The Best VPNs for Canada in 2025 (2025)

Whether you’re a citizen of the Great White North or a nearby neighbor looking to access Canadian media, a VPN can help. Canada’s robust data privacy protections and standards for citizens make it an excellent endpoint for your VPN connection if you're in a location where the internet is censored or content is otherwise blocked. We've been testing VPNs for over 10 years, so we know the best service no matter where you live. NordVPN is an Editors' Choice winner and an excellent option for speed, security, and coverage, with more than 300 servers in Canada spread between Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. That said, it isn't the only VPN we recommend for use in Canada, so read on for more of our top picks.

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Buying Guide: The Best VPNs for Canada in 2025

How We Pick the Best VPNs for Canada

Server coverage in Canada was the top priority. You should be able to connect to the VPN with ease anywhere in the country. With VPNs, you will get better performance if you connect to a nearby server. If you have a wide selection of options, then you’re more likely to be near a server.

Canada is a large country, and even the best VPNs can struggle to provide adequate coverage. The farther you are from the VPN server, the more likely you are to experience internet download speed slowdowns and increased latency.

Simply having servers in Canada isn’t enough to qualify a VPN as a good choice for the region. While it’s a good sign, each VPN we recommend also has stellar privacy measures to keep your data secure.

At PCMag, we test VPN speeds from our offices in New York City, using US-based VPN servers. This gives us consistent and repeatable results for our speed tests, but it also means that our speeds won't always match your speeds when you start using a VPN, especially if you live in a remote location or another country. It's always ideal to begin with a free trial or a month's subscription to ensure a VPN works for you and your needs before signing up for something longer.

Do You Need a VPN in Canada?

Canada doesn't have as many privacy issues as some other countries. There are robust consumer protection laws that help safeguard personal data, such as the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). Unlike the US, Canadian ISPs cannot sell your data without express consent. Unlike China, Canada doesn't have a massive internet surveillance and censorship machine. Even so, you still trust companies and online entities to abide by these practices if you’re browsing without a VPN.

This isn't to say surveillance doesn't exist in Canada—it's a member of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance. Note, however, while Canadian ISPs can't sell your data, there are other ways to collect and use it that you may not want to be a part of.

VPNs are still a helpful tool, both in Canada and elsewhere in the world. The privacy landscape can shift quickly, and new exploits or leaks appear daily. If a company were to aggregate your data, it could still leak to bad actors even if it isn’t being sold. Plus, online advertisers are everywhere, and a VPN can blunt their attempts to track your online movements.

How to Unblock Regional Content in Canada

We view VPNs as privacy tools, but many people use them to access region-locked content online. If a movie or show is available in country X but not where you live, you can tunnel into a VPN server in country X and enjoy it.

In practice, it's more complicated. Netflix, for instance, aggressively blocks VPNs, and other streaming platforms likely have a similar stance. VPNs frequently tweak their services to sneak by gatekeepers in an endless streaming cat-and-mouse game. What was accessible today could be inaccessible tomorrow. While some VPNs are better than others on average, picking one to access a specific platform comes with some risk. That service could get blacklisted, or the streaming service might develop more advanced blocking features.

We periodically evaluate VPN services' ability to let us access Canadian Netflix. As of our last pass in late 2024, 19 of the 23 VPNs we tested in the region had unrestricted access to Netflix, while two more were sent to Limited libraries. The chart above shows you more about how we classify our Netflix tests.

Tips for Choosing a VPN in Canada

First, it will be tempting to save money on a lengthy subscription. Nearly every VPN offers competitive deals for annual or multi-year subscriptions. However, we caution against this, at least initially. Instead, use a free or short-term monthly subscription to test a VPN in your home environment first. This will let you determine whether it will work with all the sites and services you need and get a feel for its performance. It’s best to give the service a trial run before upgrading to a paid subscription. Otherwise, you could be stuck with a VPN that does not meet your needs.

Second, a VPN might not be the only tool you need. While VPNs are helpful, they only provide a single additional layer of protection for the data you transmit. For most, this will be good enough. If you’re working with more sensitive data, the TOR browser, used with a supporting VPN, offers better protection.

However, the above won’t protect you if you click on a phishing link or download malware. Also, advertisers have numerous tools for monitoring online activity, and not all of them are stopped by VPNs. A complete security suite will ensure your data is completely protected. Be sure to use a password manager to create unique and complex passwords for every site and service you use, enable multi-factor authentication wherever it's available, and install local antivirus software.

Ultimately, anyone looking for a VPN with a strong presence in Canada is lucky. After the US and UK, it's one of the most popular regions for VPN providers to focus their efforts. Canadians are also fortunate that the need for a VPN is arguably less crucial than in many other countries, but there are still privacy gains to be had by using one. If you can't decide whether you need a VPN, our piece explaining what a VPN is and why you need one can help.

Chris Stobing contributed to this article.