A VPN can slow down your Internet, but the difference in speed can be minimal and the benefits may outweigh a slight speed loss. The encryption process, the distance to the server, and the VPN protocol your VPN uses can impact your Internet speed. The further your traffic has to travel to your VPN providers servers, the slower your VPN will be. Speed is also affected by how powerful those servers are, and how many people are using them at the same time, but all things being equal, distance matters.”]
Source: https://blog.malwarebytes.com/101/2021/07/does-using-a-vpn-slow-down-your-internet/