VPNs are important for both privacy and security reasons, especially if you’re playing online with strangers. You never know who you might run into. There are many instances of DDoS attacks on players and even Twitch streamers alike. Some players use VPNs for better security, while others use them to bypass regional restrictions.
You may have a high-end PC to enjoy your favorite games, but what if your internet speed is not up to par? It might sound ridiculous to some, but VPNs can improve your online gaming experience by bumping up your internet speed. This is mostly applicable if your Internet Service Provider (ISP) has throttled your network. When you use a VPN, you can hide your traffic from your ISP, essentially disguising what you are doing and opening up an increased amount of bandwidth. When choosing a VPN, the first thing to consider is speed. Beyond that, there is also anonymity to consider, meaning that your real IP is hidden from others on the internet. This makes you less susceptible to DDoS attacks. DDoS attacks occur when a hacker overloads you, a gaming server, or a website with internet traffic, making their target lag and preventing users from accessing the site or online service. In addition to better privacy and security, VPNs can also help you access games earlier than intended. Many games are released in a particular country or region first before being made globally available for everyone to play. Many players even use VPNs to access country-specific online gaming stores that offer cheaper games than they would otherwise find in their home country. If you’re interested in finding the best gaming VPN, look no further. We’ve compiled a list of one of the best VPNs for gamers that you can use without compromising your network speed. While there is a wide range of free VPNs available to download, it’s important to note that free VPNs have limited download speeds and won’t be good for gaming. However, our list showcases some of the best VPNs available at reasonable prices. Most VPNs have monthly and yearly subscriptions, with the yearly options working out a lower cost on a month-to-month basis. Here are the best gaming VPNs in no particular order.
NordVPN
You might have already seen several streamers and Youtubers promoting NordVPN. There is a reason it is one of the best, if not the best VPNs right now. Fortunately, streamers promoting NordVPN are reasonable as it delivers what it advertises. NordVPN has over 5,400 servers in more than 80 countries around the world. You can have up to six different connections at a time on your account (i.e., multiple devices like your PC, iPhone, and tablet), and Nord also supports routers directly. Mobile phone gamers also use NordVPN for geo spoofing in games like Pokemon Go. It is also used to unblock popular streaming services such as Hulu, Netflix, and BBC iPlayer. NordVPN is probably the fastest VPN on this list. Prices as of May 2022:
2 year - $3.29/month 1 year - $4.99/month 1 month - $11.99/month
Supported Platforms:
Windows Mac iOS Android Linux
ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is one of the best gaming VPNs if you have friends living in another country, as it has more than 3,000 servers in 160 countries across the globe. The chances of your friend being in one are highly likely. Similar to NordVPN, it doesn’t have any free trial and allows up to five connections at a time. They also provide a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you are not happy with the service, you can get your money back within the first 30 days of subscribing. They have 24/7 live customer support service and are quick to respond to your queries. ExpressVPN also refreshes its IP addresses more frequently than other VPN services, which is important to keep them from getting blocked by providers. Price:
1 year - $6.67/month 6 month - $9.99/month 1 month - $12.95/month
Supported Platforms:
Windows Mac iOS Android Linux PlayStation Xbox
Surfshark
Surfshark is another popular gaming VPN that is on the cheaper side of the price spectrum. It falls slightly short of NordVPN in upload speed, but Surfshark is still considerably fast compared to other VPNs. Surfshark has over 3,200 servers in over 100 countries across the globe. It does not have a lot of servers, but it allows for multiple connections from a single Surfshark account. Yes, other VPNs do the same, but Surfshark was the first major VPN service to offer this feature for customers. Surfshark also offers a 7-day free trial period to test out their VPN, which NordVPN lacks. It is an excellent choice if you’re looking for an affordable and versatile gaming VPN. Price:
2 years - $2.09/month 1 year - $3.59/month 1 month - $11.49/month
Supported Platforms:
Windows Mac iOS Android Linux PlayStation Xbox
CyberGhost
CyberGhost is an all-round gaming VPN with over 8,000 servers in more than 110 countries worldwide. It doesn’t offer any free trial but provides a 45-day money-back guarantee and has router support. CyberGhost is fast when gaming and helps reduce lag thanks to the WireGuard protocol used across all its apps. Note, however, that CyberGhost lacks in the unblocking streaming services department compared to its peers. We wouldn’t rank the customer support from CyberGhost as the best, and they could use some more helpful user guides on their website. These are especially important for console users as it is not straightforward to use a VPN service on a console. There are also some privacy concerns associated with CyberGhost, only because they haven’t had any external auditor to verify their privacy claims. In fact, CyberGhost has apparently not undergone an independent audit since 2012. Price:
3 years - $2.07/month 2 years - $3.07/month 1 year - $3.90/month 1 month - $12.47/month
Supported Platforms: The above prices may vary slightly as they are written after converting the price from €EURO to $USD, based on the currency conversion rate when writing this article.
ExitLag
ExitLag is one of the best “VPN” providers that you can use in multiplayer games. Its service is designed specifically for games and is only available for Windows. We say “VPN” because a VPN generally reroutes your entire internet connection for all internet-based programs or games on your PC. However, ExitLag reroutes only for a game of your choice, ignoring all your other non-gaming traffic like web browsing and Youtube. This is useful if you’re not looking to change the region of your streaming service and only want to change your region inside a game. At the time of writing, ExitLag supports over 500 games, including the most popular titles such as Fornite, Warzone, CS: GO, and Apex Legends. This is also useful if you’re looking to evade throttling issues caused by your ISP or bad routing by your ISP. Bad routing always leads to packet loss when playing online games. When you enable ExitLag, it allows your game to pick the routes to the game servers and other players best suited for your network. This minimizes and, in some cases, completely eliminates packet loss. It has an extremely user-friendly interface, and anyone can use it without any complicated manuals or guides. ExitLag is widely popular for reducing packet loss and improving jittering issues. While it does improve your ping to some extent, it is best used for packet loss improvement. ExitLag is a subscription-based service and provides a free three-day trial without entering your credit card details. Price:
1 month (Monthly) - $6.50/month 3 months (Quarterly) - $6.17/month 6 months (Semiannual) - $5.83/month
Supported Platforms:
Windows
That’ll be our top games’ VPN picks for 2022. Hopefully, this will help you decide which VPN you should use for your gaming needs.
