By choosing to use Ubuntu over a more traditional OS like Windows or MacOS, you have taken a major step towards improving your digital privacy. The next step is to improve your online security with a VPN for Ubuntu.

In this guide, we showcase the eight best VPNs for Ubuntu, all of which have compatible Ubuntu clients.

What are the best VPNs for Ubuntu?

These are five of the top eight VPNs for Ubuntu. If you would like to learn more about them, check out our in-depth analysis.

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Ubuntu and a VPN is a winning combination, however, custom Linux VPN services can be difficult to find, as most services only support Windows, Mac, iPhone, and Android. 

Along with Mint (which is forked from Ubuntu anyway), Ubuntu is widely regarded as the most newbie-friendly Linux distro available. It is also very popular as most Linux developers and Linux guides assume Ubuntu as the “default”, so Ubuntu users enjoy unparalleled levels of support (for the Linux world!). 

A lot of VPN services offer manual setup guides for Ubuntu, but all the VPNs we recommend below offer their own custom Ubuntu software, some of which have GUI clients for Ubuntu. All of our recommendations also use OpenVPN, which is our recommended VPN protocol. We go into a lot more detail about their features in the summaries below, so without further ado, let’s take a close look at our top VPN picks for Ubuntu.

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The best VPNs for Ubuntu | In-depth analysis

Here’s what else you should know about our recommended VPNs for Ubuntu.

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Best VPNs for Ubuntu – Methodology

When choosing the best VPNs for Ubuntu, we started with compatibility. Naturally, a good Ubuntu VPN should either have a dedicated Ubuntu client or be easy to configure via standard network settings, using protocols like OpenVPN or WireGuard. This ensures smooth integration into the Ubuntu environment, user-friendly operations, and efficient performance.

The next thing on the list – strong security features – are also non-negotiable. We start by checking for top-notch encryption (like AES-256), advanced VPN protocols, reliable kill-switch options, DNS leak protection, and similar. We only promote VPNs that safeguard user data and promote anonymity. These VPN characteristics are critical in this increasingly surveillance-heavy cyber world.

Performance and server network are also paramount in the selection process. A VPN must offer high-speed connections with minimal impact on your internet speeds, necessary for data-intensive activities, such as streaming, gaming, and file downloading. A worldwide network of servers not only facilitates easier access to geo-restricted content but also ensures maintaining consistent speed by connecting users to nearby servers.

The ease of use is particularly significant for Linux-based systems like Ubuntu – the VPN should offer straightforward installation processes, clear instruction documentation, and accessible customer support available to all Linux users 24/7. Professional and knowledgeable customer support is crucial since you never know when you could encounter a unique technical challenge specific to Ubuntu. 

Lastly, our assessment of VPN services included considerations of the value you get for your money, the previous experience our team had with these VPNs, and user feedback. Analyzing price against the features is a particularly important factor for users seeking long-term value subscriptions. Reviews and opinions from tech experts and less experienced users provide all-around insights into the VPNs’ performance on Ubuntu platforms, ensuring our recommendations meet the specific needs of Ubuntu users.

Why do I need a VPN for Ubuntu?

You need a VPN for Ubuntu for the same reasons you need a VPN on any computer. If you don’t know what a VPN is or how one can help you, then please check out our Beginner’s Guide to Virtual Private Networks. As a quick refresher, though:

• A VPN prevents websites you visit from seeing your real IP address, which also helps to prevent them from tracking you across the internet
• A VPN prevents your internet provider (ISP) from knowing what you do on the internet because all it knows is that you have connected to a VPN server
• A VPN also prevents your ISP from seeing your data because the data is encrypted between your Ubuntu PC and the VPN server
• And what your ISP doesn’t know, your government won’t either (unless it’s targeting you specifically, of course)
• The encryption used to connect to a VPN server protects you when a public WiFi hotspot
• A VPN lets you watch shows on services such as BBC iPlayer and US Netflix which would normally be restricted to you
• And a VPN allows you to torrent to your heart’s content without the need to look over your shoulder

So as a privacy tool, a VPN makes a perfect companion to Ubuntu!

Using a VPN for Ubuntu

Using a VPN for Ubuntu is pretty much the same as using a VPN for any other operating system. However, there are one or two quirks you should be aware of.

Custom GUI software is very rare on the ground

VPNs with a custom GUI are hard to come by for Ubuntu. In fact, only [[post-object type=”gotolink” provider=”privateinternetaccess”]]Private Internet Access[[/post-object]], [[post-object type=”gotolink” provider=”airvpn”]]AirVPN[[/post-object]], [[post-object type=”gotolink” provider=”mullvad”]]Mullvad[[/post-object]] and [[post-object type=”gotolink” provider=”protonvpn”]]ProtonVPN[[/post-object]] offer fully-featured custom GUI clients for Ubuntu.

Some VPN services now offer custom Command Line (CLI) clients, but other than coming pre-configured to connect to their own servers, these don’t usually offer anything over and above configuring OpenVPN manually.

Most VPN services offer Ubuntu support via manual CLI and/or Network manager setup guides. These are fine as far as they go, but…

No DNS leak protection

Basic manual VPN setup in Ubuntu and most custom CLI clients does not push DNS requests to the VPN provider’s DNS servers. DNS leaks can be resolved, however, by modifying resolvconf to push DNS to your VPN’s DNS servers.

Alternatively, you can manually configure the iptables firewall to ensure all traffic (including DNS requests) must go via the VPN server. IVPN has written a superb guide on how to do this.

No kill-switch

Again, neither a manual VPN setup nor any Ubuntu CLI client we know of offers a kill-switch designed to prevent your IP address leaking in the event of a VPN dropout or while the VPN is reconnecting. Configuring iptables as above, however, also works as a kill-switch. 

It should be noted that the GUI Ubuntu clients from AirVPN, Mullvad and ProtonVPN include full IPv4 and IPv6 DNS leak protection and kill-switches. They also feature all the other bells and whistles available to their Windows and macOS customers. 

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and Ubuntu 19.04 GNOME privacy issues

With the release of Ubuntu 17.10, Canonical dropped its homegrown Unity desktop as the default shell for GNOME 3. Thankfully, privacy controversies such as sending search queries entered into unified Unity’s Dash search bar to Amazon are now but a distant memory.

Error reporting

Ubuntu Unity came with some quite scary third-party privacy policies that amounted to you sharing a great deal of personal information with the likes of Facebook, the BBC, eBay, Google (via YouTube), and more.

Again, the switch to GNOME seems to address this as at heart Ubuntu GNOME is a fairly stock version of GMOME 3. Which does not share personal information with anybody. It does, however, send anonymized error reports to Canonical.

If you like, you can disable this by going to:

How to set up an OpenVPN server on Linux?

Using a set of scripts known as PiVPN is by far the simplest way to set up an OpenVPN server in Ubuntu. PiVPN was designed with the Raspberry Pi in mind – as the name might suggest – but it will work well with Ubuntu and other Debian-based Linux distros. Please check out our PiVPN Review for the full low-down, complete with a detailed setup guide (it really is very easy!).

Ubuntu VPNs: Final thoughts

Ubuntu’s recent seismic shift away from the Unity desktop to GNOME has fixed most of the privacy issues that have plagued Canonicals’ popular Linux distro for years. Most VPN providers’ support remains firmly focused on Unity, however, all apps will continue to work just fine in Ubuntu GNOME. And thanks to Canonicals’ heavy skinning of the GNOME 3 interface to give it a very Unity-like feel, most VPN setup guides will still be close enough to follow.

It is also worth noting that almost any app designed for Ubuntu (including those from all providers listed in this article) will work just as well in other Debian/Ubuntu-based distros, such as Debian itself, Mint, Kali, and more. Most can be re-compiled to work in any flavor of Linux you choose! So, let’s take another quick look at our top VPN picks for Ubuntu.

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Best VPNs for Ubuntu – FAQs

[[post-object type=”accordion” question=”Can I get a free VPN for Ubuntu?” answer=”Finding a reliable VPN for Ubuntu, or any other Linux-based OS, is extremely difficult even among paid services, not to mention the free ones. Also, a Linux app with GUI (instead of basic command-line interface) is a luxury, even among top-tier VPNs. Not to mention, free services come with limited functionalities, bandwidth caps, and poor speeds.

From a security perspective, free VPNs for Ubuntu are not such a good idea either. Free services invest much less in their server infrastructure and security features, and often come with questionable privacy policies. All this can leave you more exposed to vulnerabilities and privacy intrusions than if you weren’t using a VPN at all – which kind of beats a VPN’s purpose.

If you’re cash-strapped, consider using a good cheap VPN for Ubuntu rather than a free one. There are a few reputable VPN services that have built their names and secured their businesses over the years, and can now afford to offer strong security features at a minimum cost (if you subscribe long-term). <a href=’/vpn/review/privateinternetaccess’>Private Internet Access</a> is one such example.” /]]

[[post-object type=”accordion” question=”Is using a VPN on Ubuntu legal?” answer=”Yes, using a VPN on Ubuntu devices is legal almost everywhere in the world. So, unless you live in North Korea, Belarus, Iraq, Turkmenistan, or any such country with extreme internet and media censorship, you can use a VPN to secure your online connections and browse the internet with peace of mind.

If you’re not sure where exactly on the censorship spectrum your country stands, you can always research your local VPN laws (which we strongly recommend) and make sure you aren’t doing anything illegal. That being said, no matter where you live, illegal online activities (cybercrime, distribution of copyrighted content, etc.) remain illegal regardless of whether you’re using a VPN or not.” /]]