Best VPN for Costa Rica in 2026: Top 5 for Privacy and Streaming

Costa Rica has one of the most open internets in Latin America. Its Constitutional Court declared internet access a fundamental right back in 2010, and nothing is censored. Yet the same country has spent recent years near the top of the world’s ransomware charts, starting with the attack that forced a national emergency in 2022.

That mix shapes what a VPN has to do there. Censorship is irrelevant, so the job is encryption on shared networks and the right IP address. Abroad, that means a Costa Rican one for banking and local sites; at home, a US one for the shows that never made it into Costa Rican catalogs. We tested five VPNs that cover all three.

Costa Rica VPNs Compared

VPN	Costa Rica servers	Average speed loss	Streaming services unblocked	Devices	Long-term price
NordVPN	San José	7.8%	14 of 14	10	About $3.50/mo
Proton VPN	San José	10.2%	10 of 14	10	About $3/mo
ExpressVPN	Costa Rica	7.8%	14 of 14	10-14	About $3/mo
Surfshark	San José	9.6%	13 of 14	Unlimited	About $2.50/mo
Private Internet Access	San José	12.7%	9 of 14	Unlimited	About $2/mo

The speed figure averages our results on UK, US, and Japanese servers. The streaming set covers 14 services, including Netflix US, Hulu, Peacock, HBO Max and Prime Video.

The Best VPNs for Costa Rica in 2026

Every VPN in this ranking offers a Costa Rican location and a large US network, so we ranked them on speed, streaming results, and privacy tools. We ran the speed and streaming tests ourselves, on the same connection for every VPN.

1. NordVPN: Best All-Round VPN for Costa Rica

NordVPN is our favorite VPN service overall, and it covers every reason to use a VPN in Costa Rica. Its San José location offers a Costa Rican IP address when you’re abroad, so banking and government sites treat the login as local. At home, the US servers count for more, because Hulu and Peacock aren’t sold in Costa Rica.

In our tests, it unblocked all 14 streaming services we used, from Hulu and Peacock to Netflix US. Speed is the other reason it ranks first. NordVPN tied with ExpressVPN as the fastest VPN we tested, with a 7.8% speed loss on average, so the VPN won’t be what limits a 4K stream.

On the security side, Double VPN sends your traffic through two servers instead of one, a sensible extra layer for a banking session on a shared coworking network. With the Complete plan, you also get next-gen antivirus, which stops malware downloads and phishing pages.

An independent audit has also confirmed that NordVPN keeps no logs. As for cost, NordVPN’s two-year plan brings the price to about $3.50 a month, with ten devices included. The downside is the renewal, which costs roughly three times the introductory rate.

So the two-year term is the best value, since it keeps the low price for the longest stretch. If NordVPN doesn’t suit you, the 30-day money-back guarantee returns the full price.

See price at NordVPN

2. Proton VPN: Best for Secure Banking in Costa Rica

Proton VPN is the strongest of the privacy-focused VPN services we recommend, and it’s a paid all-rounder as well. Proton VPN has servers in San José, plus coverage in 149 countries for everything else. It’s based in Switzerland, where privacy law is among the world’s strictest, and its no-logs policy is audited every year.

Secure Core, on the VPN Plus plan, first sends your traffic through hardened servers in Switzerland, Iceland, or Sweden. That makes a stolen session much harder to trace back to you, which is useful given how often Costa Rican institutions have been hit. In our speed tests, Proton VPN lost 10.2%, enough for 4K and online gaming.

Its VPN Accelerator also helps on a patchy rural connection, where it keeps speeds steadier. For streaming, it unblocked Netflix US, Peacock, HBO Max, and Prime Video. When we tested American TV channels for Costa Rica, Proton VPN also unblocked free networks such as NBC, PBS and Fox.

However, it couldn’t unblock Hulu, so if Hulu is your main reason for a VPN, NordVPN or ExpressVPN is the safer buy. On a two-year term, Proton VPN Plus works out to about $3 a month for 10 devices.

See price at Proton VPN

3. ExpressVPN: Best for Beginners in Costa Rica

We’d recommend ExpressVPN to first-time VPN users. The app looks the same on Windows, Mac, iPhone, and Android, and one button connects you to the best server for your location. Despite that simplicity, it matched NordVPN’s streaming record in our tests, Hulu and Peacock included, although Prime Video flagged it on some attempts.

ExpressVPN is also among the fastest VPN services we’ve tested, tied with NordVPN at a 7.8% average speed loss. On Windows, Lightway Turbo adds a toggle that splits traffic across several lanes for higher download speeds.

Its encryption is already post-quantum, too, so traffic recorded today can’t be decrypted later by a quantum computer. In addition, Advanced Protection works as an effective VPN ad blocker on every plan. On the other hand, the settings menu is short, and there’s still no multi-hop option.

If you like to adjust protocols and encryption, PIA has more settings. ExpressVPN’s Basic plan is about $3 a month over two years and covers ten devices, while higher tiers cover 12 or 14.

See price at ExpressVPN

4. Surfshark: Best for Ad-Free Streaming in Costa Rica

Surfshark was a positive surprise in our streaming VPN tests. It unblocked 13 of the 14 services directly in its app, including Hulu, Peacock, and Netflix US, and only ITVX blocked it. Since it has servers in San José and 100 countries, it covers Costa Rican sites from abroad as well as US catalogs from home.

Beyond streaming, Surfshark has a few tools you won’t find elsewhere. Alternative ID creates a masked email address and persona on every plan, so a shop or a rental site never sees your actual details. CleanWeb, its ad blocker, removes ads and trackers before pages finish loading.

It wasn’t far behind on speed either, at a 9.6% average loss, and one subscription covers every device in the house. In return, Surfshark sometimes took a few seconds longer than the others to connect, and it renews at a much higher price than the first term.

Still, at about $2.50 a month on the two-year plan, it’s the cheapest way to stream with results this close to NordVPN’s. For a lower price still, check our list of Surfshark promo codes and deals.

See price at Surfshark

5. Private Internet Access: Best for Tight Budgets in Costa Rica

Private Internet Access is for people who mainly want encryption at the lowest subscription price. It costs around $2 a month on its long plan, and one account covers unlimited devices.

PIA also has a Costa Rican location in San José and servers in every US state, so you can choose a US city close to the one you’re used to. PIA’s privacy record is its strongest argument. Despite its US base, it has been asked for user data in court more than once and had nothing to hand over because it keeps no identifying logs.

On top of that, you can switch the encryption from AES-128 to AES-256, enable MultiHop, and use split tunneling to keep Costa Rican banking apps outside the VPN. Streaming is where PIA falls behind. PIA failed on Hulu, HBO Max, and Prime Video, and it had the largest speed loss of the five at 12.7%.

Its streaming-optimized servers still help with access to foreign TV channels elsewhere, but for US streaming we’d spend the extra dollar a month on Surfshark.

See price at PIA VPN

What a VPN Does for You in Costa Rica

Costa Rica doesn’t block websites, so the reasons to use a VPN there are about data and location. First, ransomware: Costa Rica was among the ten countries most targeted by ransomware in Microsoft’s latest Digital Defense Report, and the 2022 attacks disrupted tax, customs, and health systems for weeks.

A VPN won’t stop an attack on a ministry, but it does encrypt your own traffic on hotel, café and coworking networks, where intercepting logins is easiest. Location is the second good reason. Netflix, HBO Max and Prime Video work in Costa Rica with Latin American catalogs, while Hulu, Peacock and YouTube TV are US-only.

A US server unblocks those for expats and digital nomads living in Costa Rica. In the other direction, Costa Ricans abroad can connect to San José to access banking portals and local streams that only accept Costa Rican IP addresses.

How We Picked the Best VPNs for Costa Rica

We tested each VPN on the same connection, then ranked them on six points that reflect how people use VPNs in Costa Rica:

• Privacy and security: strong encryption, an audited no-logs policy, and leak protection are the minimum. We also looked for extras such as Double VPN, Secure Core, or malware blocking.
• Speed: we tested each VPN on UK, US, and Japanese servers and compared the average speed loss, since a slow VPN wastes a fast fiber plan.
• Streaming: each VPN faced the same 14 services, including Netflix US, Hulu, Peacock and HBO Max.
• Costa Rican and US servers: every VPN here offers a San José or Costa Rica location and broad US coverage.
• Devices: apps for phones, computers, and TVs, with at least ten connections per account.
• Value: a reasonable long-term price plus a risk-free trial or a money-back guarantee.

Is a Free VPN Enough for Costa Rica?

Only for light browsing. We recommend a few decent free VPN services, but none of their free plans let you choose a Costa Rican server, and most limit you to a few countries and a monthly data cap. That rules out streaming beyond a few hours a month.

Privacy is the bigger risk. Many unknown free VPNs earn their money by logging what you do and selling it to advertisers, which defeats the purpose of using one. If cost is the issue, a paid VPN with a money-back guarantee is the safer test.

Verdict

The right VPN for Costa Rica depends on which side of the border you’re on. Living there, the job is US access for Hulu and Peacock plus encryption for banking on shared networks. When traveling, it’s a San José server your bank accepts as local.

NordVPN covered both in our tests without a single failure, and that’s why it ranks first. After that, the deciding question is Hulu. If you don’t watch it, Proton VPN’s Swiss jurisdiction and Secure Core make it the better choice for anyone who mostly banks and works online.

If you don’t stream US services at all and only want encryption, Private Internet Access is enough, and it costs the least.

Try NordVPN Risk-Free

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