The Best Rising Star VPNs to Watch in 2026: A Comprehensive Guide

You've probably heard the VPN pitch a thousand times. Protect your privacy. Unblock content. Stay safe on public Wi-Fi. The usual stuff.

But here's what's actually happening in 2026: the VPN space is fragmenting. The big players like Express VPN and Nord VPN are still massive, sure. But they're also getting bloated with features nobody asked for, and their pricing keeps creeping up. Meanwhile, a new breed of VPN companies is emerging. Smaller teams. Bolder technology choices. Actually transparent about how they operate.

These aren't the household names yet. But they're gaining serious momentum, and for good reason. Some of them are solving real problems that the incumbents ignored. Others are just executing with better engineering and more honest communication.

I spent the last few months testing the emerging VPN providers that people in the security community are actually talking about. Not the marketing hype. Not the affiliate spam. The ones where engineers and privacy advocates are saying: "Yeah, this one's worth paying attention to."

This guide covers the three VPN services that are genuinely shaking things up right now. I'm talking about their actual technical approach, the real trade-offs, pricing that doesn't hide behind fake discounts, and whether they're actually worth your money.

TL; DR

• New VPN players are disrupting the market with transparent practices and innovative architectures that challenge outdated approaches
• Privacy-first design is now table stakes, but execution differs dramatically between providers in how they handle logging, encryption, and jurisdiction
• Performance varies based on technical infrastructure, with some rising stars offering faster speeds than established competitors through newer network design
• Pricing is more competitive than ever, with emerging VPNs avoiding the aggressive discount tactics of older providers
• Infrastructure location matters tremendously for jurisdiction, regulatory risk, and network resilience

Mullvad and IVPN offer stable and predictable pricing models without aggressive discounts, focusing on sustainability. Estimated data for ProtonVPN, ExpressVPN, and NordVPN based on typical market rates.

Understanding the Modern VPN Landscape

Before we talk about specific rising stars, you need to understand what's actually changing in 2026. The VPN market in 2025 was frankly stale. Most providers were running the same WireGuard or OpenVPN protocols, hosting servers in the same countries, and competing purely on price and marketing spend.

That's changing. And fast.

The new wave of VPN companies are making different architectural decisions from day one. Some are using custom protocols built for speed. Others are experimenting with different ways to handle DNS queries and prevent leaks. A few are rethinking where and how they store encryption keys.

But here's the critical part: innovation without transparency is just marketing theater. The rising stars that are actually gaining credibility aren't just adding features. They're being explicit about what they do, how they do it, and why they made those technical choices.

What the Old Guard Got Wrong

The established VPN providers made some fundamental assumptions in the 2010s that no longer hold up.

First, they assumed scale was everything. Massive server networks in dozens of countries with thousands of nodes. This sounds good in marketing, but it creates operational complexity that breeds security problems. More servers means more potential vulnerabilities, more staff with access to infrastructure, and more jurisdictions where law enforcement can demand data.

Second, they treated features as competitive advantage. Split tunneling, kill switches, ad blockers, password managers. The bloat is real. Users want a VPN that doesn't suck, not a kitchen sink that happens to have VPN functionality.

Third, they relied on aggressive discounting to acquire customers. "Pay $2.99/month if you commit to three years." It's unsustainable and breeds customer resentment when renewal time hits.

The rising stars are rejecting all three assumptions.

The Technical Shift in 2026

Protocol design is evolving fast. WireGuard revolutionized the space in 2019 by proving you could build something both faster and more auditable than 20-year-old OpenVPN. But WireGuard itself has limitations for VPN applications, specifically around statelessness and connection handling.

New providers are taking different approaches. Some are building on WireGuard's principles but adding features for real-world VPN use. Others are going back to cryptographic first principles and designing from scratch.

The practical difference? Speed increases of 15-30% compared to traditional OpenVPN setups. Battery life improvements on mobile devices because the protocol does less busy-waiting. Better resilience to connection drops.

These aren't theoretical improvements. They matter for actual users.

The Three Rising Stars Worth Your Attention

1. Mullvad: Privacy Without Compromise

Mullvad has been around since 2009, but it's genuinely a rising star right now because they're becoming the anti-VPN VPN.

Here's the thing about Mullvad: they don't want to know who you are. Not for marketing reasons. Not because it's a nice marketing angle. Because they fundamentally believe that not collecting user data is the only way to build trustworthy infrastructure.

No accounts. No usernames. No emails required. You download the app, it generates a random account number, and that's it. You can delete that number and generate a new one anytime. They literally can't tie any usage pattern to any real person because they don't ask for identifying information.

This sounds gimmicky until you realize it's actually genius security architecture. If a government shows up with a subpoena demanding "all logs for user X," Mullvad has nothing. There's no user X. There's just a random number that might have been used once or might have been used a thousand times. They can't prove activity, timing, or destinations.

The technical implementation backs this up. Mullvad runs WireGuard with some custom modifications to handle multiple simultaneous connections better. They route all traffic through their own infrastructure, which means they own the responsibility for every packet. No third-party hosting, no cloud provider who could be pressured.

Pricing is refreshingly honest: about $5.50/month if you pay monthly, no fake discounts for annual plans (though annual does exist). They accept cash and cryptocurrency specifically so they don't have payment processors as potential weak points.

The trade-offs? They have fewer servers than the big players (around 400-500 globally). This is actually intentional. They'd rather maintain perfect security on 500 servers than compromise on 5,000. Connection speeds are good but not exceptional because they prioritize privacy over network performance. Some edge cases with payment and account recovery don't work as smoothly as they could.

But if your primary concern is actually privacy rather than Netflix unblocking, Mullvad is probably the most trustworthy option available right now.

2. IVPN: Transparent Privacy with Audited Infrastructure

IVPN started as a smaller player but has become genuinely significant because they're doing something that's actually rare: publishing comprehensive transparency reports and getting regular third-party security audits.

Their server infrastructure is in countries with strong privacy frameworks: Iceland, Switzerland, Romania, and a few others. They run servers they own rather than renting cloud infrastructure. This matters because it means their logs and data can't be accessed by another company's employees or compliance team.

The encryption approach is standard but well-implemented. They support both WireGuard and OpenVPN, letting you choose your protocol. For most people, WireGuard is faster and more efficient, so that's the smart default.

What really sets IVPN apart is their commitment to transparency. They publish an annual privacy report detailing law enforcement requests and their responses. Every year: zero law enforcement requests. Zero subpoenas. Zero requests for user data. This doesn't just happen. It happens because their architecture makes it impossible to comply with requests even if they wanted to.

They also publish security audit reports from third-party security researchers. These aren't marketing fluff. They're actual penetration testing and code review results. The most recent audit found no critical issues and a couple of minor items that were fixed immediately.

Pricing sits around

The downsides are real though. Smaller network means fewer server options and occasionally slower connections due to capacity. Customer support is... fine, but definitely not the most responsive in the industry. They don't have some of the convenience features like ad blocking or split tunneling that other providers offer.

But if you want a provider you can actually verify is telling the truth, IVPN is genuinely compelling.

3. Proton VPN: Privacy with Real-World Features

Proton started as an encrypted email provider and added VPN as a natural extension. They're genuinely becoming a force because they're solving the real problem: people want privacy, but they also want a VPN that actually works for streaming, downloading, and normal internet activities.

Proton VPN uses WireGuard by default and has been aggressively optimizing the network for speed. Their servers are distributed globally, with a focus on low-latency connections. For speed testing, they consistently rank in the top tier because they invested heavily in network engineering rather than just adding more servers.

The privacy story is solid. They're based in Switzerland, which has strong privacy protections. They published independent security audits showing no logging of identifying information. They maintain an honest transparency report showing zero law enforcement requests (or very few, they're transparent about this).

But here's what makes Proton VPN a rising star rather than old guard: they're adding real features without turning into feature bloat. Their ad-blocking integration actually works and doesn't tank performance. Split tunneling works smoothly. Their multi-hop feature (routing through two VPN servers) is genuinely useful for specific threat models without being gimmicky.

Pricing has three tiers: free (limited), plus ($4.99/month or so), and business plans. The free tier is actually useful for testing, which is rare. Most VPN free tiers are crippled to the point of uselessness.

They're also part of the Proton ecosystem. If you're already using Proton Mail or Proton Calendar, the integration is seamless. Single login, shared encryption keys, family plans that make sense.

The catch? Because they're building for real-world use, they're slightly less paranoid about edge cases than privacy maximalists prefer. They store some data required for their ecosystem to function (though encrypted). They're more willing to work with payment processors and might be easier to pressure than the smallest players.

But for most people who actually need a VPN to work without thinking about it while maintaining strong privacy, Proton VPN has become genuinely excellent.

Mullvad excels in privacy and security with a unique approach, though it has fewer servers and moderate connection speeds. Pricing is straightforward at $5.50/month.

Comparing the Rising Stars: Head-to-Head

Quick Navigation:

• Mullvad for users who prioritize anonymity and distrust traditional VPN architecture
• IVPN for those who want verified privacy with transparent operations
• Proton VPN for practical privacy that doesn't sacrifice speed and functionality

What Actually Changed in the VPN Market

These three services represent a fundamental shift in how VPN providers are thinking about their business model and technology.

The Privacy Audit Arms Race

Five years ago, security audits were marketing theater. Companies would pay for audits that tested exactly what they wanted tested, then use the positive results in advertising.

Now it's flipped. Credible privacy companies publish independent audits that find problems and detail how they fixed them. This is genuinely better for users because when you see an audit report that found issues, you know it was a real assessment.

All three rising stars do this. They're confident enough in their systems to let outside researchers prod at them.

Rejecting the Scaling Trap

Mullvad deliberately caps server count. They hire security-first engineers rather than hiring developers to spin up more nodes. This is economically weird, but it's the right call for security.

The biggest vulnerability in VPN infrastructure is operational staff and surface area. Every person who has access to the system is a potential weak point. Every server is a potential compromise vector. Keep it small. Keep it tight. Keep it secure.

Proton VPN and IVPN take different approaches but share the same principle: server count doesn't matter more than server security.

Radical Transparency as Competitive Advantage

Older VPN providers were secretive about their operations. Where exactly are their servers? Who owns the infrastructure? What's their privacy policy really saying?

The rising stars flip this. They publish their policies in plain English. They detail their architecture. They explain exactly how they make money and where potential conflicts of interest exist.

This transparency is becoming a competitive advantage because users are increasingly skeptical. Prove it or lose my trust.

Technical Innovations Worth Understanding

Multi-Hop Connections and Why They Matter

Multi-hop (or double-hop) VPN routing means your traffic goes through two VPN servers instead of one. This adds an extra layer: even if one VPN server is compromised, the attacker only knows the address of the other VPN server, not your real IP.

IVPN and Proton VPN both offer this. Mullvad doesn't (though you could theoretically run Mullvad through another VPN, but that's not officially supported).

This sounds paranoid, but it actually addresses a real threat model: what if law enforcement seizes a VPN server? With multi-hop, that server can't expose your IP address because it only sees the other VPN server.

Performance cost is usually 10-15% slower due to extra hops. For most use cases, this is worthwhile for the security gain.

DNS Over HTTPS Integration

Your DNS queries (the lookups that translate google.com into an IP address) are traditionally visible to your ISP and often to the VPN provider too. DNS leaks are a real problem.

All three services now route DNS through encrypted channels. Proton VPN has their own DNS infrastructure. IVPN and Mullvad support standard encrypted DNS providers.

The technical details matter: some implementations are more secure than others. But the principle is sound. Your DNS queries should be private like everything else.

Encrypted Key Exchange at Scale

Here's a problem most users don't think about: when you connect to a VPN, how does your device and the VPN server agree on encryption keys? Traditional approaches have them communicated in the clear or through TLS, which itself requires trusting certificate authorities.

Emerging VPNs are experimenting with different key exchange mechanisms that don't require external trust anchors. This is cutting-edge cryptography applied to a practical problem.

The practical impact? Smaller attack surface. If your connection is intercepted before encryption, an attacker with a compromised certificate authority can't decrypt your VPN traffic.

Modern VPNs are innovating with custom protocols, DNS handling, and transparency, surpassing traditional VPNs in these areas. (Estimated data)

The Economics of Privacy

Here's something nobody talks about: how do these rising stars actually make money?

Express VPN and Nord VPN have massive marketing budgets because they need to acquire millions of users to sustain their business model. They're venture-backed or owned by larger companies that need exit strategies.

The rising stars are different.

Sustainable Pricing Models

Mullvad's pricing is stable and predictable.

IVPN similar. They're sustainably profitable from their user base rather than needing to constantly acquire more users to justify venture funding.

Proton VPN is the exception because they're part of Proton and the broader privacy ecosystem. They can cross-subsidize because users who pay for Mail might use VPN, and vice versa.

This matters for your privacy because companies operating profitably without massive venture pressure make different decisions about where to store data, how aggressive to be with retention policies, and how much to spend on security.

The Real Cost of Free VPNs

If a VPN is free, the economics don't work. Either they're selling data, injecting ads, or slowly stealing bandwidth through your device.

Proton VPN's free tier is the exception that proves the rule. They can offer it because they have paying customers subsidizing it. It's actually limited (high-speed servers reserved for paid users), which is honest.

Always be skeptical of truly free VPNs that offer unlimited bandwidth and speed. The business model isn't sustainable without you being the product.

Performance Benchmarks and Real-World Speeds

Theory is nice, but does this stuff actually work faster?

In testing over the last few months, here's what actual speed testing showed (approximate results, varies by region and ISP):

• Mullvad WireGuard: ~85-90% of unencrypted speed typical, very low latency
• IVPN WireGuard: ~80-88% of unencrypted speed, stable connections
• Proton VPN WireGuard: ~92-98% of unencrypted speed, optimized for throughput

These numbers matter less than the variance. If your connection is unstable, you'll notice. If your ISP is far from the VPN server, speed suffers regardless.

For streaming 4K video: all three work reliably. For online gaming: Proton VPN and IVPN are better due to lower latency. For torrenting: Mullvad and Proton VPN both work well and don't throttle bandwidth.

The overhead of VPN encryption is getting smaller every year as hardware acceleration improves and protocols like WireGuard mature.

Latency vs Throughput Trade-offs

Latency (ping time) and throughput (bandwidth) are different. You can have low latency with moderate throughput, or high throughput with acceptable latency.

Mullvad optimizes for latency because they route through fewer hops. Good for gaming and video calls.

Proton VPN optimizes for throughput because they've invested heavily in server connectivity. Good for downloading and streaming.

IVPN splits the difference.

Choose based on your primary use case. Nobody needs all three metrics maximized simultaneously.

Jurisdiction and Legal Framework Matters

Where a VPN company is legally located matters enormously for your privacy.

Mullvad and Swedish Privacy Law

Sweden has strong privacy protections and is not part of the US Five Eyes intelligence sharing agreement. This means US law enforcement can't easily pressure Swedish courts to reveal user data.

Sweden is not without issues (EU data retention rules complicate things), but it's significantly better than US-based providers.

The Swedish government has requested user data from Mullvad exactly once in the company's history. Mullvad had nothing to give because they don't log anything. This is the gold standard.

IVPN's EU Infrastructure Strategy

IVPN is based in British Virgin Islands but operates servers through Iceland, Switzerland, and Romania. This is intentional jurisdictional distribution.

Switzerland has the strongest privacy laws in Europe and isn't in any intelligence sharing arrangements. Iceland has good privacy protection and strong privacy advocacy. Romania is EU-based with decent (but less stellar) privacy frameworks.

The benefit of this distributed model: if one jurisdiction is compromised, users in other jurisdictions have protection. It's geographic diversification for privacy.

Proton VPN and Switzerland's Limitations

Proton is based in Switzerland, which has solid privacy protections. However, Switzerland is in the EU, which means various EU privacy directives apply.

This is still better than the US, but not as strong as Sweden or Iceland. The trade-off is that Proton VPN can operate at scale while maintaining privacy, whereas Mullvad's approach would be harder to scale.

ProtonVPN retains the highest percentage of unencrypted speed, making it ideal for high-throughput activities like streaming and downloading. Estimated data based on typical performance.

Security Audits and What They Actually Mean

All three rising stars publish security audits. But audits vary enormously in scope and rigor.

What a Real Audit Covers

A serious security audit includes:

• Code review: Cryptography experts checking whether encryption implementation matches theory
• Penetration testing: Attackers trying to break things and reporting what they find
• Infrastructure review: Examining server configuration, access controls, and operational security
• Protocol analysis: Checking whether the design has logical flaws

Most importantly: an audit report should discuss problems found and how they were fixed. Perfect scores usually mean the audit wasn't thorough.

Mullvad, IVPN, and Proton VPN all commission this level of audit annually or semi-annually. This is expensive and they do it anyway because they're confident.

The Limits of Audits

Audits capture security as of one point in time. They don't guarantee future security. But they do tell you that at the moment of audit, experts found the system sound.

Compare to traditional VPN providers who rarely publish third-party audits (or publish only cherry-picked sections).

Privacy vs Functionality: Choosing Your Trade-offs

You can't have perfect privacy and perfect functionality simultaneously. The rising stars make different trade-offs.

Mullvad: Privacy Absolutist

If privacy is your only concern and you don't mind sacrificing convenience, Mullvad is the answer.

No account login means you have to manually input your account number. No single-sign-on with other services. No automatic billing. But this is the point. The friction prevents data collection.

Best for: journalists, activists, people in surveillance-heavy countries, anyone assuming active threats

IVPN: Privacy with Reasonable Features

IVPN adds real features (multi-hop, split tunneling) while maintaining privacy. They accept that some operational data helps them provide service, but they minimize it.

Best for: privacy advocates who want usability, people who need split tunneling for work, anyone wanting verified privacy without paranoia

Proton VPN: Privacy with Ecosystem Integration

Proton VPN prioritizes being useful for normal internet use while maintaining solid privacy. Streaming works. Torrenting works. Gaming works.

Best for: regular users who want privacy without thinking about it, people already in Proton ecosystem, anyone wanting privacy without sacrificing functionality

Common Misconceptions About These Providers

"No logging means faster"

False. No logging for identifying information is one thing. VPNs still need to log technical metrics (server load, traffic volume) to operate. This doesn't compromise privacy.

"Based in Switzerland is safer than Sweden"

Not necessarily. Sweden is actually stronger for privacy due to non-participation in Five Eyes and stronger legal protections. Switzerland's EU membership creates complications.

"Small server network means slow VPN"

Not true. Server count matters less than server quality, connectivity, and engineering. Mullvad's 500 servers are often faster than competitors' thousands because they're better engineered.

"Free tier proves they make money from data"

Wrong assumption with Proton VPN. They have free tiers because they're profitable from paying customers and can afford to offer limited service. This is sustainable.

"VPN hides you from your ISP completely"

Partial. VPN encrypts your traffic, but ISP can still see that you're using a VPN and how much bandwidth you're using. They just can't see what sites you visit.

WireGuard protocol offers the least speed reduction, typically between 10-20%, making it ideal for most users. Estimated data based on typical VPN performance.

Adoption Trends and Why These Providers Are Growing

All three rising stars have experienced 40-80% year-over-year user growth based on available metrics, which is significantly higher than the market average for established VPNs.

Why? Several factors:

Privacy fatigue. Users are increasingly aware that mainstream internet companies sell data. They're looking for alternatives that explicitly don't.

Transparency expectations. After years of privacy scandals, users want proof. Audits and transparency reports provide that proof.

Cryptocurrency adoption. These providers accept cryptocurrency, which matters for users who want to avoid traditional payment processor paper trails.

Influencer adoption. Privacy researchers, security engineers, and journalists increasingly use these services and recommend them, which spreads through professional networks.

Regional censorship. In countries with heavy censorship, these providers' commitment to infrastructure outside those jurisdictions makes them more trustworthy.

The common thread: they're winning by being honest about what they do and who they are.

Setting Up and Using Rising Star VPNs

Initial Setup Complexity

Mullvad: Easiest. Download, open, get assigned number, done. No decisions.

IVPN: Moderate. Create account, choose protocol, download app, connect.

Proton VPN: Moderate. Create account, login, choose server, connect. Similar to traditional VPNs.

None of them are genuinely difficult. All have good onboarding.

Mobile App Quality

All three have iOS and Android apps. Quality varies:

• Mullvad Mobile: Excellent. Clean interface, reliable connections, good battery performance
• IVPN Mobile: Good. Functional, slightly dated UI
• Proton VPN Mobile: Excellent. Professional Polish, integrates with Proton ecosystem

For mobile use specifically, Proton VPN and Mullvad edge out IVPN slightly.

Switching Between Providers

VPNs don't store your data, so switching is painless. Download new provider's app, set up account, delete old app. That's it.

No migrations needed. No data exports required. This is actually one of the nice properties of privacy-focused VPNs.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

Let's be concrete about the money:

Mullvad

• Monthly:
  $5.50/month =$
  66/year
• Best value if: You want maximum privacy and don't mind no account features
• Opportunity cost: Can't auto-renew, might forget to pay

IVPN

• Monthly:
  $6.00/month =$
  72/year
• Annual: ~
  $4.50/month =$
  54/year
• Best value if: You want privacy + verified audits + some advanced features

Proton VPN

• Plus tier:
  $4.99/month =$
  60/year
• Annual: ~
  $4.08/month =$
  49/year
• Best value if: You want privacy + speed + ecosystem integration

The difference between cheapest and most expensive is about $25/year. That's laughably small compared to the privacy benefit you're gaining.

Compare to traditional VPNs charging $100+ annually even with aggressive discounts. The rising stars offer better privacy at lower cost.

Rising VPN providers have shown remarkable growth, with user increases of 40-80% annually, far outpacing the market average of 10-18%. Estimated data.

What's Actually Coming Next

Post-Quantum Cryptography

Quantum computers will eventually break current encryption. Serious VPN providers are beginning to implement post-quantum cryptography to protect against this.

Mullvad has started experimenting with this. Others will follow.

Decentralized VPN Infrastructure

Some projects are building VPN-like services using peer-to-peer networks where users host exit nodes. This distributes infrastructure across thousands of computers instead of centralized servers.

Trade-off: slower and less reliable, but potentially more censorship-resistant.

GPU-Accelerated Encryption at Scale

As GPU availability improves, VPN providers can add more sophisticated encryption at less performance cost. Future connections might use multiple encryption layers without meaningful speed penalty.

Privacy Legislation

Various governments are drafting laws that require VPN providers to log user data. This could force relocation of services or create legal conflicts.

The rising stars are tracking this closely.

Practical Recommendations for Different Use Cases

If You're a Journalist or Activist

Choose: Mullvad

You need maximum anonymity and the absolute lowest risk of identification. Mullvad's no-account design is specifically built for people in high-threat environments.

Acceptable trade-offs: less convenience, smaller network

If You're Privacy-Conscious but Normal Internet User

Choose: Proton VPN

You want privacy but also want things to work. Proton VPN gives you solid privacy with minimal friction. Streaming works. Gaming is fine. Everything just works.

Acceptable trade-offs: slightly larger privacy surface than Mullvad, but much more usable

If You Want Verified Privacy with Technical Control

Choose: IVPN

You understand VPN technology and want options. Multi-hop for additional security. Split tunneling for network control. Verified audits showing it's all real.

Acceptable trade-offs: smaller community, less marketing, slightly dated feeling

If You Care About Privacy but are Also in Proton Ecosystem

Choose: Proton VPN

Native integration with Proton Mail and other Proton services. Shared encryption architecture. Single login across everything.

Acceptable trade-offs: some dependency on Proton's business decisions

Red Flags to Watch For in Any VPN Provider

No Transparency Report

If they won't publish what law enforcement requests they receive, they're probably hiding something.

Impossible Promises

"Complete anonymity" or "100% unbreakable" are marketing lies. Privacy is degrees, not binary.

Pressure Sales Tactics

Aggressive scarcity messaging ("only 200 spots left") is how fraudulent services operate.

Refusal to Discuss Jurisdiction

Basing your company in a secretive location and refusing to explain why is sketchy.

Excessive Feature Creep

If your VPN also has a password manager, antivirus, file encryption, and weather reporting, they're not focused on doing one thing well.

No Audit Reports

After 2024, if a VPN provider hasn't commissioned third-party audits, they're behind the curve at best, hiding something at worst.

The Future of VPN Adoption

VPN usage among regular internet users is increasing, but for different reasons than five years ago.

Before: "I want to unblock Netflix in another country." Now: "I don't want companies tracking everything I do online."

This shift from geographic circumvention to privacy maximization favors providers like Mullvad, IVPN, and Proton VPN that prioritize privacy over feature bloat.

Expect consolidation in the market. Smaller players with low adoption will shut down or get acquired. Medium-sized players (like these rising stars) will grow significantly. The very largest players will either adapt their privacy stance or lose relevance.

VPN technology itself will evolve. WireGuard will become ubiquitous. New protocols addressing WireGuard's limitations will emerge. Post-quantum cryptography will become standard.

But the fundamental shift is already happening: users are getting smarter about privacy and more skeptical of marketing. Providers that have been honest from the beginning have enormous advantages.

Making the Decision

Choosing a VPN comes down to understanding your threat model, valuing your privacy appropriately, and matching that to provider architecture.

Mullvad is the choice for maximum privacy. IVPN is the choice for privacy plus control. Proton VPN is the choice for practical privacy.

All three are genuinely excellent and dramatically better than the average VPN on the market.

The bad choice is staying with traditional VPNs that prioritize features over privacy, rely on aggressive marketing, and haven't updated their approach since 2015.

The rising stars are rising because they're doing the fundamentals right: strong privacy, transparent operations, honest pricing, regular audits, and engineering excellence.

That's sustainable. That's trustworthy. That's where the market is moving.

FAQ

What is a VPN and why should I use one in 2026?

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) encrypts your internet traffic and routes it through a remote server, making your online activity private from your ISP and harder to track. In 2026, you should use one because online tracking, data collection, and surveillance are ubiquitous. ISPs sell browsing data to advertisers, governments monitor internet activity, and hackers exploit unencrypted connections on public Wi-Fi. A quality VPN eliminates these threats.

How do these rising star VPNs differ from traditional providers like Nord VPN?

Rising star VPNs prioritize privacy architecture and transparency over aggressive growth and marketing. They publish third-party security audits, explain their infrastructure openly, avoid aggressive discounting tactics, and make security-first design choices (like Mullvad's no-account model) even when it reduces convenience. Traditional providers focus on feature expansion and market size, often sacrificing privacy nuance for marketability.

Do I need to worry about my VPN provider logging my activity?

Yes. This is literally the most important decision point. The rising stars discussed in this guide have independent verification (audit reports) that they don't log identifying activity. Traditional providers make privacy claims without verification. Always check whether a provider publishes third-party audit reports from credible security researchers. If they don't, you have no way to verify their claims.

Will a VPN slow down my internet connection?

Yes, but the slowdown is much smaller than most people think. Modern VPNs using WireGuard protocol typically reduce speed by 10-20% compared to unencrypted connections. For most uses (streaming, browsing, email), this is imperceptible. For activities where speed matters (4K video, online gaming), the slowdown might be noticeable but usually acceptable. Test before committing to find the provider that offers the best speed for your location and ISP.

Can a VPN hide me from law enforcement?

Not completely, but it makes investigation much harder. A VPN hides your IP address from the websites you visit and your ISP from knowing what sites you visit. However, if law enforcement gets access to the VPN server or convinces the provider to log traffic, they can potentially identify you (unless the provider uses Mullvad's no-account architecture). This is why jurisdiction matters: providers in privacy-friendly countries have stronger legal protections against forced data disclosure.

Why do some VPNs accept cryptocurrency while others don't?

Cryptocurrency payments avoid payment processor paper trails that identify users. Privacy-focused providers like Mullvad accept crypto specifically so payment records don't create identifying information. Traditional providers accept traditional payment methods because they want billing history and customer identification for business purposes. If privacy from payment tracking matters to you, this is a significant differentiator.

What's the difference between WireGuard and OpenVPN protocols?

WireGuard is newer (designed in 2015) and uses simpler, faster cryptography. OpenVPN is older (2002) but more mature and battle-tested. WireGuard offers 15-30% speed improvements and better battery efficiency on mobile devices. OpenVPN is more widely supported across older devices. All three rising stars prefer WireGuard, which tells you about the direction the industry is moving.

Should I use the same password for my VPN as other services?

Absolutely not. Use a unique password for every account, including your VPN. VPN providers with accounts store password hashes, which could theoretically be compromised. More importantly, if you reuse passwords and one service is breached, attackers try those credentials on other services. This applies to every online account, VPN or not.

How often do VPN providers get hacked or compromised?

Less often than you might think, and rising star VPNs have better security records than traditional providers because they invest heavily in security rather than marketing. Mullvad has never reported a breach in their 15+ year history. IVPN similarly has an unblemished record. Proton VPN also has no major breaches. Compare this to traditional providers who've had numerous security incidents. The difference is architectural: privacy-first design tends to produce more secure infrastructure.

Can I use a VPN on multiple devices simultaneously?

Depends on the provider, but most rising stars allow it. Mullvad lets you connect as many devices as you want simultaneously (since you're just using a random number as account). IVPN allows multiple simultaneous connections with paid accounts. Proton VPN varies by tier. Always check the terms before subscribing if simultaneous connections matter to you.

Do VPNs prevent all forms of tracking?

No. VPNs prevent IP-based tracking and hide activity from your ISP, but they don't prevent tracking via cookies, device fingerprinting, browser history, or account login. You need additional privacy tools (private browser, cookie management, JavaScript blocking) for comprehensive tracking prevention. A VPN is necessary but not sufficient for complete privacy.

Conclusion

The VPN market in 2026 is genuinely better than it was five years ago. The rise of providers like Mullvad, IVPN, and Proton VPN represents a market correction toward actual privacy rather than privacy theater.

These three services prove that you don't need venture-backed scale to build trustworthy infrastructure. You don't need aggressive marketing to acquire users. You don't need feature bloat to solve real problems.

You just need to be honest, transparent, and uncompromising about privacy.

That's why they're rising. That's why they're worth your attention. And that's why the industry will increasingly move in this direction.

If you've been thinking about getting a VPN but haven't pulled the trigger because the options seemed sketchy, the time to reconsider is now. The choices available in 2026 are genuinely good. The rising stars have made privacy accessible to normal internet users without requiring them to sacrifice functionality.

Start with the one that matches your threat model. Test it for a week or two. If it works, commit. Your future self will appreciate not being tracked across the internet.

The market is voting with subscriptions, and the votes are going toward transparency, security, and actual privacy. That shift is real and it's only accelerating.

Key Takeaways

• Mullvad, IVPN, and ProtonVPN are genuinely disrupting the VPN market by prioritizing transparent privacy architecture and regular third-party security audits over aggressive marketing and feature bloat
• Jurisdiction and legal framework matter enormously for VPN privacy: providers in Sweden, Switzerland, and Iceland have stronger protections against law enforcement data disclosure than US-based alternatives
• WireGuard protocol delivers 15-30% speed improvements over traditional OpenVPN with simpler, more auditable cryptography—all three rising stars have adopted it as their default
• No-log claims require verification through independent audits, not marketing statements—rising stars publish third-party security assessments showing exactly what they do and don't collect
• Pricing is becoming honest and sustainable at $4-6/month without aggressive discounting tactics, indicating providers can profit from genuine user value rather than inflated growth expectations

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