If you want to watch the Wimbledon cup’s live streaming or enjoy the football match between Manchester United and Chelsea from the comfort of your home outside the UK, or planning a short trip to the UK then make sure you connect to a VPN first.
The increased government surveillance and the law and order situation can be a bit daunting for you to freely browse the web. The ISP in the UK can retain user activity logs for a year. Also, being a member of the surveillance alliance gives them an unnecessary hold on your data. In this situation, using the best VPN is the perfect solution to protect your online privacy. The table below overviews the best VPN for the UK that might help you overcome the barriers and access the web safely.
List Of Best VPNs In UK
CyberGhost: 7000+ optimized servers enhance your gaming, streaming, and torrenting experience. Plus, bypass ISP throttling. Compatible with Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android.
NordVPN: comes with 5000+ servers, great speed while torrenting and gaming. You can also enjoy US Netflix From abroad. Compatible with all devices and OS.
SurfShark: With 3200+ server networks bypass throttling and download and stream unlimitedly. You can access Netflix and download torrents with privacy.
ProtonVPN provides robust digital security and allows unlimited streaming and torrenting. Enjoy a fast, stable, and reliable internet connection from anywhere and bypass ISP throttling.
Whether it’s ISP throttling, latency, or lower ping times that annoy you, you can enjoy ExpressVPN’s stable and fastest connection. Also, provide support with Netflix and Torrenting.
VyprVPN uses a proprietary Chameleon protocol that helps access the blocked torrent websites and streaming platforms. The speeds are reliable which prevents ISP throttling.
This comprehensive guide will inform you more about the best VPNs for the VPN. Read along and get all your answers.
Why Use a VPN in the UK?
Though the UK is a free country for accessing the internet, the reality is different. There are some restrictions and laws that compel users to use reliable VPN providers. Below are the reasons for using a VPN in the UK:
- Data Surveillance: Under the data retention laws, the ISPs retain your browsing data for 12 months. Thankfully a VPN by encrypting the data traffic makes it impossible for anyone to know about your online activities.
- Surveillance Power: Being part of the global surveillance alliance gives the UK extra powers over user data. The higher authorities track users’ online activities and share users’ data with the surveillance agencies of other countries without their knowledge. A VPN by hiding the IP address ensures online anonymity and helps get rid of government surveillance and tracking.
- Torrenting: The country has strict laws for torrenting. If the ISPs caught you for torrenting, be ready to face a penalty, or you can even end up in jail for ten years. A VPN ensures a safe and secure torrenting experience without the tension of getting caught.
For all these reasons and to enjoy other additional benefits, it’s essential to use a VPN in the UK.
How to Choose the Best VPN for the UK?
If you want a VPN that gives you excellent UK performance, you can’t use any random VPN provider. Hence, look for some special features that can ensure a safe browsing experience. To save from this hassle, here’s the criteria for selecting the best VPN for the UK. Do make sure that you don’t overlook any feature and put your privacy at risk. The features include:
- Strong Encryption: Your VPN should offer strong and uncrackable encryption like the AES-256 bit that safeguards your activities from all snooping eyes.
- Choice of Protocols: The VPN provider should choose secure and fast VPN protocols instead of conventional ones. Ensure that the VPN you choose uses OpenVPN, WireGuard, or other secure protocols.
- Logging Policy: Carefully read the VPN’s privacy policy. Select a VPN only if it has a no-log policy as it ensures that the VPN doesn’t keep any logs. Also, a verified log audit report will prove that the VPN is living up to their claims of being a no-log VPN provider.
- Server Network: A vast server network spread in more countries ensures a fast connection in less time.
- Streaming: The VPN provider should unblock geo-blocked content from Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and other streaming platforms. The video should be in HD quality and with no buffering.
- Torrenting: They should come with P2P-optimized servers that make the torrent downloading process easy.
- Extra Supported Features: Ensure that the VPN comes with a range of security and privacy-boosting features like a kill switch or split tunneling feature to enhance your security and privacy level.
By considering the criteria mentioned above, you can easily choose a VPN that stands out in every area and enables you to surf the web privately and anonymously in the UK.
Five Best VPNs to Use in the UK
Among different VPN providers out there, we’ve picked up the five best VPNs for maximum online protection in the UK. Here’s a brief review of each VPN provider. So, let’s get started:
1. CyberGhost VPN
CyberGhost is an impressive VPN that performs exceptionally well in the UK. The VPN has its headquarter in Romania, a privacy-friendly jurisdiction, and doesn’t compromise users’ privacy. Like any other VPN provider, CyberGhost also doesn’t store any data that can expose your IP address and browsing history. Instead of having a third-party log audit report, it issues a transparency report highlighting that they don’t retain users’ logs. It is a fully-fledged VPN provider that offers a range of privacy features. Some of the most impressive features are as follows:
- Kill Switch
- Malware and ad-blocker
- No Spy servers
- Split tunneling
- Dedicated IP address
- PassCamp password manager
They use AES-256 bit encryption and OpenVPN and WireGuard protocols to protect your online identity and allow you to surf the web privately. It also protects against VPN leaks and ensures complete anonymity over the web. It is among those VPN providers that offer a vast server network. The VPN provider comes with more than 7000 servers in 91 countries. These servers provide unlimited bandwidth and fast enough speed for streaming, torrenting, and playing online games.
To enhance your online browsing experience, the VPN offers a security suite that includes antivirus, app updates, and privacy guard protection. Moreover, it comes with specialized servers for streaming, torrenting, and gaming. By having separate servers, it ensures that you don’t have any connectivity issues. With CyberGhost VPN, you can easily unblock the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, and Australia Netflix libraries without buffering or connection lags.
The VPN offers a one-day trial period and a 45-days money-back guarantee offer. Buy CyberGhost VPN now at an affordable price of $2.25/ month and boost your online privacy.
2. NordVPN
NordVPN is another ideal VPN to use in the UK. It offers impressive privacy-focused features that allow users to surf the web with great anonymity. The VPN provides more than 5200 servers in 60 countries; they come with unlimited bandwidth and ensure fast connection speed. It has its headquarters in Panama, which falls outside the jurisdiction of the five eyes, nine eyes, and 14 eyes alliance.
Also, the country doesn’t impose any harsh data retention laws, which mean no data surveillance. The VPN provider is truly a private VPN, and all credit goes to its no-log policy. It adheres to a strict no-log policy and proves their claims have twice audited their log policy. NordVPN has several privacy-enriched features such as:
- Kill switch
- Dedicated IP address
- IP/DNS leak protection
- Tor Over VPN
- SOCKS Proxy
- Obfuscated Servers
The VPN uses uncrackable encryption, NordLynx, and Open VPN protocol to safeguard your data from snooping eyes. To further boost your online security, the VPN uses a double VPN feature that twice routes your data traffic, resulting in slow internet speed. Another impressive feature about NordVPN is CyberSec. It is a built-in ad-blocker that blocks malware and pop-up ads that aim to ruin your browsing experience.
NordVPN is also an excellent choice to use for streaming and torrenting. It comes with P2P-optimized servers that guarantee fast speed for torrenting. Also, with the Smart DNS feature, you can unblock your favorite content on Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, and Hulu.
When it comes to pricing, it is not as expensive as ExpressVPN. You can buy it anonymously via bitcoins for $3.67/ monthly and try it out for a risk-free 30-days money-back guarantee.
3. Surfshark VPN
The next best VPN on our list is the Surfshark VPN. Its jurisdiction makes it a trustworthy and secure VPN to use. Like ExpressVPN, it also belongs to the safe island of the British-Virgin Island that neither is a part of the global surveillance group nor retains users’ online data. Moreover, the VPN follows a no-log policy followed by a verified log audit report. It comes with various features that boost your digital privacy. Some of these features include:
- Kill switch
- Dedicated IP address
- Whitelister
- Multihop
- Private DNS servers
- Camouflage Mode
The VPN comes with more than 3200 servers in 65 countries that ensure fast connection without causing any buffering and connectivity issues. It uses the industry’s highest AES-256 bit encryption to protect your data from your ISP and other prying eyes on your network. Besides this, to retain your online security, it uses OpenVPN and WireGuard protocol that guarantees a fast speed and a greater level of online protection.
It also stores the users’ data on RAM-only servers instead of a hard drive, making your browsing experience more private. Moreover, it also offers an impressive clean web feature that blocks all intrusive ads and online trackers and ensures greater anonymity.
You can easily bypass VPN blocks and access the blocked content on all popular streaming sites with the camouflage mode. Surfshark VPN works great on Netflix, Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer, and Disney Plus. The videos are in HD quality with no buffering—also, the dedicated P2P servers and whitelister feature help in downloading torrents safely.
Surfshark VPN is an affordable VPN that costs only $2.49/month. It offers a seven-day trial period to Android, iOS, and macOS users. Buy Surfshark VPN now via cryptocurrency with a 30-days money-back guarantee offer.
4. ProtonVPN
ProtonVPN is amongst the leading VPN providers in the industry that outperforms several VPN working in the UK. With a secure jurisdiction of Switzerland that is tucked safely away from the intruding 5, 9, and 14 eyes alliance, ProtonVPN offers unexceptional privacy and security to its users. It has a strict no-logs policy that it maintains by regular audits of all its available apps. The VPN provider also has its servers in secure locations and is fully encrypted to ensure security. Buth things not only stop a that, but ProtonVPN also offers several other security features such as:
- DNS Leak protection
- Kill switch and Always-on VPN feature
- Tor over VPN feature
- High-speed servers
- Forward secrecy feature
- Adblocker (NetShield)
- Secure core servers
Along with this, the VPN provider protects your data through secure AES-256 encryption and robust VPN protocols such as OpenVPN, IKEv2, and WireGuard. ProtonVPN also has a reasonably decent server network consisting of 399 servers in 40+ locations, and these servers provide super-fast speeds along with secure browsing.
Addiotnaly, ProtonVPN works exceptionally well with online gaming, torrenting, and streaming platforms such as Netflix, BBCiPlayer, Amazon Prime, and a lot more. With Netflix, you can access all the US content and enjoy unrestricted streaming.
While ProtonVPN is also available for free, it is best that you subscribe to the VPN through one of its Basic, Plus, or Premium package to get the most of its features. The basic package is available at $4.58 /mo that comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
5. ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is a reliable VPN provider that gives off an excellent performance in the UK. It belongs to the safe jurisdiction of the British Virgin Island that isn’t a part of the global surveillance alliance and doesn’t have any mandatory data retention laws. The VPN provider is a private VPN and follows a strict no-log policy under which they don’t log users’ data. Also, it has also undergone a third-party log audit that proves its log policy correct. It offers a range of privacy-boosting features that includes:
- Network lock
- Split tunneling
- Zero-knowledge DNS
- VPN leak protection
- Tor over VPN
ExpressVPN ensures maximum online security while you surf the web. The VPN uses strong AES-256 bit encryption along with security protocols. Its proprietary lightway protocol uses ChaCha/Poly 1305 cipher that enhances security. Along with this, it uses OpenVPN as the default protocol that offers fast speed and reliability. Also, it has an extensive server network that comprises more than 3000 servers in 94 countries.
The VPN uses trusted DNS technology which means that all the user’s data saved on the RAM-only servers gets deleted after every session. This further ensures that ExpressVPN is secure to use.
The VPN comes with Stealth mode that helps in bypassing the censorship filters and allows you to access the geo-blocked content easily. With ExpressVPN, you can stream on DisneyPlus, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and other popular streaming platforms. It allows users to unblock US Netflix and other libraries. Moreover, it offers specialized P2P servers that help in downloading with blazing fast speed.
You can get it at the lowest price of $8.23/ month with a 30-days money-back guarantee and even pay anonymously via bitcoins.
6. VyprVPN
The next VPN on our list for the best VPN for the UK is the VyprVPN. It is yet another safe VPN to use as it belongs to the Swiss jurisdiction that doesn’t impose strict data retention laws on the users. It comes with a verified no-log policy, which competes with other top-rated VPN providers in the industry. Though the VPN provider comes with quite limited privacy features, they all are essential to enhance your online privacy. These features include:
- Kill switch
- VPN leak protection
- Connection per app
- Obfuscated servers
- Tor over VPN
The VPN provider comes with solid encryption and a secure protocol that guarantees robust online protection over the web. Besides, OpenVPN and WireGuard protocol VyprVPN also uses Chameleon protocol that ensures that your online security gets not breached by any means. Moreover, it also uses a site blocker that helps get rid of pop-up ads and blocks access to harmful and malicious sites.
On the downside, it offers only 700 servers on different continents. But, it allows the users to stream and download torrents without any issue. However, if they want to make their service better, they should expand their servers.
Buy VyprVPN now for $1.67 per month with a risk-free money-back guarantee offer and enhance your online experience.
How to Get a UK IP Address?
With a UK IP address, you can even access the local UK content and websites from outside the UK. The steps to get the UK IP address are as follows:
- Subscribe to any of the above-recommended VPN providers.
- Sign up for an account.
- Get done with the downloading and installation process.
- Enter your credentials and sign in to your VPN account.
- Make any changes in the settings if needed. Like change the protocols or enable split tunneling mode.
- Select a server within the UK and tap to connect.
That’s it. Now you can access the blocked UK sites and stream to local news channels or BBC iPlayer from anywhere across the world.
Are Using VPNs Legal in the UK?
Like Australia, Canada, and the US, using VPNs is completely legal in the UK. The country hasn’t introduced any laws that refrain from the use of VPNs. Protecting online privacy is an individual right, and a VPN is the best software for it. You can use a VPN in the UK to maintain your digital privacy and keep your online activities away from the reach of threat actors.
However, make sure that you don’t get involved in any action against law and order. For instance, you shouldn’t download any copyrighted content because it is legal there, which can put you under serious legal consequences.
Is It Worth Using a VPN in the UK?
Using a VPN in the UK is of great advantage. It allows users to attain greater anonymity and online protection over the web. The VPN will enable you to access the blocked sites with the UK by changing your IP address. Also, if you’re outside the UK, where BBC iPlayer is blocked, it bypasses the firewalls and allows you to watch your favorite show on BBC iPlayer in HD quality. Moreover, you can mitigate the increasing risks of cyber-attacks and increase your digital privacy. Hence, using the best VPN for the UK is worth amazing.
Can I Use a Free VPN in the UK?
You can find several free VPNs in the UK that you can consider using, but it isn’t recommended to use them if you ask for an expert opinion. Despite being free, these VPN providers bring several security flaws and vulnerabilities that make them unreliable for use. These VPN providers don’t provide unbreakable encryption nor use advanced security-boosting features that can further enhance your online security. Moreover, these VPN providers use shady practices to make money. They gather and share users’ data with advertisers, and then they target you with unwanted ads.
Thus, instead of using a free VPN provider, you should invest in a premium VPN provider. The premium VPNs are free from all these issues and guarantee maximum online protection.
Is There Any Internet Freedom in the UK?
According to the Freedom House Net report 2020, the United Kingdom was ranked as a free country and scored 78 out of 100. However, the reports reveal that there are laws that allow mass surveillance and breaches users’ privacy. Moreover, the UK is a prominent member of the Five Eyes that shares data with other countries in the alliance. It means that the ISPs and the higher authorities monitor and retain users’ data and share it. They put internet restrictions on users and limit their dream to access a free internet world.
Parting Words
Using a VPN in the UK is as important as in China, Maldives, or other countries. It takes your digital privacy to the next level and offers other added benefits like streaming on Netflix and downloading torrents.
If you’re looking for the best VPNs for the UK, you should select anyone from the above-recommended list. All of these VPN providers are tested and reviewed separately. They perform well in the UK and make your web browsing experience worth amazing. So, hurry up and subscribe to a reliable VPN provider now.
