Review-site checker
Type a domain or a name - we show you who owns the site, how dependent it is on affiliate money, and what evidence we have. Nothing here is an accusation; every row links to its sources on the ecosystem page.
| Site | Owner | Label | Affiliate dependence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comparitech comparitech.com |
Aura/Pango group: Comparitech Limited (UK 09962280) is 75%+ owned by Anchorfree Ltd (UK 07288764, the Hotspot Shield/Pango company) since 15 Oct 2021 | owned-by-vpn-company | high |
| Mashable mashable.com |
Ziff Davis (acquired 2017 for $50M; Ziff Davis owns IPVanish/StrongVPN) | owned-by-vpn-company | high |
| PCMag pcmag.com |
Ziff Davis (owns VPNs IPVanish and StrongVPN via NetProtect/VIPRE) | owned-by-vpn-company | high |
| ProPrivacy proprivacy.com |
Pango/Aura group per self-disclosure: 'owned and operated by Comparitech Limited which in turn is part of the Pango group of companies' (ultimate parent WC SACD Holdings Inc.) | owned-by-vpn-company | high |
| WizCase wizcase.com |
Kape Technologies plc (acquired Webselenese with vpnMentor, 2021) | owned-by-vpn-company | high |
| vpnMentor vpnmentor.com |
Kape Technologies plc (acquired publisher Webselenese, June 2021) | owned-by-vpn-company | high |
| AllAboutCookies allaboutcookies.org |
not publicly documented | unknown | unknown |
| Allvpn allvpn.org |
unknown | unknown | unknown |
| Android Authority androidauthority.com |
independently owned (AA Media; not re-verified) | affiliate-funded | medium |
| CNET cnet.com |
Red Ventures (bought CNET Media Group from ViacomCBS for $500M, Sept 2020) | affiliate-funded | high |
| CNN Underscored cnn.com/underscored |
CNN (Warner Bros. Discovery) | affiliate-funded | high |
| Cloudwards cloudwards.net |
independently owned (self-claim; Oro Valley, AZ address on site) | affiliate-funded | high |
| CyberInsider cyberinsider.com |
self-declared independent, no external investors (operator entity not published) | affiliate-funded | medium |
| Cybernews cybernews.com |
not publicly documented | affiliate-funded | high |
| Digital Trends digitaltrends.com |
Digital Trends Media Group | affiliate-funded | high |
| Forbes Advisor forbes.com/advisor |
Forbes Media | affiliate-funded | high |
| PCWorld pcworld.com |
Foundry (formerly IDG) | affiliate-funded | medium |
| Pixel Privacy pixelprivacy.com |
unknown | unknown | unknown |
| Privacy Australia privacyaustralia.net |
located in Adelaide, South Australia (self-stated; operator unknown) | unknown | unknown |
| Privacy Guides privacyguides.org |
Privacy Guides (US 501(c)(3) nonprofit; volunteer + staff, member-funded) | community | none |
| PrivacySavvy privacysavvy.com |
PrivacySavvy Ltd (self-stated copyright, founded 2020) | affiliate-funded | high |
| PrivacyTools.io privacytools.io |
unclear since the 2024 community split (operator not published) | community | none |
| SafetyDetectives safetydetectives.com |
not publicly tied to any VPN operator (independent ownership per available evidence) | affiliate-funded | high |
| Security.org security.org |
not disclosed on-site (operator entity unknown) | affiliate-funded | high |
| TechNadu technadu.com |
unknown | unknown | unknown |
| TechRadar techradar.com |
Future plc | affiliate-funded | high |
| That One Privacy Guy thatoneprivacysite.xyz |
volunteer project (single author, no company) | community | none |
| TheBestVPN thebestvpn.com |
unknown | unknown | unknown |
| Tom's Guide tomsguide.com |
Future plc | affiliate-funded | high |
| Top10VPN top10vpn.com |
self-declared independent (founded by Antonio Argiolas, 2016) | affiliate-funded | medium |
| US News 360 Reviews usnews.com/360-reviews |
US News & World Report | affiliate-funded | high |
| VPN Overview vpnoverview.com |
not publicly documented | affiliate-funded | high |
| VPNAlert vpnalert.com |
unknown | unknown | unknown |
| VPNCheck vpncheck.org |
unknown | affiliate-funded | high |
| VPNCompare vpncompare.co.uk |
TwistedFingers Ltd (UK) | affiliate-funded | high |
| VPNPros vpnpros.com |
unknown | unknown | unknown |
| VPNRanks vpnranks.com |
unknown | unknown | unknown |
| Wired wired.com |
Condé Nast | mixed | medium |
| r/VPN (Reddit) reddit.com/r/VPN |
Reddit community | community | none |
| vpnHunt vpnhunt.com |
unknown | unknown | unknown |
| 10bestvpn 10bestvpn.com |
domain for sale | defunct | unknown |
| BestVPN.co bestvpn.co |
domain parked | defunct | unknown |
| BestVPN.com (legacy) bestvpn.com |
absorbed into ProPrivacy/Pango | defunct | unknown |
| RestorePrivacy restoreprivacy.com |
defunct as an independent brand - absorbed into CyberInsider | defunct | unknown |
| VPNpro vpnpro.com |
unknown (Ukrainian research team) | defunct | unknown |