When you switch on a VPN, it routes your traffic through an encrypted tunnel to a server controlled by the VPN provider. This improves your privacy, bypasses censorship, and grants access to region-locked streaming content. Anyone looking for the protection of a VPN in the United Kingdom is spoiled for choice, as all the biggest players maintain a large presence there.
In this roundup, we’re taking our top-rated VPNs and ranking them by their apparent presence in the UK—including the number of servers, where available, and by score when server counts aren’t available. We give special preference to HMA, since it’s a UK-based company. We’re also including IPVanish because of its large UK presence. (Note: IPVanish is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag’s parent company.)
Read on for our top picks, followed by everything you need to know about selecting and using a VPN in the UK.
HMA VPN
Best for a Domestic UK Option
Why We Picked It
HMA offers 25 servers in the UK with eight servers in London, 11 servers in Glasgow, two servers in the enigmatically named Donkey Town, and four virtual locations that use UK IP addresses. We put it at the top of our list because it’s based in the UK. That doesn’t mean it has the best performance or the most servers in the region, but if people want a UK-based option, this is the one.
Beyond its hometown status, HMA VPN has a lot to offer. Its cheeky donkey-centric style is all its own, and it has one of the most approachable app designs in the industry. Most impressively, it has more global server locations than any other VPN we’ve reviewed, covering 190 countries. There’s a catch, however: A startlingly high number of HMA’s location options are virtual locations, which means that the servers are physically located somewhere other than the IP address they provide. The site does a pretty good job of identifying them, which is helpful for users, but the app could use some clarity.
Who It’s For
This venerable VPN is a good choice for anyone who wants a UK-based service, or a service with enormous flexibility about server locations (with the caveat mentioned above). It’s also very easy to use, making it a good choice for those unfamiliar with VPNs.
A home-grown UK VPN might come with some privacy caveats(Opens in a new window), but any reader insisting on a UK-based option should pick HMA.
PROS
- Friendly, simple interface
- The greatest number of server locations
- Handy IP shuffler
- Surprising speed test scores
CONS
- Monthly subscription not available in certain regions
- Unclear where VPN servers are located
- Lacks multi-hop connections and split tunneling
CyberGhost VPN
Best for Seeking the Perfect Server
Why We Picked It
CyberGhost has the most UK-based servers of all the services we evaluated for this roundup, with more than 700 local machines in its fleet. It isn’t surprising because CyberGhost has the most VPN servers of any service we’ve reviewed, totaling well over 8,000 servers globally. With its 82 servers in Berkshire, 461 in London, and 189 in Manchester, it gives you plenty of servers to choose from. Having more servers does not equate to better performance. The number of servers a VPN provider has is usually a function of the number of users the VPN expects in particular areas. That said, more servers does mean more options. If you find a site or service is blocked or you can’t access the content you’re trying to reach while you’re connected to a VPN, you can keep trying different servers in the hopes that one will work.
Who It’s For
CyberGhost is best for people who want lots of server choices. If you’re looking to reach UK content from another country, CyberGhost gives you 732 chances to make it work.
PROS
- Large, well-distributed server fleet
- Allows up to seven simultaneous connections
- Several add-ons, including antivirus
- Outstanding speed test scores
- Newly completed third-party audit
CONS
- Expensive
- Confusing privacy policies
NordVPN
Best for Premium Features at a Premium Price
Why We Picked It
NordVPN is a veritable juggernaut in the world of VPNs, and thanks to a Super Bowl appearance and other ads, it probably has the most name recognition. It’s not all marketing, though. NordVPN is one of only two VPNs to offer split tunneling, multi-hop connections, and access to Tor by VPN. It also boasts more than 440 servers in the UK, giving you a lot of options to find a server that works for whatever you need.
Who It’s For
NordVPN is for users who like to take a kitchen-sink approach to security, as it offers a little bit of everything. It has a strong suite of privacy tools, and has started to expand with antivirus as well as separate encrypted file storage and password management services. Anyone wishing to access hidden sites with Tor, or simply enjoy the added anonymity Tor provides, doesn’t need to use a VPN to access it, but NordVPN makes it very simple and will route all your traffic through Tor, too.
PROS
- Multi-hop, split tunneling, and Tor connections
- Numerous server locations
- Uses WireGuard VPN technology
- Unique Meshnet features
CONS
- Expensive
- Poor malware-blocking results
- Occasionally cramped interface
Surfshark VPN
Best for Protecting Many Devices
Why We Picked It
Surfshark VPN comes in just behind NordVPN with 360 total servers in the UK, spread out across Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, and Manchester. That gives you a lot of chances to find a server that will work for whatever you need. Surfshark VPN also boasts split tunneling and multi-hop connections. Where it really stands out, however, is in placing no limits on simultaneous connections—most competitors only allow five connections per account.
Who It’s For
Although it has a pretty good selection of features, Surfshark VPN’s real attraction is its lack of limit on simultaneous connections. If you have a large family where everyone has their own tablets, computers, and smartphones, Surfshark VPN is a strong choice because one subscription will cover all those devices.
PROS
- Unlimited simultaneous connections
- Large global server presence
- Multi-hop and split tunneling tools
- Intriguing potential in Surfshark Nexus
CONS
- High monthly price
- Privacy policy needs clarification
- Confusing long-term subscription pricing
IPVanish VPN
Best for Large Families on a Budget
Why We Picked It
IPVanish VPN boasts 106 servers in the UK: 62 in London, 20 in Birmingham, 18 in Manchester, and six in Glasgow. Having that many UK servers gives you plenty of choices to find one that works for you. And like Surfshark VPN, IPVanish VPN is one of the very few services that doesn’t limit the number of devices you can connect simultaneously.
While several of the VPNs on this list offer multi-hop connections, IPVanish VPN does not. Since we last reviewed this product, the company announced the release of a third-party audit and the introduction of split tunneling.
Who It’s For
IPVanish VPN lets you connect as many devices as you like while most companies limit you to just five simultaneous connections (except Surfshark). This lets you easily protect a whole household, or just a lot of devices. At $10.99 per month, IPVanish is a bit cheaper than Surfshark, which might be better for families on a budget. We were also pleasantly surprised by the breadth of IPVanish’s customization options, making it a good choice for a network tinkerer.
(Note: IPVanish VPN is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag’s parent company.)
PROS
- Unlimited simultaneous connections
- Good geographic diversity of servers
- Highly customizable connection settings
CONS
- Dated interface
- Few additional privacy features
- No publicly released audits
Proton VPN
Best Overall VPN
Why We Picked It
Proton VPN provides 64 servers in the UK: 44 in London and 20 in Manchester. It also offers multi-hop connections to the UK via Switzerland and Iceland. Although it has fewer servers overall and in the UK than competitors, Proton VPN deftly balances advanced features, approachable design, and cost. It’s our highest rated VPN and our top choice for free VPNs. Note, however, that Proton VPN does not offer free servers in the UK.
Who It’s For
Proton VPN earned our highest score because we believe it works well for the most people. It’s one of only two VPNs to offer split tunneling, multi-hop, and access to Tor via VPN. It has a growing worldwide server presence that isn’t the largest but is flexible enough to meet most people’s needs. A new redesign has made this app more approachable than ever, and it’s nearly dead-on for the industry average monthly subscription price.
PROS
- Best free subscription
- Numerous advanced privacy tools
- Strong customer privacy stance
- Slick, accessible client
- Excellent Speedtest scores
CONS
- Awkward Chrome OS implementation
- Complicated pricing structure
Mullvad VPN
Best for Cheap Privacy Protection
Why We Picked It
Mullvad VPN has 60 servers in the UK, with 27 in Manchester and 33 in London. Thanks to the company’s radical stance on transparency, we know that Mullvad VPN owns 15 of its London servers outright. Mullvad also provides such welcome features as split tunneling and multi-hop connections, and uses a unique password-less account number system that helps anonymize its customers. Best of all, it costs only 5 euros per month, and you can pay that in cash if you wish to keep your transaction completely private.
Who It’s For
Mullvad VPN doesn’t have the most servers, the best app, or even the most features. What it does offer is unparalleled privacy protections at an unbeatable price. If you want the service that is doing the utmost to protect its customers’ privacy at any cost (except money), it’s Mullvad.
PROS
- Requires no email or account information
- Extremely affordable
- Radically transparent
- Some advanced features, including multi-hop and port forwarding
CONS
- Awkward desktop interface
- Servers in a small range of countries
- Pay-as-you-go system may confuse some customers
IVPN
Best for Short-Term VPN Subscriptions
Why We Picked It
IVPN has four servers in the UK: three in London and one in Manchester. The company uses a privacy-protecting account number system similar to Mullvad VPN and likewise has a strong commitment to privacy. Along with Mullvad VPN, it’s one of the only VPNs that allows payments made in cash.
What makes IVPN stand apart is that it allows for very short subscription periods at low costs—as little as $2 a week. It’s an excellent marriage of privacy and flexibility.
Who It’s For
IVPN appeals to the same privacy conscious crowd as Mullvad VPN, although IVPN has retained the ease of subscription payments. The flexibility of IVPN’s billing makes it a good choice for people who only want a VPN for a short time, such as while on vacation or for streaming a particular event.
PROS
- Flexible, affordable pricing
- Unique multi-hop system
- Privacy baked into its account system
- Strong stance on transparency
CONS
- Offers few server locations
- Multi-hop and Account ID might confuse some users
TunnelBear VPN
Best for First-Time VPN Users
Why We Picked It
TunnelBear VPN provides servers in the UK, but does not publish their numbers or locations. That’s disappointing, but TunnelBear VPN is still an overall great choice. Its monthly subscription fee is almost precisely average, and its friendly, whimsical approach to design is a breath of fresh air. Don’t assume that just because this service goes all-in on its bear mascots that it’s a privacy pushover. TunnelBear VPN has one of the longest running annual audit programs in the industry and offers strong privacy protections to its customers. It also offers its UK servers to free subscribers.
Who It’s For
With its funny, friendly design, we recommend TunnelBear VPN to first-time buyers or anyone unfamiliar with VPNs. It lacks some of the features and controls found among competitors, but comes close to being a set-and-forget product. It also offers a limited free subscription, so you can try out TunnelBear VPN to see if it works for you.
PROS
- Unlimited simultaneous connections
- Excellent privacy policies
- Annual independent audits
- Friendly, approachable design
- Bears
CONS
- No multi-hop connections
- Split tunneling not available on all platforms
ExpressVPN
Best for World Travelers
Why We Picked It
ExpressVPN hosts servers in London, the Docklands, East London, and Wembley. Unfortunately, the company does not list how many servers it provides in the UK, only their locations. However, it makes our list of the best VPNs for the UK because it offers so many server locations and doesn’t use virtual locations for the vast majority of its fleet. It also boasts a snazzy design and uses tamper-resistant RAM-only servers.
Who It’s For
With servers in 94 countries, Express VPN is our go-to recommendation for world travelers. When you’re gallivanting across the globe, you want a VPN server that’s physically near to you for the best performance. ExpressVPN does use some virtual locations, but its fleet is primarily located where you’d expect them to be.
PROS
- Large, diversely distributed fleet of servers
- Strong privacy and security practices
- Split tunneling
- Stylish interface
CONS
- Expensive
- No multi-hop connections
Private Internet Access VPN
Best for Power Users
Why We Picked It
Private Internet Access VPN provides VPN servers in London, Manchester, and Southampton, but does not provide information on how many servers are available in the UK. What makes Private Internet Access stand apart is its customizability, which lets you control not only how the app looks but a host of ways to tinker with the VPN connection. The company also offers 10 simultaneous connections—double the average we’ve seen.
Who It’s For
Private Internet Access VPN’s wealth of tools appeals to anyone who wants to control exactly how their VPN works. If you want to configure a multi-hop connection through a proxy of your choice, Private Internet Access VPN lets you do that. While network tinkerers will appreciate Private Internet Access VPN’s tools the most, it’s well designed enough that a novice can comfortably use its features.
PROS
- Split tunneling and multi-hop
- 10 simultaneous connections
- Numerous server locations
- Good Speedtest scores
- Completed third-party audit
CONS
- Expensive
- No free version
Buying Guide: The Best VPNs for the UK in 2023
What’s the Best Free VPN for the UK?
Free VPNs are tricky because while there are a lot of sketchy ones out there, a few are actually worth your time. Of the VPN services in this list, only two offer truly free subscription options, but both do come with some limitations.
TunnelBear VPN is an excellent and friendly VPN service that’s built around ease of use and cartoon bears. It also has excellent privacy practices, making it an overall good choice. TunnelBear VPN free subscribers can access any of its servers, including those servers in the UK. The catch is that TunnelBear VPN limits free users to 500MB of data per month, which can be doubled to 1GB if you post to social media. You can easily burn through 1GB of bandwidth, so you’ll want to limit your use if you really don’t want to pay.
Proton VPN is our highest rated VPN and our pick for best free VPN because it’s one of the very few VPNs that doesn’t place a data limit on its free subscribers. However, Proton VPN does limit free users to just three server locations in Japan, the Netherlands, and the US. If you want to access UK servers, you’ll have to pay.
Although they’re not free, two of the choices on this list are notably affordable. Mullvad VPN costs just 5 euros per month and IVPN’s flexible pricing starts at $2 per week.
How a VPN Works
What’s the Best UK VPN for Netflix, BBC, and TV?
Odds are, most of our readers use VPNs to access region-locked streaming content. An example might be tunneling into a different country to access Netflix movies and shows that aren’t available with a US subscription. This likely breaks the terms of service for some streaming platforms, so be aware.
The UK is a particularly interesting target for streaming unlockers because of the BBC iPlayer. Thanks to the advent of streaming video services, watching BBC shows outside of the UK is easier than ever, but the ability to use iPlayer is still a much sought-after feature. With access to iPlayer, you can watch just about any BBC program, for free. If you’re not a UK resident, using the iPlayer definitely breaks the BBC’s terms of service, however.
Note that not all VPN streamers who might benefit from reading this story are from outside the UK. If you live in London and are traveling abroad (safely, in these COVID times) you might find you’re unable to watch your favorite Netflix or BBC shows. With a VPN you can pick up where you left off—in theory, at least.
When we tested VPN access to iPlayer in August of 2021, the vast majority of VPNs we evaluated were able to access it, including: ExpressVPN, Hotspot Shield VPN, IPVanish, KeepSolid VPN Unlimited, Mozilla VPN, Mullvad VPN, NordVPN, Surfshark, TunnelBear, and VyprVPN. Your mileage, of course, may vary.
For streaming video, having more servers is usually better. If you find that one server doesn’t work, jumping to another may do the trick.
How to Pick a VPN Server in the UK
Choosing a server within your VPN is often blind luck. You just have to start and stop the VPN repeatedly until you find one that works, assuming any do.
Some VPNs make finding the right server for streaming a little easier. A few have specially marked streaming servers, which are usually accessed from the server selection menu.
Other VPNs have a more fine-grained approach, letting you select a server among all those available in a given region. The best VPNs show the load on each server, so you can avoid an overcrowded one. Of the VPNs in this roundup, you can select a specific server from CyberGhost VPN, ExpressVPN, IPVanish VPN, Mullvad VPN, NordVPN, Private Internet Access VPN, and ProtonVPN. HMA and Surfshark VPN notably provide options to rotate your IP address automatically, which may also help find a suitable server.
While the theory behind streaming via VPN is simple, it’s trickier in practice. Netflix, in particular, is extremely effective at blocking VPNs. Keep in mind that this is an arms race between streaming platforms and VPNs. A VPN that unblocks your favorite shows today may be blocked tomorrow.
If you’re not within the UK, or very close to it, tunneling to a UK-based VPN server will degrade your internet performance. That degradation is likely to get worse the farther away you are from the server.
Recommended by Our Editors
At PCMag, we use US-based VPN servers for all our speed tests. That’s because the bulk of our readership is in the US. As such, we can only provide evaluations of VPN performance when connected to a US-based server. Performance in the UK, and especially connecting to servers in the UK from other countries, will be different.
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has limited the amount of time we can spend in the PCMag Labs, which has changed how we test VPNs.The chart below has the most recent results.
Is a VPN Illegal in the UK?
In terms of privacy, there’s a strong argument to be made for using a VPN domestically. This is especially true in the UK. For one thing, UK intelligence and law enforcement has robust surveillance capabilities, similar to the US (in practice if not in scope). For another, the UK has previously attempted to limit online access to certain content—and by that, we mean pornography. This effort failed, fortunately.
In theory, a VPN should help protect your privacy and grant access to content under stricter control. Keep in mind that we haven’t tested the ability of any of the VPNs in this list against the specific challenges of the UK internet. Keep in mind also that while a VPN does a lot to protect your privacy, it may not be able to stand up against the range of tools available to a well-funded state actor.
Speaking of limitations, whatever VPN you choose will not protect against every ill. We highly recommend using local antivirus software, creating unique passwords for every site and service with a password manager, and enabling multi-factor authentication wherever it’s available.
Unblocking streaming video is great and all, but VPNs are simple tools that help preserve your privacy. If you want to learn how to truly vanish from the internet, we have a story for that, too.
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