The Best VPNs In Germany For Foreigners

If you are here, you are looking for one of two things (or maybe both): to unlock restricted content in Germany or to protect your privacy while surfing the web. In this guide, I’ll share with you the best VPN in Germany and answer the questions of whether it is legal to use a VPN to access blocked content in Germany.

If you are short on time, here is an overview of the best VPNs in Germany:

1. NordVPN: Is the best VPN for the best value for the price. You can connect up to 6 devices, and it’s great to access geo-blocked content while maintaining fast speeds.
2. Surfshark: Their 2-year plan is the cheapest option on this list. You can connect an unlimited amount of devices and access great geo-blocked content. 
3. ExpressVPN: The VPN that offers the fastest speeds. You can connect up to 5 devices and access the most geo-blocked content with high speeds. 

What is the best VPN in Germany?

We have chosen the top 3 VPNs in Germany and compare them for you in this guide. Take a look through all our benefits and drawbacks for each one to find the VPN that better suits your needs.

Each VPN that made it on our list meets the following criteria:

✓ A high number of servers and IP addresses spread around the world; this is awesome for keeping high speeds and stability while surfing.

✓ Easy to use website and apps.

✓ The service providers do not store any activity and connection logs; this ensures that your privacy is fully protected.

✓ The ability to unlock geo-blocked content from streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, BBC iPlayer, and Showtime.

✓ The ability to connect to the VPN service through different devices like Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux, and Amazon Fire.

✓ Chrome and Firefox browser extensions.

✓ Military-grade encryption.

✓ 24/7 customer service.

✓ 30-day money-back guarantee.

Here are our top picks for the best VPN in Germany.

1. NordVPN

NordVPN, based in Panama, is considered the best VPN in the market. This VPN provides fast speeds, an accurate ad blocker, and can unblock almost any geo-blocked content.

You can choose between their three plans:

• 2-year plan: from 2,99 euros / month (excluding VAT)
• 1-year plan: from 4,69 euros / month (excluding VAT)
• 1-month plan: from 11,99 euros / month (excluding VAT)

With its SmartPlay feature, you can access content that would otherwise be unavailable in your country. For example, you can unblock Netflix content from 14 different countries. Some have reported being able to connect from Germany to server locations in the USA and Australia and still stream things in HD without any lag.  

NordVPN can successfully bypass the geo-blocks from BBC iPlayer, Hulu, ESPN, Amazon Prime Video, HBO GO, Hotstar, and Netflix, amongst others.

If you are into gaming, you can rest assured that NordVPN offers steady and high speeds while you are bashing the bad guys. Gamers who have used NordVPN to play Fortnite, a quick battle game, have been impressed by the lack of buffer and lag during their gameplay.

NordVPN’s CyberSec feature will hide those unwanted pop-ups, autoplay video ads, and other ads on a website. This means that the sites will most likely load faster, and you won’t be distracted by those super annoying blinking ads as you are trying to surf the web peacefully.

If you would like to use the VPN all the time, you can configure NordVPN to automatically launch when you start up your device and to connect to a server of your choice automatically.

NordVPN benefits:

✅ 5.279 servers in 59 countries
✅ Connect 6 devices at the same time
✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
✅ You can pay with cryptocurrencies
✅ Watch Netflix from 14 different countries: US, India, Brazil, South Korea, Finland, UK, Germany, France, Canada, Australia, Spain, Italy, Japan, and the Netherlands. 

NordVPN drawbacks:

⛔️ The Linux application is not so easy to use

2. Surfshark

Surfshark, based in the British Virgin Islands, was founded in 2018, making it the new kid on the block. Their 2-year plan is the cheapest option in this article, by just costing 2,04 euros a month. You will be able to access 30 different Netflix libraries with Surfsharks’ VPN. Additionally, Surfshark offers a new antivirus protection and scanner.

You can choose between their three plans:

• 2-year plan: from 2,21 euros / month (excluding VAT)
• 6-months plan: from 3,99 euros / month (excluding VAT)
• 1-month plan: from 12,95 euros / month (excluding VAT)

The feature that makes Surfshark stand out is the ability to connect unlimited devices. VPN experts have tested connecting 3, 5, and 8 devices to their Surfshark VPN, and they have reported that they experience a 20% decrease in internet speed. 20% might sound like a lot, but it is not. You can stream HD video as long as your internet speed does not drop below 5 Mbps. To give you a baseline, the best internet providers in Germany provide a minimum download speed of 16Mbps.

With their CleanWeb feature, Surfshark can block ads and malware. This will make websites load faster and will protect you from phishing attempts. 

Surfshark benefits:

✅ 3.200 servers in 65 countries
✅ Connect unlimited devices
✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
✅ You can pay with bitcoin
✅ You can watch Netflix libraries from 30 different countries: USA, UK, India, Italy, Norway, Germany, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Poland, France, Canada, Turkey, Sweden, Singapore, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Portugal, Spain, Russia, Thailand, Singapore and more.

Surfshark drawbacks:

⛔️ Fast but inconsistent streaming speeds

3. ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN, based in the British Virgin Islands, is another favorite VPN service provider. This VPN offers very high speeds and unlocks the most geo-blocked content in this list.

You can choose between their three plans; unfortunately, all the prices are just available in USD:

• 1-year plan: US$8.32 / month 
• 6-months plan: US$9.99 / month 
• 1-month plan: US$12.95 / month

ExpressVPN shines at unlocking censored sites. Their VPN can unblock Netflix content from 18 different countries. VPN experts have extensively tested the speeds for streaming content from the various servers, and they have all reported that ExpressVPN has one of the highest speeds and stability in the market.

This VPN service provider can successfully bypass the geo-block restrictions from Netflix, ESPN, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, HBO, Disney + , DAZN, and much more. They provide a detailed list of all the VPN services you will be able to access on their website.

ExpressVPN is also great for gamers, as its high speeds guarantee remarkable gameplay. Be assured that you will be able to play your games in HD and without any lag. Their website also has detailed instructions on how you can connect to the VPN through game consoles like Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo.

Security and data protection is on the top list of all the VPNs we mention in this article; however, I would like to point out that ExpressVPN goes the extra mile on this one. They have what they call TrustedServer security, which means that all the data is wiped out when you disconnect from their servers.

ExpressVPN benefits:

✅ 3.000 + servers in 94 countries
✅ Connect 5 devices at the same time
✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
✅ You can pay with bitcoin
✅ You can watch Netflix libraries from 18 different countries: Australia, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, UK, and the US.
✅ Your information is instantly deleted when you disconnect from a server

ExpressVPN drawbacks:

⛔️ Does not have malware or ad blocker

A word of caution regarding the usage of VPNs for streaming

Keep in mind that just because a VPN has a server in a country, it doesn’t mean that it will be able to unlock the geo-restricted content. For example, I contacted ExpressVPN’s customer service to ask if I could access Netflix Mexico, and they informed me that this was not yet unblocked. 

So if I connected to a server in Mexico, I would only be able to access the content from Netflix US.

Remember that the main purpose of VPN services is to protect your privacy online and not to access geo-blocked content, so you might experience some hiccups while trying to access restricted content in your region.

For example, the international Netflix libraries you would be able to access might require you to try different servers out to before you are able to access the content.

Important vocabulary you should know for VPNs

VPN split tunneling

A feature that allows simultaneous connections, for which the user can specify which software needs to go through the VPN connection and which one can bypass it. Think of it as the ability to add apps to a whitelist. For example, you can set Netflix to use your VPN connection to access the US shows while still accessing Spotify through your German IP address.

VPN kill switch

A smart feature that turns off your internet connection if the VPN connection drops. This feature allows you to protect your data and location at all times.

Eyes Alliance

The Eyes Alliance is an international intelligence-sharing agreement. There is a Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and Fourteen Eyes Alliance. In your search for the best VPN in Germany, you might have seen the VPN providers advertise that they are outside of the Fourteen Eyes Alliance. This means that their company is in a country that is not regulated by this agreement and that governments from these alliances cannot demand the VPN companies to share, collect, or analyze the information of their users. In other words, your information is super protected and will not be accessed by any government agency. 

AES-256 bit encryption

All of the VPN service providers in this list use AES-256 bit encryption. This type of encryption is very popular. It is even used by some governmental agencies to protect their top secrets. Cybersecurity experts claim that this kind of encryption would require supercomputers (which don’t exist yet) to decrypt the algorithm for billions of years. In a nutshell, there is not enough time in this universe to crack the AES 256-bit encryption. 

Is using a VPN legal in Germany?

Yes, using a VPN in Germany is legal. The primary use of a VPN is to protect your data while you surf the internet. This also means, not allowing your internet provider to accumulate your data to later sell it to advertisers or to share it with governmental institutions.

Just because you can hide who you are online, does not give you the right to do illegal things. Downloading or sharing copyrighted material is still considered illegal, even if you are using a VPN.

The big question is: is it illegal to use a VPN in Germany to stream geo-blocked content? The answer depends on the streaming provider, as their terms and conditions will indicate whether they permit this or not.

For example, Netflix has no explicit ban on using a VPN service. However, if they are aware that you are using one, they will block the content if it is not allowed in your region.

So be sure to check the terms and conditions of the streaming service you want to access so you won’t get into trouble while trying to access geo-blocked content with a VPN.

Will a VPN slow down my device?

Yes, using a VPN will slow down your device slightly. The reason why this happens is that your connection is rerouted and encrypted through a VPN server. In other words, it takes a little bit longer for the data to reach its destination.

If you choose a good VPN provider, like the three outlined in this article, your speeds should not be affected dramatically. In the best-case scenario, you won’t even notice that your connection has slowed down. 

Final thoughts

Just like anything in life, choosing a VPN depends highly on what use you will have for it. 

• NordVPN: If you are looking for the best value for the monthly price.
• Surfshark: If you would like a budget-friendly plan to be able to connect an unlimited number of devices.
• ExpressVPN: If you would like the fastest speeds and don’t mind paying a premium price. 

You can always test a VPN for a month and evaluate if it meets your expectations. If it does not work out for you, you can request a refund through their 30-day money-back guarantee policy.

Happy surfing 🤗🏄‍♂️!