For a lot of folks, the holiday season means deals, shopping, and psyching yourself up to wrap a mountain of presents. For me, it also means settling in to all of my favorite wintery movies and shows on Netflix – and it’s why a VPN is so useful for any Netflix subscriber.
If, like me, you find yourself traveling a lot over the holidays, you might already know that the shows, movies, and sports you’d usually enjoy back home can become inaccessible as soon as you leave the country. It’s a major frustration, but VPN geo-spoofing can help. Just connect to a VPN server in your home city and continue your Peaky Blinders marathon like you never left.
That being said, not all Netflix VPNs are equally effective – some are better at accessing the site than others. Pair that with some seriously awesome Cyber Monday VPN deals, and there are clear winners. Keep reading to see which VPNs I recommend combining with your Netflix subscription.
What makes a good Netflix VPN?
As with most things in life, not all Netflix VPNs are made equal – and even our top-rated picks will have trouble accessing the service, or specific libraries, from time to time.
You get what you pay for, however, which is why we recommend sticking to premium providers with the resources to invest in maintaining regular access to Netflix. This is also why free VPNs tend to be pretty poor picks for streaming (not to mention the monthly data caps and limited server selection).
If you’re weighing up your options, there are two key factors to keep in mind: speed and servers.
Speed is a big one. Nobody wants a slow VPN that’s going to turn an otherwise crystal-clear HD binging sesh into a pixellated mess. Luckily, Netflix has shared guidelines on the minimum speeds needed to achieve a quality experience.
The site recommends 10 Mbps for HD streaming and 25 Mbps for 4k and Ultra HD. Our three Cyber Monday VPN deals blow these speeds out of the water.
VPN speeds
(Mbps)
NordLynx/WireGuard protocol speed
| Product | Value (Mbps) |
|---|---|
| NordVPN | 1256 |
| Surfshark | 1615 |
| ExpressVPN (WireGuard) | 694 |
While NordVPN and Surfshark both outpace ExpressVPN, all three VPNs are more than capable of keeping up with Netflix marathons without impacting the picture quality – even if you’re in a multi-user household and are all streaming different stuff.
Servers are another big deal, because a VPN needs servers in a specific country in order to unblock its regional content. It’s why VPNs come in handy for travelers looking to tune into the same shows and movies they have access to back home.
Where in the world?
ExpressVPN has the most North American server locations (and servers in all 50 American states) and in Europe. NordVPN leads the pack in terms of coverage in Asia, however.
Before picking up a plan, you’ll need to make sure that the VPN you’re considering has servers in places you’ll want to spoof your location to, as well as your home country.
In our testing, we pit VPNs against the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and Japan Netflix libraries, seeing as they’re the most well-stocked. NordVPN, Surfshark, and ExpressVPN had no trouble with any of these locations – which isn’t a surprise, seeing as they all boast global server networks.
We’re confident that any of our recommendations will be solid options for Netflix throughout the festive season and beyond. However, the Cyber Monday sales are rapidly coming to a close, so you’ll want to bag a bargain while they’re still active.
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river.hart@futurenet.com (River Hart)
