Business VPNs
A VPN — Virtual Private Network — is a vital tool for keeping your business communications and files safe and secure. Businesses have different VPN needs from consumers and business VPNs often provide different features and pricing structures to better reflect these requirements.
Quick Navigation: Top 5 Best Business VPNS
First, though, why do businesses need a VPN?
Businesses need a VPN for security
The primary reason businesses should use a VPN is to keep themselves safe. A VPN ensures that communication with clients is secure, preventing man-in-the-middle attacks that can leave your client data vulnerable — and your business liable for hefty fines.
If your staff have VPN on as standard on their work devices, they can even use insecure wifi networks at airports or hotels in perfect safety.
And a VPN can protect you from direct cyber attacks like hacking attempts too.
- Good Support
- Great fro Organizations
- Unlimited data usage
How common are cyber attacks on businesses?
61% of small and medium businesses experienced a cyber attack in 2017, up from 55% in 2016, resulting in average losses of $2, 235,000, according to a report from Ponemon.
Spear phishing attacks steal personal data from emails and other forms of communication, then use that data to attack the business. These are even more common: attacks like these have grown 65% in the last year and 95% of attacks on enterprise networks are achieved by spear phishing.
Keeping your IP concealed
VPNs conceal your IP address, the unique number that physically locates you on the internet. Without this, you’re much harder to attack. With your IP, someone can hunt down your address in the real world and use that knowledge to decide if you’re a fitting target for attacks. They can use that geographic data to build up a picture of your company so they know how to attack you more efficiently.
It’s also necessary to know your IP address to launch a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack that brings your website or network down — and potentially infects your company with malware.
Encrypting your traffic
VPNs encrypt your traffic, using powerful encryption algorithms that make it impossible or very difficult to hack into your communications with clients, suppliers, contractors and employees. Without a VPN, common communication tools like email are totally exposed to man-in-the-middle attacks, so criminals could be reading your ‘mail’ — you’d never know.
When we commonly carry out financial transactions, access sensitive client information and discuss vital business data online, it’s vital to have this protection.
What to look for in a business VPN
Every business is different, so every business VPN is a little different. In general, though, you should look at factors like:
Security
Does it have solid security measures, strong encryption and good reviews?
Server distribution
Are its servers where you need them to be? A VPN whose servers are primarily in Asia might not be the best fit for a US-based company.
Customer support
Does it look after its customers well? If you need help, do they come through for you?
Speed
Is the VPN fast enough to keep up with your business?
Pricing
The actual price is likely less of a concern than the pricing structure. If you’re planning to expand, you need to look at how much you’ll pay when you grow, not just what it costs now. Does the provider charge you to upgrade? Do they have an enterprise plan? Does their per-seat pricing plan still make sense when you have three or four times the number of staff you do now?
| CyberGhost | ||||
Security | Excellent, business-oriented | Excellent: double VPN, TOR over VPN | Good: 256-bit AES over multiple protocols | Good: 256-bit AES over multiple protocols | Good: No logs, 256-bit AES encryption |
Servers | Extensive server net, dedicated server available | Over 5,000 in over 60 countries. | 1000+ in 54 countries | 1,324 servers in 52 countries | Over 2,000 across 92 countries |
Support | Excellent, but English only | 24/7 priority support, English only | Email, phone, knowledge base, tickets, no live chat | Live chat, FAQs | Live chat, videos, FAQs |
Speed | Excellent | Speed isn’t usually affected much by using Nord. | Slower than Nord on average | US and Oceania fast, rest of the world slower | Consistently the fastest VPN in tests |
Pricing | $10/mo/seat or custom for enterprise | $3.99/mo/user (2-year plan), deals for multiple users | $3.74/mo/user (2-year plan) | $3.50/mo/user (2-year plan) | $8.32/mo/user (1-year plan) |
Best for… | Midsize and enterprise | Growing SMBs, midsize business | SMBs where speed isn’t a major concern | Tech-oriented SMBs requiring international speed | SMBs that need fast connections |
Best VPNs for business
1: Perimeter 81
Perimeter 81 offers:
- VPN server management and monitoring
- Activity and audit reports
- Single Sign-On
- Cloud management platform
- Activity API
- User and role management
- Software Defined Perimeter architecture
- VPN server deployment
- Unlimited data, bandwidth
- Automatic wifi security
- Apps for Windows, OSX, iOS, Android
- On-premise or cloud deployment
- Enterprise support
Those features make it the single best option for businesses of any size. And it consistently gets solid reviews that stress ease of use, technical integrations, and great support.
Perimeter 81 offers two versions, one for smaller business and one for enterprises.
Perimeter 81 for SMBs
The SMB version is priced at $10/mo/seat, and comes with apps for Android, iOS, OSX and Windows to make adoption and compliance easy. Dedicated VPN servers are hosted in Perimeter 81’s secure cloud, located in the USA, UK, Netherlands, France, India, and Singapore; alternatively there are servers located across 35 countries. Unlike a consumer-level VPN, Perimeter 81 delivers audit and activity reports and permissioned access, as well as unlimited bandwidth and data.
Perimeter 81 for enterprise
Perimeter 81 gives custom quotes on its enterprise version, which comes with a host of additional features including Single Sign-on via AD/LDAP, SAML, and MFA, on-premise and cloud server implementation, management and monitoring, and on-demand worldwide server access as well as advanced configuration and enterprise support.
How does Perimeter 81 stack up?
Security | Excellent: business-oriented active security measures include unknown network threat monitoring, CASBs and automatic wifi security as well as AES 256-bit encryption. | ||||||
Servers | Extensive international server net, dedicated cloud or on-premise server available | ||||||
Speed | Excellent | ||||||
Devices |
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Pricing | $10/seat/mo (business); custom quote (enterprise) | ||||||
Features | Best in class for business features | ||||||
Support | Excellent, but available currently in English only | ||||||
Business types | SMBs, midsize and enterprises |
Those features make it the single best option for businesses of any size. And it consistently gets solid reviews that stress ease of use, technical integrations, and great support.
Learn more about Perimeter 81 as soon as we have a review up.
{Get Perimeter 81 for your business now }
2: NordVPN
Nord has one of the best reps around in the VPN space. It’s been running over a decade and offers its consumer customers a features-rich, easy-to-use experience at a very low price.
So how does Nord VPN stack up as a business VPN?
In addition to features like double VPN, obfuscation and powerful, AES-256 encryption, Nord for business comes with additional benefits:
- Dedicated IP or server deployment
- Centralized billing
- Dedicated account manager
- User administration and permissions
- 24/7 priority support
- License transferability between named individuals
Nord’s business VPN is essentially its consumer offering with additions and tweaks to make it more business-friendly. But that shouldn’t make you discount it: Nord is one of the most powerful and effective VPNs out there. And it scores in some ways even over Perimeter 81’s purpose-built business VPN service. It’s cheaper, for one thing; and it’s also extremely intuitive to use. Nord keeps no logs, and for business users, there are permissioned accounts and other advanced account management options, plus a price reduction when buying multiple accounts.
Nord gets good reviews from its users:
How does NordVPN for business stack up?
Security | Top of the line: no logs, AES-256, double VPN. | ||||||
Servers | Over 5,000 in over 60 countries. | ||||||
Speed | Speed isn’t usually affected much by using Nord. | ||||||
Devices |
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Pricing | Low already — $3.99/mo for a 2-year deal — and even lower with multiple seats | ||||||
Features | Best in class for security and ease of use | ||||||
Support | 24/7 priority support for business users, currently available only in English | ||||||
Business types | Any size, but probably best for SMB/midsize businesses |
"A speedy VPN that's very easy to use and covers basic privacy needs well enough"
- Excellent available variety of servers
- Servers are fast and secure
- Offers six connections
3: IPVanish
IPVanish has over a thousand servers in 54 countries, and it’s known as one of the fastest VPNs around. It doesn’t keep logs (see below), and has apps for iOS, OSX, Windows, Linux and Android. As a reliable choice for a smaller business, it’s a sound option, though its interface is a little less user-friendly than some.
(There has been some controversy over IPVanish’s logging practices, with TorrentFreak reporting that the company had supplied Homeland Security with customer information.)
How does IPVanish for business stack up?
Security | Powerful encryption including 256-bit AES across multiple protocols | ||||||
Servers | 1000+ in 54 countries | ||||||
Speed | Mixed reputation. Slower than average download speeds for this quality of VPN. | ||||||
Devices |
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Pricing | $6.49/mo for a 1-year plan, $3.74/mo for 2-year plan (special offer) | ||||||
Features | Top-end VPN features set including SockS5 tunnel proxy | ||||||
Support | Email, phone, a knowledge base and tickets. No live chat | ||||||
Business types | Best for smaller businesses, as there’s no dedicated business plan |
- Servers number into the hundreds
- BitTorrenting allowed
- Offers a kill switch
4: CyberGhost
CyberGhost is probably a better choice for smaller businesses that don’t require a full enterprise service. It doesn’t have a dedicated business service at all, but it’s reliable, fairly fast and has decent security and no logs. It runs over 1300 servers, distributed across 52 countries.
If security is a really major concern, though, you might want to shop elsewhere. Cyberghost was recently sold to a company called Crossrider which is based in the Isle of Man, a British Crown Dependency which is likely to be compliant with British security services and police.
It gets good reviews:
The app is pleasant and easy to use, but it does load slower than some others.
One thing CyberGhost does have in its favor is an unusual variety of devices: if you’re using Raspberry Pis in your business, or you want to install your VPN on a router, CyberGhost is a good choice.
How does CyberGhost for business stack up?
Security | AES 256-bit encryption, no logs | ||||||||
Servers | 1,324 servers in 52 countries | ||||||||
Speed | Fastest to US and Oceania, slower to the rest of the world, but still respectable | ||||||||
Devices |
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Pricing | $3.50/mo for a 2-year plan, $6.49/mo for a 1-year plan | ||||||||
Features | DNS leak protection, killswitch, unlimited bandwidth and traffic | ||||||||
Support | Live chat support, FAQs | ||||||||
Business types | Best for smaller businesses |
- Highest Encryption Available
- No Logs Policy
- 2200 Servers Located in 60 Different, Countries
5: ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN bills itself on its speed. When we tested five popular VPN services for speed, that’s what we found: Express was slightly but consistently faster than everything else we tried.
Other than that, it’s a standard first-rate VPN: no logs, easy to use, 256-bit AES over OpenVPN, IPSec and IKEv2, and over 2,000 servers across 90+ countries.
It gets great reviews:
How does ExpressVPN for business stack up?
Security | No logs, 256-bit AES encryption, OpenVPN, server authentication | ||||||||||
Servers | Over 2,000 across 92 countries | ||||||||||
Speed | ExpressVPN is almost always at least slightly faster than the competition. | ||||||||||
Devices |
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Pricing | $8.32/mo for a 1-year plan, $9.99/mo for a 6-month plan | ||||||||||
Features | Supports a wide range of devices, fast, easy to use | ||||||||||
Support | Live chat, video tutorials, FAQs | ||||||||||
Business types | Best for smaller businesses that need fast internet |
- 256-bit AES Encryption
- Blazing Fast Connection Speed
- No Logs