Best VPN for Amazon Fire TV Stick in 2024
You can turn almost any TV into a smart TV and stream all of your favorite shows and movies privately when you use one of the top VPNs for Amazon’s Fire TV Stick.
Our Experts
Best Overall VPN
ExpressVPN
- Strong commitment to privacy and transparency
- Forward-thinking security enhancements
- Excellent for streaming
- Streamlined, easy-to-use app across platforms
- Privacy-friendly jurisdiction (British Virgin Islands)
- DNS leaks detected (but immediately addressed)
- Expensive
- Only eight simultaneous connections
- Apple TV app needs work
ExpressVPN is CNET's Editors' Choice for Best Overall VPN. It's also the best VPN for Fire TV Stick because it's super fast and secure, can reliably unblock content, and has an excellent app that's optimized for the Fire TV Stick. I didn't experience any buffering issues during my tests, and all of the streaming channels loaded up and started playing immediately, seemingly unfettered by the VPN. I was able to stream content on Disney Plus, Max, Amazon Prime Video and the US and UK Netflix libraries.
ExpressVPN's app for Fire TV Stick is packed with features, yet nicely minimalistic and easy to navigate. The app includes features like auto-connect, kill switch, split tunneling and protocol selection, along with a DNS and WebRTC leak testing tool, IP address checker and even a password generator. One additional feature that's pretty useful is the shortcuts section, which lets you set shortcuts for five different apps. You can create shortcuts for any app you have on your Fire TV Stick like Neltifx, Hulu or a web browser, and launch the app directly from within the ExpressVPN interface after you've connected to the VPN. ExpressVPN is the best VPN for Fire TV Stick, but it's also the most expensive. Subscription plans are billed at $100 per year, $60 every six months or $13 a month. Express offers a 30-day money-back guarantee if you're not satisfied with your purchase.
Best Cheap VPN
Surfshark
- Lots of unique security features
- Unlimited simultaneous connections
- RAM-only server network
- Inconsistent speed performance
- 14 Eyes jurisdiction (Netherlands)
- No transparency reports
Surfshark’s unblocking capabilities are some of the best in the business, making the VPN a popular choice for folks who want to stream a lot of content. It’s also secure and plenty fast for streaming through Amazon’s Fire TV Stick. Surfshark also delivers excellent value for your money, making it an excellent choice for anyone on a budget. During my tests, I was able to use Surfshark’s Fire TV Stick app to stream content on Max, Disney Plus and Amazon Prime Video. It was encouraging that I was able to stream Disney Plus without any issues, because I had trouble accessing the streaming service during my earlier testing of Surfshark. Unblocking content is always a bit of a cat and mouse game, but perhaps this is an indication that Surfshark has been working on the issue since I last tested it. Notably, I was also able to stream content from a variety of Netflix libraries, including the US, UK, Japan, Germany, Canada, France and Denmark -- which is more than what Express and NordVPN were able to unblock. So if you want to maximize your Netflix streaming experience, Surfshark would be a good choice.
Surfshark’s Fire TV Stick app is simple to use and includes features like split-tunneling, auto-connect, kill switch, protocol selection and CleanWeb ad and malware blocker. You can easily quick-connect to the fastest available server or nearest location and set up multihop double VPN connections as well as use static IPs. The connections were stable and streaming was smooth during testing, without any buffering or interruptions of any sort, as was to be expected from a VPN with only a 19% speed loss. (Most VPNs will cut your speed by 50% or more.) Surfshark offers a quality package that’s cheaper than many of its competitors, which has helped it earn CNET’s Editors’ Choice for Best Value VPN. A yearly subscription costs $60 per year (following the $48 introductory rate for the first year) or $13 per month. The company offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on all plans.
Best VPN for Speed
NordVPN
- Blazing-fast internet speeds
- Strong privacy and transparency
- Great for streaming service unblocking
- User-friendly apps
- Inconsistent pricing structure
- Not as transparent as other VPN rivals
NordVPN is the current fastest VPN, based on CNET’s latest speed tests, which helps make this VPN one of the top choices for streaming on a Fire TV Stick. Streaming was smooth and easy, whether I was watching content on Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video, or the US and UK Netflix libraries. NordVPN's Fire TV Stick app interface is set up differently than the provider's apps on other platforms, but the pertinent features are mostly accounted for and easy to access. The app includes features like split-tunneling (which is useful if you don't want all your Fire TV Stick apps to route through the VPN connection), auto-connect, protocol selection and threat protection lite (a malicious-website blocker). You can also connect to NordVPN's Onion over VPN and double VPN servers if you want to add an extra layer of privacy to your Fire TV Stick activities.
The one thing that's missing from NordVPN's Fire TV Stick app is a kill switch -- an essential VPN feature that prevents your data from leaking unencrypted by cutting your internet should the VPN connection drop for any reason. The absence of that feature puts NordVPN lower on this list than ExpressVPN and Surfshark, which both offer it. I also noticed that the "Help us improve" setting in the app was enabled by default. If you don't want to send aggregated anonymous data that could include "crash reports, OS version, marketing performance and feature usage data" over to NordVPN as you use its Fire TV Stick app, then be sure to disable it from the Settings menu. NordVPN's network offers more total servers (5,300-plus) than either ExpressVPN or Surfshark, but fewer countries (60), which could potentially limit the scope of your streaming options. NordVPN's prices are lower overall than ExpressVPN but more expensive than its sister company, Surfshark. The annual plan is priced at $100 per year (following the $60 introductory rate for the first year) or $12 per month. NordVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on all subscription plans.
What is a VPN for Fire TV Stick?
If you have a television you wish would do more, a simple way to give it some smart TV features is by using Amazon's Fire TV Stick. As long as your TV has the proper input on the side or back panel, you'll be able to plug in a Fire TV Stick and, upon configuration, you'll be able to access all sorts of TV shows and movies instantly. You'll get the programs and films you love from streaming services like Hulu, Max, Netflix, Disney Plus and Amazon Prime Video. And you can also find a variety of apps, games and live TV to keep the whole family entertained.
It's worth remembering that you'll be using your internet connection to enjoy all this content, which means your digital information will be available to prying eyes unless you take some protective measures. Installing a compatible virtual private network to the device will keep your data secure. Our CNET experts have put roughly a dozen of the top VPN providers on the market to use, implementing a thorough testing process on a variety of platforms, including Amazon's Fire TV Stick.
Setting up a VPN on your smart TV is easy when you use an Amazon Fire TV Stick. The device costs about $30, making it an affordable option, too. Once you've connected a Fire TV Stick to your TV, a paired VPN can keep your internet service provider from slowing your internet connection. Whether you're using the device overseas or from the comfort of your own couch, a VPN can help you sidestep geological content blocks so you can stream TV shows, movies or play video games with friends without having to buy a VPN-compatible router or reconfigure your home network. Using a VPN on your Fire TV Stick will encrypt your IP address and keep your browsing behavior hidden from your internet service provider. So, no more data snooping. Make sure to check local laws and your ISP's terms of service to verify that using a VPN is permitted.
What’s the best VPN for Amazon Fire TV Stick right now?
We determined that ExpressVPN is the best VPN for Fire TV Stick, after running several VPN apps through extensive testing on the streaming device. ExpressVPN’s Fire TV Stick app is easy to use, quick to connect and is the best choice for streaming content through your Fire TV Stick device. Surfshark is a close second and is a solid choice for anyone on a budget or who wants access to multiple Netflix regional libraries. NordVPN is another excellent option for Fire TV Stick users. It was the fastest VPN in CNET’s hands-on testing, delivers a smooth streaming experience and offers a few extra privacy features not available on other VPNs’ Fire TV Stick apps.
You can use a VPN with your Amazon Fire TV Stick to protect your privacy and get past streaming geoblocking.
How we tested VPNs on Fire TV Stick
Each of CNET's top VPNs offers a native VPN app for the Fire TV Stick, but a few of them stood out during our tests. In addition to evaluating the usability and features of the Fire TV Stick VPN apps, we prioritized other important factors like security, speed and unblocking capabilities of each VPN we tested.
We opened each app on the Fire TV Stick and first tried to get a sense of the usability and the features available. Is the app easy to navigate and are the servers accessible? Are the features useful, organized and simple to access?
We then evaluated the overall performance of the app to see if the servers connected quickly, whether or not the connections were stable and how well the features performed. Finally, we tested how each VPN was able to provide access to various popular streaming services. Did the streaming services load up and start playing content quickly? Was the streaming experience smooth and absent of buffering? Was the VPN able to provide access to each streaming service we tested, and from multiple server locations? The VPNs that consistently passed these tests earned a spot among our top picks.
Other VPNs we tested on the Fire TV Stick
We also tested ProtonVPN and IPVanish on the Fire TV Stick. While both providers have native Fire TV Stick apps and are excellent options for various VPN use cases, they didn't perform to our standards during our Fire TV Stick tests.
Proton VPN's Fire TV Stick app is very basic and offers no options beyond connecting to a server or reporting an issue. It's slow to connect, and the overall app experience was clunky and awkward. Once we were finally able to connect to a server, we weren't successful in our attempts to stream content from any streaming service. Oddly enough, it was when we tested Proton VPN's free version on Fire TV Stick that we were able to access Netflix. Even though Proton VPN's free tier is one of the only free VPNs that's actually worth using, it's not optimized for streaming, so it may not always work for accessing geoblocked content.
IPVanish was a little better -- the app includes various settings and features to tool around with, but we had trouble trying to stream UK Netflix on Fire TV Stick, which could have been due to speed issues we encountered through the VPN's UK servers. Netflix also detected the VPN and blocked our access to content when we were connected to IPVanish's Canadian servers. The automatic app launch feature that allows users to select an app to launch automatically after a successful connection is a handy feature and worked well in our testing when we set it to auto-launch Netflix. But besides that, there wasn't much more to like about IPVanish's performance on the Fire TV Stick. We decided we couldn't enthusiastically recommend it as a viable VPN solution for the Fire TV Stick.
We'll continue to test these and other VPNs on the Fire TV Stick, so be sure to check back often.
Factors to consider in a Fire TV Stick VPN
Privacy
If you want to keep your viewing activities on your Fire TV Stick hidden from your ISP, then you’ll want a VPN that delivers on privacy. Be sure to check the VPN provider’s privacy policy to see what personal information may be collected, who it’s shared with and how it’s protected. Do some research into any privacy or security incidents that the VPN company may have dealt with in the past. Look into the provider’s no-logs policy and check for any third-party no-logs audits or real-life cases where the provider’s no-logs claims were put to the test. Also, you’ll want to make sure the VPN has a kill switch and DNS leak protection to ensure your traffic doesn’t leak unencrypted.
Speed
Nothing’s worse than constant buffering when you’re trying to stream movies or shows with your Fire TV Stick. You’ll need a fast VPN to ensure a smooth streaming experience, especially if you’re streaming in 4K. Keep in mind that a VPN will slow your internet speeds, sometimes by 50% or more. But with a VPN that cuts your internet speeds by 20% or less, you’ll probably hardly notice the speed reduction and your speeds should be sufficient for streaming on your Fire TV Stick (provided your base internet speeds are fast enough, to begin with).
Streaming and unblocking capabilities
Some VPNs are better than others when it comes to streaming. Because you’ll most likely be spending the majority of your time streaming content on your Amazon Fire TV Stick, you’ll need a VPN that can handle your streaming activities. And if you’re looking to unblock streaming content from other regions, you’ll want a VPN that can capably unblock geographically restricted content.
Usability
Just because a VPN has a dedicated app for Amazon’s Fire TV Stick, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a good VPN for the device. You’ll want your VPN to be easy to use on your Fire TV Stick. The app should be similar to its desktop and mobile counterparts and should be just as simple to navigate, apply settings and connect to a server. It should also connect quickly and remain connected throughout your streaming sessions.
Cost
If you’re on a budget, cost will be an important consideration in choosing a VPN for your Fire TV Stick. VPN prices can vary from provider to provider, but you’ll typically save more money over the long-run when you commit to a longer timeframe. You can expect to pay anywhere from $30 to $100 per year for an annual VPN subscription, and anywhere from $5 to $13 for a monthly VPN subscription, depending on which VPN you go with.