The best VPN for streaming 2023

Which is the best VPN for streaming in 2023? Whether you want to protect your privacy from all angles, or need a way to watch your native streaming libraries when travelling abroad, there are lots of good reasons to use a VPN with your streaming services.

Although it’s important to remember that the best VPN for streaming might not necessarily be the same for everybody because there are so many different streaming services and everyone wants or needs different things from their VPN provider. Though we would consider CyberGhost the best VPN for streaming overall (and we’ll get into why shortly), we’ve also picked out a number of options for people who are looking for VPNs for specific platforms.

We’ve got eight VPN recommendations here, many of which are genuinely some of the best VPN services. We’ve got a little table to give you a handy overview of each one at a glance, too. We hope that this helps make the job of choosing your VPN provider a little easier. Some of them even have a VPN free trial so you can take them for a spin before you commit.

The best VPNs for streaming are as follows:

1. CyberGhost – best for streaming
2. ExpressVPN – best for Netflix
3. NordVPN – best for Amazon Prime
4. Surfshark – best for Disney Plus
5. Ivacy VPN – best for Hulu
6. Private Internet Access – best for HBO Max
7. AtlasVPN – best for YouTube
8. PrivadoVPN – best for BBC iPlayer

1. The best VPN for streaming

CyberGhost is the best VPN for streaming.

Pros:

• Compatible with the majority of streaming services
• Has a decent selection of servers in a good range of locations
• Has a 45-day money-back guarantee

Cons:

• Free trial is only a day long
• Can be a bit slower than other providers

We recommend CyberGhost as the best VPN for streaming overall. Our reason for choosing it comes down to the fact that it is compatible with all the major streaming services (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc.) and that it boasts a huge number of servers (over 7,400) across 91 countries around the world. Of course, not every single server will be compatible with every single streaming service, but it’s a good jumping off point.

It gives you a free trial too, which gives you some time to make sure it does everything you need it to. Unfortunately, this trial only lasts for 24 hours, which is a bit disappointing, but it still gives it a good advantage over the providers who offer no free trial at all.

Having said that, CyberGhost exceeds its competition by giving customers a 45-day money-back guarantee, instead of the standard 30-day money-back guarantee. What this means it that if at any point during the first month and a half, you decide it’s not good enough, you can just get a full refund, which is a good safety net.

Read the CyberGhost review on our sister site, PCGamesN, to find out more.

2. The best Netflix VPN

ExpressVPN is the best Netflix VPN.

Pros:

• Compatible with Netflix and various other streaming platforms
• Speedy performance thanks to the Lightspeed protocol
• TrustedServer system gives extra privacy

Cons:

• Expensive
• Smaller server total than other providers
• No free trial

If you’ve read our guide on the best VPN for Netflix, you’ll already be aware that we recommend ExpressVPN for the platform. This provider has servers across 94 countries and its no-logs policy combined with its TrustedServer system means that absolutely nothing about your internet antics are recorded.

ExpressVPN also offers split-tunnelling, which means that you can have certain apps connect through the VPN, while others use your native connection. This’ll be handy if you want to use it for Netflix, but need to do some internet banking at the same time and don’t want to accidentally trigger a security alert.

As you may have already noticed, ExpressVPN comes with quite a big price tag, which is probably the biggest mark against it. It is a fantastic service, but one that’s probably going to be a viable option for anybody who has a little extra space in their budget.

Read the ExpressVPN review on our sister site, PCGamesN, to learn more about this provider.

3. The best Amazon Prime VPN

NordVPN is the best Amazon Prime VPN.

Pros:

• Fastest VPN
• Woks well with Amazon Prime and most other streaming services

Cons:

• Slightly smaller range of server locations
• Somewhat expensive
• No free trial

For the best Amazon Prime VPN, we recommend NordVPN, which also happens to be the fastest VPN. If you’re someone who likes to watch Amazon movies that are free with ads, you’ll want something fast so that it doesn’t get stuck loading a pointless advert during a pivotal scene – you just want it to be over as quickly and painlessly as possible.

NordVPN is well-known and respected in the VPN world for its solid service, and it is certainly deserving of its reputation. Thanks to its WireGuard Protocol, it is able to encrypt data much more quickly than many of its competitors. Considering Amazon seems to relentlessly bombard customers with targeted adverts for products it thinks they’ll like, you’re going to want to cut it off at the source when you use its services.

NordVPN is, however, one of the slightly more expensive providers on this list, and unfortunately, it doesn’t feature any kind of free trial, which is annoying. At least you can still use its 30-day money-back guarantee for a bit of wiggle room.

You can read the NordVPN review on our sister site, PCGamesN, for more information.

4. The best Disney Plus VPN

Surfshark is the best Disney Plus VPN.

Pros:

• Compatible with Disney Plus and other major streaming platforms
• Week-long free trial available
• Allows unlimited simultaneous connections

Cons:

• Smaller overall server total
• Slightly fewer server locations

Disney Plus is notorious for being slightly harder to use VPNs with, but Surfshark is among the best for this purpose. If you need something that will let you keep up with your favourite Disney shows while on holiday abroad, or just fancy being able to use Disney Plus with the added privacy of having the VPN on, then this is ideal for you.

On top of that, if you have a huge family who are all likely to be watching Disney Plus at once on their own devices, then the fact that this provider has no cap on the number of simultaneous connections you use may be appealing. That’s house-wide streaming privacy on just a single plan.

Surfshark also has a respectable 3,200+ servers in more than 65 countries, and boasts impressive speeds of 2x10Gbps per server. If you’re interested, but hesitant, you might like to take its seven-day free trial for a spin, and even after that, it has a 30-day money-back guarantee to give you even more time to decide if you want to feed the shark.

Our sister site, PCGamesN, has a cracking Surfshark review that you should read.

5. The best Hulu VPN

Ivacy VPN is the best Hulu VPN.

Pros:

• Compatible with Hulu and most other streaming platforms
• Fantastic low price or our readers
• Up to ten simultaneous connections

Cons:

• No Apple kill switch
• Weird paid trial

For Hulu fans, we recommend using Ivacy VPN – a VPN that is known to work well when used with Hulu. This is another provider with split-tunnelling functionality, so if you only want Hulu to connect through the VPN, while everything else goes through your local connection, then you can easily set it up to work that way.

Though it may not allow you to have an unlimited number of simultaneous connections, you can still have up to ten devices connected through Ivacy VPN at the same time. It’s also one of the most cost-effective VPNs around, because through us, you can get five years of cover for just $60 USD, which works out as $1 USD a month.

While it does have a week-long trial, you have to pay $0.99 USD for it, which is kind of annoying (even if it is a low price). Plus, if you’re a particularly privacy-conscious Apple-user, you should know that it doesn’t have an kill switch on Apple devices. What this means is that if the VPN goes down for a second, your connection won’t be severed and your activities will be visible to your internet service provider.

(Please note, if you are outside of the US and want to use Ivacy to access Hulu, you will need to have an American card in order to pay.)

6. The best HBO Max VPN

Private Internet Access (PIA) is the best HBO Max VPN.

Pros:

• Compatible with HBO Max and other major streaming platforms
• Low price exclusive for our readers
• Ten simultaneous connections

Cons:

• Slightly slower than other major providers
• No free trial

We recommend using Private Internet Access if you’re after a HBO Max VPN. Not only is it good for HBO Max, but it’s also an absolutely fantastic VPN in its own right, offering a top-notch service, while remaining a relatively cheap VPN.

When it comes to the sheer number of servers, it’s hard to beat Private Internet Access, because it has more than 35,000 of them across 78 countries. This is also another one that lets you have up to ten simultaneous connections, with a no-logs policy to assure you your data is safe, a kill switch to protect you during even momentary outages, and even ad-blocking services to keep the rodents of the internet away. (No disrespect to real life rodents – yes disrespect to internet ads.)

Unfortunately, Private Internet Access doesn’t have a free trial, but at very least, this is an especially cheap provider. We have an exclusive deal for our readers which helps make this affordable option even more affordable – and it’s is definitely worth it, considering all you get.

7. The best YouTube VPN

AtlasVPN is the best YouTube VPN.

Pros:

• Compatible with YouTube and most other streaming services
• Free plan available

Cons:

• No true free trial
• Free plan very limiting
• Small selection of servers

If you want something to keep your YouTube searches private, then we recommend going for AtlasVPN. Once its installed, you can very easily switch to servers designed for streaming at any time, making it easy to enjoy your favourite YouTubers in the optimal way.

There is also a free VPN plan available with AtlasVPN, which you can use to dip your toe into the VPN world. However, we wouldn’t recommend primarily relying on this free plan, simply because it only gives you an allowance of 5GB of data each month, and you’re sure to burn through that really quickly when watching YouTube videos.

Nonetheless, the paid version of AtlasVPN is cheaper than many of the other providers out there and it also lets you enjoy unlimited simultaneous connections – a benefit not many providers are able to offer. All these things make us consider this the best YouTube VPN. Again, if money is a concern, the 30-day money-back guarantee should give you a good idea of whether or not this is something worse investing in long-term.

8. The best BBC iPlayer VPN

PrivadoVPN is the best BBC iPlayer VPN.

Pros:

• Compatible with BBC iPlayer and other major streaming platforms
• Up to ten simultaneous connections
• Free plan available

Cons:

• No router support available
• Smaller server selection
• Fewer server locations

Last but not least, we have PrivadoVPN as our pick for the best BBC iPlayer VPN. The BBC iPlayer is a service that should only be accessed by UK residents who have a television licence, so we are not encouraging anybody to sneakily access it using a VPN. However, if British TV licence-holding citizens should find themselves abroad and hoping to catch up on their favourite BBC shows, then this is an ideal way for you to get up to date.

This is another provider with a free plan that it lets customers use indefinitely. The data cap on this is 10GB, which isn’t huge, and it won’t work with streaming platforms, but it still works as a way to test out the service in lieu of any real free trial.

PrivadoVPN will unblock access to BBC iPlayer and is another provider that gives users a generous allowance of up to ten simultaneous connections. Add in routers across 46 countries, a 24/7 customer support service, a kill switch to ensure you’re private, even if the VPN cuts out, and a zero-logs policy and you’ve got an appealing VPN solution.

We hope that this helps you to decide which VPN service might be best for you. We carefully took the time to consider the needs of customers and different streaming platforms, while also weighing up the strengths and weaknesses of different VPN providers so that we could determine which would be the best VPNs for each platform, with CyberGhost as our best overall choice.