The Best VPNs for ESPN+

1. NordVPN - Best VPN for ESPN+ Overall

Editors Rating:

9.7 /10

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How We Review

Just like we’re fans of the Mets (we’re Brooklyn natives), we’re big fans of NordVPN. We like NordVPN simply because it’s one of the best VPNs we’ve tested. With a fleet of over 5,000 servers wordlwide, speeds that rival other top VPNs, security protocols that use best-in-class technology, and pricing that doesn’t break the bank, what’s not to like? If you’re a fan of sports and keeping your data private, we highly recommend NordVPN.

No Shortage of U.S. Servers

As we’ve said, connecting to a U.S. server is the only way you can access ESPN+ outside the U.S. With NordVPN, there’s no shortage of U.S. servers. For starters, there are 15 cities in the U.S. in which at least one NordVPN server resides. Any of the U.S. servers can give you access to ESPN+, but bear in mind, they may not work all the time. If you encounter problems with one server, though, no problem. Just switch to a different server and you’ll be streaming in no time.

Multitask with Split Tunneling

We admit, as much as we love watching baseball, we don’t usually just sit through four hours of game time. Oftentimes, we multitask, which is where NordVPN’s split tunneling comes in handy. Split tunneling lets us literally split our internet traffic. Some traffic goes through NordVPN’s encryption, like traffic from our ESPN+ app, while others go through our normal internet. This feature lets us do tasks that require us to disable our VPN, such as managing our online banking accounts, without disrupting our live streams.

VPN for Just Over $4 a month

You’re already paying $7 a month for your ESPN+ subscription and the last thing you want is another subscription to pay. Well, here’s the good news: NordVPN won’t break the bank, especially if you sign on for a year or more. The one-year plan costs $59, which breaks down to $4.92 a month, while the two-year plan costs $99 or $4.13 a month (right now you can even get 68% off NordVPN’s two-year plan). It’s not the cheapest VPN, but with all the features it offers, NordVPN is a good value for your money.

2. Surfshark - Best VPN for ESPN+ for Windows

Editors Rating:

9.5 /10

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How We Review

There’s no shortage of reasons to like Surfshark when it comes to using it to stream ESPN+. It has a strong server presence in the United States, the only place where you can watch ESPN+, plus the VPN itself is fast. It’s secure, affordable, and user-friendly. We like it especially for streaming on Windows simply because Surfshark has one of the best Windows apps we’ve tested. Check out its features below.

Check Before You Connect

One of the things we liked about Surfshark is that in its Windows app, it lets you check the load and latency of a server before you connect to it. This is crucial if you’re watching games, especially those that span hours. Ideally, you should connect to the U.S. server with the lowest latency and load, otherwise your stream might get cut off in the middle of the game if the latency gets too high or the server gets overloaded. That has happened to us once or twice while testing Surfshark, and we don’t need to tell you how frustrating that is. Fortunately, once we started connecting only to low latency, low-load servers, we never got cut off.

User-Friendly App

Surfshark is known to have excellent software, not just for Windows, but iOS, Android, and macOS, as well. But let’s focus on the Windows app and why Surfshark is the best VPN for streaming ESPN+ on Windows.

First and foremost, the Windows app is easy to navigate. It saves the last server you’ve connected to so that you can quickly connect to it again for your next game night. Swapping server locations is also a breeze. Just enter the country you want to connect to, and select from one of the available servers. Lastly, Surfshark automatically optimizes your connection based on your current network configuration, even switching VPN protocols for optimal speed and security.

Robust Security

But Surfshark is more than just for streaming ESPN+. It’s one of the best VPNs because it’s also excellent when it comes to protecting your online traffic. It uses top-of-the-line VPN protocols in OpenVPN, Wireguard, and IKEv2. It also provides top-notch encryption that uses 256-bit AES, the current gold standard in VPNs. Aside from those, Surfshark offers extra digital security protection through Surfshark One, an add-on subscription that costs $1.49 a month. With Surfshark One, you’ll get malware protection, identity theft monitoring, and a secure browser, all from one app. While it’s not the perfect VPN, Surfshark performed well for us during testing.

3. ExpressVPN - Best VPN for ESPN+ for Mobile Devices

Editors Rating:

9.1 /10

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How We Review

We’re fans of ExpressVPN, as evident from the fact that they regularly appear on our list of the best VPNs. They offer thousands of servers in dozens of countries, rotating IP addresses, and split tunneling. Because they’re based in the British Virgin Islands, they aren’t subject to any of the surveillance alliances. They also utilize military-grade AES-256 encryption to keep our data secure. It’s no wonder, then, that they’re also one of the best VPNs for ESPN+.

Headquartered in the British Virgin Islands

ExpressVPN is based in the British Virgin Islands, which we hear is quite exotic. More importantly, it’s a great place to maintain privacy. The courts in the country are vigorous in protecting privacy rights, particularly when it comes to online activity. Even better, the British Virgin Islands aren’t members of the Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, or 14 Eyes surveillance alliances, groups of countries led by the U.S. who have agreed to recognize one another’s data warrants. That means that we can rest assured knowing that with ExpressVPN, we don’t have to worry about anyone getting their hands on our IP addresses or our browsing habits.

Rotating IP Addresses

ExpressVPN uses rotating IP addresses. That provided us with an extra level of privacy. Basically, it meant that every time we signed on, we were issued a new address, which made it hard for anyone who might be snooping to associate our online activity with any one single address. Will anyone out there come looking for us if they find out we’re accessing ESPN+ from Madagascar? Who can say? But we don’t have to worry about it with ExpressVPN.

3,000 Servers in 148 Countries

ExpressVPN has a healthy 3,000 servers scattered through 165 different countries. That means that almost anywhere that we may find ourselves, we would be near a fast, secure connection. Argentina? Yes. Bulgaria? Check. Mongolia? You bet. Need we go on?

4. CyberGhost - Best VPN for ESPN+ for Macs

Editors Rating:

8.9 /10

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How We Review

We’ve always trusted CyberGhost to keep us safe and secure and provide great privacy for our internet surfing. After all, they were founded in 2011 on the belief that privacy is a “basic human right.”1 And they put their money where their mouth is, with strict logging policies, torrenting support, split tunneling and some of the fastest speeds in the industry. Their low latency means smooth streaming whether you’re watching World Cup soccer or Game of Thrones.

Split Tunneling

One thing we like about Cyberghost is that they offer split-tunneling. For those who might not be in the know, split tunneling means we can maintain a connection to the regular Internet at the same time we’re running our VPN. In simple terms, we can utilize two separate “tunnels” at once. What difference does this make? Well, when we’re at the corner cafe sipping our chai latte, we can use a VPN to keep our work files nice and protected but run Spotify through the cafe’s Wi-Fi. That saves us valuable bandwidth and keeps our computer running smoothly.

Smart Access

In addition to their split tunneling feature, CyberGhost offers something they call Smart Access. Basically, Smart Access automates the split tunneling process for us. With Smart Access, we didn’t have to constantly choose which programs and websites we wanted to associate with the VPN and which ones we wanted to route through normal Wi-Fi channels. We simply set up our preferences once and never had to worry about them again. Of course, that’s convenient since it saves us a step when we’re working. But it also helps to keep us safe, since it means we don’t always have to remember to sign on to the VPN when we watch the big game.

Great for Macs

CyberGhost features low latency as well as fast upload and download speeds. This is especially true for Macs, as you’ll find if you check out our best VPNs for Macs. Every VPN slows a device down a little when it’s running, but the difference between our MacBook latency with and without CyberGhost connected was only 14 percent. Download speeds were similarly efficient, which made torrenting a breeze. And with lightning-quick upload speeds, our ESPN+ never froze or disconnected.

5. ProtonVPN - Best VPN for ESPN+ for Security

Editors Rating:

8.8 /10

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How We Review

ProtonVPN is a unique service in many ways, whether we’re talking about their association with the CERN laboratories in Geneva, Switzerland or their free VPN. Nevertheless, they offer all the things you’d expect from a high-quality VPN: split-tunneling, multi-hop technology, support for a number of different streaming services including ESPN+, and a strict logging policy.

Based In Geneva, Switzerland

Like many of the VPNs on this list, ProtonVPN chose its headquarters location carefully. Switzerland is another country that operates outside the Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and 14 Eyes surveillance alliances. It’s also a country that takes personal privacy quite seriously. The city of Geneva in particular, though, is associated with the CERN laboratories, home of the world’s largest particle accelerator where the World Wide Web actually originated. ProtonVPN likes to point out that it began as a crowdfunded effort to protect journalists and protestors working in the area, and it remains active in the larger privacy community as an advocate for more privacy laws. That kind of commitment suggests we can certainly trust ProtonVPN when we’re streaming golf.

Free VPN

One of the unique features about ProtonVPN is that they offer a free version of their VPN (for a more complete rundown, see our list of the best free VPNs out there). This isn’t a free trial, but rather an honest-to-goodness free VPN. Of course, as we would expect with something free, the service comes with limited options: we could connect to servers in only three countries, we had access to only “medium” speeds, and there was no support for torrenting. Even so, we’d say it offers an excellent option for those who only use a VPN occasionally. ProtonVPN’s price structure also includes a $4.00 per month plan, with higher speeds, torrenting, and two simultaneous connections. And while they don’t offer any discounted long-term contracts, their full plan with their highest speeds and access to blocked websites, is reasonably priced at just $8.00 a month.

Multi-hop

One reason we like ProtonVPN so well is that they offer multi-hop technology. Sometimes called “double VPN,” multi-hop means our signal is routed through not just one but at least two encrypted servers. Of course, two encrypted servers means we are twice as protected as if we were routed through one. And frankly, with AES-256 encryption, we were actually pretty darn safe with just one. In short, we feel a lot more confident when we log on to ProtonVPN that our data is safe from any nasty hackers.

6. VyprVPN - Best VPN for ESPN+ and Torrenting

Editors Rating:

8.5 /10

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How We Review

Another company based in the ultra-private Switzerland, VyprVPN has a privacy policy and encryption tools that give us confidence that our online activities are both secure and private. In addition, they provide dynamic IP addresses which make it harder for hackers to access our data. All that makes VyprVPN one of our go-to options for our streaming needs.

Encryption

VyprVPN uses Wireguard for its encryption and OpenVPN as its internet protocol. Because it uses a Linux-based kernel, Wireguard is known for its high speeds. OpenVPN is fast as well, in part because it bypasses firewalls in establishing security. Best of all, though, both Wireguard and OpenVPN are open-source programs. This means that computer scientists from across the internet have contributed to its development and testing. It also means they aren’t subject to tampering by any government agencies. Simply put, VyprVPN utilizes the tools to make sure our data is safe, secure, and private.

Privacy Policy

VyprVPN not only has the right encryption tools to keep us safe, though. They also have a privacy policy that lays out exactly what information they do and don’t log. Of course, all VPNs must keep some of our information. Otherwise, they’d have trouble billing us. However, VyprVPN makes clear that they collect no information regarding our use of the VPN itself. That means they don’t log timestamps for when we use the service, they don’t keep track of our local IP address or the IP addresses they assign us, and they never record what sites we visit.

Big Games on the Big Screen

The next best thing to watching a live game in person, is watching a live game on the big screen. It can be hard to set up VPNs on smart TVs sometimes, but with VyprVPN, setting up is a breeze. Its apps made specifically for Android TV and Amazon Fire TV make installing the VPN easy, and once it’s installed, you can start streaming right away. In our case, we finished setting up VyprVPN before the last kernel we put in the microwave popped.

7. FastestVPN - Best VPN for ESPN+ for Families

Editors Rating:

8.3 /10

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How We Review

FastestVPN is among the most affordable VPNs on this list, especially for long-term contracts. According to FastestVPN’s price list, they offer a three-year plan for just $1.11 a month, and even their single-month subscription is reasonably priced at $10.00. This doesn’t mean, though, that they don’t deliver on what we want from a VPN. With ten simultaneous connections on ten devices and access to ESPN+ as well as streaming services like Prime Video and Crackle, FastestVPN is an especially good choice for families.

Lots of Streaming

FastestVPN allowed us to access ESPN+ from anywhere in the world, but they also allowed us to unblock a number of other streaming services including Prime Video, HBO Go, and BBC’s iPlayer. For many of these services, we had access to content libraries from other countries besides the U.S. As a result, we were never at a loss for something to watch.

10 Simultaneous Connections

FastestVPN is one of the more family-friendly VPNs on this list. Not only do they provide enough streaming content to satisfy everyone, but with ten simultaneous connections available on ten different devices, they also make it easy for everyone to watch what they want at the same time. We don’t have children ourselves, but we’ve been told that multiple simultaneous connections are a must for families hoping to survive long layovers.

Customer Service

When we have a problem or a question, we like having lots of different ways to find an answer. FastestVPN has an online support center which allowed us to find information for ourselves when we needed it. However, they also feature email support and a 24/7 live chat messenger on their support page where we asked our more complicated questions. We were a little disappointed they didn’t offer phone service, but a polite customer service representative had no trouble explaining the company’s privacy policy to us when we had questions.