Best VPN for Kodi

A service operating out of the British Virgin Islands, ExpressVPN lives up to its name, offering blazing fast speeds on most of its 3,000+ servers located in 160 locations in 94 countries. It also works well with Kodi on a multitude of platforms, from PC and mobile devices to smart TVs.

The security features that come with ExpressVPN with Kodi are fantastic, too. The app automatically connects you to OpenVPN, which is the safest VPN protocol around. It also features 256-bit AES encryption and a zero-logging policy, so your private data is as safe as it can be.

In addition to security and speed, what makes ExpressVPN the best VPN of 2020 for Kodi is the wealth of useful features that the software comes with. To start off, there is a seamless kill switch for when you need to pull the plug on your connection. The app also features split tunneling, an advanced security feature enabling you to route only select traffic through your VPN. This is great if you only want to use a Kodi proxy server, while doing everything else through your standard internet connection. Finally, the company’s many servers run entirely on RAM, which ensures that every reboot wipes all of the data stored.

ExpressVPN is a great VPN for Kodi when it comes to user experience, too. The UI is easy and well-optimized for mobile devices. It allows you to make a favorites list for servers that you use frequently. It also suggests good servers to connect to when you boot up the app, based on your location. Customer service is available 24/7 if you encounter any problems.

Overall, there is not much we can say against ExpressVPN. The maximum number of simultaneous connections (five) could be better, and the price is definitely not its strong suit ($12.95 a month or $8.32/month for a yearly plan), but considering the fantastic speed, security, and ease of use, we feel that it’s a worthwhile investment.

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room first. Unlike most providers we will touch on in this article, IPVanish is based in the United States. This means that, since the United States is part of the Five Eyes alliance, your private data could conceivably be requested by the government, and the company’s strict no-logs policy would not help. That said, you’d have to attract the government’s attention first, and that takes more than streaming some Netflix on your Kodi, so it’s really a non-issue for most people.

Speaking of streaming, if speed is your primary concern when picking the best VPN for Kodi, you can’t go wrong with IPVanish. We’ve consistently found it to be lightning-quick when streaming content from various sources, and with over 1,300 servers in 75+ locations around the world, geo-blocking will no longer be a concern for you. 

When it comes to security, in addition to the aforementioned no-logging policy, IPVanish has 256-bit encryption, with support for OpenVPN, PPTP, and L2TP protocols. There is also a very handy kill switch. However ,the service provides no ad-blocking functionality, so you’d have to get that taken care of with a Kodi addon.

Although it is a Windows app, IPVanish VPN is very easy to set up and use on a variety of platforms, and it works seamlessly with Kodi. It’s also the best VPN for Kodi streaming if you care about P2P features such as country recommendations for file sharing, which can be useful for people looking to stream cached torrents through Real-Debrid. Another useful feature is the integration with the cloud service provider SugarSync, which allows you to synchronize your data between different devices you may use Kodi on.

When it comes to pricing, a one-year plan is your best bet. The company is currently running a promotion where 39 bucks a year gets you VPN protection and SugarSync services. If you don’t want to commit, you’ll have to pay $5 during your first month, after which the monthly price will jump to $12. There is a seven-day money-back guarantee acting as a safety net, but no free trial is otherwise available.

Overall, IPVanish is one of the top VPNs for Kodi, especially if you value speed. There is a bit of a privacy concern about the company’s HQ being located in the United States, but if that doesn’t bother you, it’s a great VPN option for Kodi.

Do you want to pay one VPN bill and connect your entire household, all your relatives, and half the neighborhood to Kodi through it? Surfshark has you covered. This affordable VPN provider is located in the British Virgin Islands like ExpressVPN, so you can be sure that its no-logging policy is safe from US government agencies.

Speaking of online safety, Surfshark features 256-bit encryption and a kill switch for when you lose connection to one of its servers while streaming and don’t want to risk exposing your IP. This cheap VPN for Kodi also has a variety of interesting features when it comes to both security and the user experience. First off, the No Border feature unblocks geo-blocked content. As with ExpressVPN, you can use split tunneling to route only select traffic through your VPN by using the Whitelister feature. There is also the very cool MultiHop option, which allows you to route your traffic through several servers in different countries, one after the other, further masking your net activity. You can also turn on CleanWeb to get rid of malware and ad popups.

The one aspect in which Surfshark falters a bit is speed. Although there is a healthy selection of 1,040+ servers spread across more than 60 countries, the streaming speed we managed to achieve while using Kodi left something to be desired. While this may not be the best VPN for Kodi if you’re after the fastest speed around, we’ve rarely had buffering issues, and unless you’re wanting to stream 4K, you shouldn’t expect any either. You can’t see the server ping when connecting, so you’ll have to make an educated guess and test the results with something like SpeedTest.

The main appeal of Surfshark is not its speed, though. It’s the price. While the standard monthly rate of $12 is nothing to write home about, a two-year plan will set you back just two bucks a month, which is pretty hard to beat. For that price it’s pretty clear that Surfshark is a top VPN for Kodi.

NordVPN is one of the most popular VPN solutions around, and it’s also one of the best VPN clients on the market, whether you use Kodi or another platform. It features a huge library of over 5,750 servers spread over 60 locations worldwide and is based in Panama, far outside the 5/9/14 Eyes alliance. NordVPN also features a strict no-logging policy, so whatever you’re streaming on Kodi is between you and the app itself.

Several VPN services are competing for the title of most secure VPN for Kodi, but Nord’s patented Double VPN feature is certainly the most foolproof method for ensuring VPN safety. Basically, every time you connect to NordVPN with Kodi, your web traffic gets automatically encrypted not once, but twice. Combined with a 256-bit AES encryption, you can rest assured that your net activities, whether on Kodi or not, will be borderline impossible to track. 

The downside to all this security is speed. NordVPN is generally a snappy service, and has been mentioned as possibly the best VPN for Kodi on Reddit and similar forums. But double data encryption can sometimes cause throttling, depending on the server you’re connected to. Thankfully, the option isn’t turned on by default, so you can easily switch it on for when you need extra security, or turn it off if you just want more speed.

When it comes to features, NordVPN has extensive unblocking options for getting rid of pesky geo-blocking and other streaming impediments, as well as an ad-blocking feature called CyberSec for dealing with annoying advertisements found on many streams. You can use it to stream Kodi on up to six devices at once. The company’s helpful customer support is available 24/7.

Finally, let’s talk about the price. While it’s not the best value VPN for Kodi around, NordVPN offers a variety of refundable plans that get cheaper the longer you commit for. While the $12 monthly plan is on the expensive side, three years will set the monthly rent to just $3.49. You can also get a refund easily by using the 30-day free trial option. Considering the wealth of servers, the top-shelf security and the ease of use, that’s a pretty good deal.

PrivateVPN has been around for a while. The Swedish-based VPN service was founded in Stockholm way back in 2009, but it managed to stay fairly unknown to the larger public due to less aggressive marketing and a much smaller server selection than its rivals. 

Let’s start with the basics. The streaming speed is excellent, and while not on par with ExpressVPN, it will certainly be more than adequate for your Kodi streaming needs. That said, out of all our recommended VPNs for Kodi, PrivateVPN has by far the smallest server selection, although those 150 or so servers are spread across 60 locations, which cover the most important countries you’d want to stream from.

When we say this is the best cheap VPN for Kodi, we mean it’s the cheapest way to get into VPNs if you’re not committed. While other providers such as Surfshark are even cheaper when you commit for several years, PrivateVPN is unbeaten for obligation-free one month VPN protection. It costs just $7.12 for one month, $4.88 for three months, and $3.82 for one year.

Now, let’s talk security. Despite being very cheap, the company takes security seriously. All of the popular VPN protocols such as OpenVPN, PPTP, L2TP, IKEv2 and IPSec are included, as is 256-bit AES encryption and IPv6 leak protection. It is arguably the top VPN for Kodi when it comes to security for good reason – the company takes your protection and anonymity seriously. This is also reflected in its no-logging policy, although Sweden is part of the 14 Eyes Alliance.

You can connect six devices to PrivateVPN simultaneously, and unblocking geo-locked content is very simple. There are several P2P-friendly options, which will please add-on fans, as the  best Kodi apps often require open access to P2P features.

Overall, PrivateVPN has a lot going for it. While it doesn’t currently have a dirt-cheap two-year offer, it is still the cheapest solution for short-term VPN needs and one of the least-expensive and most secure Kodi providers on the market. We just wish it had a larger server base.

Many people make use of Amazon’s streaming TV platform these days, but they lament the many geographic and subscription-gated restrictions it comes with. The Hong-Kong based PureVPN offers a solution, with a dedicated Fire Stick app and native Kodi support. 

PureVPN’s 2,000 servers are spread across more than 180 locations in 140 countries. They have no speed capping and their unlimited bandwidth can be used on up to five devices simultaneously. The company’s headquarters are located outside the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance jurisdiction, supporting its no-logging claim, although the company did change its policies after copping some flak; a man was accused of cyberstalking in 2017 in part due to logs obtained from PureVPN. 

In addition to being the best VPN for Firestick and Kodi, PureVPN has a lot of security features that can be useful no matter what platform you use. There is 256-bit AES encryption and access to OpenVPN, L2TP/IPSec, PPTP, SSTP, and even IKEv2 protocols, as well as a kill switch. The only problem is that the app tries to connect to each protocol successively, without informing you that it’s changing in case of a failed connection. In our testing, the kill switch protection dropped out a few times, but the DNS leak protection remained solid.

You also get split tunneling and an option to buy a dedicated IP address for an additional $0.99 per month. The ability to hide your proxy IP from prying eyes makes this the best VPN for Kodi users worried about IP bans. The same extra markup will get you port forwarding as well. Speaking of price, the standard monthly cost of $10.95 is definitely not cheap. However, opting for a two-year plan works out to just $2.91 per month, which is one of the lowest prices among all the Kodi VPN options on our list.

To sum up, using PureVPN on Kodi is a pleasant experience. It offers great speeds and excellent performance when using Kodi on Amazon’s Fire TV Stick. If you can live with the fact that the company is based in China (Hong Kong, to be precise) and your kill switch may on very rare occasions fail you, it is a fantastic option to consider.

We’ve almost reached the end of our VPN reviews. The last VPN and IP blocker for Kodi on our list is another company based in the United States. Much like with IPVanish, that is probably the worst part about this otherwise excellent provider, due to privacy concerns about VPN providers located within the jurisdiction of the Five Eyes Alliance.  

As a VPN, Private Internet Access has plenty to offer: 3,330 servers spread across more than 50 locations in 30 countries.

People often search: “What is the best VPN for Kodi”?

In our book, it’s a VPN that has a mix of excellent speed and security, bonus features, and a competitive price. While the PIA VPN might not be as fast as ExpressVPN or as secure as NordVPN, it certainly ticks most of the boxes in a competent manner.

To start with, it has military-grade 256-bit AES encryption and a choice of PPTP, OpenVPN, and L2TP/IPSec protocols. It has a no-logging policy as well, but as previously explained, this is not a foolproof measure for providers based in the United States. In addition, it gives you access to a kill switch, as well as ad and malware blocking functionalities. Unblocking filters also make streaming geo-blocked content a breeze.

A simple and intuitive interface makes using PIA a joy no matter the device. The well-designed app also makes it, if not the best VPN for Kodi on Android, then certainly one of the strongest contenders for when a VPN is needed for Kodi usage on the go. The customer support is not so great – live chat is only available to paying customers. 

The $11.95 monthly fee places PIA right alongside the NordVPN as one of the more expensive options, cheaper than only ExpressVPN and the basic IPVanish plan.

Private Internet Access is a great all-rounder and an excellent choice for Android Kodi users. While not necessarily the best app for Kodi in any one particular area, it’s pretty solid across the board.