A big VPN provider speed test (NordVPN, IPVanish, ExpressVPN, HideMyAss)

Are you using a VPN to protect yourself online? Or you considering buying a VPN subscription in order to stay safe online, or maybe just to unblock a social media service or to watch content currently geo-blocked?

If you have ever used a VPN, you probably know that a VPN can slow your Internet connection down a whole lot. I have personally experienced how a VPN connection has made life online impossible to enjoy, as I got download speeds of less than 1 Mbps after connecting to a VPN server.

A VPN speed test - Pixabay

For that reason, I thought it was time to do some testing again, and recently I have done speed tests on the following VPN providers: NordVPN, IPVanish, ExpressVPN and HideMyAss.

I made videos of all the tests, so if you want to watch how I did the actual speed tests, click the links beneath.

• ExpressVPN speed test
• IPVanish speed test
• NordVPN speed test
• HideMyAss speed test

How did the VPN speed test go? What were the results like?

To be honest, before I started the test, I expected the results to be fairly good, but not very good. I used the same Internet connection on all tests, meaning that my basic download speed was between 400 and 500 Mbps. I knew that no VPN connection could match those speeds, but the question was rather, how much will my download speed drop as I connect to the different VPN servers.

I did the testing from Hungary, meaning that it is natural that connections to servers near to my current location will give better speeds than connections to servers far away. That can also be seen in the tests of all the providers as I connect to servers in Australia and to locations in South America (and at times in the USA).

As I did the testing, all four providers gave me download speeds of more than 100 Mbps with some of their servers. For example, IPVanish gave me download speeds of 180 Mbps in Spain and more than 240 Mbps in Sweden. ExpressVPN gave me speeds of more than 180 Mbps in England, and around 200 Mbps in Switzerland. HideMyAss was the slowest of the four VPN providers, and they never reached 100 Mbps with their download speeds. Their fastest server during the test was located in England and gave me a download speed of 75 Mbps.

NordVPN had the average highest speed, with four of six servers providing speeds above 100 Mbps. It should also be mentioned that I tested their Double VPN connection as the last test, and there you connect to two VPN servers to make sure you stay even safer and better encrypted online. This connected gave me a download speed of 25 Mbps, which is very good considering what you get.

What is the conclusion of the VPN speed test?

The conclusion of this speed test is simply that all four providers give you great download speeds. If you have a slow router at home and use WiFi, then you will most likely never be able to enjoy such high speeds anyway. But, if you use an Ethernet cable and have a high-speed connection it might be important, and thus you can choose the VPN provider that sounds like the best to you.

I was positively surprised by the results, and I can warmly recommend all four providers based on the results. If you want to know more about all the four mentioned providers, make sure to read all my VPN reviews in the IP Address Guide.

Have you got any experience with any of the four mentioned VPN providers? Were you satisfied with what they offered and with the speeds they provided? I would love to hear your thoughts and read more about your experience!