Best VPN for Mac: Choosing a macOS VPN for MacBook and iMac

Who each of the three leaders suits on a Mac

X-VPN ranks second here only because the ecosystem pillar carries 35% of the page score and its apps cover more platforms (platforms subindex 9.0). On the standard weights of the overall score, Proton VPN finishes ahead.

Proton VPN for Mac: free plan, Plus and the renewal price

The free tier has no data cap, but it ties you to a single machine at medium speed in ten random countries, with streaming, P2P and NetShield switched off. Plus lifts the cap to ten devices plus the entire network of 140+ countries and 20000+ servers, adds Secure Core multi-hop through Switzerland, Iceland or Sweden, and the macOS app supports split tunnelling. Apps are open-source on GitHub, the no-logs audit independent.

Two catches: registration demands an email address, and after the two-year term runs out, the yearly bill roughly doubles ($83.76 first term, then $83.88 every 12 months).

Not every app on this list is a full VPN

The 361 entries are a mixed bag: 225 consumer services, plus 71 free or mobile-first apps, 23 VPNs bundled into security suites, 18 decentralised VPNs (dVPN), 15 Smart DNS services and 9 gaming VPNs. A Smart DNS entry swaps your apparent streaming region without encrypting anything, so on open Wi-Fi it protects you from nothing. Filter those out before comparing prices.

Mac settings and terms to check before paying

A MacBook changes networks all day and reconnects every time it wakes from sleep. If the tunnel comes up slower than the Wi-Fi, apps fire off requests unencrypted, and a Mac VPN with a kill switch is what stops it. DNS leak protection matters for the same reason: without it, lookups go to the hotel resolver. At home, split tunnelling keeps AirDrop, printers and NAS shares working while the browser stays inside the tunnel. WireGuard (149 services) is the fast default; if a network filters VPN traffic, a stealth protocol like VLESS (29 services) gets through where plain OpenVPN fails.

Buying through the Mac App Store or the provider's site

Pay on the vendor's site rather than the App Store. A store purchase moves billing to Apple, and the provider's refund terms may not cover it: Proton refunds direct purchases only, while X-VPN accepts card, PayPal or Google Play routes for its 30-day guarantee. App Store builds of some apps also miss settings the vendor's download has, and after installing you should check that the kill switch is actually on.

iCloud Private Relay and the built-in client do not replace a VPN service

Private Relay comes with iCloud+ and routes Safari traffic through two relays, as Apple describes. Mail, other browsers and torrent clients stay outside it, it is unavailable in some countries, and you cannot pick an exit country, so region-locked sites stay locked. macOS itself only offers a client for IKEv2, L2TP over IPSec and Cisco IPSec profiles in System Settings: somebody still has to supply the server and credentials; WireGuard and OpenVPN need a separate app regardless.

Free tier or paid plan on a Mac

For occasional use on public Wi-Fi, a free plan does the job; the free list for Mac is a separate ranking. Streaming, several Apple devices or torrenting justify paying, and one-off billing avoids surprise renewals entirely.

FAQ

Short answer

Among 361 Mac VPNs, just 28 carry an independent no-logs audit. Before paying, check the renewal price (Proton doubles after the intro term), whether auto-renewal is on by default (157 of 361), where the refund applies, and that the kill switch is switched on.