Shield, it offers a free tier without too many restrictions. So, you get 10GB of data per month and a choice of servers in 8 different locations with the free service, but there’s also a premium tier that gets you unlimited usage through servers in 46 different locations. The company also says that it doesn’t store any connection logs or IP timestamps, because, “one’s browsing history should be taken to one’s grave”. Dramatic? Yes. Reassuring? Definitely. Unlike many of the other companies on this list, Windscribe doesn’t even rely on Google analytics, and instead, uses the self-hosted Piwik instance, while help desk is powered by an open source version of osTicket.
Windscribe uses AES-256 cipher with SHA512 and a 4096-bit RSA key for encryption but doesn’t use a kill switch to prevent DNS leaks. Instead, it relies on the built-in firewall to block all activity outside of the tunnel. The same firewall also blocks IPv6 and WebRTC requests from leaking, according to Windscribe. This service also helps users to block ads, trackers, social widgets and changes the user agent by providing extensions and add-ons for popular browsers out there.
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Personally, I’m using NordVPN and could highly recommend to try them. It provides high security level (based in Panama with no logs and double vpn features (256bit) and cost from 3.3 dollars per month. IMHO one of the best options at the moment!