If you’re one of the 100 million Mac users around the world, then you may be one of many under the impression that Macs are immune to cybercrime and hackers. However, Macs are still susceptible to various security issues just like any other device, so it is critical that you use a Mac VPN to secure your data. Read on to find out the other benefits of using a VPN for Mac. One of the most important steps you can take as a Mac user is to install a VPN (Virtual Private Network).
Some providers will go the extra mile and offer you a deal that gives you access to its cheapest VPN services for 5 years at costs that reach somewhere close to $100. The best of providers will always offer dedicated applications for Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, and Android while providing setup guides for other platforms. Cheap VPN Reddit.
By using a VPN, Mac and MacBook users can be safe in the knowledge that the data they transmit online is shielded from prying eyes, making it impossible for hackers to infiltrate your machine. Not only that, but since a VPN will change your IP address to that of a remote server, you can use your VPN to unblock loads of geo-restricted content! We give you a detailed rundown of the best VPNs for Mac that will keep you secure and protected. The Best VPN for Mac OS With hundreds of VPN providers on the market today, it can certainly be a difficult task to choose a VPN for your Mac. No need to be discouraged, however, because we’ve thoroughly reviewed and tested over 100 of the most popular VPNs on the market and have outlined a comparison of the best VPNs for Mac in the comparison table below.
BestVPN.com Score 6.8 out of 10 All prices shown in US dollars These are the best VPN providers for Mac on the market today because each of them offers dedicated VPN clients that are optimized for macOS systems. Furthermore, they each provide world-class security and reliability, a large global network of server locations, and excellent speeds for Mac users. While the overall functionality of a Mac VPN client and a Windows client will be virtually identical, there may be a few minor differences as far as features and protocols are concerned. Other than that, there shouldn’t really be much of a noticeable difference between a Mac and a Windows VPN client. Of course, the best VPNs for Mac will have a secure, reliable, and easy to use client explicitly optimized for your Mac. Top 5 Mac VPN clients 2019 Below, we’ve put together an in-depth list detailing each of the 5 best Mac VPN clients on the market today.
CyberGhost is another excellent VPN for Mac users to consider. CyberGhost impresses with AES 256-bit encryption, a strict no-logs policy, and over 3,000 servers in 60 locations around the world. With excellent connection speeds and unlimited bandwidth, CyberGhost is a great VPN for Mac users who want to unblock popular streaming sites like Netflix, Hulu, and BBC iPlayer.
CyberGhost is also one of the more generous VPN services out there, allowing for 7 simultaneous connections, providing 24/7 customer care via live chat, and offering an unprecedented 45-day money back guarantee. NordVPN is a Panama-based VPN service that is a superb option for privacy-conscious Mac users. Based in Panama, NordVPN is safely out the jurisdiction of the NSA. Mac users can download the NordVPN macOS IKEV4 app from the App Store. Their macOS app is slick, easy to use, and offers great speeds and reliability.
Simply fire it up and select from a list or on a map and you’re protected in a matter of seconds. The macOS app also includes a kill switch, Onion over VPN, as well as a special list of servers optimized for P2P.
Another awesome feature that NordVPN offers its users is their double VPN technology, which encrypts your data not once, but twice through the VPN tunnel, all while maintaining excellent connection speeds. NordVPN also boasts a strict no-logs policy, a network of servers in 62 locations, and a 30-day money back guarantee. Our top recommendation for best Mac VPN is ExpressVPN.
ExpressVPN’s Mac application is fully-featured, extremely reliable, and easy to use. With 148 server locations in 94 countries around the world, you are pretty much guaranteed to have a fast and reliable server close-by, as well as the ability to unblock all sorts of geo-restricted content. They provide military-grade AES 256-bit encryption to ensure that your Mac and your personal data that you transmit online are fully protected. Furthermore, ExpressVPN runs their own private DNS on each server, which means that no third-party will ever be able to catch a whiff of what you’re up to online. Other features include a kill switch, DNS leak protection, and split tunneling.
They back all this up with a 30-day money back guarantee on all of their subscription plans. For any Mac user looking to safeguard their Mac and their own personal online privacy, ExpressVPN is an excellent choice. PrivateVPN is a Swedish-based VPN provider, which means they are under no legal obligation to collect logs. Although their macOS app is extremely simple to install and works like a charm, their technical support staff go the extra mile and offer free remote assistance should you run into any issues installing or using the app. In addition to offering excellent security standards via AES 256-bit encryption, PrivateVPN provides their users with exceptional speeds for streaming content from Netflix or BBC. Additional security features include DNS leak protection, SOCKS5 and HTTP proxy, and port forwarding.
They also offer 60 server locations as well as 6 simultaneous connections. Mac users can feel free to try PrivateVPN risk-free thanks to their 30-day money back guarantee. VyprVPN is a Switzerland-based VPN service that would excel as your Mac OS or iOS VPN.
VyprVPN is ideal for accessing geo-restricted content on TV streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. VyprVPN also allows up to five simultaneous devices and offers 24/7 live customer support. This VPN includes better than average server speeds, strong encryption protocols and proprietary technology for added security. If you prefer to sample your Mac OS/iOS VPN before committing, you can use VyprVPN’s free 3 day trial. Why do I need a VPN for MacBook? If you value your online privacy and wish to safeguard your Mac from various online threats, then you need a VPN. You can also use a VPN for Mac to unblock geo-restricted content and other websites which otherwise may be blocked by your ISP, government or content provider.
How Mac VPN software can keep your data secure and private Although Mac computers are considerably more secure than Windows PCs (many argue that this is only because there aren't that many Mac users compared to Windows users so it isn't really worth the effort for hackers!), that doesn’t mean that once your data is completely safe. Your data can still be intercepted in transit by man in the middle attacks. Using a VPN is one of the most important steps you can take to ensure that your personal data is kept secure and private when you go online.
A VPN will route all of your online traffic through a VPN tunnel to a remote server from which you access the internet. The VPN tunnel is fully encrypted end-to-end, meaning your traffic is completely secure and your data is protected.
Without a VPN, anyone with even a mediocre understanding of networking can intercept data packets you send over an unsecured connection to the internet. A VPN for Mac is also crucial if you’re concerned about the very real threat of government surveillance. Because all of your internet traffic is fully encrypted when connected through a VPN, neither your ISP nor any government agency will be able to decipher what you are up to online. A VPN will effectively hide your online data from prying eyes and provide you with a critical layer of protection from anyone attempting to snoop on your online activity. Unblocking content with a Mac VPN In addition to protecting your online privacy, a VPN for Mac is also a great tool to use if you want to unblock geographically-restricted content.
Whether you’re facing government censorship measures, or if you’re simply wanting to view online content only available in a foreign country, a VPN is what you will need to bypass such restrictions. With a VPN, you can truly get the most out of the internet. When you connect through a VPN, you are connecting to the internet via a remote server which can be virtually anywhere in the world, depending on which location you choose at any given time. Further, the VPN will change your IP address to that of the remote server you are connecting through. This means that whatever website you visit will register your location as the location of the VPN server you are connecting through, not your current physical location.
Basically, you can trick any website into thinking that you are in a completely different country by using a VPN. If you connect to a UK server, you can easily even if you’re not in the UK. Similarly, you can connect to a US server to and even if you’re not in the US.
Taking it further, with a, you could also potentially unblock the entire worldwide Netflix library by simply connecting to different server locations available in your VPN provider’s network. Not only that, but if you happen to be in a country with oppressive internet censorship regulations, or behind your school’s firewall, with a VPN you can unblock a host of otherwise banned websites such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Proxy vs VPN for macOS A proxy is a tool that works much in the same way that a VPN does, in that it will change your IP address and route your internet traffic through a remote server. That’s pretty much where the similarities end. Using a proxy on your Mac will not grant you the same level of protection that a VPN will because a proxy will not encrypt your data in the same way that a VPN can. Nevertheless, using a proxy can be advantageous in certain use cases. Gramic on September 18, 2017 I looked at NordVPN - it is good in that it has servers everywhere, but, when the VPN server drops, unless you set up the app to kill with it, you're left connected with no VPN security.
It's the same when you first connect - you have to open your browser, so if you restore previous session, every website you were visiting, now gets to know your IP address, until you connect and establish a VPN connection to NordVPN servers. I use AirVPN and prefer that it locks your network immediately if the VPN connection drops, and because the network is locked, you can continue to look at your browser. Douglas Crawford replied to gramic on September 18, 2017 Hi gramic, Well. The NordVPN client does have a per-app kill switch. You can choose which apps will be shut down in the event of a VPN disconnection. This is very handy, but it is not a firewall-based kill switch like AirVPN's.
So if the NordVPN client itself crashes, the specified apps will not shut down and can continue to access the internet. I'm not sure what you mean by having to open your browser. You can run the client before you open your browser. Douglas Crawford replied to Anna on September 18, 2017 Hi Anna, Netflix, iPlayer and Hulu are actively trying to block VPN users from using their services.
They do this simply by blocking IP addresses that are known to belong to VPN providers. There are ways around these blocks (such as a provider regularly recycling its IP addresses), however, and some providers are better at it than others. In our reviews we always test to see if we can access US Netflix and iPlayer. At present I know that NordVPN and ExpresVPN work with these services (you may need to contact ExpressVPN to ask which servers they recommend using).
We are currently working on a system to regularly check which VPN serverces do and don't work with Netflix and iPlayer (and hopefully other services going forward). JJ on May 29, 2017 After in-depth reading reviews on VPNs to use in Canada, Friends suggest Hotspot Shield being #1 and others have crappy service.(Free vs Paid).
Should I go with ExpressVPN (despite Buffered is Best)? Its a split 50/50 for torrenting US shows + streaming online tv from Hong Kong/Taiwan/Korea using my MacBook Pro (Sierra) + looking into Kodi for Asia programs / Soccer Games for the elderly + using Android for Asia radio, etc.
What are your suggestions? Is it 100% completely safe from Spys, cyber security?
I was told CISCO has a way around that can hack into our internet even the Gov't can't. Originally I partly installed OpenVPNGate than deleted after running into problems with Sierra. Will having VPN affect Hardware Upgrades on Mac? Douglas Crawford replied to JJ on May 29, 2017 Hi JJ, - Both ExpressVPN and Buffered are good for torrenting US shows.To stream shows from Hong Kong/Taiwan/Korea, you will need a service with servers in those countries.
Buffered has a server in South Korea, but ExpresdsVPN has servers in all these countries. Nothing can be 100% guaranteed.
Both Buffered (Gibraltar) and ExpressVPN (British Virgin Islands) are based in British Overseas Territories. How this might or might not affect vulnerability to UK spying is unclear. For most purposes, though, I'd say both services are fine in this regard. If you run the VPN in software, then all data will be encrypted as it passes through the router. So it doesn't matter if the router has a backdoor. Running a VPN will have no effect Mac hardware upgrades.