The Best VPNs for TikTok in 2024

1. NordVPN - Best for General Privacy

SecurityScore:

9.7 /10

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How We Review

Product Specs

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

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NordVPN frequents our roundups of the best VPNs for different uses because of its exceptional focus on privacy. It also currently sits atop our ranking of the best VPNs overall, so we weren’t surprised to see it do well in our tests. Simply put, NordVPN struck a near perfect balance between price, performance, and privacy features.

NordVPN Speed

We’ve long known NordVPN is one of the fastest and most reliable VPNs, but we thought we’d test it again after it recently added a bunch of new servers and server locations. Nothing much changed though. If anything, it may have become a little bit faster. The download speed averaged 231 Mbps on our 250 Mbps Wi-Fi, or only about 8 percent slower than our network speed when not connected to a VPN. That was the second-highest average download speed we recorded, next to only IPVanish (our top pick for speed).

NordVPN is the best VPN for streaming Netflix movies and shows, so we have every reason to believe it’s good enough for short-form TikTok videos.

NordVPN’s Unblocking Ability

From a technical standpoint, NordVPN should do well in accessing blocked content. It has a global network of servers spanning 111 countries. That’s the largest we’ve seen so far. If TikTok is banned in your country — or really, on any network — NordVPN should be able to change your IP address location to any of those countries. That will allow you to circumvent the restrictions, as long as TikTok is not banned in that country.

Being the skeptics we are, we tested NordVPN by blocking TikTok from our office network. Sure enough, all 10 of the NordVPN locations we tested worked.

NordVPN and Privacy

NordVPN is like a good parent: It gives you freedom, but also keeps you safe. We enjoyed internet freedom thanks to NordVPN’s impressive unblocking ability, but we also enjoyed protection from looming online privacy and security dangers. We particularly liked the Threat Protection feature. It automatically blocked dangerous websites, such as phishing sites and known malware sites. That’s a good way to protect yourself from online scams that are everywhere, including TikTok.

Just connecting to NordVPN gave us confidence in our online privacy. We know it follows industry standards for encryption and tunneling. It even created its own VPN protocol called NordLynx, which is based on the widely used WireGuard protocol but made even more secure. In our tests, we saw that it’s capable of fending off security risks like WebRTC leaks.

NordVPN Pricing

Based on its features, you’d think NordVPN would charge a premium price. But that’s not necessarily the case. Our NordVPN subscription cost just $3.39 per month because we signed up for a two-year plan. With most VPNs, a longer subscription means a lower average monthly cost. If you’re not ready to commit for that long, take a look at NordVPN’s other subscription options.

All those subscriptions include full access to the VPN, but the Plus and Complete plans offer additional features. The Plus plan comes with a password manager (NordPass) and a data breach scanner, while Complete includes a 1 TB encrypted cloud drive plus the same features as the Plus subscription.

2. Surfshark - Best Unblocking Ability

SecurityScore:

9.5 /10

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How We Review

Product Specs

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

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Surfshark is an innovative VPN brimming with advanced features, but we’ve come to know it for its impressive ability to access blocked content. We’ve listed it as one of the best VPNs for students because it can circumvent website restrictions in place at some schools and universities. It can do the same to government-imposed website blocks, such as the banning of TikTok in several countries around the world.

Surfshark Speed

Surfshark isn’t the fastest streaming VPN, but it isn’t slow either. It averaged a 219 Mbps download speed during our tests, which reflects a speed loss of about 12 percent compared to our original network speed. That’s well within the norm, considering the maximum speed loss we tolerate is 40 percent. If it goes any higher than that, we’ll consider the VPN slow.

We noticed a more sluggish upload speed from Surfshark, though, averaging only 206 Mbps (an 18 percent drop). That’s consistent with the results of the VPN speed experiment we conducted recently, in which Surfshark ranked only seventh out of the 12 VPNs in upload speed.

Surfshark’s Unblocking Ability

Using the same method we used to test NordVPN, Surfshark was able to access TikTok 10 times out of 10 tries on our restricted office network. But we saw one feature that put Surfshark ahead of NordVPN in terms of the ability to access blocked websites. Surfshark calls that VPN feature Camouflage Mode, but the general term is obfuscation.

Restricted networks can tell you’re using a VPN based on how your traffic is routed within the network (i.e. which ports networking protocols are used). A school network, for example, can simply set up a firewall that blocks all VPN traffic. Camouflage Mode is a workaround for that. If it sees that a firewall is blocking its access, it automatically modifies the connection to make it appear as though it is carrying normal, non-VPN traffic. That’s how Surfshark was able to work in China despite the country’s extensive VPN monitoring and how it reliably gets around website blocks.

>> Learn More: 3 VPNs That Work in China

Surfshark and Privacy

One of our greatest concerns about Surfshark is that it records IP addresses. It says so right in its privacy policy, but it also says it deletes that information 15 minutes after you end your session. Still, your IP address is sensitive information. That’s why most people use VPNs in the first place — to hide their real IP addresses.

On the bright side, we saw how well Surfshark protects users’ privacy from external actors — internet providers, hackers, and even the government. It used ChaCha20 encryption for the default WireGuard protocol and 256-bit AES for the OpenVPN protocol. Lots of VPNs use those encryption standards and protocols and we’ve never had any privacy problems with them ever since. They are as secure as VPN encryption and protocols get.

Surfshark Pricing

Another concern we have about Surfshark is the cost for a monthly subscription. The cheapest Surfshark plan (Surfshark Starter) costs $15.45 if you choose monthly billing, which is a lot more expensive than NordVPN’s $12.99-per-month Basic plan. That’s why we recommend Surfshark only as a long-term VPN. The cost drops significantly — to as low as $2.19 per month — if you go with an annual or two-year subscription.

As with NordVPN, all those plans include full access to the Surfshark VPN. The Surfshark One and One+ plans simply include additional features like antivirus software and identity protection.

3. Private Internet Access VPN - Best Mobile App

SecurityScore:

9.4 /10

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How We Review

Product Specs

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

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The user experience is a crucial factor to consider when choosing a VPN, and that was one area where Private Internet Access shined. We always enjoy testing PIA’s app because it lets us experiment. It’s super-customizable, with flexible encryption, protocols, and split tunneling. It’s just the kind of VPN app we’d recommend to people who want to access TikTok in various settings — while on mobile data, connected to a coffee shop’s Wi-Fi, or traveling around the world.

Private Internet Access Speed

Our connection with Private Internet Access averaged a middling 220 Mbps for downloads and 211 Mbps for uploads. It was slower than NordVPN, but a little faster than Surfshark.

We’d like to give compliments to PIA’s app though. For context, we tested our top picks on an old iPhone XR. They ran just fine, but we noticed a slight lag when used alongside TikTok. Our phone even hung for a few seconds while testing NordVPN. The only app that didn’t affect our phone’s performance was PIA’s app. It was lightweight and straightforward.

>> Read More: The Best VPNs for iPhones

Private Internet Access’ Unblocking Ability

We know Private Internet Access is great for unblocking. It was even one of our top VPN picks for accessing Disney+, one of the stricter services when it comes to blocking VPNs. How well did it access TikTok on our restricted network? It scored a perfect 10 out of 10, just like all our top picks for TikTok VPNs.

We noticed while testing Private Internet Access, however, that we had to fill out CAPTCHAs frequently when searching Google. It’s one of the more affordable VPNs, so a lot of people use it. That sometimes results in unusual traffic from its servers, prompting services like Google to double-check the legitimacy of users. That’s something to note, especially if you’ll use PIA to access blocked websites.

Private Internet Access and Privacy

The word “private” is right in its name, so we expected nothing less than complete privacy from PIA. For the most part, it delivered. In addition to the standard protocol and encryption used by VPNs, Private Internet Access uses extra-secure RAM-based servers.

VPN servers traditionally run on hard disk drives, which are prone to data remanence — residual data that can be recovered even after a hard drive is wiped clean. That poses privacy risks to VPN users. With servers that run on RAM, there is no data remanence. The memory is completely wiped after every reboot. In addition to PIA, NordVPN and Surfshark also use RAM servers. It’s the gold standard for the top VPNs.

>> Compare: Private Internet Access vs. NordVPN

Private Internet Access Pricing

Private Internet Access plans are some of the cheapest we’ve seen. It starts at $2.19 per month with the longest subscription, but even with monthly billing it costs a full dollar less than NordVPN. Here’s a full breakdown of Private Internet Access’ pricing.

The downside is you have to sign up for three years if you want the lowest price. NordVPN’s and Surfshark’s cheapest subscriptions are both only two years. If you’re not ready to make a three-year commitment with PIA, we recommend going with a one-year subscription. It’s still only $3.33 per month, which is cheaper than NordVPN’s two-year plan.

4. ExpressVPN - Best for Uploading to TikTok

SecurityScore:

9.1 /10

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How We Review

Product Specs

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

View Plans

ExpressVPN is a premiere name in the VPN market. It draws a lot of comparisons with NordVPN in terms of security and privacy. It’s also a solid performer, thanks to its proprietary VPN protocol called Lightway. ExpressVPN built it from the ground up specifically for its server infrastructure. That resulted in excellent speeds for both downloads and uploads, as opposed to NordVPN, which has great download speeds but less great upload speeds.

>> Compare: NordVPN vs. ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN Speed

Let’s talk about the excellent speed ExpressVPN offers. Our download speed with ExpressVPN averaged 229 Mbps, or about 8.5 percent lower than what our network is capable of. Our upload speed wasn’t too far off. ExpressVPN averaged 223 Mbps. That’s a nearly symmetrical speed for downloads and uploads, which we rarely see in VPNs we test. That makes ExpressVPN a great choice for influencers or just normal TikTok users who frequently upload content to the platform.

ExpressVPN Unblocking Ability

ExpressVPN’s 105 server locations is second only to NordVPN, so it’s safe to say it’s great for working around website restrictions. And yes, it unblocked TikTok on our restricted office network.

We liked that ExpressVPN has live chat support and that you can consult it anytime you’re having trouble accessing a website. When we were testing the top Hulu VPNs, we used that option. Hulu has a strong VPN block, so when we couldn’t access it using ExpressVPN, we asked for help from the VPN’s live chat support. After some quick troubleshooting and a few changes to the settings, we were able to access Hulu. If you’re ever in a similar situation with ExpressVPN and TikTok, just head to your ExpressVPN web dashboard and ask for help. It’s free.

ExpressVPN and Privacy

ExpressVPN is one of the best no-log VPN services for a number of reasons. It uses RAM-based servers as part of its TrustedServer network. On an organizational level, it runs a tight ship when it comes to what types of data it collects. Your IP addresses never get logged (unlike with Surfshark) and it absolutely doesn’t look into customers’ browsing activity. It has also been audited for compliance to its privacy policy by firms such as KPMG and Cure53.

ExpressVPN’s strongest asset by far, though, is Lightway. Unlike NordVPN’s NordLynx, which is based on WireGuard, ExpressVPN built Lightway from the ground up. It was designed specifically for its server infrastructure. We saw a lot of pretty impressive security and privacy features. It has strong IP protection (no DNS and WebRTC leaks), it’s quick to reconnect when changing internet connections (e.g. mobile data to Wi-Fi), and it has been open-sourced for transparency.

ExpressVPN Pricing

ExpressVPN is one of NordVPN’s closest rivals when it comes to features and performance, but there’s one area where ExpressVPN can’t seem to catch up: pricing. ExpressVPN subscriptions start off just fine with a $12.95 monthly cost. Unlike NordVPN, which offers subscriptions as low as about $3.39 per month, ExpressVPN’s cheapest option costs $8.32. That’s with a one-year plan. Another option — the six-month plan — costs $9.99 per month.

5. IPVanish - Best Download Speed

SecurityScore:

9.3 /10

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How We Review

Product Specs

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

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If you hate overcomplicating things, IPVanish is a great pick. It’s not as feature-rich as NordVPN and Surfshark. Its app is not as customizable as that of Private Internet Access, and it doesn’t have its own VPN protocol like ExpressVPN and NordVPN do. What it does have is a VPN that can access restricted websites. Thanks to IPVanish’s fast download speed, scrolling through hundreds of TikTok videos is a cinch.

IPVanish Speed

IPVanish’s download speed is something we’ve known as its greatest strength. It easily came out on top when we compared IPVanish and NordVPN. When we did our speed test on IPVanish again, it averaged 241 Mbps. That’s a speed loss of less than 4 percent compared to our 250 Mbps bandwidth capacity. Our actual internet speed is usually less than 250 Mbps, making IPVanish’s 241 Mbps average speed all the more impressive.

Unblocking Ability

When a VPN is super-fast, we start to question the quality of its connections. VPNs slow down your network because they add processes like encryption and tunneling to a VPN server. If IPVanish’s download speed was so close to our original network speed, could it mean it wasn’t tunneling or encrypting our traffic correctly.

Well, it was able to unblock TikTok on our network. That means the tunneling and encryption worked. It was also able to hide from our network’s firewall using obfuscation, a feature we saw from Surfshark earlier. If we’re talking about the ability to access blocked sites, we have full confidence in IPVanish.

IPVanish and Privacy

IPVanish isn’t the most feature-rich VPN around, but it does the bare minimum in protecting your data online. It offers 256-bit AES encryption with the OpenVPN protocol. If you want a snappier connection, though, you can use WireGuard, which defaults to ChaCha20 encryption.

IPVanish also has a dependable no-logs privacy policy. It doesn’t store IP addresses and doesn’t record websites or services used during sessions. TikTok may have an algorithm that remembers what you watched and recommends videos based on that, but IPVanish doesn’t.

IPVanish Pricing

IPVanish’s subscription prices are on the lower end of the spectrum. That’s another thing to like about this VPN. It starts at $2.99 per month with a two-year subscription, but monthly billing is quite pricey at $12.99.

Just keep in mind that IPVanish doesn’t offer a lot of features. It doesn’t have a multihop feature and it doesn’t offer a password manager or encrypted cloud drive like NordVPN does. That gives IPVanish a lower price-to-feature ratio. As far as being a good VPN for watching TikTok videos, though, IPVanish is definitely a practical pick.