For those of you who remember the early days of Pandora, you may still recall the excitement and anticipation of being able to listen to all of your favorite music on one service. Gone were the days of flipping through the radio stations to find a song you like!
If you are a fan of Pandora, it can be frustrating to find that you are not able to access your favorite service from outside of the United States.
In fact, if you try to stream Pandora from anywhere else, you will get this annoying error message instead:
“Pandora isn‘t available in this country right now…”
Thankfully, there is a simple workaround that can help you connect to and launch Pandora from anywhere to access the best songs on your devices in no time: A VPN.
When you download a Virtual Private Network (VPN) app on any of your devices, you can access services that are typically restricted based on your location. A VPN does this by letting you connect to a server in a permitted location — i.e., the US — fooling Pandora into thinking you are actually in the location of your remote server.
Because not all VPNs are able to access Pandora from outside the US, we did the legwork for you to help you find the best options.
Keep on reading to find out the top 3 VPNs that we recommend that will get your favorite music platform unblocked from countries all around the world.
In a Hurry? Here’s How to Quickly Unblock Pandora
What is Pandora?
Pandora is a popular subscription-based music streaming service, founded in 2000, that helps personalize users’ playlists based on traits it detects in the subscriber’s taste in music.
So, if Pandora detects that you are listening to a lot of pop-style music, it will show you more music in your playlist with the same characteristics.
Although Pandora has been around for 20 years, it still has a ways to go in terms of accessibility and reach. While some competitors, like Spotify, are available in different countries, Pandora continues to only be accessible from the United States.
Why You Need a VPN to Unblock Pandora
Because of licensing regulations, if you are located anywhere in the world other than the United States, you will not have access to Pandora streaming services.
If you use a VPN for Pandora, you can disguise your actual IP address that places you outside of the US, and connect to one of your VPN’s US servers. This will give you an IP address that makes it seem like you are in the US, even if you are sitting in a desert (with a decent Internet connection) in Africa.
When you access Pandora with a US server IP address, you can then listen to your favorite music that is typically only available in the US from outside the US.
Another reason why you may need to use a VPN to unblock Pandora — even from within the US — is if you are trying to listen to music from your campus, workplace, or another setting that blocks certain streaming platforms in order to encourage better focus and less data usage. In these situations, you can connect to a VPN server locally and bypass the network restrictions at work, school, or elsewhere.
How to Choose a Good VPN to Unblock Pandora
If you are looking to find the best VPN to help you listen to Pandora outside the US, here are some of the important features to take into account:
Servers in the US
Good streaming speeds
No bandwidth caps
Military-grade encryption
A kill switch
A no-logs policy
Leak protection
Good support
A money-back guarantee
Because you will likely want to use your VPN for other functions as well as accessing Pandora, the above criteria will ensure that your VPN choice is sufficient for any purpose.
3 Best VPNs to Unblock Pandora Radio in 2023
Here are our top 3 tried-and-tested VPNs for unblocking Pandora and many other blocked sites in 2023:
1. ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is our top VPN choice any time you are looking to circumvent geo-restrictions to access a blocked website or platform, like Pandora.
ExpressVPN has super-fast speeds and one of the broadest-reaching networks of servers, with over 3,000 servers located in 94 countries around the globe, including the US.
You don’t have to worry about whether or not your devices will work with ExpressVPN, since ExpressVPN has apps for Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, and other devices.
If you want to use your VPN service to connect to the Pandora app while other users in your household use your VPN service to unblock other website content, ExpressVPN will allow you to connect up to 5 devices simultaneously to a single account.
If you need to make sure you like ExpressVPN before committing to a long-term plan, you can listen to music on Pandora for up to 30 days with ExpressVPN‘s 30-day money-back guarantee.
- 30-day refund guarantee
- Servers in 94 countries
- Military-grade encryption
- No-logs policy
- Super-fast speeds
- 24/7 live-chat customer service
- More expensive than its competitors
2. NordVPN
NordVPN is another great VPN option if you are looking to stream Pandora from outside of the US.
NordVPN has over 5,300 servers in 59 countries around the world, including plenty in the US that will help you connect to Pandora.
If you want to make sure you get a VPN with fast speeds, NordVPN is a sure thing. You can also use NordVPN to get other popular streaming sites unblocked, like Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and BBC iPlayer.
If you prioritize your privacy, NordVPN is one of the safest and secure VPNs on the market, with AES 256-bit, a no-logs policy, a kill switch, and leak protection.
You can find NordVPN apps compatible with iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows, as well as other devices; and NordVPN lets you use up to 6 devices to a single user account simultaneously, so you can listen to Pandora while your family visits other streaming services online using the same VPN account.
You can get the best price for NordVPN if you opt for its longest-term plan, which you can do without any strings attached because of their 30-day refund guarantee.
- Over 5,300 servers
- Fast connections
- User-friendly app
- Compatible with most popular platforms
- Great privacy and security features
- Slower speeds in advanced mode
3. Surfshark
Surfshark is another great Pandora VPN, with over 3,200 servers in more than 65 countries around the world, including the United States.
One of the features that makes Pandora one of the best VPNs on the market is that it allows users an unlimited number of simultaneous device connections on a single account. And, since Surfshark has apps compatible with all main devices and platforms — including iOS, Android, macOS and Windows — this means that your entire family or office staff can download Surfshark to their devices and all have secure VPN connections on one single account.
If you are concerned with your privacy online, Surfshark offers a no-logs policy, 256-bit AES encryption, and an app kill switch, which will ensure that you are always safe whenever you are online.
If you want to test Surfshark with Pandora, you can try it out for up to 30 days and get a full refund if you are not satisfied or change your mind for any reason.
- Unlimited simultaneous connections
- Most affordable of the top VPNs
- App for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android
- Top security and privacy
- 24/7 live-chat customer support
- Slower, less consistent speeds
FAQs
If you get Pandora unblocked using one of the VPNs in this article, you can stream Pandora for free with ads from anywhere. If you want to get Pandora unblocked completely for free, you can take advantage of the 30-day money-back guarantee available with any of these 3 VPN plans and try one of these VPNs for 30 days at no cost.
If you choose the free option, you will not be able to listen to Pandora offline. To download songs for offline use, you will need a paid plan.
Pandora is a unique music platform that is based on a Music Genome. This Genome analyzes musical pieces according to over 400 qualities, such as harmony, rhythm, melody, composition, and lyrics. This methodology is so sophisticated that the development took experts over half a decade to fine-tune.
Download your VPN, install it to your device, choose a US server, and bam, you’re connected.
Conclusion
If you have your heart set on listening to Pandora music from anywhere outside the US, you are going to need to use a VPN.
The three VPNs listed above — as well as a few others, such as CyberGhost — can circumvent Pandora‘s geo-restrictions and help you stream Pandora from anywhere in the world with fast connection speeds and the top privacy features.
If you need to try it out before committing, give ExpressVPN a try (essentially for free) with its 30-day money-back policy.