--- title: "VPN Buyer Intent Study 2026: What 10,907 VPN.com visitors want from a VPN" description: "10,907 visitors to VPN.com's VPN finder quiz said what they would use a VPN for, what matters most and what they would spend. Key findings, charts, citations, a press kit and the full dataset." url: "https://www.vpn.com/research/vpn-buyer-intent-2026/" lang: "en" updated: 2026-10-28 --- What do VPN.com visitors say they want from a VPN: what they would use it for, what matters most to them and what they would spend? - **Status:** Industry research with open data; not peer reviewed. - **Author:** [Michael Gargiulo](https://www.vpn.com/author/michael-gargiulo/), Founder, CEO & Lead Domain Broker, VPN.com. **Publisher:** VPN.com. Published October 19, 2026; updated October 28, 2026. - **Data window and sample:** Jul 29, 2026 to Oct 18, 2026. 14,792 distinct visitors started the quiz and 10,907 (74%) answered all three questions on a first or a later attempt. - **Press contact:** press@vpn.com - **Scope:** visitors to VPN.com who chose to use VPN.com's VPN finder quiz. Not a census of all VPN users. ## Contents 1. [Key findings](#key-statistics) 2. [Why they want a VPN](#use-case) 3. [What matters most](#priority) 4. [What they would spend](#budget) 5. [How answers connect](#combinations) 6. [Where visitors were](#countries) 7. [Completion](#dropoff) 8. [What happened next](#after) 9. [Methodology](#method) 10. [Limitations](#limitations) 11. [Cite and download](#cite) 12. [Press kit](#press-kit) ## Key findings - **Three in four finish the quiz.** 14,792 people started VPN.com's VPN finder quiz and 10,907 (74%) answered all three questions, on a first or a later attempt. (n = 14,792; Jul 29, 2026 to Oct 18, 2026.) Counts only visitors who answered the first question, and counts a visitor as finished if they finished on any attempt. On the first attempt alone, 72% finished. - **One in five can't say what they'd use a VPN for.** 20.5% of 14,792 visitors chose "I'm not sure" when asked what they would use a VPN for. (n = 14,792; Jul 29, 2026 to Oct 18, 2026.) The share depends partly on how prominent the "not sure" option is. - **Speed is the #1 priority.** 32.5% of the 10,907 visitors who finished put Speed first, ahead of Privacy (18.3%) and Price (17.0%). (n = 10,907; Jul 29, 2026 to Oct 18, 2026.) Priorities differ sharply by country, and a pooled share reflects the biggest audiences. Speed is first in 4 of the 8 countries with 200 or more finishers; Price comes first in the United States, China, and Hong Kong, and Privacy comes first in Indonesia. - **More than half aren't sure what to spend.** 53.9% of 10,907 finishers answered "I'm not sure" when asked for a monthly budget; 34.7% of all finishers picked the cheapest option. (n = 10,907; Jul 29, 2026 to Oct 18, 2026.) The budget options carry no dollar amounts, so "Balanced" and "The best" are relative. The "not sure" share was higher before Aug 18, 2026, when that option changed: 64% before and 51% since. - **Price-first visitors want the cheapest plan.** Visitors who ranked Price first were 2.2 times as likely as the average visitor to choose the cheapest budget (76.0% vs 34.7%). (n = 1,851; Jul 29, 2026 to Oct 18, 2026.) An association between answers, not a cause. - **Visitors wanting privacy put Privacy first.** Visitors who wanted a VPN for privacy were 2.3 times as likely as average to rank Privacy their top priority (41.3% vs 18.3%). (n = 2,083; Jul 29, 2026 to Oct 18, 2026.) An association between answers, not a cause. - **Gamers lean toward speed.** Gamers were 1.4 times as likely as the average visitor to put Speed first (46.7% vs 32.5%). (n = 1,538; Jul 29, 2026 to Oct 18, 2026.) An association between answers, not a cause. - **Doubt on one question carries to the next.** Visitors unsure what matters most were 1.6 times as likely as average to be unsure about budget too (83.8% vs 53.9%). (n = 2,152; Jul 29, 2026 to Oct 18, 2026.) An association between answers, not a cause. - **Budget confidence swings by country.** The share unsure of their budget ranged from 21% in Hong Kong (n = 361) to 73% in Pakistan (n = 1,373), across the 8 countries with 200 or more finishers. (n = 6,138; Jul 29, 2026 to Oct 18, 2026.) Countries differ in language, device and the pages that send them traffic. The card's n is all finishers in those countries. - **Almost a third visit a provider within a week.** 31.2% of visitors who finished the quiz clicked through to a provider's site within seven days. (n = 10,001; Jul 29, 2026 to Oct 18, 2026.) A click-out is interest, not a purchase. - **Streaming-page visitors are after shows from abroad.** 68.0% of 206 visitors to our streaming page said their show is only available abroad. (n = 206; Oct 3, 2026 to Oct 19, 2026.) Smaller sample; mostly English- and Chinese-language pages. ## Controlled experiment (section: What happened next) In a controlled experiment with visitors assigned at random, those sent to a dedicated "best VPN for" page clicked out to a provider 2.27 times as often as those sent to the general VPN page (41.9% vs 18.5%). (n = 1,230; Jul 29, 2026 to Sep 7, 2026.) A click-out is a click to a provider, not a purchase. Visitors were randomly sent either to a dedicated "best VPN for" page or to the general VPN page, so the gap in clicks is caused by the page. The other findings show patterns, not causes. ## The questions Quoted as visitors saw them, in order, with every answer option: 1. "What will you use a VPN for?" - Security - Privacy - Streaming - Gaming - Speed - Business - I'm not sure 2. "What matters most in a VPN?" - Price - Speed - Privacy - Simplicity - Overall best - I'm not sure 3. "What's your monthly budget?" - Cheapest - Balanced - The best - I'm not sure ## Method Each visitor's first valid response is counted once. Shares carry 95% Wilson confidence intervals; counts under 10 are withheld and cells under 100 are marked directional. Test and automated traffic is removed with the same rules VPN.com uses for its own reporting. A visitor's click-outs count as genuine only if that visitor left proof of having been on a vpn.com page (our page script ran, the browser named a vpn.com page as the referrer, or the visitor carried the landing-page cookie our site sets on a first pageview) and made no more than 20 click-outs in the study window. Visitors with no such proof, or with more clicks than that, are treated as automated and left out. Quiz responses have their own, simpler cleaning rules (see the table below). The confidence intervals describe sampling error only. They do not correct for self-selection (who chose to visit and to open the quiz) or for errors in how answers were recorded, so a narrow interval does not make a share representative of anyone beyond these visitors. Two completion figures appear: 74% (10,907 of 14,792) finished on any attempt, and 72% (10,670) finished on their first attempt; the difference is 237 visitors who left once and finished on a return. Speed is first in 4 of the 8 countries with 200 or more finishers; Price comes first in the United States, China, and Hong Kong, and Privacy comes first in Indonesia. The full cleaning table, the versions of the quiz and the statistics are on the web page (section: Methodology). ## Limitations - Visitors chose to visit VPN.com and chose to open the quiz, so shares describe those visitors, not VPN buyers in general. - Answers differ sharply by country, so a pooled share mostly reflects the largest audiences. - Confidence intervals cover sampling error only, not self-selection or recording errors. - A click-out is a click on a tracked link to a provider within seven days. It is interest, not a purchase. - Answers given by one visitor are related, not caused by each other. The controlled experiment, in which visitors were randomly assigned to a page, is the only causal claim in this study. ## Disclosure, ethics and reproducibility - **Conflict of interest.** VPN.com earns an affiliate commission when visitors buy through our links, including some of the clicks this study measures. The study publishes only aggregated answers and click-out rates, and it ranks no provider. No provider paid for the study. - **Ethics and consent.** The quiz asks three questions and nothing else: no name, email address or free text. A response is linked to a first-party visitor cookie so that repeat takers and later provider clicks can be matched. That identifier is not published: the files contain aggregates only, with no visitor, session or response identifiers, no individual timestamps and every count under 10 withheld. - **Reproducibility.** The aggregates and the method are public in the dataset; the raw answers stay private to protect visitors' privacy. The analysis code that regenerates every number is not published; it is available on request to journalists and researchers at press@vpn.com. Command: `node scripts/analysis/advisor-research.mjs --until 2026-10-19` ## Changes to this page - 2026-10-28: Retitled as the evergreen study name with its scope, moved the headline findings into a Key findings box, added a chart for each section (enlarge or download, each carrying the source line), made the quiz screenshot enlargeable and added a press kit with ready-to-paste citations and a boilerplate. No figure changed. - 2026-10-28: Named the author and a press contact. Reworded "shoppers" to "visitors" where it overstated. Corrected the sample size shown on the country card and the "cheapest" share, which is now stated for all finishers and for those who named a budget. Explained the two completion figures and the three visitors missing from the outcome table. Added the budget "not sure" share before and after the 18 August change, the country pattern behind the Speed finding, a note on what the confidence intervals do not cover, a plain-words definition of genuine traffic and how to request the analysis code. No other figure changed. - 2026-10-26: Added the research question, status and conflict-of-interest disclosure, the three questions with every answer option as visitors saw them, an ethics and reproducibility note and this change log. No figure changed. - 2026-10-19: Version 1.0 published with the dataset. ## Cite and download Gargiulo, M. (2026). VPN Buyer Intent Study 2026: what 10,907 VPN.com visitors told VPN.com's VPN finder quiz. VPN.com. https://www.vpn.com/research/vpn-buyer-intent-2026/ (data Jul 29, 2026 to Oct 18, 2026; dataset https://www.vpn.com/research/vpn-buyer-intent-2026/dataset.json) - Dataset (JSON, aggregates only): https://www.vpn.com/research/vpn-buyer-intent-2026/dataset.json - Licence: Use is subject to the [VPN.com terms](https://www.vpn.com/terms/). - Web page with tables and figures: https://www.vpn.com/research/vpn-buyer-intent-2026/ ## Press kit ### Five statistics to quote 1. 32.5% of the 10,907 visitors who finished put Speed first, ahead of Privacy (18.3%) and Price (17.0%). - Citation: 32.5% of the 10,907 visitors who finished put Speed first, ahead of Privacy (18.3%) and Price (17.0%). (VPN.com, VPN Buyer Intent Study 2026; n = 10,907; Jul 29, 2026 to Oct 18, 2026.) https://www.vpn.com/research/vpn-buyer-intent-2026/#stat-h05 2. 53.9% of 10,907 finishers answered "I'm not sure" when asked for a monthly budget; 34.7% of all finishers picked the cheapest option. - Citation: 53.9% of 10,907 finishers answered "I'm not sure" when asked for a monthly budget; 34.7% of all finishers picked the cheapest option. (VPN.com, VPN Buyer Intent Study 2026; n = 10,907; Jul 29, 2026 to Oct 18, 2026.) https://www.vpn.com/research/vpn-buyer-intent-2026/#stat-h06 3. 20.5% of 14,792 visitors chose "I'm not sure" when asked what they would use a VPN for. - Citation: 20.5% of 14,792 visitors chose "I'm not sure" when asked what they would use a VPN for. (VPN.com, VPN Buyer Intent Study 2026; n = 14,792; Jul 29, 2026 to Oct 18, 2026.) https://www.vpn.com/research/vpn-buyer-intent-2026/#stat-h04 4. 31.2% of visitors who finished the quiz clicked through to a provider's site within seven days. - Citation: 31.2% of visitors who finished the quiz clicked through to a provider's site within seven days. (VPN.com, VPN Buyer Intent Study 2026; n = 10,001; Jul 29, 2026 to Oct 18, 2026.) https://www.vpn.com/research/vpn-buyer-intent-2026/#stat-h18 5. In a controlled experiment with visitors assigned at random, those sent to a dedicated "best VPN for" page clicked out to a provider 2.27 times as often as those sent to the general VPN page (41.9% vs 18.5%). - Citation: In a controlled experiment with visitors assigned at random, those sent to a dedicated "best VPN for" page clicked out to a provider 2.27 times as often as those sent to the general VPN page (41.9% vs 18.5%). (VPN.com, VPN Buyer Intent Study 2026; n = 1,230; Jul 29, 2026 to Sep 7, 2026.) https://www.vpn.com/research/vpn-buyer-intent-2026/#stat-h17 ### Charts Each chart image carries the line "Source: VPN.com Buyer Intent Study 2026". Download links are PNG and SVG on the web page; the SVG files are: - What visitors would use a VPN for: What visitors would use a VPN for. Security: 22.8%; Privacy: 19.9%; Streaming: 18.1%; Gaming: 12.6%; Speed: 3.1%; Business: 2.9%; I'm not sure: 20.5%. Image: https://www.vpn.com/research/vpn-buyer-intent-2026/charts/use-case.svg - What matters most in a VPN: What matters most in a VPN. Speed: 32.5%; Privacy: 18.3%; Price: 17.0%; Overall best: 8.0%; Simplicity: 4.6%; I'm not sure: 19.7%. Image: https://www.vpn.com/research/vpn-buyer-intent-2026/charts/priority.svg - What visitors would spend each month: What visitors would spend each month. Cheapest: 34.7%; Balanced: 6.9%; The best: 4.6%; I'm not sure: 53.9%. Image: https://www.vpn.com/research/vpn-buyer-intent-2026/charts/budget.svg - Which answers go together: Which answers go together. I'm not sure → I'm not sure: 2.64×; Privacy → Privacy: 2.26×; Price → Cheapest: 2.19×; Overall best → Balanced: 1.85×; I'm not sure → I'm not sure: 1.56×; Speed → Cheapest: 1.51×. Image: https://www.vpn.com/research/vpn-buyer-intent-2026/charts/combinations.svg - Visitors unsure of their budget, by country: Visitors unsure of their budget, by country. Pakistan: 73%; India: 70%; Bangladesh: 67%; Indonesia: 64%; Iran: 48%; United States: 36%; China: 22%; Hong Kong: 21%. Image: https://www.vpn.com/research/vpn-buyer-intent-2026/charts/countries.svg - Where visitors stopped: Where visitors stopped. Finished and clicked "See matches": 72.1%; Left on the priority question: 14.8%; Left on the budget question: 13.0%. Image: https://www.vpn.com/research/vpn-buyer-intent-2026/charts/dropoff.svg - Provider clicks within 7 days, by page assigned: Provider clicks within 7 days, by page assigned. All three use cases: Dedicated page 41.9%, General VPN page 18.5%; Streaming: Dedicated page 41.9%, General VPN page 20.9%; Gaming: Dedicated page 45.8%, General VPN page 23.2%; Privacy: Dedicated page 39.4%, General VPN page 12.4%. Image: https://www.vpn.com/research/vpn-buyer-intent-2026/charts/after.svg ### About VPN.com VPN.com is a research and review platform helping people find trusted privacy and security solutions. We also operate as a premium domain brokerage, connecting businesses with category-defining domain names. VPN.com has reviewed 50+ VPN providers. ### Press contact press@vpn.com, for questions about the study and for the analysis code on request. ### How to cite Credit the study as "VPN.com Buyer Intent Study 2026" and link to https://www.vpn.com/research/vpn-buyer-intent-2026/. Quote a share with its sample size (n) and say that it describes visitors to VPN.com who used the quiz, not VPN buyers in general. Every chart image carries the source line; keep it in the picture when you reuse one. Gargiulo, M. (2026). VPN Buyer Intent Study 2026: what 10,907 VPN.com visitors told VPN.com's VPN finder quiz. VPN.com. https://www.vpn.com/research/vpn-buyer-intent-2026/ (data Jul 29, 2026 to Oct 18, 2026; dataset https://www.vpn.com/research/vpn-buyer-intent-2026/dataset.json)