Australia has earned a reputation for having some of the most invasive internet surveillance laws in the world. So if you care about keeping your digital footprint private, a solid Australia VPN is well worth considering.
Digital surveillance is pervasive in Australia. Under mandatory data retention laws, ISPs are forced to store your metadata for at least two years. Worse still, the controversial "Assistance and Access" Act gives authorities the power to compel tech companies to bypass encryption. Add in Australia's role in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, and it's clear that your browsing history is far from private.
That’s why we’ve selected NordVPN as our #1 recommendation. It combines market-leading speeds with an independently audited no-logs policy. However, Proton VPN remains a top-tier alternative for those who prioritize open-source transparency above all else.
5 best Australia VPNs: quick overview
The 5 best Australia VPNs in 2025
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The best VPN overall
NordVPN takes the top spot in a close-run race for best Australian VPN, despite some stiff competition from Surfshark and Proton VPN. All three services are neck-and-neck based on our speed tests, but NordVPN grabs the top spot after acing the majority of our in-house tests.
Nord operates VPN servers across Australia's major population centers, giving you access to Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Sydney at the touch of a button.
Read more about NordVPN ▼
Ease of Use
Getting started with NordVPN doesn’t require much more than picking the client app for your platform and downloading it. NordVPN offer clients for Windows, iOS, MacOS, Android and Linux, as well as support for routers, smart TVs, Amazon Fire Sticks, and game consoles.
For the major platforms, you’ll just need to enter your login details and click “Connect” to get started. If your device doesn’t support a full VPN client, NordVPN’s support section contains some pretty extensive documentation on how to get your VPN working.
Streaming
We’re pretty happy with how NordVPN performs as a streaming VPN, both in terms of accessing content and speed performance. We take each provider through an extensive test of streaming platforms to see which ones are available while the VPN is active.
In NordVPN’s case, we award full marks. Watching streams through Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ worked perfectly. We didn’t notice any difference in terms of buffering, which we can also say is true of our tests for regional streaming providers like BBC iPlayer, ITV, Channel 4, 9Now and 10Play.
NordVPN also performed perfectly in our most recent speed tests on a 1 Gbps connection, hitting speeds of 950 Mbps+ using the NordLynx VPN protocol. We don’t expect you’ll run into any issues while streaming with NordVPN in Australia.
Privacy & Security
The first thing we’re looking for when we gauge whether a VPN is fit for service is a no-logs policy. Without one, your internet data could be harvested by your VPN company and sold on to marketers or requested by law enforcement. So, the fact that NordVPN has passed multiple third party audits (most recently by Deloitte Lithuania) indicating that its no-logs policy is legitimate.
There’s some powerful security functionality under the hood, too. NordVPN’s anti-virus engine, Threat Protection Pro, is built directly into the VPN client and automatically scans URLs and files for malware. In our own tests, we found that Threat Protection Pro blocked 79% of the 100 malware URLs we threw at it, as well as identifying 87% of phishing sites, too. However, to get access to Threat Protection Pro you'll need to have a NordVPN Plus subscription.
The best free Australia VPN
Proton VPN might be well-known as a privacy-first VPN service, but it’s also great for traveling. It’s about as fast as NordVPN and offers a comparable number of locations worldwide, including servers in Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Melbourne.
If there’s anything that’ll attract you to Proton VPN over NordVPN, it’s probably the extensive privacy credentials. Proton VPN is brought to you by the minds behind Proton Mail and benefits from the same privacy protections afforded to it by the Swiss authorities.
Read more about Proton VPN ▼
Ease of Use
All of Proton VPN’s applications feature clean, modern interfaces that present comprehensive information about the VPN connection. That said, the desktop app can be a little overwhelming for newbies compared to ExpressVPN.
While you might be content to hit the smart-connection button and dismiss the app entirely, there are a bunch of specialist servers hidden away in the location selector bar if you want a P2P enabled connection or if you’re trying to set up a chain of servers.
Proton VPN makes a lot of this setup easier with a profiles tab, which allows you to save your configuration to your client and load it as necessary. It’s pretty handy if you want to swap to streaming-enabled servers on a whim, or load up a low-latency profile for a gaming session.
Streaming
When it comes to streaming, there’s not a lot in it between NordVPN and Proton VPN (or Surfshark, for that matter). They all provide fantastic speeds, having maxed out our 1 Gbps testing line at 950+ Mbps download each (using WireGuard).
Proton VPN also performed just as well as NordVPN in our streaming tests, as we were able to access Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, and all the usual regional providers, as well as popular Australian streams like 9Now and 10Play.
Privacy & Security
We had high expectations for Proton VPN’s privacy practices – and it didn’t disappoint. The VPN has gone through several rounds of auditing to ensure its no-logs policy is legitimate. In fact, Proton VPN’s no-logs policy was tested in 2019 when the Swiss courts approved a request by a foreign country for access to a customer’s IP logs. However, Proton VPN had no data to turn over.
It’s hard to imagine how much more secure Proton VPN’s multi-hop implementation could be. It only offers three intermediary hops for “Secure Core”, which is its version of multi-hop. However, there’s a good reason for this. Each network cluster that makes up Secure Core is housed in a hardened server farm. For example, Proton VPN’s Iceland core is hosted in a former military base. These servers are also owned directly by Proton VPN and run on physical hardware instead of virtual servers.
Essentially, Proton picked several locations it could guarantee the security of and focused on making them even more secure, instead of offering multi-hop locations all over the planet. If you’re deeply concerned about the endpoint server you’re using being compromised, it’s a trade-off you’re probably willing to make.
The fastest Australia VPN
Surfshark is our favorite cheap VPN, beating out NordVPN and ExpressVPN when it comes to price. Still, it's just as powerful in practically every aspect.
The provider offers unlimited simultaneous connections, too, which is great if you’ve got a family’s worth of devices you’re all trying to protect during a trip to Australia. Plus, Surfshark impresses with strong Australian server coverage across Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, and Brisbane.
Read more about Surfshark ▼
Ease of Use
Surfshark’s UI isn’t the fanciest thing in the world. Once you’ve logged in and provided your 2FA code, you’re presented with a connection box showing some stats and a large list of locations to choose from.
All of the real options are hidden off to the side, which helps keep the primary VPN options you’ll mainly be using as the main focus. If you check into them, you’ll find Surfshark has a bunch of interesting features, from an anti-virus tool to the Alternative ID suite, which creates anonymized login credentials you can use to improve your privacy while signing up for new accounts.
Streaming
Our streaming tests show that Surfshark handles both Australian and international content platforms with minimal issues.
We had a suspicion that Nexus, Surfshark’s IP rotation technology, may introduce some buffering issues while streaming, but in practice, we didn't notice anything unusual.
Instead, we were able to access Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, and the rest of our test streams with absolutely no problem. This is thanks to Surfshark's awesome performance, which puts it squarely at the top of our fastest VPN rankings, coming in hot at over 950+ Mbps (using WireGuard).
Privacy & Security
Although you might expect less out of Surfshark, considering how cheap its plans are, there are a bunch of privacy features that you’d be hard pressed to find from other providers.
Surfshark allows you to generate your own made-up identity if you don’t trust the website you’re signing up for. There’s also a private search engine with no ads or user tracking. Surfshark also comes with deep-web identity tracking, alerting you if your personal details have been leaked.
The privacy tools are useful, but you’re just as interested in how private the core VPN is, well, Surfshark has a no-logs policy backed by RAM-only servers and multiple third-party audits. Your data encryption is all handled by AES-256 encryption, and we haven’t identified any IP or DNS leaks when testing the VPN for ourselves.
The best beginner Australia VPN
ExpressVPN is very much a premium VPN, so the question is not whether ExpressVPN is up to scratch: it’s whether it’s worth paying for.
In terms of Australian servers, we believe that NordVPN, Proton VPN, and Surfshark all offer roughly the same experience as ExpressVPN. However, they’re all either better value for money or have stronger privacy features.
That’s not to say there aren’t upsides to ExpressVPN. It’s built to work particularly well on mobile devices, and obfuscation technology is built into the heart of the client, meaning it’ll work well for travel if you’re heading from Australia to somewhere with harsher VPN laws.
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Ease of Use
If there’s one area where ExpressVPN leaves the competition in the dust, it’s in user design. It’s simple to log in with an authentication code you copy from ExpressVPN’s user dashboard, then once you’re in, you just hit “Connect” and ExpressVPN takes care of the rest.
No need to fiddle around with protocol settings, ExpressVPN is made for you to fire and forget. The only other option you’ll find on the main page is a location dropdown box, which brings you to a cleanly laid out list of popular and recent locations to choose from, alongside a search bar. Simply put, it's the best beginner VPN on the market.
Streaming
ExpressVPN usually performs pretty well in our streaming tests, and this time was no exception. There’s only one area where ExpressVPN underperforms even slightly compared to our top three – and that's in our speed tests.
We’ve tested all of our providers on a 1 Gbps connection to see how their download speeds compare. While NordVPN, Surfshark, and Proton VPN all posted speeds in excess of 950 Mbps, ExpressVPN lagged slightly behind at 898 Mbps, using the Lightway protocol. It’s not a particularly large difference, however, and it certainly didn’t become noticeable while streaming 4K content on Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Disney+.
Privacy & Security
ExpressVPN is hosted in the British Virgin Islands, which is known for its strong personal data privacy laws. It’s a good start, but ExpressVPN isn’t content with just relying on external laws.
It has commissioned 22 separate audits of its privacy policy and the quality of its code since 2018, thoroughly demonstrating that its no-logs policy isn’t just marketing material.
The VPN uses AES-256 or ChaCha20 encryption through the proprietary LightWay protocol, depending on your preference, but don’t worry: both encryption schemes are considered highly secure. ExpressVPN has also rolled out post-quantum encryption on its client apps, providing protection against any future quantum-based decryption attacks on stored data.
The best advanced Australia VPN
Private Internet Access (PIA) is another provider that’s positioned on the budget end of the spectrum. It’s not quite as powerful as the rest of the VPNs we’ve recommended, with only 91 locations on its server list, but you’ve still got five Australian servers to choose from. PIA has also been tested in a way few VPN providers experience: in a court of law.
Read more about PIA ▼
Ease of Use
PIA’s client looks pretty simple at first glance. It’s barely more complex than ExpressVPN’s UI, offering you an extra reminder of your IP and your VPN IP below the location selector.
Extend the client, however, and you’ll see a whole world of extra options and graphs. Customizing PIA isn’t for the faint of heart, but it’ll satisfy power users who want complete control over the way their VPN looks and behaves.
The actual options menu is buried inside a link from the dashboard, but it’s a far more comprehensible affair. Each option is affixed with a hint that tells you what it controls, which is nice if you’re not familiar with tools like split tunnelling or multi-hop.
Streaming
As long as you can find the server you want from PIA’s smaller location list, streaming on PIA isn’t fundamentally different from any of the other providers on our list. Well, there’s one caveat to this. PIA performed significantly worse than the other providers on our speed tests, clocking in speeds of only 436 Mbps on WireGuard and 149 Mbps on OpenVPN.
While you’re only likely to need around 30 Mbps to comfortably stream 4K content, PIA might slow you down if you’re already on a particularly slow connection, like satellite internet.
Privacy & Security
PIA has had its no-logs policies audited multiple times, most recently by Deloitte Romania. PIA's privacy protections have been put to the test twice in court. In both cases, the company was asked by the US Government to turn over any data related to the defendant in an ongoing case. Both times, PIA successfully demonstrated that it maintains no user activity records. Clearly, the RAM-only servers must be pretty effective.
PIA gets the basics right, too. Your internet traffic is secured by AES-256 encryption on OpenVPN, or ChaCha20 on WireGuard. There’s a DNS-based filter available for known malicious URLs, but it’s not quite as effective as the dedicated anti-malware solutions NordVPN and Surfshark use in their VPN clients.
FAQs
What is the best VPN for Australia?
NordVPN is the best VPN for Australia, although it’s a close call between NordVPN, Surfshark and Proton VPN. Overall, we think that NordVPN’s combination of speed, security features, and value for money makes it the best VPN out of all the providers on our list. Plenty of international servers make it an ideal choice while travelling too, whether you’re going to Australia or heading abroad.
Do I need a VPN in Australia?
While you don’t necessarily need a VPN in Australia, it’s a good idea if you’re concerned about your data privacy. Australia has extensive data retention requirements and actively participates in international intelligence sharing programs. Local internet service providers must store detailed user activity information for extended periods and provide it to authorities upon request. Using a VPN keeps your internet traffic encrypted, so it can’t be read by a third party, like your ISP, and attributed back to your device.
How do I get an Australia IP?
Getting an Australian IP address requires subscribing to a VPN service that operates servers within Australia. You will need to download your chosen VPN's application, log in with your account credentials, and then select an Australian server location from the available options. You’re most likely to get an IP in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide, but specialist proxy providers may be able to sell you direct access to IPs in other cities. However, proxies won’t offer you the same level of protection for your internet traffic as a VPN.
