3 Best India VPNs (Free & Paid) to Get an Indian IP Address (2024)

What Is the Best India VPN in 2024?

After testing 65 apps, the best VPNs for connecting into India are:

1. Surfshark: Best India VPN Overall
2. ExpressVPN: Excellent VPN to Get an Indian IP Address
3. PrivadoVPN Free: Best Free India VPN

The best VPN for India in 2024 is Surfshark, with an overall India rating of 9.5/10. It has multiple servers in India, fast internet speeds, and it excels at unblocking Indian streaming sites.

Why Trust Us?

We’re fully independent and have been reviewing VPNs since 2016. Our ratings are based on our own testing results and are unaffected by financial incentives. Learn who we are and how we test VPNs.

Connecting to a VPN with servers in India is the best way to get an Indian IP address. You could also use a proxy server for India, but it won’t encrypt your connection — leaving your personal data exposed.

We’d recommend using one of our shortlisted VPNs for India, if you want an Indian IP address from a reliable and secure service.

In the video below we’ve demonstrated how easy it is to get an Indian IP address with a VPN:

How to get an Indian IP Address Using a VPN:

1. Subscribe to a VPN service with virtual India servers. We recommend using Surfshark to connect to India due to its large number of India servers, fast connection speeds, and robust encryption.
2. Connect to an Indian server location. Locate the server list in your VPN’s settings and select the India server.
3. Verify your new IP address. Open your preferred internet browser and use our IP checker tool to confirm your changed IP address and geolocation.

The vast majority of VPN services have removed their physical servers from India due to the country’s new data logging requirements, replacing them with virtual servers or removing the server location entirely.

Virtual VPN servers are servers that aren’t physically located in their advertised location, despite providing the correct IP address. In this case, it allows a VPN to still provide an Indian IP address, while removing its actual VPN server from India’s legal jurisdiction.

Physical VPN servers are ones that are physically located in their advertised location. If a VPN implemented this type of server in India, it could become subject to data logging.

As of writing, the only premium VPNs we review that still use physical servers in India are Windscribe, VyprVPN, HMA, and PrivateVPN.

There may also be some insecure, free VPN services with physical servers in India. This is much more difficult for us to verify as their customer support and provider website are usually more limited.

We’ve listed which popular VPN services have servers in India below:

You can use an Indian IP address to bypass geo-restrictions on online services, such as streaming sites, video games, and banking apps.

For the best balance of privacy and ease of use, we’d recommend using a VPN to get an Indian IP address, rather than a proxy server.

Below is a summary of content that’s exclusive to India on major streaming services, which can only be accessed with a premium India VPN:

The Indian government’s increased targeting of VPNs has made it potentially dangerous to connect to a VPN in India.

If you connect to a VPN server that is physically located in India, then it’s likely your browsing activity and personal data will be handed over to government officials.

There’s also untrustworthy free VPN services that have implemented servers in India to capitalize on the recent surge in demand for VPNs. These unsafe free VPNs can carry malware, sell your data to third-parties, or simply not work properly.

We’ve listed some of the most popular VPNs you should avoid using in India below:

TunnelBear

Despite providing servers in neighboring countries, TunnelBear blocks Indian residents from downloading its apps. It’s also fairly expensive for a middling VPN service.

SkyVPN

SkyVPN logs your IP address, can’t be used for streaming or torrenting, and doesn’t include basic VPN security features. It lists an India server in its apps, but the benefits of an Indian IP address are outweighed by the risks to your online privacy and security.

VPN Proxy Master

VPN Proxy Master collects too much user data and we detected malware within its apps. It provides a free server in India but we can’t recommend using it with VPN Proxy Master’s ongoing safety issues.

Psiphon VPN

Psiphon logs your real IP address and it caps download speeds at 38Mbps. Psiphon provides a server in India on both its paid and free plan, but doesn’t provide any information as to whether it’s virtual or not.

We’ve created a unique testing methodology for determining the best VPNs for India. Every VPN is subject to the same stringent process to ensure fair and unbiased rankings.

Here is a table showing how the top-rated India VPNs performed in our testing categories:

VPNs with a data cap receive a reduction to their overall rating.

Below is a more detailed walkthrough of our India-specific testing methodology:

1. India Server Locations: 30%

To qualify for this list, it’s essential for a VPN to have a virtual India server location. Without one, it’s impossible to obtain an Indian IP address.

It’s also important that the VPN service uses a virtual server, instead of a physical one, to avoid India’s intrusive VPN laws.

We expect the very best India VPNs to provide server coverage across the country. This minimizes speed loss by reducing the distance between the user and the VPN server.

2. India Streaming: 30%

Due to licensing and distribution agreements, streaming services are often required to geo-restrict their content to specific regions.

The best VPNs for India are capable of bypassing these geo-blocks and streaming content that’s exclusive to India.

To calculate this category’s rating, we regularly test every VPN’s ability to unblock popular Indian streaming services from outside India.

This includes Disney+ Hotstar, JioCinema, Netflix India, and Amazon’s India originals.

3. Speed: 20%

All of our shortlisted VPNs use fast and modern tunneling protocols to minimize the impact on your connection speeds.

A fast download speed is vital for streaming content in HD quality, without any buffering or long load times.

Additionally, a low ping time ensures that you can play games like BGMI, lag-free.

4.Security & Technical Features: 10%

Without strong VPN encryption, your browsing activity will be visible when connecting into India.

This includes any streaming services you use, websites you access, and files you share.

To anonymize your web activity, the VPNs we’ve shortlisted all use AES-256 or ChaCha20 encryption.

They also use open-sourced and dependable VPN protocols like OpenVPN or WireGuard. This allows the apps to establish a secure connection between your device and the VPN server in India.

5. Privacy & Logging Policy: 10%

A VPN provider’s logging policy outlines how much information it monitors and collects about your online activity.

It’s vital to use a VPN with minimal logging practices to safeguard your personal data against hackers and law enforcement agencies.

As a result, every VPN we’ve recommended for India logs a minimal amount of data or no data at all.

We’ve also highlighted VPNs that take extra measures to protect your online privacy, such as using RAM servers.

Additional Testing Criteria

Along with our five key testing categories, we take into consideration other factors when determining the best India VPNs.

These additional factors do not affect the calculation of our overall India rating, but they do influence which VPNs we consider for the shortlist.

We automatically exclude any VPNs with blocked websites in India, or those that have withdrawn their service from the region.

Alongside robust encryption and modern tunneling protocols, we reward VPNs that prioritize users’ online safety and privacy in India. This includes providing anonymous payment methods and implementing virtual servers to sidestep India’s VPN data law.

Lastly, we take into account the availability of free trials and the length of money-back guarantees.