Updated August 13, 2026
Which VPN scores highest on a published rubric?
Short answer
Proton VPN scores highest on our rubric at 90.0 out of 100, ahead of NordVPN at 84.0, PureVPN at 69.0 and FastestVPN at 48.0. Proton leads because it is the only one of the four with open-source clients, two published audits, and Swiss jurisdiction outside the Fourteen Eyes agreement.
- Providers covered
- 4All disclosed commercial relationships
- Highest score
- 90.0Proton VPN
- Lowest score
- 48.0FastestVPN
- Audited no-logs
- 3/4Named firm, public report
- Cheapest
- $1.11FastestVPN, longest term
- Our own speed tests
- 0Method published, results pending
| # | Provider | Score | From | Jurisdiction | Latest audit | Devices |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Proton VPN | 90.0 | $4.49 | Switzerland | Securitum 2024 | 10 |
| 2 | NordVPN | 84.0 | $3.39 | Panama | Deloitte 2023 | 10 |
| 3 | PureVPN | 69.0 | $2.11 | British Virgin Islands | KPMG 2023 | 10 |
| 4 | FastestVPN | 48.0 | $1.11 | Cayman Islands | None published | 15 |
What this site is, and what it is not
KotoVPN covers four providers. Every one of them is a service we earn commission from, and that is stated next to every link rather than buried. This is not a survey of the VPN market — it is a scored, sourced account of four services, and you should read anything claiming to rank the entire market with the same scepticism you apply here.
What makes the coverage worth reading anyway is that the scoring is arithmetic rather than assertion. Seven criteria, fixed weights, one written reason per score stating a checkable fact. The visible consequence is that FastestVPN pays us exactly like the others and finishes last at 48.0 out of 100, because it has never published an independent audit. A page optimised for revenue would not print that.
The rubric
Seven criteria, fixed weights
- 20%
- Independent audit
- 15%
- Jurisdiction and ownership
- 15%
- Protocol and crypto stack
- 15%
- Leak protection
- 15%
- Transparency
- 10%
- Price and refund terms
- 10%
- Platform coverage
What we have not measured
The lab is empty, and we say so
Scores here come from documented facts: audits, jurisdiction, protocols, published terms. They contain no speed or leak measurements of our own, because we have not run them. When a measurement exists it appears with the date, the client location, the baseline line speed and the number of runs. Until then these pages say “not yet measured” rather than printing a number nobody took.
Start from your actual constraint
There is no single best VPN, only a best one for a stated requirement. Each page below runs one hard filter over the dataset and names what did not qualify.
Compared directly
Before you buy anything
A ranking is the last step, not the first. These cover the decisions that come before picking a provider.
Questions about the ranking
- Which VPN scores highest on KotoVPN?
- Proton VPN scores highest on our rubric at 90.0 out of 100, ahead of NordVPN at 84.0, PureVPN at 69.0 and FastestVPN at 48.0. Proton leads because it is the only one of the four with open-source clients, two published audits, and Swiss jurisdiction outside the Fourteen Eyes agreement.
- How is the KotoVPN score calculated?
- Each provider is scored 0 to 10 on seven criteria: independent audit (weighted 20%), jurisdiction and ownership (15%), protocol stack (15%), leak protection (15%), transparency (15%), price and refund terms (10%), and platform coverage (10%). Each raw score is multiplied by its weight and divided by ten, and the seven results are added to give a total out of 100. Every score carries a written reason stating a checkable fact.
- How many VPNs does KotoVPN cover?
- Four: Proton VPN, NordVPN, PureVPN and FastestVPN. This is not a survey of the whole market. We cover providers we have a commercial relationship with, which is disclosed on every page and in full on the affiliate disclosure page.
- Does commission change the scores?
- No. Commission is not one of the seven rubric inputs and there is no editorial step after the arithmetic. The check is visible in the results: FastestVPN pays us like the others and finishes last at 48.0 out of 100, because it has never published an independent audit.
- Has KotoVPN measured VPN speeds itself?
- Not yet. The scores come from documented facts — audits, jurisdiction, protocols, published terms — and contain no speed or leak measurements of our own. Provider pages say "not yet measured" rather than printing an estimate, and the test method is published in advance.
- How current are the prices on this site?
- Every price carries the date it was checked and links to the provider page it was read from. Promotional rates change frequently and are often region-dependent, so the provider’s own checkout is always the authority on what you will pay.