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Gaming is booming Down Under with 81% of Australians now playing some kind of video game on a regular basis, a 14% increase in two years, according to data from Australia Plays 2023 report. With the ever-growing cyberattacks from hackers, opponents looking to ruin your game and ISPs throttling your network, it’s never been more important to find the best VPN to shield you when gaming.
Virtual private networks (VPNs) route your internet traffic through secure servers. They also allow you to connect to servers in foreign locations, virtually changing your location and enabling access to banned games or early releases. However, only a few VPNs cater to gamers’ speed, security and geo-unblocking needs.
We took a deeper look at the current Australian market to find our picks of the best gaming VPNs.
Note: The below list represents a selection of our top category picks, as chosen by Forbes Advisor Australia’s editors and journalists. The information provided is purely factual and is not intended to imply any recommendation, opinion, or advice about a financial product. Not every product or provider in the marketplace has been reviewed, and the list below is not intended to be exhaustive nor replace your own research or independent financial advice. For more information on how Forbes Advisor ranks and reviews products, including how we identified our top category picks, read the methodology selection below.
Related: Best VPNs for Australians
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Our team analysed 20 VPN providers with 35 factors such as privacy functions, geo-unblocking capability, speed performance, number of server locations and simultaneous device connections enabled, transparent pricing, access to customer support and customer ratings to organise this list of the best VPNs for gaming. Our Australian-based editorial team has also provided an additional layer of research to ensure relevance for the local audience. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
To choose the best VPN for gaming in Australia, it’s important to evaluate speed, performance, server strength and cost.
Choose a VPN that offers good value for your money. Consider the initial costs for new VPN users, ongoing discounts, the features you’ll get from each subscription and the cost of necessary add-ons to determine if they suit your budget or are the best for your needs. Also note when prices are listed in US dollars, which will make them more expensive when converted into AUD.
For a smooth gaming experience that includes quick game downloads and minimal lags, you’re better off with a VPN that offers fast connections, minimal latency and stable performance. Choose a VPN that uses fast protocols such as WireGuard and allows you to switch between protocols since several protocols are available. Such a VPN will give you reliable speed and won’t interrupt your gaming sessions.
You need a VPN that can seamlessly integrate with your gaming setup. So, choose one that is compatible with your gaming devices, enables quick installation and is easy to navigate.
Our US-based team tested 20 VPNs and scored them on seven primary factors. We considered each VPN’s compatibility with gaming devices, such as desktops and consoles. Then, we examined their speed, performance, unblocking capability and how well they secure gaming privacy.
We also considered their costs, ease of use, simultaneous connections allowed, customer support and experts’ opinions about them. We then weighted these metrics to score each gaming VPN. Note: while we expect Australian gamers to achieve similar results from the listed VPNs as we did, results may vary.
Here’s how we determined the best VPN for gamers.
You will note that we have included a star rating next to the product or provider reviewed. This rating was determined by the editorial team once all of the data points were considered, and the pros and cons of each product attribute was reviewed. The star rating is solely the view of Forbes Advisor editorial staff. Commercial partners or advertisers have no bearing on the star rating or their inclusion on this list. Star ratings are only one factor to be considered.
Featured Partner Offers
1
NordVPN
Plan costs
$7.33 AUD per month or $87.95 for the first year
Number of Servers
5,500
Encryption
AES-256
2
Surfshark
Price
Starting From $3.07 AUD Per Month
Number of Servers
3000+
Encryption
AES with 256 -bit keys
3
Private Internet Access (PIA)
Dedicated IP address
Yes
Number of devices
Unlimited
Starting price
$19.79 AUD
A DDoS attack, short for distributed denial of service, is a cyberattack that gamers often execute against other players to slow them down or kick them out of the game lobby. DDoS floods a player’s IP address with junk traffic, which overwhelms their network, leading to erratic speed and gaming experience. But that only happens to gamers who don’t use VPNs, which protect users by hiding their actual IP address and diverting the attack.
Yes, VPNs are good for gaming since they can help you bypass the bane of geo-blocking and give you access to new games not yet available in Australia or those banned from your region. VPN routing processes can also reduce bandwidth throttling by your ISP and improve your ping results when playing games, giving you a smooth gaming experience. They’ll also keep you safe from attacks that mess up your games and threaten your online safety.
For multiplayer gaming, 150 ms is okay, but a VPN should give you at most 50 ms if you want to play pro matches. Anything above these would cause lags. The gaming VPNs we recommend will give you the required speed levels for gaming.
While a VPN typically should slow down your speed since it creates an extra connection, a gaming VPN can help you reduce pings to give you more speed. And that’s because VPNs reroute your traffic through encrypted servers different from that of an average ISP, which throttles speed and increases latency. Choose a VPN server close to your location to reduce your pings even more.
Go for fast protocols when gaming. WireGuard is one of such, giving us instant speed boosts with VPNs. Also, consider using a server close to you, as we’ve seen them offering the best speeds and least pings. And if there are dedicated IP addresses or even dedicated gaming servers such as those available on CyberGhost VPN, use them.
Most free VPNs have limitations such as server and data limits and capped speeds, which make it challenging to game. And while some free VPNs might work, we don’t recommend them because they often lack the necessary advanced security features for protecting you against hacks or DDoS attacks. Some free VPNs even sell user data to third-party advertisers, threatening your online privacy.
To explore VPN features, get a low-cost premium VPN with an extensive server network, fast speeds and robust security, and use their free trials or rely on their money-back guarantees.
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