I did have occasional issues with using a VPN and it was clear services were somewhat suspicious about me (very aggressive use of CAPTCHAs, additional login validation etc.).

That being said, outside of netflix (circumventing region-lock), I never had any issues with outright loosing access to tech oligopoly services.

Maybe, maybe not.

Google does have PR considerations to manage.

Not saying they are better, but it is one constraint on their behaviour that doesn’t apply to system1/privacy one.

The fact that they are not very open about the acquisition of Startpage also doesn’t inspire confidence.

Is it really that bad? I let my NordVPN subscription lapse as I didn’t need it due to personal matters, I’ve heard a lot of good things about Mullvad and was considering them as my VPN provider.

Thanks for the list!

One point I will add is that Startpage is actually owned by an American spamming company:

https://restoreprivacy.com/startpage-system1-privacy-one-group/

I used to use them a lot before the system1/Privacy One acquisition, but then decided to switch back to google (never liked DDG’s results, but might have to try them again).