How many streaming platforms are you subscribed to? You've probably signed up for whichever ones offer your favorite TV shows and movies. Wouldn't it be great if there was a legal way to access everything a service like Amazon Prime Video offered? There is, thanks to VPNs.
VPNs aren't just for staying anonymous online, they also let you circumvent annoying geo-blocking that prevents you from accessing foreign content on Amazon Prime Video. Of course, streaming services do everything they can to stop this from happening since they've paid handsomely to distribute that content to specific markets.
Good VPNs should help bypass these restrictions and change your virtual location. To evaluate this more closely, we checked which of our sample's providers can unlock US Amazon Prime Video content around the world.
Best VPN for Amazon Prime Video: Our TOP 5
Below, we'll introduce you to our sample's Top 5 VPNs for Amazon Prime Video content:
NordVPN
NordVPN offers a nearly perfect VPN experience: The winner of our evaluation excels in terms of performance, user-friendliness, and security, offering everything at an unbeatable price. And the service gets better with every update: When we last checked in a few years ago, it lacked split tunneling, however, this has since been added.
The provider also raced to first in our speed test. This is important for streaming, since the faster your connection, the less buffering and lag you'll have to contend with. During testing, we had no trouble accessing foreign Amazon Prime Video content.
NordVPN doesn't only unlock Amazon: It's also able to serve up Netflix, Disney+, and BBC iPlayer.
Access to Amazon Prime Video and other streaming content
EXPERTE.com VPN winner
Fastest service in our speed test
Limited protocol options
ExpressVPN
Hot on NordVPN's heels you'll find ExpressVPN. To see just how little separated the two, be sure to take a look at our head-to-head comparison. ExpressVPN's greatest weakness didn't have anything to do with its performance or features: It's simply more expensive than NordVPN.
Should you be ready to pay up, you'll get one of the best VPNs on the market. It offers high speeds, loads of features, and the best browser extension from our sample. The service does great in terms of streaming too, as ExpressVPN allowed us to access foreign Amazon Prime Video and other content without missing a beat.
Access to foreign content on Amazon Prime Video and other streaming platforms
Excellent performance
Intuitive app
Pricey
Surfshark
Surfshark, our price-performance winner is one of the most affordable VPNs on the market. Even though it's just a few years old, the service can go head-to-head with the top providers, thanks to its impressive second place in our speed test behind NordVPN.
Its intuitive applications come loaded with features and in terms of streaming, Surfshark does everything right. We were able to access foreign content on Amazon Prime Video, otherwise unavailable in our region, without any difficulties. In addition to Amazon Prime Video, Surfshark also allowed us to access other streaming platforms.
Access to Amazon Prime Video and other streaming platform content
EXPERTE.com Price-Performance pick
Top speeds
Server network is still growing
ProtonVPN
In our eyes, ProtonVPN offers the best free VPN since it offers unlimited data and good speeds at no cost. If you're hoping to be able to access Amazon Prime Video content from abroad for free, we're sorry to be the bearer of bad news: You won't. ProtonVPN only allows its paying "Premium" and "Visionary" subscribers to stream video content.
We were able to watch foreign content on Amazon Prime Video as well as other streaming platforms with its "Premium" version, however.
Access to Amazon Prime Video and other streaming platform content
User-friendly apps
Open-source software, validated by external security audits
Few direct support options
hide.me
hide.me is a solid VPN that performed well in our evaluation, achieving "good" or "very good" scores in every area we examined. We particularly liked its VPN client, which couldn't be easier to use while offering plenty of features and settings. Enthusiasts can create user-defined VPN tunnels, while beginners are able to anonymously surf and download.
The same applies to streaming: hide.me didn't prevent us from watching international content with Amazon Prime Video or other streaming platforms.
We did deduct a few points in terms of performance: During testing, there were some connection interruptions. These can negatively impact your streaming experience.
Enables access to Amazon Prime Video and other streaming platforms
User-friendly apps with lots of features
Good speeds
Fairly expensive monthly price
Occasional connection issues
Alternatives
The providers in our Top 5 weren't the only VPN services from our list that grant access to international Amazon Prime Video catalogs. For an overview of the other 10 providers, check out the list below:
How We Tested
We thoroughly tested all 27 VPNs from our sample, comparing their performance with one another across six different categories, five of which were scored. Below, we've summarized these aspects for you:
Installation and Features
A VPN client is your gateway to a VPN network and should be user-friendly. The VPN services that performed best in this area combine ease of use with a large number of features and settings. The number of supported operating systems and devices also played a role in scoring this category.
Server Network
The more, the better: When it comes to server networks, we look favorably upon services with as many servers spread as widely across the world as possible. Server numbers range from less than 100 up to 34,000, while we rated providers present in 60 or more countries as solid.
Performance
We constantly measure our sample using a 1 GB/s connection with a server in Frankfurt (Germany) as part of our VPN speed test. To augment this, we also tested each service for a day, to see how they were for surfing and streaming.
The table below shows which providers from our sample can unlock Amazon Prime Video content:
Provider | Prime Video USA | Provider | Prime Video USA |
---|---|---|---|
Avast VPN | − | Perfect Privacy | − |
Avira VPN | − | Private Internet Access | ✓ |
Cyberghost | ✓ | PrivateVPN | ✓ |
ExpressVPN | ✓ | ProtonVPN | ✓ |
hide.me | ✓ | PureVPN | − |
HideMyAss! | − | Surfshark | ✓ |
Hotspot Shield | ✓ | TorGuard | − |
IPVanish | − | TunnelBear | ✓ |
KeepSolid VPN Unlimited | ✓ | VyprVPN | ✓ |
Mullvad | − | Windscribe | ✓ |
NordVPN | ✓ | ZenMate | ✓ |
Security and Privacy
When it comes to privacy VPN providers like to promise the moon. We ignore their "No-Logs" promises or guarantees, preferring instead to read between the lines of their privacy policies and read their corporate histories. Another thing we check is external security audits. Finally, we perform VPN leak tests and review each service's encryption standards and VPN protocols.
Customer Support
Support is scored based on two components: direct support and static support. The first should be as responsive, fast, and technically competent as possible, preferably in the form of a live chat. For emails and support tickets, we like to receive responses within 24 hours. Static support should be full-text searchable, clearly arranged, and include guides and FAQs.
Conclusion
If you already take a lot of time selecting a film or series to watch, our advice might make your life harder. But, there's just no other way to watch content outside of what's available in your geographic region. The five services we've listed above are all solid choices for unlocking access to Amazon Prime Video content from abroad.
However, you should take care, since streaming services do as much as they can to prevent VPNs from allowing users to watch geo-blocked content. For this reason, availability can fluctuate, however, our Top 5 are known for their reliability. Comprehensive reviews for all 27 VPN services from our sample can be found in our extensive evaluation.
FAQs
Of the 27 providers in our sample, 15 were able to provide access to foreign Amazon Prime Video content. Most of the services that allow users to access Amazon Prime Video work with other streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney+ as well.
NordVPN reigned supreme in our comprehensive evaluation, offering an excellent all-around package and reliable streaming. Behind it, in second and third place came ExpressVPN and Surfshark, both of which provided access to foreign Amazon Prime Video content.
It isn't illegal, even if it clashes with Amazon's terms of use. The company notes that "you may not use any technology or technique to obscure or disguise your location." All the same, you don't have to worry about any legal consequences as we're not aware of cases of Amazon accounts being suspended or locked owing to VPN usage.
This depends on what films or TV shows you're looking for. Unfortunately, no comprehensive list showing what's available where exists. This might be part of Amazon's efforts to limit VPN usage with its Prime Video platform.