VPN has become big business in recent years. It is forecast that by 2022 the global VPN market will reach 35.73 billion U.S. dollars (source www.statista.com). There are now over 300 providers of VPN services, serving several distinct market segments from on-line anonymity to allow safe bit torrenting, getting around geo restrictions to stream tv abroad, to unblocking sites that are censored by local authorities.
With this massive market expansion has come the so-called comparison sites. Traditional comparison sites are very common on the internet and perform a valuable service for people looking for car insurance, holidays, mortgages, car hire and many other goods and services. A genuine comparison for example, will:
- Have a sign-up process and personal profile
- Identify the needs of the user through thorough questioning.
- Match the needs to the best deals.
- List the features, benefits and price.
- Let the user then decide.
The VPN “comparison sites” are NOT what they claim. Sites such as VPNMentor, Wizcase and TOP10 VPN are in fact industrial scale affiliate sites. VPN providers have affiliate programs to allow third parties do their selling for them, this increases distribution and reach, which in turn increases sales. We understand that these providers pay as much $60 per “conversion”.
The “comparison sites” DO NOT make an assessment of your needs and try to match this to the most suitable provider. They drive traffic to the highest payers such as Express VPN, Nord VPN, Private Internet Access, Cyberghost, IP Vanish and Surfshark. They claim to make an honest review and rank the providers based not on your needs, but a criteria that they set. The answer is always the same, Express VPN is the best VPN provider. Actually this should say, “Express VPN pays us the most”.
So whatever the question the answer is always the same.
www.vpncompare.co.uk , for example makes no attempt to review all providers. They have reviewed 21 providers (no idea what the selection criteria was?) and out of 12 different categories like “best UK vpn” “best VPN for netflix“ “best vpn for android” etc they rank Express VPN number 1 in 11 and number 2 in the 12th. How is this useful to a consumer?
Then there are the “one man bands” like www.bestvpn.org “ run by Alex Grant “trust me I have tried them all and will give you and honest assessment”. Guess what? Yes that’s right Express VPN is the best for everything. It will even make you a cup of tea!
Big or small none of these sites are accountable for their so called views to anyone. You can’t contact them, you have no idea where they are and there is no regulator to ensure a level playing field. The only thing they have in common is they get paid by Express VPN and others.
Imagine buying a car and regardless of your needs or personal circumstances the answer is buy a Ford Focus (because we get paid by Ford).
Why do providers pay so much to these dodgy affiliate sites? Many of these providers are driven by growing their subscriber base and driving smaller providers out of business. Later there will be market consolidation, which will result in prices rises, reduced service levels and a “one size fits all” product. They also hope ultimately to make themselves attractive to be taken over or for a very small number, maybe only Express VPN an IPO.
None of this is in the interest of the consumer and as the business is global there is no regulation to protect the consumer and ensure fair competition. We are in a race to the bottom of an unsustainable business model. The logical conclusion is that only Express VPN will exist as the guys that rank 2-300 go out of business one by one.
TOP10 VPN make no secret of the fact that they make money from the VPN providers they recommend. They have many categories; we took three of the main ones:
Top10 VPNs list of Top5 (strange for a company called top10!) 2022
All five top ranked providers pay TOP10 VPN every time someone signs up.
Best VPN Firestick
All five top ranked providers pay TOP10 VPN every time someone signs up.
Best VPN Netflix
All five top ranked providers pay TOP10 VPN every time someone signs up.
The VPN providers at the top of the ranking are there because they pay.
If you search for StreamVPN TOP10VPN use inflammatory language to put you off “StreamVPN – Why it is dangerous to use”. In any other area of business this would be illegal.
If you search WizCase for a review of a specific provider, you will see on the search results XXX "DO NOT BUY!" This is not by any standard a fair review of our service. If you explore WizCase still further you will see that they do this for all providers except the providers who pay them. If you then click though to the review you will see they recommend Surf Shark over everyone else. On the first line it will say:
"If you’re in a hurry, here’s the bottom line — You can get more servers globally, better VPN features, and 24/7 customer support with Surfshark for the same price or less. So why bother reading on?!"
While XXX VPN is a decent VPN, you can get better quality VPNs at an affordable price. Surfshark, for example, offers premium VPN features for a super low monthly fee — so you don’t have to settle for less. Are Surfshark and Wizcase the same company? Maybe.
VPNMentor claim “We operate a comparison review platform and similarly to other online platforms, like TripAdvisor for example, we do not delete a review unless the service is shut down and is no longer available to users.”
This completely wrong, laughable and treats us all like idiots. Trip adviser is a platform entirely driven by the users reviews and scores are NOT the opinion of Trip Advisor. Trip Advisor does not get paid by the services reviewed. Trip advisor does not rank providers themselves, the ranking comes from the users scores.
VPNMentor writes the review, VPNMentor rank the providers, the user can give a review but this has no bearing on the overall ranking.
So in summary, this blog is dedicated to exposing the scam of the affiliate sites, to help consumers select a VPN that is right for them and not best suits the interests of someone else.
Thank you.