Decide on a VPN provider

[rgaudin]

Criteria:

• offers wireguard (modern protocol we'll instrument)
• good connectivity (reputation)
• has a large number of server locations
• server locations includes areas of interest to us:
  • where we think we have a large user base
  • where we lack mirrors
  • ➡️ mostly South-East Asia & Africa

I've already identified Mullvad for which we paid for 6months for development:

• 684 servers in 44 countries full list
• Includes Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, South Africa and Thailand
• we can retrieve the servers via an API
• it's whats best in terms of privacy
• cost is fixed, stable and affordable: $5/mo.

[rgaudin]

NordVPN is not on the same ethics level as Mullvad but if that doesn't matter, is has servers in 111 countries.

[rgaudin]

We're using mullvad for now

[rgaudin]

Now that we are getting data ; we find mullvad's 44 countries to be limited. @Popolechien @kelson42 please list the countries you want and then we'll try to find a provider

[Popolechien]

Russia, China, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Jordan, Yemen, Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria, DRC, Sudan, Cuba, Peru, Mexico

[rgaudin]

OK, here's a list of 38 VPN providers. The wireguard criteria is mandatory. I mentioned (at the bottom) some that are not compatible just so we don't look into them again

VPN	Wireguard	Countries	Russia	China	Bangladesh	India	Pakistan	Iran	Turkey	Jordan	Yemen	Iraq	Egypt	Nigeria	DRC	Sudan	Cuba	Peru	Mexico
Mullvad/Mozilla	✅	45	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
Surfshark	✅	100	❌	❌	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
IP Vanish	✅	55	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
Cyber Ghost	✅	55	❌	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
Private VPN	✅	63	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
Private Internet Access	✅	91	❌	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
StrongVPN	✅	30	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
Proton VPN	✅	112	✅	❌	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅	❌	✅	✅
NordVPN	✅	111	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
Xeovo	✅	16	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
IVPN	✅	38	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌
AzireVPN	✅	26	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
OVPN	✅	32	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
VyprVPN	✅	0	✅	❌	❌	✅	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
TorGuard	✅	50	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
WindScribe	✅	69	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
VPN.ac	✅	21	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
PureVPN	✅	65	✅	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
PrivadoVPN	✅	49	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
Tunnelbear	✅	46	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
hide.me	✅	0	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
CactusVPN	✅	25	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
ExpressVPN	❌	105	❌	❌	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅	✅
Ivacy	❌	100	✅	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
Trubo VPN	❌	111	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
Panda VPN	❌	80	❌	❌	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
Hide My Ass	❌	210	❌	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
ZoogVPN	❌	55	✅	❌	❌	✅	✅	❌	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
Robo VPN	❌	16	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
Virtual Shield	❌	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Fast VPN	❌	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Avast SecureLine VPN	❌	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Perfect Privacy	❌	23	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Malwerebytes VPN	❌	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
AVG Secure VPN	❌	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
F-Secure VPN	❌	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?

From this it's very clear that the widest access is HMA which has crazy coverage. All our list but Russia. It even has servers in 🇲🇱 ! Unfortunately it's not compatible.

The best compatible one is the 🇨🇭 ProtonVPN which only lacks Iran, DRC and Cuba in our list. It also includes a lot of less common countries which are of interest to us.

@Popolechien the 1 year plan is 60CHF.

[Popolechien]

@rgaudin So be it. Should I just go over to ProtonVPN and subscribe for the 1-year plan? (meaning, there's no particular option to be aware of)?

[rgaudin]

That's the one