As specialists in digital security, we cannot overstate how crucial using a VPN is. But as people who play video games rather frequently, we are aware of how challenging it may be to locate one that can maintain the network performance required for online games. Therefore, for this evaluation, we carefully planned an experiment to reveal which VPNs can deliver a seamless online gaming experience.
Why should we use a VPN to play games?
On the one hand, the answer is to get a smoother and much more fun gaming experience.
Internet speed is a very important part of just-in-time games. Winning is often a matter of seconds, and a lag at a critical moment can cost you the game. A good VPN for gaming won’t significantly slow down your internet speed but will provide a smooth gaming experience, allowing users to avoid bandwidth limitations and throttling.
On the other hand, the answer is to play games without geographical restrictions.
What does a qualified game VPN need to provide?
A qualified game VPN can provide servers in multiple countries and cities to help players experience games that are not locally accessible. Players can choose their own area of play and enjoy the games they are interested in, be it Dota, PUBG, MLBB, or other popular games. You can also play with friends from other countries with a VPN.
Best Game VPNs to Use
ExpressVPN
Here recommend a VPN for you. It is called ExpressVPN. It has a stable internet speed, so, you will not lose to your opponent due to network delays when having a multiplayer game. At the same time, ExpressVPN offers 160 VPN server locations in 94 countries. You can change the local IP address to any city it has. A wide range of servers ensures that players can unlock the games they are interested in wherever they are.
In addition, ExpressVPN is compatible with different devices whether it is Windows, Mac, IOS, or Android. It is also very simple to use and supports a one-click connection for easy connection during gaming.
Except for its powerful features, ExpressVPN is also reassuring when it comes to after-sales service. If you are not satisfied, you can also ask for a 30-day money-back, making it completely hassle-free.
There are some free VPNs on the market, and while it may sound appealing to not pay for them, it is not advisable to try them out. Behind free VPNs is the collection and resale of user information, or a never-ending stream of advertising-induced clicks and forced downloads of apps. Free VPNs are often not as fast as they should be, slowing down your computer’s internet speed and making your gaming experience very poor. There are also free VPNs that have traffic restrictions, and it can be very annoying if you get halfway through a game and are forced to drop it because of traffic restrictions.
Finally, a tip for getting a low latency server: when choosing a server, try to choose one that is as close to you as possible and with as few people online as possible, as this will result in a much lower ping.
NordVPN
With its service, NordVPN provides a lot. For an additional fee, there are specialized servers for P2P file sharing, multi-hop connections, and dedicated IP addresses. Additionally, it provides a huge selection of national connections and the option to narrow your search to a certain server. Additionally, it supports Netflix and has malware and ad filtering. Although NordVPN is pricey, it offers a lot of value.
You’d anticipate that NordVPN, the most well-known VPN available, would perform admirably as a gaming VPN, and you’d be right.
According to the NordVPN review, the Panama-based provider has some of the quickest connections, and you can choose from a network of over 5,500 servers spread over 60 different countries. This means that wherever you are, you can very much count on having a great connection to your standard internet line.
Prior to the most recent testing, NordVPN‘s speeds were a little bit erratic, but it turned out to be far more dependable and one of the fastest services available, with a high speed of 760Mbps.
You won’t need to frequently check on Nord’s applications because they are quite stable, and you can set them up on a router to cover all of your consoles. Additionally, there is significant support for streaming, so you can view pretty much whatever you want, wherever you are.
Surfshark
Although it comes very close to matching the aforementioned two VPNs, Surfshark has one additional key advantage: its cost. The starting effective monthly price is under $2.50/£2, making it one of the most affordable options available and a true steal.
An affordable gaming VPN with a low average ping of 5ms is Surfshark. While this is perfect for recreational players, it can be too slow for experts.
Your top choice for the best VPN is Surfshark due to its performance, use, price, and adaptability.
Because of the high caliber of its Smart DNS feature, Surfshark will become your preferred VPN for PlayStation, Xbox, and other consoles.
95 worldwide locations for VPN servers
There are 95 countries where Surfshark has servers available, and 12 of those have multiple city locations.
To unlock region-locked gaming content or to receive the fastest speeds, you can select among nations like the US, Japan, South Korea, and Germany.
Optimized for streaming and console gaming
Instead of installing the VPN on a router, Surfshark‘s Smart DNS service for gaming consoles allows you to reroute the traffic of the console itself.
Playing geo-blocked online games, such as local betas or events, is made much simpler by smart DNS.
Suitable for the majority of devices
Use one of Surfshark‘s user-friendly apps for more security and privacy than Smart DNS.
They come with a kill switch, AES-256 encryption, and the dependable WireGuard and OpenVPN protocols, and are accessible on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS.
You can also install Surfshark on a router for gaming if you don’t want to modify your device’s DNS settings.
CyberGhost
Because it provides dedicated gaming servers, CyberGhost can be one of your all-time favorites. These are designed for quick speeds and minimal latency, allowing lag-free gaming.
You will have a latency time of 33ms and an average download speed of 54Mbps when you connect to its servers in London and Paris that are designed specifically for online gaming. You won’t feel any lag, even during PUBG competitive bouts, which makes it perfect for online gaming.
CyberGhost has you covered for both if you want to get gaming on some evenings and streaming on other nights. The VPN service from CyberGhost can provide latency that is low enough for gaming and bandwidth that is sufficient for streaming.
You may connect your devices to regional servers throughout the world to view streaming material because CyberGhost has 6,900 servers spread over 90 nations. Additionally, CyberGhost can assist you in locating servers that are still functional for streaming because streaming providers routinely ban VPN servers.
In the testing, CyberGhost was able to provide an average speed that was higher than 25Mbps, which is the suggested speed for Netflix’s 4K streaming. You obviously need to be able to connect your streaming devices over the VPN if your goal is to stream through it, and CyberGhost excels in this area.
The typical selection of apps for PC, Mac, iOS, Android, and web browsers are available from CyberGhost. However, it also offers VPN applications for consoles, smart TVs, Android TV, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV (including PS5 and Xbox Series X).
IPVANISH
When it came to downloading speeds, IPVANISH wasn’t the greatest, but when it came to uploading, it topped the list. It provided over a 1Mbps upload advantage over its closest rival during off-peak hours. However, IPVANISH remained steady and expanded its lead, giving a faster upload speed than with no VPN at all, as other VPNs started to struggle during network-congested evening hours.
When viewed as a whole, IPVANISH covers the majority of the ground. Although its software is somewhat confusing, it offers 256-bit encryption and zero logging to protect your connection. Additionally, it offers unlimited bandwidth support for up to 10 simultaneous connections. It’s high ranking for low latency in games helps to make up for its subpar download speed.
The ability to sort IPVANISH‘s servers by ping rate, however, is its most appealing feature. Seeking the best server with a response time under 50ms? That is readily resolved by IPVANISH, and it also provides ping rates that are under 50ms. Because it isn’t the most user-friendly interface compared to other VPN services, the user interface might not be to everyone’s liking, especially on iOS and Android devices. However, some investigation will resolve that.
Your connection never dropped out, and speeds were always quick whether you were connecting to Germany or the United States. However, because there are numerous nations and few servers, users may experience issues if a country’s server is down. Fewer servers increase the likelihood that there will be more traffic on a single server, which will result in slower internet connections.
However, IPVANISH‘s limitless connections (like Surfshark‘s) are a big plus, making it a great choice for people who have a lot of gaming devices or who want to start a rather lengthy LAN party session.
Private Internet Access
Another excellent gaming VPN with a large number of servers located in numerous nations is PIA – Private Internet Access.
If you’re searching for – you guessed it – Private Internet Access, PIA is an excellent option. It has around 30,000 servers spread across nearly 80 countries.
You can reduce your latency for online gaming by using the helpful SOCKS5 “Squid” proxies from Private Internet Access (PIA). These servers offer a faster response time when playing games but are less heavily protected than a typical VPN connection.
Military-grade encryption, a Kill Switch, and a strict no-logs policy are all features of this VPN.
With the help of this gaming VPN, you can unblock streaming services such as BBC iPlayer, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and YouTube.
This VPN may be connected to your devices and routers, allowing you to use your wireless network to connect your gaming console to your VPN.
Another benefit of PIA is that it allows you to manually customize your connection with port forwarding, which is extremely useful for tech-savvy customers. Port forwarding keeps your connection from lagging if you host games. You may protect yourself from malicious individuals trying to access your unsecured network by using port forwarding through a VPN.
Windscribe
With 10 GB of data available each month, Windscribe is a fantastic gaming VPN. This VPN delivers amazingly low pings and P2P functionality even with a bandwidth cap.
The fact that this VPN permits P2P communication and has superb security is its most striking feature. This entails that you may play all of your favorite games, like Call of Duty, League of Legends, and Minecraft, without any issues.
All online games will function over their VPN servers because, in contrast to the majority of free VPNs, it uses AES-256 encryption, has quick speeds, and permits P2P communication.
The use of Windscribe is completely secure and safe. All of your internet data is encrypted with a 4096-bit RSA key, a military-grade 256-bit cipher, SHA512 authentication, and other features to prevent interception and reading. This level of encryption is equivalent to that used by high-end VPN services.
Additionally, it makes use of cutting-edge security tools like forwarding Secrecy, which creates fresh encryption keys just for your internet communication. The free edition’s limitations are the only thing that separates it from the paid version.
PrivateVPN
PrivateVPN has a unique feature called Stealth mode that masks the fact that you’re using a VPN by using server obfuscation. This enables you to get around VPN and firewall restrictions so you can play games safely even on repressive networks (like at work or school).
Swedish VPN service PrivateVPN is quick enough for torrenting, gaming, and streaming. The company lives up to its name with a strict no-logs policy and programs for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android that is loaded with cutting-edge privacy and security features.
You can avoid spilling information outside of the VPN tunnel by using a kill switch. Additionally, when connecting to other gamers via P2P, this VPN offers everything you need to prevent hacking. You may play multiplayer games on it with lightning speed and have access to everything you need to compete in tournaments without worrying about DDoS assaults.
Finding the ideal server for Netflix and other streaming services is simple with PrivateVPN.
All of PrivateVPN‘s designated Netflix servers were able to access Netflix without any issues, despite the fact that several servers were unable to get beyond Netflix’s VPN barrier.
The following nations have been designated by PrivateVPN as having Netflix streaming servers: the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Italy, and Peru.
Conclusion
A satisfying VPN may be difficult to find. Although several are quite simple to set up and operate, practically all of them present you with intimidating networking jargon while providing the same fundamental functions. However, you can now pick from the options we have listed for you above. You won’t be let down by any of these VPNs, we’re positive about it!
