The Best VPNs for the Netherlands
Whether the Netherlands is your homeland or you’re just visiting, these are the best VPNs with large presences in the Netherlands.


- With 200 servers in the Netherlands alone, you can find a stable connection no matter where you go in the country
- U.S. servers mean you can log in to your home streaming services when you’re in the Netherlands
- Double-hop technology makes it impossible for Netherlands hackers and identity thieves to steal your personal information

- A strong privacy policy means the company can’t be forced to turn over your browsing history to the Dutch government
- Stream Netherlands Netflix content from your U.S. location
- AES-256 encryption protects sensitive data when you’re traveling in Holland and need to log in to your U.S. corporate headquarters

- Dynamic IP addresses prevent streaming services from blacklisting you
- Choose from over 950 Netherlands servers with the press of one button
- A kill switch ensures no one in the Netherlands can spy on your browsing even if you lose your VPN signal
Maybe you’re a student at the University of Amsterdam, or maybe you’re on a summer trip to Holland. Whatever the reason, a VPN is a great way to protect yourself online with just a tap. Of course, choosing a VPN can be difficult, especially if you’re in a new place. Well, we’ve done the work of finding out which VPNs work the best in the Netherlands. Just sit back and enjoy browsing!
VPN Features We Tested
Encryption | 256-bit AES |
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Netherland server speeds | 20+ Mbps |
Netherland servers total | 70-952 |
Netflix Netherlands access | Some, not all |
When you think of Holland, you most likely think of tulips, windmills, wooden shoes, and other local treasures. But when it comes to data privacy, getting a VPN in the Netherlands can seem like a toss-up. As the Netherlands is a member of Five Eyes, VPN companies based in Holland could be forced under the law to give the government customers’ data. And even though Holland residents are protected by the E.U’s General Data Protection Regulation,1 that doesn’t apply to visitors from outside the E.U like us. And so, we looked for the best VPNs with strong presences in the Netherlands in the form of multiple servers. Let’s take a closer look.
Comparison of the Best VPNs for the Netherlands
System |
NordVPN
|
Surfshark
|
Private Internet Access VPN
|
IPVanish
|
CyberGhost
|
PureVPN
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ranking | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th |
Ratings | 9.7/10 | 9.5/10 | 9.4/10 | 9.3/10 | 8.9/10 | 8.9/10 |
Number of Servers in the Netherlands | 200+ | Unspecified | 952 | 160 | 70 | 316 |
Minimum Monthly Cost | $3.71 | $2.30 | $2.19 | $2.25 | $2.92 | $3.96 |
Contract Length Range | 1 month- 2 years | 1 month- 2 years | 1 month- 3 years | 1 month- 3 years | 1 month- 1 year | 1 month- 1 year |
Netflix | Yes | Yes | Yes*Sometimes | Yes*Sometimes | No | Yes |
Torrenting | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes*Sometimes |
Five Eyes Member | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Read Review | NordVPN Review | Surfshark Review | Private Internet Access VPN Review | IPVanish Review | CyberGhost Review | PureVPN Review |
Summary of the Best VPNs for the Netherlands
- NordVPN - Best VPN in the Netherlands Overall
- Surfshark - Best VPN in the Netherlands with Multi-hop
- Private Internet Access VPN - Best VPN in the Netherlands With The Most Servers
- IPVanish - Best VPN in the Netherlands for Windows
- CyberGhost - Best VPN in the Netherlands for Mac
- PureVPN - Best Netherlands VPN with Weekly Plans
Detailed List of the Best VPNs for the Netherlands
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1. NordVPN - Best VPN in the Netherlands Overall
NordVPN’s more than 200 servers in the Netherlands are more than secure. With double VPN, a.k.a multi-hop, our data was encrypted multiple times for more protection. Plus, the servers allowed for P2P connections, commonly known as torrenting, so you can watch your favorite old movies on the road. And with dedicated IP addresses available, you can rest assured that you’ll be able to bypass websites’ blocks against shared addresses.
What We Like
- Netflix and torrenting access
- Fast on Macs
- No traffic logging
- Kill switch on all devices
What We Don’t Like
- No split tunneling
- Static IP addresses
- Dedicated IP addresses cost $70 a year
- Latency on Windows
Non-Member to Five Eyes
Although NordVPN has a strong presence in the Netherlands, the company itself is based in Panama, a country that’s not involved in the Five Eyes surveillance alliance. For us, that meant that they would never be forced to give the government our customer data. But even if they were a Five Eyes member, NordVPN didn’t log our websites visited or IP addresses, so they’d have very little data to give in the first place.
Connecting to NordVPN on our Macbook Pro Torrenting and Netflix
When we’re traveling and sleeping in hotel rooms, watching familiar shows and movies can help us drift off to sleep. That’s why we appreciated the fact that we could torrent and watch Netflix with NordVPN without any blocks (it’s actually one of the best VPNs for Netflix in general). And when we had exhausted Netflix’s catalogue, we moved onto Prime Video, Disney +, and Hulu, all while connected to one of NordVPN’s servers in Amsterdam.
Good for Macs
Waiting for a flight in the Lelystad Airport in Flevoland, we got out our laptop to get some work done while we waited for the gate to be open (yes, we’re the kind of people to get to the airport three hours early for even short flights). Of course, we didn’t want the Lelystad Wi-Fi’s ISP to see what we were doing, so we connected to NordVPN. Unlike many others that we tested, NordVPN didn’t slow us down too much, with only 10 percent more lag with the VPN connected. In no time, our web activity was encrypted and we were back to Outlook. Hallelujah!
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2. Surfshark - Best VPN in the Netherlands with Multi-hop
Based in the Netherlands itself, Surfshark has over 3,200 servers globally, but the exact number of servers it has in the Netherlands is not specified. What we do know is that it’s the best VPN in the Netherlands if you want to be extra secure, and that’s because it has servers that support multi-hop. Curious as to what multi-hop is? Find out more below.
What We Like
- Multi-hop
- 256-bit AES encryption
- Choice between OpenVPN, WireGuard, and IKEv2 protocols
- Strict privacy policies
What We Don’t Like
- No phone support in the Netherlands or otherwise
- Expensive monthly plans (but discounts on long-term plans)
- Only one server location in the Netherlands
- Can take time to connect to servers farther away
Multi-Hop
Multi-hop is a VPN feature that provides extra privacy and security, designed mostly for journalists, whistleblowers, and others who might be targeted by government overreach. Basically, multi-hop connects you to two servers, both of which are encrypted. Double the encryption, double the security and privacy. Surfshark has two multi-hop servers in the Netherlands, one connects through a U.S. server and the other through a Singapore server. If you want to browse the internet with extra security while making it appear as though you’re still in the Netherlands, Surfshark’s multi-hop servers can help.
Top-Notch Security
What good is a VPN that offers flimsy protection? Well, with Surfshark, you can be sure that your data is encrypted using the best encryption protocol there is. Surfshark uses 256-bit AES encryption, the current gold-standard, so you can be sure your data is safe. On top of that, it offers two of the most well-received VPN protocols in OpenVPN and WireGuard. Both VPN protocols combine a good balance of security and speed, which is why they’re both crowd favorites.
Strong Privacy Policy
In our privacy guide, we gave Surfshark an 8.5 out of 10 rating, one of the highest we’ve ever given to a VPN. That’s because of its strict logging policy, the encryption method it uses, how often it pushes security updates, and the availability of two-factor authentication in its apps. All those things point to the fact that Surfshark is serious about protecting its customers’ privacy.
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3. Private Internet Access VPN - Best VPN in the Netherlands With The Most Servers
With over 950 servers in Holland, Private Internet Access ensures fast speeds, no matter where in the Netherlands you find yourself. Now, we’re not exactly sure why PIA has such a large presence there, with about a third of its 3,194 servers in Holland. But hey, we’re not complaining!
What We Like
- 952 servers across Holland
- Dynamic IP addresses
- No lag on Mac
- AES-256
What We Don’t Like
- No multi-hop
- No split tunneling
- Netflix not guaranteed
- Five Eyes member
No Traffic Logging
We’ll let you in on a little secret. While nearly every VPN we’ve tested says that they have a “no-logging policy”, this is usually not the case, which is why we get into the nitty gritty of privacy policies. Fortunately, PIA did not keep any of our web activity, how long we were connected to their VPN, or our IP address. Rather, it changed our IP address randomly, with a new one each time we connected. In other words, PIA definitely lives up to its name.
Customizable Encryption
Very few VPNs let us choose our encryption methods, but PIA stands out from the pack. Depending on what we were doing, we could decide which encryption method suited our needs. For example, when we were using Google Maps to find out exactly how to get to the Rijksmuseum, we hid our location with AES-256 encryption and an RSA-4096 handshake for the most protection. But when we wanted fast speeds to stream Journaal Extra, one of the most popular shows in the Netherlands, we turned off encryption and simply went with an ECC-256k1 handshake.
Connecting to Private Internet Access Fast Connections
No matter what we’re doing on our devices, we need speeds to be fast. Sure, patience is a virtue, but we’re focusing on other virtues right now. With PIA connected on our Mac and Windows laptops, we saw no latency increase on Mac, a huge aberration from other VPNs. On Windows, latency did increase by about a third, but our download and upload speeds only decreased by 15 and five percent, respectively. If you need a VPN for gaming in the Netherlands, PIA is a solid option.
Note: Especially if you’re using a VPN for gaming purposes, we recommend doing so on Wi-Fi rather than data to avoid eating up your data plan. Learn more about VPN data usage here.
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4. IPVanish - Best VPN in the Netherlands for Windows
We used IPVanish all over the Netherlands, and everytime we connected, we got a brand new IP address. For any ISPs or hackers looking to track us online, these dynamic IP addresses made that process extremely difficult if not impossible. And with over 40,000 IP addresses total, we had no fear of running out.
What We Like
- 70 servers in the Netherlands
- Unlimited devices per subscription
- Great customer support over live chat
- Quick on Macs and Windows computers
What We Don’t Like
- Five Eyes member
- Has provided logs to authorities in the past
- No Netflix access
- No multi-hop
Good for Mac and Windows
Mac-users and Windows-users may seem like irreconcilable groups, but when we test out VPNs, we want to provide information useful to everybody. IPVanish performed remarkably well on both our Macbook Pro and our Windows Vivobook. In terms of latency, for example, we only saw a 14 percent increase on Mac and a seven percent increase on Windows, much lower than the average latency increase of over 30 percent. Truthfully, whether you need a VPN for Mac or a VPN for Windows in Holland, IPVanish is a safe pick.
IPVanish Desktop App Connect To Router
Under normal circumstances, we could connect up to 10 devices to IPVanish at the same time. That’s probably more than enough for most people traveling to Holland, but if you live in the Netherlands, you can increase this device limit by connecting IPVanish to your router. That means that all of the devices on your network will have their web activity and IP addresses encrypted. Aside from routers, IPVanish also works on:
- Windows
- macOS
- iOS
- Android
- Chromebook
- Windows phones.
With all that device compatibility, people can rest assured that they won’t fall into the 45 percent of frustrated travelers who can’t access their travel data on a smart device2 when we’re using IPVanish.
Sports Streaming
Did you know that the most popular sport in the Netherlands is soccer (or as they call it, football), with over 40 percent of people following it?3 Of course, that’s not the case in the U.S, where football reigns supreme as the most-watched sport4 (and yes, we’re talking about the one with the touchdowns). If you’re in the Netherlands and need to catch up on your favorite foreign sports, IPVanish has got your back with access to:
- ESPN
- MLB TV
- NBC Sports
- WWE Network.
In sum? Just because you’re not at home doesn’t mean you can’t stay on top of your favorite sports, and privately, for that matter.
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5. CyberGhost - Best VPN in the Netherlands for Mac
If you want fast speeds, then having a server near you is a must. Well, CyberGhost has a decent presence in Holland with 160 servers, ensuring that we had fast speeds (on our Macbook Pro in particular). We only saw our lag increase by 14 percent, while our download and upload speeds only decreased by three and eight percent, respectively. That’s way below the average, and trust us, we’ve tested out a ton of VPNs.
What We Like
- 160 servers in Holland
- Non-member to Five Eyes
- Kill switch
- Split tunneling
What We Don’t Like
- Logs IP addresses and other usage information
- Static IP addresses
- Free trial only lasts 24 hours
- Only seven devices per subscription
Kill Switch
After buying some danishes at an adorable Amsterdam bakery, we sat down and pulled out our phones to catch up on the day’s latest news from across the pond. Of course, we connected to CyberGhost before we opened up Chrome as to avoid the bakery’s public Wi-Fi network. But when, a few minutes later, we lost connection to CyberGhost, we found that our Chrome browsers shut down, as well. This prevented anyone from seeing our web activity, the purpose of a VPN in the first place. So even though we weren’t happy to lose connection, at least CyberGhost had a viable back up plan in place in the form of a kill switch.
FYI: A kill switch is also referred to as a network lock feature.
AES-256
We’ll admit that we’re not thrilled with the fact that CyberGhost logged our devices’ IP addresses, along with where and when we were connected to the VPN. But at the very least, all of this information was encrypted with the industry standard of AES-256. Not to mention that CyberGhost’s Romania headquarters means that they can’t be forced to give governments our data, so despite their less than stellar logging policy, we felt safe connecting to Cyberghost in the Netherlands.
CyberGhost App Split Tunneling
Let’s go back to that bakery. We’re all about multi-tasking, which was why, when we were catching up on the news, we also decided to get ahead on some Black Friday deals. While we’re fine with our ISP seeing our browsing on e-commerce sites, we want to keep the news outlets we frequent on the down-low. With CyberGhost, we were able to route our New York Times window through the VPN, but keep our shopping tabs on the bakery’s public network, lowering our bandwidth and increasing our speeds. This process is called split tunneling, by the way. See? You learn something new every day!
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6. PureVPN - Best Netherlands VPN with Weekly Plans
Sure, PureVPN has over 300 servers in Amsterdam alone. But what really impressed us was the fact that the company is based in Hong Kong, a non-member to Five Eyes. So the government couldn’t mandate that they deliver any customer information, although PureVPN only logged our name, email address, payment information and bandwidth. And with 6,500 servers in more than 180 locations, even if we were in Amsterdam, we could hop onto different country’s servers to see what Netflix looks like in nearly every country on earth.
What We Like
- 316 servers in Amsterdam
- Non-member to Five Eyes
- Strict logging policy
- Kill switch
What We Don’t Like
- Torrenting only works sometimes
- Static IP addresses
- Dedicated IP addresses cost $47.88 a year
- On the pricier side
10 Simultaneous Connections
It seems like everytime we return to the Netherlands, we do so with more and more devices. First, it started off with just our phones, but it eventually expanded to tablets, laptops, and even gaming consoles. Fortunately, PureVPN had us covered; we could use their VPN on up to 10 devices at the same time, which was more than enough for us personally.
PureVPN Kill Switch Money-Back Guarantee
We don’t expect you to have to use it, but we love the fact that PureVPN gave us 31 days to change our minds if we weren’t in love with their service. It’s always nice to get that extra assurance that we’re not wasting our money. Not to mention, this also applied to DDoS Protection, a $4.99 a month service that’s available in the Netherlands.
Plans From One Week To One Year
We don’t think we’ve seen anyone aside from PureVPN offer weekly plans for only $0.99. While they don’t offer a free trial, per se, this is a very low cost for a week, and it turns into an annual plan if you don’t cancel it when the initial week ends. Learn more about PureVPN’s unique subscription options on the PureVPN pricing page.
Methodology
When looking for the best VPNs for the Netherlands specifically, our main concern was finding VPNs with large presences in Holland evidenced by their number of servers. Of course, the amount of servers in the Netherlands isn’t the only thing we keep in mind. We also test out every VPN against high standards of security, usability, performance and pricing. While our VPN guide explains our testing process in detail, we’ve provided a summary below.
Security
First and foremost, we look for companies based in countries that are non-members to Five Eyes, Nine Eyes and 14 Eyes. We also look to make sure that the VPN doesn’t log any of our web activity or private IP addresses by reading its privacy policy. When it comes to encryption, we prefer AES-256, and we love when VPNs encrypt our data multiple times through multiple servers, a process called multi-hop. Finally, we perform DNS and WebRTC leak tests using DNSLeakTest.com and a tool from ExpressVPN to ensure that our websites visited and private IP addresses are being kept in the VPN’s encrypted tunnel.
Usability
Of course, we test each VPN’s apps across multiple devices to make sure that they’re user-friendly, even if you’ve never used a VPN in your life. We prefer VPNs that we can use with Netflix, torrenting sites, and other entertainment platforms like Hulu and Prime Video. The VPN should also allow for split tunneling, which means that we can route some of our traffic to the public network directly to save on bandwidth. Of course, we check to make sure that our IP address is actually being replaced with a new one, ideally every single time we connect. That’s called dynamic IP addresses, while, if we got the same one every time, we’d call it static.
Performance
We also test the VPN’s upload speed, download speed and amount of latency using tools from Ookla. In an ideal world, the VPN doesn’t slow down our speeds by more than 40 percent in any of these categories.
Pricing
We can’t ignore the bottom line, which is why we look for affordable VPNs that cost no more than $10 a month at the highest. Typically, VPNs have month-to-month options as well as long-term options that are discounted. We also look for VPNs with free trial periods so you can test them out for yourself. And while free VPNs may sound ideal, they usually come with limits on the number of devices you can use, the amount of data you can use in a day, and more, so we actually prefer paid options.
Now, there’s also a few other factors we consider, including:
- Device compatibility: We ensure that each VPN works on iOS, Android, macOS and Windows devices at the very least. However, we also look for VPNs that work with Linux devices, routers, Roku, Fire TV Sticks, and more. Our readers have all different types of devices, and we consider ourselves to be Equal Opportunity VPN Experts.
- Customer support: VPNs are notorious for having little to no customer support by humans, so we prioritize options with live chats (robots don’t count) or, even better, phone numbers.
- Company history: Of course, we also do our Googling to ensure that the company hasn’t given over customer data to governments in the past and hasn’t had any security breaches. You know what they say: by examining the past, we can prevent ourselves from making the same mistakes in the future.
Frequently Asked Questions
We never tire of talking about VPNs! Here is some more information for your noodle.
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Are VPNs legal in the Netherlands?
VPNs are legal in the Netherlands.
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How do I change my VPN to the Netherlands?
To change your VPN to the Netherlands, first make sure that you have a VPN with servers there, like NordVPN, CyberGhost, IPVanish, Private Internet Access or PureVPN. Next, open up the app and choose a server in the Netherlands. Click connect.
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What is the number one VPN?
The number one VPN, both overall and for the Netherlands, specifically, is NordVPN. We appreciate it for its strict logging policy, low prices and strong encryption methods.
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Are VPNs trustworthy?
While some VPNs are trustworthy, some aren’t. That’s why we read a VPN’s privacy policy to see what information it logs and research the company’s background. We prefer VPN companies headquartered in countries that are non-members to the Five Eyes, Nine Eyes and 14 Eyes international surveillance alliances.
Business.gov. (2021). Protection of personal data.
business.gov.nl/regulation/protection-personal-data/TravelPort. (2019). Discover the key travel trends on Travelport’s Global Digital Traveler Research 2019.
marketing.cloud.travelport.com/Global-Digital-Traveler-Research-2019Statista. (2020). Most popular sports in media and events in the Netherlands 2019.
statista.com/statistics/1172147/most-popular-sports-in-media-and-events-in-the-netherlands/Gallup. (2020). Sports.
news.gallup.com/poll/4735/sports.aspx