Choose the right VPN
1.Free and Paid VPN

While offering a free VPN service may seem appealing, it's important to be cautious with anything labeled "free" these days. The cost of maintaining VPN infrastructure is not cheap, and providers have to get that money from users somehow.

Paid VPNs will directly cover these costs through the amount you pay for the subscription service. On the contrary, with a free VPN, the best case scenario is that you will encounter more ads. However, it is not uncommon for these free service providers to sell your data and even contain malware or malvertising in their apps.
Additionally, paid VPNs offer faster speeds, higher security, and more servers to connect to. All this comes with unlimited data provision. The cost of a premium VPN is definitely a worthwhile investment to avoid using a free VPN service.
2.Security and privacy features
The encryption process that turns data and information into code is an important part of ensuring the security of a VPN. By using encryption, a VPN can protect your traffic, even if it is leaked or intercepted, making decryption nearly impossible.
The industry-leading encryption standard is AES-256, a strong encryption system. When combined with today's best protocols like WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2 and others, it will ensure that your network traffic is unreadable by any intruder.
Protocols are also important because they determine how your secure internet connection is established. The preference for open source protocols is important, as anyone can inspect the code or built-in privacy-violating options.
Additionally, making sure that your VPN provider doesn't steal your data is also important. This entails checking the VPN provider's history, no-logs policy, and considering whether they carry out any independent audits.
Additionally, additional protection such as disconnection and other safety features should also be considered. Ideally, a VPN uses RAM-only servers to self-delete data every reboot, increasing security.
3.Number of servers and locations

When talking about VPN servers, there are two important factors you need to consider: the number of available servers and the number of locations.
As for the number of servers, the more servers to choose from, the less likely they are to be crowded. Overloaded servers can lead to lower connection speeds, so it's important to make sure there are enough options to choose from.
In addition, the distance from you to the server also affects the connection speed. Having multiple server locations increases your chances of finding a server near you. Plus, more countries to connect to means you can more easily bypass geo-restrictions at your convenience.
4.Connection speed
In most cases, using a VPN can slow down your connection speed. However, top VPN providers have developed ways to minimize this impact by offering the fastest protocols along with multiple server locations.
The WireGuard protocol is considered the fastest VPN protocol available, so if speed is your top priority, choose a VPN provider that supports it.
5.Easy to use and set up
Using a VPN app should be a simple and convenient experience. It's the tool you want to have available every time you connect online. It would be annoying if an app you use every day causes trouble to use.
To solve this problem, choose a VPN that has intuitive and easy-to-use apps for all your devices. Installation should be simple and only take a few seconds to connect to the VPN server. At the same time, the app should also be available on any device that supports it, including PC, macOS, iOS, Android, and smart TVs. Having the option to install on unlimited devices would also be a valuable plus.
6.Customer support
While you hope that you'll never need to use customer support, if something does happen, it's nice to have a competent customer support team behind the product.
To ensure that you get the best support, look for providers with extensive knowledge bases, 24/7 live chat support, and ticketing systems. There's never a right time to take a break from online security, so having a customer support team ready to help you at all times is important.

7.Additional features
In this day and age, premium VPN services offer more than just traffic encryption and changing your IP address like before. Today's VPN providers are focusing on providing more advanced features to provide the best possible browsing experience.
Every VPN provider tries to offer new features like ad blockers, split tunneling or even double VPN. For example, VPN Rice even offers unlimited simultaneous connections, while many other providers limit the number of devices you can connect to at once.
Before deciding on a VPN provider, you should check the list of features each provider offers. Some features may suit your needs better and help you make the best decision about choosing a VPN provider.
Is free VPN safe?
The short answer is no. Free VPNs will change your IP address, but they won't do a good job of protecting your online privacy.
Why do I need a VPN?
There are many reasons to use a VPN. First of all, a virtual private network protects your online privacy. But you can also use it to stream privately, access restricted content, bypass ISP restrictions, or save money on flights and accommodation.