The Best VPNs for Spain in 2024

1. NordVPN - Best for Online Privacy

SecurityScore:

9.7 /10

View Plans Links to NordVPN

How We Review

Product Specs

Multihop	Yes
Camouflage Mode	Yes
Kill switch	Yes
Split Tunneling	Yes
Netflix	Yes
Torrenting	Yes

View Plans Links to NordVPN

Server Network

NordVPN boasts over 6,000 servers in 111 countries around the world; in Spain, it has servers in Madrid and Barcelona. NordVPN actually has the deepest network of servers among our top picks. Although it doesn’t have as many as CyberGhost’s nearly 10,000 servers, it has servers in more than half of all countries in the world. That’s an impressive feat.

>> More Info: CyberGhost vs. NordVPN

Speed

Despite how widely dispersed its servers are, NordVPN wasn’t the best performer in terms of speed – at least when we connected to the Madrid server. It put up average readings of 220 Mbps for downloads and 213 Mbps for uploads. For reference, our baseline speed (our speed without a VPN) was 248 Mbps and 241 Mbps.

Those readings may not have been the fastest, but they were solid. ExpressVPN, which is another VPN we considered but didn’t make this list, averaged only 178 Mbps on its Madrid servers. NordVPN made our roundup of the fastest VPNs, so we know it’s consistently fast even though it wasn’t the fastest VPN in Spain.

>> Read More: NordVPN vs. ExpressVPN

VPN Features

NordVPN is our top pick for online privacy because of its features. Simply put: It’s one of the most feature-rich VPNs we’ve ever tested. It covers a lot of ground, including features that aren’t common to VPNs, such as malicious site blocking and ad blocking.

All the standard features are there, too, such as a VPN kill switch, which stops all internet communications of a device when the VPN is not connected. When our laptop went into sleep mode and disconnected NordVPN, for example, we couldn’t browse the web until we turned on NordVPN again. That prevented us from accidentally surfing the web without NordVPN’s cloak of privacy.

>> Further Reading: A Complete Guide to VPNs

We recommend NordVPN to privacy-conscious internet users because of its feature called Double VPN (aka multihop). Very few VPNs offer it. As the name implies, it doubles your VPN connection, encrypting your traffic twice and hiding your IP address behind two servers. It sounds good for your privacy, but daisy-chaining VPN connections can severely slow down your browsing. If the VPN servers aren’t up to the task, you’ll see some very slow speeds. That’s why we normally use multihop only for tasks that require extra privacy, like when we’re talking to anonymous sources or passing around sensitive information.

>> Learn About: Securely Storing Sensitive Data on Computers

NordVPN’s unique advantage is that its servers have 10 Gbps ports. They are plenty fast, so even if there’s a lot of traffic bouncing around, NordVPN can handle it. Our speed when we connected to a Netherlands-to-London Double VPN was 170 Mbps — a tad slower than our average NordVPN speed, but still very fast. With NordVPN, we had no problem using Double VPN even for everyday browsing.

Also included in NordVPN plans — which start at $3.79 per month for a two-year subscription — is Threat Protection. That goes beyond the normal realm of VPNs, because protecting us from malware-infected sites is normally the task of antivirus software. As you can see in the snapshot above, though, NordVPN kept us from visiting a potentially unsecure website.

That kind of all-around protection is what we loved about NordVPN. It didn’t have the best speeds or the widest reach in terms of servers, but those are compromises we’d happily take in exchange for better privacy and online security. If you feel the same way, NordVPN is the best VPN for you.

>> Read More: The Best VPNs of 2024

2. Surfshark - Best for Unblocking Websites

SecurityScore:

9.5 /10

View Plans Links to Surfshark

How We Review

Product Specs

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

View Plans Links to Surfshark

Server Network

Surfshark’s server spans 100 countries, including Spain. In fact, it has three locations in Spain: Barcelona, Valencia, and Madrid. That makes Surfshark better than NordVPN for connecting locally. Those three locations cover the northern, southern, and eastern parts of Spain. For those in the western part, there are servers in the neighboring Portugal cities, Porto and Lisbon.

>>Weigh Your Options: Surfshark vs. NordVPN

Speed

We were happy with the speeds we got from Surfshark’s Madrid servers. Even using the WireGuard VPN protocol, which is known for its reduced performance on long-distance connections, Surfshark averaged 223 Mbps for downloads. We noticed slower upload speeds though — 209 Mbps, which is a nearly 20% decrease from our 250 Mbps internet speed — but that didn’t bother us. The download speed is what matters for most online activities, including browsing, downloading files, and streaming Netflix.

>>Further Reading: How to Watch Netflix With a VPN

VPN Features

Surfshark’s features were able to go toe to toe with NordVPN. We tested its kill switch feature — which works! — as well as its own spin on multihop, which is called Dynamic MultiHop.

Unlike with NordVPN, where you can select only the exit location that determines your new IP address, Surfshark lets you choose both the entry and exit servers. If you want to route your traffic through only privacy-friendly countries, for example, you can choose Panama as the entry server and Iceland as the second location. Surfshark’s multihop was slower, but it was more flexible than NordVPN’s Double VPN.

Surfshark is one of the best VPNs for traveling because of its impressive ability to bypass censorship and access blocked websites, but you can make use of its unblocking ability even if you’re staying in Spain. Surfshark has a feature called camouflage mode, also known as obfuscation, that makes VPN traffic look like normal traffic. Some countries and networks use advanced detection technology to prevent VPNs from being used to access blocked sites. Obfuscation is the best way to get around that.

To test it and check if the VPN was working, we blocked a few sites from our network and then set up our SPI firewall to alert us if a VPN was used to access those sites. With camouflage mode turned off, our firewall caught Surfshark red-handed. With the feature turned on, however, Surfshark didn’t trigger any alarms.

To be fair, any good VPN can unblock websites. In most cases, you’ll only need to change your computer’s IP address location. With Surfshark’s camouflage mode, however, you’re less likely to be detected by your ISP or the government. You get that benefit along with regular VPN features from Surfshark’s affordable plans, which start at $2.49 monthly if you buy a two-year subscription. Worth it in our book!

3. Private Internet Access VPN - Best Prices

SecurityScore:

9.4 /10

View Plans Links to Private Internet Access VPN

How We Review

Product Specs

Multihop	Yes
Camouflage Mode	No
Kill switch	Yes
Split Tunneling	Yes
Netflix	Yes
Torrenting	Yes

View Plans Links to Private Internet Access VPN

Server Network

Considering Private Internet Access’ affordable pricing, its server network isn’t shabby at all. PIA has servers in 91 countries. It doesn’t say the exact number of servers it runs, but we know its Spain servers are in Valencia and Madrid. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have servers in Barcelona or anywhere in the northern region of Spain, so that may affect your speed if you live in (or visit) that area. But even though we connected from 3,500 miles across the Atlantic, we still had good performance from the Madrid server.

Speed

PIA’s download speed averaged 216 Mbps, while the upload speed averaged 197 Mbps. That’s a huge disparity, but it’s consistent with our results when we tested PIA for our list of the best VPNs for Germany. We noted there that there was almost always at least a 20 Mbps difference between the VPN’s download and upload speeds.

Is that a deal-breaker though? Clearly not. Although it wasn’t the fastest, we were happy with PIA’s performance, especially since it’s one of the cheapest VPNs around.

>> Learn About: How Much Does a VPN Cost?

VPN Features

PIA’s features were surprisingly good, especially split-tunneling — a feature we love for multitasking. When you connect to a VPN, all your device’s online traffic is routed, including traffic from apps. That can affect some apps’ functionality. Using a VPN changes your Netflix location, for example. If the show you’re streaming is exclusive to Netflix Spain, you may lose access to it and some of the other 7,000 shows available on Netflix Spain.4

If that happens, you can use split-tunneling, which essentially creates a second traffic stream for apps or websites you would like to bypass the VPN. That way, your browsing still goes through PIA, but traffic from Netflix and other apps you select does not.

>> Read More: The Best VPNs for Netflix

We thought PIA’s features and performance were top-notch, but what really helped it reach the top three was its price. We got our subscription for an astonishingly low $1.98 per month. That, however, was a special deal. PIA has VPN deals almost year-round, but the one we got was extra special because it added four months to our three-year plan for free.

Even without any discounts or freebies, though, PIA is still very affordable. The three-year plan costs $79. That’s $2.19 per month, which is over a dollar and a half less than NordVPN’s cheapest option.

The downside is you have to commit for three years to get the best price, but PIA makes the purchase risk-free because it has a 30-day money-back guarantee. It’s a free trial of sorts. You pay for a subscription, but if you decide it’s not for you, you can cancel the VPN within 30 days and get your money back. We liked PIA, but we canceled after 27 days and got our refund. The process was pretty easy, and you can learn more about it in our roundup of the best VPN free trials.

4. IPVanish - Best Speeds

SecurityScore:

9.3 /10

View Plans Links to IPVanish

How We Review

Product Specs

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

View Plans Links to IPVanish

Server Network

We always say that if a VPN has a larger server network, it’s more likely to get better speeds. That’s true 99 percent of the time, but IPVanish proved to be an exception. It had the best speeds among our five top contenders, but it also had the smallest network.

IPVanish runs a network of 2,200 servers in only 51 countries, and it has servers in a total of 75 cities in those countries. In Spain, it has servers in Madrid and Valencia, much like Private Internet Access. Those aren’t very strategic locations for people in the northern region of the country, but IPVanish’s advantage over PIA is that it has servers in Marseille, France, which is a bit closer to Barcelona and the northeastern area of Spain.

>> Learn More: Best VPNs for France

Speed

Our speed readings fluctuated a bit, but IPVanish pulled itself together and recorded the highest average download and upload speeds: 229 Mbps and 220 Mbps, respectively. That’s consistent with the results from our VPN speed test, in which we tested the highest-rated VPNs on Australia servers. IPVanish ranked second, below only PureVPN, which didn’t make this list because it has servers only in Madrid. If you want to check it out, read more in our PureVPN review.

VPN Features

In terms of features, we didn’t see anything we hadn’t seen before from IPVanish’s competition, but we can say that it has all the basics down pat. It has a kill switch and it offers split-tunneling. It can also detect and block malicious websites like NordVPN can – although when we tried to visit the same suspicious website NordVPN blocked earlier, IPVanish didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with it, which gave us pause.

Still, we were happy with how IPVanish performed. It was a rock-solid VPN that encrypted our traffic, hid our IP address, and gave us fast connections.

What can you do with a fast VPN? A lot of things. You can, for example, download torrent safely with a VPN, especially in a country like Spain that deals with digital piracy seriously (we never condone piracy, by the way). IPVanish didn’t make our list of the best VPNs for torrenting, but we used it once and its fast connections translated to fast downloads. We downloaded a 2 GB file in less than 10 minutes.

>> Read About: Best Free VPNs for Torrenting

You can also use IPVanish for unblocking content, such as Netflix shows exclusive to the U.S. or streaming services that are available only in certain countries, like Hulu (U.S. only) and BBC iPlayer (U.K. only). That said, IPVanish wasn’t as capable as CyberGhost — our best VPN for streaming in Spain — because there were times it was blocked by Netflix and Hulu. That’s one of the areas where IPVanish fumbled a bit.

>> Learn More: VPNs Best for Hulu Streaming

Another thing you may not like about IPVanish is the cost. With a two-year plan, IPVanish costs $2.99 per month. That’s a little bit more than what Surfshark costs ($2.49), while offering slightly fewer features. IPVanish, for example, doesn’t have obfuscation or multihop. If fast speed is a priority for you, however, IPVanish is an excellent option.

5. CyberGhost - Best for Streaming

SecurityScore:

8.9 /10

View Plans Links to CyberGhost

How We Review

Product Specs

Multihop	Yes
Camouflage Mode	No
Kill switch	Yes
Split Tunneling	Yes
Netflix	Yes
Torrenting	Yes

View Plans Links to CyberGhost

Server Network

Of the five VPNs on this list, CyberGhost has the best server network overall. It has servers in 100 countries, much like Surfshark, but with almost three times as many servers. We’ll explain below why that matters, especially for streaming.

In Spain, CyberGhost has servers in Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia. It also has servers in Lisbon, Portugal, which is another option for people in the northwest and western regions.

Speed

In terms of speed, CyberGhost also showed up strong. Its download speed on the Madrid server averaged 226 Mbps, which was second highest to IPVanish. For upload speed, it was tied with NordVPN for second place, averaging 213 Mbps.

We like that CyberGhost shows the load and latency of its server locations so you won’t have to guess which servers are likely to provide faster speeds at a given time. When we saw that the Madrid server was getting a little cramped and slow — it had over 60% load — we switched to the Valencia server and got the speed back up. It’s a great feature to look for in a VPN.

>> Read About: Troubleshooting VPN Issues

VPN Features

We have mixed feelings about CyberGhost’s features. On one hand, it’s an affordable VPN that offers all the basic features, such as encryption, split-tunneling, and a kill switch. On the other hand, it doesn’t offer a lot of features that promote privacy. It can certainly give you extra privacy through encryption and tunneling (hiding your IP address), but you won’t find multihop or malicious-site blocking like we saw from Surfshark.

It does, however, offer extra features such as specialty servers for streaming, which we’ll discuss below. They don’t exactly increase your privacy any more than other VPNs do, but they’ll give you access to other VPN benefits.

Finding a good streaming VPN is like finding a good VPN for accessing blocked websites. Surfshark is our pick for the latter because of its large server network and the camouflage mode feature. On the other hand, CyberGhost is our pick for streaming because it also has specialty servers.

CyberGhost’s large server network helps evade detection by streaming services. If you get a U.K. IP address to access BBC iPlayer, for example, the streaming service could block you if it notices that multiple users are connecting with the same address. That could happen with VPNs that offer only a few servers in the U.K., like with UltraVPN and its dozen servers there. CyberGhost has nearly 800 servers in the U.K., so the chances of it happening are very slim. We were able to access BBC iPlayer and All4 without a hitch.

The VPN also offers specialty servers designed specifically to bypass streaming restrictions. It has a server in the U.K. optimized for BBC iPlayer; Netflix-optimized servers in the Netherlands, U.S., and France; Hulu-optimized servers; and more. Combine that with CyberGhost’s affordable pricing — $2.37 per month with a two-year plan, half of what a standard Netflix subscription costs — and you get the best streaming VPN for Spain.