The 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance is an agreement between 14 countries to share their residents’ data for national security purposes. Every country in the Alliance collects, stores, and shares its citizens’ data with other members. Moreover, VPNs based in these countries can be compelled to share user data with authorities.
If you live in or travel to one of the Alliance countries, your online activities and personal information will likely not be stored or handled securely, but you can prevent this by using a VPN outside 5/9/14 Eyes countries. With a suitable VPN, none of your data will be collected or shared, so you can conduct your business online freely.Â
This article will talk about the best VPN outside 5/9/14 Eyes - we'll share 5 of the best options. We'll explain why you need a VPN based outside the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance countries, how to choose the best ones, which VPNs to avoid, and we'll finish with a round of helpful FAQs.
To find the best VPN outside the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance, follow the criteria we outlined in our guide to the best no-log VPN services. That said, focus on where the provider’s headquarters are located, ensuring that it is based outside any 5/9/14 Eyes regions. Next, you need a VPN that has strong security and privacy features, including an audited no-logs policy.Â
It’s crucial that the VPN doesn’t collect any data and that it has secure VPN protocols, obfuscated servers, a kill switch, and robust encryption. Moreover, look for a large global server network that covers many 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance countries, such as the US, the UK, and Canada. Your chosen VPN must have fast speeds and stable performance, too.Â
Pick a VPN that has the ability to unblock all kinds of websites. In addition, make sure it allows multiple simultaneous connections and provides support for many different devices. Lastly, it should offer a fair price, plenty of value, money-back guarantees, and reliable 24/7 customer support.
Based on the above-mentioned criteria, here are the 5 best VPNs outside the 5/9/14 Eyes countries in 2024:
NordVPN is the best VPN outside 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance countries, being headquartered in Panama. It has a strict no-logs policy, which has been externally audited by third parties to ensure that none of your data is collected. In that sense, NordVPN is among the most transparent VPNs in 2024.
This VPN is best known for its top-tier privacy and security features, including obfuscation on most servers, a kill switch mechanism, a 'Double VPN' feature, secure VPN protocols (OpenVPN and NordLynx), high-end encryption (AES-256, ChaCha20), data leak protection, and anti-malware.
It offers a sizable server network with over 6,000 servers in 60+ countries worldwide. This includes coverage in 5/9/14 Eyes countries, such as the UK, the US, and Canada. On top of all that, NordVPN is among the fastest VPN providers right now.
With NordVPN, you'll get to unblock a plethora of sites and access content that is otherwise unavailable to you. You’ll also be able to have up to 6 simultaneous connections running and use the VPN on a wide range of devices, such as phones, laptops, tablets, smart TVs, routers, gaming consoles, and more.Â
In addition, it comes priced at $3.39/month for its 2-year plan. NordVPN also has a 30-day money-back guarantee, giving you plenty of time to test-drive its features. You'll also find 24/7 customer support, in addition to plenty of other customer support channels and resources.
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ExpressVPN is based in the British Virgin Islands, which is not part of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance. It doesn’t collect any data of its users' data, and its no-logs policy is independently audited by companies like F-Secure and Cure53.
ExpressVPN offers excellent security and privacy with features like obfuscated servers (which hide the fact that you’re using a VPN service), secure VPN protocols (OpenVPN, Lightway), military-grade encryption, data leak protection, a kill switch, and much more.Â
It also offers a large network with more than 3,000 servers in 105 countries, including servers in 5/9/14 Eyes countries like the US, the UK, and Canada. Furthermore, this is a speedy VPN, offering blazing Internet connection speeds and super-reliable performance.Â
This VPN also has the ability to unblock a wide range of websites, so you can watch content from around the world. With one subscription, you’ll cover 8 devices simultaneously, including smartphones, laptops, PCs, routers, tablets, gaming consoles, smart TVs, and more.Â
You can become a subscriber for $6.67/month, which is the price of ExpressVPN's annual plan. What’s more, every ExpressVPN plan is covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee, which you can use as a risk-free trial. Lastly, you’ll get dedicated 24/7 customer support via the helpful live chat feature on their official website.
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Next in line is CyberGhost, a powerful VPN that operates from Romania, a country that isn’t a member of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance. In addition, it doesn’t collect any data and has a no-logs policy independently audited by Deloitte.
CyberGhost offers great privacy and security features like a kill switch, secure VPN protocols (OpenVPN, WireGuard), data leak protection, and military-grade encryption (AES-256, ChaCha20). Unfortunately, CyberGhost doesn’t have obfuscated servers.
It offers one of the largest networks on the market, with more than 11,500 servers in 100 countries. Many servers are in countries that are 5/9/14 Eyes members, like the US, the UK, and Canada. We'll also note that you’ll get medium-fast Internet connection speeds with reliable performance, which is good for streaming and browsing.
This VPN is known for its content-unblocking capabilities. It even offers servers specialized for streaming, unblocking 50+ platforms. You’ll also enjoy 7 simultaneous connections, which you can use on devices such as phones, routers, tablets, PCs, laptops, gaming consoles, smart TVs, and more.Â
You can subscribe for only $2.19/month (2-year subscription), and you will get an extended 45-day money-back guarantee if you opt for a longer-term plan (or a 14-day money-back guarantee if you choose its monthly plan). Lastly, you’ll get 24/7 customer support available via live chat.
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ProtonVPN is a reliable provider that functions outside the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance and is headquartered in Switzerland. You can rest assured that none of your data is collected or stored when using Proton VPN, as it has a strict no-logs policy audited by a third-party firm called SEC Consult.Â
With ProtonVPN, you’ll get security and privacy features like AES 256-bit and ChaCha20 encryption, a kill switch, DNS leak protection, an ad-blocker, secure VPN protocols (OpenVPN, WireGuard), and obfuscation. This is among the most private VPNs you can find.
Proton VPN offers 3,100+ servers in 70+ countries worldwide, giving you coverage in many 5/9/14 Eyes locations to choose from, such as the UK, the US, and Canada. It also offers decent speeds and reliable performance, so it will work for most purposes.
It can also unblock many different websites, giving you access to content that is not available in your location. This VPN allows 10 simultaneous connections, which you can use on devices like phones, laptops, PCs, routers, tablets, smart TVs, and more.
You can get started for $4.99/month (2-year plan) and you’ll enjoy a 30-day money-back guarantee, but you’ll only be able to get a refund on the unused part of your subscription. Lastly, ProtonVPN offers reliable 24/7 customer support via live chat.Â
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Lastly, we have VyprVPN, a provider that is based in Switzerland, which is not a member of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance. It doesn’t collect any of your data and has a no-logs policy, which was recently audited by Leviathan Security.
VyprVPN offers great security and privacy features, which include obfuscation, a kill switch, DNS leak protection, secure VPN protocols (OpenVPN, WireGuard, Chameleon, and IPsec), robust encryption (AES-256, ChaCha20), and more.
With VyprVPN, you’ll get access to a server network of over 700 servers in 70+ countries, which is the lowest server count on our list. However, you can still connect to Canadian, UK, and US servers because it does have coverage in many 5/9/14 Eyes countries. Also, it would help to have a relatively fast baseline connection, as VyprVPN provides medium-fast performance.
VyprVPN has the ability to unblock many different websites. Also, a single VyprVPN subscription gives you 5 simultaneous connections, and you can use this VPN on a plethora of devices, such as phones, laptops, PCs, tablets, routers, smart TVs, and more.Â
Everything listed above is available at $5.00/month if you opt for the VPN's annual plan. VyprVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on all plans, which you can use to test out its services. Lastly, it comes with fast and responsive 24/7 customer support via live chat.
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The biggest reason to choose a VPN that's not in the 5/9/14 Eyes countries is to protect your digital privacy. VPNs, no matter where they’re located, do just that, but those within the reach of the Alliance have to abide by different laws and regulations.Â
The countries that belong to the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance have an agreement to monitor, store, and share their citizens’ data with one another without permission. That means if you use a VPN based in a 5/9/14 Eyes country, the provider will have to share its logs containing your data with the government upon request, as it is operating within its jurisdiction.Â
To avoid this issue, you need to use a VPN that is headquartered outside the Alliance. Then, your provider won’t be obligated by law to collect, store, or share your data.Â
We recommend you use NordVPN to avoid the prying eyes of the Alliance, as it operates outside of its jurisdiction and doesn’t collect any data. Furthermore, it’ll keep your information safe from those who try to obtain it, ensuring complete privacy and security.
To choose the best VPNs outside the 5/9/14 Eyes, you need to make sure the provider is not based in a 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance country and look for features that focus on privacy and security. Here’s a comprehensive rundown to guide you in your choice:
Yes, we recommend avoiding VPNs located inside the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance if you want full assurance of data privacy. Only VPNs based outside the 5/9/14 Eyes can say with certainty that they won’t log your data or share it with anyone, as they aren’t required to by law.
However, there are a few providers that, even though they’re based in one of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance countries, are trustworthy. They truly don’t collect data and can keep your information private online. These VPNs include Private Internet Access, Surfshark, and Mullvad, and they are well-suited for a plethora of purposes.Â
For instance, Private Internet Access is headquartered in the United States, and we highly recommend it for those who need a VPN to unblock US-based streaming content. On the other hand, Surfshark is based in the Netherlands and is highly recommended to those who need fast Internet connections for a better gaming experience.Â
Lastly, Mullvad VPN is based in Sweden and is an excellent choice for torrenting, but we don’t recommend you use it for streaming as it has poor content-unblocking capabilities. Â
VPNs that operate in one of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance countries might be obligated by law to store and share your data. Then, the government under which the VPN operates can share your data with other Alliance members. So, in order to fully protect your privacy, as well as to ensure that your data is entirely safe, you need a VPN headquartered outside the 5/9/14 Eyes.Â
We recommend NordVPN as the best VPN outside the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance. It’s based in Panama and has an independently audited no-logs policy that guarantees that none of your data is collected or shared. On top of that, NordVPN provides high-end privacy features, works on any device, and it's among the fastest VPNs overall - making it more than a worthy pick.
That’s all for our guide on choosing a VPN outside the 5/9/14 Eyes countries. If you have additional questions, feel free to share them with us via the comments section below. Thanks for reading!