5 Best HMA VPN Alternatives: Better Privacy & Physical Servers (2026)

NordVPN – Best HMA Alternative With Audited No-Logs and 8x the Servers

NordVPN is the best HMA alternative I found because it fixes every one of HMA’s weak points at once: jurisdiction, audited no-logs, server count, security extras, and price.

Start with the network. HMA maintains just 1000+ servers across its 290+ locations, so overcrowding is almost guaranteed. NordVPN runs 7,000+ servers in 150 countries, roughly 8x HMA’s count, which means reliable, less overcrowded, and speedier servers wherever you connect.

Just as importantly, NordVPN is upfront about how it got there. Its physical servers cover dozens of countries, and the rest are virtual locations that NordVPN lists openly rather than passing them off as local hardware. HMA, by contrast, quietly concentrates most of its “countries” in a handful of data centers.

Every NordVPN server also runs on RAM-only (diskless) hardware that wipes itself on every reboot, so there’s no disk for logs to sit on in the first place.

Moving on from that, NordVPN is based in Panama, another data-friendly and user privacy-advocating location. So, you don’t have to worry about the Panama government imposing on the VPN provider to release your data to any government. After all, it’s not in any alliance with data-hungry countries.

In fact, the Panama government has been working on Law No. 81 since 2019, which came into effect in 2021. Some of the notable aspects of the law state that NordVPN and other Panama companies must

• Inform you if there’s ever a data breach
• Not keep your data for more than 7 years for any reason
• Obey your request to delete your data from its servers
• Send you a free record of all data it has on you within 10 days of your request

This isn’t like the UK’s data retention laws, permitting providers to collect and retain your data for up to 20 years.

Moreover, NordVPN has an audited no-logs policy to prove that it doesn’t even collect any data. PwC audited it twice, and Deloitte has since repeated the exercise several times, always with the same result. So, it doesn’t have anything beyond your email address and other registration information. And these were the data you supplied, so it didn’t invade your privacy to find out those details about you.

Despite that, NordVPN also offers security tools such as

• Kill switch – With two on the PC app to keep your activities safe and secure if the VPN connection drops
• Threat Protection – To block malicious sites, ads, and trackers from deanonymizing you on the internet
• NordLynx protocol – Based on the WireGuard protocol to ensure better safety, compatibility, and security
• AES 256-bit encryption – The industry standard, used by even the military, to prevent the hacking of your live traffic
• Double VPN and obfuscated servers – To route your traffic through two servers, or disguise your VPN traffic on networks that block VPNs

NordVPN stands out with an ad blocker, an in-house protocol, and specialty servers, all missing on the HMA VPN.

But there’s the elephant in the room that I need to address too.

During my research into NordVPN, I saw that it suffered a data breach from a breached data center. However, since NordVPN’s servers don’t log any data, the hacker wouldn’t have access to any user data.

And that has informed NordVPN to stop renting data centers, use more of its own infrastructure, and move the whole network onto diskless servers.

Since then, no internet leaks have shown up to prove something was found on the servers, and NordVPN has never cooperated with the government.

It’s worth knowing this, so you’ll know what lengths this provider will go and adapt to ensure your data privacy.

Interestingly, NordVPN and HMA are similar in their monthly and one-year plans. This makes the decision to switch even easier for you.

Considering the extra security features, protection, and peace of mind you get from NordVPN, that is. Even so, you can use NordVPN on twice as many devices as HMA’s standard plan, with ten simultaneous connections.

On top of that, NordVPN also provides Smart DNS support to smart TVs, gaming consoles, and other units that can’t download a native VPN app, unlike HMA. It only unlocks a short list of US streaming services, such as Netflix Originals, Max, and Disney Plus.

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Surfshark – Best Budget Privacy-Focused VPN With No-Logs Audit

Surfshark surges to get closer to HMA’s country count, but it only manages a reach of 100 countries. Still, it covers more locations than this and offers 4x more servers than HMA with its 4,500+ units.

So, again, Surfshark continues the impressive run of offering multiple servers in different locations rather than cramming a few servers into a lot of countries.

Another thing I love about Surfshark is its transparency on the virtual servers it uses. In fact, you’ll see a ‘V’ tag on its virtual servers in the PC and mobile apps. Thus, you can judge that it uses more physical servers than virtual options.

That said, there’s a quick issue that may cause a conflict of interest here:

Surfshark is based in the Netherlands, another member of the 14 Eyes countries. But why did it still make this list?

On the one hand, Surfshark has had its zero data logging policy audited by Deloitte (in 2023 and again in 2025), the same firm that audits NordVPN, while Cure53 has checked its infrastructure. On the other hand, it has never shared any data with any government or disclosed user data that would make us believe otherwise.

Furthermore, it maintains a warrant canary on its website, updated daily to show that it hasn’t gotten

• Any gag orders.
• Any warrants from a government organization.
• Any national security letters.

You can keep checking that page every day for full transparency to know if the VPN provider has been asked by bodies to give up data.

Even then, its no logs service means it won’t have any data to give.

Surfshark improves with the standard kill switch addition, top-notch encryption, and IP/DNS leak-protected servers.

It even offers a CleanWeb service with every VPN subscription to prevent trackers, ads, and malware from interfering with your online privacy.

That’s missing on HMA as of the time I did this research.

As if this isn’t enough, Surfshark blows HMA out of the water with its unlimited simultaneous connections. Instead of managing five simultaneous connections, you can now connect all your PCs, mobile devices, gaming consoles, routers, and smart TVs to a single Surfshark subscription.

And, on top of the router support, Surfshark has native apps for Apple TV, Android TV, and Fire TV. It ended its SmartDNS service in February 2026, though, so a console or a Samsung or LG TV now joins through the router or a Windows PC sharing a hotspot over OpenVPN.

You’ll think Surfshark would be an expensive VPN provider for all these. Instead, it’s one of the cheapest providers on this list.

Why is it second rather than first? Jurisdiction, mostly. Panama puts NordVPN outside the 14 Eyes entirely, while Surfshark has to lean on its audits and warrant canary to offset its Dutch base, and NordVPN’s network is about 50% bigger. If you want a lower price and unlimited devices, though, Surfshark is the better deal.

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ExpressVPN – Independently Audited No-Logs VPN Provider Based in the BVI

ExpressVPN’s 113-country count is less than HMA’s 290+ locations.

But let’s be honest – do you need VPN servers in all the countries?

Even if you did, HMA maintains just 1000+ servers in these locations.

Thus, there’s bound to be overcrowding. ExpressVPN takes a different approach, focusing on servers in 113 countries instead of chasing a huge location count.

Furthermore, HMA uses virtual servers in most of these locations.

Thus, the actual servers could be in the USA/UK data centers but assign you IP addresses in other countries.

The issue with this is that the servers are still within reach of a 14 Eyes member country and may not be as reliable for unblocking content.

While ExpressVPN also uses virtual servers, they’re less than a serious fraction of its network.

Besides the chances of connecting to a more stable and reliable server with ExpressVPN, it also beats HMA with its automatic obfuscation. So, you enjoy better security by masking your VPN traffic from your internet service provider (ISP), government, and online platforms.

On the flip side, HMA doesn’t even offer obfuscation tools.

And, ExpressVPN is the only VPN provider on this list to manage reliable speeds with obfuscation enabled.

Thus, you don’t have to sacrifice speed for security or the other way around.

On top of that, ExpressVPN boasts a serious security arsenal to boost your online privacy. This consists of tools and features like:

• AES 256-bit encryption. To keep the government, your ISPs, and other hackers out of your live internet traffic so they can’t see what you’re doing online.
• Kill switch. Dubbed Network Lock, the kill switch prevents IP/DNS leaks whenever the VPN encrypted connection randomly drops.
• Threat Manager. Blocks trackers and malware from browser fingerprinting attempts, deanonymization tactics, and online tracking.
• Lightway protocol. Built from scratch, audited for no logs, and guarantees faster speeds.

However, HMA also promises these features or variations, except for the in-house Lightway protocol. But, even with those features, HMA still shared data with the FBI. Thus, telling you they might not mean as much as ExpressVPN’s.

I discovered that ExpressVPN is based in the British Virgin Islands.

This region is outside the 14 Eyes Alliance and isn’t in any data-sharing treaty with any country. In fact, the BVI signed a new Data Protection Act (DPA) into law in July 2021 that prevents companies in the region (like ExpressVPN) from

• Transferring your data outside the country
• Processing your data without your express consent
• Not informing you if your data is ever requested for use by other parties

In fact, the law allows you to withdraw your consent to allow data-sharing and processing at any time. In other words, ExpressVPN is legally bound to not listen to any government requesting your data.

Even if ExpressVPN wanted to cooperate with the authorities, its audited no-logs policy makes that impossible. The VPN provider has had that policy checked by independent auditors more than once.

If in doubt, you can refer to the Turkish incident where authorities seized some ExpressVPN servers and found nothing on them!

Likewise, you won’t have to use ExpressVPN with fewer devices than HMA: its Basic plan now covers ten simultaneous device connections, double HMA’s five.

However, HMA lacks Smart DNS support, which lets you use a VPN provider’s DNS on gaming consoles and smart TVs that can’t download a native VPN app.

But ExpressVPN offers a router app (like HMA) and Smart DNS to give you options – though its Smart DNS (MediaStreamer) can’t change your location, so use the router app to unblock another country’s content.

The only part where ExpressVPN falls short of HMA is in the pricing.

While their monthly plans are almost on par, the long-term deals have HMA pulling ahead. Even so, I’ll gladly pay more for sure security than gamble with low payment for a service that may compromise my security.

Features, not price, are why ExpressVPN sits below NordVPN on this list. NordVPN matches it on privacy-friendly jurisdiction and independent audits, then adds 7,000+ servers plus Double VPN and obfuscated server categories at about the same long-term price. Where ExpressVPN still wins is obfuscation speed, and if that’s your priority, it’s the better pick.

It’s even better that I’ve got these ExpressVPN discounts for better savings on your chosen plan.

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CyberGhost – 8x More Servers Than HMA in 100 Countries

CyberGhost offers the biggest server difference compared to HMA, providing 8x more servers than you get on the other provider.

With a server count that’s over 9000, it’s a miracle how CyberGhost maintains most of them as physical servers.

This eliminates unblocking issues and reliable IP assignments that sometimes plague virtual servers.

CyberGhost follows up on that with its headquarters in Bucharest, Romania. So, it has GDPR protection as the first layer of user data privacy.

That’s good, but it’s not enough.

Fortunately, I found Romania is an EU region that’s not shy to repeal EU data collection and retention laws that it deems invasive.

In fact, it has done this in the past. So, that tells you a lot about its willingness to protect user data.

Even then, CyberGhost got an independent third-party audit of its no-logs claims and passed with flying colors.

In other words, you now have the combination of

• A VPN based outside the 14 eyes countries
• A VPN service that promises no data logging has been audited for it
• A reliable VPN that’s based in a privacy-friendly country

HMA isn’t two of those things; it has even been caught cooperating with the government. So, no joy there!

I checked, and CyberGhost has no history of data breaches or shady behavior. The only thing that comes close is its current owner, Kape Technologies, being accused of malware shipping when it was still known as Crossrider.

But the truth is that Crossrider created a platform for app developers and some bad actors used that to create malware. Hardly its fault.

CyberGhost checks the boxes with a kill switch and AES 256-bit encryption like my other VPNs. It also provides Block Content, an ad blocker, to keep intrusive ads and malware trackers at bay.

Finally, it offers two more simultaneous connections than HMA VPN.

It might not be on the level of Surfshark with unlimited simultaneous connections, but seven is a great start.

CyberGhost also offers Smart DNS for smart TVs, gaming consoles, and devices that can’t use a VPN, but it no longer works with streaming services – it’s only good for general DNS use now.

So, to stream on those devices, you’ll want a VPN-compatible router instead.

Luckily, CyberGhost has router support, so HMA doesn’t score any points there, either.

Finally, CyberGhost is affordable too. You only pay more for CyberGhost if you prefer the monthly plan instead. Otherwise, it’s almost a steal.

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Proton VPN – Reliable Privacy From a Swiss-Based VPN

One of the best things you can have is a data-handling company in Switzerland, which is why Proton VPN rounds out my list. It wasn’t part of my two-week test round, so you won’t find test screenshots here – this pick rests on its jurisdiction and its published specs.

I did a quick search on Swiss data retention and management laws and found that:

• Your IP address is your personal data and can’t be tracked by Swiss companies.
• The Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection protects your data under Swiss laws, even if you’re neither a citizen nor resident.
• Swiss companies must request your express permission before processing your data.

This takes all the power from companies and puts it in your hands.

That’s something you don’t get with HMA, which could be impressed upon by the UK on behalf of the US or its other strong allies.

Proton VPN doesn’t skimp on servers either. It runs 20,000+ servers in 140+ countries – against HMA’s 1,000+ – so you’re far less likely to land on an overcrowded one.

Its VPN Plus plan covers 10 devices, double HMA’s five, and costs $3.49 a month on the 2-year plan.

And if you’d like to try it before paying, Proton VPN is one of the rare providers with a free plan worth using: one device, servers in 10 countries (picked at random), no ads, and no data cap.

You also get stand-alone browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox, which free users can install, too.

My only real gripe is location count: HMA still lists more locations, so if you need an IP in an unusual country, check Proton VPN’s server list first.

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