katzenberger 🇺🇦<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.cc/@sebastian" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>sebastian@mastodon.cc</span></a></span></p><p>Most <a href="https://mastodon.de/tags/VPN" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>VPN</span></a> "providers" actually belong to a few conglomerates that also run various "affiliate" programs, plus "VPN testing websites" that happen to recommend their own products:</p><p><a href="https://vpnpro.com/blog/hidden-vpn-owners-unveiled-97-vpns-23-companies/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">vpnpro.com/blog/hidden-vpn-own</span><span class="invisible">ers-unveiled-97-vpns-23-companies/</span></a></p><p>Picking one depends on what you want to achieve.</p><p>E.g., if you want to bypass geoblocking for gaming etc., possibly requiring low latency, you'll probably be happier with one of the market leaders. They can rent and set up thousands of servers, with their respective IPs evading the blocks, for a while.</p><p>If you care about ethics and privacy, simply want to shift trust away from your ISP, and can live with being blocked because you've picked a VPN provider with a limited set of servers, the choice is essentially between <a href="https://mastodon.de/tags/Mullvad" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Mullvad</span></a> <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.online/@mullvadnet" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>mullvadnet</span></a></span> and <a href="https://mastodon.de/tags/IVPN" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>IVPN</span></a> <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.social/@ivpn" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>ivpn</span></a></span>.</p><p>Some people also count <a href="https://mastodon.de/tags/ProtonVPN" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ProtonVPN</span></a> in here, but the diversification strategy of the company has led to some decisions that don't inspire trust in me.</p><p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://social.itu.dk/@sebastian" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>sebastian@social.itu.dk</span></a></span> <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://aus.social/@drunkenmadman" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>drunkenmadman</span></a></span> <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/palestine" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>palestine</span></a></span></p>