The Best VPNs for Online Gaming

Popular battle royale games, such as Call of Duty: Warzone and PUBG, use a system known as skill-based matchmaking (SBMM).

The algorithm determines your skill based on your in-game performances, then matches you against players of roughly the same ability.

To bypass this, you can connect to a VPN server in a region with a smaller player base. The algorithm then prioritizes filling the lobby over matching skill, resulting in easier matches.

A tried-and-tested trick is to connect to a region where it’s currently between 3:00 AM and 7:00 AM local time, when the “sweaty” players and streamers tend to be asleep.

Because the matchmaking server can’t find enough players at your exact skill level, the game will often drop you into a lobby filled with casual players and bots.

I’ve listed several countries and regions that work best for this further down.

If you play competitive multiplayer, compete in e-sports, or stream on Twitch, you may find yourself on the receiving end of a denial of service (DoS) attack.

DoS attacks are when an attacker sends large amounts of traffic to your IP address to disrupt your connectivity and even disconnect you from the internet.

You can use a VPN to hide your real IP address, preventing any DoS attacks. In fact, Xbox’s official support even suggests using a VPN as a preventative measure.

A distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS) is a far more sophisticated attack on your network from multiple sources. These types of attack are generally faster, more severe, and much harder to protect against.

A commercial VPN wouldn’t be able to prevent or disrupt an ongoing DDoS attack.

A strict NAT Type slows your matchmaking time, weakens your connection to the game server, and restricts your communication with other players.

Some consoles, like the Nintendo Switch, lean heavily on P2P connections and won’t work online if you have a strict NAT firewall.

Despite what some sites may claim, connecting to a VPN doesn’t change your router’s NAT Type. If anything, routing your traffic through both your router and a VPN server would restrict your NAT Type further.

However, you can change your NAT type by connecting to a VPN mobile hotspot on Windows 10 or 11. This consistently assigns you a moderate NAT Type regardless of your router or network settings.

Your internet service provider (ISP) may throttle your connection while you’re gaming, either because of how much bandwidth you’re using or because of where you are.

It’s also common for ISPs in hotels, college dorms, or other shared accommodations to throttle your connection to optimize bandwidth distribution.

A VPN prevents throttling as it hides your gaming activity and location from your ISP.

Some online games ban IP addresses they suspect of wrongdoing. This can wrongly lead to your IP address being banned, preventing you from playing the game.

It’s also entirely possible for your ISP to assign you an IP address that was banned due to the actions of a previous user.

In either case, connecting to a VPN server replaces the banned IP address with a clean one and gets you back into the game.

I’d stop short of recommending it if the ban is yours, though. Evading a ban you earned breaches the terms of the game you’re playing and can escalate to a permanent suspension.

It’s also not a universal fix: a VPN can’t do anything about bans tied to your account, your email address, or your device’s MAC address.

Though you can’t use a VPN to access games early, you can get games for cheaper in most cases.

On Xbox, the approach that works is buying a game key from a cheaper region and activating it on a VPN server there. I picked up a Red Dead Redemption 2 key from Turkey for a fraction of the US price and redeemed it in my Microsoft account through a Turkish server.

While this saves money, it’s also strictly prohibited in the Microsoft terms of service. I’ve never known anyone to receive a ban for taking advantage of it, but you are doing so at your own risk.

Similarly, I discovered that you can use a VPN to get Steam games for cheap on PC.

On PlayStation, a VPN won’t get you cheaper games at all. Your PS Store is tied to the region of your account rather than your IP address, so the only route is creating a new PSN account in another country, which is a slow and frustrating process.

While IPVanish performed well in my gaming tests, its main shortcomings were the lack of a Smart DNS proxy and a dedicated router app.

CyberGhost is an excellent VPN but its ping and download speed on long-distance connections are slower than those of my recommended gaming VPNs.

Put simply, Norton VPN isn’t private enough for me to recommend it. It logs your real IP address, lacks essential security features, and outputs average download speeds.

• Test Conducted: Recorded the ping times to game servers across the globe, using both our proprietary speed test tool and in-game ping measurements.
• Why It’s Important: A low ping time or ‘latency’ is essential for minimizing the amount of lag you experience while playing online, which is especially important in fast-paced games.
• Optimal Result: An average ping of 10ms or less on a nearby VPN server and 100ms or less on international connections.

• Test Conducted: Measured jitter by analyzing the consistency of data packet delivery across multiple servers. Using our network diagnostic tools alongside in-game telemetry, we recorded the variance between consecutive ping spikes rather than just average latency.
• Why It’s Important: High jitter causes instability that affects gameplay, even if your average ping is low.
• Optimal Result: A jitter reading of 3ms or less.

• Test Conducted: Installed each VPN’s PC app and tested if we could share its VPN connection via Windows hotspot. We also downloaded and tested its mobile apps with popular titles and used its Smart DNS tool on both Xbox and PlayStation consoles. If available, we also installed its router app and tried connecting a variety of devices to the network.
• Why It’s Important: VPN setup differs by gaming device. For instance, PC players can simply install a VPN’s Windows app whereas Xbox players need to connect to a VPN-enabled network. As such, it’s essential that a VPN service includes the necessary software and functionality to be used on all devices.
• Optimal Result: User-friendly and easy-to-install apps for mobile, router, and PC. Plus, a Smart DNS tool for streaming on game consoles.

We tested sharing each VPN’s connection via a Windows 10 and 11 hotspot.

• Test Conducted: Recorded the total number of server locations listed on each VPN’s website and compared them to the in-app server list to ensure consistency. We then connected to several VPN servers while using our IP lookup tool to verify that they were working correctly.
• Why It’s Important: An extensive server network ensures that there’s always a server nearby to minimize latency and download speed loss. Moreover, a vast server network allows you to connect to online lobbies in regions with a lower player base, providing easier opponents.
• Optimal Result: A VPN server list covering every inhabited continent, with multiple servers per location.

• Test Conducted: Evaluated each VPN’s encryption using Wireshark, a packet analyzer. We also tested for IP or DNS leaks using a mix of in-house and third-party tools.
• Why It’s Important: Robust VPN encryption prevents your ISP from detecting your gaming activity and throttling your connection. Plus, VPN encryption conceals your real IP address, protecting you from malicious third-parties.
• Optimal Result: AES-256 or ChaCha20 encryption with no known security vulnerabilities or data leaks.