How we measure
Automated tests from a fixed node in Tokyo continuously record four performance metrics across 13 consumer VPN services.
- Download / Upload — throughput in Mbps
- Ping — round-trip latency in ms
- Stability — consistency across repeated samples (%)
- Reliability — share of successful connections (%)
Source. Harvard Dataverse (DOI 10.7910/DVN/OMC9A4, CC BY 4.0). Live polling via BLST Tokyo VPN Speed Monitor (MIT).
Note. All measurements are taken from Tokyo, Japan. Results may vary by region, time of day, or local network conditions. In heavily censored regions, mainstream VPNs may be blocked or unreliable.
Current top 5 by download speed
| # | VPN | Download | Upload | Ping | Stability | Reliability | Servers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NordVPN Panama | 398.1Mbps | 259.7 | 15.2ms | 92.6% | 98% | 7,100+ |
| 2 | ExpressVPN BVI | 386.9Mbps | 252.1 | 17.2ms | 93.3% | 97% | 3,000+ |
| 3 | Surfshark Netherlands | 362.5Mbps | 231.4 | 18.3ms | 92.0% | 94% | 4,500+ |
| 4 | Private Internet Access United States | 327.9Mbps | 233.8 | 15.9ms | 92.6% | 96% | 35,000+ |
| 5 | Hotspot Shield United States | 325.8Mbps | 228.9 | 17.9ms | 90.7% | 90% | — |