[narinesa]

I am currently using nord open vpn with linksys 3200 acm router.

My subscription is about to expire and looking for suggestions as to vpn provider and type - open vpn or wireguard. I am a novice.

[egc]

I would choose a VPN provider which supports OpenVPN and WireGuard on the router.
I use KeepSolid (VPN unlimited) which works but unfortunately it does not support port forwarding.

I did not test their streaming servers for Netflix etc. so can not tell anything about that

[blkt]

Mullvad

[SurprisedItWorks]

I'm very happy with AirVPN (https://airvpn.org/?referred_by=483503 or just https://airvon.org if you don't like referral programs) as my basic OpenVPN provider. My dd-wrt how-to is linked in my signature below, and indeed dd-wrt is how I use them. Rather than use up more of my five simultaneous connections with their "Eddie" (a name that gives away nothing to nosey border inspectors) app, on iOS devices I use the super light and fast WireGuard app to connect to a wireguard server in my router (easy since my ISP never changes my IP and there is no firewall between my router and their modem), and I have that server's IPs in my OpenVPN PBR list so that connections are routed right back out to the internet via OpenVPN/AirVPN.

In my OpenVPN config, I use AirVPN's load-balancing FQDN that can resolve in DNS to any one of their 37 US servers. (They have these for many separate regions.) I am actually a big fan of their approach of a modest number of servers that actually work rather than thousands of servers with many offline or hung up or bogged down at any one time, which was my experience with Nord and PIA. Air also posts a good deal of real-time status info online for each server. You can see, for example, that each US server typically has 50-80 connected users, which makes NAT your somewhat-anonymizing friend.

Of note is that AirVPN does provide static port forwarding (and even a DDNS service to point a FQDN into your VPN tunnel, if needed). They do not yet provide wireguard servers but have made clear they are close to doing so, with software currently in test. They say they delayed the offering to be very sure they could include sound methods of overcoming wireguard's privacy limitations. They tend to be aimed at the technically nonterrified, and their (very active) community forum makes clear that they have plenty of users configuring AirVPN in their routers (dd-wrt/OpenWRT/AsusWRT/other), so I'm assuming they will want to take care of us with wireguard.

Nord, by contrast, has made clear they are not interested in the router community long term and are trying to push all users into their apps. PIA has fans (I am not one of them, ever since they emailed me a username and password on the open internet) re dd-wrt/OpenVPN, but IIRC their wireguard offering has extra privacy features realized in a way that makes it incompatible with dd-wrt's wireguard system. (Anyone?)

For a wireguard provider, I like AzireVPN (https://www.azirevpn.com/ref/nedCuwlivI or https://www.azirevpn.com/ if you'd rather avoid referral links). I find them super reliable and super fast, and they have been offering wireguard from pretty early on. They also go for few servers maintained scrupulously so that they stay up. A key downside is that the server selection is really limited. As of early August 2020, when I last checked, their available wireguard servers were one each in Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Thailand, and the UK and two each in Sweden and the US. I only use two of these, but I have never encountered either being slow or unavailable. (My experiments with Mullvad were abandoned because I frequently encountered servers that were seriously slow or completely hung up.) The Azire website is limited and awkward, and their customer service is rudimentary at best. I had absolutely no trouble setting them up in dd-wrt, however.

A big key to why I like both Air and Azire is that they are technically oriented, not marketing oriented. They are relatively old firms (2011 and 2012 IIRC) that have focused on providing quality systems. Air, at least, refuses to pay for reviews like the major, well-known VPN firms do. Avoid VPN review sites... they are mostly worthless and riddled with errors. Be aware that even well-known VPN firms often post dd-wrt how-to's that are seriously obsolete, and they seem never to deal with PBR. With Air and Azire, we have reasonable instructions available. (My Air how-to is about a year old now, but I still use exactly the same config I wrote about then.)

[Redback813]

Torguard = OPVN + Wireguard on the router which I find the best, ex-PIA.