Best VPN for Mac in 2026: 5 macOS VPNs Tested and Compared

Most Mac owners start looking for a VPN once they leave the house: on café or hotel Wi-Fi, where strangers share the same network, or abroad, when a favorite show suddenly isn’t available. A VPN solves both, and on a Mac, it takes a couple of minutes to set up. Where you download it makes more of a difference than you’d think, though, because the version in the Mac App Store can be missing features the VPN’s own website version includes.

We’ve tested 30+ VPNs, and only five worked well enough on macOS to recommend. Here’s how they compare.

Speed, Split Tunneling, and Streaming Compared

Speed loss is the average download loss on UK, US, and Japanese servers, tested in October on a MacBook Air M1 in Europe over Ethernet against a 190.36 Mbps baseline. We tried 14 streaming services in the same tests, clearing cookies and cache before each session.

VPN	Speed loss	Split tunneling on macOS	Streaming services unblocked	Devices
NordVPN	7.2%	No	14 of 14	10
Proton VPN	9.4%	Yes (experimental)	10 of 14	10
ExpressVPN	7.8%	Yes (website version)	14 of 14	10-14
PIA	12.7%	Yes	8 of 14	Unlimited
Surfshark	9.6%	Yes (Bypasser)	13 of 14	Unlimited

Each VPN on macOS, Reviewed

1. NordVPN: Best VPN for Mac Overall

On our MacBook, NordVPN kept more of our speed than any other VPN, losing just 7.2% on average across UK, US, and Japanese servers. It also had the best US result we recorded on the Mac, 180.41 Mbps, and you won’t notice the difference from your normal connection while browsing or streaming. It unblocked all 14 streaming services we tried, one of them through its browser extension, and its servers cover 152 countries.

Where you download NordVPN changes what’s included. The version from NordVPN’s website adds an app-level kill switch, which closes the apps you choose if the VPN drops, so they never go online unprotected. The Mac App Store version only has the standard kill switch, which cuts your whole connection instead.

Neither version has split tunneling, the feature that lets some apps skip the VPN, so every app on your Mac goes through it, including work tools that block VPN traffic. If one of those won’t connect, you’ll have to disconnect NordVPN while you use it. On the Complete plan, the Mac app also includes next-gen antivirus.

NordVPN is based in Panama, and its no-log policy, its promise not to keep records of what you do online, has passed repeated independent audits. On a two-year term, the Basic plan costs under $3.50 a month and covers 10 devices.

Visit NordVPN

2. Proton VPN: Best Mac VPN for Privacy

Proton VPN lost 9.4% of its speed on our MacBook, a little more than NordVPN, but not enough to notice in everyday use. VPN Accelerator, Proton’s feature for speeding up distant connections, is enabled by default, so there’s nothing to set up. The Mac app added split tunneling in late 2025, still labeled experimental, so you can keep a banking app or a work tool outside the VPN.

Privacy puts this top-rated VPN in second place. Proton AG is based in Switzerland, which has strong privacy laws, and Securitum has audited its no-log policy every year since 2022. Its Secure Core servers add an extra layer: your traffic goes through a server in Switzerland, Iceland, or Sweden first, so the server you end up on never sees your own IP address.

Our privacy VPN ranking compares it with other privacy-focused VPNs. Streaming is weaker. Proton VPN unblocked 10 of the 14 services we tried, and Hulu, Pluto TV, and ITVX were among the four it couldn’t unblock, so if you mainly watch Hulu, NordVPN or Surfshark is the better choice.

It also doesn’t have post-quantum encryption yet, the protection against future computers powerful enough to crack today’s encryption, which NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark already offer. Two years of VPN Plus cost under $3 a month for up to 10 devices.

Visit Proton VPN

3. ExpressVPN: Easiest Mac VPN to Use

ExpressVPN lost 7.8% of its speed on our MacBook, close behind NordVPN, and its Japanese server was the fastest Japanese result on our MacBook, at 166.51 Mbps. Streaming matched NordVPN’s result, with one service again unblocked only through the browser extension.

The Mac app connects in one click and disguises every connection automatically, so if a hotel or office network blocks VPNs, there’s no setting to change. Split tunneling arrived on the Mac in late 2025, but only in the version from ExpressVPN’s website, so skip the App Store download if you want it. Advanced Protection blocks ads, trackers, and dangerous sites, though the Basic plan’s lighter version leaves trackers unblocked.

Its Chrome VPN extension works with the Mac app and adds two useful extras: location spoofing, which makes your browser report the same location as the VPN server, and WebRTC leak protection, which prevents the browser from revealing your actual IP address. The trade-off is control.

There are few settings to adjust and no multi-hop servers, which send your connection through two servers instead of one, so Mac owners who like to fine-tune things should look at PIA. On a 28-month term, the Basic plan costs under $3 a month for 10 devices, and ExpressVPN’s higher tiers add full tracker blocking.

Visit ExpressVPN

4. Private Internet Access: Best Budget Mac VPN

Private Internet Access lost 12.7% of its speed on our MacBook, with the Japanese server its weakest result at 141.61 Mbps. That’s still far more than 4K streaming requires. It unblocked Netflix US, Netflix Canada, and BBC iPlayer, though other Netflix VPNs unblocked more libraries. It couldn’t unblock Hulu, Prime Video, HBO Max, Netflix Japan, or JioHotstar.

PIA was the first major VPN to bring split tunneling back to macOS, in early 2024. Its Mac app also offers port forwarding on servers outside the US, which helps torrent apps connect to more people sharing the same file. MACE, its ad and tracker blocker, stopped 96% of the domains in d3ward’s ad-blocking test.

The interface looks dated and crowds its settings menus, which made it my least favorite Mac app to use. PIA is based in the US, part of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, but subpoenas in 2016 and 2018 found no logs to hand over. On a two-year term, PIA costs about $2.20 a month and covers every device you own.

Visit Private Internet Access

5. Surfshark: Best Mac VPN for Unlimited Devices

Surfshark lost 9.6% of its speed on our MacBook, and its UK server recorded 186.96 Mbps, the fastest UK result in our tests and only 1.8% slower than our connection without a VPN. Its own Dausos protocol, available only on macOS, was faster still. Dausos assigns each user a dedicated tunnel, uses newer encryption built to resist future quantum computers, and has been audited by the security firm Cure53.

Surfshark unblocked 13 of the 14 streaming services we tried, failing only on ITVX. Surfshark sets no device limit, so one subscription covers every Mac, iPhone, and iPad in your household. Its RAM-only servers, which wipe their data every time they restart, and a Deloitte-audited no-log policy put it among the most secure VPNs we’ve tested.

Connections sometimes took a few seconds longer, so give it a moment before you assume it failed. The company is based in the Netherlands, part of the Nine Eyes intelligence-sharing group. On a 27-month term, the Starter plan costs about $2.50 a month.

Visit Surfshark

How to Install a VPN on a Mac

1. Subscribe to a VPN with a native Mac app. NordVPN is our top recommendation for macOS.
2. Download the app from the VPN’s website. For NordVPN and ExpressVPN, that version has features the App Store one lacks.
3. Open the .pkg or .dmg file in Downloads, follow the installer, and enter your Mac password when asked.
4. Launch the VPN and sign in to your account.
5. Click Allow when macOS asks to add VPN configurations, and approve the system extension in System Settings if prompted.
6. Connect to a server in the country you want to appear in.

To check that it’s working, open whatismyipaddress.com in Safari. It should show the country of the server you picked.

What a VPN Adds to a Mac

On café, hotel, or airport Wi-Fi, a VPN encrypts everything your Mac sends, so the network’s owner and the other people on it see only scrambled data. Your internet provider sees a connection to a VPN server instead of the sites you visit. Our explainer on how a VPN works goes into more detail.

A VPN also changes the IP address websites see, which is how they decide where you are. Connect to a server in another country, and streaming services treat your Mac as local, which is how fans stream Formula 1 live while traveling. Game stores, airlines, and hotels sometimes charge different prices by country, too, as our guides to changing your Steam region and VPNs for travel explain.

Is There a Good Free VPN for Mac?

Proton VPN has the best free plan for Mac, with no data limit and the same no-log policy as its paid plan. The catch is choice: the app picks your server at random from 10 countries. On my MacBook, it assigned me Amsterdam and US servers, with a 20.8% average speed loss, and it couldn’t unblock Netflix US.

Hola is the opposite case. It makes free users share their device’s bandwidth and IP address through Bright Data, which means other people’s traffic can go out through your connection, so it’s a free VPN to avoid.

Verdict

Every VPN on this list is fast enough on a Mac that you won’t notice it while browsing or streaming, so the choice depends on what else you want from it. For most Mac owners, the answer is NordVPN. It was the fastest VPN on our MacBook, it unblocked every streaming service we tried, and its extra privacy tools barely slow it down.

Our NordVPN review covers its Windows and phone results too. Its one weakness on a Mac is split tunneling, so if you want some apps to stay outside the VPN, go with Proton VPN, which also has the strongest privacy record on this list. ExpressVPN is the easiest to use, PIA costs the least, and Surfshark covers every Apple device in your home on one subscription.

Whichever you choose, download it from the VPN’s own website. The App Store version can be missing features, and you’ll want the full app.

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