Taking cue from its neighbour to the south, Canada has become a country that relies upon extensive surveillance of its citizens. While this may be necessary in order to cut down on illegal activity taking place and/or coordinated online, it means that law-abiding citizens have been forced to forfeit much of their privacy.
The following are our current top picks for Canadians looking to regain online privacy, through use of a VPN service. These options also boast the ability to unlock streaming services that filter content based on location (Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, etc.)
We’ll get into more detail on each VPN provider, but here’s our summary list of the best VPNs for Canadian residents:
- Express VPN – One of the top brands in the VPN space, a solid choice for privacy & video streaming.
- Proton VPN – Over 1700 servers to access guarantees fast streaming capabilities.
- Surfshark – Top of the line security and privacy, with unlimited connections.
- NordVPN – Our #1 choice for streaming video. Extremely fast speeds, also offers a 30 day money-back guarantee.
- CyberGhost VPN – A 45 day money-back guarantee is one of the best in the industry.
- PureVPN – Vast Selection, over 6500 IPs, spanning 78 countries.
- Atlas VPN – Unlimited connections, proven to work to stream via most networks including Netflix & Amazon Prime.
- PrivateVPN – Prioritizes security and privacy on a budget.
- PrivadoVPN – A recommended offering with a list of satisfied clients.
- IPVanish – Great for users who are searching for a VPN, Anti-Virus, and Anti-Malware in one package
What Makes the Best Canadian VPN?
Of these, ExpressVPN is our top choice for Canadians. To be fair, there is not a lot separating the top few options on this list. Regardless of your choice, VPN providers operating in Canada typically only offer servers in three city centres – Montréal, Toronto, and Vancouver. What allows ExpressVPN to rise above the others, is the addition of a second server location in Toronto.
Beyond server access, ExpressVPN excels where a top-tier service should. This means circumventing geo-blocks to access streaming content, robust security practices, and a third-party audited no-logging policy.
Below is our list of the top 10 VPNs:
For over a decade now, ExpressVPN has been building out and perfecting its product. Over this time, it has managed to cultivate a robust feature-set, making it one of the most well-rounded offerings of its kind. As such, ExpressVPN remains a solid choice for those prioritize privacy and flexibility – be it power-users, gamers, and everything in between.
Those that opt to utilize ExpressVPN will benefit from an extremely robust network comprised of over 3000 servers, which span across an impressive 94 countries – meaning regardless of where you reside in the world, access to a fast and trustworthy server should never be an issue.
Despite the ability for a VPN to provide safety and privacy online, streaming services have done their best to block the use of such products, as they may allow for users to bypass geographical restrictions placed on content. By providing access to such a deep pool of servers, users can rest assured however that ExpressVPN will work with most streaming services, allowing for users to maintain their privacy, while still enjoying costly streaming subscriptions. ExpressVPN indicates that it supports the following, and more.
- Netflix
- BBC iPlayer
- Disney Plus
- Amazon Prime
- Hulu
- Kodi
Read our Express VPN Review or Visit Express VPN
When evaluating what Proton VPN has to offer, there is a clear theme throughout its offering – your data is yours, and yours alone. By continually building out its platform, Proton VPN has become a well-rounded service boasting crucial privacy tools, and speed to go with it.
Without a broad reach among operating systems, even the most impressive VPN service will struggle to gain a foothold in what is an increasingly competitive market. With this in mind, Proton VPN has worked to extend its reach, offering support for the following.
- Android
- iOS
- Windows
- macOS
- Linux
- Chromebook
- Android TV
In addition to offering support on a wide array of operating systems, Proton VPN is particularly accessible compared to many of its competitors as it offers both a paid and free variant of its service. In doing so, it is no doubt an appealing offering for those new to VPN’s, and just looking to experiment with what one can offer.
At the end of the day though, free is free – meaning unless you decide to purchase its full service, one should expect a pared down feature-set and lower performance.
For its free offering, Proton VPN allows for a single connection from a crop of over 100 servers from the United States, Netherlands, and Japan. In addition to a smaller grouping of servers, its free offering also restricts speeds to what Proton VPN calls ‘medium’.
Those interested in utilizing a VPN while traveling to circumvent geographical restrictions on streaming services, rest assured that Proton VPN is a solid choice. The company indicates that it supports all of the major services (Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+).
Read our Proton VPN Review or Visit Proton VPN
Surfshark has quickly become one of the most popular VPN services on offer today through its comprehensive and slick platform.
By offering a full suite of privacy oriented features via an easy-to-use interface, Surfshark should be considered not only by power-users, but the more casual ones just looking to stream on the go as well.
Beyond its wide reach across operating systems, Surfshark excels in offering a robust and expansive server network. Spanning 95 countries, this network is comprised of over 3200 RAM only servers – and growing.
In addition to opening the gates to streaming services across a wide array of operating systems, Surfshark supports both TOR over VPN, and torrenting.
While each of the above points are definite positives, there are various other services which offer the same. Where Surfshark sets itself apart with its accessibility is through its decision to allow unlimited connections. As other top competitors limit users to running between 5-10 instances of their VPN services across your devices, Surfshark imposes no limit at all. Meaning you can simultaneously use the services across ALL of your connected devices, no matter how tech-happy you are.
Read our Surfshark Review or Visit Surfshark
If you ask the average person to list off a few VPN services they have heard of, NordVPN will almost always make the cut – and for good reason. Over the past few years NordVPN has built out its platform to include all the features anyone could want from a top-tier service. While you will pay for this flexibility, NordVPN can justify it with what it has to offer.
It’s an excellent options for streaming Amazon Prime.
Right off the bat, NordVPN shines when it comes to accessibility as it boasts that its users have access to the worlds largest server network. Totaling over 5500 from across nearly 60 countries, users will never have issues finding an appropriate connection point for their needs.
From an accessibility standpoint, the only area where NordVPN falls behind competitors are the amount of simultaneous connections it allows. While competitors like AtlasVPN and Surf Shark offer an unlimited amount, NordVPN comes in at a lesser but still respectable 6.
Beyond servers and the amount of simultaneously supported devices, NordVPN is one of the more flexible services on offer.
Read our Nord VPN Review or visit Nord VPN.
Over the course of a decade, CyberGhost VPN has maintained a strong presence in the sector by constantly building out its service. Today, this service is one of the fastest fully featured offering available. Combined with strong privacy fundamentals, CyberGhost VPN instantly enters the argument for best VPN.
From an accessibility standpoint, CyberGhost VPN is one of the best around. Not only does it offer a 45-money back guarantee on its subscriptions, it offers a free trial of its full-featured platform, making the platform quite appealing to the VPN curious.
For those that already know they want/need such a service, CyberGhost VPN also excels in the number of operating systems which it supports.
After connected to CyberGhost VPN through one of its many supported platforms, users can expect access to one of the largest server networks on offer. With over 8000 options and growing, spanning over 100 countries, access to a reliable server in your region of choice should never be an issue.
With regards to streaming platforms, CyberGhost boasts that it has the ability remove/unblock and geo-based restrictions limiting users access to certain content. This ability extends to all the major streaming services on the market today.
Read our CyberGhost VPN Review or Visit CyberGhost VPN.
PureVPN hits it out of the park when it comes to accessibility, supporting all of the major operating systems(windows, max, iOS, android, etc.) as well as a various browser extensions. A few examples of these extensions include,
On the server front, PureVPN continues to impress with a network comprised of over 6500, spanning 78 countries. Among these are servers dedicated for specific purposes, in order to provide the best performance possible for the task required (i.e. Streaming, P2P file sharing). PureVPN notes that its entire network is comprised of private servers.
In addition to an expansive network, available across a bevy of operating systems, PureVPN accounts benefit from,
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 10 simultaneous connections
- Unlimited devices
Read our PureVPN Review or Visit PureVPN
Atlas VPN may not be the biggest name in the sector, but it nails a few key fundamentals which make it a compelling offering for the everyday user.
It’s modest server network is still large enough to serve the needs of most, while boasting fast speeds and competitive costs.
Moving on to its subscription service, and users benefit from high levels of flexibility.
More impressive is that fact that Atlas VPN allows for its service to be run simultaneously on an unlimited number of devices.
On the streaming front, Atlas VPN performs well, providing the ability to unblock all the major services, including Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+. This feature, which was once hit-and-miss among VPN platforms, is now must have for any reputable VPN.
Regardless of where you are situated, or where you want to route your connection, Atlas VPN’s server network should perform well. While smaller than the big names in the sector, it is still plenty robust to serve the needs of the average user, boasting over 750 spanning 40 countries.
Read our Atlas VPN Review or Visit Atlas VPN
PrivateVPN is an increasingly popular service, built atop a foundation of strong privacy and security features. In addition to giving its users peace-of-mind, PrivateVPN boasts the ability to circumvent geographical and performance based ISP restrictions.
While its crop of servers (>200) and supported countries (63), may seem modest when compared to offerings such as ExpressVPN, this should not be an issue. With hundreds of servers accessible at anytime, users should never have problems finding a fast connection point in their region of choice.
One area where PrivateVPN appears to be working on expanding is its ability to circumvent geographical ISP restrictions surrounding streaming services. The company has released a series of tutorials on how to take advantage of this capability. With this in mind, PrivateVPN is a solid option for users looking to access the following services while travelling in unsupported regions.
- Hulu
- DStv
- BBC iPlayer
- Paramount+
- HBO Max
- Disney Plus
- Amazon Prime Video
Read our PrivateVPN Review or Visit PrivateVPN
While PrivadoVPN may not be the fastest around, or boast the largest server network, it offers concerning users access to all the key features which make up a quality VPN service.
Beyond its reach across operating systems, PrivadoVPN boasts a modest but growing server network. While it does not indicate an exact number, PrivadoVPN states that its network spans 44 countries, with hundreds of servers in total.
An area where PrivadoVPN does shine, is its ability to unblock streaming platforms subject to geo-based restrictions. This means that regardless of where you are travelling, you should have no issues finding a server which will allow continued access to your favourite content.
An area where PrivadoVPN has the potential to shine is on the privacy front. To be a serious contender here, a VPN service must not only have a good track record showing no data breaches, but simultaneously boast a no-logs policy (with accompanying audit) while operating in a country boasting strong privacy/data retention laws. PrivadoVPN passes on all accounts – but only just.
The company states that it is, “…a no-log VPN based in Switzerland, which means that we don’t track any of your online activity and your account is protected by the world’s best privacy laws.” While the company may not log any data, it does collect basic information such as which devices are being used to connect to its service, emails, etc.
Read our PrivadoVPN Review or Visit PrivadoVPN
IPVanish is a VPN service provider based out of the United States. The company has been operating for many years at this point, slowly expanding its services to include a bevy of security and privacy focused capabilities.
With its included VIPRE anti-virus software, IPVanish is a good option for users looking to streamline multiple subscriptions in to one.
From an accessibility standpoint, IPVanish holds up well. Although it doesn’t have the most expansive network of servers or support on every operating system, it hits enough key requirements that the vast majority of users will never have an issue.
As it stands, IPVanish states that it utilizes a network comprised of over 2000 servers, spanning across 75 different locations. This is somewhere in the middle of the pack when compared to other VPN offerings.
An area where IPVanish does excel, is the amount of simultaneous connections which it allows per account – unlimited. While the industry standard is typically 4-6, there are a few options around that offer unlimited connection, with IPVanish being one of them.
For users most interested in streaming and/or torrenting, IPVanish touts that it will not only remove geo-blocks, but that it allows P2P sharing over its network.
Read our IPVanish Review or visit IPVanish
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