The Best VPNs for Germany in 2023

1. NordVPN - Best Privacy Features

Editors Rating:

9.7 /10

View Plans

How We Review

Product Specs

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

Server network: A NordVPN subscription gives users access to nearly 6,000 servers (and counting!) spread across the world. We recommend it in Europe, in particular, because it has servers in 37 of the 50 European countries, including Germany, in which it has over 250 servers in Berlin and Frankfurt.

That’s crucial, because the best server to use is the one closest to you if you want to protect your data without sacrificing much speed. When we’re just browsing and don’t need to change our Mac’s location, we look for servers in New York or New Jersey because those are the closest to us. With servers in both the northeastern (Berlin) and western (Frankfurt) parts of Germany, NordVPN essentially guarantees fast servers for everyone in the country.

Privacy and security features: This is where NordVPN really shines. It goes beyond industry norms to provide top-level tunneling and encryption. It even has its own VPN protocol called NordLynx. A VPN protocol is a set of instructions for how to route traffic from a device to a VPN server, and it plays a crucial role in privacy and speed. Think of it as driving directions for your data that shows the fastest and safest route. NordLynx is built around WireGuard, one of the best VPN protocols available.

NordVPN also offers double encryption, also known as multihop. A VPN typically encrypts traffic once before sending it off to a VPN server. With multihop, the VPN encrypts traffic twice and routes it through two servers. It’s not something you’ll likely use on a daily basis, especially since it can severely slow down your connection. Multihop, however, is useful for tasks that require extra privacy. We use it when passing around passwords and login information for shared company accounts to prevent our passwords from being intercepted.

Privacy policy: NordVPN has a no-logs privacy policy2, similar to what we saw when we reviewed ExpressVPN and other privacy-focused VPNs. The policy maintains that the VPN doesn’t log any data that can compromise a user’s browsing activity, such as which websites are visited. It records technical data such as device IDs and connection timestamps, but NordVPN says the data is removed within 15 minutes after a session ends.

We’ve long known NordVPN is secure and private. It’s our highest-rated VPN, after all, and it has topped our annual list of the top VPNs for several years running. As a privacy-focused VPN, NordVPN did admirably well in IP-address-protection tests. It passed both DNS and WebRTC leak tests, and it also proved it can change a device’s IP address. Just a few months ago, we used NordVPN to access Hulu (a streaming site exclusive to the U.S.) while in Hong Kong.

NordVPN’s impressive routing ability took a slight toll on its speed though. We noted during our time in Hong Kong that Hulu episodes loaded much more slowly than they do back home, but it’s normal for VPN speed to dip a little when connecting to a server a long distance away. It’s still fast though. On a New York server, our download speed while connected to our 100 Mbps internet averaged 87 Mbps. That’s a speed loss of less than 20 percent. We typically see speed losses of up to 40 percent — see our FastVPN review, for example — so that’s a solid performance from NordVPN.

>> Learn more: The Best VPNs to Access Hulu

Bear in mind, however, that NordVPN isn’t the cheapest VPN. It’s not expensive — far from it — but you’ll spend a few more euros on NordVPN than, say, Private Internet Access, which is one of the most affordable VPNs, with prices as low as $2.19 per month. With NordVPN, a monthly subscription costs $12.99, while a two-year deal (the best price) costs about $3.79 per month. We still think NordVPN is worth it given its performance and privacy features.

2. Surfshark - Best for Families

Editors Rating:

9.5 /10

View Plans

How We Review

Product Specs

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

Server network: Just like NordVPN, Surfshark has servers in Berlin and Frankfurt. It doesn’t say exactly how many servers it has in the country, but the company has over 3,200 total servers in 100 locations around the world. Whenever we connected to a Germany server (we did so about 20 times throughout the testing period), we got a different IP address.

Another thing we liked about Surfshark was the Rotating IP Address feature. Essentially, it changed our IP address every five to 10 minutes, making it harder for anyone — even the sites we were on — to track and profile us. Only the IP address changed and not the location, though, so we stayed on whichever server location we selected initially. With 3,200 servers, there’s plenty of IP addresses to go around for every Surfshark user.

Privacy and security features: Most of Surfshark’s privacy and security features are actually geared for people who use the internet in restrictive networks or countries with strong censorship. We found, for example, that it’s one of the VPNs that can evade China’s Great Firewall3 on our recent trip to China.

Germany isn’t so restrictive, but some of Surfshark’s features may still come in handy. Camouflage mode, for example, makes your encrypted VPN traffic seem like normal traffic, so Surfshark is an option if your school or work doesn’t allow the use of VPNs. Like NordVPN, it also offers multihop.

>> Read more: The Best VPNs for School

Privacy policy: Surfshark has a no-logs policy, but it does see and record users’ IP addresses. It says so in the privacy policy itself.4 That normally would be a red flag, but Surfshark claims to delete all IP-address information 15 minutes after a session ends. We can’t verify that claim ourselves, but Surfshark’s server infrastructure was audited by Cure53, a reputable German security firm, and was given approval.5 That means its servers adhere to the company’s privacy policy.

>> Learn More: How to Stay Anonymous Online

What we like most about Surfshark is that you can connect unlimited devices per account, so you don’t have to worry about device limits if you have multiple devices or you’re sharing a subscription with family members — unlike with NordVPN. You can even share subscriptions with family members (or work colleagues, in our case) anywhere in the world. We have two remote-work MacBooks, five office desktops, two Android phones, and four iPhones all connected to Surfshark.

>> Interesting Reading: How to Set Up a VPN

More than the number of devices you can connect, what matters most is the quality of the connection. With Surfshark, we saw a number of features that improve the user experience. If you want quick and easy data protection, for example, the Surfshark app automatically recommends the fastest server. If you’re in Germany, that’s a server in either Berlin or Frankfurt (same as NordVPN). There’s also an auto-connect option that connects your devices to the VPN automatically whenever they connect to a Wi-Fi network.

When it comes to cost, Surfshark pricing is on the steep side if you buy a monthly subscription ($15.45), but super affordable if you go with a one-year or two-year plan. It costs $47.88 for a year ($3.99 monthly) or $59.76 for two years ($2.21 monthly), making it slightly cheaper than NordVPN. And remember: It has no device limits, so one subscription is all you need for the entire family.

3. Private Internet Access VPN - Best for Accessing U.S. IP Addresses

Editors Rating:

9.4 /10

View Plans

How We Review

Product Specs

Multi-hop	Yes
Camouflage Mode	No
Kill switch	Yes
Split Tunneling	Yes
Netflix	Yes
Torrenting	Yes

Server network: Private Internet Access is the best VPN in Germany to get a U.S. IP address, for tasks such as accessing streaming services or unblocking websites available only in the U.S. That’s because it has servers in all 50 U.S. states, which gives Private Internet Access a unique advantage for streaming. We’re on the East Coast, but we used Private Internet Access to change our YouTube TV location to access West Coast programming. We simply connected to a server in California, and voila!

>> Further Learning: The Best VPNs for YouTube TV

Privacy and security features: Private Internet Access may not be as much of a heavyweight as NordVPN and Surfshark when it comes to privacy features, but it gets the job done and then some.

It doesn’t have traditional VPN multihop like the other two, but it does offer multihop via proxy. A proxy is an intermediary server that can change your IP address just like a VPN server. The difference between a proxy and a VPN is that the former doesn’t offer encryption. With PIA’s multihop via proxy, our IP address changed twice, but our traffic was encrypted only once. It was faster than traditional VPN multihop, though, which is why we preferred it for activities that require more privacy than a normal VPN provides, but faster speeds than VPN multihop, such as torrenting.

>> Top Pick: The Best VPNs for Torrenting

Privacy policy: Private Internet Access is based in the U.S., which raises some privacy concerns. The U.S. is part of the Five Eyes and the larger 14 Eyes alliance (of which Germany is also a member). Those are alliances in which member countries enter an agreement to share communication intelligence for various purposes, such as prosecution of crimes. If the German government wants access to your browsing history, for example, it can enlist the help of the U.S. government to legally oblige Private Internet Access to hand over information.

Fortunately, Private Internet Access has a no-logs policy, which means it doesn’t keep data on your browsing history, so it has nothing to share. Moreover, after reading PIA’s privacy policy6, we found that the only data it collects in relation to VPN use is statistical data needed to deliver and improve its services, such as server uptime, global number of users, and bandwidth capacity.

Private Internet Access is an affordable VPN, but it’s as good as VPNs come. Our Private Internet Access subscription, which we bought in USD, cost $79 for three years of access. If you buy it in Germany, it will cost you €70.

Despite its low price, we were impressed by the VPN’s performance. It was fast, especially on U.S. servers. It averaged 88 Mbps, but we once got 98.72 Mbps on our 100 Mbps network. That’s less than a 2 percent decrease — and maybe even less, considering we don’t always get 100 percent of our internet plan speed.

We also like that Private Internet Access comes with the option to tailor the encryption to the intended use. We recommend 256-bit AES for maximum privacy when you want to avoid detection while downloading a torrent, and the slightly weaker 128-bit AES for less private activities, such as online gaming. PIA, after all, is one of the best gaming VPNs we’ve tested. If you want a quick IP address change without encryption, that’s also an option with Private Internet Access’ proxy server in the Netherlands.

Our one issue with Private Internet Access’ performance was with the upload speed. Whether connected to a server in the U.S. or abroad, there was always around a 20 Mbps gap between the download and upload speeds. Unless you’re uploading to YouTube like us or streaming yourself on Twitch, though, that won’t be a huge issue. The download speed is what usually matters for browsing, downloading, and streaming.

>> See More: The Best VPNs for Streaming

4. IPVanish - Best for Accessing Europe IP Addresses

Editors Rating:

9.3 /10

View Plans

How We Review

Product Specs

Multi-hop	No
Camouflage Mode	No
Kill switch	Yes
Split Tunneling	Yes
Netflix	Yes
Torrenting	Yes, with uTorrent

Server network: Being based in the U.S., the majority of IPVanish’s servers are in North America. Its reach in Europe still impressed us though. Out of its 2,200 total servers, over a quarter (560) are in Europe. It offers IP addresses in 31 European countries — almost as many as our top pick, NordVPN. In some of those countries, IPVanish offers locations in multiple cities. We were able to choose between London, Birmingham, Glasgow, and Manchester, for example, while picking a server to use for streaming on BBC iPlayer.

Privacy and security features: We didn’t find any other privacy features from IPVanish besides what’s standard with VPNs. It uses encryption (256-bit AES) and tunneling protocols (OpenVPN and WireGuard), of course, and it has a kill switch, but not multihop. Even the features IPVanish calls “innovative” on its website, such as the WireGuard tunneling protocol, are actually commonplace with VPNs.

Is IPVanish’s lack of extra features such a bad thing though? Not really. If anything, it makes IPVanish a good no-fuss day-to-day VPN. In our experience, IPVanish is easy to use. We didn’t do a lot of setting up to protect our data. We just chose a server and connected to it, and IPVanish was on the job, making it perfect for the devices we use on the go, such as laptops and smartphones.

>> Our Picks: Best VPNs for Android

Privacy policy: IPVanish, like Private Internet Access, is based in the U.S., so the same privacy concerns apply. It also has a no-logs policy, however, and has been audited by a third-party security firm, the Seattle-based Leviathan Security Group. It found that IPVanish adheres to its privacy policy of not collecting VPN usage data that could put users’ privacy at risk, such as browsing data and connection data.

We also took a look at IPVanish’s privacy policy and found that the only data it logs is aggregate performance data, which is anonymized so it’s not tied to any specific user.

» Further Reading: IPVanish Privacy Report

Our tests on IPVanish revealed that it’s a good, reliable VPN in Germany and everywhere else in Europe. It passed our IP address and WebRTC leak tests, and it was also able to bypass geo-restrictions. We were able to access BBC iPlayer, for example, by getting a U.K. IP address.

IPVanish wasn’t the fastest VPN we tested, but it was consistent. It delivered about 70 to 80 Mbps on any server we connected to, both within and outside Europe.

IPVanish’s vast server fleet in Europe also makes it good for backpackers and frequent travelers, and the straightforward nature of its features makes it easy to use on the go. When we wanted to check on something online while waiting in line for coffee, for example, the app found the fastest server in our location without us having to scroll through its server list. That’s a handy feature for travelers, as we found while testing the best VPNs for travel.

Our one gripe with IPVanish is its price. It doesn’t offer a lot of extras, but it charges almost the same amount as NordVPN, our No. 1 pick for its privacy features. IPVanish costs $3.33 per month on average with a two-year plan ($79.99 total), which is only about $0.40 per month less than NordVPN. When we compared the features we got from both options, however, it was clear that we got more value from our top pick. NordVPN gave us access to multihop and malicious site blocking, neither of which IPVanish offers. NordVPN also has nearly three times as many servers as IPVanish.

Still, if simplicity and access to a wide selection of European IP addresses are what you want, IPVanish is a smart choice.

>> Compare: IPVanish vs. NordVPN

5. CyberGhost - Best Servers in Germany

Editors Rating:

8.9 /10

View Plans

How We Review

Product Specs

Multi-hop	No
Camouflage Mode	No
Kill switch	Yes
Split Tunneling	No
Netflix	Yes
Torrenting	Yes

Server network: We recommend CyberGhost for getting German IP addresses because of the size of its server fleet. It has over 9,000 servers around the world, and 1,500 of them are in Germany. CyberGhost has more servers in Germany than any other country in the world — even more than its 1,300 servers in the U.S.

CyberGhost also offers more locations in Germany than our other top picks. It has servers in Berlin and Frankfurt — like NordVPN, Surfshark, and PIA — but it also has 23 servers in Dusseldorf.

Privacy and security features: Much like IPVanish, CyberGhost doesn’t have a lot of extra features to flaunt, but it’s a perfectly private and secure VPN for securing online data. It uses 256-bit AES for encryption, like every other VPN on this list, as well as the tunneling protocols OpenVPN and WireGuard.

We found, though, that CyberGhost has servers optimized for different uses, such as streaming, gaming, and torrenting. The specialized servers use unique networking to optimize the speed and quality of connections for each specific use. Some of the normal U.K. servers we connected to couldn’t access All 4, for example, but all the U.K. servers optimized for streaming were able to gain access.

Privacy policy: CyberGhost’s privacy policy is transparent about what types of data the service does and does not collect. Just like Surfshark, CyberGhost’s privacy policy has been audited for transparency, so we have good reason to trust what it says.

According to its privacy policy, the VPN collects two types of performance data: connection attempts and successful connections. Those types of data are aggregated from all users, so none of them can identify who used the VPN and when. On the other hand, CyberGhost doesn’t log visited websites and IP addresses.

CyberGhost is the best VPN to use in Germany if you want fast speeds and if changing your IP address to a different country is not a priority. Besides its vast server network, we recorded great speeds on CyberGhost’s Germany servers. It averaged 79 Mbps when we connected from New York.

The real highlight of our experience, though, was the 1,508 servers in Germany. With that many servers, users connecting from Germany are almost always guaranteed to find a fast server not shared with many other users. A server’s load — the number of users connected and amount of bandwidth passing through — greatly affects the VPN connection’s speed. Every time we looked at CyberGhost’s server menu, the Germany servers always had less than 40 percent load, which means they’re not congested.

Since you’ll be sharing VPN IP addresses with fewer users, you’re less likely to experience blacklisting or CAPTCHAs. Some websites use those security measures to protect themselves from bot traffic, but VPN users are caught in the crossfire because multiple traffic streams from the same IP address (i.e. VPN users connected to the same server) is considered suspicious behavior. With CyberGhost, we never needed to go through website security checks while connected to its Germany servers.

Hate CAPTCHAs? Try a static IP address from CyberGhost. With a static IP address, you’ll get the same IP address every time you connect, and this IP address is yours and yours only. You will not share it with other users. A dedicated static IP address can be purchased on top of a CyberGhost VPN subscription for $2.50 per month.

>> Further Reading: Dynamic (Shared) IP Address vs. Static (Dedicated) IP Address