Best Security & VPN Software in 2026

8 security & vpn tools ranked by a transparent score: 60% feature coverage, 25% price value and 15% free plan availability.

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#	Tool	Score	Starting Price	Free Plan
1	Bitwarden open-source advocates, budget-friendly team vaults	85	$0.83/mo	✅ Free Tier	Try Bitwarden →
2	Proton VPN & Pass strict Swiss privacy laws, activists & journalists	82	$4.99/mo	✅ Free Tier	Try Proton VPN & Pass →
3	NordVPN privacy-conscious users, streaming and bypass	75	$3.29/mo	❌ Paid Only	Try NordVPN →
4	Surfshark households, unlimited devices on a budget	72	$2.19/mo	❌ Paid Only	Try Surfshark →
5	Dashlane executives, consumer password and dark web alerts	67	$4.99/mo	✅ Free Tier	Try Dashlane →
6	1Password teams and enterprises, passkey and credential sharing	61	$2.99/mo	❌ Paid Only	Try 1Password →
7	CyberGhost VPN beginners, streaming & torrenting	42	$2.19/mo	❌ Paid Only	Try CyberGhost VPN →
8	ExpressVPN high-speed browsing, cross-platform device support	30	$6.67/mo	❌ Paid Only	Try ExpressVPN →

Compare costs for your team

Team size: 5 users

Based on entry-level paid plans. Prices change, so check the vendor before you buy.

Feature	Bitwarden	Proton VPN & Pass	NordVPN	Surfshark	Dashlane	1Password	CyberGhost VPN	ExpressVPN
Free plan	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Starting price	$0.83 /user/mo	$4.99 /mo	$3.29 /mo	$2.19 /mo	$4.99 /user/mo	$2.99 /user/mo	$2.19 /mo	$6.67 /mo
Independent no-logs security audit	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Automatic kill switch & DNS leak shield	—	✅	✅	✅	—	—	✅	✅
Multi-hop double encryption routing	—	✅	✅	✅	—	—	—	—
Zero-knowledge encrypted password vault	✅	✅	✅	—	✅	✅	—	✅
Biometric / hardware security key 2FA	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	—	—
Dark web breach monitoring & alerts	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	—	—
Centralized team admin console	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	—	—
Developer CLI & API access	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅

Highlighted rows are where the tools differ.