The Best VPNs for Kodi

Hotspot Shield is a popular VPN, but it logs too much data for us to recommend it for Kodi. It records your bandwidth usage, connection timestamps, and even your original IP address. Additionally, it’s based in the US, which is concerning for a Kodi VPN as US surveillance laws allow authorities to request your data from HSS, and corporate pressure from copyright holders can influence lawmakers.

PureVPN is one of the few VPNs with a Kodi add-on, which we enjoyed using. However, we can’t recommend it for Kodi as it isn’t private enough. It logs lots of information about the date, time, and duration of your connection – as well as your ISP.

VPN Unlimited logs your IP address for the duration of your VPN session and then deletes it afterward. Although this is theoretically safe, we don’t believe any VPN should be logging your IP address at any point. To make matters worse, VPN Unlimited is based in the US, which is one of the worst places for a Kodi VPN to be based.

VPN Proxy Master is not safe to use for any purpose. We tested it with Wireshark and discovered that it does not encrypt your internet traffic and has a history of injecting malware. Furthermore, it has mysterious links with China and sells its user’s data.

Hola VPN is free and fast, but it’s logging policy is one of the worst we’ve encountered. It logs almost everything about your online activity and shares that information with third-parties. In addition, we discovered that it lacks rudimentary security features like encryption and blocks torrenting. Nothing about Hola VPN is suitable for using with Kodi.

This method is the easiest. Simply download a VPN onto your desktop or laptop, install Kodi, and then run both concurrently.

Adding Kodi to a Fire TV device allows you to create an all-in-one media player. While the Kodi application isn’t available directly from the Amazon App Store, it’s still easy to install.

How to Sideload Kodi on Fire TV

1. Launch your Fire TV device and go to the Amazon App Store.
2. Search for the Downloader app within the store and install it.



3. Next, navigate to Settings > My Fire TV > Developer Options.



4. Turn on ADB debugging and select Enable apps from unknown sources.



5. Allow app permissions for the Downloader app.



6. Open the Downloader app and allow it to access photos, media, and files on your device.
7. In the URL field insert https://kodi.tv/download/android and select Go.



8. Select and download the ARMV7A (32BIT) .apk file of the latest Kodi version.



9. Once the Kodi application has finished downloading, click Install.

Once you’ve completed these steps, you can download and install your VPN on your Fire TV.

The easiest way to do this is to navigate to the Amazon App Store, search for your chosen VPN app, and install it as any other app.

An Android phone is the easiest device to set up Kodi with a VPN. It’s simply a case of installing both apps from the Google Play Store.

Follow the instructions in the box below if you’re unsure.

As long as your Android TV supports the Google Play Store, you can simply download Kodi and your preferred VPN directly onto your device.

This method works with any mediaplayer running the Android TV operating system, including: Mi Box, NVIDIA Shield, and Google Nexus Player.

If for any reason you cannot access the Google Play Store from your Android TV, you can also sideload Kodi and your VPN.

Follow the steps below to set up Kodi and a VPN on Android TV, using .apk files:

1. Adjust your security settings. Go to Settings > Security and Restrictions and enable the option “allow apps from unknown developers”.
2. Download your VPN’s .apk file. On your computer go to your VPN provider’s website and download the .apk files from your account dashboard.
3. Download the Kodi .apk file. Go to http://www.kodi.tv/download, then click on the Android logo and select Google Play to download the Kodi .apk file.
4. Download both .apk files onto a USB flash drive.
5. Plug the USB into your Android TV.
6. Access your USB stick using the file explorer app.
7. Install the VPN and Kodi.

Aside from macOS, it’s harder to set up Kodi on Apple devices since the app isn’t available on the App Store.

Other publications suggest jailbreaking your device to bypass this problem but we strongly advise against doing so as it can permanently break it.

Instead, we recommend you sideload Kodi onto your iOS device using Cydia Impactor for Windows or Mac. While this method is straightforward, you’ll need to redownload the Kodi app every seven days.

If you have access to a paid developer account then the Kodi app will remain installed, but it costs $99.00 a year.

How to Sideload Kodi onto iOS using Cydia Impactor

1. Download Cydia Impactor onto your PC or Mac. The download link can be found on the Cydia Impactor website.
2. Download the latest Kodi .ipa file. This can be downloaded from the iOS Ninja IPA library.
3. Connect your iPhone or iPad to your computer. This can be done with a USB cable.
4. Drag and drop the .ipa file from Step 2 into Cydia Impactor.
5. Select your iOS device from the drop-down menu. It should be the only option listed.
6. Enter your Apple ID credentials when prompted. If you’re not comfortable providing this, we suggest creating an alternative Apple ID.
7. Wait for the app to install.
8. Navigate your device settings. On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > General > Profiles & Device Management and then click the profile with your Apple ID.
9. Click Trust.
10. Connect to your VPN and open Kodi.

• Test Conducted: We read each VPN’s privacy and torrenting policy from start to finish. We also researched the VPN company’s history.
• Why It’s Important: Reveals which VPNs will guarantee your privacy and ensures the VPN has no record of forwarding DMCA requests to users.
• Optimal Result: A no-logs privacy policy with a court case or independent audit to prove it.

• Test Conducted: Measured the local download and P2P speeds of all VPNs on a standard 100Mbps connection.
• Why It’s Important: A fast VPN is vital for buffer-free streaming, with local speed being the most relevant to Kodi streaming, and some popular Kodi add-ons require a P2P connection.
• Optimal Result: A local speed loss no greater than 10% speed and a bitrate of at least 7MiB/s.

• Test Conducted: Inspected each VPN’s suite of apps and downloaded available apps for Fire TV Stick, Windows, macOS, Android TV, Android, and Linux (LibreELEC), using each over a period of time with Kodi.
• Why It’s Important: Identifies which VPNs allow you to stream Kodi safely, how user-friendly the apps are, and which VPNs provide the overall best service for Kodi.
• Optimal Result: User-friendly apps that are compatible with Fire TV, Android TV, and LibreELEC.

• Test Conducted: Evaluated each VPN’s ability to unblock popular geo-restricted Kodi add-ons, like BBC iPlayer and France.tv.
• Why It’s Important: To ensure you can always access geo-blocked content from anywhere.
• Optimal Result: Consistent unblocking of every popular Kodi streaming add-on.

• Test Conducted: Examined each VPNs server network to identify those offering P2P-optimized connections and tallied the total number available.
• Why It’s Important: If you want to torrent or use certain add-ons with Kodi, you’ll need to connect to a server that allows P2P traffic. For the best speeds, you need a VPN with multiple P2P servers in your country or region.
• Optimal Result: P2P servers in every country.