Best VPN Service For Streaming Region-Locked Content

There are a ton of reasons to use a VPN in today’s world. Being able to connect to a private network and hide your true location has a lot of security benefits, but it can also be a great way to access content that’s restricted to specific regions from around the web–I even use one to look at other region’s prices for GameSpot’s deals coverage. And if you’re stuck inside during these trying times, you may be looking at another country’s available movies and TV shows, wondering how you can watch them. A safe, secure VPN is the answer.

Now, there are a ton of free VPN options out there, but I wouldn’t recommend any of them. It can be hard to tell which ones are actually of good quality and even harder to know if any of them are monitoring, using, and/or selling your personal information. My suggestion is to avoid all the free options.

Thankfully, there are a number of affordable and great VPN providers out there, all of which have been tested and verified by us or our sister site CNET. We’ve selected a handful that we trust and included their best deal, but if you’re looking for even more options, be sure to check out CNET’s guide to the best VPN service for 2020.

Quick look: The best VPN services for 2020

Express VPN

$6.67 per month for an annual plan with an extra 3 free months

ExpressVPN is a great VPN provider that prides itself on its privacy commitment. The company told CNET it built the TrustedServer technology network to make sure that users’ online-activity logs were never taken or stored. One of its key features is a kill switch that you can activate to prevent your data from leaking if the VPN connection fails.

IPVanish VPN

$4 per month; $48 per year

IPVanish VPN stands out with its configurable interface and multiplatform capabilities. It works well with Netflix and Kodi, the latter of which is a popular open-source media app–CNET was particularly intrigued by its Kodi support.

Hotspot Shield

$3 per month on a 3-year plan

Hotspot Shield has had a controversial past of privacy issues and flaws, of which the company has addressed and fixed. Hotspot Shield now offers a fantastic money-back guarantee–if you’re not satisfied, you can get a refund within 45 days.

NordVPN

$3.49 per month on a 3-year plan

In October 2019, Nord was the subject of criticism after it was discovered that there was an unauthorized security breach. While Nord didn’t disclose the breach in a timely manner, no user information was involved at all, which means NordVPN doesn’t keep logs of user activity. It also offers quite a few perks with its service: dedicated IP, a kill switch, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

PureVPN

$3.33 per month on a 1-year plan; $1.65 per month on a 5-year plan

PureVPN accepts payment in bitcoins, and if you’re not satisfied within 31 days, you can get your money back. PureVPN doesn’t log any of your information, and its 5-year plan is particularly enticing. You’re charged $1.65 a month, which is bonkers for a great VPN–that only totals to $100 over those five years.