Highest median retention
NordVPN · NordLynx
68.2% · 479 samples · 18 destinations
Citable benchmark summary
VPN Performance Index
A compact, linkable snapshot of the latest published Secure-VPN benchmark report. Results stay separated by provider and protocol and use only quality-checked measurements included in the report.
Current published leaders
Highest median download
ExpressVPN · Lightway UDP
64.8 Mbps · 996 samples · 50 destinations
Lowest median latency
ExpressVPN · Lightway UDP
104.0 ms · 996 samples · 50 destinations
Important: these are provider × protocol rows from the current published report, not a universal claim about every route. Source location, destination mix and sample coverage still matter.
Provider × protocol observations
| Provider | Protocol | Samples | Destinations | P10 | Median retention | P90 | Download | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NordVPN | NordLynx | 479 | 18 | 22.1% | 68.2% | 100.0% | 56.6 Mbps | 133.6 ms |
| ExpressVPN | Lightway UDP | 996 | 50 | 20.9% | 60.2% | 99.4% | 64.8 Mbps | 104.0 ms |
| NordVPN | OpenVPN UDP | 146 | 16 | 19.1% | 56.0% | 98.7% | 45.3 Mbps | 128.0 ms |
| NordVPN | OpenVPN TCP | 148 | 16 | 21.1% | 55.4% | 94.0% | 49.6 Mbps | 173.5 ms |
| ExpressVPN | OpenVPN UDP | 536 | 49 | 18.5% | 51.7% | 95.7% | 54.3 Mbps | 112.6 ms |
| ExpressVPN | OpenVPN TCP | 480 | 47 | 4.4% | 14.7% | 47.0% | 12.5 Mbps | 119.3 ms |
How to cite this data
When referencing the index, include the report month, provider, protocol and metric rather than quoting a provider as universally "fastest." A useful citation format is: Secure-VPN, VPN Performance Index, October 2026 published report, accessed 2026-10-06.
Method
The index re-publishes rows already present in the Secure-VPN report pipeline. Quality control, speed retention and source-location separation are described in the benchmark methodology. For a head-to-head route comparison, use NordVPN vs ExpressVPN.