Best VPNs for Amazon Prime Video

1. NordVPN - Best VPN for Prime Video Overall

Editors Rating:

9.7 /10

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How We Review

Since its founding in 2012, NordVPN has managed to accumulate over eight million subscribers. That suggests that they’re doing something right. We love the fact that they use multi-hop technology to keep our data secure and maintain a strict logging policy to keep our online activities private. We never had a problem logging into Prime Video when we were out of the country, and NordVPN’s speed, especially on our Mac, meant our videos were always lag-free and crystal clear.

Privacy

Privacy is clearly a point of pride for NordVPN. When the company began in 2012, the two friends who founded it made clear that their goal was to create an internet free of censorship and surveillance. Since then, they report that their infrastructure has never been compromised, they have suffered no data breaches of any kind, they have never disclosed private keys or information about any users, and they’ve never been forced to modify their system to allow for third party access. Privacy policies and goals are one thing; we’re most impressed, though, by a solid record.

Multi-hop Technology

NordVPN uses something called multi-hop technology, also known as a double VPN. Multi-hop means that rather than simply route our signal through one server, NordVPN always routed it through at least two servers. Two servers mean double the encryption. Double the encryption means it was twice as hard for anyone to monitor us while we were online. Not that we have anything to hide, but we prefer it when no one’s looking over our shoulders.

Dedicated IP Addresses Available

Dedicated IP addresses are the gold standard among VPNs, and we’re always excited when we can get one. A dedicated address is completely encrypted through the VPN tunnel meaning we didn’t have to worry about any spying. Unlike dynamic addresses, our dedicated address was always the same, so the sites we visited, including Prime Video, always remembered who we were. And unlike other static addresses, we weren’t sharing our address with anyone else; rather, it was all ours. NordVPN’s dedicated IP address option costs $70 a year on top of the regular NordVPN subscription costs.

2. ExpressVPN - Best VPN for Prime Video for Privacy

Editors Rating:

9.1 /10

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How We Review

ExpressVPN features low latency numbers, which equals a better experience when watching Prime Video. They also provide easy access to other streaming services, including Netflix, HBO Max, and Disney+. And their split tunneling technology means that we can stream content over the VPN while running other apps through local Wi-Fi, saving us valuable bandwidth.

Headquarters in the British Virgin Island

ExpressVPN makes its headquarters in the British Virgin Islands, a country with strict privacy laws. Courts there rarely grant data warrants, and particularly not from other countries. More importantly, the British Virgin Islands is not a member of any of the surveillance alliances, Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, or 14 Eyes. These groups, led by the U.S., gather and share information on their citizens’ internet use, a practice that makes us more than a little uncomfortable. ExpressVPN’s location, then, means they are outside data retention laws,1 which means we never have to worry about what these governments might be up to.

Split Tunneling

Split tunneling is a handy little feature that ExpressVPN offers that allows us to log on to the regular internet at the same time as we’re using our VPN. The thing is, a VPN is bound to slow our devices down: every VPN does. Let’s say we’ve jetted down to Cancun for a restful weekend. While we’re there, we decide to catch up on the latest season of The Expanse. If we run everything on our computer through our VPN, it’s likely to slow to a crawl. But if we’re only streaming Prime Video through it, and the rest of our apps are using the plain old web, we save bandwidth and avoid the dreaded buffering icon.

Low Latency

ExpressVPN provides low latency, one of the most important keys to a quality viewing experience with Prime Video or any other streaming service. This has to do with the amount of time it takes a data packet to travel. The faster it travels, the lower the latency, and the less likely your videos or games are to quit. We might have mentioned before that every VPN slows a computer down to some extent, but we’re always looking for software that slows us down as little as possible. We compared ExpressVPN speeds on the same machine when it was running the VPN and when it wasn’t. The result: only a 35 percent change in latency.

3. Private Internet Access VPN - Best Value VPN for Prime Video

Editors Rating:

9.4 /10

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How We Review

Private Internet Access, which also goes by its acronym PIA, is an affordable but flexible VPN. Its flexibility extends to its ability to stream Prime Video. And since it’s affordable, we think this is a good-value VPN if you enjoy streaming Prime Video.

Low-Cost VPN

How much exactly does Private Internet Access cost? About two dollars per month, that is, if you sign up for the longest plan available, which is three years. Even we think that’s too long for a VPN subscription, so we’re happy to settle with the one-year plan. The one-year plan costs $39.95, which breaks down to about $3.33 a month. Not too bad, considering that VPNs typically cost $10 to $12 per month.

Speed and Locations

So what makes Private Internet Access good for Prime Video? First, it’s fast. It’s not the fastest VPN we’ve tested, but in terms of streaming bandwidth, PIA is fully capable of streaming entire episodes with little to no buffering. Another advantage is its server locations. Private Internet Access has servers in 84 counties. And while not all those countries have their own Prime Video libraries, when it comes to choosing a VPN for streaming, the more server locations the merrier.

Elevated Digital Security

Not that we have anything to hide about what we watch on Prime Video, but if you use a VPN to access Prime Video, you might as well use it to protect your digital privacy. Private Internet Access uses encryption to hide its users’ browsing data from internet providers, the government, and snoopers who might be looking to steal personal data. Note that PIA defaults to AES 256-bit, which is the gold standard in terms of encryption today.

On top of that, Private Internet Access offers three VPN protocols, two of which we recommend for their security, namely, OpenVPN and WireGuard. And lastly, PIA detects and blocks malicious websites when you’re browsing while using its VPN. So overall, this is a great VPN for protecting your digital life, as well.

4. CyberGhost - Best VPN for Prime Video and Torrenting

Editors Rating:

8.9 /10

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How We Review

CyberGhost is great for torrenting, with a button right there on the app that took us straight to uTorrent. They’re also great, though, for accessing streaming services, including Prime Video. They offer seven simultaneous connections on a total of up to seven different devices, so we could stream movies on our computer while we downloaded office files to our tablet. And while we might quibble a little with their privacy policy, they operate outside Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and 14 Eyes which gave us some confidence that our data would be kept private.

History

CyberGhost is another company founded on the idea that privacy, and especially internet privacy, is a basic human right. So, for example, most of CyberGhost’s technology is developed in Germany, but the company is actually headquartered in nearby Romania, a country outside the Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and 14 Eyes surveillance alliances. CyberGhost has some flaws when it comes to privacy; we weren’t happy that they logged our IP address in addition to when and where we used the VPN. However, we count on their location in Romania to keep that information safe from government agencies.

Smart Access

CyberGhost offers a feature they call Smart Access, which works in conjunction with their split tunneling technology. With Smart Access, we were able to configure which websites and apps would connect through the VPN and which would connect through the internet. This was particularly useful when we were overseas, since we never had to worry about remembering to turn on the VPN before we logged into Prime Video or to turn it off when we switched to iTunes.

Fast Chat

Not everyone appreciates good customer service until they really need it. Stranded in an airport terminal in Belgium, though, we couldn’t get logged on to our Prime Video account in the U.S. and suddenly customer service really mattered. Cyberghost has live chat through their website, and their response times are among the fastest of any VPN we’ve reviewed. In no time we had an answer to our problem and were contentedly streaming away. We do wish they offered phone support, but it’s hard to complain when our questions got answered so quickly.

5. Surfshark - Best VPN for Prime Video for Families

Editors Rating:

9.5 /10

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How We Review

Surfshark’s unlimited number of simultaneous connections on unlimited devices make it the perfect VPN for streaming, particularly for families (because the family that streams together, stays together). It works great with Prime Video, but it’s just as good with other streaming services including Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+. If you’d rather download your content, though, Surfshark has you covered there too, with torrenting support and multi-hop technology to make sure that your connection is nice and secure.

More Streaming

Surfshark interfaces well with Prime Video and allowed us to access Prime libraries in the U.S., the U.K., Japan, and Spain. It also works great with other streaming services, including Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max and Disney+, one reason why it isn’t just on this list but also on our list of best VPNs for streaming. We love Prime, but no single streaming service has all our TV and movie fixes, so it’s nice to know that we have a broad range of choices with Surfshark.

Lots of Servers

Surfshark maintains over 3,200 servers in 65 different countries. That means that wherever we may go in the world, we can count on getting a speedy connection from a nearby location. Obviously, that helps tremendously when we’re trying to stream our favorite TV series and movies. Trust us, Mad Max: Fury Road definitely suffers when it has to stop and buffer every couple of minutes. Those 3,200 servers include 500 in the U.S. alone. Why is that important? Because to access the U.S. region for Prime Video, we have to be connected to a server in the U.S. We want plenty to choose from.

Perfect for Families

Some VPNs will offer five, seven, even ten simultaneous connections. Surfshark goes further, offering an unlimited number of connections and on an unlimited number of devices. We have an awful lot of devices (work computers, personal computers, tablets, phones, a Kindle reader and more), so we can appreciate being able to get them all up and running through a VPN. We really see this as a value for families, though. Family bliss is so much easier to achieve when everyone can watch their own streaming content from their own devices. That’s especially true when a 24-month subscription is priced at just $2.49 a month. Learn more on our Surfshark pricing page.

6. Hotspot Shield - Best Free VPN for Prime Video

Editors Rating:

8.9 /10

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How We Review

Hotspot Shield came with great privacy and security features including multi-hop technology and split tunneling. It provided us with support for torrenting and unlimited simultaneous connections. All that, and there’s a free version available.

Strict Logging Policy

Hotspot Shield has a solid logging policy, which is a good thing since they’re headquartered in the U.S., right in the heart of Silicon Valley. That means they are technically subject to Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and 14 Eyes surveillance. Of course, every VPN must log some information to maintain the service and facilitate billing. According to Hotspot Shield’s website they log only:

• Usernames
• Passwords
• Email addresses
• Payment information
• Total bytes transferred over the last 30 days
• Timestamp of last activity.

When it comes to the important data, they keep no:

• Historical records of session lengths
• Sites visited
• Originating IP addresses

In short, they avoid having to turn over information to the U.S. government by keeping none of the websites we visited or our devices’ IP addresses.

Price Structure

Hotspot Shield offers one of the only free VPNs on the market. Of course, the free version allows usage on only one device. In addition, connection speeds max out at two Mbps and data is limited to 500 MB per day. However, it utilizes military-grade encryption and multiple VPN protocols, and it comes with a kill switch standard. And did we mention it’s free? This isn’t a seven-day trial (for that, check out our list of the best VPN free trials); it’s a completely free VPN. But if you want to avoid these limitations, dive into Hotspot Shield’s pricing; their Premium package comes with five connections, speeds of up to one Gbps, and no data limits. That package runs $12.99 a month but the price drops to just $5.99 when you sign up for a year.

Hotspot Protocols

Hotspot Shield uses AES-256 encryption, military-grade and standard in the industry. In addition, their software runs on OpenVPN, the most secure and advanced protocol available. OpenVPN is, as the name implies, open source software that anyone and everyone on the net can contribute to, development-wise. This means it has evolved for use with any platform. It also means it is an especially strong piece of software since so many people keep an eye on it looking for bugs or weaknesses.