Best VPNs for Mexico

1. NordVPN - Best Mexico VPN Overall

Editors Rating:

9.7 /10

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How We Review

If you keep up with our list of best VPNs, you’ll know that NordVPN is frequently among our top picks. That’s because they provide the two most important elements of any good VPN: top-notch security and useful features. First, NordVPN employed multi-hop technology and they’re based in a country outside the major security alliances: we knew they took both our security and our privacy seriously. At the same time, while we were traveling in Mexico we had full access to Netflix and torrenting support, so all our entertainment needs were met as well.

Location

NordVPN is headquartered in Panama, just south of Mexico’s southern border. More important, though, was the fact that Panama isn’t a member of Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, or 14 Eyes. For those who may not realize, these are consortiums of countries, led by the United States, that have banded together to honor each other’s data warrants. Any time the U.S. decides to come knocking on the door of a VPN in one of these countries, that VPN is obliged to cooperate. NordVPN’s location in Panama, though, meant we didn’t have to worry that anyone was looking over our shoulder.

Multi-hop Technology

Internet privacy is important to us, but so is online safety. Cybercrime and scams have risen sharply since the pandemic began, and we can get really bent out of shape when we find mysterious Amazon charges on our Visa card. NordVPN uses multi-hop technology, which helps to improve our security online. Sometimes called Double VPN, multi-hop meant the VPN routed our traffic through not just one but at least two encrypted servers. That hopping made it much harder for a hacker to follow us down whatever rabbit hole we happened to be going down.

Netflix Access

There are plenty of great reasons to use a VPN, but one of our favorites is that some of them allow us to visit exotic versions of Netflix (see our full list of best VPNs for Netflix). By masking our IP address, NordVPN ensured that Netflix didn’t know what country we were actually in, so even though we might be lounging by the hotel pool in Acapulco, we could still watch American Netflix. For that matter, we could watch Canadian Netflix, British Netflix, even Japanese Netflix, giving us access to tons of additional content.

2. CyberGhost - Best Mexico VPN for Torrenting

Editors Rating:

8.9 /10

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How We Review

Just how serious is CyberGhost about torrenting? Their software actually included a dedicated “torrenting” button right there on the app’s main page. Plus, in Mexico, they have 27 servers, which meant that we could download our content from anywhere in the country at lightning-fast speeds. Full seasons of our favorite Mexican soaps? Claro que si!

Split Tunneling

CyberGhost features split tunneling, a particularly handy feature when we were out of the office. Split tunneling meant that when we were hanging out at the corner cafe we could run a VPN to download files from work and at the same time connect to the local Wi-Fi to stream our Spotify tunes. By targeting which programs use which connections, we saved valuable bandwidth.

Support for Torrenting

So we already mentioned that “torrenting” button which took us directly to uTorrent. In addition, CyberGhost improved our downloading experience through a feature they call Smart Access. Essentially, Smart Access allowed us to turn on the VPN automatically when we started certain programs. Why does that matter? Well, we can be a little forgetful, but with Smart Access, we didn’t actually have to remember to turn on the VPN every time we were torrenting. We were automatically protected. Finally, with 29 servers in Mexico, we were sure to get a fast connection, which, after all, is the most essential ingredient to any good torrenting experience.

Encryption

The whole point of a VPN is to encrypt your internet signal so your data is both private and protected. This means you want the best possible encryption. CyberGhost employs AES-256 encryption, a military-grade encryption method that’s used by, well, the military. It’s also used by the National Security Agency and basically any other entity the government wants to protect.1 As the name suggests, it uses a 256-bit encryption code, which in simple terms means it is essentially unbreakable.

3. Private Internet Access VPN - VPN with the Most Servers in Mexico

Editors Rating:

9.4 /10

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How We Review

Private Internet Access is located near Mexico as well: in the U.S. That might give some cause for concern, but we know that the company has taken extraordinary steps to make sure it logs no identifying data. That means it has nothing to turn over to the U.S. government, even if the government happens to have a warrant. As a bonus, Private Internet Access offers an amazing 127 servers in Mexico alone.

Mexican Servers

Private Internet Access maintains 127 servers in Mexico, the most of any VPN on this list. More servers means more possible connections and a greater likelihood of finding one that’s fast and stable when we need it. That’s good for those long FaceTime sessions with our friends back in Brooklyn.

Logging Policy

Private Internet Access has one of the strictest privacy policies in the business. It’s so clear and unequivocal, we thought we’d just copy it out here:

“We can unequivocally state that our company has not and still does not maintain metadata logs regarding when a subscriber accesses the VPN service, how long a subscriber’s use was, and what IP address a subscriber originated from. Moreover, the encryption system does not allow us to view and thus log what IP addresses a subscriber is visiting or has visited…”2

In their expanded privacy statement, they do note that they maintain email addresses, cookie identifiers, and state or territory of origin. However, it’s hard to see how they could conduct payment transactions without at least some of this data. We like that they stick to the bare minimum. More importantly, they backed their policy up with AES-256 encryption, which, as we mentioned above, provides military-grade protection.

Affordability

Private Internet Access comes with a low price tag —the lowest on this list, in fact, at only $2.19 a month. In order to get that kind of savings, however, we had to sign up for a full three-year contract. Otherwise,their normal monthly fee is $11.95 (you can get full details on their offers at the Private Internet Access pricing page). But we don’t mind making the commitment if it means saving money.

4. Ivacy - Best Mexico VPN for Dedicated IP Addresses

Editors Rating:

9.2 /10

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How We Review

Headquartered in Singapore, Ivacy VPN is completely outside the Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and 14 Eyes surveillance alliances. They offered us dynamic IP addresses standard or dedicated IP addresses for a small up-charge. Netflix access and split tunneling were also standard on every one of their 23 Mexican servers.

Dedicated IP Addresses

Ivacy offers dynamic IP addresses standard. In addition, though, we were able to purchase a dedicated address for an extra $3.99 per month when we bought a full year’s subscription. The dedicated address belonged to us and only us, and because it was a single address that always remained the same, we could avoid going through Captcha so often. We really hate Captcha, so this was a huge bonus in our books.

Logging Policy

All VPNs log some information. After all, most need to collect billing information, and many additionally collect troubleshooting information as a means of improving their service. The best companies, though, keep the information they collect to a bare minimum. Ivacy VPN collects billing information and troubleshooting reports, but nothing beyond this. That means, no records of when you logged on, where you went, what you downloaded, where you logged on from, or what IP address you used. That’s thorough enough for us.

Monthly Price

Most VPNs offer a lower price if you go with a longer contract, and that includes Ivacy VPN. With a one-year contract they charge $3.99 a month; with two years that drops to just $2.25; and they even offer a five-year contract for $1.16 a month. Pretty cheap. However, Ivacy also comes with one of the lower single month prices (see Ivacy VPN’s pricing page for more details). The fact is, we don’t always want to make a long-term commitment, and when that’s the case, we know that $9.95 is a bargain. More money to spend on horchata.

5. PureVPN - Best Mexico VPN for Families

Editors Rating:

8.9 /10

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How We Review

PureVPN has an incredible 6,500 servers worldwide in 180 different countries, which includes 20 in Mexico. In other words, you know you’ll be covered in Mexico, but you can also rest assured you’ll be covered anywhere else you go. Every one of those servers comes with split tunneling, Netflix, and access to a whopping 10 simultaneous connections with 10 different devices.

10 Simultaneous Connections

A PureVPN subscription provided access to ten simultaneous connections. On top of that, it allowed us to install it on ten different devices. That was enough options to install it on our work computer, our personal computer, our tablet, our phone; every device we own, in other words. More importantly, PureVPN comes with support for all those devices, including those that are based in Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, Kindle, and Fire TV.

One Week Subscriptions

The first time we heard about PureVPN’s one-week subscriptions we have to admit we were skeptical. Maybe $0.99 isn’t bad to test out a VPN, but who actually needs just one week of a VPN service? That was before we found ourselves stranded at the Mexico City airport for 48 hours waiting for a connecting flight to Lima, Peru. Turns out, a one-week subscription came in pretty useful, and PureVPN’s price of $0.99 was a real deal. Not a lot of VPNs offer contracts this short; it’s nice to know someone does.

Customer Support

One of the other great features of PureVPN is their amazing customer support. That time we were stuck in Mexico City? We had trouble believing we could buy a week’s worth of VPN, so we had to check it out before we put down our $0.99. Not only did we find their support page well-stocked with set-up guides, troubleshooting, and a complete learning center, we were also able to access live support in the middle of a Saturday night. Lisa showed up via instant message pretty instantaneously, and we found out everything we wanted to know and more in a flash.