The Best VPNs for BBC iPlayer

NordVPN has 629 UK servers in 4 UK cities, including London, Manchester, Glasgow, and Edinburgh. It is one of the largest UK server networks on the market.

The UK IP addresses assigned to these servers are also regularly refreshed. This way they stay regularly ahead of streaming blocks and IP blacklists.

NordVPN is also one of the fastest VPNs. We tested NordVPN’s speeds connecting from the US to the UK and recorded an average of 90Mbps on a 100Mbps baseline connection – a 10% speed loss.

Thought not as fast as ExpressVPN, these impressive long-distance connection speeds resulted in high definition picture quality, with no buffering or blur even during very popular live streams, like FA Cup games.

NordVPN offers feature-rich apps for Fire TV, Android TV, and Apple TV. We’ve encountered better versions of these apps, but they’re still functional and work with BBC iPlayer.

Unfortunately, NordVPN’s Smart DNS is not functional because it only works with US streaming sites. If you want to use a Smart DNS for BBC iPlayer, we recommend ExpressVPN.

Should you ever need any help streaming BBC iPlayer, NordVPN’s helpful live chat agents are on hand 24/7. We’ve found them to be useful at recommending UK servers and workarounds.

NordVPN costs $2.99 per month on its best price plan, which is good value for money. It’s not as cheap as providers like PrivateVPN and CyberGhost, but it outperforms these services when it comes to BBC iPlayer.

There is one caveat: after your initial subscription expires, NordVPN’s monthly price increases significantly.

If you’re unsure about the cost, NordVPN offers a 7-day free trial if you sign up on Android, allowing you to test its performance with BBC iPlayer firsthand

Additionally, if you do decide to subscribe, you can claim all your money-back within a 30-day refund window.

ExpressVPN is as an excellent choice for BBC iPlayer, especially if download speed and streaming quality are your top concerns.

Although NordVPN is also fast, ExpressVPN is the fastest, registering a speed loss of only 7% when connecting into the UK from the US.

This network speed guarantees buffer-free, high resolution streaming of your favorite British shows.

Historically, ExpressVPN has not been as reliable as NordVPN at bypassing BBC geo-blocks. But we’ve been testing the product for 8 years and have seen its performance improve drastically. Today, all of its UK servers access the service.

ExpressVPN’s browser extensions have been particularly delightful. These provide a quick way to access iPlayer directly from your browser, without needing to open a separate app.

Unlike the extensions offered by Windscribe and NordVPN, ExpressVPN routes all of your internet traffic through the VPN server, not just your browser traffic, adding an extra layer of security.

You’ll be able to easily watch BBC iPlayer, access UK Netflix, and unblock Channel 4 with the VPN.

While the service is more expensive than many other VPNs, just like NordVPN you can trial ExpressVPN for free for seven days.

Uniquely, ExpressVPN’s Smart DNS works with BBC iPlayer. In contrast, PrivateVPN doesn’t offer Smart DNS, Windscribe charges extra for it, and NordVPN’s option only supports US-based streaming services.

Additionally, unlike every other VPN, ExpressVPN has a dedicated app for routers. This allowed us to unblock BBC iPlayer on all our devices, including Roku and Chromecast, which don’t natively support VPN apps.

With ExpressVPN’s router app, switching our connection to the UK was as easy as it is on the regular app. In contrast, using NordVPN and other VPNs required us to manually download and re-upload configuration files every time we needed a new UK IP address.

We’ve also consistently found that ExpressVPN’s apps for mobile, desktop, and Fire TV are exceptionally well-designed and user-friendly, offering a more enjoyable experience compared to the alternatives.

PrivateVPN offers only 6 servers in the UK, spread across 2 cities.

This limited number of servers could make it challenging to find a new IP address if the VPN stops working with your streaming service.

We haven’t personally encountered any issues with access, though, so this isn’t a major concern.

What truly sets PrivateVPN apart is its affordability – at just $2.00 per month on its long-term plan, it stands out as the most budget-friendly VPN for BBC iPlayer.

Plus, if you’re not satisfied, you can take advantage of their 30-day money-back guarantee to get a full refund.

The biggest drawback to using PrivateVPN is its limited device compatibility. There is no Apple TV app and no Smart DNS service. On the positive side, it has now finally released an extension for Chrome.

All in all, PrivateVPN isn’t as good as NordVPN or ExpressVPN, but it’s more affordable and remains a reliable choice for unblocking BBC iPlayer.

Windscribe Free offers 2 London-based UK servers, both of which unblock BBC iPlayer reliably.

Windscribe’s free version is very easy to sign up for and it doesn’t require any payment details. It gives you access to the full range of device apps, so you can stream iPlayer on Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, and your phone or desktop device.

The only thing missing a Smart DNS feature. But for a free service this is still an impressive offering.

The biggest frustration when using Windscribe Free is its 10GB data cap, which it imposes to entice you to the paid subscription.

During our testing, the data limit expired before we could complete a full season of Sherlock and other shows.

You can extend your free data by 5GB each month by tweeting about Windscribe, but this only adds about 2 more hours of streaming.

When connecting from the US to the UK with Windscribe Free, we recorded average speeds of 87Mbps on our 100Mbps baseline connection — a speed loss of 13%.

While these speeds are decent for a free VPN, they lag behind the paid VPNs on our list, which explains the buffering and lower video quality we encountered when streaming BBC content.