Terms such as “military grade” or “bank level” security is purely sales talk and AES 256-bit encryption or better is what to look for. However, some like NordVPN offer “double encryption” for extra security.

Strong Encryption: Almost all offer a minimum of AES 256-bit encryption which is extremely strong.

Multiple Servers: The more servers a VPN tool has, the more locations can you can mask yourself in and generally the more reliable the service is in terms of up time as it can fall back on another server if one fails.

Safari Support: Although VPNs work with almost any browser, all of the VPNs we reviewed are the best VPNs for Safari which is Apple’s browser that is installed on all Macs.

We have made it clear which VPNs reviewed here are natively compatible with the M1/M2 chip and are the best VPNs for M1 Macs and M2 Macs. It also drains your MacBook battery much quicker if the app is not optimized or native for M1 or M2 Macs. However, some VPNs require Rosetta to “translate” them to work on M1/M2 chips which doesn’t work as well as native M1 and M2 chip compatible VPN clients.

M1 & M2 Compatibility: All of the VPNs reviewed here work with M1 and M2 Macs including the M1 MacBook Pro and Mac Studio.

All the VPNs featured here have a Mac desktop app and are guaranteed to work seamlessly on macOS Monterey and Big Sur.

Mac Desktop Client: Most VPNs work across platforms nowadays via a browser but not all offer a Mac desktop app.There are a few essential features we looked for when choosing the best VPN app for Macs. Private Internet Access (Best For Servers) Surfshark (Best For Multiple Connections)

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