If you have read What a VPN is and why do I need one you will know that at times services like iplayer will block some IP address used by a VPN, or the VPN service themselves will have technical issues at times and this is where live chat is very helpful. Being able to jump online and instantly chat with customer services to find out if there is a work around or a specific server that is still working is very useful. Just to give you a feel of how the services differ I have only had to contact expressVPN once regarding service availability and it turned out to be entirely my fault but they spent a good while going through everything with me until I fixed the issue.  Nord every so often seem to have issues with iplayer but I was always able to use chat and find out if there was a specific server that still worked or when it would be back up and running (usually withing the hour or 2). Tunnelbear seems similar to NORD in it's availability of iplayer, but because there is only one server option per country to select, you can't try a different servers yourself. There is also no live chat so it's just a case of waiting, you can send an email and you will get a reply the next day but its just a case of keep trying until it works again. I guess this is the trade off for a simple user experience but I guess most of the time this might not be a problem depending on how you intend to use it.            

The only reason I have added this as a consideration is because I had a few intermittent issues with the NORD's widows app on my PC but not my laptop. This is where the chrome plugin comes into its own as it allows for a more robust application that only has to be compatible with the chrome browser rather than the multitude of PC configurations. For example the NORD chrome app worked on both my PC and Laptop so was still able to use it.

The other benefit of the chrome extension is that it allows you to have your chrome(web traffic) behind a VPN but leave everything else running on your PC outside of the VPN, if required. 

Also a quick note regarding the ExpressVPN chrome extension, at the moment this is not a full stand alone application and simply allows you to control the main windows application from your chrome browser. Having said that I have not had any issues with the ExpressVPN windows app on either my PC or Laptop so this actually works really well.       

Just for completeness Tunnel bear also has a flawless chrome extension but also have not had any issues with the main windows app. Same goes for pureVPN so really the chrome extension is just another option for those times where you might be having a few issues with your VPN.

For ease of use you don't actually want multiple servers but having multiple servers means that you have the opportunity to choose one that is being used less. NORD does this quite well and you can sort the servers by there current usage and pick the least used one. The problem comes when you realise some services only work on certain servers. As there is over 30 servers for the UK its a bit of a nightmare just randomly connecting and trying each one out. A quicker option is to jump on the live chat and their customer services will let you know which servers work for each service.

ExpressVPN, although it has less UK servers (about 8 I think) it is actually more manageable and you could try them all fairly quickly if you needed too. But they also have a recommend list of only 2, and so far I have not needed to connect to any other server for the services i have wanted to use.

At the other end of the scale you have Tunnelbear which i'm sure has more than one server, but for ease of use the user simply selects the country, and can't see multiple servers per country. This actually makes it very easy to use, you selected the country and 90% of the time it works and if it doesn't work you just have to wait, or try some of the other tricks like an incognito window, different device etc.      

This is a simple consideration, just check if the device you want to use the VPN on is supported. i.e. if you want to use it on an XBOX, iphone, amazon firestick and your android TV make sure you purchase access to a VPN that has a software client for each of these devices. This is where ExpressVPN can actually look cheaper as it compatibility list covers pretty much most devices. but to be fair the VPN solutions covered on this page have been chosen because they are the best around so include apps for the most common devices    

Also be wary of purchasing via the mobile app stores i.e. ios app or android app as sometimes you are actually only purchasing a license to use the VPN software on ios devices. And sometimes you are paying more for this restriction especially if you get the discounts available via the links on this website.       

It's obviously very important to ensure the VPN supports the services you want to access i.e. iplayer, sky go, netflix etc. The problem is they generally all support most but some have more issues than others.   

One trick would be to actually sign up to all 3 of my recommendations or may just do ExpressVPN plus the free TunnelBear account available via this like. You then get 30 days to use NORD and Express along side tunnelbear so you can compare the services side by side.

Just in case you are worried about getting your money back, they are genuine money back offers from NORD and ExpressVPN.  With NORD I signed up for the 2 year service to get the cheaper monthly rate and paid with paypal. Then within 30 days I just logged into the live chat service and said I wanted a refund and the money was back in my paypal account within the hour. Think if you pay with credit card it takes 1-2 days.   

•  ExpressVPN 
• Nord VPN 
• Tunnelbear free account