VPN with malware protection, or Malware protection with VPN

[quartz1]

Nord and Surfshark are offering upgrade options with malware protection, and Malwarebytes is offering an upgraded option with a VPN. price difference is fairly negligable, so it comes down to software reliability and performance - I don't mind paying £1 per month difference over the course of 12 months for a more reliable or better performance product

any suggestions? tyvm

ps, if this is in the wrong forum, do as needed