In the last year, due to events on a global scale, the world witnessed a significant increase in workforce mobility and businesses moving their operations online. As the number of people working from home and handling sensitive information has grown exponentially, keeping data safe behind a VPN has become the norm. While some VPNs are better suited for individual users, others have their services tailored with business users in mind. Here’s how to choose the best VPN solution for your business in 2021.
Business VPN vs. Consumer VPN
In general, business VPNs perform s to consumer VPNs, but with some key differences. While consumer VPNs are mostly used for individual preferences, like unblocking a website or service, business versions are designed to protect the privacy of the whole business and defend against surveillance and hacking.
Most often, business VPNs provide a dedicated IP address with a dedicated server, while the IP for the consumer VPNs might be shared with other users and can change every time someone connects to the service.
Furthermore, corporate VPNs are designed for multiple users. This means the employees will use one universal account, with the account manager having full control.
The Best VPN Solutions in 2021
NordVPN Teams is NordVPN’s solution for business clients. Users will benefit from the same level of security and reliability the provider is known for, alongside the added bonus of getting a dedicated account manager for business account holders, centralized billing, and a user-friendly Control Panel.
This business VPN solution encrypts all internet traffic with the AES 256-bit encryption used by top security experts across the globe and offers third-party authentication via Azure AD, Google, and Okta.
NordVPN is privacy-focused, keeping no logs of user activity and requiring no company details to purchase. There are three plans available, with prices starting as low as $7 per user per month.
Perimeter 81 is one the best all-around VPN services for businesses, providing reliable low-touch and multi-platform access control in a complete Network as a Service solution. It has well-designed clients for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android, it’s compatible with Linux, Linux X64, and Chromebook, and it includes a single-click web management console.
Perimeter 81 supports the IKEv2, OpenVPN, L2TP, and PPTP security protocols, while featuring a WireGuard connector, automatic Wi-Fi security, DNS filtering, as well as priority support around the clock for business clients.
This solution has three business plans to choose from, depending on the number of users. Prices start from $8 per team member per month.
TorGuard has already proved itself to be a leader in personal VPN services. Whether in China, Russia, Australia, Canada, the United States or one of TorGuard’s other 50+ locations, users around the globe have come to rely on robust security features, industry-leading customer support, and reliable server connections that provide fast speeds from a highly optimized server network.
Every TorGuard business VPN account comes with a 24/7 dedicated account manager and access to a dedicated VPN management portal. Security-wise, TorGuard takes care of business (ahem) with all the regular protocols, 256-bit AES encryption, and a ‘Stealth VPN’ option that avoids deep packet inspection.
There are four business price plans to choose from, starting at $32/month.
Although Twingate is not technically a VPN, we couldn’t miss this modern approach to securing online work.
Twingate is a zero-trust network “more secure and maintainable” than a classic VPN. Delivered as a cloud-based service, Twingate empowers IT teams to easily configure a software-defined perimeter without changing infrastructure, and centrally manage user access to internal apps, whether they are on-prem or in the cloud. It requires minimal maintenance and can easily scale from 10 to 10,000 resources.
It comes in three business plans, with prices starting from $5/user/month.
Encrypt.me is a very simple to use business VPN, suited for teams who frequently use multiple devices. The provider supports an unlimited number of devices and offers very solid performance.
Security is very good with several interesting features available, including DNS protection, Auto-Secure function, Content filtering, and private endpoints. Encrypt.me use multiple cloud providers and run servers in as many geographic locations as possible.
The pricing is flexible and it’s based on how many team members you need. Prices start at $15.98 per month for a minimum of 2 team members.
With millions of people working from home, the pandemic has sent the global VPN demand soaring. Choosing the right type of VPN protocol or the right vendor for your business is a process that requires attention and some research. VPN is a must in any responsible enterprise, but security experts warn about its limitations when it comes to best security practices. Regardless of the solution you adopt, it is strongly recommended to run local antivirus software, enable two-factor authentication wherever available, and use a password manager.
