How We Test VPNs
This is the playbook every VetBench review follows. We publish it openly so any score can be independently audited.
Test environment
- Hardware: M2 MacBook Pro, Asus AX86U router
- Connection baseline: 1 Gbps symmetric fiber (verified weekly with control speed tests, no VPN)
- Locations tested: New York, Los Angeles, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Singapore (minimum)
- Duration: 14 days minimum for a publishable review; 30 days for a “Best Of” roundup entry
Speed test
- Tool: Ookla
speedtestCLI - Protocol: WireGuard where available, OpenVPN UDP fallback
- Schedule: 3 tests per server per day (9 AM, 3 PM, 9 PM local)
- Reported metric: Median of 90+ samples per server
- Raw data: published as CSV alongside each review
Streaming test
Tested via Playwright headless browser using real subscription accounts.
| Platform | Server | Pass criteria |
|---|---|---|
| Netflix US/UK/JP | Matching country | Library loads + 60s playback succeeds |
| BBC iPlayer | UK | Playback page loads (no geo-block message) |
| Disney+ | US | Library + sample playback |
| Amazon Prime | US/UK | Library + sample playback |
Privacy / leak audit
| Test | Tool | Pass criteria |
|---|---|---|
| DNS leak | dnsleaktest.com extended + Cloudflare trace | Only VPN’s DNS appears |
| IPv6 leak | Direct IPv6 socket + browserleaks.com | No public v6 addr exposed |
| WebRTC leak | WebRTC Leak Test - BrowserLeaks | No real local/public IP exposed |
| Kill switch | Force-kill VPN process during transfer | Network access cut within 2s |
Scoring rubric (general — adjusted per use case)
| Criterion | Weight |
|---|---|
| Speed | 25% |
| Privacy / Logging | 25% |
| Streaming | 20% |
| Pricing | 15% |
| Apps & UX | 10% |
| Customer Support | 5% |
For “Best for X” roundups, weights shift to match the use case (e.g., streaming roundups weight Streaming at 35%).
What we don’t do
- Use vendor-supplied review accounts (we pay for our own subscriptions)
- Accept “test units” with conditions on coverage
- Publish testimonials from accounts we can’t verify
- Run “speed tests” through the VPN’s own speed-test tool (we use independent CLI)
Correction policy
If our published numbers differ materially from a reproduction by a reader, please email [email protected] with your data. We will re-test and either confirm or correct, with a public log of any corrections.
Test scripts will be published at github.com/vetbench/vpn-test-suite (link active once first reviews are live).