- What Is The Best Vpn For Mac
- Best Vpn For Macbook
- 2018 Vpn Review
- Best Vpn For Macbook Pro
- What Is The Best Vpn Software For Mac
If there was a word to describe the state of our digital lives in 2020, it would be 'privacy.' We're truly more concerned about exposing our personal information today than ever before. All because services we rely on every day, such as Google and Facebook, are always hungry for more of our behavioral data to feed into their advertising engines. Even our ISPs (internet service providers) are selling information to marketers. So a lot of people said 'enough' and turned to VPNs.
A good VPN (virtual private network) is essentially a cluster of servers spread out worldwide and it solves the problem of unsecured connection by encrypting the signal between your Mac and one of its servers of your choosing before it hits your ISP or any other people.
Although Goose VPN is not the best VPN for Mac from the standpoint of speed and the number of servers, it is an excellent example of a VPN that offers a very user-friendly client. Don't worry even if you have never used VPN before; Goose VPN will automatically set up the basic configuration allowing you to engage in secure browsing in a. One of the most popular and best free VPN for Mac is the NordVPN.
So what exactly are the benefits of using a VPN client for Mac? There are quite a few:
- Drawn from our directory of the best VPN services for 2020, here are our top picks for the best Mac VPN. Read more: Best remote learning MacBook for 2020: MacBook Air vs.
- Get 3 months free with an annual plan on Techradar's #1 rated Mac VPN. ExpressVPN is our top choice for the best all-round VPN on the Mac (and iPhone VPN).The firm's dedicated app is intuitive.
What Is The Best Vpn For Mac
Protect your private information online from snooping advertisers
Prevent hackers from seeing your data while you're using unsecured public networks (e.g. in a cafe)
Add an extra layer of online security (in case someone would ever want to get access to your Mac)
See geographically restricted content (e.g. US-based Netflix) by directing your traffic to a server in that country
Seems quite useful, doesn't it? Let's then go over all the factors that are important in choosing the best VPN service for your Mac.
How To Choose The Best Mac VPN
Since privacy has become a popular issue, it's no wonder that the proliferation of Mac VPN clients happened at the same time. There are, however, some aspects by which you can pick the best VPN app for you.
Servers. Simply put, the more servers your setup VPN on Mac has the better. You get more choice of countries to pick and browse from, although a curated selection is sometimes better than the sheer number, since you'll probably not use most of them, but some of them you'll use a lot.
Price. Cheap VPNs often provide the same service for less money. So why not? However, beware of the best free VPN for Mac marketing calls — running VPN servers costs money, so if they are not taking it from you, they are more likely to actually be selling your data too.
Speed. The closer the VPN server is to your location the faster your signal can reach it — resulting in faster internet speeds. So reaching a US-based server from Canada would take much less time than from, say, India.
Interface. Some VPN clients are enterprise-grade and complex, some are simple and user-friendly. Some have a lot of features, some don't. Pick the one that's right for your goals.
Device support. It's important to check that your VPN on Mac also works for iOS, Windows, Linux, Android, and anything else you or people you share the VPN with are using.
In addition, before you inquire about how to setup VPN on Mac, make sure that it doesn't log any of your activity. This should be outlined in its privacy policy, so at least give it a quick scan before you commit.
Ready to see the top picks for the best VPN 2020?
Security: NordVPN for Mac
While NordVPN is a good VPN client for Mac all around, it especially excel in providing an extra layer of security, known as the Double VPN — which encrypts all your data twice by passing it through two of their servers, in addition to other offerings like a secured chat and web proxies.
Ease of use: ExpressVPN
One of the most famous Mac VPN clients, ExpressVPN is also a strong contender across all categories, but its true trump card is how easy it is to use. Just get the ExpressVPN download for Mac, choose the destination country, and simply click to connect.
Affordability: PureVPN
If you were originally looking for the best free VPN for Mac and now realized it's not such a good idea, but still want to get access to cheap VPNs from time to time, you should try PureVPN.
PureVPN has all the essential features of the best VPN service (servers in more than 140 countries) while still being able to undercut them all on price, so you can get a good VPN for just $3.33 a month.
Speed: Hotspot Shield
For some people, security is desirable, but speed is non-negotiable. How fast the best Mac VPN client is depends on the number of servers, their processing power, and their positioning with relation to your actual location.
Hotspot Shield manages to ace all of those and comes out on top when compared to other Mac VPN clients, mostly due to its proprietary VPN protocol called Catapult Hydra, which solves a lot of latency issues that affect the industry, especially cheap VPNs.
Versatility: Shimo
If you're not sure which best Mac VPN factor to prioritize, or you want flexibility, there's no better way to go than Shimo.
Shimo is one of the best VPNs for Mac on the market, simply due to its flexibility. While a full-featured VPN in its own right, it also allows you to add VPN accounts from OpenVPN, Cisco IPSec, PPTP, and lots of other protocols. What's more, Shimo doesn't limit your connections and makes it possible to set automatic triggers for types of networks or geographic locations. And it's so easy to use too — no technical background required!
How to properly test VPN speed
It might be that Hotspot Shield is the fastest VPN client for Mac you can use. But, as was pointed out above, the speed you get might differ based on your location and the proximity of company's servers. So you could in theory end up with a different client working better for you. The question is how do you test the speed properly? First, you need TripMode.
TripMode is a great app for controlling all incoming and outgoing traffic to your Mac. It's especially useful for reducing data usage when hotspotting or when you're in a place that has very minimal WiFi connection.
For our VPN testing purposes though, TripMode allows to block all processes from accessing the internet, except for the best VPN app you've chosen. That way you'll be able to get a real picture of what the real VPN speed is.
How to protect your Mac from malware
What even the best VPNs don't do is protect your Mac from malware or viruses. Even though Macs are sandboxed from direct intrusion, your best bet here is to get a proper malware scanner, such as CleanMyMac X.
CleanMyMac X is an all-in-one Mac optimization utility that makes it easy to keep your laptop safe, secure, and blazing-fast. It includes dozens of scans to tweak every part of your Mac for optimal performance as well as a thorough and continuously updated Malware Removal capability to spot malicious players in seconds.
Using CleanMyMac X to track down malware couldn't be more simple:
Navigate to the Malware Removal tab under Protection
Click Scan
Hit Remove if anything was found
In the end, the best Mac VPNs play an important role in keeping your private life, well, private and helping you avoid dubious geographical restrictions when it comes to access to content. Make sure you pick one that suits your needs the most (e.g. Shimo) by testing it with TripMode. And when you feel like your Mac needs some proper security (and you should), pay attention to CleanMyMac X.
Best of all, Shimo, TripMode, and CleanMyMac X are available to you all at once for free during a seven-day trial with Setapp, a platform with more than 170 best apps for your Mac, from recovering data (Disk Drill) to managing projects like a pro (Merlin Project Express). Try them all today at absolutely no cost!
Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.
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If you want to use a VPN on your Mac computer, there are a few factors you should keep in mind. Firstly, it's important to know whether the VPN software is compatible with Apple products. Fortunately, this is the case for many VPNs. Secondly, a VPN's speed can make a big difference. Trying to browse the web with a slow internet connection can make the whole experience a lot less enjoyable. Finally, any extra options a VPN offers could affect your choice as well.
We took all these considerations into account as we put together our list of the best VPNs for Mac. Eventually, ExpressVPN came out on top:
Do you own a Mac computer and would you like to secure it with the best VPN out there? Scroll down to have a look at our top 3 best VPNs for MacOS.
With a good VPN for Mac you can make sure you can browse the web safely and anonymously. In addition, a VPN helps you gain a lot more internet freedom, which you can use, for instance, to watch the Netflix content in another country. Moreover, you can use public Wi-Fi networks without having to worry about hackers stealing your personal information. In this article you will find out what the best VPN providers for Mac are.
A VPN For Mac: What to Look Out For
There are a lot of providers to choose from when you are looking for a VPN for your Mac. The most important condition is that the provider offers software for MacOS, the Mac operating system. Luckily, almost all of the premium VPN providers do so.
Another thing to look out for is connection speed, as it is very annoying when your internet is slowed down by your VPN. Therefore, we subject all VPN providers to speed tests to see if they perform well. Since the results can be very different, it's good to keep this in mind when selecting a VPN for Mac.
Finally, there are a lot of personal preferences as far as VPNs are concerned. One person might find it very important that the VPN provider allows for torrent downloading, while the other wants to be able to use his or her account on 5 devices at the same time. Therefore, the best VPN providers cater to everybody's needs and offer great value for money.
Best VPN Providers For Mac
Keeping in mind all the essential features, the following selection of VPN providers is most suitable for MacOS. All of the providers below have great software and apps for other operating systems, like Android, iOS, and Windows, as well.
ExpressVPN for Mac
You cannot make a list of good VPN providers for Mac without mentioning ExpressVPN. They offer a large number of servers (3000+) in an equally impressive number of countries (94). These servers allow for a fast and stable connection. Also, you can download through P2P networks and ExpressVPN even works with Netflix, meaning you can, for instance, watch the large selection of movies and series of the US version of Netflix.
ExpressVPN has excellent applications for all operating systems. This means that the app for MacOS, too, is very simple and clear. Their security measures adhere to the highest international standards so you will be very safe and anonymous. ExpressVPN has been in our top 5 for the last couple of years for a reason.
- Very easy to use VPN
- Perfect for anonymous browsing, downloading, and streaming (i.e. Netflix)
- 3000+ servers in 94 countries
Surfshark for Mac
Surfshark is not just a very affordable VPN provider, but also offers a large server network, comprising more than 1000 servers in 61 countries. Moreover, Surfshark is surprisingly fast for a VPN in its price range and even gives many more expensive competitors a run for their money. Also, Surfshark too offers a great app for MacOS, which is very user-friendly and works very intuitively.
As far as safety and privacy go, Surfhark is right up there with the best too. Surfshark claims it doesn't collect and store user logs, which we find a credible claim, considering the jurisdiction it's bound by (The British Virgin Islands).
Surfshark also allows for torrent downloading, which it even offers special P2P severs for. Not all VPN providers allow torrent downloading but Surfshark is a download-friendly VPN provider. What's also great to know, is that Surfshark works well with the US version of Netflix.
You can try out Surfshark on your Mac for 30 days with their 30-day money-back-guarantee.
- Very user-friendly and works with Netflix and torrents
- 30 days money back guarantee. No questions asked!
- Cheap with many extra options
Private Internet Access for Mac
Private Internet Access also has a nice app for MacOS. This provider puts their clients' privacy at number one. They offer excellent security standards, safe encryption protocols and don't keep any logs. PIA also allows torrent downloading.
Another big plus is that PIA is very affordable. Since Macs are expensive enough as it is, it might be nice to save some money on your VPN. You can get a subscription with PIA for just a couple of dollars a month.
- Strong focus on privacy and security
- Good price
- Fast and stable servers
Free vs. paid VPNs
Free VPNs can seem very attractive, just because they are free. However, many free VPNs are not secure at all. For example, they often keep logs of users or they sell your personal information to third parties. Sometimes they even leave malware on your device.
Secondly, many free VPNs have a data or speed limit, so you can only protect a certain amount of MBs or GBs of Internet traffic with the VPN. Speed limits often slow down your internet dramatically.
If you're okay with working within these limits, we recommend you take a look at our top 5 best free VPN services. This way, you can be sure which free VPN guarantees your security. It's also a good option to check out the best cheap VPNs if you don't want to spend too much money.
Installing a VPN on Mac
With a subscription to one of the providers mentioned above, it is very easy to set up a VPN connection on your Mac. Most premium VPN providers offer an easy application that makes their VPN very user-friendly. However, you might want to set up your VPN connection yourself. Use the following steps to manually set up a VPN for your Mac:
- In the Apple menu, go to 'System preferences'.
- Select 'Network'.
- Click on the plus sign in the bottom left corner.
- Select 'VPN' under Interface.
- Select the protocol that you prefer. OpenVPN is the safest and generally best option, but depending on the circumstances, MacOS might not provide that option when setting up a VPN manually. In that case, choose IKEv2.
- Fill in your login information. You can get this information from the website of your VPN provider.
We recommend using the easy installation wizard and the app that most VPN providers offer, simply because it is easier. Moreover, if you set up a VPN connection manually and you want to change the settings you will have to go back to your system preferences, while the VPN app can change everything for you automatically.
Final Thoughts
ExpressVPN, Surfshark, and Private Internet Access are all good options if you want to use a VPN for your Mac. For a few dollars every month you can be much more protected and anonymous online. Use their easy applications to create a secure connection through one of their VPN servers. If you want to, you can also set up the VPN connection yourself.
Do you have specific problems you can't solve yourself? Then take a look at our frequently asked questions below; you might find a quick answer.
Best Vpn For Macbook
ExpressVPN has a large amount of servers in many locations. On all these servers, downloading torrents via P2P networks is allowed. ExpressVPN also works with Netflix. This provider offers excellent software for all operating systems. On MacOS, too, ExpressVPN is very simple and clear. It's the combination of speed, stability and excellent customer service that makes this the best VPN for Mac.
2018 Vpn Review
There are several good free VPNs that work well on MacOS. However, a common drawback of these free versions is that they have speed or data limits. Would you rather surf the Internet without limitations? In that case, there are several good paid VPNs, including some very cheap options.
There are two ways to set up a VPN on your Mac. You can install the VPN software and then enable it; we recommend this, because it's simply the easiest way. You can also set up the VPN in your System Preferences. Learn how to do that here.
Best Vpn For Macbook Pro
A VPN provides a secure connection between you and the internet. Whether you use MacOS, Windows or Linux, the data traffic of your internet connection is always encrypted with a VPN. If you are connected to the Internet with a VPN, all of your data is sent through an encrypted virtual tunnel, routed over one of your VPN provider's servers.
What Is The Best Vpn Software For Mac
Because a VPN secures your Internet connection, you can surf the Internet more securely, anonymously, and freely on your Mac. Among other things, a VPN allows you to prevent external actors from accessing your personal information. With the right VPN, you can also access media in other countries, such as foreign Netflix catalogs.
