Best VPN for Remote Work 2026: From $2.19/mo (15 Tested)

Your company’s VPN might protect corporate resources, but what about everything else you do while working remotely? When you’re connected to coffee shop WiFi, your personal banking, client communications, and sensitive documents travel through networks you don’t control. A personal VPN closes that gap.

Remote work has become the norm for millions of professionals, but network security often lags behind. Whether you’re handling confidential client data from a co-working space, joining video calls from hotel rooms, or simply working from home on a shared internet connection, a VPN adds a critical layer of protection that corporate IT policies can’t always provide.

We tested 15 VPN services specifically for remote work scenarios: video call quality, connection stability during long work sessions, split tunneling for corporate VPN compatibility, and real-world speed under typical home office conditions. Here’s what actually works.

Quick Comparison: Best VPNs for Remote Work

Why Remote Workers Need a Personal VPN

Before diving into specific recommendations, let’s clarify when and why a VPN matters for remote work:

Public WiFi Security

Coffee shops, co-working spaces, airports, and hotels all share one thing: networks you can’t trust. Even “secured” WiFi at reputable establishments can be compromised. A VPN encrypts your traffic so that even if someone is monitoring the network, they see only encrypted data.

Real-world scenario: You’re finishing a client proposal at your local coffee shop. Without a VPN, anyone on that network could potentially intercept your email attachments, login credentials, or the proposal itself. With a VPN, your traffic is encrypted before it leaves your laptop.

Accessing Company Resources Securely

Many companies require their own corporate VPN for accessing internal systems. A personal VPN complements this by protecting traffic that doesn’t go through corporate channels — your personal email, banking, and general browsing while connected to work.

Split tunneling is essential here. This feature lets you route company traffic through the corporate VPN while your personal traffic uses your personal VPN, without conflicts or slowdowns.

Video Call Performance

Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet consume significant bandwidth and are sensitive to latency. A poorly optimized VPN can ruin video calls with stuttering, drops, and audio sync issues. The VPNs on this list were specifically tested for video conferencing quality.

Location Flexibility

Remote work increasingly means working from anywhere — including internationally. A VPN lets you maintain access to services that might be restricted in certain countries, or connect to home-region servers when traveling abroad.

Detailed VPN Reviews for Remote Workers

1. NordVPN — Best Overall for Remote Work

NordVPN consistently outperformed other VPNs in our remote work testing. The combination of speed, reliability, and features designed for professional use makes it our top recommendation.

Speed for Video Calls:

We tested video call quality across Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet with NordVPN connected. Using the NordLynx protocol (NordVPN’s WireGuard implementation), we experienced zero dropped calls over a two-week testing period. Audio remained synchronized, screen sharing was responsive, and 1080p video stayed sharp even on busy servers.

Average speed loss was 11% compared to unprotected connections — minimal enough that it won’t affect video quality or large file uploads.

Remote Work Features:

• Threat Protection: Blocks malicious websites, ads, and trackers at the VPN level. This matters when you’re clicking links in emails all day.
• Meshnet: Creates encrypted tunnels directly between your devices. Access your home computer from a hotel room without exposing it to the public internet.
• Split tunneling: Available on Windows, macOS, and Android. Route work traffic through corporate VPN while personal browsing uses NordVPN.
• Kill switch: Instantly cuts internet if the VPN drops, preventing accidental exposure of sensitive data.

Business Integration:

NordVPN works well alongside most corporate VPNs. We tested compatibility with Cisco AnyConnect, GlobalProtect, and OpenVPN configurations without issues when using split tunneling.

For teams, NordLayer (Nord’s business product) offers centralized management, but individual NordVPN subscriptions work perfectly for solo remote workers.

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2. ExpressVPN — Premium Reliability

ExpressVPN’s premium pricing reflects genuinely premium performance. If connection reliability matters more than price — and for remote workers handling client calls, it often does — ExpressVPN delivers.

Consistency Over Speed:

ExpressVPN isn’t the fastest VPN on paper, but it’s remarkably consistent. Speed variance between servers is minimal, and connections rarely need manual intervention. Over four weeks of daily use, we experienced exactly one dropped connection — during a server maintenance window that was announced in advance.

The Lightway protocol (ExpressVPN’s proprietary alternative to WireGuard) strikes an excellent balance between speed and battery life, particularly on laptops.

Why It Matters for Remote Work:

When you’re presenting to clients or interviewing candidates, you can’t afford to troubleshoot VPN issues mid-call. ExpressVPN’s stability means you set it up once and forget it’s running.

Notable Features:

• MediaStreamer: Smart DNS service for devices that don’t support VPN apps (useful for streaming during breaks)
• Network Lock: Kill switch that’s enabled by default
• Router support: Native apps for many routers, protecting all devices on your home network
• Split tunneling: Full control over which apps use the VPN

The Price Question:

At $6.67/month (annual) or $12.95 monthly, ExpressVPN costs significantly more than competitors. The question is whether that stability premium is worth it for your work. If you’re billing clients by the hour and a dropped call costs you money, it probably is.

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3. Surfshark — Best Value for Households

Surfshark’s killer feature for remote workers isn’t speed or security — it’s unlimited connections. One subscription covers your work laptop, personal laptop, phone, tablet, and every device belonging to a partner or family member working from the same home.

Unlimited Connections in Practice:

We tested Surfshark with 12 devices connected simultaneously: two laptops running video calls, a desktop uploading files, three phones, a tablet, and several smart home devices. Performance remained stable across all connections, though we noticed slightly higher latency compared to NordVPN on video calls.

Remote Work Features:

• CleanWeb 2.0: Blocks ads, trackers, malware domains, and phishing attempts. The cookie pop-up blocker alone saves time during research.
• Bypasser: Surfshark’s split tunneling feature. Route specific apps or websites outside the VPN tunnel.
• Multi-hop: Route traffic through two VPN servers for extra security when working with highly sensitive data.
• NoBorders Mode: Automatically activates on restricted networks, useful for working from countries with VPN restrictions.

Speed Considerations:

Surfshark’s speed is good but not exceptional. On nearby servers, you’ll barely notice the VPN running. On distant servers or during peak hours, some video calls experienced brief quality dips — nothing that dropped calls, but noticeable compared to NordVPN or ExpressVPN.

Value Calculation:

At $2.19/month for two years, Surfshark costs roughly $53 total — less than four months of ExpressVPN. For budget-conscious remote workers or households with multiple people working from home, this value proposition is hard to beat.

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4. ProtonVPN — Privacy-First Remote Work

ProtonVPN comes from the team behind ProtonMail, built in response to mass surveillance revelations. If your remote work involves confidential sources, sensitive legal documents, or other information that could have serious consequences if exposed, ProtonVPN’s privacy architecture provides an extra layer of protection.

Why Privacy Matters for Remote Work:

Most remote workers don’t need NSA-proof security. But some do:

• Journalists protecting sources
• Lawyers handling privileged client information
• Healthcare workers accessing patient data
• Researchers working with sensitive subjects
• Anyone working with trade secrets or competitive intelligence

For these use cases, ProtonVPN’s Swiss jurisdiction, no-logs audits, and open-source transparency provide meaningful additional protection.

Secure Core Feature:

Secure Core routes your traffic through ProtonVPN’s hardened servers in Switzerland, Iceland, or Sweden before exiting through your chosen country. This protects against attacks on VPN exit servers and provides an additional layer of anonymity.

The trade-off is latency. Secure Core adds 30-50ms, which is noticeable on video calls. For regular remote work, standard ProtonVPN connections offer better performance.

Video Call Testing:

Standard ProtonVPN connections performed well in video calls — comparable to Surfshark, slightly behind NordVPN. We experienced no dropped calls, though screen sharing occasionally lagged during the first few seconds of connection. Secure Core connections showed more latency but remained usable for audio-focused calls.

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5. NordLayer — Team-Based Remote Work

NordLayer is Nord Security’s business offering, designed for organizations rather than individuals. If you’re an IT admin responsible for securing remote workers, or a small business owner managing a distributed team, NordLayer provides tools that personal VPNs lack.

Business-Specific Features:

• Centralized management: Control user access, monitor activity (metadata only), and enforce policies from a single dashboard.
• Dedicated servers: Your team’s traffic stays separate from public VPN users.
• Static IPs: Useful for whitelisting access to sensitive systems.
• SSO integration: Users authenticate with existing corporate credentials.
• Activity logging: See who connected when (not what they accessed) for compliance purposes.

When NordLayer Makes Sense:

• You have 5+ remote workers who need VPN access
• Your industry has compliance requirements (HIPAA, SOC 2, GDPR)
• You need to integrate VPN access with existing identity management
• You want IT to have visibility into connection patterns

When Personal VPNs Are Better:

For solo remote workers, freelancers, or very small teams, personal VPN subscriptions (NordVPN, ExpressVPN, etc.) provide the same security at a fraction of the cost. NordLayer’s value comes from management features, not connection quality.

Learn More About NordLayer

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6. Mullvad VPN — No-Account Privacy

Mullvad approaches privacy differently than any other VPN. You don’t create an account — you generate a random 16-digit number. No email, no password, no personal information whatsoever. You can even mail cash to pay anonymously.

Is This Relevant for Remote Work?

For most remote workers, Mullvad’s extreme privacy measures are unnecessary. But for specific scenarios, they matter:

• Whistleblowers who need to research topics without any trail
• Journalists working on sensitive stories
• Researchers studying extremist groups or illegal activities
• Anyone who needs plausible deniability about VPN usage

Performance for Work:

Mullvad’s speeds are competitive — slightly faster than ProtonVPN, slightly slower than NordVPN. Video calls worked without issues in our testing. The WireGuard implementation is solid, and connections remained stable throughout workdays.

The main limitation is the smaller server network. With 700+ servers in 40+ countries (compared to NordVPN’s 6,400+ in 111 countries), you may have fewer options for optimizing speed based on location.

Practical Considerations:

Mullvad doesn’t optimize for streaming, so Netflix breaks will require disconnecting. The fixed $5.45/month price is higher than Surfshark’s discounted rates but simpler than tracking promotional periods. No affiliate program means fewer biased reviews — Mullvad relies entirely on product quality for growth.

Visit Mullvad VPN

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Feature Comparison for Remote Work

How We Tested VPNs for Remote Work

Our evaluation focused on real remote work scenarios, not synthetic benchmarks:

Video Call Testing

We conducted 50+ hours of video calls across Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet with each VPN:

• Call quality: Resolution, frame rate, and compression artifacts
• Audio sync: Lip sync and delay during conversation
• Connection drops: Any disconnections during calls
• Screen sharing: Responsiveness and quality when presenting

Speed Testing

We measured speeds at different times across a typical workday:

• Morning (9 AM) when connections peak
• Midday (1 PM) during lunch breaks
• Afternoon (3 PM) during file uploads
• Evening (7 PM) during personal use

Tests used servers in 10 countries on a 500 Mbps fiber connection.

Corporate VPN Compatibility

We tested each VPN alongside:

• Cisco AnyConnect
• Palo Alto GlobalProtect
• OpenVPN Access Server
• WireGuard corporate deployments

Split tunneling configuration and conflict resolution were documented.

Long-Session Stability

VPNs ran continuously for 8+ hour work sessions, monitoring for:

• Memory usage over time
• Connection reconnections
• Battery impact on laptops
• System resource consumption

Security Verification

We verified claims against available evidence:

• Independent audit reports
• Transparency reports
• Real-world incidents (server seizures, legal challenges)
• Open-source code where available

Setting Up Your VPN for Remote Work

Optimal Configuration

Once you’ve chosen a VPN, these settings maximize remote work performance:

Protocol Selection:

• Use WireGuard/NordLynx for best speed
• Fall back to OpenVPN TCP if WireGuard is blocked
• IKEv2 for mobile devices (better at handling network changes)

Split Tunneling Setup:

1. Route work applications through corporate VPN (if required)
2. Route browsers and personal apps through personal VPN
3. Exclude local network devices (printers, NAS) from VPN tunnel

Kill Switch: Always enable. The momentary convenience of maintaining internet during VPN drops isn’t worth accidentally exposing sensitive work traffic.

Auto-Connect: Enable “connect on startup” and “connect on untrusted networks” to ensure protection activates before you start working.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Video calls dropping when VPN connects: Switch protocols (WireGuard to OpenVPN or vice versa). Some ISPs or networks handle certain protocols better.

Corporate VPN conflicts: Use split tunneling to separate corporate and personal VPN traffic. Ensure the corporate VPN connects first, then enable personal VPN for remaining traffic.

Slow speeds: Connect to servers geographically closer to you or your target services. Use speed test tools within the VPN app to find optimal servers.

Can’t access local network devices: Check split tunneling settings — local network traffic often needs to bypass the VPN tunnel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use a VPN with my company’s corporate VPN?

Yes, with proper configuration. Use split tunneling to route corporate traffic through your employer’s VPN while personal traffic uses your personal VPN. Most personal VPNs we tested work alongside Cisco AnyConnect, GlobalProtect, and similar corporate solutions. Check your company’s IT policy first.

Will a VPN slow down my video calls?

A well-optimized VPN should have minimal impact. In our testing, NordVPN and ExpressVPN showed no noticeable effect on video quality. Surfshark and ProtonVPN occasionally showed brief quality dips. The key is using nearby servers and modern protocols like WireGuard.

Do I need a VPN if I work from home?

Home networks are safer than public WiFi, but VPNs still provide value: encrypting traffic from your ISP, protecting against compromised router firmware, and providing access to geo-restricted resources. If you ever work from coffee shops, hotels, or co-working spaces, a VPN becomes essential.

What’s the difference between a personal VPN and a business VPN like NordLayer?

Personal VPNs (NordVPN, ExpressVPN, etc.) protect individual connections. Business VPNs add centralized management, user provisioning, dedicated servers, and compliance features. Solo remote workers should use personal VPNs; teams with IT departments should consider business solutions.

How many devices does a remote worker typically need to cover?

Most remote workers use 3-5 devices: work laptop, personal laptop, phone, tablet, and potentially a home desktop. NordVPN (10 devices), ProtonVPN (10 devices), or Surfshark (unlimited) provide adequate coverage. ExpressVPN’s 8-device limit may require prioritization.

Can my employer see that I’m using a personal VPN?

If you’re using a company-managed device, your employer’s monitoring software may detect VPN usage. On personal devices, your employer cannot see your VPN usage unless you connect to corporate resources that log connection metadata. The VPN itself hides your activity from your ISP, not from your device.

Should I use a free VPN for remote work?

We recommend against it for work. Free VPNs typically have data caps, slower speeds, fewer servers, and potentially concerning privacy practices. ProtonVPN’s free tier is the only exception we’d recommend, and even then, the paid tier is better for actual work use.

Which VPN protocol is best for remote work?

WireGuard (or NordVPN’s NordLynx) offers the best combination of speed and battery efficiency. OpenVPN is more widely compatible if WireGuard is blocked. IKEv2 handles network switching well on mobile devices. Avoid older protocols like PPTP or L2TP.

Final Verdict

For most remote workers: NordVPN delivers the best combination of speed, features, and reliability. Video calls work flawlessly, Threat Protection adds valuable security, and Meshnet enables useful remote access scenarios. At $3.59/month on the two-year plan, it’s reasonably priced for the quality provided.

For teams and households: Surfshark’s unlimited connections at $2.19/month make it the obvious choice when multiple people need VPN access. Performance is slightly behind NordVPN but entirely adequate for typical remote work.

For maximum reliability: ExpressVPN costs more but delivers rock-solid stability. If your work can’t tolerate VPN troubleshooting — client calls, live presentations, time-sensitive negotiations — the premium is worth it.

For privacy-sensitive work: ProtonVPN provides Swiss jurisdiction, audited no-logs, and Secure Core routing for professionals handling confidential information.

For anonymity requirements: Mullvad offers what no other VPN can — truly anonymous signup and payment. If you need plausible deniability about VPN usage, it’s the only real option.

Every VPN on this list will protect your remote work traffic effectively. The choice comes down to which features matter most for your specific work situation.