Any device that you access the internet from, can benefit from using a VPN. A VPN can keep your browsing data private from any ISP snooping and secure your traffic from hackers on unencrypted public Wi-Fi hotspots. A VPN can also spoof your location so your device appears to be at the location of the VPN server. Location spoofing can be useful in trying to bypass location-based access restrictions.
When looking for a VPN to use on your Mac there are a few things that should help guide your decision. The first key point is that the VPN provider, needs to offer its service on macOS and unfortunately, not all VPNs support all operating systems. Other important factors include security and price, most other features are just nice extras.
ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN offers more than 3000 servers across 160 locations in a total of 94 countries, giving you a lot of choice over where you want to connect to. The service is able to unblock many streaming sites including Netflix US and the BBC iPlayer.
Other features include a VPN kill switch and split tunnelling. A VPN kill switch blocks all internet traffic if your VPN connection drops, so you can be confident that none of your data leaks. Split tunnelling is a feature that allows you to specify which apps do and don’t go through the VPN.
ExpressVPN supports the top-of-the-line 256-bit AES encryption cipher and has a strict no-logs policy.
Tip: Encryption is a process of scrambling data with an encryption cipher and encryption key so that the data can only be read with the key.
Prices start from $6.67 a month for a one-year plan that supports up to five devices at once.
NordVPN
NordVPN offers more than 5400 servers in 59 countries. Streaming services such as Netflix US and BBC iPlayer, are unblocked. A large number of servers spread across most of the countries are optimised for P2P services such as torrenting.
Other supported features include a VPN kill switch, double VPN, and onion over VPN. Double VPN is a feature that chains your VPN connection through two servers, with a layer of encryption for each server making it even harder to de-anonymise your traffic. Onion over VPN is a similar feature that connects the VPN server to the Tor network.
NordVPN has a strict no-logs policy and supports the best available 256-bit AES encryption cipher.
Prices start from $3.49 for a three-year plan and cover up to 6 simultaneous devices.
Surfshark
Surfshark offers more than 1700 servers in more than 63 countries, all of the servers are designed to support P2P torrenting traffic. A wide variety of streaming services are unblocked including Netflix US and the BBC iPlayer.
Other features include split tunnelling, MultiHop, and CleanWeb. MultiHop is a branding name for a double VPN process. CleanWeb is an ad, tracker, malware and phishing blocker designed to keep you even safer when using the VPN. Surfshark supports the strongest encryption algorithm, 256-bit AES, and has a strict no-logs policy.
One of Surfshark’s biggest selling points is that prices start from just $1.99 a month and include an unlimited number of licences.
Fabulous_Flore says
Big Apple fan here. I have a Mac, iPhone, tablet, and Apple TV at my house. I also have a Surfshark subscription, and I can say it works pretty nicely on all devices. Would recommend.