The best way to protect your privacy when accessing porn is to use a VPN. In this guide we’re looking at the top 5 options that will let you sidestep the UK’s new Age Verification system for accessing porn.

A VPN is essential for two reasons. First, you won’t have to pay to verify your age and second it means your porn viewing habits remain private. There’s no record of your smut searching or what you’ve been watching.

With porn being a taboo subject, protecting your privacy is vital.

Stopping underage users from accessing porn is a commendable act and one that we at VPNCompare certainly applaud. However, the UK’s new Age Verification system also known as AgeID is massively flawed and how it is implemented puts your privacy at significant risk.

So if you’re looking for a VPN to protect your privacy while beating your meat (or womansplaining yourself – yes that’s a thing, thanks HuffPost!) then read on as we round up five of the best.

Important VPN features to consider

Choosing any VPN is hard these days because there are so many options out there.

However, for avoiding age verification, there are a couple of important features you should be looking out for rather than just plumping for the first one that crops up on Google. Consider these and you’ll end up with the best for your needs.

• Paid VPN service – It’s always tempting to look for something free but after over five years in the VPN industry I can tell you that ‘free’ VPN services are anything but. Not only are they slow and overcrowded but they’re also a huge risk to your privacy, read here, here, oh and here if you want more details.
• Fast speeds – Watching *ahem* videos requires good speeds. Using any VPN will lead to some speed loss but by choosing a reputable service known for fast speeds, you’ll be able to avoid any unnecessary buffering or pauses at the *er* ‘good bits’.
• No logs – Avoiding Age Verification is a good thing and it means you value your privacy. After all, if you want to watch porn, whose business is that but your own? Make sure you sign up for a VPN service that stores no logs of your activity, that way you can go blind without anyone else knowing.
• Nearby server locations – To avoid UK Age Verification you’ll likely need to hop to another country. Make sure the VPN service you sign up to offers VPN servers nearby in countries such as the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Ireland or other close countries.

Best VPN to avoid Porn Age Verification

After testing, reviewing and researching VPN services for over five years we’ve put together our list of the five best for avoiding the UK’s Porn Age Verification system.

Any of these five will allow you to browse the internet privately regardless of what you want to watch or view.

1. ExpressVPN
2. IPVanish
3. NordVPN
4. CyberGhost VPN
5. VyprVPN

1. ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN is the best choice if you want to bypass the UK’s Age Verification system and access adult content without restriction.

In our most recent review we awarded them our Editor’s Choice badge for 2019 based on their speeds and overall offerings.

The service headquarters is in the British Virgin Islands which puts them outside the scope of UK regulations and with server locations in 94 countries and counting you’ve got plenty of choices to connect outside UK regulations.

Importantly, the service stores no logs of your activity. Unlike many other providers this was proven in a criminal case and they’ve even had part of their service audited.

Speeds on the service are excellent which means they’re ideal for streaming high-quality video and they are traffic neutral so you can access all kinds of services (not just adult-based) without any restrictions.

Apps are available for all major platforms including Android, Apple iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux and Amazon Fire TV devices so you can access porn and other adult content on any type of device without going through Age Verification.

Our Number #1 VPN for avoiding Age Verification

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2. IPVanish

IPVanish was our favourite VPN service for some time and has only marginally been super-seeded by ExpressVPN. They offer an overall decent service with plenty of features making them ideal for staying secure and avoiding Age Verification.

VPN servers are available in around 50 countries with plenty located near the UK which is ideal for skipping Age Verification requirements.

They also claim to store no-logs of your activity and while there was an incident some years ago their new owners have recommitted themselves to not logging any of your activity which means, in theory, what you do while connected will remain private.

Apps are available for all the most popular devices so no matter what device you want to access porn on you’ll be able to. You’ll also find fast speeds making it a great choice for streaming videos from any source.

3. NordVPN

NordVPN is one of the most popular VPN services around right now and it’s not difficult to see why. Not only do they offer a fast VPN service but it’s also robust and highly reliable.

Apps are available for all major devices and they’re some of the easiest we’ve used. Additional features like their kill-switch and double-hop VPN servers allow you that added layer of protection meaning you can avoid Age Verification without fear your browsing habits are going to be revealed.

The service claims to store no-logs of what you do while connected and they’ve had an independent audit of their service to back up their claims.

Speeds on the service are some of the best we’ve seen which again is excellent for streaming high-quality video or accessing websites and services without buffering or interruptions.

There’s a full 30-day money back guarantee available, so if you find it’s not for you, then you can get your money back question free.

4. CyberGhost VPN

CyberGhost VPN is one of the most improved VPN services in recent years. Their apps are a little more on the bulky side, but they’re no less easy to use.

In fact, for many purposes, the app will even point you in the right direction of where to connect which is a great feature if you’re a new user.

As with the other services they’re more than suitable for avoiding the UK’s porn Age Verification and with some 60+ server locations across the world with many in Europe you’ve got plenty of options for connection.

We like the lengthy 45-day money back guarantee available on the service which is much longer than the closest competitor. This gives you a month and a half to test the service regularly for all your needs to see if it’s suitable. If you don’t like it, then there’s no risk and you can get a full refund.

You can use the service on up to 7 devices at the same time so not only will you be able to secure all your devices but you can even share it around your family for house-wide privacy protection.

5. VyprVPN

VyprVPN is essentially a VPN legend. They’ve been around for as long as we can remember championing privacy and a free and open internet.

They’ve always offered what we consider to be one of the best services but in recent years they’ve made huge leaps to secure themselves as one of the top VPN providers. For avoiding the UK’s porn Age Verification they’re a great choice and one important reason is their recent commitment to not logging any of your activity.

At the end of 2018 VyprVPN had their service independently audited to confirm they no longer store any of your activity or connection details meaning you can browse the web for porn or whatever else without there being any records or logs of what you did while connected.

Their apps are some of the most user-friendly we’ve seen and they have a free 3-day trial allowing you to test the service. The caveat is that you do need to enter payment details but you don’t get charged initially and if you don’t like the service then you can cancel and won’t be charged a penny (or cent).

How to choose the best VPN for you

Often choosing a VPN isn’t down to recommendations of the ‘best’ but more down to your personal usage.

There are hundreds if not thousands of VPN services out there. Some are excellent, some not-so and others terrible. There is no one single ‘best’ VPN but there is certainly a group that are considered the ‘best’.

Our recommendation for avoiding the UK’s porn Age Verification is ExpressVPN but there are other good choices and if you’re still struggling we’ve broken it down into more specific usage scenarios to help you make a decision.

If you want the best all-round VPN service, choose ExpressVPN. With a combination of good privacy protections, fast speeds and easy to use apps for all devices, there aren’t many services that come close.

If you want to try without risk, get VyprVPN or CyberGhost VPN. VyprVPN offers a completely free 3-day trial and CyberGhost VPN offers the longest money back guarantee of 45 days. Both make excellent choices for testing without any risk.

If you want user-friendly apps, take NordVPN. Their apps are well-designed, so much so that even the most novice user can connect quickly and avoid any Age Verification. They also offer one or two features that aren’t available elsewhere.

If you want to use the service on multiple-devices, choose IPVanish. All the services listed above let you use them on multiple devices at the same time but IPVanish offers the highest limit allowing you to use it on up to 10 devices at once.

If you want the most server choice, grab ExpressVPN or NordVPN. ExpressVPN has servers in over 94 countries while NordVPN has more than 5,200 individual servers. Both make great options for server choice.

What’s the point of the Porn Age Verification?

It’s a good question. The idea behind Porn Age Verification in the UK is a sound one. Protect kids from stumbling across or trying to access porn.

However, the reality is, it’s massively flawed. As you can see from above, a simple VPN will allow anyone to bypass that verification. With VPN apps being straightforward to use it’s not even like a technical barrier will stop anyone.

The only people who will lose out are users of legal age who aren’t tech savvy who are forced to reveal their identity to access completely legal adult services.

What are the dangers of the Porn Age Verification?

The risk is that you will essentially end up with a “Porn Database” of users who access porn. This would then be simple to link to your real-world identity and as we’ve seen plenty of times in the past, the security of this database is at risk.

Even tech site Wired called the porn block “one of the worst ideas ever”.

If this database was hacked or exposed in some way which has happened plenty of times in the past, it could be used to extort money from individuals to save embarrassment.

A VPN allows you to avoid even needing to use Age Verification allowing you to stay secure and keep your browsing habits private.

Can’t underage users simply use a VPN?

While that’s theoretically true, there are some saving graces.

Most reliable VPN services need you to pay to access their service. The payment methods required usually require you to be 18 years of age which would be an age verification in itself, just without exposing what you want to access.

The risk is there are free VPNs out there and although they are highly unreliable, a privacy-risk and extremely slow, it would be possible for underage users to install one and bypass Age Verification with ease.

Again, here’s where the whole system is flawed.

Apart from the obvious technological failings of the new requirements, it also doesn’t cover sites such as Facebook, Twitter or many others where adult content is found.

How can I stop my kids bypassing Age Verification?

Thankfully all UK internet connections automatically come with adult-filters enabled but if you’ve had an internet connection for some time, you may want to check that these are enabled.

Another good tip is to install an internet security suite such as Kaspersky or one of the other leading products that have ‘Parental Control’ feature built in. This will stop most instances of adult material on the device it’s installed on, even if your kids were to get access to a VPN.

Unfortunately, there is no one-stop solution to blocking access to adult material but by utilising the methods above, educating your kids and ensuring internet access is monitored or only accessible in a room where you can see what’s being accessed you can limit the chances of exposure.

The Age Verification system while well-meaning is not an effective solution to solve the issue it is supposed to.

In Summary

If you want to access the internet without needing to prove you’re of legal age to access completely legal content, then you need to sign up for a VPN.

This will let you access, read and watch what you want without putting your privacy at risk. We recommend using ExpressVPN as they offer the right balance of ease-of-use with privacy protections.

All five services listed above will be suitable though, so to protect your online privacy, porn viewing or otherwise, grab any – you really can’t go wrong!