Best VPNs for Disney+ in 2024

1. NordVPN - Most Reliable for Unblocking

SecurityScore:

9.7 /10

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How We Review

Product Specs

Multihop	Yes
Camouflage Mode	Yes
Kill switch	Yes
Split Tunneling	Yes
Netflix	Yes
Torrenting	Yes

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Accessing Disney+

Remember that VPN we were talking about that was able to access Disney+ seven times out of 10? That was NordVPN, and of the more than 15 VPNs we tested, that was the best record. Seventy percent may not be a top grade in school, but to put it into perspective, there were VPNs that scored only one out of 10. One such VPN was Atlas VPN, which we found interesting because NordVPN and Atlas have the same parent company (Nord Security).1

So while NordVPN’s 70 percent score wasn’t perfect, its ability to access Disney+ was impressive, and it doesn’t even have specialty servers for streaming, unlike VPNs like CyberGhost.

>> Compare VPNs: Atlas VPN vs. NordVPN

Streaming Speed

We also got more than decent speeds from NordVPN, and every time we streamed, we didn’t see any buffering — just a five- to eight-second load time at the beginning.

To be more objective, we measured our download speed while connected to NordVPN. It averaged 279 Mbps on our 300 Mbps network. That’s a 7 percent decrease, which is much better than the 40 percent industry average. On top of that, we used Ookla’s Android Speedtest app2 to see the maximum resolution we could stream on NordVPN’s bitrate. The result? 4K. And indeed, we had no problems streaming “Avengers: End Game” in its max resolution.

>>Related: Comparing VPN Speeds

Server Network

The server networks of VPNs evolve over time. Right now, NordVPN offers the widest global reach with servers in 111 countries. We should note that those are not all physical servers, but a mix of physical and virtual servers. For example, the server in India is a virtual server physically located in Singapore, but it can get you an India IP address. That’s how NordVPN built such an impressive reach.

For comparison’s sake, second place in terms of server network reach goes to ExpressVPN. It has servers in 105 countries. It’s such a narrow gap, so before choosing either of the two, compare the server locations and make sure they have servers in your favorite countries to connect to. NordVPN keeps a list of its server locations on its website.3

>> See Also: The Best VPNs for Singapore

On top of its 111 server locations, NordVPN has a total of over 6,100 servers and is growing. Just last year that figure was in the low 5,000s. The network size matters in terms of streaming. Even if one server is blocked by Disney+, you have plenty of others at your disposal. We think that’s one reason why it’s so good at unblocking websites and streaming content.

NordVPN currently sits atop our list of the best VPNs, which speaks to how secure its connections are. Those secure connections also translate to its impressive ability to unblock georestricted streaming content. Aside from being great for streaming Netflix and Disney+, it’s also the best VPN for Hulu, another tough streaming platform to crack. If, like us, you have subscriptions to multiple streaming services, NordVPN is a great choice.

>> More Like This: The Best VPNs for Prime Video Streaming

When streaming with NordVPN, we prefer to use the NordLynx protocol. VPNs use tunneling protocols (aka VPN protocols) to decide how traffic flows from a device to a VPN server. They can make a huge difference in speed and security, and in our experience, NordVPN’s proprietary NordLynx protocol (which is built around the speedy WireGuard protocol) is wonderful for streaming Disney+. It’s about 10 percent faster than OpenVPN, and even though we were able to stream in 4K with both NordLynx and OpenVPN, videos loaded about five seconds faster with NordLynx.

As for price, we think NordVPN’s subscriptions are competitive. They’re a little pricier than the competition, but the difference is negligible. For instance, the cheapest offer from Surfshark, our second pick, is $2.49 per month for a 24-month subscription. With NordVPN, the best price is $3.79 per month for a subscription of the same length.

>> Related: How Much Do VPNs Cost?

2. Surfshark - Fastest Streaming Speed

SecurityScore:

9.5 /10

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How We Review

Product Specs

Multi-hop	Yes
Camouflage Mode	Yes
Kill switch	Yes
Split Tunneling	Yes
Netflix	Yes
Torrenting	Yes

View Plans

Accessing Disney+

Our second pick did well accessing Disney+ with a six-out-of-10 success rate. Considering that it doesn’t have streaming-optimized servers, that’s a solid performance.

That said, we noticed that many of its U.S. servers were blocked, so it may not be the best choice if you’re trying to access Disney+ U.S. content. All four servers that failed to access Disney+ were U.S. servers; only one was successful.

As such, we recommend using Surfshark to change your location from the U.S. to a different country. That’s good if you’re tired of Disney+ U.S. content, but it may also come in handy for streaming services that offer better selections outside the U.S. For example, you might not be able to watch nationally broadcasted games even if you’re an NBA League Pass holder in the U.S. due to local blackout restrictions, but if you’re outside the U.S. and Canada, you have access to every game. That’s a bit unfair, yes, and that’s why we recommend Surfshark.

Streaming Speed

On the bright side, we enjoyed lightning fast speeds with Surfshark. Our network remained capable of 4K streaming the whole time, and our download speed with Surfshark averaged 287 Mbps. That’s less than 5 percent lower than our baseline internet speed — very impressive.

A quick note on VPN speeds: We tested the VPNs on a 300 Mbps fiber-optic network, through which we get a reliable 290+ Mbps nearly all the time. Disney+ recommends at least 25 Mbps for 4K streaming,4 so even if we use a slow VPN, it’s still possible for us to stream in 4K. That may not be the case for some, so if your internet connection isn’t very fast in the first place, you might get less-than-ideal speeds even if you use a fast VPN.

>> Check Out: Troubleshooting VPN Speed and Connection Issues

Server Network

Besides its speed, we were impressed by Surfshark’s server network. It’s nearly as big as NordVPN’s network with over 3,200 servers in 100 countries across Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.

Note that most of its servers are in Europe and Asia, so it’s a good VPN to use to take Disney+ with you while backpacking through those continents. We used Surfshark on our recent trip to some parts of Asia, and we can say it’s one of the top VPNs for traveling because of its vast server network.

Surfshark is also commendable for its VPN apps. They are easy to use, they are generally bug-free, and they get constant updates. Through the almost one month we had Surfshark on our Windows laptop, it received updates twice.

Surfshark’s feature set was also impressive, offering features we don’t often see. For example, it has obfuscation. Essentially, a network firewall can detect if you’re using a VPN by looking at how traffic looks. Some office or school networks, for instance, use firewalls to prevent employees or students from accessing blocked websites (like streaming sites such as Disney+) through a VPN. Obfuscation camouflages the VPN traffic to make it look like normal traffic, allowing Surfshark to bypass such network blocks. That’s one of the reasons why Surfshark is a good VPN for school.

How about the price? Surfshark is affordable, as mentioned earlier. The two-year Surfshark plan costs $59.76, which breaks down to $2.49 per month.

>> Related: The Best Affordable VPNs

3. Private Internet Access VPN - Best for Getting U.S. Access

SecurityScore:

9.4 /10

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How We Review

Product Specs

Multihop	Yes
Camouflage Mode	No
Kill switch	Yes
Split Tunneling	Yes
Netflix	Yes
Torrenting	Yes

View Plans

Accessing Disney+

Four times out of 10 doesn’t sound so good, but Private Internet Access (PIA) stood out because all four of those successful connections were to U.S. servers. Even while in China, we were able to access Disney+ U.S. content, making Private Internet Access a premiere choice for Americans traveling abroad.

>>Read More: The Best VPNs for China

Additionally, while none of the five non-U.S. locations we tested worked on the first try, they did work eventually after several tries. A London server gave us access on our second try, a Singapore server worked after three tries, a Melbourne server also worked on the third try, and so on. So yeah, non-U.S. PIA servers can unblock Disney+; you just have to keep trying.

Streaming Speed

We didn’t have much problem streaming with Private Internet Access. The streaming speeds were actually pretty incredible. It maxed out at 4K resolution, despite the noticeable 15 percent drop in download speed. We averaged 252 Mbps throughout the time we were connected to PIA.

Server Network

What makes Private Internet Access a great choice for streaming Disney+ U.S. content is its ever-expanding server network with a massive focus on the U.S. It stopped posting the actual number of its servers, but at last count, it already had over 15,000 servers. Of those, there’s at least one server in each U.S. state. No other VPN has come close to that; even NordVPN, which has nearly 2,000 servers in the U.S. (a third of its server total), offers locations in only 16 states.

>> Read About: NordVPN vs. Private Internet Access

Now, the state in which the server is located doesn’t affect your Disney+ access. As long as you have a U.S. IP address, you will be able to watch shows available to Disney+ U.S. However, there are some streaming services that offer regional programming, and for those, PIA is a great option. For example, it’s one of the top VPNs for streaming ESPN+, which also makes it one of the best VPNs for watching NFL games.

We must admit, we had reservations about Private Internet Access. Despite PIA’s affordable subscriptions ($79 for three years), it’s a company based in the U.S., which is a part of an international alliance notoriously known for gathering and sharing communication intelligence called the Five Eyes. It’s always a risk going with a VPN that is based in a Five Eyes country, but fortunately, Private Internet Access is a no-log VPN. It doesn’t gather identifiable usage data, so it has nothing to share with the government.

Once we were able to confirm that it doesn’t log critical usage data, we were able to test out Private Internet Access with confidence. And boy, were we impressed. Private Internet Access isn’t just a great VPN for streaming; it’s a great entertainment VPN, since it’s also one of the fastest gaming VPNs we’ve tested. That’s thanks to Private Internet Access’ customizable encryption.

VPNs use encryption to protect data, the best encryption standard being 256-bit AES. That’s Pentagon-level security — the same encryption the U.S. government uses for top-secret communications.5 But let’s face it: Not all online activities require that much privacy; examples are streaming and gaming. Whenever we’re doing those things, we switch PIA to a lower encryption standard (128-bit AES) that, while still secure, is faster. That’s how we maintained access to fast streaming and gaming speeds even on distant servers.

4. ExpressVPN - Best for Smart TV/Console Users

SecurityScore:

9.1 /10

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How We Review

Product Specs

Multihop	No
Camouflage Mode	Yes
Kill switch	Yes
Split Tunneling	Yes
Netflix	Yes
Torrenting	Yes

View Plans

Accessing Disney+

ExpressVPN’s success rate (six of 10) was similar to Surfshark’s, but the former’s U.S. servers were slightly better. Three out of the five U.S. servers successfully accessed Disney+. The three other successful locations were Spain, Germany, and the U.K; notably, all of them are in Europe.

>> Also See: How to Get a U.K. IP Address

Streaming Speed

Although a little bit slower than Surfshark and NordVPN, we had no problem streaming in 4K whether on our iPhones or laptops. We lost only about 10 percent of our network speed to ExpressVPN’s tunneling, as it averaged 271 Mbps. We did notice that the farther away the service is, the slower the connections become. While that is normal for most VPNs, there was a sudden and noticeable drop when we connected to a South Korean server, where the streaming speed maxed out at only 2K. So if you happen to be traveling to the Land of Morning Calm, be sure to read our roundup of the best VPNs for South Korea.

Server Network

As we touched on earlier when we compared ExpressVPN and NordVPN’s server networks, ExpressVPN has one of the largest networks right now. We counted 105 countries with server locations from the app. That is slightly more than Surfshark and CyberGhost’s 100 servers locations, but slightly less than NordVPN’s 111.

>> Compare: ExpressVPN vs. Surfshark

Streaming content varies from one country to another, so with 105 server locations, ExpressVPN has the potential to unlock more movies and shows than other VPNs. That’s another reason we picked it and why it made our list of VPNs for another streaming service we use on the daily, Prime Video.

ExpressVPN’s pricing is not the most wallet-friendly. Its subscriptions start at $8.33 per month for the one-year deal, which is nearly double what Surfshark charges for the same subscription length. But it does bring a lot of premium features to the table.

One of our favorites is the Aircove VPN router. A VPN router is like a regular router that connects you to the internet, except it tunnels all traffic to a VPN server first. So any device you connect to it is essentially connected to ExpressVPN as well. Right now, Aircove is the best VPN router on the market because of its easy setup and customizability. Some devices, like Apple TV, don’t support VPN apps. With Aircove, you can connect them to ExpressVPN without going through a tedious setup process.

>> Related: Best VPNs for Apple TV

And keep in mind that Aircove can create up to eight VPN connections. For example, you can have some devices connect to a U.S. server while others connect to a U.K. server. Here’s the beauty of that: Once you find a server that works with Disney+, you can have Aircove keep that VPN connection. That way, you won’t have to find another server that works next time you’re having a movie night. Just connect your streaming device to that Aircove connection and start streaming.

5. CyberGhost - Best for Smartphone/Tablet Users

SecurityScore:

8.9 /10

View Plans

How We Review

Product Specs

Multihop	Yes
Camouflage Mode	No
Kill switch	Yes
Split Tunneling	Yes
Netflix	Yes
Torrenting	Yes

View Plans

Accessing Disney+

CyberGhost did slightly better than Private Internet Access with a 50 percent success rate, but it still wasn’t as good as our top three picks. Of the five servers that passed our tests, two were located in the U.S. while the other three were located in the U.K, Singapore, and Spain.

It’s also worth noting that CyberGhost offers specialty servers or servers optimized for streaming Disney+. They are based in the U.S., so we didn’t find much use for those. If, however, you’re traveling or living outside the U.S. and you want access to Disney+ U.S. catalogs, those optimized servers will come in handy.

Streaming Speed

CyberGhost’s streaming speed wasn’t the best. Of our five recommended options, it’s the only one with a maximum streaming speed of only 2K. It’s not that it’s slow; CyberGhost averaged 264 Mbps, which was a little better than Private Internet Access. It’s just that some VPN servers don’t have the bandwidth for 4K streaming, and as a result, they offer less-than-optimal bitrate (rate of data transfer from device to VPN server). When we tried streaming “Cruella” in 4K while using CyberGhost, the movie buffered every five minutes or so.

>> Related: Your ISP May Be Throttling Your Internet

Server Network

All things considered, CyberGhost offers a solid server network. Besides having over 10,000 servers — almost double that of NordVPN — it has servers in 100 locations. It’s tied for second place with Surfshark in terms of server locations.

Moreover, the CyberGhost app’s server menu lists more than its servers. It also includes the latency and load of servers, which helped us pick which servers have the lowest load (more load equals more likely to be slow) and ping (lower ping equals better data transfer). With CyberGhost’s suboptimal streaming speed, that was necessary.

We also like that CyberGhost has a large server fleet in the U.S. It has 1,400 servers in 11 different states – from the East Coast to the West Coast. Thanks to that, we’ve been able to access regional broadcasts from services like YouTube TV.

>> Learn More: The Top VPNs for YouTube TV

We liked using CyberGhost to stream on our Android and iOS/iPadOS smartphones and tablets. Its smartphone apps are simply superb. They are easy to use, they have the server load/ping information display we mentioned earlier, and they are lightweight.

That last one is important, especially if you’re using your mobile device to stream on the go. Streaming by itself uses a lot of battery power, so you need a VPN that won’t deplete your phone’s battery any faster. With CyberGhost, our phones were able to go for eight hours straight while in use and connected to the VPN. And CyberGhost’s WireGuard protocol didn’t use much overhead data, so we were able to save on our monthly data allowance.

>> Related: VPN Data Consumption and Cellular Usage

Another thing we commend CyberGhost for is its affordability. The two-year CyberGhost subscription we signed up for cost us $56.94, which works out to about $2.37 per month. On top of that, it came with a 45-day money-back option; if we didn’t like CyberGhost (or if it didn’t work with Disney+ as we had hoped), we could have canceled our VPN subscription for a full refund.

>> Learn More: The Best VPNs With Risk-Free (Money-Back) Trials