Best VPN for Business Travel and Remote Teams in 2024: Secure Your Data Anywhere

I’ve worked from coffee shops in Lisbon, co-working spaces in Austin, and my uncle’s spare bedroom in rural Iowa. For years, I just trusted the Wi-Fi. Then I had a client’s sensitive data compromised because I was too lazy to set up a VPN. Lesson learned. It cost me a client and a whole lot of sleep. Now, a VPN is non-negotiable for me and my small team, whether we’re working from home or Timbuktu. Here’s what I’ve actually used, what worked, and what felt like a waste of money.

NordLayer (formerly NordVPN Teams)

Verdict: Solid security, easy for small teams, but watch the pricing creep for advanced features. This is my current go-to.

I started with NordVPN for personal use, and when they launched NordLayer, it was a natural jump for my team of three. The main selling point for me was how simple it was to onboard new users. I could send an invite, and within minutes, they were connected to our dedicated server. No IT degree required. For a small business owner wearing many hats, that ease of deployment is huge.

What I use most is the dedicated gateway. It gives my team a static IP address, which is essential for accessing some client portals that restrict access to specific IPs. It also means I can whitelist our team’s IP with our CRM and other tools, adding an extra layer of security. The threat protection is decent, blocking malicious sites and ads before they load, which is a nice background feature.

Pricing: This is where it gets a bit tricky. The “Basic” plan starts at $7/user/month (billed annually), which gives you the dedicated gateway and basic threat protection. But if you want things like SAML SSO (which I absolutely recommend for managing team access as you grow), you have to jump to the “Advanced” plan, which is $9/user/month. For network segmentation or custom DNS, you’re looking at “Custom” pricing, which means a sales call. For my three users on the Advanced plan, it’s about $324/year. It’s not the cheapest, but the peace of mind is worth it.

Comparison: NordLayer sits in a sweet spot between consumer VPNs trying to do business and enterprise-level solutions. It’s more user-friendly for non-tech teams than something like OpenVPN Cloud, but offers better centralized management than just having everyone subscribe to consumer NordVPN accounts. If you have 2-10 people, this is a strong contender.

ExpressVPN Business

Verdict: Blazing fast speeds, excellent global coverage, but the business offering feels a bit less mature for team management than NordLayer.

I tried ExpressVPN Business for about six months before switching to NordLayer. My personal VPN is ExpressVPN because it’s consistently the fastest, and I thought that would translate perfectly to business. And it did, in terms of speed. Connecting to servers in different countries was quick, and I never noticed any slowdowns, even on video calls.

The global server network is truly impressive. If you have team members constantly traveling or needing to access geo-restricted content for legitimate business reasons (e.g., market research, testing regional ad campaigns), ExpressVPN is unparalleled here. The split tunneling feature is also really useful – I could choose which apps use the VPN and which go direct, preventing unnecessary slowdowns for non-sensitive traffic.

The main reason I switched was the team management. It felt less intuitive than NordLayer. Adding users was fine, but the dashboard for seeing who was connected, managing specific server access, or troubleshooting felt less robust. It was good, but not great. It felt like a consumer VPN with an admin panel bolted on, rather than a built-for-business solution from the ground up.

Pricing: Their “Business” plan starts at $12.95/user/month (billed annually), which is significantly higher than NordLayer’s entry point. They do offer volume discounts, but for a smaller team, it adds up quickly. For my three users, it would have been over $460/year. You get unlimited devices per user, which is nice, but I found that most of my team rarely uses more than two.

Comparison: If raw speed and global server count are your absolute top priorities, and you don’t mind a slightly less polished team management experience, ExpressVPN is excellent. For general secure remote work and easier team administration, NordLayer edges it out.

Tailscale

Verdict: Not a traditional VPN, but a game-changer for secure internal team access. A must-have for tech-savvy small teams or those needing secure device-to-device connections.

Okay, this isn’t a “VPN” in the sense of routing all your traffic through a remote server. Tailscale builds a secure mesh network between your devices, no matter where they are. Think of it as creating a private network across the internet. I stumbled upon this when I needed a secure way for my remote developer to access a local staging server without exposing it to the whole internet or setting up complex port forwarding.

What I love about Tailscale is how easy it is to set up. Install the client on each device, log in with your identity provider (Google, Microsoft, etc.), and boom – all your devices can talk to each other securely. It uses WireGuard under the hood, so it’s incredibly fast. I use it to access my home NAS from anywhere, for my developer to access my office server, and for secure file sharing between team members without relying on cloud storage for everything.

It’s not about hiding your IP or getting around geo-restrictions. It’s about secure, private access to your own resources. For a small business, this means I can run internal services without needing a public IP, or securely remote into a team member’s machine if they need help, all without complex firewall rules.

Pricing: The “Starter” plan is free for up to 3 users and 20 devices – which is incredible value. This is what I used for a long time. The “Premium” plan, for 10 users and unlimited devices, is $20/month (billed annually, so $240/year). For teams larger than 3, the jump to Premium is worth it for the extra user management features. It’s genuinely one of the best free-tier offerings I’ve ever seen.

Comparison: Tailscale isn’t a replacement for NordLayer or ExpressVPN if you need to mask your IP for external browsing or access public internet resources securely. But if you need to securely connect your team’s devices, servers, or cloud instances to each other, it’s miles ahead of traditional VPN servers and infinitely simpler to set up than OpenVPN or similar self-hosted solutions. It complements a traditional VPN, rather than replacing it.

My Concrete Recommendation:

For most small businesses and remote teams (up to 10-15 people) that need robust, easy-to-manage security for general internet use and accessing sensitive client data from anywhere, sign up for NordLayer’s Advanced plan. It strikes the best balance of features, ease of use, and centralized team management without breaking the bank. If you also need secure internal access to servers or devices, run Tailscale’s free tier alongside it. You’ll be glad you did.

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