A VPN encrypts a network connection and routes it through another point. Businesses use VPNs, or zero-trust access gateways, to give staff secure remote access to internal systems and to link sites. Individuals and professionals use commercial VPN services to shield traffic from local networks and to change their apparent location.
In both cases a VPN moves trust rather than removing it. For remote access, the gateway becomes a high-value target at the edge of your network: CISA and NSA guidance advises choosing standards-based (IKE/IPsec) VPNs from reputable vendors with a record of fixing vulnerabilities quickly, and requiring strong authentication. With a commercial service, the provider sees the destinations and timing of all your traffic, so its logging, ownership and openness to independent audit are the product. Lock-in is low for consumer services but higher for corporate gateways, where client software, certificates and policies are tied to one vendor.
In a European option, check the legal seat and ultimate owner, independent audits of its claims, open-source clients, support for open protocols such as WireGuard and IPsec, and how the vendor handles security patches.