The best gaming VPNs know that an online gamer only asks for two things: a fast internet connection and packed multiplayer servers. What should be even more of a priority, however, is online privacy, and the best VPNs can provide a protected gaming experience which only compliments liquid speeds and connectivity.
Like any online activity, there comes inherent risks and dangers to your personal information. Online gaming is no exception, in fact, hopping on any multiplayer server comes with its own privacy hazards. DDoS attacks are extremely common in the online gaming world. A Distributed Denial of Access attack is when an attacker floods a server with internet traffic, preventing users from accessing connected online services and sites. The best VPNs can eliminate any risk of attacks like these altogether.
A Virtual Private Network poses a powerful ally for any gamer looking to enrich their experience. Aside from the expected privacy advantages, the best gaming VPNs can offer a whole spread of benefits and features you might not even think were possible. These gaming VPNs can prevent ISP throttling and even access geo-blocked content. This means that a VPN that's great for gaming, is equally as good as VPNs for streaming.
The best gaming VPNs at a glance:
• The best gaming VPN: ExpressVPN - View on ExpressVPN
• The best gaming VPN for download speeds: NordVPN - View on NordVPN
• The best gaming VPN for value: Surfshark - View on Surfshark
We’ve hunted down five of the best VPNs for gamers. Take a look at the freshest list of gaming VPNs that give you the perfect balance between online privacy and a premium gaming experience.
The best gaming VPN
go.expressvpn.com
ExpressVPN has been a go-to VPN provider so many internet users and rightly so. Its balanced, well-rounded reputation also makes it very well-suited for gaming. Gamers who use Express for privacy while playing online have found it to be extremely reliable in supporting casual to heavy gaming.
ExpressVPN’s speed sits at 560mbps, which is actually a lot lower than some of the competition, but it never feels like it. Users won’t be subject to ISP throttling thanks to ExpressVPN’s bypassing capabilities, which is another factor to the provider’s fluid and stable speeds.
This Virtual Private Network does only allow five simultaneous connections, but gamers fear not, ExpressVPN provides easy-to-set-up router support. Covering all the devices under one roof, Express’ router support means a gaming household can enjoy safe and speedy online gaming.
Download speeds might not be anything to shout about, but users shouldn’t have any trouble overlooking this when they’re gaming at the impressive, uninterrupted speeds that ExpressVPN is notorious for delivering.
Pros
- Reliable, fast speeds
- Powerful router support - dedicated app
Cons
- Download speeds are slightly lacking
| Router support: | Yes |
| Servers: | 3000+ |
| Server locations: | 160 in 94 countries |
| Speeds: | 560mbps |
| Money back guarantee: | 30 days |
- Customer reviews: "Always on, reliable, easy to use and configure. Handy feature blocks Internet access when something unusual occurs. Speed is excellent on every server I've tried. Came over to Express after losing faith in Nord and not looked back. I'm running it on android phone, plus Windows, and Linux boxes. Never had a problem. I'd highly recommend giving them a try, with a 30-day money back guarantee if you're not chuffed with it then what have you got to lose?"
The best gaming VPN for download speeds
nordvpn.com
Where gaming is concerned, NordVPN sets the standard for what a premium VPN can achieve. The best gaming download speeds on the market is just one area that Nord excels in. As a gaming VPN, it's a gold mine of useful features.
Like many of the best gaming VPNs on this list, NordVPN can bypass ISP throttling and provides reliable router support. Speeds clock in at a whopping 820mpbs so speed is rarely an issue for Nord gamers. Nordlynx and WireGuard are no joke.
NordVPN has a secret weapon called the Meshnet feature, which is a tool that allows gamers to create virtual networks for LAN gaming over the internet with friends. This allows all players to use the same network, a private network that’s safe from data breaches.
A result of such a feature-packed VPN is that Nord’s sometimes clunky app does require a sometimes irritating amount of regular updates.
Pros
- Superior download and upload speeds
- Feature-packed, including Meshnet
Cons
- App constantly requires updates
| Router support: | Yes |
| Servers: | 5709 |
| Locations: | 60 countries |
| Speeds: | 820mbps |
| Money back guarantee: | 30 days |
- Customer review: "I've used two other highly recommended VPN apps over the years. One raised the annual fee to thrice the original cost. The last one was good but kept adding ads indicating I needed to upgrade. An IT friend recommended NORD, which his large company uses. I love it."
The best gaming VPN for value
surfshark.com
Surfshark comes proves it's an apex predator time and time again when it comes to affordability and getting as much bang for your buck. As a gaming VPN, it’s the same story. Despite being applauded for being a budget VPN, there’s very little about Surfshark that feels even remotely cheap.
Topping some of the biggest premium VPNs, Surfshsark delivers speeds of 950mbps, which definitely warrants a double take. Surshark is known for enabling unlimited simultaneous devices, but that isn’t too crazy here as the provider does offer router support.
Not only does Surfshark wow us with superb speeds, there’s plenty of other features to take note of. Surfshark’s GPS spoofing works exceptionally, the Virtual Private Network can hide gamers’ IP’s on discord and other chat forums, and it has great geo-blocking capabilities whether it be unlocking foreign servers or foreign games.
Upload speeds aren’t anything to write home about, but they aren’t abysmal. Besides some gamers finding minor kill switch issues, the app has been regarded as mostly simple and pleasant to navigate.
Pros
- Great value for money
- Decent speeds - high peaks
- Useful features - plenty of use
Cons
- Upload speeds are lacking
- Some users experience kill-switch issues
| Router support: | Yes |
| Servers: | 3200+ |
| Server locations: | 144 in 100 countries |
| Speeds: | 950mbps |
| Money back guarantee: | 30 days |
- Customer review: "This app is awesome. The interface is clean and easy to use and navigate. The range of locations and choice of different connection types is very good with very little noticeable drop in speeds. There are also a lot of useful features like an alert system if your data is breached, and a very handy antivirus and safe search option. The pricing is extremely competitive for the number of things you get in return. Thanks for keeping me safe online SurfShark."
The best gaming VPN for protection
protonvpn.com
The foundation of a top gaming VPN is online protection. Proton VPN takes this a step further and provides a service where privacy is the priority. Running the WireGuard protocol on router support, Proton can sustain a secure home network encryption.
Outspoken in the protection department, this VPN covers a lot of other bases too. Hitting speeds of 670mbps normally, Proton has a VPN accelerator feature. This can improve the VPN’s speed by up to 400%, it's a brilliant resource for gamers who enter into packed servers that require more power to perform.
Proton has been proven to be an extremely effective Virtual Private Network when it comes to preventing DDoS attacks too, which have become increasingly common in online gaming servers.
Proton’s reputable privacy abilities make it a very tempting choice for gamers, running both AES-256 and ChaCha20 encryptions certainly gives the provider a market edge. Proton also declares that users can game safely on public Wi-Fi and mobile data. This is music to the ears of mobile gamers, who we recommend choosing a VPN best for smartphones that is also capable of protecting gaming activity.
Proton VPN wouldn’t have made the list if its speeds weren’t up to gaming standards. While some cheaper options mighty best Proton with speed, none can really compete with the provider’s gold-tier protection.
Pros
- Excellent privacy protection
- VPN accelerator - power tool
- Good choice for mobile gaming
Cons
- Some cheaper options are faster
- Support isn't 24/7 yet
| Servers: | 2500+ |
| Server locations: | 95 locations in 67 countries |
| Speeds: | 670mbps |
| Router support: | Yes |
| Money back guarantee: | 30 days |
- Customer review: "Excellent VPN service, always a rock-solid connection, fast and dependable. Not the cheapest service but probably one of the most secure."
The best gaming VPN for casual gamers
www.ipvanish.com
Your choice of gaming VPN will ultimately come down to the kind of gamer you are. You don’t want to overspend on a VPN rich with features you might not even touch. Similarly, you wouldn’t choose a provider with insufficient features. IPVanish makes the list as the best gaming VPN for more casual gamers.
For most uses, IPVanish is widely considered a good value VPN. Performance is decent and its unlimited simultaneous devices is a big selling point. As a gaming Virtual Private Network, it’s pretty well-rounded too. Casual gamers, or even beginners to VPNs will find IPVanish a welcoming experience, the gaming interface is one of the best on the market.
Features like split tunnelling and a low ping of 7ms make IPVanish fit for the casual gamer. The app has everything users need, screaming simplicity and functionality. Understandably, IPVanish doesn’t have all the trimmings some other gaming VPNs might have, but that’s why we decided it was perfect for casual gamers.
Pros
- Great value
- User-friendly - ease-of-use
Cons
- Not enough for advance gamers and VPN users
| Router support: | Yes |
| Servers: | 2000+ |
| Server locations: | 75+ |
| Speeds: | 277mbps |
| Money back guarantee: | 30 days |
- Customer review: "I have only had to contact customer service at renewal time to get the best deal for my needs, of which, IPVanish have always been most generous and extremely helpful. The product has never let me down and I highly recommend it to anyone."
[30/05 10:22] Barrell, Jack
Please note: All prices are correct at time of writing. VPN deals and savings are subject to change at short notice.
About our expertise
At What’s The Best, we live and breathe technology. Among our team of tech experts, we have pretty much every base covered - from televisions and speakers to cameras and smartphones.
To say we spend a lot of time on the internet is a bit of an understatement, and most of the time, we’re using a VPN. Whether for work or recreation, we’re regularly connecting to VPN servers near and far.
It’s by collecting this shared knowledge, experience and passion that we are able to select the best VPNs for you. We trust each of our picks implicitly - in fact, many of them we use ourselves. That's because at What’s The Best if we wouldn’t buy it ourselves, we don’t recommend it. Simple.
Glossary of terms
VPN – Virtual Private Network
DDoS attack - When an attacker floods a server with internet traffic, preventing users from accessing connected online services and sites.
ISP throttling – When your internet service provider restricts your bandwidth or speed without telling you in order to control internet traffic.
Ping - the time it takes for a small data set to be transmitted from your device to a server on the Internet and back to your device again. Also referred to as latency.
How to use a VPN for gaming
There are a few ways you can run a VPN for gaming, it really depends on your set-up. For a PC or smartphone, simply install the VPN from the app store, log in/sign up and then activate.
Regarding a VPN for PS5 or an Xbox Series X provider, you’ll have to follow the same method, except connecting the console to the laptop through ethernet cable. Router set-up would be a similar method, you would open your routers firmware via browser, install a VPN to the router, log in/sign up, then activate.
Can I use a free VPN for gaming?
Nothing is stopping you from using a free VPN while gaming. Although, we don’t recommend it based on the fact that even the best free VPNs enforce data limits rarely more than 10 GB a month.
Does using a VPN affect gaming?
The idea of using a VPN while gaming is to protect your device as you connect to worldwide servers. The best VPNs will make this experience as seamless as possible, most of the time you won’t notice any difference in speeds or connectivity.
Jack Barrell is the Commercial Content Writer for VPNs. He's hands-on when it comes to producing best-of articles, how-to guides, and product reviews for Virtual Private Networks. On his off-days, Jack can be found in the gym, at the movies, or flicking through a car mag.