VPN & VPS Providers
Who to actually trust with your traffic, and who to rent a server from. See Part 1: VPN Fundamentals for what a VPN does and doesn't protect before picking one.
CHOOSING A TRUSTWORTHY VPN PROVIDER
Not all VPNs are equal, and a lot of VPN marketing is misleading. Before you trust one, ask three simple questions: Is it reliably accessible? Does it log what you do? And is it self-hosted or run by a trustworthy non-profit? If a VPN logs everything, there is no real difference between it and your ISP.
Checklist of good signs:
- The provider has survived a real police raid or legal seizure of its servers, and no usable logs were recovered (cited examples: Mullvad, ExpressVPN).
- It accepts cash-equivalent or cryptocurrency payment and does not require personal information to create an account.
- It supports open, auditable protocols — specifically OpenVPN and/or WireGuard — rather than forcing you into a closed, proprietary app.
- It publishes transparency reports and clear, specific answers about server locations, rather than inflated "virtual server" counts.
- It offers a genuine, well-documented kill switch that blocks all traffic if the VPN connection drops.
- It owns or directly controls its server hardware (bare metal, sometimes running entirely in RAM) rather than only renting virtual servers from third parties.
A note on no-log VPNs: a "no-log" (non-logging) VPN promises not to record your activity. The catch is that anyone can claim it, so look for proof — independent audits, and ideally a real police raid that came up empty. Mullvad is the standout, with more than ten independent audits and a Swedish police raid that seized nothing because there was nothing to seize. Treat other no-log claims with more caution; a no-log claim is only worth as much as the audit behind it.
PROVIDERS WITH GOOD REVIEWS
No personal information needed, random account numbers, accepts Amazon scratch cards, open-source client, "Local Network Sharing" feature, moved from OpenVPN to WireGuard.
mullvad.net →No personal information required, custom DNS support, multi-hop capability, open-source software, published server status, documented kill switch.
ivpn.net →Employee-owned, offers multi-hop "Secure Core" servers and a Tor-over-VPN option, uses diskless servers — though it scored poorly on one location-honesty test cited in the source.
protonvpn.com →Honest marketing, a DNS-based ad/tracker blocking feature called R.O.B.E.R.T, and a responsive security team.
windscribe.com →One Reddit thread argues Mullvad is overrated — worth reading both sides.
PROVIDERS AND PATTERNS FLAGGED AS RISKY
| PROVIDER / PATTERN | WHY IT'S FLAGGED |
|---|---|
| NordVPN | Has routed traffic through residential IPs from questionable sources and lacks transparency reporting. |
| ExpressVPN & CyberGhost | Both owned by Kape Technologies, a company with a past tied to malware distribution. |
| Google's built-in VPN | Permanently changes Windows DNS settings. |
| Free VPNs in general | Exceptions: the limited free tiers from ProtonVPN, TunnelBear, and Windscribe. RiseUp is a fully free VPN with positive reviews. |
VPS PROVIDERS
Unlike VPNs, a VPS is less about trust and more about price, reliability, and how much of the setup is spelled out for you. The VPS & Self-Hosting walkthrough uses Vultr as its example.
Cloud Compute (shared) plans starting around $5/month for 1GB RAM, with data centers in many regions and new accounts often getting promotional credit. The cheapest ($2.50/month) tier is IPv6-only and limited to a few locations — skip it for a normal website. See Rent & Set Up the Server for the full walkthrough.
my.vultr.com →The same ideas apply to other VPS providers and registrars, with minor differences in the menus — the setup steps in Part 4 aren't Vultr-specific.