Editorial Policy

Our rankings and recommendations are decided by our editorial team based on hands-on testing and public data. Advertising and affiliate partnerships are handled separately and never determine which provider wins a category or how many stars it receives.

Reviewers are not told which providers pay higher commissions and are not compensated based on how many affiliate clicks their articles generate.

Every review draws on a combination of:

• Our own hands-on testing on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
• Speed tests conducted from multiple regions on identical hardware.
• Independent third-party audits and public transparency reports.
• Direct communication with provider support teams.
• Verified user feedback from communities such as Reddit and Trustpilot, cross-referenced to filter out incentivised reviews.

Pricing, feature lists, and server counts change frequently. Prices on our comparison and review pages are refreshed weekly directly from each provider's official pricing page. Every page shows the date of its most recent update.

If you spot something out of date or inaccurate, email editorial@vpnbreakdown.com. Verified corrections are made within 48 hours and material changes are noted at the top of the affected page.

Contributors disclose any personal relationship, employment, or financial interest in a provider we cover. Reviews written by contributors with a disclosed conflict are reassigned or reviewed by an independent editor before publication.

AI tools may assist with research, spellchecking, and formatting. All editorial judgments — ratings, recommendations, comparative claims, and factual statements — are made and reviewed by human editors. We do not publish machine-generated reviews.

We welcome corrections, questions, and reasoned disagreement. Contact us at editorial@vpnbreakdown.com with the URL of the article and a link to your source and we will investigate.