Best India VPN in 2023

Getting an India VPN is not only a great way to combat government surveillance, access regional content while traveling, or secure your sensitive data while browsing online. This is also a great tool to access a variety of content libraries worldwide.

When it comes to streaming, with an Indian VPN you’ll be able to stream Indian and other global content libraries of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Hotstar, and Sony LIV, as well as other popular streaming services or India TV channels like Voot or Mood Mix. All of it – without lags or buffering to ruin your experience.

To help you find the best India VPN, the Cybernews expert research team tested and reviewed numerous VPN providers. In this article, we suggest 5 best India VPNs with various servers available that will help you bypass geo-restrictions and grant you access to watch Indian and global content from anywhere. We’ll also walk you through how to get an Indian IP address, suggest freemium VPN options, and explain how to secure a free VPN for India and protect your online activities at all times.

Top 5 best India VPNs in 2023 – shortlist

1. Surfshark – best India VPN for budget-friendly streaming
2. NordVPN – top-class India VPN for PC
3. IPVanish – India VPN with unlimited connections
4. CyberGhost – solid India VPN for PC and Mac
5. PureVPN – great VPN with many Indian servers

What to look for in a VPN for India?

Beware that not all VPNs are equally equipped with the necessary features to work in India. In fact, many providers are closing their physical Indian VPN servers due to government requirements to collect user information. Others circumvent the system by offering virtual servers.

So If you’re not sure which one to pick, here’s what you should consider when choosing the best India VPN:

• Indian or close-by servers. Look for reputable VPNs that can offer Indian servers or ones in neighboring countries (e.g. Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan). This way, you can use them to not only improve your security but also unblock geo-restricted content.
• Speed and security. It’s also essential that a VPN use strong encryption to protect your data and provide speedy services for a smooth and lag-free streaming experience.
• Obfuscation. Check if the VPN offers obfuscated servers. They are designed to help you hide the fact you’re using a VPN and avoid VPN blocks. This way, you can access restricted Indian sites and remain completely anonymous.
• Independently audited no-logs policy. Since the Indian government is actively monitoring users’ online activities, you should seek a VPN that doesn’t collect private information. A strict no-logs policy ensures that any personally identifiable data remains private.
• Specialty servers. Best India VPNs should also offer specialized servers, like P2P, Double VPN, and the ones optimized for streaming. They can help you to unblock streaming sites, torrent, and improve security more easily.

After testing the top-rated VPNs on the market, we found Surfshark to be the best one out of all of them. Surfshark is not only a great budget-friendly tool but also meets all of our criteria for the best VPN for India.

Best for streaming from India

Surfshark is an excellent VPN for India. It has more than 50 virtual servers, unblocks all of the popular streaming sites, and has great connection speeds for lag-free streaming.

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• Excellent streaming VPN
• Great security features
• 30-day money-back guarantee

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The best India VPNs – detailed list:

After completing thorough testing of 42 VPN services, we’ve compiled a detailed list of the 5 best India VPNs down below. They were selected according to their usability for Indian users, security features, and unblocking capabilities.

1. Surfshark – overall best VPN for India in 2023

Visit Surfshark VPN

Surfshark is the best VPN for India since it offers more than 50 virtual Indian servers. There are strong security features, excellent performance speeds, advanced tools for privacy, and it unblocks popular streaming media with no troubles.

Streaming test results: During our testing, we had no problems unblocking all popular streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar, or India TV. This VPN not only allowed us to watch exclusive Indian content but also access libraries of other countries.

Performance testing: We’ve tested Surfshark mobile (iOS, Android) and desktop (Mac, Windows) VPN apps, and the results are impressive. With the WireGuard tunnel enabled, the provider was able to maintain 86% of the original connection speed. No wonder it’s one of the fastest VPNs on the market – read NordVPN vs Surfshark to see how they compare.

Security and privacy: To help you protect your personal information, Surfshark offers a choice of AES-256 and XChaCha20 encryptions. On top of that, it follows a strict no-logs policy meaning that the VPN doesn’t collect any details that could personally identify you.

Additional features: It’s worth mentioning that this VPN has RAM-only servers that get wiped after each reboot, meaning that even the slightest pieces of data are being continuously removed. Also, there’s obfuscation that helps hide the fact you’re using a VPN in India. If you’re interested in even more protection – there’s a Surfshark One bundle that includes antivirus software.

Pricing: Surfshark is definitely one of the cheapest VPNs for India with plans starting from just $1.99/month for unlimited simultaneous devices. You can even try it without any risk with the 30-day money-back guarantee. So if you're looking for a free VPN for India, you can enjoy temporary access completely free of charge with Surfshark.

2. NordVPN – top VPN with strong security features for India

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Even though NordVPN doesn’t have Indian servers, it’s still a king of the VPN market and offers RAM-only servers located close to India – in Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan, and Indonesia.

Streaming test results: When we tried NordVPN, it unblocked all popular streaming sites for us without any trouble. That includes Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Disney+. What’s even better is that there were no buffering or other issues, so we enjoyed an amazing streaming experience.

Performance testing: According to our in-house tests, you can reach highly impressive speeds (it retained 90% of initial internet speeds) since this provider offers the NordLynx protocol, which is its own take on the well-known WireGuard.

Security and privacy: For robust data protection, NordVPN uses advanced cAES-256 and XChaCha20 encryption ciphers. In simple terms, it encodes sensitive information so that it would be virtually impossible to crack.

Additional features: With NordVPN, you also get quite a few additional features, such as obfuscated and double VPN servers, as well as Threat Protection with the Threat Protection feature. This means that you can not only remain undetected but also stop intrusive ads and avoid potentially dangerous websites.

Pricing: NordVPN subscription starts from only $2.99/month for 6 devices – it is one of the most affordable providers on this list. It also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee and a 7-day free trial included, so you can enjoy free VPN service for over a month.

3. IPVanish – good India VPN for unlimited devices

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IPVanish is another good VPN for India since it allows unlimited simultaneous connections and has close-by servers in Malaysia, the UAE, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

Streaming test results: We’ve unblocked Netflix, BBC iPlayer, YouTube, Disney+, and a few other streaming sites. However, IPVanish didn’t manage to work with Hulu and Amazon Prime Video for us. Despite that, I'd still consider it a decent VPN option for streaming.

Performance testing: The speeds of IPVanish are good since it supports WireGuard – currently the fastest available tunneling protocol on the market. The provider retained 80% of the actual connection speed during our IPVanish in-house tests. Also, it has user-friendly apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android devices.

Security and privacy: To ensure robust data protection, this VPN employs the industry-standard AES-256 encryption and complies with a strict no-logs policy. The latter one has been independently audited as well.

Additional features: This provider mainly covers basic security needs with features like a kill switch. The only additional extra is the ability to use obfuscated servers to prevent anyone from knowing you’re using a VPN.

Pricing: You can get a subscription for $2.99/month for unlimited devices, which is a pretty good price for what IPVanish offers. The subscription also includes a 30-day money-back guarantee.

4. CyberGhost – good VPN with virtual Indian servers

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CyberGhost is another solid VPN with Indian servers that guarantees complete online privacy. While the service has pulled Indian servers, they still have virtual servers in Mumbai. Plus, it has servers in Malaysia and Dubai.

Streaming test results: If you’re in it for streaming, you’ll find CyberGhost a great companion. With it, you’ll be able to unblock such streaming sites as Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, and more.

Performance testing: While testing CyberGhost, we noticed no huge speed drops that would disturb your browsing experience. Part of it is thanks to the WireGuard protocol, which allowed us to have 86% of the baseline connection speed when connected to CyberGhost. Other tunneling choices include IKEv2 and OpenVPN (UDP and TCP variants).

Security and privacy: CyberGhost uses the market-standard yet very secure AES-256 encryption. As for its privacy policy, you’re guaranteed a no-logs service that has already been audited. So your ISP won’t be able to peek at what you’re doing.

Additional features: CyberGhost protects your data from leaking with an automatic kill switch at all times. Additionally, you can make use of the ad blocker to get rid of all annoyances while browsing. There are also specialized servers for streaming, gaming, and torrenting.

Pricing: The prices of this VPN start from $2.04/month for up to 7 devices – CyberGhost is as affordable as the top VPNs on this list. You also get a 45-day money-back guarantee.

5. PureVPN – great VPN option to get an Indian IP address

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PureVPN is a great VPN choice if you want to get an Indian IP address. It has over 45 servers virtually located in India and many more in other countries, like Malaysia, Bangladesh, and the UAE.

Streaming test results: During our tests, PureVPN allowed us to easily access Netflix, BBC iPlayer, YouTube, and other websites. There’s even a Proxy Control feature allowing you to turn off encryption to achieve better speeds for streaming.

Performance testing: As for speeds, you should expect great performance since PureVPN supports the modern WireGuard tunneling protocol. During our PureVPN tests, the provider retained 67% of the baseline connection speed.

Security and privacy: This provider is the very first one to have an always-on audit of its no-logs policy. Additionally, it employs the virtually unbreakable 256-bit AES encryption and ChaCha20 if using WireGuard tunnel to protect data from cyber threats.

Additional features: When it comes to extras, this VPN offers obfuscated servers – once connected, nobody in India can detect you’re using a VPN. Also, some servers support P2P connections so you can enjoy torrenting.

Pricing: The subscription plans cost $2.08/month for 10 simultaneous connections, which is as cheap as NordVPN or Surfshark. What’s worth mentioning is that you get an extended money-back guarantee of 31 days.

How we tested and selected these India VPNs

In order to compile a list of truly best VPNs for India, we’ve evaluated the offerings of over 20 VPN providers. Each of them was compared according to the following criteria:

• Availability of servers. We’ve looked at how many servers the VPN has as well as the number of Indian ones. Only the providers that offer servers in India and nearby countries were selected.
• Security measures. Top-class VPNs employ AES-256 and XChaCha20 encryption, and offer obfuscated servers and a reliable kill switch. So only those VPNs that tick all the boxes were included in our list.
• Level of privacy. Since the Indian government is known to be tracking user activities, we’ve picked VPNs that can help achieve complete online anonymity. For that, they must include strict no-logs policies, operate from privacy-friendly locations, and be independently audited by third parties.
• Speed and performance. To find out whether an Indian VPN can offer a fast and stable connection, we’ve used our own VPN speed test tool. Most of the selected providers support the well-known WireGuard tunneling protocol.
• Unblocking capabilities. Since users in India sometimes cannot access various popular social networking, streaming, and other websites, we’ve tested whether VPNs are capable of bypassing geo-restrictions. Our selected providers can easily help you change your IP address to access any site.

Best India VPNs compared

	Surfshark	NordVPN	IPVanish	CyberGhost	PureVPN
Brand
Rating	4.7 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★	4.9 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★	4.5 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★	4.2 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆	4.4 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Servers in India	50	❌No	❌No	29	45+
Servers	3,200+ servers in 100 countries	5,900+ servers in 60 countries	2,200+ servers in 52 countries	10,200+ servers in 100 countries	6,500+ servers in 65 countries
No-logs policy	✅Yes	✅Yes	✅Yes	✅Yes	✅Yes
Audited	✅(independently)	✅(independently)	✅(independently)	✅(independently)	✅(independently)
Streaming	Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, and more	Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, and more	Netflix, BBC iPlayer, YouTube, Disney+, and more	Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Disney+	Netflix, BBC iPlayer, YouTube
Price	$1.99/month	$2.99/month	$2.99/month	$2.04/month	$2.08/month
Free version	❌No	❌No	❌No	❌No	❌No
Free trial	7-day	7-day	7-day	Up to 7-day	7-day
Money-back guarantee	30-day	30-day	30-day	45-day	31-day

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How to get an Indian IP address with a VPN

If you want to change your location and virtually appear in India, a VPN can help you. Any VPN with Indian servers will hide your original IP address and assign you a new one. Here’s a short guide showing how to get started:

1. Choose a reliable VPN that has servers in India. We recommend Surfshark
2. Head to the Surfshark website or your device’s app store and download the app
3. Install the VPN app and register an account
4. Pick and connect to a server in India. You now have an Indian IP address.

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Why do you need a VPN in India?

If you’re unsure whether you need a VPN for India, here are the main reasons why you should get one:

• Protecting your privacy. It’s known that the Indian government is trying to monitor people’s online activities through the VPN data collection law, restricting social media, and more. In this case, a reliable VPN can prevent your ISP from tracking your behavior when browsing online and providing such information to the government.
• Unblocking social media. India is trying to limit Internet freedom. Some users report being unable to access social media and news sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Times of India, and others. Luckily, a VPN can help you change your Facebook location to unblock the platform along with many other social media and news sites.
• Unlocking desired games. Unfortunately, India is also prohibiting access to various games, such as PUBG, Mafia City, or Rules of Survival. However, a VPN can help you bypass these restrictions. For example, get a VPN for Mobile Legends to play it in India.
• Accessing P2P and streaming sites. Since India is actively banning various websites like Streamable, Reddit, and Times of India, there’s a strong chance that some file-sharing and streaming pages can be blacklisted as well. For that, you can use a streaming VPN or a torrenting VPN to bypass any bans.
• Access your favorite Indian channels. If you’re outside of India, you can use a VPN to access streaming sites of that country. All you have to do is connect to a VPN server in India and enjoy the Indian content libraries of Netflix, Sony LIV, Disney+, and more.

VPN data law and bans in India

According to the law, VPN services are not banned in India. However, in April 2022, announced a law (which came into effect September 2022) that VPNs operating in India must collect and store the following information for up to 5 years:

• User names
• IP addresses
• Email addresses
• Data stamps
• Home addresses
• Other personal data

Also, if the relevant authorities ask for this information, the VPN service provider must comply. As a result, many companies have shut down their physical servers in India. Others have found a way to circumvent the system and established virtual servers to which the law cannot be applied.

All of the VPNs mentioned in our list comply with a strict no-log policy. This policy ensures that providers don’t collect or retain any user data. They do not track or log your online activities, IP addresses, or timestamps.

As an extra layer of privacy, top-class VPN providers are independently audited, such as Surfshark, NordVPN, IPVanish, and CyberGhost. Some others, like PureVPN, have an always-on audit of its no-logs policy, meaning that it’s being monitored and audited regularly.

Is it legal to use a VPN in India?

Yes, VPN usage is legal in India. However, the government has taken measures to regulate and restrict VPN services. It has also expressed concerns over the potential misuse of VPNs, including unauthorized access to restricted content and potential security threats. However, according to our thorough research, there’s no specific legislation that sets the punishment for using VPNs in India for legitimate purposes.

Although using a VPN in India is generally legal, it’s important to note that engaging in any illegal activities while using a VPN, such as cybercrime or spreading hate speech, can still lead to legal consequences. The punishment for such unlawful activities is determined by the relevant cybercrime laws in India, and individuals found guilty may face imprisonment and fines.

Which VPN offers India-based servers?

Since the requirement for VPN providers to collect and store user-related information has been put in place by the Indian government, many of them have decided to shut down their servers in India. Luckily, there are a few top-class VPNs with servers in India: whether they’re virtual India-based servers or physical servers in India or the neighboring countries:

Get Indian servers with Surfshark

Indian content you can watch with a VPN

In case you’re visiting another country on a business trip or holiday, a VPN can help you bypass geo-restrictions and watch Indian content, such as Vijay TV or Bollywood movies, from anywhere. Here’s a summary of the most popular streaming services and movies you can access with the best VPN for India:

In addition to popular streaming services, India offers a wide range of local TV channels that showcase diverse and engaging content. These channels cover news, entertainment, sports, and regional programming. With the help of a VPN, you can access and enjoy local Indian TV channels from anywhere in the world.

Some of the prominent Indian TV channels and shows include:

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Best VPN for India: video review

Looking for quick answers about the best VPNs for India? That’s great, as we have a video prepared specifically for you:

Free India VPNs

If you want to bypass geo-blocks and access content outside of India free of charge, there are several free VPN options available. Even though they might be more limited in terms of features than premium VPNs, they can do the job. We recommend checking out these free Indian VPNs:

• Atlas VPN. Provides a limited free version – you get 3 server locations (Netherlands, New York, and Los Angeles) and a 5GB data cap. On the other hand, you can use Atlas VPN for free with its 30-day money-back guarantee and access all premium features and the whole server fleet as well as streaming-optimized servers.
• Proton VPN. It has a free version that offers you 1 VPN connection, servers in 3 countries (United States, Netherlands, Japan), medium speed, and a no-logs policy. Alternatively, if you opt for a premium plan, you get a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can enjoy all the premium benefits free of charge for over a month.
• Windscribe. This VPN has a free version with 1 device connection and 11 server locations available. It has medium speeds and a credible no-logs policy. However, it has a monthly data limit of 2GB, and to get access to its Indian servers, you will need to get a paid subscription.

Free VPNs with Indian servers

When it comes to accessing local Indian content with a free VPN, having Indian servers is crucial. While many free VPN services are available, only a few offer reliable Indian servers to grant you an Indian IP address free of charge. Two notable providers in this category are Surfshark and PureVPN:

• Surfshark. With Surfshark's free VPN, you can connect to an Indian server and access Indian TV shows, movies, and sports events. It offers a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. So you can enjoy premium access for free for over a month. This way, you’re not sacrificing your privacy and are sure you’ll have 50 Indian servers to choose from.
• PureVPN. With PureVPN, you can easily obtain an Indian IP address and enjoy seamless streaming of Indian TV channels and other content for free with its 31-day money-back guarantee. With over 45 Indian servers and a big server fleet worldwide, you’ll be able to bypass censorship and geo-block successfully.

How to get an Indian IP address without a VPN?

If you’re struggling with finding a VPN for India that you like, there are alternative ways to switch your current IP to the Indian one. However, note that they are not as safe as VPNs. Plus, the success rate may also be lower, considering that VPNs, like Surfshark, 100% work in giving you Indian IP.

• Tor browser. These browsers are very common among professionals or casual people who require a high level of anonymity. Tor works like a regular browser, except for the fact that it encrypts your online traffic and hides the IP address. But as secure as it seems, changing your location with it is complex, and a single mistake may expose your identity.
• Proxy. Proxies are known to be similar to VPNs. However, their focus on privacy is noticeably smaller. Moreover, they encrypt only the traffic coming from your browser, while VPNs encrypt all the traffic coming from your device. Finally, proxies have little to no chance of bypassing geo-blocks, so Indian Netflix remains unreachable.

Final thoughts

Retaining your privacy in India might be challenging since the government is actively trying to monitor users’ online activities and restrict internet freedom. Fortunately, a good India VPN can help you protect your traffic and all sensitive information.

According to our tests, the best India VPN is Surfshark. With it, you can connect to any of 3,200+ servers in 100 locations to unblock global streaming libraries or get an Indian IP address and watch your regular home shows from anywhere in the world.

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