Best VPN for Canada in 2025: Stay Private and Stream International Video Content

ExpressVPN is the best VPN for Canada overall, thanks to its vast privacy protection features, extremely user-friendly apps and a large network of servers in the US and Canada.

NordVPN is the fastest VPN for Canada, offering lightning-quick speeds, a huge list of Canadian servers and unique privacy features.

Surfshark is the best value VPN for Canada, as it is the most affordable option on this list while still providing the necessary features for maintaining privacy and streaming while in Canada.

Proton VPN is the best free VPN for Canada, and the only no-cost VPN that we enthusiastically recommend, although it comes with a few caveats. Proton VPN’s free tier doesn’t have servers in Canada. The free servers available are scattered throughout the US, Japan, Netherlands, Poland and Romania. You also can’t choose which one you connect to as you’re automatically assigned to your closest one.

Despite its restrictions, Proton VPN is the only free VPN that we wholeheartedly recommend because it doesn’t sacrifice your privacy or impose bandwidth limits. Proton’s privacy credentials are among the best in the industry, thanks to regular third-party audits, open-source apps that foster transparency and unique privacy features, like discreet app icons on Android. The free plan isn’t ideal for streaming, but Proton VPN is still very much capable of connecting to Netflix US on the free tier. If you’re in Canada, Proton VPN will most likely assign you a US-based server as your closest free server. So, if you need a free VPN and want the added benefit of being able to catch the latest US shows, give Proton VPN a try.

Using a VPN for travel can be great for protecting your privacy, unblocking international streaming content and accessing services like your email from abroad without the hassle of pesky CAPTCHAs. A VPN keeps your internet traffic private so if you’re using airport or hotel Wi-Fi, your ISP can’t tell what apps you use or websites you visit. VPNs encrypt your internet traffic, which can make it look like you’re in a different city, state or country — you might be in Toronto, Canada, but with a VPN, you can make apps and websites think you’re in New York City instead. VPNs are great for streaming enthusiasts who want to access US-exclusive content from Canada or catch Canadian programming on CBC Gem while overseas. From Squid Game’s final season on Netflix to Daredevil: Born Again on Disney Plus and Yellowjackets Season 3 on Paramount Plus, premium VPNs ensure you won’t miss must-watch shows when you’re traveling abroad.

A study was conducted in 2024 by The Office of the Privacy Commissioner asking Canadian citizens a broad range of questions about their privacy expectations. The results showed that 87% of Canadian citizens had at least some privacy concerns about their online activities, with 23% stating that they were extremely concerned. There’s a good reason for their concern. Canada is a member of the Five Eyes Alliance, an intelligence agreement among Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and the US. Being a member of this alliance entails that Canada shares information with the rest of the member states, and vice versa.

We’ve reviewed dozens of different VPN providers at CNET and our experts picked out the best VPNs for Canada. We paid particular attention to privacy, internet speeds, app usability and streaming performance. If you’re unsure which VPN to go with, there’s no risk in giving one a try. All the services on our list offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. That means you can test out the service before your trip, and if it doesn’t meet your expectations, you can cancel for a full refund.

Reasons to use a VPN in Canada

We highly recommend using a VPN anywhere you go, but it’s crucial if you’re traveling outside of the US to Canada (or any country). A VPN will keep your information private from ISPs while connecting to Wi-Fi at the airport or a Canadian hotel. Also, while in Canada, you can use a VPN to connect to streaming services from the US (like Disney Plus, Hulu or Netflix), watch the latest sports game that could be facing a blackout in Canada, or securely check bank account information without triggering a pesky CAPTCHA.

Our hands-on VPN testing process approximates the real-world user experience so we can help you choose the best VPN for Canada that fits your needs and budget. We look at each service’s real-world strengths, especially streaming service unblocking, privacy, speed and overall value for money. Each paid VPN we recommend offers several locations in Canada, so we’ve paid special attention to the number of Canadian servers each provider offers (as well as server numbers for the US). We also examined how these VPNs work on a technical level, checking for DNS leaks and poring over privacy policies.

To accurately measure performance, we run over 250 internet speed tests across global and Canadian servers, checking for average speed loss and connection stability. We test to make sure VPNs are working properly, analyzing for issues like DNS leaks or client app malfunctions. We test VPN apps across several platforms using multiple devices to see which ones consistently unblock popular streaming services like Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video and CBC Gem without buffering or quality drops.

We also dig into privacy policies, audit results and company corporate structures to provide you with deeper context on whether a VPN provider can be trusted with your data. The VPNs that we recommend don’t just unblock content in Canada and abroad; they’re also providers that go above and beyond to protect your privacy. Because we regularly retest and update our findings, you’ll also notice that rankings can shift as services improve or slip behind.

PIA

PIA is a wallet-friendly VPN that’s cheaper than most competitors at $12 per month, $40 for the first year (renewing at $50 annually) or $79 total for three years of service. PIA has more than 35,000 servers in 91 countries, with at least one server in every US state and four Canadian locations (Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Ontario). Folks who live in or frequently travel to the US may appreciate PIA’s servers in all 50 of the United States — this can be helpful for streaming regional sports, like NFL games. With so much coverage, you’ll have no problem connecting to a US server from Canada to access all your US-based sites. Despite its relative affordability, PIA offers unlimited simultaneous connections, a benefit that pricier VPNs like Proton, ExpressVPN and NordVPN don’t have. It’s suitable for streaming service unblocking, provides a solid international server network and has highly customizable, albeit a little unpolished, apps.

We like that its apps are open-source, meaning anyone can inspect the source code for bugs or vulnerabilities, which is solid transparency. Only a few other providers, including Proton VPN and Mullvad, have open-source apps. While PIA largely sticks to covering the basics, it features some neat privacy amenities, including split tunneling on MacOS (which lets you use a VPN for certain apps and services but not others) — a rarity among VPN providers. Notably, Surfshark also has Mac split tunneling.

But unfortunately, PIA was rough around the edges in our latest round of testing. We clocked its internet speed loss at an underwhelming 49% average, meaningfully higher than the 25% average we like to see. Additionally, we encountered many CAPTCHAs while trying to perform basic tasks like running a Google search. Although streaming was largely decent, we had to change servers more often than with other providers, like NordVPN, Proton VPN, ExpressVPN or Surfshark. You can get Surfshark, which delivers far faster speeds, a better streaming experience and more forward-thinking privacy features, for a little more money. Still, PIA can be good on a budget for folks who need comprehensive US server coverage. Otherwise, your money is probably better spent on Surfshark or Proton VPN, both of which offer faster server performance and robust privacy while charging slightly more cash than PIA.

Read our PIA VPN review.

CyberGhost

CyberGhost works well for streaming, as it offers specialized servers for streaming different websites in multiple countries (including Canada). It also had specialized servers for torrenting. But in our experience, CyberGhost had buggy apps and questionable data-collection practices, making it only suitable for casual use, not privacy-critical use.

Read our CyberGhost review.

Proton VPN

Proton VPN is the only free VPN we recommend, thanks to its robust privacy and because even the free version unblocks US Netflix in Canada. Although its free version does not have a Canadian server, its premium version does. The free plan doesn’t let you pick a server — you’re tunneled onto one automatically — but the paid Proton VPN tier gives you a generous 12,000-plus servers in 117 countries. On its premium server, you can unblock a bevy of international Netflix libraries including some tough-to-access ones, like Netflix Egypt.

Read our Proton VPN review.

We’ve retested all our previous top picks for a bunch of factors, including speed, leak protection, usability and streaming capabilities. As a result, we’ve made some notable updates to this page. ExpressVPN remains our best overall choice, beating out NordVPN by the narrowest margin because of its slightly better privacy protections, transparency and more user-friendly design. That said, NordVPN has retained its title as the fastest VPN. Our testing showed only a 3% drop when using NordVPN, making its impact on your streaming basically negligible.

Surfshark continues to deliver many of the same privacy features as ExpressVPN and NordVPN, but at a much lower initial cost. Proton VPN is still a great privacy-first alternative in the same price range as Surfshark that also offers a free plan, but losing the ability to choose which free server you access has dropped it down our list. Although PIA shines in some areas, it’s been removed from our top picks due to its high speed loss and frequent CAPTCHA interruptions.