As it was made clear that our internet traffic is not private. It is true that surveillance agencies around the world are spying on as many users as they can at this very moment, but they are not the only ones you should be worrying about. Your Internet Service Providers are actually the ones closest to your online traffic and the ones who could do more damage with the least effort if they decide to use your personal information to the benefit of others or themselves.
As it happens, ISPs have access to information about all your connections, including dates, times, addresses and if you navigate in unprotected websites, they can even monitor the content you’ve shared. Your ISP can potentially store every single bit of information about your online activity, but what’s more worrying is the potential of the things they could be doing with them.
Last year, the UK passed a bill that legalized bulk data collection from surveillance agencies and this would be done, of course, through local ISPs, forcing them to hand over user information as it is demanded by the GCHQ, which is the British equivalent of the US National Security Agency. And now that we’re talking about it, the US Congress just happened to pass a bill that makes it legal for ISPs within the country to sell their users’ information without their consent, a move they’ve wanted to pull off for years. This basically means they’re charging their users for handing over their personal information to advertisers and government spies.
While this doesn’t affect the whole world, it does make it evident that ISPs are more than willing to compromise your privacy if the situation demands it. For this reason, every day more and more people are adopting security measures to prevent ISPs from spying on them and giving them no information to monetize. Although hiding from the company that connects you to the internet might sound like an impossible task, it is very much achievable with the best logless VPNs.
VPNs: What they are and how they work
Their name might sound intimidating if you’ve never heard of them before, but the truth is that Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, are the easiest and most efficient tool you can use to hide your internet traffic. VPN clients encrypt and redirect your internet traffic to a series of servers (“the network”), once your request has reached the server, it then proceeds to be fulfilled and reach the website you originally intended to.
What’s important about this process is that your ISPs never get to see the real data about your navigation. All they get is information about your connection to the VPN server, which is of no use to surveillance agencies or advertising companies.
The Risks
You have to be aware that using a VPN does not make you bulletproof. In a way, when you use a VPN, all you’re doing is handing your private data to a VPN service provider instead of your ISP. This could lead you to the same kind of problem that made you use a VPN in the first place, except for one key difference: good VPN service providers keep no logs about your online activity.
This means that all the information about your navigation gets destroyed as soon as it is used. This protects you in the case a law enforcement agency wants to seize the VPN servers and also ensures your data is not being sold to anyone.
Best Logless VPNs
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|---|---|---|
| Multi-platform Compatible | ||
| 256-AES Encryption | ||
| PRICE | $5 for 1 month with code "best10VPN" | $6.95 a month |
| Website Rating | 9.9 | 8.8 |
| 24/7 Live Chat | ||
| Residential / Dedicated IP for permanent streaming access | ||
| Has Mobile App + PC / Mac Support | ||
| Stealth VPN / Advanced Obfuscation techniques | ||
| Visit VPN Provider | Visit TorGuard | Visit PIA |
There are many VPN providers out there and a lot of them claim to keep no logs of their users’ activity, but we’ve taken the liberty of testing them for you so you don’t have to waste your time checking every single one of them, here are the best we found:
IPVanish
IPVanish is featured in Best10VPN’s top 10. Like all the others on this list, they are one of the best logless VPNs available and provide you with many security features that protect your privacy. However, their headquarters are located in the US. Even if there are no data retention laws in this country, they’re still famous for performing illegal surveillance activities.
Still, their reputation is pretty clean and they do offer quality features like traffic obfuscation and multiplatform support, as well as a wide list of server locations. Not to mention that they own their own servers, as opposed to many others who rent a lot of them, meaning the actual owners could be keeping logs about user traffic without their consent.
GhostVPN
Also located in the US, GhostVPN is a very young provider that has quickly become a respectable option. They have all the features of every other major competitor and as it would be expected from any VPN on this list, they do not keep any user activity logs in their systems. They still lack support for mobile platforms and live chat for their customer support, but they’ve still got it where it counts.
They let their users pay for subscriptions using bitcoin and have a list of over 50 countries to connect from in their network. Their pricing is very competitive in relation to the features they offer and they have a money back guarantee so giving it a shot will not hurt you.
ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is famous for its fast connections and their lack of bandwidth limitations. Their headquarters are in the British Virgin Islands, where there are no data retention laws but still have the presence of the GCHQ, so you might want to play it safe and pass on this one. In any case, they’re still a very good provider with unstained reputation and many good security features.
They do keep some logs about dates, server ID and amounts of data transferred for performance and maintenance purposes, but these are never associated with IP addresses so you’ll still be safe at all times. They support all major platforms including Windows, Mac OS, iOS, Android, Linux and even some routers. Definitely one of the best logless VPNs out there.
Private Internet Access
Also referred to by its acronym PIA, Private Internet Access is not only among the top logless VPNs but also the best VPNs period. Like IPVanish and TorGuard, it is featured in top VPNs and they have a strong reputation. They even once published a court order requiring them to hand over customer records but they had nothing to give, proving their zero logs policy was in fact true.
Their HQ is located in the US so like with IPVanish you might consider this as a factor. Also, their user interface still has some way to go, but if you’re not concerned about aesthetics and know what you’re doing, PIA is one of the best logless VPNs when it comes to price vs value.
TorGuard
TorGuard is the preferred choice for power users who like to download heavy torrents. In fact, they’ve even optimized some of their servers for that purpose only. The most remarkable thing about this provider is the number of little features and security details offered to their users, like proxy service, support for scripting, anonymous email service and many others. While some of them aren’t included in the basic VPN subscription, they are surely worth the extra amount.
As a company, TorGuard is registered to the island of Nevis which is inside the jurisdiction of US law enforcement, but like we’ve seen with the other VPN providers on this list, this should not mean their service is worse or less secure. They’re truly one of the best logless VPNs available in the market and are definitely worth a shot, their 7-day money back guarantee lets you try its features without any risks.
