Best Security & VPN — every ranking, by use case and budget
Kept up to date, not our focus.
Security & VPN categories
Guides that send readers to these rankings
How to Remove Yourself From People-Search Sites
Opt-out links for the sites we ranked, what to expect, and the paid services that keep doing it.
What a VPN Actually Does (and What It Does Not)
A VPN hides your traffic from your ISP and your IP from websites. It does not make you anonymous, and it does not stop tracking. Here is the honest list.
Freeze Your Credit First: The Free Steps That Do More Than Any Subscription
Freezes at the three bureaus, free monitoring, and the two situations where a paid service earns its money.
How to Choose a Password Manager (and Set It Up in an Hour)
The four security features that matter, our picks by situation, and the one-hour setup that gets you off reused passwords.
Antivirus Renewal Prices: What You Really Pay in Year Two
First-year offers against renewal for every suite we tested, and how to avoid the jump.
Do You Still Need Antivirus? Windows Defender vs Paid Suites
What Defender caught and missed in our tests, the three things paid suites actually add, and who should pay.
Leaving LastPass: Which Manager to Move To and How
Why people left after the 2022 breach, the three managers that import a LastPass export cleanly, and the steps.
VPN Jurisdiction and No-Logs Audits: What the Fine Print Means
Why Panama, Switzerland and the BVI matter, what 5/9/14-Eyes means in practice, and how to read an audit report.
People-Search Sites vs FCRA Background Checks: Which One Is Legal for Your Purpose?
The Fair Credit Reporting Act line in plain English, what each site in our ranking may be used for, and the penalties for getting it wrong.
What to Do in the First 48 Hours After Identity Theft
The federal reporting steps, the calls to make in order, and how the restoration teams in our ranking take it from there.