Location-based licencing restrictions are the bane of many internet users, being told that “This content is not available in your region” is really frustrating. One potential solution is to use a VPN to make your traffic appear to come from a different location. This sounds great, but unfortunately, a lot of content providers have had that idea too and have taken to blocking access from known VPN endpoints. This has led to an arms war, where VPN providers attempt to add new endpoints faster than Netflix and other content providers can block them. Sadly, only paid VPN providers, and even then, not all of them, can afford to stay ahead of the blacklists. This guide will cover some of the best free VPNs for streaming with Netflix.
ProtonVPN – Unlimited free tier throttled
ProtonVPN is run by a Swiss privacy organisation, meaning it is covered by the strong Swiss privacy laws on top of being run by a company with a track record of understanding security. Only three countries are available to the free tier; the Netherlands, the US, and Japan, although only the US Netflix is available.
Unfortunately, while free usage is unlimited, it is throttled. You may be able to watch shows on Netflix, but you won’t be able to stream in HD without choosing a paid plan. For paid connections, the US, UK, German and Italian versions of Netflix are accessible.
Paid plans that support streaming, start from US$6.63 a month, for a two-year plan.
Windscribe – 10GB a month free tier
Windscribe offers a 10GB a month free tier which can be accessed by confirming an email address. The free tier doesn’t have any data throttling and allows remote access to more than 10 countries. Netflix is unblocked in Germany, the UK, France, the US and Canada.
Paid plans start from US$4.08 a month, for a 12-month plan.
Opera Free VPN – Free and unlimited, requires the Opera web browser.
Opera has a free VPN add-on that can be installed in the Opera browser. It’s completely free with no subscriptions offered. Downloads are unlimited and un-throttled.
The downside for this VPN is that you can only choose general regions to connect to. So, you may have to try a few times to connect to a country where Netflix is unblocked. Netflix UK, Singapore, and Sweden are accessible, although Netflix US is not.
UrbanVPN – Free unlimited p2p VPN
UrbanVPN is a slightly different offering. Instead of running dedicated VPN servers, it shares user’s internet connections with other users in a peer-to-peer design. This technique offers a highly reliable method of bypassing Netflix’s VPN blocks. However, it also comes with the downside that your internet connection may be used as a VPN endpoint by other users.
If you’re ok with offering your internet connection to other users, then this VPN is a solid choice, as it provides an unlimited and unthrottled connection. If you don’t like that idea however, you may want to give this option a miss.
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