Best VPNs for Streaming of 2023

Streaming makes the world go round. It’s almost frightening, actually, when we think about how many hours we spend streaming. Whether it’s for Zoom meetings, Netflix or YouTube breaks, our computer’s ability to stream video is as essential as our body’s ability to breathe. Still, we aren’t about to stream in public on unprotected WiFi networks. So, it makes sense that we wanted to track down the absolute best VPNs for streaming. And, of course, we’re here to share that wisdom with you.

VPN Features You Need For Streaming

Methodology

After absorbing all that information, you might be wondering how Security.org reviews VPNs. Take a look at our methodology, which will turn you into an expert just like us when it comes to Virtual Private Networks, a.k.a VPNs.

We always start off by testing the basic offerings that every VPN should provide at a baseline. These are the essentials that we’re always checking for:

Subscriptions

There’s no use giving readers all the specifics on the best VPNs out there if we don’t consider whether or not our readers can afford the services or not. Therefore, we always give readers the most objective information about each company’s subscription options, in addition to providing context on whether or not the price is reasonable, based on the industry standards for pricing as well as the number and quality of features offered.

VPNs can cost anywhere from as little as a dollar or less all the way up to $15 per month, but they generally tend to fall around $4 to $10 per month. We tend to prefer plans that offer monthly options as well as annual payment options, the latter of which usually end up costing less per month overall. And because there’s nothing we love more than free trials, we’re always on the lookout to identify companies with a trial period or money-back guarantee, which is fairly common for VPNs. Finally, we outline what a subscription actually entails in terms of the numbers of server switches, simultaneous connections, and devices allowed. Typically, VPNs allow for unlimited server switches and devices and anywhere from one to unlimited simultaneous connections.

Customer Support

Unfortunately, VPN companies are known for their subpar customer support features across the board. This can be frustrating for customers so we always give an honest assessment of our experience interacting with the support teams for each company. The decent options at least have a live chat feature in addition to an online help center. It’s a major plus if we can find one with 24/7 chat availability instead of limited hours, and even better if they actually have a phone line we can call into.

Streaming

One of the primary motivators of getting a VPN is using it for streaming media like movies and television. So, we pay special attention to which VPNs have the ability to stream, especially with providers like Netflix. Netflix and other sites that technically don’t allow VPN access to their sites are a bit of a curveball; they constantly update their code to block VPNs, but we still always test our ability to access. This is one of our favorite things to test—we simply attempt to log into Netflix or Hulu or Disney+ while using a VPN and see how much of our favorite shows we can get through, and how smooth it runs. We can’t guarantee that it will always work, but we’ll always let you know.

Speed

Testing the speed of a VPN is a specific, scientific endeavor that we take seriously. Most of our tests happen at the Security.org office in Brooklyn, but we also have some trusted and beloved technicians in Poland and the Philippines. We test one device at a time, to make sure that our Internet speed with and without a VPN can be objectively measured.

As we’ve said before, we’re Mac users ourselves, but we know that there are Windows users out there, so we always make sure to test everything on both a Macbook Air and a Windows Vivobook. To test download speed, upload speed, and ping (latency), we use the website SpeedTest.net to perform tests first without a VPN, and then again with a VPN. While download and upload speed are measured in megabits per second, latency is always measured in milliseconds. After calculating these rates, we determine the difference in terms of a percentage, as the natural speeds of our specific Macbook and Windows computers differ greatly.

In the best-case scenario, VPNs never have more than, say, a 40 percent difference in any of the speed categories. However, it’s important to keep in mind that speed can vary by numerous factors: operating system, distance to the server, device, and more. So, while of course, we are always as objective as possible when conducting our tests, we urge readers to take the speed test results with a grain of salt.

Security

The whole point of obtaining a VPN for many people is to protect web traffic, composed of domain name servers (names of websites) and users’ respective IP addresses. We also always want to make sure that if we recommend a certain VPN, the customers’ private IP addresses are not then being leaked due to WebRTC, which allows browsers to communicate directly with each other and is the default on browsers like Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Opera.

We test for DNS leaks using DNSLeakTest.com. By comparing our computer’s IP address with the IP addresses that come up on the website, we can tell if there was a DNS leak with the VPN or not. Next, we test for WebRTC leaks using the tool available on ExpressVPN’s website. Simply by looking at the local and Public IPv4 IP addresses, we can determine if there were any WebRTC leaks.

We really want to be thorough, so aside from testing for DNS and WebRTC leaks, we also like to look into a company’s privacy jurisdiction and data-logging policy. It’s ideal for the VPN companies to be based in countries that are non-members to the major international surveillance alliances: Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and 14 Eyes. Members of these alliances can legally force companies to hand over customer information. It should be noted that some companies based in member-countries still refuse to turn that data over, but it’s a risk that consumers need to be aware of. As far as data-logging goes, we typically prefer companies that only keep users’ basic account information such as name, email, and payment information. We don’t think that it’s necessary for VPNs to keep any other information about when customers use their VPNs, for how long, how much data they’ve transferred, what websites they’ve visited, etc.

In our more in-depth reviews, we analyze the VPN’s encryption methods and Internet protocols to ensure that they meet industry standards, which typically include OpenVPN and AES-256, the most secure methods around. We look for private domain name servers and anonymous and dynamic IP addresses because we’ve found that they are harder to track. Finally, we make sure that each VPN has a kill switch, which will immediately shut down all Internet browsers in the event that the VPN fails.

Since many people use VPNs for media like movies and television, we always look for VPNs with Netflix and torrenting access, like we did in the above list. And while we stand by the above rankings, it is important to keep in mind that Netflix constantly updates its code to block any VPN connections, so there is no guarantee that it will always work on any given VPN.

Another feature we look for is split tunneling, which allows users to access the VPN and the public network at the same time. This allows for lower bandwidth, which can create faster speeds. We also prefer double or multi-hop VPNs, as they encrypt data multiple times through multiple servers.

App

This one might seem basic, but you’d be surprised how many VPNs we thought we were going to like but then found impossible to use because of a bad app interface. So we always review the app for both iPhone and Android ourselves, while also taking a look at its ratings in app stores. The bottom line is that if an app has a rating below three stars for a specific device, we simply cannot recommend the product to consumers with that device.