7 Best VPNs for Australia in 2024

Whether you’re an Australian ex-pat looking to watch good Australian TV or a native Aussie looking to browse the web securely, you’re going to want to find the best VPNs for Australia.

Because Australia is a member of the Five Eyes Alliance (along with the US, Canada, UK, and New Zealand), using a VPN service in Australia is the best way to access the internet anonymously and securely, making sure you and your activity are private and out of grasp from this Alliance.

On top of this desire for privacy, who can fault Australians who are traveling or living abroad for wanting access to Netflix Australia, or other domestic Australian websites? In this case, an Australian ex-pat can connect to a VPN server in Australia from anywhere in the world and access uniquely Australian content and services from NY, Canada, or any other spot with a good internet connection.

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) helps conceal your IP address and actual location, letting you connect to one of its servers in a choice of different countries around the world — including (with the top VPNs) Australia. When you are connected to an Australian server, you will then have access to the internet in Australia as if you are back in the Land Down Under — even if you are actually in, for example, Asia.

The top VPN providers send your internet traffic through an encrypted tunnel so that your activity is undecipherable by anyone who tries to get their hands on it. This encryption and IP protection keep your private life away from your ISP, your government, or prying eyes.

To find the best Australian VPN, my team and I tested out over 75 VPN services to find the ones that would be able to help users access Australian content seamlessly, as well as offer access to geo-restricted content around the globe.

On top of unblocking content, the VPNs that were worthy of making it onto our list all proved to have the top privacy and security features, ensuring that users can browse the internet in Australia without worrying about the 5-Eyes Alliance cramping their privacy.

If you want a sneak peek at our top VPN choice, ExpressVPN earned that spot. This VPN provider offers servers in 94 countries around the world, including server locations in Australia, so users can unblock their Australian favorites from all over the globe.

This VPN also has military-grade encryption, a no-logs policy, and is located outside of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance.

Keep on reading to find out the top 7 best VPN services for Australia in [year], and why we chose them.

Why You Need a VPN in Australia

One of the biggest reasons for using a Virtual Private Network is for heightened privacy and security. In Australia, because of the data retention laws, it is wise for Australian users who value their privacy to use a VPN whenever accessing the web.

Australia is a part of the Five Eyes Alliance (along with the other English-speaking countries: the US, UK, Canada, and New Zealand), and internet service providers in the land Down Under are required to surveil and record customers’ emails, phone calls, texts, and geo-location. Using a VPN service in a country where users are heavily monitored can give users a taste of freedom from this oversight.

When you use a VPN, your IP address (that reveals your actual location) is masked and you are instead visible with an IP address that reflects your VPN’s server location instead of your actual location. Your VPN sends your traffic through an encrypted tunnel, so it is hidden from your ISP, the government, and any other third parties, completely indecipherable by anyone who gets their hands on your activity.

On top of ensuring your privacy, VPN services can also help users access foreign content and websites that are typically out of reach from users in Australia. This way, Australians can access blocked content that airs in other parts of the world, and Australians who are living abroad can connect to an Australian VPN server to access their good ol’ Australian content.

If you are interested in torrenting Down Under, using a VPN is also a good way to safely and securely share P2P files without risking punishment.

How to Choose the Best VPN for Australia

Not all VPNs are created equally, and some will not work well at unblocking content or offering adequate privacy and protection from online threats. In fact, some free VPNs will even pose more threats to your privacy and security, making your VPN use counterintuitive.

To ensure that the VPNs on our list were the best choices for accessing the web in Australia safely, here are the important features my team and I tested:

 Privacy and Security: Privacy and security are arguably two of the most important features to look for in a VPN. Because Australia is located in a privacy-unfriendly country (in the 5-Eyes Alliance), it is vital to choose a VPN service with strong encryption, a verified no-logging policy, a kill switch, and leak protection. Using a free VPN service or a non-vetted VPN can compromise your security.

 Support: Whether you are a VPN newbie or a pro, there are always troubleshooting issues that come up concerning your VPN protocols or customization. The best VPN services offer live-chat support so that you can get the answers to your questions or problems quickly and conveniently.

 Refund Guarantee: Using a VPN that has a refund policy means that you have signed up for a VPN that stands by its service. It is important to have the ability to test your VPN without any strings attached before committing to a long-term subscription.

 Speed: Speed is a crucial factor when evaluating VPNs. No one wants to subscribe to a VPN product only to find that it actually slows your streaming, torrenting, gaming, or browsing. Using VPNs with inadequate speed can negatively impact your online experience.

 Able to Unblock Restricted Content: The best VPN service has a vast network of servers that is able to unblock the geo-restricted content you are trying to reach. Most users want to know, first and foremost, that their VPN can unblock Netflix libraries around the world.

 Device Connections: If you are living in a household or working in a setting that requires more than one VPN connection at the same time, it is important to make sure the VPN service you choose offers multiple simultaneous device connections (without slowing your connection speed).

 P2P Support: If you are looking for a VPN for torrenting, it is important to make sure you use a VPN that supports P2P sharing on its servers so you can torrent without worrying about your security.

All of the VPNs on our list below have been tested and have proven to meet all of these criteria — including speed, a strong network of servers, and top security features.

7 Best VPNs for Australia in 2024

If you are looking to use the best VPN in Australia, these 7 services are the ones that passed our tests, offer good speed, broad server networks, top security features, and great customer service. Keep on reading to find out more about them:

1. ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN offers the fastest VPN connection with the broadest network of servers, with over 3,000 servers located in 94 countries around the world, including Australia in cities like Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney.

ExpressVPN is able to help users in Australia access streaming services that are typically out of reach there, like Amazon Prime Video, Hulu US, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, and over 20 Netflix regions (including Netflix Australia) with great speed and no buffering.

In terms of privacy and security, this VPN offers users military-grade AES 256-bit encryption, a no-logs policy, OpenVPN protocols, IP and DNS leak protection, and a Kill Switch that will kill your internet connection in the event that your encrypted connection cuts out unexpectedly, ensuring that your unencrypted traffic is never revealed online.

On top of these security features, this VPN service is located outside of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance in the British Virgin Islands — a privacy-friendly country. This, along with the strict no-logs policy, can put users at ease knowing that their information will remain private.

Express has apps that are compatible with Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Firestick, Smart TVs, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Playstation, and certain Wi-fi routers; and it allows you to connect up to 5 devices to one user account at once. If you connect Express to your router, however, this will let anyone who is connected to your Wi-fi be connected to your VPN protection, with no limits.

Overall, this VPN is a great choice for Australia — whether you are looking to access Australian sites and content from outside Australia, or from within Australian borders. Its super-fast servers are terrific for seamless internet access and for streaming content from any location with great quality and speed.

Although it costs a bit more than its competitors at $6.67/month, we feel that ExpressVPN’s quality is worth the few dollars extra; and there is a 30-day money-back guarantee that will allow you to get a full refund in case you try it out and don’t agree with us (…but we’re confident that you will).

2. NordVPN

NordVPN is another one of the very best VPNs, with over 5,200 servers in 60 countries around the world, including over 190 servers in 5 cities in Australia — in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney.

NordVPN can unblock geo-restricted streaming services from anywhere in the world, like Amazon Prime Video, Hulu US, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, and over 14 Netflix libraries.

NordVPN has top privacy and security features, including AES 256-bit military-grade encryption, OpenVPN protocols, a no-logging policy, and a Kill Switch to kill your internet in the event that your VPN cuts out unexpectedly, protecting your unencrypted information from being revealed online.

You can use NordVPN on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Firestick, Smart TVs, Nintendo Switch, Playstation, Xbox, and more, and NordVPN lets you connect up to 6 simultaneous devices to a single NordVPN account.

In addition to its no-logs policy, it is good to note that NordVPN is located in Panama, which is a privacy-friendly country outside the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance.

With the current NordVPN promotion, you can click on this link to get a plan for only $3.18 per month. This includes 30-day money-back guarantee and live-chat customer support if any questions arise during these 30 days or thereafter.

3. Surfshark

Surfshark has over 3,200 servers located in more than 65 countries around the world, including 69 servers across Australia, located in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.

In terms of accessing blocked streaming services from Australia, or anywhere in the world, Surfshark is able to unblock Amazon Prime Video, Hulu US, BBC iPlayer, and over 15 different Netflix libraries. Although it can get through these blocks, and many more, there are times when you will need to switch VPN servers in order to get a buffer-free connection with Surfshark, which is why this VPN is only #3 on our list.

In terms of online protection, Surfshark has great privacy and security features, like military-grade encryption, a no-logs policy, OpenVPN protocols, and a Kill Switch to kill your internet in the event that your VPN cuts out, ensuring that your unencrypted internet traffic is never leaked.

If you are worried about data retention, Surfshark is located in the privacy-friendly British Virgin Islands, far outside of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance.

Surfshark has apps compatible with Windows, iOS, Android, Mac, Linux, Firestick, Playstation, Smart TVs, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch; and this VPN lets you connect an unlimited number of simultaneous devices to a one user account, so everyone in your household or office can connect using a single subscription.

If you are looking for the best VPN for Australia on a tight budget, or if you are looking to connect a lot of devices to a single plan, Surfshark is a great option.

Surkshark only costs $2.49/month for a subscription, which is a hard price to pass up. It also offers a 24/7 live-chat service and a 30-day refund policy, so you can test it out before committing to paying for a long-term plan.

4. CyberGhost

CyberGhost has over 7,100 servers in more than 91 countries around the world, including over 239 servers located in Australia. This VPN offers users good speed and pretty consistent connectivity across servers.

CyberGhost is another VPN provider that is able to unblock popular streaming sites that are typically blocked from access in Australia, like Hulu US, Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, and Netflix libraries in Germany, the US, France, the UK, and Japan.

CyberGhost offers users AES 256-bit encryption, a no-logs policy, DNS leak protection, OpenVPN protocols, and an automatic Kill Switch to kill your internet connection in the event that your VPN connection cuts out unexpectedly, ensuring that your unencrypted connection is not revealed.

In addition to its no-logs policy, CyberGhost is based in Romania, which is outside of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance.

CyberGhost has apps compatible with Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux, Smart TVs, Firestick, Playstation, Xbox, and more; and this VPN allows users to connect up to 7 devices to one user account.

The monthly cost for CyberGhost is actually lower than Surfshark, at only $2.25/month for 39 months, and this commitment comes with a 45-day money-back guarantee, which is a longer refund period than the other VPN companies provide. The reliability and speed of CyberGhost do not compare to the top 3 VPNs, however, which is why it is #4 on our list.

5. UltraVPN

UltraVPN has more than 115 servers around the globe, including in Australia.

If you are looking to use UltraVPN to unblock your streaming sites, you can use it for unblocking Netflix, Hulu US, and HBO GO, but not BBC iPlayer.

UltraVPN uses AES 256-bit encryption, a kill switch, and a no-logs policy, but it is based in the US, which is in the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance. Essentially, if you trust UltraVPN’s no-logs policy, it should never have any logs to hand over to any authorities if requested.

The slight problem is, when we dug further, we found that UltraVPN will not log your internet traffic, but it will log things like your device information, IP address, and location. This might be a problem for some users.

UltraVPN works with Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS; and users can connect up to 6 devices to a single plan.

UltraVPN offers live-chat customer support that is pretty easy to access and has a pretty quick response time, and you can also contact the UltraVPN team 24/7 via itstoll-free number for support.

Overall, this VPN doesn’t offer as much value for your money as the VPN providers above it on our list, so we would recommend going with one of them as a first choice as an Australian VPN.

6. Private Internet Access (PIA)

Private Internet Access (PIA) is another VPN service that is a great option for accessing the web in Australia.

PIA has over 1,500 server options in Australia alone (in Perth, Melbourne, and Sydney), with more than 35,000 server options in more than 78 countries total.

Using PIA’s server network, users can successfully unblock sites like Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and more. When I connected to a PIA server for streaming, the speed was good locally, but the speed was slower and inconsistent when it came to any server that was a long-distance away.

Private Internet Access offers AES 256-bit encryption, a no-logging policy, a Kill Switch, and multiple VPN protocols. PIA also has its built-in MACE ad-blocker that prevents malware and trackers from reaching your devices.

You can connect PIA apps to Windows, Android, iOS, Mac, and Linux, and PIA lets users connect up to 10 devices to a single account.

You can test out PIA with its 30-day refund policy, and access its 24/7 support if any troubleshooting issues arise at any point.

7. IPVanish

IPVanish has over 1,600 servers in more than 50 countries, including servers located in Australia in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, and Sydney.

IPVanish can unblock streaming sites like Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and more, but it won’t unblock Netflix.

IPVanish lets you connect your VPN app to Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Smart TVs, Xbox, and Firestick; and you can use an unlimited number of devices on a single user plan.

In terms of security and privacy, IPVanish lives up to its name and will not leak your IP address. It also offers AES 256-bit encryption, a no-logs policy, and OpenVPN protocols, but it is headquartered in the US, which is part of the Five Eyes Alliance.

VPNs That Don’t Reliably Work in Australia 

While a good VPN provider can keep you protected in Australia and help you access geo-restricted content, not every virtual private network is the same, and some will simply not work well in Australia.

Here is a list of some VPN providers that don’t work well Down Under:

HideMyAss: Because HideMyAss is a UK-based VPN, and UK ISPs are now required (based on the Snooper’s Charter) to keep logs of their users’ online activity, HideMyAss cannot be trusted with your personal activity and data.

But even before this Snooper’s Charter, 10 years ago, HideMyAss handed over evidence that led to the arrest of an attack against the Sony website. While this might sound noble, it is against HideMyAss’s policy, which specifically states that it does not keep any logs of activity. But, even if all they stored was its users’ IP addresses, this was still enough to arrest the suspect (and their customer) with a crime.

Hola: Hola is a VPN that lets users connect to each other instead of to a network of Hola-owned servers. VPN users use each others’ unused bandwidth, connecting to one another on a P2P network, which raises some concerns. VPN users have to be able to trust that people on this P2P network are not using one anothers’ connections for anything illegal, which, sadly, has been done. Just over 5 years ago, there was a situation in which users’ computers were used by Hola to initiate a huge DDoS attack, all behind its customers’ backs.

Should I Use a Free VPN in Australia?

While it is hard to pass up using free VPNs, we would strongly recommend that you try not to fall for the temptation.

If you are using a free VPN, you will quickly find out that most of them put limits on your bandwidth, restrict your data, and have a sparse network of servers. All of these deficits will make it hard for you to stream, game, or even browse the web without annoying buffering and interruptions to your activity.

In terms of privacy and security, almost all free VPN services are problematic. Just because they are not making money from subscription fees does not mean that they are not making money. Free VPNs make money in more questionable ways, like by selling user IP addresses to the highest bidder and mining your data.

Free VPNs also have been known to slip ads containing trackers into your browser, and sometimes even malware that will corrupt your device.

For the best protection and accessibility on the web, your best bet is to go with a reputable VPN service, like ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN offers military-grade encryption, will not log any of your traffic, and offers unlimited bandwidth and no data caps.

FAQs

Best VPN Services for Australia: Final Word

If you are in search of the best VPNs for Australia, any of the VPNs on our list would work just fine at helping you access servers in Australia, or access outside servers from within Australia to unblock website content around the world that is geo-restricted.

Our top recommendation of all of the VPNs is ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN has a broad network of servers located in pretty much any country you could imagine — including Australia.

This broad server network means that if you want to access a website that is blocked in your location, you will easily be able to find an ExpressVPN server close enough in proximity to your actual location to give you the very best local speeds.

ExpressVPN also has the highest standard of privacy and security, with military-grade encryption, a no-logs policy, OpenVPN protocols, and a kill switch; and it is located outside of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance. On top of this, Express consistently has a top rating on almost every VPN review website you will find.

If you want to try this VPN, subscribe today and you can cancel at any time with its 30-day refund policy.

G’day!