7 Things To Consider When Buying a VPN

1. Price

The easiest way to differentiate between different VPN services is the price. They might be offering similar services on paper but will charge you differently. Additionally, they also offer different pricing plans and models such as monthly, quarterly, biannually, or annually. Some even offer lifetime subscriptions as well.

Analyze your business needs and ask yourself how much you are willing to spend on a VPN. With a fixed budget in mind, you can easily eliminate options that exceed your budget and pick those that offer the best value for money. Avoid short-term pricing plans and opt for long-term ones to enjoy savings as you can get discounted rates in long term plans.

2. Number of Servers

Before purchasing a VPN for your business, it is important to understand how VPN works. A VPN works by creating a tunnel from where your encrypted data passes. This tunnel acts as a bridge connecting the user with the VPN service provider’s server. Ask questions such as, “How many servers do you have?” from the VPN service provider. Good VPN service providers will tell you how many servers they have but most VPN service providers won’t. Remember that the higher the number of servers a VPN service provider has, the better the service they will deliver to their users. Just like HostNoc windows dedicated server, users can get higher bandwidth and enjoy faster speeds.

3. Location of Servers

Just like real estate, location plays an important role in VPN service as well. The location of the server does matter as the nearer the server is to your location, the smoother the experience you can get. On the contrary, if the servers are located thousands of miles away, you will experience some lag and poor response times. Yes, you can get over geo-restrictions with a server located in a different country, but you will have to deal with slow response time and lag. This hampers the overall web experience for users. This lag becomes even more evident if you are using it for online gaming.

4. Data Limit

Yes, it might be tempting to go for free plans or free tiers that VPN service providers offer, but they all come with a catch: monthly data limit. Even though you might have an unlimited internet connection, if you have a data cap on VPN, you won’t be able to make the most of your unlimited data connection. Some VPN providers let you try the service for a month and then decide whether you want to become a paid subscriber or not. Choose a data plan according to your business needs to keep accessing the web anonymously.

5. Connected Devices

Another important consideration when choosing a VPN is the number of devices you can connect. In most cases, users will try to connect multiple devices simultaneously. It could be a PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. Make sure to ask about data cap on each device as most service providers tend to set a data limit based on the device. Some VPN providers only allow you to connect a handful of devices at a given time. If you want to connect more devices simultaneously, you will have to subscribe to their premium tier, which comes with a loftier price tag but lets you connect more devices at any time.

6. Device Support

If your business encourages employees to bring their own devices to work, you should also inquire about the device compatibility and support. Most VPNs support Windows-based devices while others also cater to Mac, iOS and Android. If you are planning to use VPN on a bunch of different devices and platforms, it is important to check for the platform and device support before purchasing the VPN. Support for Linux is fairly limited. If you have some less popular device on older platforms, then device support can prove to be a big concern for your business. If the VPN provider does not support your devices, there is no point in buying a VPN from that service provider in the first place.

7. Privacy and Logging

Last but certainly not the least is privacy and logging. Believe it or not, all VPN service providers maintain a log of your online activities and store user data for a limited time as well. In some cases, they are obliged to hand that data down to government agencies. This is why it is important to know how the VPN service provider collects, stores and distributes your data. Read the privacy policy carefully as it mentions what type of data they store and how they use that data.

What do you look for when buying a VPN for your business? Feel free to share it with us in the comments section below.