The Best VPN for Beginners: A Basic Guide to VPNs

Finding the best VPN for beginners can be overwhelming, given the fact that the VPN industry is immensely saturated. To give you a general idea, a Virtual Private Network (VPN, is a high-tech service that encrypts your online activities and safeguards your sensitive data. Moreover, it also hides your identity and spoofs your location. VPNs are designed to provide an added layer of security and privacy, enabling you to access geo-restricted streaming services, websites, and other web services.

In light of increasing cybersecurity risks and restrictions on copyrighted content, using a VPN has become a necessity rather than a luxury. Whether you want the best VPN for streaming or are more inclined toward enhancing your online security and want the best- secured VPNs, we will explain it all.

This best VPN for beginners simple guide is intended for netizens who are seriously contemplating getting a best VPNs that fits their bill perfectly. ExpressVPN is our top-recommended  VPN because it’s versatile and caters to your needs on all fronts.

Without further ado, let’s begin our VPN for beginners simple guide with a quick overview.

What to Look For in a VPN for Beginners

Choosing the best VPN for beginners takes a lot of effort. You have to consider a number of key factors that are essential for an ideal VPN experience. Here are some important features you must take into consideration while selecting the best VPN:

Ease of Use

Given the fact that we are looking for the best VPN for beginners, ease of use is a must. You must choose a VPN that is easy to use and offers one-click connectivity. Premium VPN automatically connects you to the fastest server according to your location. Moreover, the VPN you are looking for must have a user-friendly interface.

Customer Support

As a beginner, you will come across several glitches and complexities while using or setting up your VPN. The first platform to seek technical support is usually the official customer support of the VPN provider. Hence, you must choose a VPN app that offers 24/4 customer support. The best VPNs on our list provide round-the-clock technical assistance through Live chat and email.

Connection Speeds

There’s no doubt about the importance of internet speed. Slow speed literally kills all enthusiasm, whether you are looking for online gaming or streaming your favorite content. VPNs are known to slow down your internet speed due to remote connectivity and complex encryption. However, premium VPN providers don’t impact your internet speed a great deal. Our recommended VPNs offer unlimited bandwidth and provide you with ideal speed for online gaming, torrenting, and video streaming.

Security and Privacy

The basic purpose of using a VPN is to improve your online security and data privacy. Hence, you must keep top-notch data privacy features in mind when choosing the best VPN app.

In terms of security, our recommended VPNs are power packed with AES 256-bit encryption and a slew of other top-grade features like a Kill Switch and DNS & IP leak protection. Moreover, it’s essential to select a VPN that comes with a no-logging policy.

Multi-Platform Support

Due to ongoing tech revolutions, there are different types of devices that are running on different operating systems. From Windows, Mac, and Linux to Android and iOS devices, VPN providers tend to offer dedicated client apps for each platform. Our recommended VPNs provide cross-platform compatibility for all major operating systems and streaming devices.

Simultaneous Connections

If you have plenty of devices in your home and you want to protect them all, or even share your VPN subscription with your peers, it’s important to look for a VPN that offers multiple simultaneous connections. All of our recommended VPNs offer simultaneous multi-logins, but Surfshark excels from others by providing unlimited simultaneous connections.

The Best VPN for Beginners – In-depth Analysis

Let’s go through an in-depth analysis of the best VPNs for Beginners:

1. ExpressVPN: Best VPN for Beginners 

ExpressVPN is the best VPN for beginners because it excels at providing lightning-fast connections and robust security with the most secure VPN protocols like AES-256-Bit Encryption and DNS & IP Leak Protection. You can try out ExpressVPN’s free trial with its 30-day money-back guarantee. It’s a great choice for beginners due to its cross-platform compatibility.

This VPN hosts an extensive network of 3000+ servers in 94 countries, through which you can access a variety of geo-restricted platforms and websites. It’s the best VPN for Netflix and helps you access popular Netflix content libraries as well as other streaming platforms like BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and HBO Max.

All of its servers are loaded with the Trusted Server Technology and operate on a strict No-logging policy. ExpressVPN enhances your overall speed and also helps you bypass ISP throttling. A server obfuscation feature is also provided that hides your VPN connectivity.

This ExpressVPN speed test gave us excellent results, with a fast downloading speed of 89.64 Mbps and an uploading speed of 84.64 Mbps on a 100 Mbps connection.

ExpressVPN speed test on a 100 Mbps connection!

Even though ExpressVPN is considerably more costly than its peers, you can be assured that you will be given first-rate services. If you are wondering about the ExpressVPN cost, you can get its yearlong subscription package for just $6.67/mo (Get 49% Off + 3 Months FREE on its 12-Month Plan). It also offers its mobile phone users a 7-day free trial of ExpressVPN. Client support is also available to all users round-the-clock.

See our detailed ExpressVPN review for more information.

2. Surfshark: Budget-friendly VPN for Beginners 

Surfshark is the best budget-friendly VPN for beginners due to its affordable plans. It’s the cheapest VPN that offers top-notch security features for beginners. As far as Surfshark’s prices are concerned, you can subscribe to the 2-year subscription plan for an affordable fee of $2.30/mo (Get 84% + 2 Months FREE on 2-Year Plan). This VPN service features a massive network of more than 3200 servers dispersed over 100 countries.

This VPN allows fast access thanks to its enhanced privacy. It also unblocks all streaming platforms like Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video,  Disney+, and Sling TV.

Surfshark also provides a great combo of reliable connections with unlimited bandwidth for streaming HD content. When we performed several tests on a 100 Mbps connection, it attained a fantastic downloading speed of 81.32 Mbps and an uploading speed of 76.12 Mbps on the Surfshark speed test.

We achieved more or less the same speed results with all of its international servers.

Surfshark catches the eye by giving an unlimited number of simultaneous connections with a single subscription, which makes it the best VPN for multiple devices. It’s simple to use and supports iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, and Android.

Because of inventive features like a No-logs policy, RAM-only servers, a Kill Switch, AES 256-bit encryption, Camouflage Mode, Wireguard VPN protocol, and IP and DNS leak protection, your digital footprint is always secured.

If you are looking for a top-class VPN at a reasonable price, SurfShark is perfect. You can also cancel your subscription within the first month for a complete refund. A seven-day Surfshark free trial is available for new mobile users. Still, facing technical difficulties? Surfshark’s customer support is available all day, all year.

If you want more info,  look up our in-depth Surfshark review.

3. NordVPN: Secure VPN for Beginners

NordVPN is a secure VPN service for Beginners. It hosts more than 5500 high-speed servers in 60 countries. With these many servers available, you’ll have no problem changing your IP address to a suitable server for streaming any services.

You can easily unblock many streaming options, including Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime, and Netflix with NordVPN. In terms of speed, its ingenious NordLynx protocol aids 4K streaming. When we conducted the NordVPN speed test, it provided a download speed of 83.82 Mbps and an upload speed of 44.64 Mbps over a 100 Mbps connection.

NordVPN provided reliable speeds, which were good enough for streaming.

NordVPN can support up to six devices simultaneously and is compatible with a number of OS, like Linux, macOS, Windows, Android, and iOS. You can also use the SmartPlay (SmartDNS) tool on streaming devices like iPhones, game consoles, Roku, Apple TV, Firestick, Playstation, and Chromecast to unblock geo-blocked streaming platforms.

The cut-price choice is NordVPN’s 2-year subscription plan, which prices only $3.99/mo (Get 57% Off + 3 Months FREE on 2-Year Plan). You will also be given a 30-day refund guarantee. A one-week NordVPN free trial is available for smartphone users. So, you can cancel the NordVPN subscription if you are not up for it. The company’s client support is available all day long to assist you with any technical worries.

Check our comprehensive NordVPN review for more info.

Do You Really Need a VPN?

Yes, a VPN is needed if you seriously consider enhancing your online security and want to enjoy internet freedom. Take a look at the key reasons why users currently prefer to use VPNs:

Let’s discuss some key reasons for getting a VPN and how to use a VPN for beginners to improve your overall online security and roam around the internet freely.

1. Secure Your Online Privacy

Top-grade VPNs secure your online data and enhance your privacy by using the latest encryption protocols, such as AES 256-Bit Encryption, OpenVPN, WireGuard, IKEv2, and SOCKS5 protocol. Moreover, you also get other features that double your security, like Kill Switch, DoubleVPN, and a No-logging policy.

2. Torrent Files Safely and Anonymously

Torrenting comes with several cybersecurity risks. P2P networks can expose your identity and location to data hackers. Moreover, the files you are downloading can be full of malware. By using a VPN, your entire online activity is secured, and your identity becomes untraceable.

Moreover, your ISP won’t be able to detect your torrent downloading, hence, you will face no bandwidth throttling. Consequently, you will get fast download speeds, and there won’t be interruptions while downloading your files and data from torrents.

3. Bypass Blocks, Restrictions, Censorship, and Firewalls

Your ISP can block access to online content, websites, streaming platforms, and other web services due to several reasons, such as:

• Government censorship: Censorship by governments is a common phenomenon around the globe. Governments tend to put censorship on the internet if some content is not in line with social, religious, or political beliefs.
• General network restrictions: Network administrators in offices, colleges, and hospitals put restrictions on different websites, and web services that they consider aren’t fitting.
• Regional geo-restrictions: For copyright reasons, online services like streaming platforms put geo-restrictions on their content. For instance, you can’t access Netflix US, HBO Max, and BBC iPlayer outside of their licensed regions because they are geo-restricted.

FAQs –  Best VPN for Beginners

Conclusion 

The main reason for getting a VPN app is to safeguard your data privacy while using the internet. All premium VPNs offer military-grade encryption, top-notch security, and sturdy privacy tools to secure your sensitive information from data snoopers and prying eyes. VPNs are also designed to let you change your actual location by connecting to a remote server in your desired country. This helps you access geo-restricted streaming platforms and other online content.

We have tested 160+ VPN apps, and after hours of deliberation, we can conclude that ExpressVPN is the best VPN for beginners. It offers a massive global server network, ultra-fast speed, and top-grade security.