Affiliate disclosure
Clearward is reader-supported through some affiliate links. Here is exactly how that works, which providers pay us, and — just as important — which of our top picks pay us nothing.
Some of the outbound links on this site are affiliate links. If you click one and subscribe, the VPN provider may pay us a commission at no extra cost to you. This is how we keep the site running without ads or paywalls.
How to spot them
Every affiliate link on Clearward points through a /go/ address and is marked so search engines treat it as sponsored. We disclose the relationship in the text next to the link as well, so you are never guessing. Providers that pay a commission through these links currently include Proton VPN, NordVPN, Surfshark, Private Internet Access, ExpressVPN, CyberGhost and IPVanish.
The picks that pay us nothing
Our strongest recommendations for privacy — Mullvad and IVPN — run no affiliate programme, so we earn nothing when we send readers to them. We recommend them anyway, prominently, because they are the most privacy-respecting options we cover. This is the clearest signal we can give you that our analysis is not for sale: when the honest answer pays us nothing, we still give it.
Our commitment
A commission never changes where a provider appears in our analysis or what we say about it. We rank on audits, court records and technical design, and we would rather lose a commission than mislead you. If we ever recommend a paying provider over a non-paying one, it is because the evidence says so — and we will show you that evidence.