Mullvad, IVPN, and Mozilla VPN Top Consumer Reports’ VPN Testing

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Mullvad

Mullvad stands out for stating in its documentation that it does not collect user data, deletes or destroys outdated or unnecessary information, and sets itself reasonable deadlines for doing so. Its approach to preventing unauthorized access to data is a novel one—the company doesn’t keep any unnecessary data at all, and the user ID is not linked with any user information. Even the cookies Mullvad uses to keep consumers logged into the service, remember their language preference, and prevent malicious exploits self-destruct as soon as you close your browser. (Only cookies for one of Mullvad’s payment processors, Stripe, remain.)

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macserve.org.uk iVPN

IVPN states that no third parties have any access to user data and that all first- and third-party software is hosted on the company’s own servers. This reduces the potential risk from unscrupulous business partners. As an example, IVPN uses the open-source web analytics platform Matomo to analyze information about website visitors. Matomo is an open-source alternative to tools available from Big Tech companies such as Google and Adobe. It does not use data to monetize an advertising platform, and it allows companies like IVPN to store the data collected on their own infrastructure, rather than storing the data itself.

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Mozilla VPN

Mozilla and Mullvad both have kill switches, and IVPN allows you to enable a kill switch in the form of an always-on firewall option. Kill switches protect user traffic by automatically disconnecting a user’s device if the VPN connection fails. That can happen from time to time, just the way your internet connection might occasionally be glitchy. If you don’t have a kill switch and the VPN falters, your data will just get routed by your ISP without you realizing it. If you are counting on the service to hide your IP address (one of the things VPNs do well) or you’re really counting on it for other security protections, a kill switch is important. Mullvad’s and Mozilla VPN’s kill switch is always on—you can’t disable it.

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