Best VPNs for Streaming (2026)

Best VPN for privacy, and the best free tier anywhere · Free tier, paid from $3.59/mo · 30-day money-back

Proton VPN is the strongest overall package for anyone who cares why they are buying a VPN: open-source audited apps, Swiss jurisdiction, and a free tier with no data cap and no catch.

• Every app is open source and independently audited, with the reports published in full
• The only genuinely good free tier: unlimited data, no ads, no logging
• Swiss jurisdiction outside every intelligence-sharing alliance

Best all-round VPN for most people · from $3.49/mo · 30-day money-back

NordVPN is the safest default pick: consistently the fastest big network, an audit history no rival matches for length, and apps that a first-time user can operate without reading anything. Budget for the renewal price.

• Fastest large network in most independent testing, thanks to the WireGuard-based NordLynx protocol
• No-logs policy re-audited by Deloitte, one of the longest audit track records in the industry
• Full diskless RAM-only server fleet

Best apps and router support · from $3.49/mo · 30-day money-back

ExpressVPN still makes the most refined software in the category and its router story is unmatched, but you pay a premium for it, and the Kape ownership is a fair reason for privacy purists to look elsewhere.

• The most polished apps in the category, on the widest range of platforms
• Lightway protocol is fast and has been independently reviewed
• TrustedServer RAM-only infrastructure with a repeatedly audited no-logs policy

Best value for households and heavy device users · from $2.49/mo · 30-day money-back

Surfshark gives you most of what NordVPN does for about half the money, with unlimited devices as the headline. The Dutch jurisdiction and the Nord Security ownership are the trade-offs.

• Unlimited simultaneous devices on every plan, which no other top-tier VPN matches
• Cheapest of the majors, at roughly half NordVPN money
• Audited no-logs policy and RAM-only servers

Best for streaming beginners who want servers picked for them · from $2.19/mo · 45-day money-back

CyberGhost makes streaming painless by labelling servers with the platform they are tuned for, and the 45-day refund window is the most generous around. The renewal price is brutal.

• 45-day money-back guarantee, the longest of any major provider
• Servers labelled for specific streaming platforms, which removes the guesswork
• Romanian jurisdiction outside the Eyes alliances

Best flexible pricing and best paid-tier free plan · Free tier, paid from $1/mo · 3-day money-back

Windscribe is the enthusiast's value pick: a genuinely useful 10 GB free tier, a pay-per-location plan nobody else offers, deep controls, and a company that talks to users like adults.

• Free tier gives 10 GB a month with unlimited devices
• Build a Plan lets you pay $1 per location instead of buying the whole network
• R.O.B.E.R.T. gives you DNS-level control over ads, trackers and whole categories

Best free tier that does not ask for your email · Free tier, paid from $2.59/mo · 30-day money-back

hide.me is an underrated all-rounder: audited, Malaysian-based, generous with protocols and features, and its free tier asks for nothing at all, not even an email address.

• Free tier gives 10 GB a month and needs no email address
• Unusually wide protocol support including SoftEther and SSTP
• Audited no-logs policy with a Malaysian base outside the Eyes alliances

Best cheap VPN for tinkerers and torrenting · from $2.03/mo · 30-day money-back

PIA is the value pick for people who like knobs: open source apps, port forwarding, unlimited devices and a no-logs record repeatedly tested in US courts, at a price nothing else in this tier matches.

• No-logs claim proven in US court more than once, which no marketing audit can match
• Open source apps with unusually deep configuration control
• Unlimited devices and port forwarding, a rare combination

Best VPN for China and heavily censored networks · from $10/mo

Astrill is the VPN people in China actually keep paying for, because it keeps working when others stop. Everywhere else, the price is impossible to justify.

• The most reliable option inside China, year after year
• StealthVPN and OpenWeb protocols defeat deep packet inspection
• Excellent router firmware for whole-network setups

Best for unlimited devices with phone support · from $2.19/mo · 30-day money-back

IPVanish is a competent, cheap, unlimited-device VPN that runs its own hardware, but the 2016 logging incident means its privacy pitch starts from behind, and it has not fully caught up.

• Unlimited simultaneous devices on every plan
• Owns and operates much of its own server hardware rather than renting
• Phone support, which almost no VPN offers