The Best VPN in China in 2024 | Top 10 Reviewed

Are you trying to find the best China VPN? Need to secure your privacy while you’re visiting China? Or you just trying to tune in to some of your favorite shows that are only on regional streaming services? Clearly, for any of these scenarios, getting an excellent VPN is a must. However, the Great Firewall of China is no joke. With so many options in the market, there’s bound to be a lot of misinformation and false advertising.

And that’s where we come in. We’ve reviewed and compared many VPNs for use in China in 2024 by looking at their security, uptime, speed, and affordability; we’ve put together a list of the top 10 VPNs in China. Keep reading to find out how providers like NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and Private Internet Access can help you bypass the Great Wall of China, access any content you want in China, and bolster your security against the surveillance of the Chinese government.

The Best VPN in China in 2024 | Quick Answer

With so many options to choose from, some of which are subpar products or even outright scams, how will you pick a good product? We’re here to make the process easier for you. Our research has determined that NordVPN is the best VPN available on the market right now, but here’s a quick breakdown of the market’s top VPNs:

1. NordVPN — Our Top Pick for the Best VPN in China
2. ExpressVPN — Popular VPN for Unblocking Content Worldwide
3. Ivacy VPN — Cheap + Fast China VPN with Full-Ownership of its Servers
4. Private Internet Access VPN — Security-Focused VPN With A No-Logs Claim Tested in Court
5. VyprVPN — Superb VPN for China That’s Resistant to Deep Packet Inspection
6. PrivateVPN — A Highly Privacy-Focused China VPN
7. VPN.AC — Top China VPN That’s Compatible With a Wide Range of Devices
8. Astrill — Highly Customizable China VPN for Extra Kill-Switch Protection
9. WindscribeVPN — Great China VPN for Keeping Malware Off Your Device
10. VPNArea — Popular Low-Cost Obfuscation VPN for China Users

The Best VPN in China in 2024 | In-Depth Reviews

To help you get better insight into what these VPNs offer, we’ve reviewed each of them in depth below. Let’s dive right in.

1. NordVPN — Our Top Pick for the Best VPN in China

NordVPN is first up on this list. Based in Panama, NordVPN is by far one of the best VPN services on the market, featuring very secure, reliable, and fast connections, an easy-to-use interface, and a good price point.

Essentially, the full package. NordVPN is available on Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and many, many more platforms, including browsers, TVs, and routers.

NordVPN’s most defining feature is its superior security protocols. It features all the standard VPN protocols, featuring IKEv2, OpenVPN, and NordVPN’s very own VPN protocol, NordLynx, which is built upon the WireGuard protocol.

WireGuard is the fastest of all standard VPN protocols but isn’t as secure as OpenVPN or IKEv2. However, with NordLynx’s extra security architecture, this isn’t a problem for NordVPN.

NordVPN also features a kill switch, which is a system that’ll immediately stop any data transfer if your VPN goes down or is otherwise breached. This ensures none of your data is leaked to any potential attackers or otherwise malicious entities.

Split tunneling, which is another feature that’s included, allows you to secure certain apps or connections while letting other applications, for example, games, go full throttle. A key feature for anyone who has anything to do with games or p2p connections.

NordVPN comes with access to over 5,000 servers. This is one of the highest server counts for a top-tier service, which makes NordVPN easy to recommend if you’re looking for global coverage.

NordVPN’s server locations are spread all over the globe. For China, there are servers that are quite close, such as Vietnam, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and many other South-East Asian locations.

Pricing

NordVPN offers 3 separate plan tiers, “Standard,” “Plus,” and “Complete.”  Here are the price ranges you’ll be looking at, with the lowest prices equating to the Standard plan and the highest to the Complete plan:

1. Monthly — From $11.99/month to $14.49/month
2. Annual — From $4.99/month to $7.49/month
3. Biennial — From $4.19/month to $6.69/month

Get complete peace of mind with NordVPN now, risk-free, with the lengthy 30-day money-back guarantee.

2. ExpressVPN — Popular VPN for Unblocking Content Worldwide

ExpressVPN is our runner-up in this category. Founded in 2009 and based in the British Virgin Islands, ExpressVPN is another excellent choice for a VPN in China, as well as just general use but for use in China.

Boasting incredible speed, security, and reliability, combined with their great server selection and custom-made Lightway VPN protocol, ExpressVPN is a top contender.

ExpressVPN is available on a wide variety of platforms, including Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS, Linux, various browsers, routers, TVs, and even game consoles.

ExpressVPN features many VPN protocols, including OpenVPN, IKEv2, and its own in-house protocol, Lightway. Lightway takes the speed and performance from other modern protocols like WireGuard and combines it with stronger privacy, TDP and UDP multi-compatibility, and obfuscation features.

ExpressVPN also comes with a lot of features that improve versatility and keep you safe. The kill switch works flawlessly, ensuring your privacy if your connection is compromised.

ExpressVPN has one of the biggest server banks of the providers on our list. ExpressVPN has over 2,000 servers found in every part of the planet. There’s a bunch near China, which makes ExpressVPN a strong choice for low-latency VPN connections from China.

ExpressVPN improves your ease of use with split-tunneling. This feature lets you choose which apps you want to have covered under your VPN connection while letting others remain on your home connection.

This is great if you have specific apps that require you not to be under a VPN, such as gaming or work apps.

Finally, ExpressVPN has a no-logging policy, which is essential for use in China. This is thanks to their RAM-only servers, which ensures your internet history isn’t stored on disk anywhere in ExpressVPN’s servers.

Pricing

ExpressVPN offers only one plan tier priced as follows:

1. Monthly — $12.95 per month
2. 6 months — $9.99/month
3. Annual — $8.32 per month

ExpressVPN also features a 30-day money-back guarantee.

3. Ivacy VPN — Cheap Fast China VPN with Full-Ownership of its Servers

If you’re looking for one of the safest VPN options in the market to access Chinese content, Ivacy is right up there. Ivacy has tons of servers in and around China, plus with features like Secure Download, 256-bit encryption, and a no-log policy, it’s almost impossible for an outsider, including the government, to pry and access your credentials or steal your data.

Another reason why Ivacy VPN is so much more secure than its counterparts is that it owns most of its servers. Unlike many well-known VPNs that rent servers, Ivacy has 100% ownership of all its servers, leaving no room for any third party to access your personal data.

Ivacy makes it easier for you to choose the right servers for your browsing session by dividing them into different categories. For example, if you choose the servers from the Smart Connect category, you’ll find regular servers that can automatically detect the location closest to your geographic location and connect accordingly.

Along with that, you can also choose dedicated IPs from 7 different countries, including China. Dedicated IPs are perfect for those who want a more stable browsing experience and are not too concerned with masking their IP addresses. 

Since you’ll be using the same IP for all websites, you’ll spend less time on CAPTCHAS trying to prove you’re not a robot. It’ll also be much faster, and you’ll have fewer chances of getting the IP blacklisted from certain websites.

Pricing

Ivacy VPN offers three different pricing options:

1. Monthly — $9.95 per month
2. Annual — $3.99/month
3. 5 years — $1.00 per month

You can also benefit from a 30-day money-back guarantee.

4. Private Internet Access VPN — Security-Focused VPN With a No-Logs Claim Tested in Court

Private Internet Access VPN is another one of our top picks. Based in the United States, Private Internet Access VPN is also at the top level in our metrics of security, speed, and reliability.

Private Internet Access has also opened up their source code for the PIA app, so you can check it’s safe for yourself. Plus, it’s available on many platforms, including Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS, Linux, many browsers, routers, and smart TVs.

Private Internet Access has a wide range of VPN protocols it supports, including IKEv2, OpenVPN, and WireGuard. Together, these protocols provide a winning combination of speed and security.

Private Internet Access also comes with advanced security features such as a kill switch, which will disconnect you from the internet the moment your VPN connection is compromised or interrupted, making sure your privacy stays intact.

It also comes with reliable automation tools like automatically connecting or disconnecting you from the VPN on specific networks, making Private Internet Access VPN one of the easiest VPNs to use daily.

This is invaluable for anyone looking to use a VPN in China, where the Chinese government monitors every single movement on the internet.

Besides this, Private Internet Access VPN also features split tunneling, which allows users to keep certain apps behind a VPN, should they desire to do any ping or lag-intensive activities on the side.

PIA is easily the largest provider when it comes to the server size. There are over 35,000+ RAM-only servers that PIA operates. This is far ahead of every other provider on our list, which means you’ll be able to change servers on a whim without worrying if one becomes blocked by the Great Firewall.

With so many servers in close proximity to China, including those in Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and many more, PIA is an excellent option for China.

Pricing

You can get Private Internet Access for as low as $2.03 per month, depending on the duration of your subscription.

1. Monthly — $11.95 per month
2. Annual — $3.33 per month
3. 3-year — $2.03 per month

On the whole, this is an incredible price point for a VPN, let alone one with features as rich as Private Internet Access. They also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee that you should take advantage of.

5. VyprVPN — Superb VPN for China That’s Resistant to Deep Packet Inspection

VyprVPN is next up on our list. This VPN provider is based in Switzerland. For anyone who wants to use a VPN in China, it’s certainly worthy of consideration. It’s available on Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS, and some routers and smart TVs.

VyprVPN supports every modern standard VPN protocol, including the likes of OpenVPN, IKEv2, and WireGuard. However, on top of these, VyprVPN also comes with its very own in-house VPN protocol, called the “Chameleon” protocol.

The Chameleon protocol provides a strong mix of speed, security, and reliability, with premium obfuscation as the cherry on top. Plus, VyprVPN also comes with some useful automation tools, which they call Public Wi-Fi protection.

This feature automatically connects you to VyprVPN whenever you access an unknown Wi-Fi network, making sure that your privacy is protected wherever you go.

VyprVPN, of course, includes a kill switch in its arsenal as well, which is vital in a surveillance state like China. And on top of all of this, there’s also split-tunneling functionality, albeit on limited platforms.

On a final note, VyprVPN boasts 700+ servers, making it a medium-sized VPN. With good local coverage options around China, such as Korea, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand. With all these things considered, we believe VyprVPN is worth your time.

Pricing

VyprVPN is available for as little as $5 per month. In a similar fashion to most VPN services, it comes with a single plan tier with two pricing options:

1. Monthly — $10 per month
2. Annual — $5 per month

That’s an incredible 50% discount if you opt for a yearly subscription. Unsure? VyprVPN also features a 30-day money-back guarantee.

6. PrivateVPN — A Highly Privacy-Focused China VPN

Last but not least is PrivateVPN — another relatively small VPN service based in Stockholm, Sweden. With the excellent showing they’ve provided in circumventing the Great Firewall of China, we believe PrivateVPN has earned a spot on our list.

PrivateVPN is available on Windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS platforms.

For its protocols, PrivateVPN supports OpenVPN and IKEv2.

Despite not supporting WireGuard, PrivateVPN’s speeds are quite fast. Being able to achieve their level of speed without the use of WireGuard — a protocol that sacrifices some level of security for more speed — is very impressive.

PrivateVPN, as you’d expect from any VPN provider at this level, does come with a kill switch feature. It’ll disconnect you from every network that your device is connected to whenever it detects an interruption in your VPN uptime.

This helps secure you from any third parties that are after your data, which is especially important when it comes to China. Plus, PrivateVPN also comes with very good obfuscation due to their in-house Stealth VPN protocol.

This kind of obfuscation makes it so that your traffic will look like SSL traffic from the outside and is what allows most VPNs to reliably circumvent surveillance from the Chinese government.

Pricing

PrivateVPN can be purchased for a mere $2 per month. Here are your subscription options:

1. Monthly — $9.90 per month
2. 3-month — $6 per month
3. 3-year — $2 per month

If you’d like to try PrivateVPN, you can do so risk-free for a full month with the guarantee.

7. VPN.AC — Top China VPN That’s Compatible With a Wide Range of Devices

VPN.AC is a VPN service based in Romania. It’s a relatively small-scale VPN provider compared to some of the other options. With that said, that doesn’t mean it’s lacking in features or reliability.

This VPN combines good security, great speeds, a good price point, and a lot of the features that we’re used to seeing on a VPN provider. VPN.AC is available on Windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS platforms.

VPN.AC supports every modern standard protocol, that’s to say, OpenVPN, IKEv2, and WireGuard. This gives it that coveted combination of security, speed, and reliability.

When their premium obfuscation technology is added into the equation, VPN.AC has become a very good choice for a VPN in China. As for VPN.AC’s features, we believe they’re more than adequate.

VPN.AC comes with a double-hop feature, which lets you connect to two VPN servers, giving you two layers of security. This procedure can also improve your connection speeds, given that with networking, a direct path isn’t always the fastest one.

Speaking of speed, VPN.AC allows you to go full throttle with any app you wish with its split-tunneling feature. This lets you pick which apps will be protected under the VPN, letting you adjust your preferences for things like gaming or p2p connections.

VPN.AC also comes with the all-important kill switch, which immediately disconnects you from every network the moment it detects that your VPN has stopped working or otherwise been compromised. An essential feature for anyone in China.

Pricing

You can get VPN.AC for as little as $3.75 per month. Like most services, VPN.AC offers only one plan tier:

1. Monthly — $9 per month
2. 3-Month — $8 per month
3. Annual — $4.8 per month
4. 2-Year — $3.75 per month

VPN.AC also features a 7-day money-back guarantee. This isn’t as generous as other providers on this list, but nevertheless, it’ll be enough time to test the VPN.

8. Astrill — Highly Customizable China VPN for Extra Kill-Switch Protection

Astrill is a VPN provider headquartered in the Seychelles islands. Featuring many premium features and an internally developed VPN protocol, Astrill VPN is, without a doubt, a contender for the head-of-the-pack position in the VPN market.

However, with premium features comes a premium price tag. Astrill VPN is available on MacOS, Windows, iOS, Linux, Android, and any router that offers OpenVPN.

Astrill VPN has a wider protocol selection than most VPN providers out there, with access to the standard options in OpenVPN, IKEv2, and WireGuard, combined with not just one but two in-house VPN protocols in OpenWeb, and StealthVPN.

These protocols, combined with their high-performance servers, make Astrill VPN a very attractive option. Astrill VPN, of course, also has the features that we’ve come to expect from most proper VPN providers, such as the kill switch.

Astrill VPN’s kill switch works flawlessly, severing every connection the instant your VPN connection is interrupted.

On top of a basic kill switch, however, Astrill VPN adds some extra functionality on the Windows platform, letting you set up the kill switch separately for any app you wish. This is great for p2p and gaming applications, as it would prevent interruptions.

Astrill VPN also comes with some extra features as add-ons. These include Private IPs in over 25 different countries, plus multi-hopping and extra-powerful servers.

Pricing

Here’s what Astrill VPN will cost you:

1. Monthly — $30 per month
2. Annual — $15 per month
3. 2-Year — $12.50 per month

Evidently, these are higher than others on this list, but a longer subscription certainly offers the opportunity for massive savings. The VIP add-on costs $10/month. You can also buy static IP addresses, which are available for $5/IP/month.

9. WindscribeVPN — Great China VPN for Keeping Malware Away From Your Device

Windscribe is a Canadian VPN provider with highly effective ad-blocking capabilities. Another relatively small-sized VPN provider, its custom obfuscation protocol and subscriptions should pique the interest of anyone looking for a VPN, especially in China.

Windscribe is available on MacOS, Windows, iOS, Android, and Linux platforms, as well as routers that run OpenVPN.

Windscribe supports the modern standard protocols we expect from most providers, including OpenVPN, IKEv2, and WireGuard. On top of the standard protocols, however, Windscribe comes with its own in-house “Stealth VPN” protocol.

Windscribe also includes a split-tunneling feature, ensuring that you can stay secure without compromising performance while continuing to game, stream, or transfer files over P2P.

This offers very strong obfuscation that makes bypassing the Great Firewall of China a breeze. Besides this, it also comes with a kill switch, a key feature that needs to be in every VPN by this point, especially for China or other countries where surveillance is high.

Windscibe also features a built-in IP, tracking, and ad blocker that it calls “R.O.B.E.R.T.” This feature is very customizable and can also be used to block any content that you don’t wish to see.

Pricing

Windscribe doesn’t follow a traditional subscription scheme; instead, there’s a customizable plan called “Build-a-plan,” where you pick your own features and price them up yourself. With that said, here’s the standard pricing:

1. Monthly — $9 per month
2. Annual — $5.75 per month

Windscribe can be used for free, but there’s a cap on how much data you can use, much like other top free VPNs. There are also only a few servers that you can connect to.

Ultimately, Windscribe’s free plan is good if you want to try it out, but for browsing in China, we suggest the paid version.

10. VPNArea — Popular Low-Cost Obfuscation VPN for China Users

VPNArea is a relatively small-sized VPN provider, but a great one nonetheless. Offering very advanced obfuscation and a great price point, it’s definitely worthy of consideration. VPNArea is available on Windows, MacOS, Android, and Linux devices.

The first thing to talk about when it comes to a VPN is, of course, the protocols. VPNArea uses OpenVPN, but it also supports IKEv2. VPNArea also offers strong obfuscation through the use of Stunnel.

What Stunnel does is it’ll mask your traffic to look like regular SSL traffic, allowing you to evade the watchful eye of the Chinese Government and get past the Great Firewall with ease. This also makes it especially good for P2P and torrent applications.

With P2P being enabled, allowed, and optimized on each one of their 130+ servers, you’re guaranteed super quick file transfers. VPNArea also comes with a built-in ad blocker, which works well in our experience.

On top of all of this, VPNArea also comes with Double VPN servers, which is a feature that connects you to one VPN and then routes your traffic through a second VPN server, giving you additional defense against hackers.

This makes tracking your movements on the internet much, much harder for spies, hackers, and thieves. It doesn’t necessarily compromise with speed either, even potentially speeding you up depending on the original route.

Combined with their cheap subscriber packages, which we’ll talk about in a minute, VPNArea is overall a great value product.

Pricing

VPNArea similarly only has a single tier of plans available:

1. Monthly — $9.90 per month
2. Annual — $4.13 per month
3. 2-year — $3.21 per month

The longer your plan, the cheaper the price tag. Unsure? VPNArea also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

How We Chose the Best VPN in China

There are a lot of different metrics out there to judge VPNs. We felt these were the most important for users in China:

1. Speed — What good can a VPN do even if it bypasses the Great Firewall of China but doesn’t muster up enough speed to load any web pages? Obviously, not much. We’ve tested the speeds of the VPNs on our list, whether that be for browsing the internet, streaming, or gaming.
2. Security — What security means in this context is the protocols, encryption, and additional features used to protect your privacy and identity from potential attackers or otherwise malicious entities. For the context of this article, the leading example for one of these entities would be the Chinese government.
3. Server locations — Since we’re strictly testing these VPNs for China, it makes sense that we’d care about servers close to China, or lack thereof. We checked that the VPNs in this list have servers in countries near China, such as Japan, Korea, or Singapore.
4. Kill Switch — The Chinese government doesn’t take kindly onto VPNs and will stop at nothing to fight against any VPN that doesn’t give them all their info. A kill switch will ensure the Chinese government will never have your personal information, which makes it a vital feature to have for a China VPN.
5. Reliability — We wanted to make sure that every VPN on this list manages to penetrate the Great Firewall of China repeatedly, without fail, most of the time. This is because we don’t want any flukes on our list.
6. Affordability — And, of course, budget. We wanted to ensure that you get the best bang for the buck for your purchases. No one wants to overpay for something, no matter what it is.

How to Set Up a VPN

To set up NordVPN on your Android device, first off, we need to open the Play Store. Here are the steps you need to take:

1. Step 1 — Enter NordVPN in the search bar and find the official NordVPN app and install it.
2. Step 2 — Once your installation is complete, launch the application.
3. Step 3 — In the main menu, click “SIGN UP” or “LOG IN.”
4. Step 4 — If you don’t have an account, sign up for one and choose a subscription plan.
5. Step 5 — Once you’re done, log in with your credentials on the app.

And that’s it. You’re now ready to make use of NordVPN’s super secure VPN servers. The easiest way to do this is just by pressing the “Quick Connect” button on the main page.

VPN FAQs