Best VPN for China

Astrill made its name as the VPN for China and while it’s not as reliable as it once was since the ban, it remains one of the better options even if it’s pricey.

The biggest selling points are the two proprietary protocols: Stealth and OpenWeb. Combined with the standard VPN protocols, this means you have plenty of options during crackdowns.

City-level server choices in Asia as well as the US is great for optimizing your connection even if the number of servers/IP addresses isn’t best-in-class.

Less appealing is the ineligibility of China users for the free trial and a consumer-unfriendly refund policy that doesn’t allow for change of mind. Speeds and reliability also lag behind the bar recently set by ExpressVPN.

The price doesn’t drop below $8.33 even with 12-month plans, so combined with the drop in performance, Astrill is an at-your-own-risk VPN despite its many plus points for China.

NordVPN is a great budget pick for China as long as you are comfortable with the small amount of manual set-up required to use the L2TP protocol. Fortunately, this will frequently get you over the Great Firewall, although don’t expect ExpressVPN-levels of reliability.

A three-year commitment brings the price down to an incredibly cheap $2.75 monthly. The trade off is you can’t use the app itself in China as it is OpenVPN-only, which is blocked by the censors.

Performance is solid thanks to over 50 servers across Hong Kong and Taiwan. It’s not possible to manually select west coast US servers but automatic server selection should ensure an optimal connection.

A strict zero-logs VPN based in a friendly jurisdiction, NordVPN offers a series of specialty server types that are useful during crackdowns, including double VPN, obfuscated servers and onion over VPN.

Customer support is good quality but blocked without a VPN so set up before you go. Overall very good value but more fiddly and less reliable than our top pick.

PrivateVPN is an alternative budget option for China with some limitations that doesn’t require as much commitment as NordVPN. It’s also a smart choice if you plan to use it outside China thanks to superb speeds and streaming access.

The only connection option you’ll have is the LT2P protocol – which unlike with NordVPN is built into the app and therefore easier to use. While it’s pretty effective, it does mean you may experience blackouts during crackdowns due to the lack of alternatives.

The availability of servers in Hong Kong and a 30-day money-back guarantee are big selling points, as is the fact that this smaller VPN service has yet to attract the attentions of the Chinese censors.

The strictly zero-logs VPN is super fast outside China and very attractive at $3.60 monthly if you sign up for 17 months, especially if you are a heavy P2P user or streamer.

VyprVPN makes the grade as it still works in China following that ban, thanks to its proprietary Chameleon protocol. It’s not as reliable as ExpressVPN or Astrill but is still worth considering if those VPN services aren’t for you.

Server locations are China-friendly with options in nearby Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan along with options down the west coast of the US and Mexico.

Speed and reliability could be better, especially since the latest crackdown, but if unrestricted internet access is vital, VyprVPN can be a valuable part of your toolset along with other services.

Why choose VyprVPN over our top picks? If you use it with multiple devices, it’s more configurable experience than ExpressVPN and more user-friendly than Astrill.

For a limited time, it’s also only $4 (usually $6.67) over 12 months for the premium plan that includes the Chameleon protocol along with a NAT Firewall.