How to watch Hulu in Canada or the UK with a VPN

Hulu isn’t officially available outside of the United States or Japan. If you try to watch Hulu while traveling in Canada, Australia, the UK or any other country, you will encounter the following error message:

“Sorry, currently our video library can only be watched from within the United States.”

After Netflix, Hulu is one of the most popular streaming video services in the United States. So being stuck behind that firewall can be a pain, especially if you’re traveling and want to watch Hulu in the UK, Canada, or anywhere abroad on a temporary basis. Luckily, there’s a way to get around it. Connecting to a VPN to watch Hulu will solve all of your problems.

A VPN is a type of proxy service that changes your device’s IP address to one in another location. This can make it appear to Hulu as if you are accessing the site or app from the United States instead of Canada or the UK. All you need to do is install the software, choose a server in the US, and connect to it. Now that all your internet traffic is routed through a US server before going to Hulu, you can watch to your heart’s content.

But there’s a catch: Hulu has gotten really good at blocking VPN users. In order to enforce the content licensing restrictions imposed by copyright holders, Hulu detects and blocks any user it finds using a proxy connection. It’s better at blocking VPNs than Amazon Prime and HBO Now. It’s even better than Netflix.

Because of this, your options are limited. A handful of VPNs can still get around Hulu’s firewall without detection. They all require a paid subscription, so don’t expect a free fix. Some are still small enough not to warrant Hulu’s attention, while others are big players with the resources to pour into advanced obfuscation tactics and reacting quickly to IP bans.

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See also: What’s the best VPN for Canada?

How to unblock Hulu with a VPN

After you’ve signed up for a VPN and have installed the VPN app on your device, the rest is easy.

1. Open your VPN app—We recommend NordVPN. 
2. Select a server located in the United States. Your provider might have specific servers for Hulu.
3. Hit the Connect button and wait a few seconds for the connection to complete.
4. Open the Hulu app on your chosen device.
5. If your VPN is connected, you should now be able to stream Hulu without errors or interruptions!

If you still get an error, try choosing a different VPN server or location, clearing your cookies, and/or clearing your web browser cache. We’ve got more troubleshooting tips below.

Even with VPNs that support Hulu users, not just any server in the US will do. You might need to contact customer support and ask which servers currently work with Hulu and connect to those. The servers occasionally get blocked and new ones are added as Hulu plays a cat-and-mouse game with VPN providers. For this reason, a VPN provider with live support, such as NordVPN, is really handy.

Watching Hulu from abroad on a Smart TV, Roku, Fire TV or Chromecast

Watching Hulu with a VPN from abroad is hard enough, but watching on a streaming media device such as Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast, or even some Android-based devices is more difficult. These devices don’t have built-in support for VPNs.

That means the VPN must be set up on a router. You can use either your physical home wifi router or use a Mac or Windows laptop to create a virtual wifi router, which is sort of the same as setting up a wifi hotspot on your phone.

Still not working? Try disabling IPv6

Even when using a VPN that claims to work with Hulu, there’s a chance you’ll still encounter an error message on Hulu instructing you to turn off your “anonymous proxy.” This is because the vast majority of VPNs still don’t protect against IPv6 leaks. While a VPN can route all your traffic requests through its own DNS servers and mask your IPv4 address, IPv6 addresses still get sent without being hidden. IPv6 serves the same purpose as IPv6 but contains a far wider range of possible IP addresses for internet-connected devices.

The solution is an imperfect but effective VPN block workaround for Hulu: disable IPv6. We say it’s imperfect because it would be better if everyone switched over to IPv6 due to the IPv4 protocol running out of unique IP addresses. Limiting yourself to IPv4 is bad for the long-term health of the internet, but it won’t affect much else.

How to disable IPv6 on a Windows PC (Windows 10):

1. Disconnect and close the VPN app
2. Tap Windows Key+R to open the Run prompt
3. Type ncpa.cpl and hit Enter to open your Network Connections
4. Find the connection you are using, right click it, and select Properties
5. On the Networking or General tab, uncheck the box that says “Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)”
6. Click OK to save changes and close the Window
7. Tap Windows Key+R and select Command Prompt (Admin), then hit Yes when asked if it’s okay for the program to make changes to your computer
8. In the command prompt (black window), type ipconfig /flushdns and hit Enter.
9. Reconnect to the VPN, refresh the Hulu page, and enjoy the video!

How to disable IPv6 on Mac OSX:

1. Disconnect and close the VPN app
2. Open the Apple menu.
3. Choose System Preferences > Network > AirPort > Advanced
4. Click TCP/IP.
5. Click on the Configure IPv6 pop-up menu and select Off.
6. Click OK and Apply (to apply the change).
7. Reconnect to the VPN, refresh the Hulu page, and enjoy the video!

How to watch Hulu on Kodi

Kodi subscribers can install an add-on to watch Hulu on Kodi. Kodi is a free home theater software application that streams media from a wide range of sources. It runs on multiple platforms including Windows, Mac OSX, Android, Linux, and Raspberry Pi.

All of the geographic viewing restrictions still apply, so you’ll still need a VPN. Find the Hulu Plus Kodi add-on (Google is your friend!). Learn how to install Kodi repositories and add-ons using our tutorial and to find a VPN check out our article on the best VPNs for Kodi users.

Paying for Hulu from outside the US

Hulu requires customers’ money to come from the US as well, at least for the first payment. This can be a pain for Americans who are currently living abroad.

Below are a couple of solutions that reportedly allow those without a US credit card or PayPal account back home to pay for Hulu. Full disclosure: these methods are second-hand knowledge, and we did not test them out for ourselves.

• A prepaid digital gift card from this website costs about $4 plus the price of the Hulu credit, either – $25, $50, or $100. You also also earn reward points on purchases. Similar Hulu gift cards are available on Amazon and eBay as well.
• EntroPay allows you to make payments online by setting up a prepaid virtual visa card. Users report that this cannot be used to make a payment directly to Hulu, but it can be used to set up a US-based PayPal account. The PayPal account can then be used to make payments on Hulu.
• StatesPay is another virtual credit card provider that costs $3.95 per month. In theory you should be able to just pay for the first month to set up the account and then use Hulu gift cards to make subsequent payments. The site is not accepting new sign ups as of the time of writing, however, so you might have to wait awhile before the service is available again.

Related: How to watch US Netflix with a VPN.

Watch Hulu in Canada FAQ