What are the best and cheapest VPN for 2026?
- Have a lot of countries (including some from Asia like Thailand)
- Do not keep logs
- Located outside Europe and America
- Reliable for downloads large files
- Not leaking data to the Europe and US gov?

 

I use Proton VPN (Free version) , one of the best and it works with Linux Mint (I don't know if there is other free VPN that can work with Ubuntu or Mint ? )

 

A free, no-logs browser VPN is integrated into the Opera browser for mobile phones and computers.

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https://hide.me/ru/
https://hide.me/en/

 

Some general notes about VPN Providers: all cooperate with law enforcement, ALL! No exception. So please dont ever think that you are "safe"

 

Last edited: Feb 27, 2026

They have to because they couldn't operate otherwise, obviously. However, some providers take decent amount of measures to protect the customer. See: Mullvad's raid (https://mullvad.net/en/blog/mullvad...-search-warrant-customer-data-not-compromised).

In short: their equipment was seized by the police but nothing was given away because there was nothing there.

 

I'm a happy Surfshark user

 

If someone is a terrorist or child molester/pedophile then yes, they should be scared that their data isn't safe even behind vpn. The rest of us, knowing that we are not any of the above, can sleep lightly with our vpn providing anonymity. And torrent dl/stream for what it may be worth hehe. Personally, i couldn't be happier with Surfshark and Wireguard speedy protocol. Better and faster than ever actually. I even have it installed in my Google tv and can use Stremio and Kodi with no restrictions lol.
Cheers

 

Last edited: Feb 27, 2026

ExpressVPN is your best non-Nord option: British Virgin Islands based (outside EU/US), audited no-logs, covers 105-108 countries with solid Asia/Thailand support, reliable for large downloads. Pricier, roughly $2.49-6.67/month. PIA is US based, so it conflicts with your jurisdiction requirement despite being cheap. Mullvad is worth mentioning for radical privacy (no email needed, anonymous account number, cash accepted). It can also help with ad verification and social media tasks thanks to its wide range of exit locations, but it's Sweden based (EU) and not optimized for cheap pricing or downloads. Going smaller than ExpressVPN to dodge US/EU entirely means unaudited providers where you can't actually verify their no-logs claims.

 

I noticed Firefox now has a free VPN (with limits).
Give that a try!

 

Proton VPN is clearly the best (these last 2-3 years) and checks all your boxes.

You don't mention Mac or PC, but most work equally well on both. On Mac, besides ProtonVPN, I also use Nord. On my iPhone I use PIA.

I've used those VPNs successfully all over Asia and Europe, including China, India, Indonesia and Malaysia. When one doesn't work (in China, for instance), another did (I'm not going to say which, don't want it blocked next time I go there), hence the need to have three.

I don't (need to) spoof IPs for US streaming services though, like some of my expat friends living in Asia do. Express VPN is good for that.

Again: this is what's best for Mac and iPhone/iPad - not sure about PC, but should be similar or close enough.


Hope this helps.