We would like to count page views and clicks with Google Analytics, which sets cookies in your
browser. It is how we learn which pages are worth writing. Nothing loads until you choose, and
declining costs you nothing on this site. What we collect.
A VPN cannot make a game faster — it adds a hop — so the best gaming VPN is the one that adds the least, has a server next to the game's region servers, and hides your address from anyone who wants to DDoS you off a match. This page ranks on those, and on whether the provider works on a console via router or Smart DNS.
NordVPN73 The densest server network means there is nearly always a NordVPN server in the same city as the game's region servers, which keeps added latency to single digits.
ExpressVPN74 Lightway reconnects fastest after a network hiccup, which matters mid-match, and the Aircove router puts consoles and the whole house behind the VPN with per-device region choice.
Surfshark76 Low added latency on WireGuard in published tests, unlimited devices for a household of gamers, and the lowest intro price of the majors.
The biggest network and the most features; renews at nearly triple the intro price.
73
Owner
Nord Security
Jurisdiction
Panama · Outside the alliances
No-logs audit
Deloitte, 2024 (report not public)
Price
from $3.39/mo · ~$7.53/mo over 3 yrs after renewal
Runs oniOSAndroidMacWindowsLinuxRouterBrowserTV
The densest server network means there is nearly always a NordVPN server in the same city as the game's region servers, which keeps added latency to single digits. NordLynx is among the fastest protocols in published tests, and Meshnet lets you host LAN-style games with friends over an encrypted link without port forwarding.
No router firmware of its own; works on many routers via OpenVPN or WireGuard configs. Renewal is steep.
Speed (our tests)
—
Price & renewal
62
Features
91
Privacy & trust
65
Largest server network in the market
NordLynx (WireGuard) is consistently fast
Four Deloitte no-logs audits since 2018
Two-year plan renews at roughly 3× the intro price
Sibling brand Surfshark is presented as a competitor
No port forwarding
Lab test pending — scored on public dataiOS app score 58/100 from 699,424 ratingsFull reviewVisit NordVPN
Polished apps and reliable unblocking; owned by Kape, which also owns three review sites.
74
Owner
Kape Technologiesalso owns review sites
Jurisdiction
British Virgin Islands · Outside the alliances
No-logs audit
KPMG, 2023 (report not public)
Price
from $4.99/mo · ~$7.08/mo over 3 yrs after renewal
Runs oniOSAndroidMacWindowsLinuxRouterBrowserTV
Lightway reconnects fastest after a network hiccup, which matters mid-match, and the Aircove router puts consoles and the whole house behind the VPN with per-device region choice. MediaStreamer gives PlayStation and Xbox region access without a tunnel.
Highest price; Kape-owned; only 8 devices on the app plan (the router counts as one).
Unlimited devices at the lowest headline price of the big three; same owner as NordVPN.
76
Owner
Nord Security
Jurisdiction
Netherlands · Nine Eyes
No-logs audit
Deloitte, 2025 (report not public)
Price
from $2.19/mo · ~$4.41/mo over 3 yrs after renewal
Runs oniOSAndroidMacWindowsLinuxRouterBrowserTV
Low added latency on WireGuard in published tests, unlimited devices for a household of gamers, and the lowest intro price of the majors. Servers in every major game-server region.
Renewal triples; no router firmware, config-based router setup only.
Speed (our tests)
—
Price & renewal
77
Features
89
Privacy & trust
58
Unlimited simultaneous connections
Cheapest two-year intro among the major brands
Deloitte no-logs audit (2023) and Cure53 app audits
Renewal is about three times the intro price
Owned by Nord Security, which also owns NordVPN
Netherlands base sits inside the Nine Eyes
Lab test pending — scored on public dataiOS app score 66/100 from 128,114 ratingsFull reviewVisit Surfshark
Open-source apps, court-proven no-logs, unlimited devices; US-based and Kape-owned.
71
Owner
Kape Technologiesalso owns review sites
Jurisdiction
United States · Five Eyes
No-logs audit
Deloitte, 2022 (report not public)
Price
from $2.03/mo · renewal price unconfirmed
Runs oniOSAndroidMacWindowsLinuxRouterBrowserTV
Port forwarding is the feature that matters for hosting game servers and peer-to-peer titles, and PIA offers it alongside a huge US server count and open-source apps. Unlimited connections cover every device.
US jurisdiction; port forwarding is not available on US servers.
Swiss, non-profit-controlled, open source, with the only free tier worth using.
80
Owner
Proton Foundation
Jurisdiction
Switzerland · Outside the alliances
No-logs audit
None — apps audited by Securitum, 2025
Price
from $4.49/mo
Runs oniOSAndroidMacWindowsLinuxRouterBrowserTV
Port forwarding, WireGuard, and a free tier for players who only need DDoS cover on a tournament night. Swiss non-profit ownership for anyone who wants the privacy question closed as well.
Slightly higher latency than the top three in published tests; fewer servers near some game regions.
Speed (our tests)
—
Price & renewal
77
Features
98
Privacy & trust
73
Controlled by a Swiss non-profit foundation since 2024
All apps open source and independently audited
Free tier with no data cap and no ads
Renewal is higher than the intro price
Free tier cannot choose a country
Speeds trail NordVPN and ExpressVPN in most tests
Lab test pending — scored on public dataiOS app score 68/100 from 101,311 ratingsFull reviewVisit Proton VPN
Three times the price for a China specialism that gamers outside China do not need.
What we weighed for gaming, and the exact weights
Added latency
The only number that matters in a match. WireGuard-family protocols and dense server networks keep it to a few milliseconds; OpenVPN and distant servers add tens.
Servers near game regions
Game servers cluster in Virginia, Frankfurt, Singapore, Tokyo and São Paulo. A VPN server in the same datacentre region adds almost nothing.
DDoS protection
In competitive lobbies, opponents can find your real IP through peer-to-peer voice or matchmaking and flood it. A VPN takes the hit instead.
Console and router support
PlayStation and Xbox cannot run VPN apps. Router firmware or Smart DNS is the only route.
Weights on this page: Speed (our tests) 30% · Price & renewal 14% · Features 14% · Privacy & trust 12% · App quality 12% · Streaming 8% · Censorship bypass 5% · Support & refunds 5%. Formula.
What a VPN can and cannot do for a game
It cannot lower your ping, with rare routing exceptions. It adds a hop: your traffic goes to the VPN server first, then to the game server. With a good provider and a VPN server in the same city as the game server, the addition is a few milliseconds and invisible. With a distant server or OpenVPN it can be 30–80 ms and very visible. Everything on this page follows from that: the ranking favours dense server networks and fast protocols, and the speed dimension is weighted at 30%, the highest on the site.
What it can do is hide your address. In competitive games with peer-to-peer voice or matchmaking, an opponent can learn your real IP and flood it with traffic until you drop — a DDoS, and a real problem in ranked lobbies and streamed matches. Behind a VPN, the flood hits the VPN server, which is built to absorb it. It can also put you on another region’s servers, reach games or betas that are region-locked, and route around ISP throttling of game traffic at peak hours.
Choosing the server
Connect to the VPN server nearest the game’s servers, not nearest you. Game servers cluster in a small number of datacentre regions — Northern Virginia, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney, São Paulo — and every provider on this page has servers in those cities. A player in Manchester joining a Frankfurt game server should pick a Frankfurt VPN server: the VPN hop is then in the same building as the game.
Consoles
PlayStation and Xbox cannot run a VPN. The clean answer is a router: ExpressVPN’s Aircove is built for it, with per-device region choice; any router that accepts WireGuard or OpenVPN configs works with every provider here. The quick answer for region access alone is the provider’s Smart DNS, which changes the region the console sees without encrypting anything and adds no latency at all — ExpressVPN’s MediaStreamer and NordVPN’s and Surfshark’s Smart DNS. The workaround is sharing a PC’s VPN connection over Ethernet.
Port forwarding
Modern matchmade games do not need it. Hosting a dedicated server, some peer-to-peer titles, and older games with direct connections do. PIA and Proton offer it; NordVPN, ExpressVPN and Surfshark do not. If you host, that decides your pick.
Bans and regional pricing
Publishers’ terms mostly prohibit VPNs to stop two things: evading bans, and buying games in cheaper regions. Ordinary play through a VPN on your own region is very rarely penalised. Buying a game on a Turkish or Argentine store through a VPN is what gets accounts flagged, and several publishers have moved to regional payment-method checks that make it not work anyway.
What we have not tested
Latency figures are from published third-party tests; we have not yet run our own. The speed test on this site measures latency to the nearest edge with the VPN off and on — the difference is your provider’s real overhead on your line, which is more useful than any reviewer’s number.
Almost never. A VPN adds a hop, so it adds latency — a few milliseconds with a good provider and a nearby server, tens with a bad one. The rare exception is when your ISP routes badly to a game server and the VPN's route is shorter, which happens but cannot be predicted. Use the speed test on this site with the VPN off, then on, to see your own numbers.
Why use a VPN for gaming at all, then?
Three reasons: DDoS protection in competitive lobbies, where opponents can obtain your real IP and flood it; playing on another region's servers or accessing region-locked games and early releases; and avoiding ISP throttling of game traffic, which some ISPs apply at peak hours. Privacy on public Wi-Fi applies as it does for anything else.
Can I use a VPN on PlayStation or Xbox?
Not directly — neither runs VPN apps. Options: a router running the VPN (ExpressVPN's Aircove, or any router with the provider's firmware or a WireGuard config) so the console is behind it; the provider's Smart DNS for region access without encryption; or sharing a VPN connection from a PC over Ethernet.
Will a VPN get me banned from a game?
Some publishers prohibit VPNs in their terms, mostly to stop region-pricing arbitrage and ban evasion; Blizzard, Riot and Nintendo have suspended accounts for VPN use in specific circumstances. For ordinary play on your own region's servers, bans for VPN use alone are very rare. Buying games in a cheaper region through a VPN is the thing that actually gets accounts flagged.
Which VPN protocol is best for gaming?
WireGuard or a provider's WireGuard-based protocol (NordLynx, Lightway). They add the least latency and reconnect fastest. OpenVPN adds noticeably more and should be a last resort.
Do I need port forwarding?
For hosting a game server, some peer-to-peer titles, and older games that use direct connections, yes; PIA and Proton offer it, NordVPN and ExpressVPN do not. For matchmade multiplayer on modern titles, no.
