Simon Migliano is a recognized world expert in VPNs. He's tested hundreds of VPN services and his research has featured on the BBC, The New York Times and more.
Our most-highly rated US VPN is Private Internet Access (PIA), with a phenomenal 9.6/10 test rating. No other VPN covers as many server locations in America as PIA, delivering fast speeds and unblocking many US streaming platforms.
VPN servers in the United States are commonly available, however the quality of the IP addresses offered is very low, as well as the services operating them.
We tested 62 VPNs to find the best free and paid VPNs that offer US IP addresses that unblock American streaming platforms from any country.
While the free VPNs we recommend offer secure servers located in the United States, they cap data usage and access to US server locations, and have weaker unblocking capabilities. This makes them less effective than paid VPNs.
Summary: The Best USA VPNs
Following our tests we can comfortably recommend the below VPNs to connect into America:
We’re fully independent and have been reviewing VPNs since 2016. Our ratings are based on our own testing results and are unaffected by financial incentives. Learn who we are and how we test VPNs.
VPNs Tested for USA
62
Total Hours Testing VPNs
30,000+
US Streaming Services Tested
8
The Best USA VPNs Compared
We compared our chosen US VPNs in the table below, based on speeds connecting into the US, ability to unblock US streaming platforms from abroad, and price.
Private Internet Access (PIA) is a cheap, no-logs VPN that has the largest pool of available US IP addresses.
The VPN provider runs servers in 50 US states, and it’s the only VPN to offer IP addresses in every part of America. Its speeds are some of the fastest we’ve tested, too.
While PIA unblocked US Netflix, HBO Max, and Hulu among other US content platforms, it’s sadly not compatible with as many devices as ExpressVPN, and it still doesn’t work with Disney+.
Fast Servers in Every Single US State
Private Internet Access is by far the best VPN when it comes to US server locations.
The VPN gives you access to server locations in every single US state, which no other VPN offers.
PIA’s US servers on iOS.
If you’re abroad and want to access specific region-restricted content,such as local web content and watch local news, then PIA VPN is the right choice for you.
Also, the VPN’s long-distance speeds are some of the fastest we’ve recorded. We’ve also never experienced traffic congestion, thanks to the sheer amount of servers on offer.
Effective at Bypassing US Geo-restrictions
PIA is an effective streaming VPN, able to get around geo-blocks imposed by platforms like Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, and ESPN+.
Private Internet Access unblocked Hulu in our tests.
However, unlike NordVPN and ExpressVPN, PIA’s streaming compatibility isn’t as reliable across different devices.
For instance, the Fire TV Stick app only works with Hulu, but no other major American streaming apps.
Moreover, PIA’s smart DNS service doesn’t work with streaming apps at all.
On devices that don’t support VPN apps, like games consoles, you can install PIA on your router, but you won’t enjoy the ‘luxury’ of a dedicated router app that ExpressVPN offers.
Very Affordable with a Seven-day Free Trial
Private Internet Access is a safe and trustworthy VPN with verified no-logs VPN policy.
PIA also includes an effective ad blocker called MACE, and extra features like split tunneling, port forwarding, customizable encryption, and a SOCKS5 proxy as part of the VPN service.
At the same time, PIA’s apps are user-friendly, which makes the service a good choice for newcomers and experienced VPN users alike.
All of the above is available at just $2.03 per month on a two-year subscription, making it one of cheapest VPNs on the market.
You can also take advantage of a seven-day VPN free trial, available via the Apple and Google Play App stores.
ExpressVPN our recommended VPN for unblocking geo-restricted US content, thanks to its fast and reliable access to American streaming platforms across a large US server network.
You can connect to 16 US cities spread across 11 states, including Arizona, Washington, California, Georgia, and New Jersey.
Bypasses US Streaming Geo-Restrictions
ExpressVPN beats US streaming service geo-restrictions with ease.
The VPN unblocked almost all US streaming services we tested, including American Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, ESPN+, Peacock, Paramount+ and Disney+.
In the video below, you can see how easy it was to watch Hulu from abroad with ExpressVPN:
ExpressVPN unblocks Hulu from anywhere in the world.
The great thing about using ExpressVPN is that it delivers fast and unrestricted access across an incredibly wide range of devices.
In addition to its standard computer and smartphone software, ExpressVPN has developed Fire TV and Apple TV apps, a Smart DNS service (MediaStreamer), and even a dedicated router app.
IP Addresses Across 16 US Cities
ExpressVPN provides access to 16 city-server locations, including popular cities like Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York.
ExpressVPN has servers in the following US states:
Arizona
California
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
New Jersey
New York
Texas
Utah
Washington
While the company has never disclosed how many US servers it maintains, we have never experienced any serious server congestion and streaming quality has always been optimal.
But, this high level of performance does come with a price tag to match. At its cheapest, it costs $6.67 per month on a 15-month plan, substantially more than Private Internet Access.
You can either sign up to a seven-day free trial on mobile, or use the VPN’s 30-day money-back guarantee, which the company has always honored in our experience.
At $3.29 per month on a two-year plan, NordVPN is a slightly less expensive alternative to ExpressVPN for very similar speeds and access to geo-blocked video content.
However, NordVPN’s apps aren’t as well-designed as ExpressVPN’s. Its desktop software, for instance, can’t be resized and displays a rather useless map that takes up a lot of screen space.
Moreover, NordVPN’s Fire TV Stick has given us issues unblocking US streaming apps on occasions. And, there is no custom router app, either.
Windscribe Free is hands down the best free VPN for the US. It doesn’t require any payment details on signup and it offers a good amount of free US IP addresses that unblock popular US streaming services.
It no longer works with US Netflix, though, and its 10GB monthly bandwidth limit will limit HD streaming to roughly four hours.
Free Servers in California, New York & Five More States
Windscribe free lets you connect to eight US cities in seven different states. These include:
Atlanta, Georgia
Chicago, Illinois
Dallas, Texas
Los Angeles, California
Miami, Florida
New York City, New York
Seattle, Washington
Washington D.C.
For a free VPN, this is a very good amount of US servers. It has East Coast, West Coast, and Southern options.
Windscribe gives access to eight different free server locations.
While this is a small amount of countries compared to the full, paid version of the VPN, it still provides a diverse range of servers to connect to.
Works with Many Popular US Streaming Platforms
Windscribe Free unblocks most major US streaming services. For instance, it’s a reliable free VPN for Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Disney+, and Hulu.
Sadly, the VPN no longer works with US Netflix, though. It used to work in the past, but currently all the provider’s free US IP addresses are blocked.
Windscribe Free unblocks all major US streaming sites except for US Netflix.
Slower Than Competitors
As with any free service, Windscribe Free has its drawbacks. Primarily, its speed performance is less impressive than the paid version. The free servers just don’t compare.
And while there’s little difference between Windscribe Pro and Free in terms of security offering and unblocking capabilities, there’s no getting around the free version’s 10GB data cap.
PrivadoVPN Free is a very good free US VPN because it offers access to four completely free US servers that work with US Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, and Prime Video.
While its 10GB monthly data cap limits the amount of streaming you’ll be able to do, unblocking the American Netflix library for free is a very rare feat.
Almost all other free VPNs we’ve tested cannot access US Netflix from overseas. Even Windscribe Free cannot unblock US Netflix.
PrivadoVPN also unblocks a variety of other major US streaming services, including HBO Max, Hulu, and the US version of Amazon Prime Video.
PrivadoVPN Free unblocks HBO Max and more geo-restricted streaming sites.
PrivadoVPN has also fixed its Fire TV Stick app, though, so you can now use it to stream geo-restricted content on TV devices.
EXPERT ADVICE: Set up your PrivadoVPN account in a way that enables streaming. To do this, when asked to Choose Configuration, select Stream Content. Failing to do this prevents PrivadoVPN from working with streaming platforms.
VPN Servers in Four American States
PrivadoVPN Free runs four free US city server locations, including: Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington.
This offers a nice coast-to-coast spread, although it’s missing IP addresses in the flyover states and the South.
PrivadoVPN Free comes with 4 US servers.
Windscribe Free and Proton VPN both offer more US servers, but we’ve never encountered long-distance speed issues when using PrivadoVPN Free.
Our speed test data shows an impressive average local download speed of 96Mbps. Connecting to the West Coast from our New York base, we picked up equally fast speeds of 91Mbps. We experienced no severe loading times when streaming and web browsing.
Restrictive 10GB of Data Per Month
As with Windscribe, PrivadoVPN limits free use of its service to 10GB per month. This is restrictive, but still more generous than many other free VPNs, like TunnelBear’s 500MB data allowance.
PrivadoVPN is peculiar in that it requests you manually refresh your free data each month within your online account area. This is frustrating and unnecessary.
We’re regularly review VPNs for the US, and to date we’ve fully and carefully tested 62.
We continue to be surprised to see how many VPNs aren’t optimized for internet users that want to get a US IP address. Based on our tests, here are some popular ones that aren’t good enough at the moment:
CyberGhost
CyberGhost almost made it into our recommendations list thanks to hundreds of US servers that work with most US-based content platforms.
The key reason why we don’t recommend CyberGhost in this guide is due to its international speeds. They are often slower than its rivals’, inconsistent, and it sometimes takes long to connect to a server.
We accessed the American HBO Max library using CyberGhost.
IPVanish
IPVanish certainly doesn’t have a speed issue, however it has historically struggled to bypass US streaming geo-restrictions. It has improved lately, particularly accessing US Netflix, but it still can’t unblock HBO Max and Prime Video from abroad.
We were able to unblock US Netflix with IPVanish.
PureVPN
PureVPN is a respectable VPN but its speeds connecting into its US server locations were simply not fast enough. It also doesn’t work with US Netflix.
Surfshark
Similarly to CyberGhost, Surfshark is a reliable and trustworthy service which suffers from slower long-distance connection speeds and longer server connection times than desired.
We unblocked HBO Max using Surfshark’s New York server.
TunnelBear
TunnelBear is not a great VPN to connect into the United States. While it currently works with US Netflix and HBO Max, it can’t unblock many other services. It’s also considerably slower than most top-tier VPNs.
TunnelBear’s paid version worked reliably with US Netflix in our streaming tests.
Do I Really Need a VPN for the US?
The main reason for using a US VPN is to access geo-restricted web content that’s only available in the United Sates.
Your IP address is directly connected to your geographic location, therefore connecting to a server in America will assign you a US IP address.
Many internet users around the world, especially American expats, use a VPN for streaming US-only video content.
We easily unblocked US Netflix using Private Internet Access.
The most dependable VPNs for the US, like PIA and ExpressVPN, unblock American Netflix as well as other US platforms such as HBO Max, Hulu, Peacock, Paramount+, and even regional content from abroad.
Sadly, most free VPNs can’t unblock US Netflix and other American streaming services. However, there is one that still works and is our current top-rated free VPN for Netflix: PrivadoVPN.
How We Test VPNs for the USA
We’ve tested 150 VPN applications to see which work best to get an American IP address and allow you to use the Internet from abroad as if you’re in the United States.
To find the best VPN to connect into the United States, we test for:
A large number of US servers and server locations
Access to American streaming websites and apps
Fast speeds connecting from any country into the US
A private logging policy and jurisdiction
AES-256 and OpenVPN encryption, with no IP or DNS leaks
As few restrictions as possible in terms of usage
To make our recommendations, we connect into the USA and analyze each VPN in four different categories, rating each out of 10. We then combine these category ratings to calculate an overall rating for the USA.
In the table below, we summarize how our top-rated USA VPNs are rated in each category, as well as their overall rating for the USA:
Here’s a more detailed breakdown of the categories that make up our US VPN testing process, and how much of the overall rating each category represents:
1. US Streaming: 30%
Minimum Requirement: Can unblock one or more US streaming sites. We Recommend: Accesses multiple US streaming services and US Netflix.
Many people want a free VPN to access US Netflix. Or they want to watch content from US-exclusive services like HBO Max and Hulu.
We test each free VPN with the most popular streaming services to check whether it can unblock your favorite US services abroad. We regularly test access to US Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu.
The more effective a VPN is at getting around streaming geo-restrictions, the higher the rating.
2. US Server Locations: 30%
Minimum Requirement: At least one VPN server located in the US. We Recommend: Many servers on the US East Coast, West Coast, and Southern States.
We analyze each VPN’s server infrastructure to determine how many are US-based. The more there are, the stronger the rating.
Free VPNs are unlikely to have more than 10 US servers, but the more servers a VPN offers the better its overall performance will be.
The US is a huge country, so we rate highly the VPNs that have multiple servers spread evenly across the country from coast to coast.
3. Speed: 20%
Minimum Requirement: Download speeds of at least 60Mbps. We Recommend: US download speeds of 90Mbps or higher.
All VPNs slow down your internet speed, but the best ones do so only a small amount. The lower the speed loss we record when running a VPN, the higher its rating is for speed.
We are constantly running speed tests both locally and internationally to determine what sort of speeds users can expect when connecting in and out of the US.
4. Privacy & Logging Policy: 20%
Minimum Requirement: Anonymized connection logs and no activity logs. We Recommend: A strict, zero-logging policy and no data leaks whatsoever.
The US has some of the most invasive security laws in the world. So you need a VPN that will protect your privacy.
Security is particularly important when it comes to free VPNs. So many free services don’t protect your data. Instead, they sell your data.
We only recommend free VPNs that are reputable, certifiably safe, and private.
We do the work to analyze each VPNs security suite and privacy credentials. We read every word of the VPN privacy policy to ensure it meets the expectations users have of a VPN.
Simply put, the less information it collects, the better we rate a VPN. The ideal scenario is a zero-logs service, but those that do collect data should be transparent and detail exactly what data they store.
Data Cap Penalty
Almost every free VPN has a data cap. Although free services can still perform well in our assessment, being limited to a data cap massively reduces your VPN’s capabilities.
To reflect this, we apply a penalty to the free VPN’s overall rating for the US based on how restrictive its data cap is: