The Best Free & Paid VPNs for Turkey

The Best VPNs for Turkey (Detailed Analysis)

1. 1. Astrill VPN: Best for Bypassing Censorship

   A secure VPN with Turkish servers and two obfuscation protocols to bypass website blocks.

   Ranked #1 out of 65 VPNs for Turkey

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   Pros

   • StealthVPN works 100% of the time in Turkey
   • Servers in Istanbul & nearby countries
   • No IP, DNS or WebRTC leaks
   • AES-256 encryption & kill switch
   • Privacy-friendly Liechtenstein jurisdiction & sensible logging policy

   Cons

   • Only one server location in Turkey
   • Expensive
   • No refunds or free trials
   • Slower than most alternatives
   • No mobile kill switch or browser extensions

   Overall Rating for Turkey: 9.4/10

   This overall rating is calculated based on the following category ratings. To learn more, read our Turkey VPN testing methodology.

   • Bypassing Turkish Censorship:
     9.9/10
   • Obfuscation Technology:
     9.8/10
   • Privacy & Logging Policy:
     8.3/10
   • Speed:
     7.8/10
   • Turkey Server Locations:
     8.8/10
   • Security & Technical Features:
     9.4/10

   Astrill VPN is our top recommendation for Turkey and other highly-censored countries.

   The VPN is extremely effective at bypassing internet censorship and VPN blocks thanks to its obfuscation protocol, StealthVPN, which consistently avoids detection by Turkish government firewalls.

   If you’re living in Turkey or planning to be there for a long period of time, Astrill VPN is the best tool to use for unrestricted access to the internet.

   

   Data Cap	Unlimited
   Turkey Server Locations	Istanbul
   Bypassing Censorship Success Rate	100%
   Turkish Netflix	No
   See all features
   Countries with Servers	56
   Logging Policy	Some User Logs
   Mirror Download Link	Https://www.getastr.com/

   Effective Stealth Protocols and Secure Servers in Turkey

   StealthVPN is Astrill’s proprietary protocol that works exceptionally well in Turkey. It obfuscates VPN connections to make them appear as normal web traffic.

   In our hands-on tests over the past three years, it’s the only VPN protocol to succeed at beating online censorship every single time.

   

   Astrill has servers in Turkey and nearby countries to choose from.

   We do find StealthVPN is slightly slower than OpenVPN and WireGuard connections. However, you can combat this by using Astrill’s SuperCharged servers for the fastest speeds.

   The VPN also offers a full range of encryption and security settings, including AES-256 and ChaCha20 encryption and the choice between OpenVPN, WireGuard, and StealthVPN protocols.

   Its built-in IP, WebRTC, and DNS leak protection has never failed in our tests, and its kill switch is reliable on its desktop apps.

   Astrill doesn’t offer a kill switch on its mobile apps, though, so we suggest using ExpressVPN or Windscribe Free if you plan to use a VPN on your phone.

   

   Astrill lets you configure settings with StealthVPN.

   While the service only operates 56 server locations, the VPN company owns them all, so it handles their security directly.

   Moreover, there are servers physically located in Turkey, but also in nearby countries Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, and Israel for faster connections out of Turkey.

   Slower Than Competitors and Very Expensive

   While Astrill VPN’s security is of the highest standard, we can’t say the same about its price or connection speeds.

   We’ve noticed a slowdown from Astrill in recent months; it’s now consistently slower than most of its rivals. However, its track record in censored regions remains strong, so slower speeds may be worth the compromise.

   Astrill VPN is also the most expensive VPN we’ve reviewed, so those looking for a cheaper subscription might be better off turning to PrivateVPN or Windscribe Free instead.

   Sadly, Astrill doesn’t have a free trial or refund period, either. It should really introduce one, especially in light of its high price point.

   Visit Astrill

   or read our full Astrill VPN Review.

   
   

2. 2. PrivateVPN: Best Cheap VPN for Turkey

   Affordable, fast, and effective – but with a limited number of server locations.

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   Pros

   • Stealth protocol works in Turkey
   • Servers in Istanbul, Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus & Israel
   • Bypasses censorship 82% of the time
   • Strict no-logs policy
   • Great value for money on a three-year plan
   • Unblocks many streaming platforms

   Cons

   • Small number of VPN servers
   • No browser extensions
   • Slower international connections
   • Lacks certain advanced security features

   Overall Rating for Turkey: 8.4/10

   This overall rating is calculated based on the following category ratings. To learn more, read our Turkey VPN testing methodology.

   • Bypassing Turkish Censorship:
     8.2/10
   • Obfuscation Technology:
     9.1/10
   • Privacy & Logging Policy:
     9.3/10
   • Speed:
     9.1/10
   • Turkey Server Locations:
     5.5/10
   • Security & Technical Features:
     9.1/10

   PrivateVPN is an affordable, no-logs VPN with an effective obfuscation feature that works in Turkey. It has a 85% success rate in bypassing sophisticated online firewalls.

   Thanks to its international speeds and easy-to-use apps, it competes admirably with more expensive alternatives.

   This Sweden-based VPN has servers in Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, and Cyprus — making it one of the best VPNs for the region.

   

   Data Cap	Unlimited
   Turkey Server Locations	Istanbul
   Bypassing Censorship Success Rate	82%
   Turkish Netflix	No
   See all features
   Countries with Servers	62
   Logging Policy	No Logs
   Mirror Download Link	Https://www.mediafire.com/file/c8rmhfb677ctitu/privatevpn-win-new.exe/file

   Excellent Value on Long-Term Subscriptions

   PrivateVPN is far more affordable than most Turkey VPNs. It costs just $2.00 per month, or $72.00, every three years. You can also try PrivateVPN for free using its 30-day money-back guarantee.

   For that price, PrivateVPN will unblock most websites in Turkey, and give you access to 10 Netflix libraries, including US and UK, as well as BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Max, and Amazon Prime Video.

   However, the VPN’s server network is smaller than Astrill’s, so you might encounter some congestion problems.

   

   We had no issues connecting to PrivateVPN’s Istanbul and Limassol servers on Windows.

   If you’re connecting out of Turkey, you’ll be glad to see that PrivateVPN has lots of nearby servers in Bulgaria, Greece, and Cyprus. Having servers in neighboring countries ensures that you get the fastest speeds possible.

   We’ve also found that live chat support isn’t available 24/7, unlike some other choices. This is unsurprising considering PrivateVPN is a smaller company, but still worth keeping in mind if you are unfamiliar with using a VPN.

   Strictly No-Logs & No IP or DNS Leaks

   Aside from these minor drawbacks, PrivateVPN is an excellent all-round VPN.

   It doesn’t leak IP, DNS, or WebRTC information, which is a must-have when bypassing censorship. It is also a 100% no-logs provider, so you can be confident of your anonymity with the service.

   All of its apps are easy to navigate and well-designed. We’re able to change servers, select protocols, and connect within seconds.

   

   Go to Advanced View > Stealth VPN to turn on obfuscation.

   It also has strong AES-256 encryption, an effective kill switch, and the option to purchase dedicated IP addresses. It allows users to torrent all servers, too, which is a big plus.

   All this makes PrivateVPN a top choice for those on a budget in Turkey. Some competitors may perform better, but none of them provide better value for money – especially for long-term subscriptions.

   Visit PrivateVPN

   or read our full PrivateVPN Review.

   
   

3. 3. Windscribe Free: Best Free VPN for Turkey

   A secure free VPN that’s able to bypass censorship, has a Turkey server, and offers 10GB of free monthly data.

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   Pros

   • Free Istanbul server & 10 other countries
   • Bypasses censorship 85% of the time
   • Minimal-logs privacy policy
   • Free version unblocks Turkish Netflix and 5 other Netflix libraries
   • Effective VPN kill switch
   • Unlimited device policy

   Cons

   • 10GB monthly data cap
   • No human live chat support
   • No longer works with US Netflix
   • Slower than its paid rivals

   Overall Rating for Turkey: 6.5/10

   This overall rating is calculated based on the following category ratings. To learn more, read our Turkey VPN testing methodology.

   • Bypassing Turkish Censorship:
     8.5/10
   • Obfuscation Technology:
     9.4/10
   • Privacy & Logging Policy:
     8.9/10
   • Speed:
     8.8/10
   • Turkey Server Locations:
     2.0/10
   • Security & Technical Features:
     8.1/10

   Windscribe Free is the best free VPN for Turkey. In fact, it’s the only free VPN that can consistently bypass aggressive website blocks in Turkey. It works 85% of the time in China, which has even more sophisticated censorship than Turkey.

   

   We were able to use Windscribe Free in Turkish using its language settings.

   The free version of Windscribe comes with limited server options and a 10GB monthly data limit. However, its AES-256 encryption is secure, and its speeds are very fast compared to most free VPN services.

   

   Data Cap	10GB
   Turkey Server Locations	Istanbul
   Bypassing Censorship Success Rate	85%
   Turkish Netflix	Yes
   See all features
   Countries with Servers	11
   Logging Policy	No Identifying Data

   Obfuscation Protocols Available for Free

   In most cases, we don’t recommend using a free VPN in highly-censored countries. While there are a handful of reliable free VPNs, the vast majority come with security flaws and poor privacy policies.

   Free VPNs are also much less likely to come with the obfuscation technology necessary to avoid detection by an ISP or the Turkish government.

   Fortunately, Windscribe Free comes with two extremely effective obfuscation protocols called Stealth and WStunnel. These protocols are specifically designed to work in highly-censored countries like Turkey, China, and Russia.

   

   Windscribe Free gives you access to both obfuscation protocols on Windows and macOS.

   If you choose to use Windscribe, it’s best to download the app before you arrive in Turkey because the Windscribe website is blocked in Istanbul and Ankara.

   Servers in 11 Countries

   With Windscribe Free, you get access to VPN servers in 11 countries, including Turkey, the US, and Romania to name a few.

   This is a much better selection than with a majority of free VPNs. Proton VPN Free and Atlas VPN Free are both very secure, but only offer servers in 3 countries.

   

   We used Windscribe Free to Watch Börü (Wolf) on Turkish Netflix.

   Keep in mind that Windscribe Free has a monthly data cap of 10GB, which will greatly limit the amount of browsing you can do or TV shows you can watch. Plus, it’s not able to unblock US Netflix anymore.

   Visit Windscribe

   or read our full Windscribe VPN Review.

   
   

Other VPNs We’ve Tested for Turkey

Of the 65 we’ve tested and reviewed, many popular VPN services didn’t make our list of recommendations for Turkey.

Many of these excluded VPNs have their own strengths. However, they failed to compete with the competition when it came to unblocking websites in Turkey, server coverage in Turkey, and in neighboring countries.

Below are some of the most popular VPNs we considered for Turkey recommendations:

ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN has servers in Turkey and other nearby countries.

ExpressVPN is an exceptional VPN in all testing categories. It doesn’t collect identifying data, has diskless servers, and it’s regularly audited for security vulnerabilities. It offers robust AES-256 encryption, as well as safe Lightway and OpenVPN protocols.

However, the VPN is not performing so well in countries with censorship recently. Its obfuscation currently isn’t as effective as Astrill, PrivateVPN, or Windscribe Free.

NordVPN

We used Wireshark to check that NordVPN kept our internet traffic encrypted and secure.

NordVPN is another great VPN with exceptional security standards, fast speeds, and the ability to unblock popular streaming services. But it doesn’t perform well in countries with sophisticated online censorship. In our hands-on testing, we discovered it fails to unblock websites in China 95% of the time, making it a poor choice for bypassing online censorship.

VyprVPN

VyprVPN shouldn’t be trusted with your sensitive data.

We used to recommend VyprVPN for Turkey because of its obfuscation capabilities. However, its new owners, Certida, have proven to be untrustworthy.

They quietly changed the VPN’s jurisdiction to the privacy-unfriendly US. Bizarrely, they also removed its VPN privacy policy and replaced it with an auto-generated Termly policy. You should never trust a VPN that uses an auto-generated privacy policy.

Proton VPN

Proton VPN is not a reliable choice for bypassing censorship.

Proton VPN and Proton VPN Free are extremely fast, secure, and private. In fact, Proton VPN Free is the best free VPN we’ve reviewed. However, like other VPNs we considered but dismissed for Turkey, they don’t work well in countries with online censorship.

Urban VPN

Urban VPN is not safe enough to use in Turkey.

Urban VPN Free claims to be a VPN service, but is in fact a peer-to-peer proxy network. This means it doesn’t encrypt your data properly and collects your IP address, and browsing activity. Overall, it’s not a safe VPN service and shouldn’t be used in Turkey.

How to Get a Turkish IP Address

It’s extremely easy to get a Turkish IP address using a VPN as long as it has physical servers in Turkey, or it uses Turkish virtual servers.

Here’s a short video tutorial, showing you how to get a Turkish IP address with ExpressVPN:

Play

If you prefer written instructions, follow the steps below to get a Turkish IP address:

1. Subscribe to a trustworthy VPN service with servers in Turkey.
2. Download the software and select the server locations menu.
3. Select a Turkey VPN server in a Turkish city of your choice.
4. The VPN will establish an encrypted connection from your device to the Turkey server.
5. Once connected to the server, you will have Turkish IP address. Confirm your Turkish IP address by using an IP checker tool

Is it Legal to Use a VPN in Turkey?

It is not illegal to use a VPN in Turkey, but there are restrictions.

VPNs are completely legal in Turkey, but their use is restricted. The Turkish government continually blocks websites, but people are not held legally responsible for attempting to access them using a VPN.

Keep in mind, though, that whatever you do while using a VPN in Turkey is still subject to Turkish law.

In October 2022, just months before the 2023 presidential election, Turkey’s government passed new legislation known as the “censorship law” amending its Internet Law, Press Law, and Penal Code.

It made “disseminating false information” with “intent to cause anxiety” a criminal offense, with prison sentences between one and three years. This law was used just a couple of months later to arrest a journalist for tweeting “disinformation.”

In addition, there is legislation for prison sentences of up to two years for anyone who “publicly denigrates the Turkish nation.”

This law has been used to actively punish criticism of the Turkish government, its leaders, and its actions. Beyond this, there have been large numbers of arrests in the past four years over Twitter comments critical of the government.

If you log onto a Twitter account associated with your real-life name or identity and then start criticizing Erdoğan, you could encounter harsh consequences.

Are VPNs Banned in Turkey?

Only specific VPN services have been banned in Turkey.

In November 2016, Turkey’s Information and Communication Technologies Authority ordered Turkish ISPs to block access to Tor and several VPNs services including Hotspot Shield, Psiphon, TunnelBear, VyprVPN and ExpressVPN.

In 2023, the Turkish government banned access to a further 16 VPN services without a court order. Popular VPNs like Proton VPN, Surfshark, IPVanish, and CyberGhost were amongst those chosen to be blocked for allowing access to news sites that are censored in Turkey.

ISPs use deep packet inspection (DPI) to inspect, identify, and block traffic if it belongs to one of these VPN services.

However, in its current form in 2024, Turkey’s VPN detection is still not as effective as China’s VPN detection infrastructure.

For this reason, many VPNs with obfuscation technology still work in Turkey, including ExpressVPN.

Which VPNs Are Banned in Turkey?

Some banned VPNs are able to work in Turkey, despite the government’s censorship efforts. However, not all VPNs work well in Turkey.

These popular VPN services do not work reliably in Turkey:

• Hotspot Shield
• TunnelBear
• IPVanish
• Proton VPN
• Surfshark
• CyberGhost

If your VPN isn’t working in Turkey, one possible workaround is to switch to a VPN that offers port forwarding — though it is a lot more complex than just selecting an obfuscation protocol.

OpenVPN connections generally use UDP port 1194, and this can be used to identify it as a VPN connection.

HTTPS traffic, though, generally passes through TCP port 443. If you can get your OpenVPN traffic to pass through this port, it is effectively disguised as normal traffic.

To do this, you will need a VPN provider that supports port forwarding to do this. In our list of Turkey VPNs, Astrill VPN and PrivateVPN are both able to port forward your connection. Windscribe Free only offers port forwarding to users with paid subscriptions.

How to Download a VPN in Turkey

It can be difficult to download a VPN in Turkey because the government blocks VPN websites.

If you are planning on traveling to Turkey, we recommend downloading a VPN before leaving your home country to guarantee you can use it once you are there.

If you haven’t done this, or you are in Turkey and don’t have access to the open internet, you can use a proxy to access the website of your chosen VPN provider and download their app.

Turkey has unfortunately ramped up its censorship of VPN websites in the past few years, so it’s much more difficult to download a VPN than it was just a few years ago.

You can use Astrill’s mirror download link to access the service in countries with online censorship.

If your chosen VPN provider has been blocked, contact their customer support via email. The top VPNs for Turkey will usually provide an alternative URL that has not been banned by the censors.

How Can I Access Blocked Sites in Turkey?

There are a few ways to get access to blocked websites in Turkey. The most common ways to bypass Turkish censorship are:

1. Use a VPN
2. Use the Tor Browser
3. Use a Web Proxy

VPN software is the most versatile of these choices. A good VPN will be able to tunnel your web traffic outside of Turkey without catching the attention of your ISP or the government.

This allows you to access the free internet without risking your security or privacy.

Alternatively, you can connect to the Tor network, a global network of community owned servers or “nodes” which anonymize your activity and relocate it to another country. Tor has been banned in Turkey, so it isn’t as easy to use as it once was.

The Tor Browser is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android.

Tor comes with its own risks, too. Unless you know what you’re doing, it’s very easy to expose your identity.

The third option is to use a web proxy. A proxy is more rudimentary than a VPN, and won’t protect your activity from surveillance by your ISP using methods like deep packet inspection (DPI).

Using a proxy can be a quick way to spoof your location and access restricted information. However, it’s much safer to use a more secure tool that fully encrypts your connection.

Which Websites Are Blocked in Turkey?

Under Erdoğan’s leadership, an increasingly large number of websites have been blocked.

To access these sites and services during a government blackout, you’ll need a VPN or another reliable method of circumventing your Turkish ISP’s restrictions.

Social media services that are routinely blocked in Turkey include:

• Facebook
• Facebook Messenger
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Instagram
• WhatsApp
• Skype
• Telegram

These bans have been harsh and unexpected, none more so than Wikipedia, which was banned in April 2017.

The image hosting site Imgur has also been banned in Turkey, following an incident where two men took a district attorney hostage and posted an image of him at gunpoint on the website.

There is very little transparency from the Turkish government, so it is hard to tell when a website might go down and whether it will come back online.

The fact that online censorship is implemented so casually demonstrates the need to use a VPN in Turkey, where online resources can be closed off without warning or justification.

LGBTQ+ content and news have also been a persistent target for censorship, offline and online. In September 2019 TikTok banned all depictions of homosexuality from its platform in Turkey.

In July 2019, the Turkish news site Bianet was also banned. This was particularly alarming, as Bianet is one of very few independent news sources operating in Turkey.

It later emerged that the ban was made by accident, and only specific articles were supposed to be blocked. The other 135 independent news sites were not as lucky as Bianet, and remain offline.

A huge number of social media platforms were blocked in Southern Turkey while the Turkish Armed Forces and the Free Syrian Army moved to invade Syria, against the Kurdish PKK and YPG, dubbed “Operation Peace Spring”.

Banning just part of the country is part of the growing technological capabilities of Turkey’s censorship regime.

How We Test the Top VPNs for Turkey (Methodology)

To make sure our recommendations are accurate, we use a scientific rating system to find the best VPNs for Turkey.

We test every VPN in five key areas, each of which are weighted according to their importance. We then combine this data to calculate an overall rating for Turkey.

For Turkey specifically, we test for:

• Ability to bypass censorship in Turkey
• AES-256 and ChaCha20 encryption
• OpenVPN and WireGuard protocols
• Fast international speeds from Turkey
• Servers in Turkey and nearby countries
• Effective traffic obfuscation technology
• Turkey-specific support (such as mirror download links and language options)
• No ties to Turkish or Chinese government or companies

The table below summarizes how the best free and paid VPNs for Turkey performed in these key testing categories:

Here’s a more detailed overview of the five categories we test for and how much of the overall Turkey rating they account for:

1. Bypassing Turkish Censorship: 40%

Minimum Requirement: The VPN works more than 60% of the time to bypass online censorship.
We Recommend: The VPN works more than 80% of the time to bypass online censorship.

A VPN’s ability to work in Turkey and unblock websites is the most important attribute for a Turkey VPN, which is why it is weighted highest in our ratings.

We test to make sure that every VPN we recommend is capable of functioning safely in Turkey without being identified by authorities.

VPN services that work in Turkey on the majority of its international servers are rewarded, while those that are banned or blocked by ISPs are penalized.

2. Obfuscation Technology: 20%

Minimum Requirement: Includes an option for active obfuscation.
We Recommend: OpenVPN XOR or Stunnel functionality.

Obfuscation technology is a key feature for any anti-censorship VPN. Obfuscation protocols disguise your VPN traffic as normal HTTP traffic, which helps it evade detection.

We test every VPN’s encryption and security settings to find out whether it offers obfuscation. VPNs with AES-256 encryption, no IP leaks, and a range of obfuscation settings are rewarded in the overall rating for Turkey.

We evaluate the obfuscation technology of every VPN we review.

To evaluate a VPN’s obfuscation technology, we take into account how many obfuscation protocols and features it has, and how effective they are at bypassing online censorship.

3. Privacy & Logging Policy: 10%

Minimum Requirement: The VPN only collects anonymized logs.
We Recommend: A clear, strictly no-logs privacy policy.

A good privacy policy is important for every VPN, not just those for Turkey. It reveals how much sensitive data is monitored and stored about your identity and activity.

To evaluate a VPN’s privacy policy, we analyze every policy and note which data points it saves about its users. The best VPNs for Turkey do not store identifying data and use diskless VPN servers to avoid storing sensitive information that can be exposed.

We only recommend VPN services that log as little identifying information as possible.

4. Speed: 10%

Minimum Requirement: Average speeds of 60Mbps or higher.
We Recommend: Average speeds of 80Mbps or higher.

We manually test the average download speed, upload speed, and ping time of every VPN before and after connecting to servers in Turkey.

Furthermore, we calculate a percentage speed loss rating that reflects the impact each VPN is likely to have on your VPN speeds.

VPNs with an average speed loss of 20% or less perform better in the overall ratings.

5. Turkey Server Locations: 10%

Minimum Requirement: A selection of servers in Turkey or nearby countries.
We Recommend: A wide range of servers in Turkey and nearby countries.

The availability of nearby VPN servers is also tested when rating VPNs for Turkey.

The best VPNs for Turkey offer reliable servers in Turkey, as well as servers in nearby countries. A virtual or physical Turkey server is a necessity for getting a Turkish IP address.

Out of the 65 VPNs we’ve reviewed, only 39 have servers in Turkey.

In addition, if you want to connect out of Turkey, having a VPN server close to your physical location will give you the best speeds.

To qualify for recommendation, a VPN must have at least one server in Turkey and in nearby countries like Armenia, Greece, and Bulgaria.

6. Security & Technical Features: 10%

Minimum Requirement: Secure open-sourced protocols, like OpenVPN and WireGuard, and AES-256 (or equivalent) encryption.
We Recommend: All of the above, as well as IP leak protection and a reliable VPN kill switch.

We use packet-inspection software to assess how well a VPN encrypts our traffic. The best VPNs offer AES-256 and ChaCha20 encryption to completely scramble your activity.

We also test every VPN’s kill switch to judge whether it leaks your real IP address, and conduct a DNS leak test to judge the security of a VPN.

To achieve a high rating in this category, a VPN must avoid all leaks and offer WireGuard, OpenVPN, or another safe proprietary protocol.

Data Cap Penalty: Up to 50% Reduction

Almost all free VPNs come with a data cap. Like with most limitations on free VPNs, this is imposed to encourage users to upgrade to a paid subscription.

If you use up your data cap, the rest of your internet activity will be outside the VPN tunnel. Consequently, your ISP can monitor the web pages you visit, and you won’t be able to access blocked websites in Turkey.

We apply a penalty to the VPN’s final overall rating for Turkey based on its data cap:

• Unlimited bandwidth: No deduction to the overall rating
• 10GB per month: -20% to the overall rating
• 500MB per day: -25% to the overall rating
• 5GB per month: -30% to the overall rating
• 1GB per month: -35% to the overall rating
• 200MB per day: -40% to the overall rating
• 500MB per month: -50% to the overall rating