What’s the Best China VPN? We tested 59 to see which could bypass the Great Firewall

Finding a reliable VPN for China is no easy task. After all, most are blocked outright, and several other comparison sites recommend services without performing the real-world testing required to see if they’re suitable. We rented a server in Shenzhen and tested 59 of the best-known VPNs against the might of the Great Firewall. Our in-depth analysis revealed which China VPNs are fast, secure, and versatile enough to keep you safe while on the mainland.

Based on our exhaustive testing, we recommend using one of these VPNs in China:

1. NordVPN: The best China VPN. Delivers impressive performance and several unique security features designed to provide a truly anonymous browsing experience. Can easily bypass Chinese censorship.TIP In our testing we found that the cheapest NordVPN plan (Standard) works perfectly for China.
2. Surfshark: No-logs provider with consistently high speeds. One of the only VPNs with no connection limit capable of beating China’s Great Firewall.
3. ExpressVPN: Quick and reliable servers in 105 countries. No additional setup is needed to browse safely in China. Boasts its own router app.
4. Hotspot Shield: With fast speeds, affordable pricing, and proven effectiveness in China, Hotspot Shield is a solid option for anyone planning a visit.
5. VyprVPN: Operating its own servers, VyprVPN delivers excellent speed and uptime, ensuring a reliable connection even in restrictive regions like China.
6. PureVPN: Beginner-friendly service that works perfectly in China. Automatic obfuscation means no manual configuration is needed.
7. PrivateVPN: A zero-logs VPN that goes the extra mile to keep you safe. Works seamlessly in China with Stealth Mode activated.
8. UltraVPN: A budget-friendly VPN that works in China. Very newcomer-friendly, with strong unblocking abilities and reliable speeds.

How we chose the best VPNs for China

A common issue users face is a lack of certainty about how well their VPN performs relative to its competitors. After all, it’s not in a service’s best interests to admit that some of its rivals might be the better option in certain situations. We think you deserve to know exactly what you’re paying for.

Here at Comparitech, we have an exhaustive testing process. Our team evaluates each VPN on dozens of criteria, making it as easy as possible to highlight its strengths and shortcomings. Here’s a brief summary of what we look for, but if you’re interested, you’ll find a more detailed discussion of our testing process at the bottom of this post.

• Security and privacy: China’s government keeps a close eye on what citizens and visitors do online, so a strong security offering is non-negotiable. We look at over a dozen different criteria, including which protocols are supported, what kind of logs a provider keeps, and whether its encryption is strong enough to keep your activities hidden.
• Speed: Inconsistent performance causes all kinds of problems, and could even see your VPN connection drop without you realizing. We performed multiple speed tests from within China, using multiple Asian servers for each VPN in order to provide a more realistic idea of the performance you can expect.
• Streaming ability: Streaming isn’t the only reason you might use a VPN in China, but it is a popular choice. Further, as each app has different VPN-blocking technologies, this serves as a good indicator of how good your VPN is at avoiding detection. As such, part of our testing involved pitting each candidate against an array of popular streaming platforms (such as Netflix, Max, and BBC iPlayer).
• Ease of use: Most VPNs require a few additional steps to function properly in China. We evaluated each VPNs user-friendliness based on 10 separate metrics, such as whether it supported routers and offered a similar experience across platforms.
• Value for money: Our top priority is ensuring you get your money’s worth. Our team analyzed each VPN’s connection limit, monthly cost, and sale frequency (among other things) to ensure that we never recommend providers that cost more than is reasonable for what they offer.
• Our expert’s professional rating: Our experts have been using, testing, and reviewing consumer VPNs for years. Based on their personal opinions and experiences, they assign each service a score out of 10. This score is then used alongside the scores from other categories to give each VPN an overall rating.

Best VPNs in China – Comparison table

We’ve compared the most important features of the top VPNs here. Prefer to read the in-depth reviews? Start with NordVPN – our #1 choice for China.

The best China VPNs: Detailed reviews

Here are our top recommendations for VPNs that work in China, based on our testing using a Chinese internet connection. The services below are all capable of securing your internet activity, accessing blocked sites in China, and helping you evade country-wide censorship.

1. NordVPN

Nov 2024 Works in ChinaTested Nov 2024

NordVPN is our top choice for browsing the web safely in China. It has remained usable near-constantly over the years despite frequent improvements to the Great Firewall. On rare occasions, the service is interrupted, but it’s always back up and running within a day or two.

Now, while there are 6,000+ servers in over 110 countries, subscribers looking to beat China censorship will have to use the obfuscated servers. These can be found by clicking More connection options in the server list, then hitting Obfuscated servers and choosing your preferred location.

The obfuscated servers are naturally a little slower since their level of data security is higher. However, if you’re just concerned about hiding your activities from hackers or public hotspot owners, the general-purpose servers will work just fine. We tested six Asian servers using a home broadband connection (offering speeds of around 48 Mbps) and found that NordVPN averaged roughly 37 Mbps—more than fast enough for streaming, video calling, and torrenting.

NordVPN has shown a real commitment to improving its privacy offering. Recent additions include automatic malware and tracker-blocking, a data breach alert tool, and Meshnet – a unique feature that allows users to route traffic from multiple devices through a single source. This is particularly helpful if you’re in China and trying to protect devices with limited access to app stores or that don’t support full VPN apps, like Smart TVs and game consoles. This VPN is regularly audited, too, so when it says it doesn’t keep logs, you know it’s telling the truth.

This provider has apps for all major platforms, including Windows, Android, MacOS, iOS, and Linux. Most tools are available in every app version, but since iOS devices have to be manually configured in China, you will miss out on more advanced protection. Additionally, NordVPN stores advertising IDs on mobile platforms, so you’ll want to clear these regularly to prevent advertisers from creating a profile based on your activities.

For most people, the basic subscription tier will be plenty. However, if you’d like a more comprehensive security offering, you might want to consider the Plus plan. This includes the VPN, phishing protection, and a data breach scanner. The slightly pricier Ultimate plan includes all of this, 1TB of encrypted cloud storage, and (in some countries) a cyber insurance policy that’ll help you recoup losses if you fall victim to hackers.

BEST VPN FOR CHINA:NordVPN is our top pick. It puts your privacy first, works reliably in high-censorship countries like China, and can handle just about any real-world task. What’s more, this service has a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can try it risk-free.

For more details, read our complete NordVPN review.

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2. Surfshark

Works in ChinaTested Nov 2024

Surfshark has provided near-uninterrupted service in China for half a decade. That’s no small feat, but it’s particularly impressive given this VPN’s low price point. There’s no complex setup process or special servers needed to browse safely in countries with extreme censorship—just activate the NoBorders mode (shown below). This mode reshapes your data, making it appear like normal, everyday traffic without compromising on the high level of security this VPN is known for.

That’s all well and good, but is Surfshark capable of doing what you need it to? In a word, yes. Our team was able to access a huge range of streaming platforms, region-locked games, and sites that are normally inaccessible in China. There are roughly 3,200 servers in 100 countries, and if that wasn’t enough, this is one of the few consumer VPNs that lets you connect every device you own simultaneously.

Surfshark was the fastest VPN we saw when we ran our recent comprehensive speed tests. However, these used an ultra-quick connection, and we wanted to make sure subscribers using standard home Wi-Fi were catered to as well. Speeds were reasonably quick, though noticeably slower when using the South Korean and Hong Kong servers. As such, Surfshark’s average speeds in Asia were around 28.5 Mbps – quick enough for streaming 4K video, but only just.

This provider’s apps might seem a little intimidating, but while there’s a lot to take in, they’re actually fairly intuitive. The main screen has a location selection menu (with tabs for specialty servers), a quick connect button, and information about your internet connection. There are several buttons on the left, but these are mostly for features included in Surfshark One subscriptions. If you’re just on the base plan, the only one you’ll ever need is settings.

Digging into this menu, you’ll find all sorts of interesting features. For example, blocking ads, trackers, and malware automatically is possible, letting certain websites (or apps) bypass the VPN or connecting immediately whenever you use an unfamiliar network. Surfshark can also change your IP address regularly while keeping your location the same, making it effectively impossible to track your activities during longer sessions. From a technical perspective, its powerful encryption, leak protection, and independently-audited no-logs policy should be more than enough to keep your browsing habits private.

Surfshark has apps for all major platforms and has a price point for every user. There are monthly, annual, and multi-year plans, plus Surfshark One subscriptions that include additional privacy tools. For instance, there’s a private search engine, antivirus app, and data breach alert system. This is the only VPN offering a personal detail generator, too. It essentially creates an entirely new persona for you so you can register for things without providing any of your own info.

BEST BUDGET VPN:Surfshark is a low-cost option that works exceptionally well in China. Ideal for everyday usage, with a first-class security offering and no connection limit. All plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Read our full Surfshark review.

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3. ExpressVPN

Works in ChinaTested Nov 2024

ExpressVPN is one of the most popular options for VPN users in China, and it’s clear to see why. It’s an easy-to-use service with minimal filler where everything is handled for you. Unlike its competitors, ExpressVPN detects if you’re in a place with severe censorship and obfuscates your traffic automatically. It also offers servers in an impressive 105 countries, including Asian countries most other providers overlook, such as Cambodia and Nepal.

The interface is as simple as they come, with a location selection option and a quick connect button taking up most of the main screen. Hop over to the settings menu, and you’ll notice everything is neatly grouped into tabs, with every option sporting a short description of what it does. Now, ExpressVPN doesn’t offer as many advanced features as some of the other providers in this list, but it does support split tunneling, tracker-blocking, and automatic connection.

ExpressVPN also has its own protocol named Lightway. This aims to improve performance over long-distance connections while being more lightweight than alternatives like OpenVPN. Further, the company recently updated Lightway so that it’ll be able to resist advanced decryption methods when quantum computers become more common. In our tests, it delivered average speeds of 35 Mbps across six Asian servers. In other words, you shouldn’t notice any issues even when doing data-intensive tasks like torrenting or streaming. It has an extensive audit history, too, proving beyond any doubt that it’s telling the truth about its no-logs policy.

This provider offers apps for iOS, Android, Windows, MacOS, and Linux. Functionality is virtually identical across every version, though iOS users can’t take advantage of the kill switch (which ExpressVPN calls its “network lock”). It’s one of the only VPNs with custom firmware for routers, allowing users to more easily secure an entire home network without losing access to crucial features such as ad-blocking or the Lightway protocol.

ExpressVPN keeps things simple without any enhanced subscription options. There are just three terms to choose from (monthly, six-monthly, or annual), and you can pay via credit card, PayPal, or Bitcoin. While it is slightly more expensive than other VPNs in this list, it justifies the cost with its unparalleled ease of use and reliability.

EFFORTLESS SECURITY:ExpressVPN is ideal for staying safe during a trip to China. Delivers impressive performance, a strong set of automatically-enabled privacy features, and a proven no-logs policy. Subscribers get a 30-day money-back guarantee as well.

Read our full review of ExpressVPN here.

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4. Hotspot Shield

Works in ChinaTested Nov 2024

Hotspot Shield is another Pango-owned VPN, so if you notice similarities between it and UltraVPN, you’re not imagining them. Look past the near-identical interfaces, though, and you’ll notice key differences that make this VPN worthy of consideration in its own right.

To begin with, Hotspot Shield has automatic wifi protection, ensuring it kicks in on its own whenever you use a public wifi hotspot. That’s a huge advantage since there’s no way of knowing what the owner is doing with your data. Further, HSS has been independently audited, confirming that it doesn’t store any personally identifiable info. A built-in speed-tester lets you quickly see how well a handful of key servers compare in terms of performance. We’d prefer if there were a few more to choose from but this is still a good tool to have.

There are over 100 locations to choose from and servers specifically optimized for gaming or accessing American or British streaming platforms. That said, even the general-purpose servers did a fantastic job of evading detection—we were able to access all manner of geo-blocked services, and so long as you use the Hydra protocol, it’ll work perfectly in China.

Once you connect, you’ll see a panel that displays key metrics such as your server load, session length, and peak speeds. On that note, HSS was the quickest service we tested overall, averaging 39.28 Mbps across six Asian servers – there was virtually no speed loss compared to browsing without a VPN. That’s extremely impressive from a technical standpoint and almost unheard of, making this provider a natural choice for tasks where high speeds are crucial.

You can benefit from 10 simultaneous connections using the Android, iOS, Windows, MacOS, or Linux apps. However, Hotspot Shield can also be manually installed on most routers if you’d prefer. This is a little more involved, but support staff are on hand via 24/7 live chat to help if you need them.

Hotspot Shield offers a free version, but it only allows a single connection, has one server location, and supports the main operating systems. Users can get the premium plan for one month or one year; monthly plans are fairly pricey, though there is a steep discount on longer subscriptions.

SIMPLE BUT EFFECTIVE:Hotspot Shield prioritizes ease of use and excels at bypassing VPN-detection systems. Includes a solid set of security tools, refuses to keep any logs, and offers a generous 45-day money-back guarantee.

Read our full Hotspot Shield review.

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5. VyprVPN

Works in ChinaTested Nov 2024

VyprVPN has been on the scene for well over a decade, and during that time, it certainly made a name for itself. It was the first major provider to make its audit results public (though we’d like to see it perform these more regularly) and has no issues accessing geo-blocked services like Netflix, Hulu, or Disney+ from abroad.

What about in China, though? This service still works perfectly if you’re using the company’s proprietary Chameleon protocol. This scrambles standard OpenVPN traffic, preventing the government from realizing you’re using a VPN, even though they use advanced techniques like deep packet inspection. What’s more, this protocol changes your IP address periodically, with no additional input required from the user. To start browsing safely in countries with strict censorship, hit Customize in the bottom left of the home screen, select Protocol, and choose Chameleon before connecting to whichever server you like.

This provider operates around 700 servers in 70+ countries, more than a dozen of which are in Asia. There is slight variability in speed from one region to another, but all in all, we were impressed by VyprVPN’s stable performance. Across six Asian servers, it provided average speeds of 38.1 Mbps. In other words, it was the speediest VPN in our tests, except for Hotspot Shield. That’s great news for travelers hoping to stream in 4K, make video calls, or download large files during their trip to the mainland.

VyprVPN has its own Linux, MacOS, Windows, Android, and iOS apps, all of which boast powerful encryption and leak protection. Split tunneling is only on desktop platforms, though, and there’s no kill switch on iOS. This VPN has a fairly low five-device limit, but you can manually install it on a router to sidestep this issue. Need help? No problem: staff are available 24 hours per day via live chat.

At around $12, VyprVPN’s monthly cost aligns with the rest of the market. However, it also offers annual and biannual subscriptions that come with steep discounts. Plenty of VPNs offer huge discounts for your first term before jacking up the price but VyprVPN doesn’t; in a year or two, when your subscription expires, you’ll pay the same as you did on the day you signed up.

FAST SPEEDS:VyprVPN boasts excellent performance, a censorship-beating Chameleon protocol, and beginner-friendly apps. Low connection limit but on the plus side it does have a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Check out our full review of VyprVPN here.

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6. PureVPN

Works in ChinaTested Nov 2024

PureVPN is one of the only providers that works in China without requiring the user to do anything extra. That makes it a solid choice, but it’s also great at accessing streaming platforms. It has been audited multiple times to prove that it doesn’t keep logs of your online activities.

There are more than 6,000 servers spread across 65+ countries. These are predominantly in Europe and the Americas, though there are several Asian locations to choose from as well. Unfortunately, PureVPN doesn’t have any servers in Malaysia or Taiwan, which did impact its average speeds in our testing. Despite this, it delivered averages of 23.5 Mbps – reasonable and just about quick enough for most everyday tasks. Performance did seem to be a bit all or nothing, though: there was next to no slowdown in Japan, Hong Kong, or Singapore, but the South Korean servers were the slowest of any we tested (averaging just 8.1 Mbps).

PureVPN’s design is easy to get to grips with. However, it does take up a lot of space trying to funnel its users towards additional services (more on these later). Still, you can quickly connect from the main page or find specific options in the settings menu, which is great. We’re also big fans of being able to filter the server list to find those that support torrenting, port-forwarding, or both.

There aren’t many advanced security features, but PureVPN can block trackers, connect automatically, let certain apps through the VPN, and hide your device from others on the network. There’s also a kill switch, though this is disabled as standard. We strongly suggest activating it before you do anything else since this will ensure you never accidentally browse the internet without protection after an unexpected outage.

This VPN’s pricing structure is complex, to say the least. Like many others on this list, it has a tiered system, with more expensive plans, including bonuses like a password manager or data removal services. However, you can also pay extra to unlock port forwarding functionality, remove the connection limit, or get a dedicated server. Recently, PureVPN added support for residential IP addresses, too (though these more than double the monthly cost and won’t be needed in most cases).

PureVPN apps are available for MacOS, Windows, Android, and iOS. It’s one of just a handful of providers with its own graphical Linux app too! If the 10-connection limit is a little too restrictive for your needs, just follow manual setup instructions to get it running directly on your router.

QUICK AND SECURE:PureVPN is a reliable option for browsing safely in China. Excels at flying under the radar, offers servers in 60+ countries, and provides decent speeds on most Asian servers. There’s even a 31-day money-back guarantee.

Find out more in our full PureVPN review.

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7. PrivateVPN

Works in ChinaTested Nov 2024

PrivateVPN does things differently from most of its competitors. For starters, it avoids the temptation to build a huge network. Instead, it offers access to around 200 self-owned, self-hosted servers in around 60 countries to have maximum control over user traffic.

Additionally, this service knows that people of all experience levels rely on it. That’s why it has a two-interface design: one for beginners and one for more advanced users. The first simply allows you to change location and connect, while the second allows you to activate split tunneling, customize the kill switch, and so on. If you’re looking to use the internet safely in China, you’ll have to use Advanced view (at least for a while), since you’ll have to enable the Stealth VPN tool to get around the country’s digital censorship. PrivateVPN also uses perfect forward secrecy, which is really important in countries like China.

PrivateVPN’s Stealth VPN feature is necessary to access the wider internet in China but it’s not accessible in the Simple view

In our professional opinion, PrivateVPN is one of the most reliable options for unblocking websites that are region-locked. It works flawlessly with platforms that regularly stump other VPNs, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and BBC iPlayer. you’ll rarely have to try multiple servers before finding one that’s suitable.

Generally, PrivateVPN is fast enough for most tasks. On our test machine, it delivered speeds of around 74 Mbps. However, because it has a smaller network, it lacked servers in several Asian countries we used for testing, leading to the lowest average speed overall – just 14.5 Mbps. There was also significant variance between servers, as this VPN delivered one of the lowest and highest individual results (9.14 Mbps with the Hong Kong server and 47.84 Mbps with the Malaysian server). If you’re struggling with slow speeds, we’d suggest trying a different location; you can also lower the encryption level but in China, this might not be the best idea.

This provider has apps for Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android. It can be manually installed on most routers and Linux systems, plus it provides live chat-based customer support in case you need help. Up to 10 devices can be secured simultaneously, which is on the more generous end of the industry standard.

The good news is that this is one of the most affordable providers on the market, even if you pay month-by-month. There is a slight discount for choosing the three-month term, and if you sign up for a year, you can use this zero-logs VPN provider for just a few dollars per month.

PRIVACY FIRST:PrivateVPN offers a high degree of anonymity to users in China, yet remains accessible enough for complete beginners. It’s a great option for streaming, torrenting, or video-calling, and it’s quick too (so long as you choose the right server). All plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Read our full PrivateVPN review.

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8. UltraVPN

Works in ChinaTested Nov 2024

UltraVPN hasn’t been around as long as some of its competitors, but it’s already making a name for itself with VPN beginners, thanks to its extreme focus on usability. It has over 800 virtual servers covering roughly 100 countries and delivers impressive speeds. In other words, it’s a solid pick for anyone hoping to regain access to their favorite websites and services while visiting China.

On that note, this VPN doesn’t require any special setup to use in places with strict digital censorship. It should realize by default that extra privacy is required and automatically switch to the Hydra protocol (a proprietary protocol shared by other Pango services, including Hotspot Shield). This is up to 2.4 times faster than OpenVPN and hides the telltale indicators that you’re using a VPN at all. If, for whatever reason, you need to change protocol manually, just click the settings icon in the top-left, select VPN protocol, and then pick Hydra.

As you can see, UltraVPN has a very simplistic design. Its home screen is dominated by a quick connection button and easy access to the location selection menu. The settings menu and links to tools included in higher-tier subscriptions can be accessed via the icons in the top left. There aren’t many advanced options to play with, but you can allow certain apps to bypass the VPN, hide yourself from other devices on the network, or activate the kill switch.

So, how well does this VPN perform in real-world scenarios? Our experts were able to use several stubborn streaming platforms without any issues, though we did notice a fair amount of variability in terms of speed. Generally, Asian servers tended to have fairly similar speeds, but the overall average was dragged down to 33.93 Mbps thanks to a particularly poor result on the Japanese servers (just 8.18 Mbps). Even though this should be all right for day-to-day browsing, you will likely notice longer loading times when trying to watch HD videos.

Now, UltraVPN is aimed squarely at novices, so there are a couple of notable omissions. For instance, you can’t use this service on Linux systems, routers, or Amazon Fire Stick. We’re big fans of the ability to protect 10 devices simultaneously, though we’d really rather customer support was available via live chat. It’s fairly unusual for a paid VPN not to offer this, and it could cause real anxiety if you’re unable to get connected while in China and have to wait several hours for staff to respond to your query.

Let’s talk about pricing. UltraVPN only offers one subscription term: a year. That’s uncommon but not unheard of, and given it’s only a few dollars per month, we can look past it. For one dollar more, you can get UltraVPN+, which offers all the benefits of a standard subscription plus a virus scanner, shady site blocking, and content-filtering tools. Will everyone need these? No, but it’s good to have the option.

USER-FRIENDLY VPN:UltraVPN is simple, easy to use, and remarkably versatile given its low price point. Works effortlessly in China and provides a high level of security, plus a no-logs policy. Subscriptions come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Read our entire UltraVPN review.

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How to use a VPN in China

If you’re visiting China, we recommend setting up a VPN before traveling. This makes the whole process much more straightforward.

If you’re already in China, it is a bit more tricky. Providers like NordVPN and ExpressVPN offer either a mirror site or alternative download links that the GFWC does not detect. These are not publicly available (for obvious reasons), so you must contact support to obtain them.

Here’s how to use a VPN in China:

1. Sign up for one of the VPNs recommended above before traveling to China. We particularly recommend NordVPN.
2. Download the VPN app for your device from the provider’s website or a reputable app store
3. Open the VPN app and sign in
4. Select a server in a country outside of China, preferably somewhere close
5. Hit the Connect button. Wait a few moments for the connection to establish, and that’s it! You can now access social media, news sites, and streaming services that are normally blocked in China. The VPN will remain connected in the background.

If you can’t connect, try a different server or protocol. Check if your VPN app can obfuscate or “scramble” VPN traffic to make it less detectable. If all else fails, contact customer service.

Our methodology: finding the most reliable VPNs for China

Not every VPN works in China – in fact, most don’t! Simply functioning is not our baseline for recommendation, though. Our team of experts has a lengthy list of tests and requirements to ensure we only suggest the best VPNs for any given task. Here’s how we evaluated candidates and identified the best VPNs for China:

Security & privacy

Freedom House regularly awards China a lower internet freedom score than any other country in the world. Not only are whole swathes of the internet inaccessible, but user rights are frequently violated. With that in mind, security is our number one concern when finding suitable VPNs.

Our years of experience testing VPNs have helped us identify 15 key characteristics of truly privacy-friendly services. For instance, a refusal to log any personally identifiable data and the presence of safeguards such as a kill switch. Here’s a full list:

We assign each VPN a score (out of ten) based on how many of the characteristics above it has. This will give us a more representative view of how multiple VPNs compare. It also makes it easier to show things graphically, as in the chart below:

As you can see, NordVPN and Surfshark tied for first place with an impressive 9.5 points each, followed by ExpressVPN at 9.2.

Speed and consistency

We regularly perform speed tests on an ultra-fast test server. While that approach is great for seeing what VPNs are theoretically capable of, it doesn’t give users a particularly true-to-life idea of the speeds they’ll get on a day-to-day basis. With that in mind, we ran multiple tests using servers in six Asian countries (Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan) to see which provider delivered the highest, most consistent speeds. Note that these were run on a home broadband connection with an average speed of around 48 Mbps.

This chart clearly illustrates one thing: Hotspot Shield was the quickest overall, with an average of 39.3 Mbps, and tended to have consistent speeds. PrivateVPN struggled to provide a similar level of service in Hong Kong as it did anywhere else. VPNs that lacked a strong presence in Asia also suffered due to having scores for each missing country recorded as a zero.

Ease of use

Realistically, the less you have to think about your VPN, the better. In a perfect world, it’d just work in every scenario. However, when you visit China, things often get more complicated – whether it’s reliability issues, manual setup, or a lack of access to customer support. Our team evaluated each VPN, carefully considering all of the following factors to determine which service was the easiest and most straightforward to use in China:

The next step is weighting and normalizing these values so that we can give each VPN a score out of 10. As you can see, NordVPN was the most user-friendly by a small margin, closely followed by ExpressVPN and Surfshark. UltraVPN delivering the lowest overall score (5/10). This was largely due to a lack of router support, task-specific servers, and feature parity across multiple apps.

Unblocking ability

Generally, VPNs that are capable of bypassing the Great Firewall can also access popular region-locked streaming platforms. However, in our experience, they frequently prioritize the biggest services (Prime Video, for instance) and may not work with lesser-known ones. To find out which was the most reliable, we tried each provider against a gauntlet of streaming apps and checked to see whether they included anything that would make watching your favorite content easier. Here’s an overview of everything we looked for:

As ever, we then normalized and weighted these scores, allowing us to compare each VPN’s streaming ability side-by-side:

We had another three-way tie, with NordVPN, Surfshark, and ExpressVPN all scoring 9.2/10. UltraVPN delivered a fairly poor result due to not supporting any streaming devices (such as Amazon Fire Stick) and not offering ad-blocking or Smart DNS services. However, it’s worth noting that it was able to reliably access most platforms we tested it against.

Value for money

There aren’t really any free VPNs that work reliably in China, but that doesn’t mean you should pay through the nose just to stay safe. We carefully considered factors such as the standard monthly price, how often each VPN goes on sale, and whether there’s a free trial before assigning each provider a score out of 10. Here are all of the factors we considered:

And the results of our testing, normalized for easier comparison. Surfshark delivered the highest overall score thanks to its lack of connection limits, low price, and plentiful subscription options. Meanwhile, UltraVPN performed poorest.

Chinese censorship: Frequently Asked Questions