Exactly how we rank VPNs
Swedish law requires comparison services to tell consumers what criteria determine their ranking and how much each criterion counts. This page is that disclosure, written so you can check our work rather than take it on trust.
Why we publish this
From September 2022, Swedish marketing law requires comparison services and marketplaces to inform consumers which criteria determine the ranking of offers, and what those criteria weigh relative to each other. Most comparison sites ignore this. We would rather comply and be checkable.
There is a second reason. Affiliate comparison sites are structurally conflicted: the more providers we recommend, the more we earn. Publishing the weighting makes that conflict visible and limits how far it can distort the result.
If you find a real error, we want to know. Corrections are made transparently and the change is dated.
The weighting
These five weights are fixed. They apply identically to every provider, they do not change seasonally, and no provider is ever exempt from them.
| Criterion | Weight | How it is scored |
|---|---|---|
| Privacy | 30 % | Jurisdiction and data-retention law; membership of the 5/9/14-Eyes alliances; independent audits of the no-logs claim with a named firm and date; whether servers are RAM-only, which makes retention structurally impossible; documented cases of legal compulsion; how much identifying information signup collects. |
| Speed | 25 % | An architectural estimate, not our own benchmark. Protocol support and whether WireGuard is available; RAM-only versus disk infrastructure; server density and proximity to major cities; dedicated streaming and gaming capacity; stability reported in published independent reviews. |
| Value | 20 % | The effective monthly cost of the longest term offered, weighted against what the subscription actually delivers — device count, features and network size. Providers whose renewal price roughly doubles score lower, because the real cost of a VPN is the second year, not the first. |
| Streaming | 15 % | How consistently the provider restores geo-blocked catalogues across major streaming services, whether it maintains dedicated servers for them, and how often the answer changes. Providers that do not attempt this score low by design, which we state rather than penalise silently. |
| Ease of use | 10 % | How quickly a non-technical person can install, connect and trust the app; whether servers are labelled by purpose; platform coverage including smart TVs and routers; and whether support is reachable and useful. |
What each score measures
Privacy and logging30%
Jurisdiction and data-retention law; membership of the 5/9/14-Eyes alliances; independent audits of the no-logs claim with a named firm and date; whether servers are RAM-only, which makes retention structurally impossible; documented cases of legal compulsion; how much identifying information signup collects.
Speed and reliability25%
An architectural estimate, not our own benchmark. Protocol support and whether WireGuard is available; RAM-only versus disk infrastructure; server density and proximity to major cities; dedicated streaming and gaming capacity; stability reported in published independent reviews.
Value for money20%
The effective monthly cost of the longest term offered, weighted against what the subscription actually delivers — device count, features and network size. Providers whose renewal price roughly doubles score lower, because the real cost of a VPN is the second year, not the first.
Streaming and TV unblocking15%
How consistently the provider restores geo-blocked catalogues across major streaming services, whether it maintains dedicated servers for them, and how often the answer changes. Providers that do not attempt this score low by design, which we state rather than penalise silently.
Apps and ease of use10%
How quickly a non-technical person can install, connect and trust the app; whether servers are labelled by purpose; platform coverage including smart TVs and routers; and whether support is reachable and useful.
What affiliate status can and cannot do
Commission rates never enter the scoring
The percentage we might receive has no weight in any of the five components. A provider paying 100% of the first sale scores exactly the same as one paying 20%.
No provider can pay for a position
Nobody at this site can accept a payment in exchange for a rank, a badge or a higher score. Commercial terms offered by providers are declined where they attach to editorial outcomes.
Commission does affect what we can afford to do
Funding pays for the site to exist. It lets us keep the review length, the verification dates and the free comparison genuinely free rather than paywalled.
Free products count as payment
If we ever receive a VPN subscription to test one, that is compensation and we will say so on the review.
The limits of our method
- We do not run our own throughput benchmarks. Our speed score is an architectural estimate combined with published third-party results, and every review says so.
- We cannot verify a provider's internal code unless the client is open source. Where it is not, we say that and explain what it means.
- Audit findings are summarised from publicly available reports. We do not have access to the underlying evidence, and we do not imply that we do.
- Server counts are the providers' own published figures and are not independently verified. We date them.
- Prices change daily. The date of last verification is shown on every price, and the provider's checkout is always the authority if the two disagree.
How a provider is removed
We remove a provider if its no-logs claim is contradicted by documented evidence, if it is found to have misrepresented a material feature, if it becomes unreachable for a sustained period, or if we cannot verify basic facts such as jurisdiction. A provider paying less commission is not a reason for removal, and neither is a provider paying more.
Corrections
Corrections are made in place and dated. We do not silently delete a claim we got wrong — the change history is part of the record. Email corrections to the address in the footer.