If you are a Roku media player user, you know how this platform gives you access to many streaming services and apps. And, if you’re not in the US, mainly, you also know that your IP address reveals your physical location to many streaming websites, which, in turn, limits the content catalog they offer you.
So how do you work around this bothersome IP-based geo-restriction? By using a VPN. Choosing the correct VPN provider will allow you to overcome any geoblocking restrictions held by your favorite streaming service, and, hence, you’ll be able to enjoy all the content they offer.
VPNs are becoming fashionable lately, so the market is overflowing with options, and picking the best one for you can be tricky. But don’t worry. That’s our job. NordVPN is our #1 choice as the best Roku VPN. It will blast through any geo-restrictions with high-speed connections that support HD videos without any buffering.
Not every VPN in the market is excellent with streaming services. Some VPNs privilege privacy and anonymity to such a high degree that streaming with them is difficult or impossible. The several encryption layers and server connections make it hard, if not impossible, to keep a decent stream going.
Thus, finding a VPN that can optimize your Roku experience is a frustrating trial and error process that consumes plenty of time and energy. But, as we said earlier, we’ve already done that work so that you don’t have to.
We’ve tried and tested many VPNs on the internet. And we’ve found the ones that not only will work well with Roku but can even improve your user experience.
Top 5 VPNs for Roku – The quick list
If you’re in a rush to go deep into the details, here we list the five choices for VPNs that work outstandingly well with Roku:
- NordVPN: It is our top choice in VPNs for any tasks needing the services of a premium VPN that always delivers more than it promises.
- Surfshark: It’s the disruptive new kid on the block. Surfshark delivers most of the goods of the best VPNs at a fraction of the cost.
- ExpressVPN: While it’s not our favorite, ExpressVPN tends to be everybody else’s preferred VPN because let’s face it, it’s a premium service, and it’s slightly cheaper than the competition.
- PrivateVPN: A solid VPN that makes customer service its main value.
- IPVanish: An excellent VPN with infinite bandwidth for its users.
VPNs and Roku: why combine them?
The world’s legitimate streaming websites have to respect copyright laws and agreements. Therefore, they can show you a given piece of content only if they hold the license to do so in the country where you are.
That’s why most of the platforms accessible through Roku (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, and others) have some geoblocking policy that controls what content you can see depending on where in the world you are.
In practical terms, it means that if you connect from the US, Netflix will show you the content allowed there; if you are in Australia, you’ll see different content because of that same reason. The most extensive catalog in every service is usually the one for the US, so that’s the place to pretend to be through a VPN.
So how can you circumvent geoblocking locks to enjoy all the content you want? The answer is premium VPNs. A good VPN service will do two things for you. Firstly, it will encrypt all your incoming and outgoing traffic to keep you safe from digital sniffers.
Secondly, and more relevant for our purposes, it will hide your IP address and substitute it with another one that belongs to one of the servers in the VPN network. Since the best VPNs have servers physically installed in many countries around the globe, you can choose a server that’s located in the country from which you want your streaming service to consider you.
There’s an additional benefit to using VPNs. There’s something called throttling. That’s when your ISP limits your bandwidth based on the activities you do on the Internet. If you find that, after streaming a lot of videos, your Internet speeds have gone down without any apparent reason, your ISP could be throttling your account. And a VPN can help you fix that problem too.
The best Roku VPNs for 2023
Our team of expert users has tested dozens of premium VPN providers, and it’s chosen the best options to unblock streaming platforms on Roku.
Before we go into every option in detail, there’s one thing you should keep in mind. If you can’t log into the streaming service you want using a given server on a given service, it could be because the service blocks that server’s IP address. In that case, change the server and try again. If you find the same problem across many servers, then switch to a different vendor.