Atlas VPN, a smaller but well-liked VPN service, is set to close operations on April 24. All current paid subscribers will be transferred to its sister company, NordVPN. It’s just one in a long line of VPNs that have been absorbed by larger security services in recent years.
Citing increased competition and rising costs as the main reason behind the shutdown, Atlas VPN stated that the “insurmountable challenges” had become too much and it could no longer keep up in a highly competitive market.
The popular freemium VPN service was acquired by Nord Security in 2021 with promises that Atlas VPN would continue to operate independently as a business. That’s all changed now though, and the entire user base of around 6 million members will migrate over to the much larger NordVPN after shutdown, continuing an unsettling trend of consolidations in the VPN market as a whole.
The VPN consolidation trend
The global VPN market is valued somewhere in the neighborhood of around $40 billion, so it’s no wonder that tech companies are chomping at the bit to control as much of that fortune as they can. What used to be a diverse market made up of small, independent VPN companies has now become a homogenous security consortium.
Security conglomerates with strong financial backing have systematically bought up and folded these smaller VPNs into their own businesses. Atlas VPN is just the latest example.
Market consolidation is not inherently a bad thing, and mergers are common in the fast-moving world of tech. But these umbrella companies often intentionally obscure their own ownership of VPNs to keep the truth from consumers.
There is something endearing about an independent VPN started and run by a rag-tag team of privacy advocates. And this is exactly the message that these conglomerates advertise even after they have long since bought out smaller VPNs and replaced the original team of founders.
In a 2022 report, VPN Pro identified that 105 of the most popular global VPNs are owned by just 24 companies. That might sound like a lot, but consider that six of the top 10 most popular VPNs are owned by the same three companies: Kape Technologies, Ziff Davis, and Nord Security.
Our top pick vpn
Kape Technologies, formerly known as Crossrider, owns three of the most popular VPNs including ExpressVPN, Private Internet Access, and CyberGhost VPN. The company came under intense scrutiny in 2018 when its Crossrider adware allowed third parties to inject ads into unsuspecting users’ browsers — the company rebranded in order to distance themselves from the scandal.
Ziff Davis, formerly J2 Global Inc, owns top VPNs IPVanish and StrongVPN. It also owns a ton of different tech and media sites, as well. These include Ookla, Down Detector, Encrypt.me, Mashable, IGN, and PCMag.com.
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