Regardless of where you live and what your basic technological needs are, you’ve surely heard about VPNs and the fact that some people consider them critical for their existence. But are they really necessary? And are some of them genuinely better than others, or do certain brands just use better marketing techniques than others do?

Before we get to the subject of quality, let’s step back and examine the main reasons why people invest in VPNs in the first place. While your particular informational needs might evolve, these are the basics.

Why Do People Use VPNs?

The following is a crude breakdown of the primary motivators for using VPNs:

1. Security. Any time people are online in a public place, particularly in public WiFi, they are exposing themselves to potential data theft. VPNs help to cover up people’s identities and make it harder for hackers to get through.
2. Protection from ISPs. Internet Service Providers have the ability to get a hold of your browsing history and use it as they please. VPNs can camouflage this.
3. Gaining access to other countries’ sites. VPNs are very popular among travelers who need to be “in” certain countries, either for practical purposes like banking, or to access country-specific entertainment.
4. Working remotely. Thanks to VPNs, people who need to get onto secure corporate servers can do so from potentially anywhere in the world.
5. Getting around firewalls. Some countries or regional areas block information they don’t want people to see. VPNs can trick devices into thinking that users are in places where the firewalls don’t exist.

What Makes Some Better Than Others?

The next step is to look at how VPNs differ from one another in terms of quality and what they offer. Everything from convenience- for example, the ExpressVPN download page has installers for every platform – to privacy levels to speed plays a role.

Infrastructure Quality

The better VPNs use many different servers around the world. This helps to reduce congestion significantly and keep people from losing their speed online. In particular:

• Server hosting and ownership vary. Cheaper companies use virtual private servers that might be shared with other companies. Better-quality ones invest in bare-metal servers, which involves the use of dedicated hardware in proper data centers. And the very best servers are bare-colocated ones that bypass third-party data centers completely in favor of their own equipment.
• Routing techniques differ between VPNs of different quality. Some use basic routing techniques that are public and potentially open to exposure. Premium peering, on the other hand, uses Tier-1 network connections that bypass public nodes and connect directly to core networks.
• IP address quality is not uniform. Some of them belong to either shared or blacklisted data centers that actually rent addresses out. Using rented addresses exposes users to blocks, the need for CAPTCHAs, and other issues. Better ones use “residential IPs,” in other words, ones that act similarly to the way home traffic would. This allows people to go about their business freely without potential hiccups.

Also Read: Whitelist IP Address: Risky Practices And The Ultimate Secure Solution

Routing Capability

Quality VPNs invest in robust traffic routing. Strong routing means several important things:

• It is dynamic. Smart routing uses algorithms that actively monitor traffic at all times. It looks for congestion, packet loss, and potential cable outages. And it adjusts accordingly to maintain optimal speed.
• It can bypass censorship successfully. With sophisticated routing, providers are able to use encrypted links to get around firewalls that would otherwise prevent people from getting to restricted sites.
• It can maintain private network channeling. VPNs that route traffic successfully use what are called SD-WANs, or Software-Defined Wide Area Networks. These networks are able to keep data moving quickly within particular spheres thanks to the use of high-speed fiber optic cables.
• Server “meshing.” Meshing refers to the routing mechanisms that channel traffic through particular trusted devices.

Security Quality

VPNs definitely vary markedly in terms of their security quality and the amount of privacy they give people. Better VPNs have the following characteristics:

• They have no-logs policies. What this means is that they undergo rigorous third-party audits to prove that they don’t track or store user information.
• They use RAM-only servers. RAM servers are far superior to hard drives in that every time a server reboots, all the data on it is immediately cleared.
• They operate in countries with strong privacy laws. Different countries have very different laws when it comes to online privacy. Responsible VPNs operate out of countries that are known to have rigorous policies, such as Iceland, Switzerland, and Estonia. These places force VPN companies to collect, process, and share data only in particular ways.

Protocol Support

To maintain speed and stability, it is important for quality VPNs to have sufficient protocol support. This includes two major components:

• Customized code structures. Building a proprietary protocol allows VPNs to maintain higher speeds and reduce battery drainage.
• Hardware and infrastructure compatibility. These two things are increased when VPNs invest in the right server upgrades.

Your Personal Needs Matter

Beyond simply looking for the most highly-rated VPN out there–or the one that meets most of the above-mentioned criteria–you should look for one that suits precisely what you want to do. For example, different countries make stronger attempts to control certain VPNs than others. In researching ones that you might use, make your search criteria as specific as possible. If you are going to China, look up the best VPNs for travelers there and see what kind of answers you get. They could be very different from those you might get from travelers in other parts of the world.

Also consider whether a free version might be suitable for you. In some cases, this might be perfectly adequate. But it all depends on your individual circumstances and what you hope to do online. And you can always upgrade or switch if you need to. In fact, some people have multiple VPNs that they use for different purposes. So do your homework and make an educated assessment of what would work best.