Virtual Private Network (VPN) services are broadly categorized into consumer VPNs (for individual users seeking privacy, streaming access, etc.) and business VPNs (for organizations enabling secure remote access for employees).
Below, we present two tables comparing some of the most popular VPN products globally in each category, along with their estimated user counts and relevant notes.
Consumer VPNs
These VPNs cater to individual consumers. User counts largely reflect paying subscribers (free trial or free-tier users noted where applicable):
Sources: User counts are from the most recent available data, including company disclosures and industry analyses.
For example, NordVPN has reported 14 million users as of 2022expandedramblings.com, and Surfshark surpassed 3 million paying users in 2024linkedin.com. CyberGhost claims 38 million users globallycyberghostvpn.com, while Hotspot Shield’s free + paid user base is reflected by its 650 million+ downloads to datehotspotshield.com. ExpressVPN’s about page notes 4+ million active subscribersexpressvpn.com, and Private Internet Access had over 2 million paying users prior to its 2019 acquisitionproprivacy.com. ProtonVPN’s figure represents total Proton users (many on free plans)protonvpn.com.
Business VPNs
Business/enterprise VPN solutions facilitate secure remote connectivity for employees. These are often integrated with corporate infrastructure (firewalls, identity management, etc.). User counts are typically measured in terms of deployed endpoints or organizational usage:
Sources: Cisco AnyConnect is the largest enterprise VPN, with over 130 million users reported as of 2015crn.com (and it led with ~28.6% of the corporate VPN market in 2022demandsage.com). Fortinet’s vast customer base (over 860,000 organizationsfortinet.com using Fortinet solutions) implies tens of millions of VPN users across SMB and enterprise deployments (though no single user total is disclosed). Palo Alto Networks serves 80,000+ customerspaloaltonetworks.com, many using GlobalProtect for remote access (spanning many millions of end-users in sum). Legacy Juniper VPN (Pulse Secure) and others like Citrix also account for substantial portions of enterprise VPN usage (~10.6% and 8.1% share respectively in 2022)demandsage.com. Check Point’s VPN is likewise widespread, securing over 100,000 organizations and millions of userscheckpoint.com.
Each of these business VPN products often comes bundled with broader security features or endpoint agents, reflecting their integration into enterprise IT environments. Both SME and large enterprises rely on these solutions to enable safe remote work, especially post-2020. The figures above focus on user counts (number of end-users or subscribers) rather than revenue, using the latest data from vendor reports and industry research for comparison.
