The best VPNs for Android – our top picks based on expert testing

In our testing, Surfshark performed remarkably well. It unblocked every streaming service we tested without issue and showed no weakness to DNS leaks or kill-switch issues, the latter of which the provider fell afoul of in our previous tests. Its speed results saw it achieving a super-fast 2000 Mbps on WireGuard and 845 Mbps with OpenVPN.

Statistics aside, Surfshark’s usability on Android is key to what sets it apart from other Android VPNs. Loading the app gives you instant visibility of your fastest server, connection choices such as multihop, static IP, and dedicated IP, and your suite of available tools, all without overfilling the screen with overwhelming options and settings.

If you're in a hurry, Surfshark’s Android widgets offer quick access to either your fastest server location, your most recent connection locations (including MultiHop servers), or even Surfshark’s secure search browser – a neat addition for de-Googlers looking for a secure search option.

You'll find Surfshark’s full suite of tools within the app itself. Depending on the plan you choose, you can access everything from ad, tracker, and malware blocking, to email and personal detail masking called Alternative ID (which also offers phone number masking in the US), and data breach alerts for your personal data, credit cards, and ID.

Android users can also exclusively access geo-spoofing capabilities. While geo-spoofing doesn’t quite work as well as it once did with location-based games, this could be useful for people on dating apps, or users who’d rather their apps didn’t have a constant view of their real-time location.

All of these tools are simple to use, despite the confines of a small phone screen. Every setting and feature is within three taps of the home screen, and almost every tool has a handy one-line explainer so you’re never wondering what anything does – though we’d love to see the latency explainer given more prominence on the home screen, as it could otherwise go easily unnoticed.

Security fanatics will be glad to know that Surfshark’s Android app doesn’t skimp here either. OpenVPN and WireGuard protocols use AES-256-GCM and ChaCha20 encryption, respectively; all of its servers are RAM-only, and its no-logs policy and security have both been audited this year, with no critical vulnerabilities found. It's also the first major VPN to offer post-quantum encryption over WireGuard, meaning your activity will be impossible to decode with currently available tech.

It’s also great to see Surfshark offer a kill switch separate from the Android-native kill switch solution. This means you’re not forced to have a VPN on all the time to use the kill switch, and only ExpressVPN offers something similar.

Experienced VPN users will find lots to love about NordVPN. You’re greeted by its P2P, Onion Over VPN, Obfuscated, and Double VPN connection capabilities before you even reach its traditional locations list or its Meshnet feature. You’re also only 3 taps away from accessing custom DNS capabilities, local network settings, and post-quantum encryption capabilities.

That said, VPN novices will understand NordVPN well enough after a few uses. The app chooses the best protocol on a rolling basis, although the proprietary NordWhisper obfuscated protocol is omitted from this functionality. Access to NordLynx, NordVPN’s proprietary protocol built around WireGuard, and OpenVPN, both TCP and UDP, means you’ve got access to industry-approved, up-to-date protocols which the app will switch between as needed should you stick to automatic protocol selection.

Two key inclusions in NordVPN’s Android app are Threat Protection and Meshnet. Threat Protection is NordVPN’s ad, tracker, and unsafe domain protection system. It can be set up to work on Android either all the time or only when the VPN is connected, and even has an upgraded version, Threat Protection Pro, for Windows and Mac, should you use NordVPN across multiple devices.

Threat Protection blocked 34% of phishing sites, 24% of malware sites, and 21% of ads in our testing. That's nowhere close to perfect, but still among the best antivirus programs included with a VPN.

Threat Protection Pro performed much better in testing, blocking 92% of phishing sites, 80% of malware sites, and 21% of ads. It would be good to see improvements to the basic Threat Protection results in the near future, especially since Pro isn’t available on Android right now, but it’s definitely better than nothing.

Meshnet is one of our favorite features. It lets you connect up to 60 devices and use them as though they are all on the same local access network. This means you can play local multiplayer games easily, transfer files in seconds, and have constant access to any servers you may use to hold data. The best part is it’s seamlessly integrated into the Android app; you can connect to any online device from the home screen, and we found that even large files were rarely delayed during transfer.

It’s worth noting that NordVPN’s layout is a bit more complex than other Android VPNs. For example, while its map interface is lovely, we never once found ourselves using it to identify and connect to a specific server, instead referring the country list placed below. What’s more, the icons to navigate between menus aren’t labeled, and one of the four is merely for notifications. A labeled navigation system that also swapped out notifications for a dedicated settings menu, for example, would speed up accessing features and make the layout more novice-friendly overall.

However, its layout doesn’t stop NordVPN from being among the top-performing VPNs in our performance tests. It achieved 1427 Mbps when connecting via NordLynx, and 1093 Mbps over OpenVPN, more than enough for high-resolution streaming, gaming, or downloading large files. Plus, it unblocks every streaming service we tested, meaning no matter where you are in the world, your phone or tablet should be able to give you your home comforts without issue.

Proton’s lack of features does, however, make using it a simple and quick experience for VPN beginners. You’re greeted by a screen dedicated to getting you connected, be that to your default connection or a server or profile you’ve used recently, meaning a VPN newbie can simply click connect, join the most optimal server for them at the time (based on connection speed), and forget the VPN is even on.

More experienced users can quickly access advanced connection options via the navigation bar. Proton offers P2P and Tor Over VPN compatible servers, as well as Proton’s Secure Core server network, which protects users with two layers of full disk encryption, routing your connection through two servers as in a traditional multihop connection.

All of these options are quickly accessible and come with in-depth descriptions of when you might want to use them, meaning even beginners needn’t be overwhelmed should they try one out.

Something Proton puts particular emphasis on is profiles. These can be enabled quickly, either within the app or via a homescreen widget, and offer a simple solution to accessing specific VPN setups, even to the extent of loading specific URLs once the profile is activated.

This is extremely useful if you’d prefer to use a specific protocol, NAT type, or DNS when performing a particular task, or want a quick way to ensure you’re always connected to a VPN when you wish to load a particular site.

The only other feature to highlight for Android users on Proton is NetShield, Proton’s ad, malware, and tracker blocking solution. It turns on at the switch of a toggle, but, unfortunately, we found it’s not hugely effective in our testing. It blocked only 4% of malware sites and 32% of phishing sites – for comparison, Surfshark blocked almost five times the number of phishing sites. It was much more effective at ad blocking, stopping 88% of ads, but that’s still the lowest score among the providers listed. If you’re keen to add top protection to your Android device, your best bet is Surfshark.

By contrast, Proton VPN scored highly throughout our performance testing. It achieved 1783 Mbps download speeds using WireGuard but only 394 Mbps on OpenVPN, the former only being beaten by Surfshark. It also successfully unblocked every streaming service we tested without issue – great news if you’re looking to stream on the go with your Android device. Plus, should you run into any issues, unlikely though that is, you have the choice of WireGuard on TCP and UDP, OpenVPN on TCP and UDP, and Proton’s obfuscated Stealth protocol to help you access content as usual, no matter where you are in the world.

It’s difficult not to love how ExpressVPN sets its apps out – especially if you’ve never used a VPN before. Through revamps and redesigns, it's retained the simple 'big red button' approach, giving you instant access to your selected server location. If you’re unsure where to choose and just need the security benefits of a VPN, the Smart Location feature will connect you to the optimal VPN server based on latency and connection speed.

Alongside the big red button and your location choices, you’re also given quick access to auto-connect settings, which can be set for when your Android starts up and even when joining untrusted networks (such as public Wi-Fi in cafés), its ad, tracker, malicious site, and adult site blocking functions, and your protocol choices. Oddly, split tunneling and the killswitch can't be accessed from the home screen (but are only one tap away).

Something we love about ExpressVPN’s Android app is how much effort has gone into explanation and support. Firstly, all of ExpressVPN’s help materials can be accessed with a single tap, thanks to a support link in the bottom navigation bar. Additionally, every core setting and feature is explained in a way that even a total novice will understand. Protocol benefits are clearly stated, and settings tell you what you need to know about their utility before changing them. This makes ExpressVPN extremely simple to just pick up and use if you’re in a pinch and need a VPN.

ExpressVPN’s focus on layout and ease of use could, however, be attributed in part to its lack of other features. Its two key offerings are its password manager, ExpressKeys, and its ad, tracker, malicious site, and adult site blocking tool. Both tools are well integrated into the app, continuing the theme of easy use, but it’d be good to see more added to help Android users.

ExpressVPN also has an in-built speed testing tool to help users test the speed loss experienced when connected to the service. This won’t do masses for everyday VPN users, but it’s a nice addition for those looking to dive deeper into the numbers.

On the topic of numbers, ExpressVPN performed very well in our latest round of performance testing. It achieved 1810 Mbps connecting over Lightway Turbo, ExpressVPN’s proprietary protocol, and 967 Mbps over OpenVPN. These scores are more than enough to stream, game or download files, and put ExpressVPN ahead of NordVPN, our best VPN overall.

It’s also great to see that Android users get full customization, with explanations, of the protocols on offer. ExpressVPN on Android has Lightway, both TCP and UDP, OpenVPN, both TCP and UDP, and traditional WireGuard – though it’s likely for most use-cases you’ll find yourself simply using Lightway thanks to its speed and security. Plus, you can switch between AES-256-GCM and ChaCha20 encryption on the Lightway protocols, access post-quantum encryption should you need it, and configure manual proxy settings if that’s your preference, too.

In our performance tests, PrivadoVPN Free achieved 950 Mbps download speeds over WireGuard, incredible for a free VPN. What’s more, it unblocked Netflix in the US, UK and Canada without issue, and even in Australia and Japan after a couple of failed attempts. It also had no issue with Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, or ITVX, and eventually worked with 9Now and 10Play. The only streaming sites that it couldn’t crack were Channel 4 and Disney+, which is still rather impressive as a free VPN.

The suite of tools on offer with PrivadoVPN free is limited. Included are a kill switch, split tunneling, and obfuscation capabilities. Scramble, PrivadoVPN’s obfuscation technology, is only available on OpenVPN connections, though we were surprised to see that enabling it had little impact on our connection speed – which is great if you need to hide your VPN traffic for whatever reason, be that due to the region you’re in or the site you’re attempting to visit.

It’s also great to see the customizability on offer despite the VPN being free. You can set the app up to choose the best server for you based on either distance or latency, you can pick the port you use when using non-obfuscated OpenVPN protocols, and you can even choose whether your split tunneling is via a blacklist or a whitelist – meaning whether the selected apps are excluded from the VPN connection or the only ones to use it. This particular ability is superb if, for example, specific apps, such as banking apps or Android Auto, cannot function properly when connecting through a VPN.

Another useful inclusion in PrivadoVPN Free is GeoJump, a GPS spoofing solution that changes your GPS location to wherever you’re connected, no matter the protocol you use. While the limited server locations of the free app restrict uses for this, it does mean you can avoid apps unnecessarily tracking your real location, should you turn it on. We also love the ability to set up tiny home screen widgets to connect you to your best server location. This is something no other provider on this list offers, and gives you an easy way to incorporate your VPN into your app lists if your device is so loaded with apps that larger widgets may take up too much space.

While it’s difficult to look past the 10 GB data cap, testing PrivadoVPN Free on Android showed we only started truly churning through the data when we were streaming or downloading and uploading files. For general browsing, emails, and social media, we often found ourselves forgetting we were connected to the VPN, and never ran into warnings about the data cap. It shouldn’t go unmentioned that even if you were to reach this cap, you’re not disconnected entirely. Instead, your speeds are throttled to around 1 Mbps, which, while not ideal, means you can still use the VPN to some degree.