So Alice, Bob and Eve explains private networking and secure access in plain words. That covers the VPN you might put on your phone, the remote access tools companies use, Zero Trust, mesh networks like Tailscale, running your own VPN server, and sending messages and files that only the right person can read. For each one, the guides say what it does, who it's for, what it's good at, and where it falls short.
Basically, in almost every lesson on how encryption works, Alice and Bob are the two people trying to talk privately, and Eve is the eavesdropper trying to listen in. Every product on this site exists to keep Eve out. So when a guide asks "who can still see what," that's the Eve question, and it's the one that matters most.
I'm Lance. I've been writing and presenting VPN reviews and guides for years, including reviews of NordVPN, ExpressVPN and Surfshark, a guide to watching the World Cup with a VPN, and a roundup of free VPNs for Android. And I kept running into the same problem: the review sites stop at consumer VPNs, the business tools are explained by the people selling them, and nobody puts the whole field side by side for someone who's new to it.
Something you should know up front is that I work with Steve, who builds Ultimate VPN. I help fund the work, I test every build before it ships, and I expect to help sell it. So I have a financial stake in one of the products this site compares.
Here's how I handle that. Every page that mentions Ultimate VPN says so right before it does. Ultimate VPN gets compared on exactly the same facts as every other product, including where it falls short, like not having an independent audit yet. And when another product is the better choice for you, the guide says that plainly. If the comparisons ever stopped being fair, this site wouldn't be worth reading, so that's the line I hold.
So every guide starts with research. Prices, plans and features come from each company's own pages. Claims about security and privacy are checked against independent audits, security researchers' reports, and government advisories, and when nothing independent backs a claim, the guide calls it the company's claim. Laws and compliance rules come only from the government or standards body that sets them.
Then every guide gets checked again against those sources before it goes up. Every page lists its sources at the bottom so you can check them yourself. And when sources disagree, or something isn't proven, the guide says that.
When I've tested something myself, the guide says exactly what I did and what I found. When I haven't, it doesn't pretend otherwise.
Keep in mind these guides explain how protection works and how to choose it. They don't teach how to get around a company's security, a school's network rules, or the law. And they give general information about security products, not legal advice, so if you're dealing with a compliance rule like HIPAA or PCI, confirm your own situation with the people responsible for it.
So if you have a question about a guide, or you spotted something that needs correcting, feel free to email me at contact@alicebobandeve.com. I look forward to reading as many messages as I can, and your questions help me improve these guides.
There are no affiliate links on this site, and I earn nothing when you click a link or buy a product named here. Nobody pays to be included. My one financial connection is Ultimate VPN, described above. Alice, Bob and Eve isn't affiliated with or endorsed by any other company named here, and those names are trademarks of their owners.
