Best YouTube VPN 2023

If you use the right YouTube VPN, you can avoid the frustration of finding that an old favourite video is now exclusive to another region. Depending on which provider you use, you may even be able to block the endlessly annoying pre-video ads too. There’s a whole world of enjoyment that’s just a few clicks away.

Of course, another good reason to use a YouTube VPN is to protect your privacy. Why should your internet service provider, the government, and loads of faceless corporations know what you’ve been watching and searching for on YouTube. As long as its not exploitive content, what you watch in your own time is no concern of anybody else, and a VPN can give you that privacy back.

To save you the arduous task of slowly reading through every VPN website to find out whether or not they will work with YouTube, we’ve picked out five options for you, including recommendations for the fastest VPN, the best free VPN, and more. ExpressVPN is our top pick, but if that’s not for you, we’re sure one of the others will do the job.

The best YouTube VPNs are:

• ExpressVPN – best for YouTube
• NordVPN – fastest choice
• Ivacy VPN – best price
• Surfshark – best for multiple devices
• PrivadoVPN – best new option
• Atlas VPN – best free option

1. The best YouTube VPN

ExpressVPN is the best YouTube VPN.

Pros:

• Uses the superfast Lightway Protocol
• Servers span 94 countries

Cons:

• Pricing can work out a bit higher than others
• No free trial

Choo, choo! All aboard the VPN Express. It’s rolling into the station and you’re ready to get on. Next stop YouTube land – now let’s just sit down and… someone’s in you’re seat. They’re refusing to move. But you booked! It’s not fair. It’s- sorry. We lost ourselves for a second there, but in all seriousness ExpressVPN is great.

This provider has servers across 94 countries, including Japan, which is good news for anybody who likes listening to all the latest J-Rock and J-Pop hits through YouTube. And, hey, it’s not just great for YouTube, but loads of streaming services, having compatibility with Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and others.

A further benefit of this VPN is that it refreshes its IPs more frequently than many other providers. This will reduce the risk of its servers being blocked by YouTube, because once it blocks a certain IP address, the server will just be refreshed and given a new one. Meanwhile, its use of the Lightway Protocol means that ExpressVPN can encrypt your data with lightning-quick speed.

Read the ExpressVPN review on PCGamesN (our sister site) to learn more.

2. The fastest VPN for YouTube

NordVPN is the fastest VPN for YouTube.

Pros:

• Superfast service
• Great for YouTube and all streaming services

Cons:

• Works out fractionally more expensive than others
• Covers fewer countries than other services

Nord, glorious Nord. It’s very fitting that this provider uses a mountain for its logo, because if you were to ask the average person to name a VPN, the chances are, they’d probably say NordVPN. In terms of brand recognition, it looms over the competition. It’s a favorite among many YouTube users and for good reason.

Part of the reason that NordVPN is so well known is that it provides a particularly speedy service. With download speeds of 65.79Mbit/s, you may well find that using it helps to stop videos from buffering or playing in a lower quality. Internet service providers (ISPs) will sometimes slow down your connection speeds if you use a lot of bandwidth, and NordVPN can mask your activity and stop them from doing so.

NordVPN is also great when it comes to privacy, which is, after all, one of the most important things for a VPN. It uses the WireGuard protocol which encrypts data much more quickly than a lot of its competitors, keeping your internet activities as discreet as possible.

Read the NordVPN review from PCGamesN (our sister site) for a comprehensive overview of this service.

3. Best cheap YouTube VPN

Ivacy VPN is the best cheap YouTube VPN.

If you’re using YouTube as your main streaming platform because it’s free, chances are you aren’t going to want to pay much for a VPN. For those after a cheap VPN, we recommend Ivacy VPN, because, in an exclusive deal for our readers, you can get five years’ worth of VPN protection for what works out as just $1 per month.

In addition to YouTube, it works with most of the major streaming platforms. If you want to test it out on your favorites, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee that means you can get a full refund at any point within the first month if it doesn’t work in the way you’d hoped. You can also pay $0.99 to use it for a week.

It’s not a case of a smaller price tag netting you a worse service, either. Its 5,700+ servers are spread out across over 100 countries, which is the largest range of any of the providers mentioned in this guide. Meanwhile, its military-grade 256-bit encryption should give you peace of mind that Ivacy VPN will keep your private data is as secure as can be.

4. Best YouTube VPN for multiple devices

Surfshark is the best YouTube VPN if you want to cover multiple devices.

Pros:

• Unlimited simultaneous connections
• Offers a week-long free trial
• Affordable pricing

Cons:

• Smaller server total than others
• Fewer server locations

Rest assured, we haven’t jumped the shark with this fourth entry on our list, because Surfshark is another fantastic YouTube VPN. Not only does it offer great value for money, but it still has a pretty reasonable server array.

The fact that they provide an unlimited number of simultaneous connections isn’t just the cherry on the cake, either. It is the cake. Possibly even the kitchen in which it was prepared. If you live in a house of loads of other people who are all watching YouTube on their phone/laptop/smart fridge, then they can all enjoy the delights of ad-free YouTube from around the world.

Surfshark is one of the very few providers to offer a seven-day VPN free trial. If you have any reservations at all, we recommend that you take this trial for a spin and see how it works for you. On top of that, the standard 30-day money-back guarantee also gives you a nice bit of wiggle room.

Read PCGamesN’s Surfshark review to find out more.

5. The best new VPN for YouTube

PrivadoVPN is a new VPN to watch and is great for YouTube.

Pros:

• Free plan available to be used indefinitely
• Allows up to ten simultaneous connections

Cons:

• Sever selection a bit limited
• No router support

PrivadoVPN is fairly new on the VPN scene, so unlike some of the giants on this list, you may not have heard of it before, but that doesn’t change the fact that it offers a reliable VPN service.

Unfortunately, PrivadoVPN does not provide an ad blocker, so while it may be useful for accessing restricted content, you’ll still have to sit through a few adverts. But, hey, if you’re working with a limited budget, this could be a great free option.

On top of that, they provide dedicated support for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS, meaning that you shouldn’t have to worry about the VPN not running so well across different operating systems. Also, if you don’t use the internet a huge amount, the free PrivadoVPN plan might work well for you, because it gives you an allowance of 10GB a month and if you don’t exceed that, you can enjoy the fruits of the VPN tree in much the same way that the paying users would.

6. The best free YouTube VPN

AtlasVPN is the best free YouTube VPN.

Pros:

• Free plan available for indefinite use
• Infinite simultaneous connections if you pay, two if you don’t

Cons:

• Smaller server selection even if you pay
• No router support

Atlas VPN is, perhaps, the best free VPN. If you’re primarily concerned with lessening your digital footprint on the internet and keeping your browsing activity private, then you might just want to go ahead and get the free package, because it will do the job well.

However, if you’re keen to use it to access regional-exclusive content, it might be slightly less appealing because it has servers in only four countries. It’s still great for privacy, so don’t rule it out entirely, but it’s important to consider your needs before determining whether or not this free plan is right for you.

You can also count on Atlas VPN for ad-blocking services. That way, you won’t have the best free YouTube movies interrupted by a tonally jarring advert about how cool the latest smartphone is.

We made these picks by carefully weighing up the pros and cons of various VPN providers. While we do think that ExpressVPN is the best VPN service for YouTube use. We do acknowledge, however, that it might not be the best fit for everyone, but we’re sure that at least one of these providers should be appropriate for your needs.

Use other platforms too? Check out our guides on the best Netflix VPN and the best Kodi VPN for other recommendations.