The Best VPN for Gaming

A VPN is great for gaming. In fact, VPNs can make your connection speeds faster, resulting in better ping times, and protect your PC, Mac, or console from attacks over the network you're connected to.

In most cases, no, VPNs don't increase latency. Data does have to travel through additional VPN servers when you're using a VPN for gaming, but when you're on a high quality network, you won't notice a significant drop in speeds.

Moreover, you might be the victim of throttling and not even know it. "Throttling" is when your ISP artificially limits your Internet speeds. In fact, they're free to specifically target particular types of data, like the kind being spent on online gaming. Internet Service Providers can prioritize more mainstream uses of their bandwidth and leave gamers with a terrible connection. Since that connection is going through their servers, there's not much you can do about bad speeds. That is, unless you have a VPN.

A VPN, especially a gaming VPN, is able to hide all of your Internet traffic through strong encryption. Your PC or router, when connected to a VPN, sends all your traffic through an encrypted tunnel. This tunnel keeps bad actors from seeing your Internet activity, but it also keeps your ISP from knowing exactly what you're doing. That means as long as you're on the VPN network, they can't punish you for being a gamer.

Moreover, because your IP address is masked by the VPN servers, the game maker can't read your device and location data. This is especially helpful for games that require an always-on Internet connection or free to play games that make money on selling your personal information. VPNs keep your private data secure, which is why you should always use a VPN for gaming.

Every device connected to the Internet has an IP address, and it can tell somebody a lot about you. First of all, it gives anyone looking your location and ISP. If that weren't enough, it's possible to learn what operating system somebody is using with their IP. And their screen resolution.

If you don't have a VPN, your IP address can be used to make you the target of a Denial of Service (DoS) attack, meaning your connection is flooded with requests, making online gaming impossible. Or you can be blocked from visiting specific websites, posting to certain forums, or logging into particular services.

A VPN keeps your IP a secret by routing all of your traffic through a VPN server. This is another computer that does the work of communicating with other devices. Because the actual communication is coming from the VPN, that's the IP that everyone can see.

It's very easy to set up a VPN for gaming. In fact, the best VPN providers will often have apps and instructions to make this simpler.

The first thing you need to do is sign up for VPN service. VPNs have a wide range of offerings, but for gaming you want something with lots of servers near your physical location to get the best speeds. In order to get the fastest connection, it's important that they also have a solid infrastructure, so check that they're using secure servers and high quality hardware.

If you're using a Mac or Windows PC to connect to the gaming servers, then all you need to do is download the PrivadoVPN app. Log in, choose a server, and start using your VPN for gaming.

On the other hand, if you're playing on a console, you'll need to manually install the VPN on your router. Fortunately, we have step-by-step instructions on how to do that. As a bonus, every device connected to your home network can benefit from the VPN connection.

There are several gaming-specific threats that a VPN can help you with. It's sad, but some people don't want to take the time to learn how to play a game, and will cheat their way to the top instead.

The most common way to do this is by using a DDoS attack against other players in an attempt to slow down their connection. With so many network requests, your speeds can tank almost instantly, making online play impossible. VPNs run on extremely powerful systems and are made to handle a lot of Internet traffic at once. As such, being connected to a VPN lends you that protection, on top of hiding your IP to make an attack more difficult.

You might not be the target of a DDoS, but you could unwittingly be a participant. It's possible to use other systems connected to the same network to contribute to the DDoS. That can also drastically reduce your speeds in an instant, or even get you banned from certain servers. A VPN keeps your computer from being used to ruin somebody else's game.

Do you really need to ask? It's PrivadoVPN. And here's why:

1. Our servers get you better speeds than other VPNs. We own a substantial portion of our infrastructure, down to the fiber optics running to the data centers, so we have total control of how to optimize our VPN servers.
2. Our free VPN service gives you 10 gigs of data every month. All you need is a verified email. That's a lot more than most VPNs, who might also require you to sign up for newsletters or submit a payment method for a fraction of the data.
3. You'll have VPN servers to choose from, so no matter where you are, there is one nearby. If you upgrade to a premium VPN plan, you'll have hundreds of servers to choose from in cities worldwide.

If you care about Internet privacy, fast speeds, IP masking, or just playing games without worrying, then we're the best VPN for you.

Not at all. You can get all the benefits of a VPN without having to take up hard drive space that could go to games.

Instead of downloading and installing a VPN app to your device like on a computer or cellphone, you install it directly onto your home router using OpenVPN. Not all VPNs give you this option, but we think it's necessary for the best VPN experience.

In order to install a VPN on your router, you just have to follow the directions in our knowledge base. Depending on what router you have, it will slightly change the VPN installation procedure, but it's pretty easy to do.

Once you've installed the VPN on your router and logged in, all of the data traveling through it will be protected. That means that not only do your consoles get VPN protection, everything on your home network gets the same privacy benefits.