The best VPN for Thailand in 2026 – Tried and Tested
We’ve tried out a lot of different VPNs during our time in Thailand and we’ve found that NordVPN is the best overall in speed, reliability, ease of use, and price.
When you’re in Thailand, you’re going to be on the lookout for possible scams and dangers. You’ll hold your bag safely inside the tuk-tuk, and be aware of pickpockets in the markets.
Your online accounts, passwords and financial information deserve attention while travelling. A VPN isn't a complete security solution or a substitute for checking that a website is genuine and uses HTTPS.
Below we explain where a VPN may be useful, which one we use, the top features, and one small drawback. We also have a free-VPN recommendation if you’re on a tight budget.
Why use a VPN in Thailand?
There are four main reasons to use a VPN in Thailand.
- 1. Security – An encrypted VPN tunnel can protect traffic between your device and the VPN server, not against every threat to your accounts.
- 2. Privacy – Hide some network activity from the local network, but don't expect to become anonymous or unidentifiable.
- 3. Access – Many geo-restricted websites just don’t work in Thailand, including most ummmmm…. “adult” websites.
- 4. Savings – You can often book flights cheaper by “being” in a different country.
- 5. Content – By changing your country when using sites like Netflix, you can access shows and movies not available in your current location.
This is the screen you’ll see on any blocked website in Thailand if you don’t use a VPN
A strong WiFi password at home is only one part of protecting your accounts and devices. I don’t usually use a VPN at home unless I need to be browsing from another country to get around geo-restricted websites and content, but I always have my VPN active on any public WiFi. That's my habit, not a guarantee: HTTPS protects traffic to a website, but scammers can use HTTPS too.
You’re probably going to be spending a fair amount of time on public WiFi networks while you’re in Thailand, in hotels, coffee shops, restaurants, coworking spaces etc. For bookings and banking, check the website, keep your devices updated and secure your accounts; don't rely on a VPN alone.
I’d rather not have all of the things I do kept and monitored, especially by a government that is as technically inept as the one here. But a VPN isn't an invisibility cloak: you're still trusting the VPN provider.
How it works
VPN stands for virtual private network. Think of it as an encrypted tunnel between your device and the VPN server, not all the way to every website. Sites generally see the VPN server’s IP address for traffic sent through it, but logins and other identifying information can still give you away.
In a single click, you can change your location to Singapore, to Canada, to Sweden to pretty much anywhere… Honestly, I secretly feel a little bit like a badass secret agent hacker every time I do this. The protection applies to traffic sent through the VPN tunnel; settings such as split tunnelling can leave some traffic outside it. It’s fairly complex so if you’re confused by all of this, the video below explains it pretty well:
NordVPN in Thailand
We have tried a lot of different VPNs in Thailand including NordVPN, TunnelBear, CyberGhost, IPVanish, PureVPN, TOR Guard, and Hide My Ass. Most of them work pretty well, none of them are perfect, but one is a bit better than the rest. Beyond that though, NordVPN just stands out above the crowd.
Nord is simple to set up on your laptop and phone. It’s also the most reliable VPN for Netflix in Thailand, and for accessing other streaming services like Amazon Video, BBC iPlayer, and more. It’s also priced very competitively and depending on the sales that are going on, it’s either the cheapest of the good options or very close to it.
NordVPN pricing varies depending on the plan length. Signing up for a longer plan (1-2 years) usually gets you the best deal — check their website for current pricing. Again, VPNs are actually useful and important to use not only in Thailand and around Southeast Asia, but in your home country as well. They also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied.
If you’re sold on using a VPN but don’t want to shell out the cash just yet, scroll down to see our pick for the best free VPN for Thailand.
You can scroll around this map and jump from country to country, like a badass ninja hacker
Best for streaming in Thailand
As we mentioned, we have found that NordVPN is the most reliable VPN for streaming in Thailand and it can get you access not only to Netflix, but to Max (HBO), Pandora, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, and Amazon Prime. These sites do not like VPNs and do their best to block them. It’s a bit of a cat-and-mouse game but Nord seems to play it better than most of the competition. You will occasionally find Netflix blocked when using Nord, but you can solve this quickly by just switching servers. I’ve never had to change more than once to find one that works. One of the best parts about this is that you can get access to different movies and shows in different countries. I love watching the BBC Planet Earth and Blue Planet series but they’re not available on Netflix in Thailand. When I VPN over to Singapore though, boom, I’m in nature documentary nerd heaven.
Other NordVPN features
- Works on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android. Also has browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge
- P2P-friendly… that means you can download torrents over your encrypted connection
- Paying with Bitcoin doesn't guarantee anonymity.
- Military-grade AES-256-CBC encryption
- Check NordVPN's privacy policy for data collection and legal-request terms, not just its no-logs marketing.
- Over 6,400 servers in 111 countries
- Great customer support
- You can often book flights cheaper by changing your location to other countries. I once saved 60 Euros on a Norwegian Air flight by VPN-ing into Oslo
- Most recommended VPN on the market. Literally everyone recommends NordVPN as either their top pick or one of the best
Recommended by
The downsides
All VPNs will work at least somewhat slower than your unsecured connection. If you have a good connection to begin with and you’re using a good VPN, you shouldn’t notice the difference. On an already slow connection though, you can definitely see some lag. Different servers will have different speeds so sometimes changing to another one can fix this. Generally, the closer you are to the server, the faster your connection will be. This means that when you’re in Thailand, you should probably connect to a server in Thailand, although we sometimes find that Singapore is faster.
Pro tip: Anytime you need to check your internet connection speed with or without a VPN, fast.com is the best place to do so.
There are also some websites that really try hard to block traffic from VPNs. The streaming sites we mentioned earlier are big on this, as is Amazon. (We don’t recommend shopping on Amazon in Thailand due to pricey shipping and import tax.) A few other random sites also present issues; I get problems with the Bank of America website, but I can always find a different server that works for it. On the other hand, certain sites won’t work at all without the VPN. My personal information has been compromised in a few different hacks (common in the US) so I use the site Credit Karma to make sure nobody is opening credit cards in my name. I can’t access that site without a VPN connection to the US.
Tip for Americans: I recommend all Americans monitor their credit, especially while abroad since our government doesn’t seem to care that these companies don’t protect our data. Credit Karma works well and is free. Your credit card may also offer this as a benefit. Check out our full guide to financial resources for Americans living and traveling abroad.
The best free VPN to use in Thailand
Our top pick NordVPN does not have a free plan, but many other companies do offer one. Check the particular free plan's limits and privacy policy before choosing it; free is not the same as complete protection.
We like hide.me as our free pick. Their free plan gets you up to 10GB of data each month, access to servers in five different countries, and decent enough speeds that you can use it periodically without wanting to rip your hair out. You definitely won’t be able to stream video using this. Also, 2GB is enough to do a lot of browsing, but we’ve found that when using a free plan the speeds are slow enough that you eventually just switch it off out of frustration. Again, it’s fine to use periodically but it will drive you crazy in the longterm.
Get a VPN, even if you don’t want to pay for one
Bottom line, a VPN is one tool, not all you need for banking or bookings. Check the site is genuine and uses HTTPS, keep devices updated and use strong passwords and two-factor authentication where available.
You can get our top choice NordVPN here.
You can find our free pick hide.me here.