The Best VPNs for Fortnite in 2024: Our Top 3 Picks

1. NordVPN - Best Latency

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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Whether you’re gaming or just going down the street to grab some coffee and want to connect to the public Wi-Fi, NordVPN is always among my top recommendations. It’s a really well-rounded VPN that strikes a great balance between security and speed — two things you really want when you’re playing Fortnite.

Gaming Features

One of the main reasons I use a VPN when I’m gaming is that a lot of game manufacturers don’t take privacy seriously, and I don’t want my sensitive information exposed. In the age of microtransactions, your credit card information is especially vulnerable.

When you use NordVPN, though, you’ll be using a VPN that’s locked up tighter than Fort Knox. Their 256-bit AES encryption is military-grade, and in my tests, I’ve never found anything that would indicate the VPN wasn’t working as it should. The kill switch will drop your internet connection if your VPN connection becomes unstable to make sure none of your sensitive information can be captured.

I also really like Nord’s split tunneling feature. In a fast-paced game like Fortnite, you don’t want to have a slow connection that’s going to lag out. If that ever happens, I just switch over to the split tunnel, and that usually solves my problem, with the added benefit of allowing apps that don’t really like VPNs — like email clients — to function correctly. I’m currently playing Baldur’s Gate 3, and that’s usually my setup. It allows the game to run smoothly, and I can still keep an eye on work emails if need be.

But, split tunneling doesn’t work on macOS 12 or 13. So far, Private Internet Access is the only VPN provider that’s been able to figure out a workaround to get split tunneling functional on the latest version of macOS. Find out if you should go with Private Internet Access instead in my NordVPN vs Private Internet Access comparison.

Performance

So, in order to talk about gaming with a VPN, you have to understand latency. Essentially, A VPN inserts an additional stop for your online traffic — the VPN server — and because of that, it will take your data a few milliseconds longer to reach Fortnite servers than it will when you’re not connected to a VPN. This measure of time is called a “ping.” Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, recommends a 40- to 60-millisecond ping for the best gaming experience.3

In my experience, NordVPN has one of the lowest latencies out there, and neither download nor upload speeds are severely impacted by its use. It tends to work a little better on a Mac than it does on a PC, but it’s definitely not unusable on one. Check out the data from my most recent speed test, and then we’ll talk about it.

>> Further Reading: Best VPNs for Mac

NordVPN Speed Test

As you can see, the numbers look a little better on the Mac than they do on the PC. That said, these speed tests are just a moment-in-time snapshot of how the VPN was performing at that specific moment. Yeah, the latency is a little high on the PC here, but I’ve played enough games using NordVPN to tell you that it’s rarely an issue.

>> Check Out: How to use a VPN on Nintendo Switch

Price

Nord is one of the more affordable VPNs out there, but it’s not the cheapest on our list; that would be Private Internet Access, but we’ll get to them in just a bit. You can read more about this in my guide to NordVPN’s subscription packages, but if you’re just looking for a VPN, you’re only going to need the Standard package. Plus and Complete add a few interesting tertiary services like cloud storage and a password manager, but you’re not necessarily going to need those for Fortnite.

NordVPN Prices

2. Surfshark - Best DDoS Protection

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

If you take Fortnite really seriously, odds are you may have been hit with a DDoS attack to knock you off your game. Super annoying when that happens, but if you’re using the right VPN — Surfshark, specifically — other players aren’t going to be able to pull it off, which places you directly in the winner’s circle. Surfshark made this list for its best-in-class encryption and protocols.

Gaming Features

In competitive online gaming, there’s a type of attack called DDoS, or distributed denial of service, where your opponent uses bots to flood your IP address with junk traffic, causing your network to crash. That’s a particular concern for players in highly-competitive tournaments, or if you’re just really really good and it annoys the wrong person. I’ve had this happen to me a few times before I started using VPNs to game, and it’s hugely frustrating.

Fortunately, VPNs can prevent DDoS attacks, and Surfshark is especially equipped for this. It uses top-notch encryption and high-quality VPN protocols to hide your IP address from attackers. What they’ll be seeing instead is one of Surfshark’s server IP addresses.

Even if the attackers turn their attention to the VPN servers, Surfshark can handle large influxes of traffic. Each server port has at least 1 Gbps bandwidth capacity, and the company is in the process of upgrading that to 10 Gbps. In short, it will take a whole lot of junk traffic to overwhelm Surfshark.

Performance

Surfshark is pretty similar to NordVPN in terms of slowdowns. It also works a little better on the Mac than it does on the PC, but, overall, it’s not a bad VPN for either. I’ve used Surfshark on a gaming laptop quite a few times to access South Korean servers — this was back in my StarCraft days — and it performed just fine for the most part.

>> Further Info: Best VPNs for Korea

Here’s a quick look at the data from my most recent speed test, though, so you can get an idea of what you’ll be looking at.

Surfshark Speed Test

In this particular test, the latency on the Windows laptop was a little higher than I wanted it to be, but remember that we’re talking fractions of a second here. And, it still beat NordVPN for ping on both my MacBook Pro and my Acer laptop. I understand that those count in the world of competitive gaming, but like I said above, it’s rare that Surfshark has slowed me down to the point where it was super noticeable.

Price

Just like NordVPN, Surfshark’s prices are based on three different subscription models. And again, if you’re just looking for a VPN, you’ll be fine with the most basic package. Starting at $15.45 monthly and ranging up to $17.95 for Surfshark One+, it’s a bit more expensive than NordVPN, but keep in mind we’re talking about a few dollars spread out over the course of a year or two.

Surfshark Prices

Not sure which VPN to pick up? Keep in mind that Surfshark is one of the few VPNs that offers a free trial period. You can test out the service for seven days to see if it fits your style of Fortnite play. If not, just cancel before the trial ends. Note that you can only access Surfshark’s free trial from an iOS or Android device. So, you’ll have to download the app on your phone instead of doing it from your computer.

3. Private Internet Access VPN - Best Server Selection

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

When it comes to server selection, no one can touch Private Internet Access (PIA). They have over 35,000 servers across the globe, amassed over more than two decades of being in business. For context, remember that NordVPN has 6,300, and Surfshark has 3,200. Definitely respectable, but completely outpaced by PIA.

Gaming Features

Servers, servers, servers. Did we mention servers? PIA without a doubt has the largest server fleet of any VPN in operation today, meaning it’s going to be next to impossible to find yourself slowing down due to high server loads. Regardless of where you’re playing Fortnite from, you’re likely going to experience blazing-fast speeds.

I’ve used PIA on business trips from Hoboken to Hong Kong, and I’ve never had any issues connecting to servers back home to access my U.S. Netflix library, nor have I had much of an issue playing the games I wanted to in my downtime. I recommend using the Wireguard protocol when you’re gaming with PIA — I’ve found that it’s the fastest, but you can always cycle through them to see what works best for you.

>> Further Learning: Understanding VPN Protocols

Performance

So, counter to Surfshark and NordVPN, PIA tends to work a little better on a PC than it does on a Mac. This is the data from my most recent speed test from Brooklyn, New York. Your results may vary, but overall, this is pretty representative of my experiences with PIA.

Download Speeds on Mac

Download Speeds on Windows

Upload Speeds on Mac

Upload Speeds on Windows

Price

Private Internet Access also has the distinction of being the most affordable VPN on our list, both in terms of month-to-month costs and long-term subscriptions. Their monthly subscriptions cost $11.95 per month, but if you sign on for three years it works out to about $1.98 per month. That’s cheap for a VPN. It’s definitely more affordable than both NordVPN and Surfshark, but again, the difference isn’t exactly night and day. I go into more detail in my guide to PIA’s pricing, but here’s a quick breakdown:

PIA Prices

Also, one thing I like to tell folks who are thinking about purchasing PIA is that they actually accept certain gift cards. So if your grandma slipped a Starbucks card into your birthday card this year, you can use it to pick up a PIA subscription instead of a cappuccino.