The Best VPNs to Watch JioHotstar Outside India

Like every secure and trustworthy VPN, ExpressVPN’s Indian servers aren’t physically located in the country. That hasn’t affected the quality or dependability of its Indian IP addresses one bit.

Its 150 servers, labeled India (via Singapore) and India (via UK) in the app, worked flawlessly in my tests, with reassuring stability and excellent video quality throughout.

ExpressVPN’s Indian server list on its desktop app.

Oddly, the servers aren’t marked with city-specific locations, so I ran an IP check on each to see what I was actually getting: India (via UK) assigns a New Delhi IP address, and India (via Singapore) a Chennai one.

ExpressVPN is renowned for its fast long-distance connections, and connecting into India from far-away countries like the United States and Canada is no different.

Connected to its India servers, my speeds dropped by only 15%, against Surfshark’s 17% and CyberGhost’s 19%.

This is where ExpressVPN really pulls clear of Surfshark. As my top-rated VPN for streaming, it goes far beyond the desktop and mobile access you’d expect.

ExpressVPN has built the most polished and beginner-friendly apps for every major device and platform: Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Linux, Apple TV, Android TV, Fire TV, and even routers.

They’re beautifully designed, in my opinion, with vibrant colors, few and clear buttons, and little to get in the way of changing your IP address quickly.

The upshot was instant success streaming Hotstar Specials like Criminal Justice and Aarya on every device I own, my Firestick and Apple TV included.

ExpressVPN’s apps are also the quickest to connect, and by some margin. Where some VPNs left me waiting five seconds or more for a new IP address, ExpressVPN was done in under three.

It’s true that ExpressVPN’s multi-year plans cost more than Surfshark’s and CyberGhost’s, but they are worth the extra outlay for what you get.

That being said, I completely understand if you find Surfshark’s or CyberGhost’s pricing a lot more appealing.

Keep in mind that if you only need a VPN short-term, ExpressVPN runs a 3-day free trial via mobile, plus a 30-day refund guarantee on any subscription plan.

Put the two together and you get 33 days of risk-free use of the best VPN for Hotstar on the market.

Surfshark’s Indian server network has been consistently reliable over the years I’ve been testing it. Its IP addresses are very rarely detected by Indian web services.

It runs far fewer virtual servers in the country than ExpressVPN, but that made no difference to the results I recorded.

You can also choose which city you appear in, Delhi or Mumbai, which isn’t something ExpressVPN lets you do directly.

I’d stick with Delhi, though. Its servers got me into Hotstar every time, whereas the Mumbai ones occasionally stopped working with the service mid-session.

There are some drawbacks to using Surfshark, which may or may not put you off the service.

As I mentioned above, its international speeds aren’t as fast as ExpressVPN’s.

The VPN is by no means slow, but every now and again I noticed the effect of connecting to more distant countries. On a handful of occasions my speed briefly fluctuated and the streaming quality dipped with it.

Surfshark’s desktop app is also far too cluttered for my liking. The interface feels busy, with too many tabs and settings crowding out the one thing I actually opened it to do: change my IP address.

Its mobile apps, on the other hand, are much more streamlined and enjoyable to use.

Surfshark’s India Servers on its Android app.

Finally, the servers are rather slow to connect compared to ExpressVPN’s. I’m not talking minutes, obviously, but a few extra seconds is frustrating when you want to change online location in a hurry.