Best Privacy Tools 2026
A VPN protects your connection. A password manager protects your accounts. Encrypted email protects your messages. Together, these four tools cover the three biggest weak points in everyday digital privacy — and we recommend all of them alongside a good VPN.
Our Privacy Tool Picks
Why a VPN alone isn't enough
A VPN encrypts your internet connection — it stops your ISP, government, or anyone on the same network from seeing what you're doing online. But it does not protect your accounts if you use weak or reused passwords. It does not encrypt the emails you send. It does not stop data breaches at sites you've signed up to.
The tools below fill those gaps. Used together with a good VPN, they form a complete, practical privacy setup that covers the three most common ways personal data is compromised — weak passwords, unencrypted email, and insecure connections.
81% of data breaches involve weak or stolen passwords, according to Verizon's annual Data Breach Report. A password manager is arguably more important than a VPN for most people's day-to-day security.
Our Picks
Four tools we trust to cover the gaps a VPN alone cannot. Used together with a good VPN, they form a complete privacy setup across encrypted email and zero-knowledge password management.
Proton Mail is made by Proton AG — the same team behind Proton VPN, which our reviewer has used personally for over three years. Based in Switzerland under some of the strongest privacy laws in the world, Proton Mail encrypts every message end-to-end before it leaves your device. Proton cannot read your emails. Swiss authorities cannot compel them to hand over readable content. The apps are open source and available on all platforms. A genuinely capable free plan is available with no adverts and no data harvesting. If you send anything you would not want read by a third party, Proton Mail is the obvious upgrade from Gmail or Outlook.
- End-to-end encrypted — always
- Swiss jurisdiction
- Open source — all apps
- Zero access — Proton cannot read your mail
- Free plan — no ads, no data harvesting
- Same team as Proton VPN
Current deal: 40% off
Visit Proton Mail →Proton Pass is built by the same Swiss-based team behind Proton VPN and Proton Mail — a company with a strong, consistent privacy track record. It is fully open-source, independently audited, and stores passwords, passkeys, credit cards, and secure notes using end-to-end encryption. Unlike most password managers, Proton Pass also encrypts metadata — not just the passwords themselves, but the usernames, URLs, and notes attached to each entry. A built-in email alias feature lets you sign up to sites without giving out your real email address. For privacy-focused users who already trust Proton, it is a natural and tightly integrated choice.
- Open-source and independently audited
- Encrypts metadata as well as passwords
- Built-in email alias generator
- Passkey support
- Free plan available
- Zero-knowledge, Swiss-based
Current deal: 50% off
Visit Proton Pass →1Password has been independently audited, has never been breached, and is trusted by millions of individuals and thousands of businesses worldwide. It stores passwords, passkeys, credit cards, secure notes, and two-factor authentication codes — all encrypted locally before they ever reach 1Password's servers. The apps are polished and consistent across Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and browser extensions. The Travel Mode feature, which hides selected vaults when crossing borders, is genuinely unique. For most people it is simply the best option available.
- Zero-knowledge encryption
- Stores passwords, passkeys, cards, notes
- 2FA codes built in
- Travel Mode for border crossings
- Family plan covers 5 users
- Never breached — independently audited
NordPass is made by Nord Security — the same company behind NordVPN, which is independently audited and has one of the strongest privacy track records in the industry. If you already use NordVPN, NordPass is a natural companion — and bundled pricing makes the combination good value. It uses XChaCha20 encryption (a modern algorithm increasingly preferred over AES-256 for its speed and security), stores passwords and payment details, and has a clean, beginner-friendly interface. A data breach scanner is included on paid plans.
- XChaCha20 encryption
- Data breach scanner
- Clean, simple interface
- Bundles with NordVPN
- Free plan available
- Audited by independent security firms
Complete your privacy setup with a VPN
A password manager secures your accounts. Encrypted email secures your messages. A VPN secures your connection. All three together cover the main ways personal data is exposed online. If you haven't chosen a VPN yet — or want to check you have the right one — our independent reviews cover 8 of the most popular services.