5 Best VPNs for New Zealand 2024 (Lightning-Fast) (2024)

NordVPN starts its impressive run with a collection of 20+ New Zealand servers. This is more NZ servers than CyberGhost and ExpressVPN offer but lesser than the massive server count on PureVPN.

Still, NordVPN’s NZ server count is well suited to

• Unblock local New Zealand content from anywhere.
• Get access to NZ-restricted content streams like ThreeNow, Channel 9, and TV 3.
• Obtain lower ping values to locally play games in NZ or connect to NZ servers to play with peers there.
• Encrypt your local internet connection on public Wi-Fi networks without losing access to NZ content.

To ensure the NZ servers aren’t just there for show, I tested it on ThreeNow and unblocked the “Cocaine Trade Exposed: The Invisibles” live on the platform.

I also watched a few episodes of Man vs. Wild, 90 Day Fiancé, Sister Wives, and Dr. Pimple Popper without lag.

Furthermore, I tested NordVPN’s speeds on a 25Mbps connection.

I got 22Mbps, representing a mere 12% speed drop.

Since you only need 15Mbps to stream 4K content, NordVPN can unblock content streams in 4K from New Zealand or anywhere else.

Speaking of unblocking content streams, NordVPN’s 5500+ servers in 59 countries makes it optimal for unblocking content in other regions.

This might not be as many countries as the other VPNs I listed cover, but a massive 1970+ US server library means you can unblock almost anything on the web.

For example, I connected to different NordVPN servers to unblock some content shown in the table below.

There’s more, but that gives you an overview of how NordVPN reliably unblocks content.

These speeds and server network are also incredible for gaming on NordVPN. You can connect to the NZ servers to play local games or against NZ peers online. Otherwise, you can connect to the global servers to unblock games unavailable in New Zealand, such as the original versions of Manhunt, Gal Gun, and Reservoir Dogs.

NordVPN even throws in free DDoS protection that secures your gaming activities against such attacks by hackers and disgruntled gamers.

While I didn’t have access to my gaming consoles on my New Zealand trip, NordVPN’s Smart DNS service is best suited to unblocking games on your Xbox and PlayStation consoles. For mobile devices, I successfully played some titles on NordVPN, such as

• League of Legends
• Clash of Clans
• Mobile Legends
• Fortnite, and
• PUBG

Since the New Zealand government is big on cracking down on copyright infringement, I knew they would also be blocking torrent websites.

So, I tested NordVPN for torrenting, and it didn’t disappoint.

The VPN even had specialty P2P servers optimized for torrent downloads. Thus, I kept getting the same stellar download speeds without sacrificing my security while downloading torrents.

However, NordVPN falls short during my torrent seeding tests.

Instead, I was able to seed torrents with PureVPN and ExpressVPN.

But since I don’t do much seeding anyway, I didn’t mind.

Likewise, it was impossible for NOW to detect what I was doing over its network: both the torrent sites I was visiting and the files I was downloading. This is primarily thanks to NordVPN’s AES 256-bit encryption which hid my live traffic.

Furthermore, this encryption came into play when I was using the public Wi-Fi networks at Tui Glen Reserve and Crystal Laundromat, some of the places I visited in Auckland.

On top of that, I configured the public Wi-Fi network protection on NordVPN’s iOS app to kick in whenever my device picks up a strange network automatically.

So, I could leave my Wi-Fi toggle on to take advantage of free Wi-Fi without worrying about falling victim to any of the free Wi-Fi network dangers.

Only CyberGhost and Surfshark allowed me the same settings, making them the best three picks for automatic public Wi-Fi protection.

Finally, I was concerned about NordVPN’s possible affiliations with New Zealand. After all, New Zealand is part of the 14 Eyes alliance, and it imposes data collection laws on companies in its jurisdiction.

Fortunately, NordVPN is based in Panama, one of the most privacy-friendly countries. It also has an audited no-logs policy.

In other words, all your torrenting, buffer-free streaming, unblocking, and private web surfing activity is never collected by the VPN provider.

So, even if New Zealand asks nicely, NordVPN won’t have any data to share regarding your connections.

Luckily, you can enjoy everything NordVPN offers on six simultaneous connections. This helps protect all your mobile devices, unblock content on your PC devices and share with a small group without paying extra.

Furthermore, it’s one of the cheapest providers I reviewed, only behind PureVPN and Surfshark.

Surfshark posts only one server location in New Zealand, offering multiple New Zealand IP addresses. However, that’s less than the 20+ servers NordVPN maintains in Auckland or CyberGhost’s haul.

But, during my tests, that didn’t mean much since I could unblock Line of Duty, South Seas Spearo, Slumdog Millionaire, and FBI: International on TVNZ.

I also watched some sports recaps on Sky Arena and binged some series on ThreeNow.

During these unblocking tests, I got crisp and clear image quality.

So, I tested Surfshark’s speeds on the New Zealand IP address like I did NordVPN and got a 31Mbps speed!

This is faster than my base speeds, showing that Surfshark is great at bypassing ISP throttling to unlock faster browsing speeds.

It’s also faster than the speeds NordVPN posted!

If you also want to stream content, play games, or get the best speeds with security on Surfshark, I recommend its WireGuard protocol.

It’s also mobile-friendly and didn’t consume too much of my mobile plan.

Moving on, I sometimes disconnected from the NZ server to test the 3200+ global Surfshark servers in 99 countries.

The country count on Surfshark is noticeably more than what NordVPN offers and is the largest on this list. Thus, you stand a higher chance of unblocking content from more countries (mainly African, Middle Eastern, and less-populated European countries) than with the other VPN providers.

Here, I got access to the content in the table below over the relevant servers.

I also tested Surfshark for downloading torrents, and it worked exceptionally.

Given that it posted better base speeds than NordVPN, I got even lesser speed drops when downloading some files. And I didn’t get copyright notices or issues unblocking my favorite torrent sites over the Now network, either.

But, like NordVPN, you can’t seed torrents with Surfshark.

So, I hope you’re comfortable remaining a leecher (like most of us anyway).

Even though I already guessed it, I checked and confirmed that Surfshark also uses the industry-standard AES 256-bit encryption.

This keeps your data away from ISPs like Now, Maxnet, Kordia, Compass, and the government.

Surfshark also provides a configurable automatic public Wi-Fi protection that kicks into action once your device picks up a strange Wi-Fi network.

That way, you can passively protect your smartphones and PCs while exploring every part of the beautiful NZ countryside.

However, I was concerned that Surfshark is based in the Netherlands, a member of the 14 Eyes countries with New Zealand.

Fortunately, it has undergone an independent third-party security audit for its no-logs policy. So, it doesn’t collect user data and can’t share anything with its government or the NZ government.

Still, Surfshark has more goodies under its sleeves.

For example, being the only VPN that made this list to offer unlimited simultaneous connections. Only PureVPN comes close, and even that’s limited to ten simultaneous connections.

Furthermore, it doesn’t throttle your bandwidth either and supplies those fast speeds you’ve seen in action.

On top of that, it’s the second cheapest VPN provider I reviewed, price-wise. Considering the price per user/connected device on the unlimited connection, it’s the most affordable.

PureVPN boasts the most extensive collection of New Zealand servers on this list, with 90 servers in the region. Even though the other VPNs also have their Kiwi servers in Auckland, I’d have preferred if PureVPN spread things across multiple locations in the country.

It doesn’t, but that’s not a dealbreaker either. After all, the New Zealand servers comfortably unblocked Season 6 of SEAL Team on TVNZ.

I started streaming the series over TVNZ in New Zealand and continued with PureVPN when I left the country, so it’s excellent for unblocking content.

Fortunately, PureVPN isn’t only impressive over its New Zealand servers.

It also offers 6500+ servers in 78+ countries to encrypt your local connection from more locations and unblock content from more regions than NordVPN.

In fact, it only falls behind CyberGhost on server count, and that’s saying a lot.

One of the things I liked the most about PureVPN is the quantum-resistance tech on some of its servers. Fortunately, it put this technology on the mostly-used servers in Canada, the USA, the UK, the Netherlands, Canada, and Australia.

Given that these countries are also part of the 14 Eyes, such extra protection is vital to ensure they can’t hack your live internet traffic, even with quantum-level processing computers.

Thus, I was sure that all the content I streamed over these servers, torrent files I downloaded, and unblocked websites remained my secret.

Likewise, the encryption also prevented NOW (and other NZ ISPs) from seeing what I was doing on the internet.

I tested these servers for content unblocking, and I wasn’t disappointed.

The table below shows some of the content I streamed and unblocked over PureVPN from New Zealand.

On every unblocking test, PureVPN didn’t lag – not even when I connected multiple devices to test different streaming services.

This shows that the provider supports unlimited bandwidth, but how fast is it?

So, I connected to another New Zealand server, tested its speeds, and got an impressive 23.9Mbps. This is lower than Surfshark’s results but higher than what NordVPN posted. Thus, the connection drop doesn’t prevent me from streaming 4K quality content over PureVPN!

After downloading, I saw that PureVPN allowed me to seed torrents.

So far, this makes it the first VPN I tested on this list to support that feature.

But, you can only seed torrents with the VPN’s port forwarding add-on, which increases the cost of the VPN subscription.

So, I’d recommend against it unless you need to securely seed torrents.

Even so, what happens to all the data that passes through PureVPN’s servers?

I checked, and PureVPN is the first VPN I reviewed (besides ExpressVPN) to offer a twice-audited, zero logs policy. It even goes the extra mile by setting up a surprise audit with KPMG so it can get re-audited for this claim at any time.

Thus, it’s always ready to prove that it doesn’t collect your internet connection data.

Furthermore, it’s based in the privacy-friendly British Virgin Islands, which isn’t in any data-sharing alliance with the 14 Eyes nations or other countries.

That way, NOW (or other NZ ISPs), the government, or copyright trolls can’t lean on PureVPN (or the BVI) to disclose data on what you’re doing over the VPN’s servers.

I mentioned earlier that PureVPN maintained exceptional speeds even when I connected it to multiple devices. While I didn’t use up all the available connections, this VPN allows for ten simultaneous device connections.

That covers your smartphones (iOS and Android), PCs (Mac, Windows, Linux, and Chromebook), and supported routers.

Only Surfshark does better with its simultaneous device connections.

Even so, PureVPN is the cheapest VPN provider on this list.

CyberGhost may offer the largest server library, but it doesn’t have the largest country reach nor the largest server count in NZ.

In fact, I was hoping it would have any of its 13 New Zealand servers outside Auckland. But it follows the rest of the providers on this list by providing its servers in the capital city.

After unblocking content on Neon TV via CyberGhost’s NZ servers even when I left the country, I didn’t mind having them all in the same location anymore.

Thanks to my Kiwi host providing me with their Neon TV password, I watched Spider-Man: No Way Home, Dune, Belfast, and Still Water, all titles I couldn’t get on my Netflix. I also unblocked TVNZ, Channel 9, and some ThreeNow content via CyberGhost without issues.

Before performing a speed test, I decided to see how CyberGhost fares with unblocking global content.

With the most extensive server count of 9000+ servers in 90+ countries, I knew I had my pick of servers to access the whole web.

In the table below, I’ve summarized some of the content I tested CyberGhost with (successfully).

In other words, CyberGhost is optimized for speed and will even bypass my ISP’s throttling to unlock better speeds.

That’s why I had confidence in its torrenting abilities, and it didn’t disappoint me. In fact, the VPN provider has specialized servers optimized for torrenting to supply the best torrent download speeds and security.

However, the New Zealand servers aren’t P2P-optimized.

That’s why I had to connect to a German server to download torrents safely in NZ. To be fair, though, neither PureVPN nor NordVPN also pack New Zealand servers under their P2P-optimized offerings.

Likewise, it doesn’t support torrent seeding like most other providers I tested. Apparently, it’s not worth sacrificing your privacy and security for a shot at seeding torrents.

Even with this impressive run, I wasn’t going to sacrifice my privacy for speed and reliable content unblocking. So, I checked for CyberGhost’s privacy offerings.

Fortunately, CyberGhost recently got audited for its no-logs policy, and it’s based in the data-friendly Bucharest, Romania.

Romania is so privacy-focused that it refused to sign a data-sharing deal with the EU that it’s a part of!

Also, CyberGhost allows up to seven simultaneous connections, edging out NordVPN and ExpressVPN. And while it’s not as expensive as ExpressVPN, it isn’t the cheapest provider on this list either.

ExpressVPN is one of the best VPNs for New Zealand, but the fierce competition from the other providers pushed it to the bottom of the list.

For starters, it also provides an NZ server in Auckland that offers reliable encryption and unblocks NZ content with ease.

Everything I threw at this server, including streaming RNZ video content, was never too much for it to handle.

When the Kiwi servers alone weren’t enough to unblock the content I wanted to see, I switched to the international servers to get access.

The first instance was when I had to connect to Australian servers to watch a game preview on Sky Arena and stream some live shows on 9Now TV.

Besides these two, I also had luck unblocking much more content on ExpressVPN, as you’ll see in the table below.

Surprisingly, despite the automatic obfuscation on all ExpressVPN’s servers and protocols, it didn’t lag during these unblocking tests.

So, I tested the speeds and got about 22Mbps on the same 25Mbps connection. Even though Surfshark posted better speeds while CyberGhost and NordVPN have similar speeds, I still think ExpressVPN is the fastest.

Here’s why.

Obfuscation hides your VPN traffic to make it look like regular traffic.

This is relevant when the government and your ISPs set up deep DNS-level content blocks, or firewall blocks (like NZ’s WhiteBox), to specific websites and online platforms.

So, the obfuscation disguises your VPN traffic to allow you to unblock the content.

But this also puts a larger encryption load on your network.

Thus, you should get way slower speeds than when you aren’t using obfuscation.

The other VPNs on this list suffer a massive connection drop once obfuscation is enabled. In comparison, ExpressVPN’s speeds are on par with NordVPN and CyberGhost. Once obfuscation is turned on over those other providers, the difference becomes apparent.

Considering that the New Zealand government maintains a NetClean WhiteBox server to censor the web, you’ll find ExpressVPN’s fast obfuscation handy.

Fortunately, that’s not the only good thing about this provider.

ExpressVPN impresses with its torrent download speeds.

It also offers seeding support, but unlike PureVPN, it doesn’t charge for this extra. The only catch is that you need to install ExpressVPN on your router to enjoy the port forwarding feature for seeding.

It’s also one of the biggest privacy-focused VPNs on this list.

Like PureVPN, ExpressVPN has been audited twice for its no-logs claims and is also based in the BVI. So, a combination of being outside the 14 Eyes, not answering to any country, and not collecting any data it can hand over regards your web activity.

But there are a couple of possible dealbreakers to consider here.

For starters, ExpressVPN is the most expensive provider I reviewed.

I can understand that this may be due to providing fast obfuscation on all 3000+ servers in 94 countries and protocols.

Whereas, the other VPN providers only offer relatively slower obfuscation on some servers and via the OpenVPN protocol alone. In fact, CyberGhost doesn’t even have obfuscation.

On the other hand, ExpressVPN also supports the least simultaneous device connections, limited to five. That’s one less than NordVPN, two less than CyberGhost, five less than PureVPN, and a massive difference from Surfshark.

Even so, its free port forwarding, fast obfuscation, and impressive unblocking make the difference.