You’ve almost certainly heard adverts on your favourite podcasts about the benefits of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), but there’s a lot of misinformation about what they are and how they work. So what’s the appeal? They’ll mask your activity online, make it harder for websites to track your movements across the internet and even unlock the opportunity to log into websites like Netflix in foreign territories so you can explore what people watch on the other side of the world.

They are incredibly easy to use, encrypting your searches with just a few clicks, and are usually pretty affordable to sign up to, with the ability to cut about online in safety and anonymity across multiple devices, even if you’re using the more rogue public Wi-Fi servers. Online privacy and security is a hot-button topic right now, but there are dozens of different VPNs available and they are all quite tech-heavy, making it a bit of a chore to figure out which one is worth your time, especially for the uninitiated. But we’ve got you covered, as we’ve laid out our five favourite VPN services you need to know about.

Express VPN

You’ve surely all heard of it by now. Express VPN is one of the most ubiquitous services around and for very good reason: its affordability and versatility unlock plenty of opportunities to keep yourself and your data secured with absolute confidence, even if you’re somewhat of a novice when it comes to VPNs.

NordVPN

NordVPN is one of the more popular services simply because it’s affordable, easy to use and rapid at veiling your online movements on multiple devices. Just a click of a button and you’ll be masked, with the ability to push your IP to almost anywhere in the world with almost no lag.

ProtonVPN

We all love good, free service, and ProtonVPN has the reputation as one of the best no-fee VPNs available, though you can opt to pay and still enjoy some top-tier features. You get access to unlimited data transfer on the free subscription, which is quick to stream and very secure.