The best Smart TV VPN for 2025

NordVPN’s Smart DNS feature automatically works whenever you start up the NordVPN app. It’s integrated into SmartPlay, which automatically changes your DNS settings whenever you want to access content from back home.

However, for some models of Smart TV, you won’t be able to load the NordVPN app, and you’ll need to activate the Smart DNS feature manually instead. The process isn’t difficult: all you need to do is go to your account dashboard and enable the feature by typing in your home IP address.

NordVPN’s performance in our speed tests is pretty consistent with what we’ve seen for the last few years, which is to say: very good. When testing with the proprietary NordLynx protocol, we recorded top speeds of 901 Mbps to our local UK server and 514 Mbps from our testing rig to an American server.

However, we should point out that NordVPN's OpenVPN speeds were particularly bad compared to the rest of the providers on our list, at only 179 Mbps to a local server. While that’s still more than enough to power several 4K streams at once, if you’re looking for the best download speeds, you should stick to NordLynx.

As for our streaming tests, NordVPN came back with full marks. Wherever you are in the world, NordVPN should be able to keep you in touch with the content you love from back home. We were able to access content from the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and Japan through Netflix. While running our tests, we found that NordVPN handled 4K streaming without buffering, which is no surprise given our speed test results.

As for US content providers, we were also able to access Amazon Prime and Disney+ without any issues. The same goes for the regional providers we test: iPlayer, ITV, Channel 4, 9Now, and 10 Play all worked seamlessly.

While NordVPN doesn’t offer an unlimited simultaneous connection policy like Surfshark does, it will allow you to connect ten devices at the same time.

Immediately after logging in, you’re presented with a quick-connect button plus a list of locations to choose from. The layout is fairly similar to what you’d see on the desktop version if you’re already familiar with it, but it’s scaled up for easy viewing from a TV.

Surfshark is slightly less impressive than the competition when it comes to location support. At 140 locations across 100 countries, Surfshark offers strong coverage in Europe and a decent spread of locations in the US and Asia, but it isn’t particularly impressive anywhere other than South America, where it ties for most locations with NordVPN.

We’re mainly happy with how Surfshark performs, but it isn’t a perfect streaming VPN, and the area where we encountered the most issues was in accessing foreign content. While we were able to access content from Netflix in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and Japan, we weren’t as fortunate when accessing US and regional content. Amazon Prime and Disney+ worked, but we couldn’t get YouTube to work even after bouncing across several different US cities.

As for regional content, iPlayer and 9Now worked flawlessly. However, we had to disable the CleanWeb ad-blocking tool to access ITV and Channel 4, which was somewhat of a pain. 10 Play also required us to switch servers until we found that it worked with Sydney, and only Sydney.

We’re also slightly disappointed with the speeds through WireGuard compared to the rest of the providers on our list. Don’t get us wrong, Surfshark is still exceptionally fast at 848 Mbps when connecting to a local server, but that’s the slowest speed we’ve recorded through either WireGuard or a proprietary equivalent on our list.

However, these are all minor nitpicks at best. Surfshark’s unlimited device policy far outweighs the negatives we’ve listed, especially if you’re travelling and can’t bring a VPN-capable router with you.

The login process is similar to Surfshark: you can get into the app with either a QR scan from a logged-in device, a login code from the web dashboard, or your normal login credentials. There are a few screens to click through before you get to the main app, but it’s all pretty self-explanatory.

The app itself keeps everything very simple. There’s one large connection button, a dropdown list which automatically chooses the best connection from your current location, and a reminder of some of the most recent servers you’ve connected to. All of the settings are hidden behind separate tabs, so you won’t be overwhelmed with choices the first time you load ExpressVPN up.

ExpressVPN’s MediaStreamer is a fancy name for its Smart DNS service, which works similarly to the ones NordVPN and Surfshark offer. Express has a reputation for offering unparalleled worldwide access through its extensive server network, and we found that this was generally the case when it came to our streaming tests, with one small exception.

To be clear, our Netflix tests in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and Japan worked flawlessly. Similarly, our US tests on Amazon Prime and Disney+ worked well. No need to change settings or fiddle with the app to get ExpressVPN working. We could almost say the same for our regional tests, and for iPlayer, ITV, Channel 4, and 9Now.

However, we weren’t able to access 10Play in Woolloomooloo. You’ll need to choose Adelaide, Brisbane, or Melbourne instead. We also found that US YouTube access can be a little spotty, and you’ll need to change servers sometimes to get it working.

In our most recent speed tests, ExpressVPN actually topped the list. Its proprietary Lightway Turbo protocol set a record of 1617 Mpbs download to our local server and 1230Mbps when connecting to the US, which blew away every other provider on our list. As you’d expect, we noticed no buffering during 4K streaming as a result, even when streaming content from other countries.

The only real drawback is the 8-device connection limit, which feels restrictive, especially when compared to Surfshark’s unlimited plan.

This does mean that Proton VPN is slightly behind the competition for Smart TV support. In fact, up until last year Proton VPN didn’t offer support for Apple TV at all. With that said, the actual apps are as good as anything you’d expect from our top three.

With 154 locations to choose from, Proton VPN is only narrowly beaten out by NordVPN and ExpressVPN. It’s nearly tied with NordVPN for country coverage at 117, and if you’re looking for support across Africa or Asia specifically, then Proton VPN is your best bet.

Proton VPN scored pretty well in our streaming tests, but fell slightly when it came to regional providers. We were able to access Netflix in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and Japan, as well as Amazon, Disney, and US YouTube.

Our regional results indicated that Proton can access iPlayer, ITV, and 9Now without problems, but we had to turn off Proton VPN’s Net Shield ad blocking to get access to Channel 4. As for 10Play, we simply couldn’t get it to work.

As for our speed tests, Proton performed exceptionally well at 1198 Mpbs from our testing server. Only ExpressVPN’s Lightway results scored hired, making Proton VPN a great choice if you need seriously high speeds.

Proton VPN only offers a smart TV app for Android-based devices, so there’s no Apple TV support here, but its Smart DNS feature bridges that gap effectively. Setup is simple through your account dashboard, and you’ll find detailed step-by-step instructions for popular models like LG and Samsung.

Proton VPN works on ten devices simultaneously. Any more than that and you’ll either be booted out of the first device you’ve connected to or need to buy another Proton VPN subscription.

For streaming, CyberGhost gets top marks. It’s the only provider in our list that we can say that about, other than NordVPN. We were able to access every Netflix location we tried, as well as Amazon Prime and Disney+. That’s also full marks for our regional tests as we could watch content from iPlayer, ITV, Channel 4, 9Now, and 10Play.

While testing, we found CyberGhost’s dedicated streaming servers quite helpful. When you boot up the app and click the location dropdown, you’re taken to a location selection screen that has a separate tab for streaming-optimized servers. Each server helpfully indicates which streaming service it should allow you to access, taking all the guesswork out of setting up your Smart TV for streaming.

CyberGhost actually performed better than Surfshark at 950 Mbps when connecting from our local testing server to the nearest best server, but didn’t score nearly as well when we tried out a transatlantic connection. Our peak UK-US speed maxed out at 633 Mbps.

We’re also pleasantly surprised by CyberGhost’s location coverage. It’s on par with the rest of the providers on our list, with 124 locations in 100 countries. The North American coverage isn’t great at only 21 locations, but if you’re trying to access Europe or Asia, then CyberGhost is absolutely fine, and actually offers better-than-average coverage across South America.

One of the bigger issues we have with CyberGhost is that its IPs seem to have a poor global reputation. This isn’t a problem with streaming, according to our tests, but we’ve noticed increased CAPTCHA checkpoints compared to the other providers we’ve covered here, which may be an issue if you’re using your VPN to access other services back home.

CyberGhost supports up to 7 simultaneous connections and is compatible with Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and Linux, in addition to Android and Apple TVs.