A word from the editor
Nathan Okoye — Editor. Nathan spent ten years as a systems administrator and then a support team lead for an internet provider in Ohio, explaining VPNs, router settings and password habits to customers who had been sold total anonymity. That is why this site starts from what the product actually does.
Why this site exists
VPN marketing promises privacy, speed, access and safety in one subscription, usually with a countdown timer beside the price. Each promise is partly true, which is what makes the whole thing hard to evaluate.
A VPN does one thing well: it moves your traffic through someone else’s server. Everything useful, and everything misleading, follows from that.
Who it is for
Home internet users, travelers and remote workers in the United States who are deciding whether a VPN or password manager is worth paying for and which claims to believe.
Everything here lives in one category, VPN & Privacy: understanding what a VPN protects and does not, comparing speed and protocols, using a VPN while traveling, choosing a password manager, and reading renewal and refund terms.
Our boundaries
Security guarantees and incident response. We explain common protections. We do not guarantee any product’s security or advise on a breach. Contact the affected service and a qualified professional.
Legal advice about VPN use. Whether and how VPNs may be used varies by country and employer. We tell you to check, and do not tell you what is lawful for you.
Terms-of-service of streaming services. We explain that terms exist. We do not interpret them or advise on bypassing them.
How we work
- We start from what the tool does. Knowing that a VPN shifts trust from your internet provider to the VPN company tells you what to ask. A badge does not.
- We do not promise anonymity. No consumer tool delivers it. We say what is reduced and what is not.
- We read the renewal terms. Introductory prices and long plans are where the cost hides. We show how to total them.
- We say when you do not need one. On a trusted home network, a VPN may add little, and we say so.
Funding and independence
VPN Brief HQ is free to read and is supported by display advertising, plus affiliate links on some pages. If you use an affiliate link and buy something, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Advertisers do not see our articles before publication and have no influence over them; ads are placed automatically by third-party networks. Affiliate commissions do not decide our recommendations either — a good deal of our advice is to skip the three-year plan and test the service first, which is the least profitable thing a VPN site can say. The full disclosure is on our Disclaimer page.
Corrections policy
Products, prices and protocols change, and we sometimes miss one. If something here is wrong, send it through our contact form with a source. We will verify it, correct the article, and record what changed and when.
Contact
Questions, disagreements and topic suggestions are welcome through our Contact page. We cannot test your connection or audit your accounts, but we can usually tell you which two questions to put to a vendor before you subscribe.