Below you can see our list of the best 10 VPN Apps for Mac to download and use in 2019. 10 Best VPN for Mac to Download in 2019 There are a number of free VPNs out there but they are often unreliable and rife with ads, which makes using them quite annoying.
Internet users use VPN tools for many different purposes – to access restricted/block sites, browse the web anonymously, secure the data, block the advertisements, etc.
A powerful VPN(Virtual Private Network) has the capability to make you untraceable across the Internet. All the data you transfer online would be encrypted so that an eavesdropper cannot read it. VPNs allow you to change your IP address so that the Government authorities or your ISP is unable to track your online activities. You can unblock the sites restricted in your area by using the IP address of a different location.
So, yes, VPN is very useful. However, it is also important that you choose the right VPN. There are so many VPN companies claiming to provide the best services but they are not all reliable. It was found that many VPN companies store your online activities and logs. Some make the browsing, uploading and downloading slower. It means you have to be very careful while choosing the right VPN.
I recently tried Windscribe VPN service and I must say it actually delivers quality service and works in its users’ interest. A tool that will bypass the local restrictions to let you browse blocked websites and will make you anonymous to safeguard your internet privacy. I have used the VPN for Windows to test all the features.
Windscribe VPN
Windscribe is a popular and trusted VPN to shield your online data and identity. They are based out of Ontario, Canada and have active servers in more than 40 countries which means you can access almost all the restricted websites even if it’s blocked in your entire continent.
Another interesting thing to know is that Windscribe VPN is free for up to 10 GB of bandwidth usage. Just create an account, download their VPN client, turn it ON, choose the desired location and you are all set. It is available for both Windows and Mac. Now, we will discuss all the features provided by Windscribe VPN.
The Features
Windscribe has taken care of all the important requirements of an internet user. Although there are a lot of features provided by this VPN, we will discuss the prominent ones.
Anonymous Web Surfing
The first and utmost need for using a VPN is to make yourself anonymous on the web. Do you know that most of the Internet service providers keep logs of their users’ IP address and what websites they visit? Probably, your ISP does it too. It might make you uncomfortable knowing that they are keeping an eye on your internet access.
Winscribe VPN makes sure that you stay anonymous while using the internet and no one can trace your internet activities. They mask your IP address with an untraceable IP address to make you anonymous.
Unlike other VPN providers, Windscribe does not store user logs. They have a strict no-logs policy, thus supporting the “Right to privacy”. Whatever you are doing online is only with you.
Data Encryption
Another highly important feature but not all VPN provide it. VPN for Mac creates an encrypted channel between your Mac and every website you visit using secured VPN servers. Now, all the data you transfer over the internet will be unreadable to the hackers, ISP, and even the Govt.
There are a lot of different types of data we exchange online – credit card data, financial information, files, passwords, emails, browsing history, downloading history, etc. Thus encrypting all this data is a big favor.
Fast and Secured browsing
Since the data is transferred through the VPN’s server it is important that there is minimum speed lag. Many VPN providers provide the online anonymity and privacy at the cost of internet speed but Windscribe provides a fast and reliable connection for hassle-free online browsing.
Safely surf internet even when you are using a public WiFi. A web snooper cannot get any clue about your location, data or identity hence making you more secure online. The Windscribe VPN connection is secured with 256-bit encryption and SSL layer.
Bypass Regional Filtering
Governments block many websites in their countries. For instance, you will find many torrent, video sharing, and other sites blocked in your area. You may also find social media sites, YouTube, Netflix, Plex and other sites blocked in your office or college. With Windscribe, you can bypass such restrictions and firewalls to enjoy the unrestricted internet.
Pricing
Windscribe is free for basic usage but the features are limited. If you want to get the most out of it then you might want to try its paid plans.
Wrap Up
Windscribe is a relatively newer VPN provider but the features are unbeatable. The advanced level of security and anonymity provided is what every internet user desires. The free account can only be used on only one device that too up to 10 GB. However, the free account is enough for testing its services and then you can give the pro plan of Windscribe a try.
Finding a VPN for Mac ins’t as simple as it sound.
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First off, many VPNs don’t have a standalone app for Mac devices. That means need to install a third-party software (like the separate OpenVPN client) and manually set it up. So instead of downloading a simple Mac app and getting connected instantly, you’ll have to fumble around with this complicated workaround to manually connect to the VPN.
A dedicated Mac app is just the beginning, though.
You don’t want to sacrifice speed for the security or the opposite. Many VPNs can be slow performing or simply leak your IP or DNS address. Mac VPN should use the latest protocol and encryption options, like OpenVPN and AES-256 bit encryption. Strict “no-logging” policies are acceptable. Otherwise, the VPN could track your activity and sell it off to the highest advertiser.
Finally, you won’t really be able to stream anything on Netflix or use torrenting unless your server speeds remain fast.
However, we’ve done the leg work and tested and reviewed over 78 VPNs. Below is a list of 7 best VPNs for Mac users in 2019:
1. NordVPN – Best VPN for Mac ($3.49/mo)
NordVPN is the best pick for regular MacBook users based on our tests.
The Mac app features a drag-and-drop map to select a new server location.
All 5,200 servers in 62 countries are also featured on the left-side menu. And it comes with a built-in kill switch that will automatically cut your connection if your WiFi drops (so your true location isn’t accidentally exposed).
NordVPN is available across Mac, iOS, Windows, Android, and Linux. Plus, about 40 other operating systems and routers. You can use up to six simultaneous connections at any time.
The industry standard, OpenVPN, is the default protocol on the Mac app. But they also allow you to switch over to IKEv2/IPSec if needed.
NordVPN is also the only VPN provider on this list that features both a double VPN and obfuscated servers. The Double Data Encryption wraps your connection in two VPN layers for additional security. While the obfuscated servers can help you bypass network firewalls, so it’s perfect for people with restricted access in your home country.
Their connection speeds are solid, too. We started off with a speed of around 98 Mbps (without a VPN), and after connecting to NordVPN, we averaged 74 Mbps. That’s still plenty of speed to get lag-free streaming on Netflix (no restrictions) or torrenting (on their specially-designed P2P servers).
But the best part about NordVPN?
They’re currently running a special where you can get NordVPN for just $3.49 per month with a three-year commitment. That’s massive cost savings from the $11.95/month normal price, so locking in that low deal makes sense if you’re serious about privacy and security.
Visit NordVPN.com to get the Mac app
Read more in our full NordVPN Review
Read more in our full NordVPN Review
2. ExpressVPN – Fastest Speed Performance on Mac ($6.67/mo)
The ExpressVPN Mac app features one-click connection that automatically joins the closest Smart Location.
These VPN servers are optimized to deliver the best performance out of the box. Just open the app, hit the “Connect” button, and you’re logged on in seconds.
If you’re trying to bypass local restrictions, you can manually select any international server directly from the main screen (without having to dig through countless menu options).
ExpressVPN’s Mac app isn’t just pretty to look at, though. It’s also blazing fast. We started with a 100 Mbps connection before logging in, and the secure connection only dropped the download speed to 83.15 Mbps. Barely noticeable!
ExpressVPN doesn’t skimp on security to deliver these speeds, either. They have a kill switch and anonymous IP address available for all of their 3,000+ servers in 93 countries. Netflix, torrenting, and P2P servers all worked like a dream as well.
We’re happy to report that their Mac app is 100% leak-free. And it defaults to OpenVPN, the best protocol in the world with rock-solid AES 256-bit encryption, while still offering access to SSTP, L2Tp/IPsec, and PPTP protocols.
As good as all of that sounds (and it is good), the major drawback with ExpressVPN is its price.
It’s more expensive at $6.67/month (for annual plans with our deal). All plans do come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. But this isn’t a wallet-friendly service for people on a strict budget.
Visit ExpressVPN.com to get the Mac app
Read more in our full ExpressVPN Review
Read more in our full ExpressVPN Review
3. Surfshark – Cheapest Quality VPN for MacBook ($1.99/mo)
The Surfshark Mac app has a “Quick Connect” button that will instantly get you on one of their servers within seconds.
From there, you can switch to any of the other 800+ servers in 50 countries or change protocols from OpenVPN to IKEv2/IPsec within about two clicks each.
Beyond Mac devices, Surfshark has prebuilt apps for iOS, Windows, Android, Linux, Chrome, Firefox, and routers (through OpenVPN).
Most of these apps have a kill switch, except for the Android version (currently in development).
Surfshark has a legitimate no-logging policy. We even ran their connection through five different leak tests and found that all of them came back negative.
I was able to easily stream Netflix on six different servers (from LA to South Korea). Torrenting and TOR are also 100% allowed.
The only slight hiccup was some speed inconsistencies. For example, our initial download speed was 98.71 Mbps. A Netherlands server was 25% slower (71.06 Mbps), while a U.S. server was 50% slower (48.99 Mbps) and the Hong Kong one was nearly 75% slower (25.74 Mbps).
The sliver lining is that the pricing is the lowest we’ve seen from over 70+ different VPN companies. The two-year plan is only $1.99 a month!
You can sign up for the free 30-day trial to try them out. Then, if everything looks good, use everything from major credit cards to PayPal, cryptocurrencies, Dragonpay, Tenpay, and Alipay to pay.
Surfshark even throws in a 30-day money-back guarantee if anything happens during the first few weeks.
Visit Surfshark.com to get the Mac app
Read more in our full Surfshark VPN Review
Read more in our full Surfshark VPN Review
4. ProtonVPN ($4.00/mo)
ProtonVPN’s Mac app features a giant map with tiny pins that highlight all 345 servers in 32 countries.
Thats not the largest number of servers, but it does make it easy to flip through them all on the map or menu on the left-hand side.
If you’re looking for an automatic connection, the “Quick Connect” button will log you on to a smart server ASAP.
ProtonVPN has a ready-made apps for Mac, iOS, Windows, Android, and Linux, in addition to DD-WRT, AsusWRT, and Tomato routers.
Even though the total server count might be on the low side, they allow you to connect up to ten devices at once.
The ProtonVPN Mac app defaults to OpenVPN (UDP/TCP) with best-in-class AES-256 encryption. Except, this is also the only protocol that they offer. So that might not work if you’re using older (or limited) devices like Chromebooks.
Fortunately, we didn’t find any leaks on this connection and Proton has a strict no-logging policy in place.
However, their speed tests left a lot to be desired. We started with the same benchmark connection speed as the others. Then, we connected to their servers in the US, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and the UK. Almost all of them were slow, killing our Internet speed anywhere from ~40% to ~80%.
We were able to stream Netflix on one of ProtonVPN’s Netherland servers, but the other four failed. They also don’t allow restriction-free torrenting, limiting you to certain P2P servers and reiterating that you should only be using them for personal (not commercial) use.
ProtonVPN’s main paid option (“Basic”) starts at $4/month for the year (with upgrade plans that get even more expensive).
All plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, with a catch that your refund balance will be prorated based on use.
Visit ProtonVPN.com to get the Mac app
Read more in our full ProtonVPN Review
Read more in our full ProtonVPN Review
5. IPVanish ($6.99/mo)
IPVanish offers a fully-featured Mac app.
You can customize nearly anything on it. However, that also means there are more settings and options to filter through initially.
IPVanish provides access to over 60 countries and 1,200 different servers. And you can connect up to ten devices to these servers. The Mac and Windows apps do now come with kill switches, too.
You’ll be happy to know that IPVanish gives you access to OpenVPN, PPTP, and L2TP protocols. (Stick with OpenVPN and its bank-grade AES-256 encryption if you’re unsure.) They also have a SOCKS proxy server that gives you privacy without needing to download any app at all.
Our leak tests all came out clean. However, IPVanish’s history with logging gave us a slight pause. On paper, it’s a legit “no logs” policy. But in 2016 there was some news about their user data ending up in the hands of Homeland Security.
Only one of the four servers we tested with Netflix worked (Chicago). Though, they do highly encourage both torrenting and TOR.
IPVanish also delivered inconsistent speed tests. The EU (Amsterdam) server only dropped a little from ~100 Mbps to 82.67, but the US (New York) one fell all the way to 34.71 Mbps.
The best deal I was able to find was the $77.99 annual plan ($6.49 per month), which is still pretty high when you compare it to the top three cheaper (and better) options on this list.
If you’re interested, you can give them a go using credit, PayPal, or Bitcoin, and enjoy a 7-day money-back guarantee.
Visit IPVanish.com to get the Mac app
Read more in our full IPVanish Review
Read more in our full IPVanish Review
6. TunnelBear ($4.99/mo)
TunnelBear might have the most enjoyable Mac app out of all 70+ VPNs we’ve reviewed.
The visual interface shows you a little bear next to your location. When you click on a server location that’s close by, the bear literally tunnels to the new destination.
They’ve managed to make something as dry and boring as picking a server location entertaining. You could probably spend an entire afternoon clicking through each of their 350 servers in 22 countries and not completely hate it.
Besides the Mac app, this same fun plays out on iOS, Windows, Android, Chrome, and Opera. These come with kill switches, an anonymous IP, “Ghostbear” that will hide mask your VPN connection, and up to five device connections.
The Mac, Windows, and Android apps default to OpenVPN, while iOS apps get IPSec/IKEv2.
TunnelBear did not leak any data in our five tests, and they do not log any of your personal information, either.
But even though TunnelBear’s support claimed that their servers worked with Netflix, we weren’t able to successfully stream anything. Thankfully, torrenting and TOR are allowed.
The other downside was the speed decrease. Our 100 Mbps connection was quickly slashed in half to 52.26 Mbps on their EU servers, and it continued to get worse — a London server only managed a 7.54 Mbps (!) download speed.
TunnelBear’s lowest pricing is $59.99 for the year (~$4.99/month). However, instead of a money-back guarantee (there is none), they provide access to a limited free version for you to try out.
Visit TunnelBear.com to get the Mac app
Read more in our full TunnelBear Review
Read more in our full TunnelBear Review
7. Windscribe ($4.08/mo)
Windscribe’s Mac client has zero frills.
Click on the icon at the top, and it drops down a few different server options.
That’s about it. No as much fun as TunnelBear, but it does exactly what it’s supposed to: connect you within seconds.
You can access over 480 servers in 50 countries on pretty much any device in your home, including iOS, Window, Mac, Linux, Chrome, Opera, Firefox, select routers, Amazon, Nvidia Shield, and even Kodi!
We did spot an issue with that server number claim, though. Their website listed New Zealand as a location. However, when we tried looking for it inside the app, it didn’t exist! So you might not actually get up to the 480 they’re claiming.
On the other hand, Windscribe did not have any leaks or logging in our tests.
Major protocols, including OpenVPN, IKEv2, and SOCKS5, are all offered. But you might want to switch the default IKEv2 back over to OpenVPN in most cases to get the strongest encryption.
Windscribe’s speeds let us down, getting anywhere from 56% slower in some cases (EU server) to 82% in others (UK).
You’ll have to use their special “Windflix” servers to stream Netflix (‘normal’ ones didn’t work). And you will also need to use special servers to torrent, too.
Windscribe’s cheapest plan comes down to $4.08/month for a year. They also have a “Build a Plan” plan that only costs a dollar per location. You can pay with credit, PayPal, or Bitcoin.
But if you think you might want to get a refund, you’ll need to do it within three days of purchasing the product and you can’t go over 10GB of bandwidth during that time.
Visit Windscribe.com to get the Mac app
Read more in our full Windscribe Review
Read more in our full Windscribe Review
Which VPN Mac App Should You Choose?
Unfortunately, not all Mac VPN apps are secure or fast.
Some “Mac” ones don’t even actually work on Macs without jumping through a ton of confusing, time-consuming hoops.
That’s why we picked out the top 7 VPNs for Mac devices based on our actual experience testing each one.
NordVPN comes out at the top of the list with a winning combination of strong security, tons of features, the most available servers, and affordable pricing.
ExpressVPN and Surfshark are a close second and third respectively. The first one will get you better speeds, but the second one is significantly cheaper.
ProtonVPN, IPVanish, and TunnelBear all have a few positives… with a few glaring negatives as well. They’re OK overall, but not anywhere near the top three.
And Windscribe had issue after issue, so we can’t recommend it at all.