YouTube is one of the most popular video sites out there, but many people struggle to get decent quality streams or find themselves blocked from watching certain videos.

Does this sound like you?

This and many other YouTube problems calls for a solution.

You’ll find the solution to most of these issues in a VPN (Virtual Private Network) app. But which do you choose?

In this article, I’ll show you exactly which VPNs work with YouTube.

I’ll be covering topics such as which are the leading choices to use for various purposes, from unblocking restricted content to improving video quality and a whole host more.

YouTube is easily one of the most popular websites on the internet today. It revolutionised the way the user consumes media online; it brought new concepts and even new careers, communities, and more.

Later in this guide, I’ll show you how we made our selection and answering plenty of other questions related to VPNs and YouTube.

Let’s get going.

Top 5 VPN Services for YouTube

1. ExpressVPN – #1 Recommendation
2. CyberGhost
3. VyprVPN
4. NordVPN
5. Surfshark

1. ExpressVPN

Taking all considerations into mind, after extensive testing, we can safely say that ExpressVPN is the best choice for watching or unblocking YouTube.

It allows streaming at high speeds, which is beneficial for video quality, especially if you’re a fan of HD video.

The service also offers a large number of servers in 94 different countries, so you’ll be able to use it almost anywhere. It offers apps for pretty much any device you have and we especially liked how it let you get a fast connection compared to others.

ExpressVPN has a strict no-logs policy, a built-in kill switch and 256-bit military-grade encryption.

They have dedicated apps that cover all popular devices such as iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, and many others.

Also, Express has browser extensions, so you can run it on any device that can use the Firefox or Chrome browsers.

Express has been at the forefront of VPN services for some time, and they’re not limited to you using them to watch YouTube but also for many other purposes such as unblocking Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, Netflix, Apple TV, and more.

If you disagree with our assessment, they have stellar customer service and a 30-day money-back guarantee, meaning that you can get your money back at any point.

ExpressVPN is the best VPN for YouTube.

Our #1 VPN Recommendation

30-day money back guarantee

2. CyberGhost

Another VPN service that is easily among the best in the industry is CyberGhost, which stands out for several reasons.

CyberGhost provides decent download speeds, required for watching video on sites such as YouTube and others.

They also operate one of the biggest networks with some 5,300+ servers on their server network, available across 90 countries. Wherever you’re travelling, they’ve almost certainly got you covered.

Plus, they offer a money-back guarantee stemming 45 days, giving you loads of time to test it. One of the standout features is specific connection modes for YouTube services in a range of countries, plus the likes of YouTube Premium (formerly YouTube Red).

Apps are available for many different devices, such as Windows, iOS, Android, Mac, Linux, Fire TV, and Chrome & Firefox extensions.

CyberGhost also offers 256-bit encryption, a built-in kill switch, and the ability to have up to 7 simultaneous connections.

They also work extremely well with Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, Netflix, Apple TV, and many other streaming services.

If for some reason you’re looking for an alternative to ExpressVPN, then it’s worth starting here. CyberGhost is a great YouTube VPN to unblock YouTube.

3. VyprVPN

Then, we have VyprVPN, which is also well-known for fast speeds and reliable connections. They’ve also been a consistent top-performing VPN provider over the years.

The service owns all of its server infrastructures, and while they don’t always offer the very fastest speeds, they are one of the most reliable with speeds suitable for streaming high-quality video.

Server coverage is decent with over 70 different server locations around the world, it has a 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can use it on all the most popular devices and systems.

Unfortunately for this YouTube VPN, there’s no Amazon Fire TV app, so while they’re suitable for all other devices such as Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, etc, you’ll need to stick with one of the earlier mentioned providers if you’re a Fire TV, Fire TV Stick or Fire Cube user.

There are also no browser extensions, so if you’re looking for a lightweight client to stream through your browser, then you’ll also need to give them a miss.

Not only do they unblock YouTube, but they work well unblocking content from most of the popular Netflix locations, which is always a nice bonus for the user.

VyprVPN is a great VPN for unblocking YouTube that won’t affect your bandwidth speeds massively.

4. NordVPN

Then, there is NordVPN.

NordVPN is similar to ExpressVPN when it comes to its qualities. It comes with good download speeds, and it has even more individual servers than ExpressVPN.

However, it comes in fourth place because it covers only 59 countries, which is over 30 regions less than what ExpressVPN has to offer. They do still have a decent number of servers.

Apart from that, for unblocking and streaming YouTube, NordVPN is an excellent choice.

With servers in some of the most popular locations (the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, etc), apps for multiple devices (Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, and many others including browser extensions), plus a money-back guarantee of 30 days – that’s a lot to offer.

All of the above makes NordVPN one of the best VPNs for YouTube.

5. Surfshark

Last but not least, we have Surfshark. Surfshark is another VPN product that is an excellent choice if you are after fast speeds that you’ll need for a video streaming site like YouTube.

It is also pretty good at unblocking different kinds of content, thanks to the fact that it has 1,040+ servers in 61 countries around the world, which is a decent number of servers. It covers pretty much the same number of countries as NordVPN, although it has a lower server count.

While they’re a relative newcomer in comparison to more established services, they’re offering a lot and while their features like strong encryption aren’t particularly beneficial for you to watch YouTube, but they’ll help if you use it for other purposes.

There are apps for all major devices (Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, and more), including the Amazon Fire TV range and you can have an unlimited number of simultaneous connections allowing your entire family to binge YouTube.

Not only is Surfshark a great YouTube VPN, but it also prides itself on its ability to unblock 15 regions on the Netflix streaming service. However, they also unblock the likes of Amazon Prime, Disney+, and most other streaming services.

Plus, they’ve got a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can give it a spin without risk. As far as YouTube VPNs go, this is a good one.

How to choose a VPN for YouTube?

When picking a VPN for YouTube, there are four essential features to keep in mind:

Download speeds – You need a YouTube VPN that won’t impact your download speeds so that you can enjoy fast streaming and avoid buffering to give you premium video quality.

Nearby locations – The proximity of server locations can impact speeds quite a bit, as well. Choose server locations that aren’t too far, and your speeds will be slow. This is simply a matter of geography.

Overall locations – Of course, you need your YouTube VPN of choice to have servers in places that you’ll be near. Plus in other areas that have specific YouTube services like the USA with it’s YouTube TV offering.

Range of apps – Finally, there are apps to consider. While most VPN services cover the main devices, ensure it has an app for the type of equipment you want to view YouTube on.

How did we choose these VPNs?

To deliver the best solutions to you, we applied several testing methods and picking the leading VPN option for use with YouTube.

While there are plenty of VPNs for YouTube in that they’ll actually work, they’re not all as good as each other.

Each of the five listed above was tested with YouTube extensively for watching videos to monitor for any buffering or playback issues.

We also considered the numbers and locations available from each provider concerning unblocking videos unavailable in specific regions. Plus gave additional points for those that can actively unblock YouTube’s extra services, such as YouTube Movies and YouTube TV.

While there are no significant specific needs and many VPN services work with YouTube, often slower providers can cause playback issues or buffering due to slower streaming speeds.

Equally, many don’t work with YouTube’s additional services or have enough regions covered to unblock some country specific restricted content.

Are there any free VPNs that work with YouTube?

The answer is a bit more complicated than a simple ‘Yes‘ or ‘No.’

Of course, there are free VPNs, and some can even unblock YouTube.

But should you use one?

In our experience and other industry experts’ experience, the recommendation is that you should avoid them.

Ray Walsh says that around 95% of all free VPNs are useless. What’s even worse is he follows up saying they could also be dangerous. Ray is a Digital Privacy Expert who writes for ProPrivacy.

Sven Taylor of RestorePrivacy also paints a bleak picture of free services too finding one had eight hits for malware!

Scary stuff.

The term free also means there are millions of users all climbing aboard.

Hey, I love ‘free’ too, but there comes a point when something is too good to be true.

This also means that their speeds are slow. With constant buffering, poor playback, and many other issues, it won’t be long before you have given up on the whole VPN idea.

It doesn’t have to be this way, though.

ExpressVPN has a lengthy 30-day guarantee to sign up, test it, and if it doesn’t live up to your expectations, then get a full refund.

What’s the best free YouTube VPN?

When it comes to Free VPNs, you should avoid them like you’d avoid a Rick Astley video.

Sure, free VPNs sounds great on paper, but in reality, they are far from it. Not only will you be risking the security of your device, but you’ll be risking your own personal data too.

Around 40% of free VPN services have been found to contain malicious software that will infect your devices and keep a log of all your data, which is the opposite of what you want when using a VPN.

Oh, and the likelihood of your data being sold to the highest bidder is almost certain. How else would a free VPN make their money?

Not to mention the slow connection speeds, the VPN utilising your connection for other users, and other issues that you can read in our reasons to avoid free VPNs guide.

You’ll also find that not only do they have all of the problems mentioned above, but most of them won’t unblock streaming services such as Netflix.

However, if you really need to use a free VPN, you could check out ProtonVPN.

It does have its limitations, such as only having access to 3 VPN servers and also having a medium bandwidth which will affect your YouTube experience due to slower streaming speeds.

You can get a 7 day free trial of ProtonVPN’s premium service, but after that, you’ll have to pay.

While a free trial is nice, I would avoid free VPN providers and use a premium VPN such as ExpressVPN. The quality is better from premium services, and ExpressVPN is the best YouTube VPN around.

Will a VPN let me watch region-blocked content?

Absolutely, VPNs allow you to unblock videos from many different regions.

Wherever the VPN has servers, you can connect to them and unblock all the videos available in that specific region, changing your IP address to a “virtual” IP address. (Your IP address is like a personal telephone number for your internet, it lets websites know where you are, etc).

While this is extremely handy for skipping restrictions like “This video is not available in your location”, it also has a more severe impact.

YouTuber Steven Crowder discovered that by switching to different regions, his video search results were affected.

The seriousness of this becomes apparent as he claims US politician Tulsi Gabbard’s results were being censored from American visitors.

The likelihood is that there will be videos that are not available in your country, whether this is due to content licensing agreements or that certain content on YouTube is blocked for your country in secret.

Either way, this is why you need to use a VPN with YouTube.

Will a VPN make me anonymous?

No. At least, not completely, and anyone who tells you that VPN can make you 100% anonymous is lying to you.

VPNs can make you semi-anonymous, but as soon as you log into your account on any social network, a streaming platform like YouTube, or otherwise – that platform will know who you are and what you are doing.

There is also a range of tracking ‘beacons’ that will track what videos you’re watching, which a VPN would not mitigate against.

In other words, if you want to stay as anonymous as possible while watching videos, make sure to stay logged out of YouTube and use InPrivate or Incognito modes.

Although, even this may not be enough.

Summary

When it comes to YouTube, VPNs aren’t always needed. But, there are some excellent reasons for using a VPN that unblocks YouTube.

Depending on what country you live in this world, you might have issues regarding what you can access while browsing the web.

For some, even free streaming platforms like YouTube are off-limits. Luckily, you can bypass these restrictions by using a VPN.

Directly accessing YouTube is not where the issues begin and end either. As I discussed earlier in the article, the videos you can access also suffer from restrictions and censorship (depending on the country).

ExpressVPN is our standout choice that unblocks YouTube, but they also cover a vast range of other uses.

Don’t forget if you don’t like them or you disagree with our assessment, their 30-day money-back guarantee has you covered.

Now you can watch all of the music videos… or cat videos you want, bypassing the geo-restrictions in place in your country.