For $2 a month, this Google Chrome extension lets you escape censorship and protect your privacy

If you’re in a censorship-heavy country or want security in a public wifi hotspot, a VPN service is your best friend. Unfortunately, it has a tendency to let you down: it’s either too expensive, too slow, or too difficult to use.

GOM is a VPN service that’s trying to address the Goldilocks problem. It’s a Google Chrome extension that eliminates the complex setup required by many VPN software. Three clicks is all it takes to start using it.

It’s cheap too. You either pay about US$2 a month for its 1,000 Mbps VPN servers, or fork out US$99 upfront for lifetime use. US$2 is ridiculous compared to other paid VPN services, which typically cost US$6 and above. Astrill, one of the most popular VPNs, asks you to fork out USS$5.83 a month for a one-year membership.

Speed-wise, it lies somewhere between free VPNs, which slow internet speed to a crawl, and the super-fast connections of paid offerings. I tested it out on my home fibre broadband connection in Singapore, and the results showed promise.

Here’s my internet connection speed before I activate the VPN:

And after:

Of course, this test isn’t exhaustive and does not reflect what other users will face. But my experience using it over the course of a few days has been mostly positive. Netflix streamed without any stoppages. Websites load fast.

Sometimes, images or pages failed to load, but hitting the refresh button or resetting the VPN usually fixed it.

GOM has a smart feature which detects a blocked website (especially if you’re in Singapore) and automatically activates the VPN. The user interface is minimalist and pretty, and a slider allows you to set how long you’d like the VPN turned on, which is nice.

If only…