BuyVPN is an independent VPN comparison site. This page explains how our rankings are put together, what the scores mean, and the rules we hold ourselves to — so you can judge our recommendations on their merits.
Independence
Rankings are never for sale. We make money through affiliate links — when you sign up with a provider through us, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. That funding never buys a higher rank, a better score, or a more favourable write-up. A provider cannot pay to move up this list. If that ever changes, we'll say so plainly. (See our affiliate disclosure.)
How we score
Each VPN gets an overall score out of 10, built from the things that actually affect your experience rather than marketing spec sheets:
- Privacy — the logging policy, audits, jurisdiction, and how much data is needed to sign up.
- Speed — real-world responsiveness on modern protocols, not just headline lab figures.
- Servers — useful coverage and reliability, weighted for quality over raw count.
- Value — what you get for the real price you'll actually pay.
We deliberately don't reward vanity metrics. A network of "thousands of servers" earns nothing on its own; what matters is whether there are fast, reliable servers where people actually connect.
Why we rank on the real monthly price
The headline prices VPNs advertise almost always require a two- or three-year commitment billed upfront, and tend to jump at renewal. We compare the true no-commitment monthly rate — what you pay if you keep your options open — because that's the honest like-for-like number. It changes the "cheapest VPN" picture significantly, and it's the figure shown in our rankings.
Keeping it current
Prices, features, and policies change. We date our comparison data and revisit it as providers update their plans. Figures and ratings reflect our assessment at the time of the last update shown on the page — always confirm the current price on the provider's own site before you buy.
Who we are
BuyVPN is run by a small, independent editorial team that follows VPNs, privacy, and censorship-circumvention technology. We're not owned by a VPN provider. Our guides and rankings are written and reviewed in-house against the standards on this page.
Corrections
We'd rather be accurate than first. If you spot something out of date or wrong — a price that's changed, a policy we've misread — tell us and we'll fix it. Accuracy is the whole point of a comparison site.