Overview
This content originally appeared on Mashable for a US audience and has been adapted for the UK audience.
If there’s anything better than changing into pajamas, squeezing yourself between the crisp, slightly cold sheets of your bed, and plowing through an entire season of 90 Day Fiancé after a busy day, we have yet to experience it.
This gloriously trashy reality series is a guilty pleasure for a lot of people out there, and it’s just one of literally thousands of TV shows and movies available on Hulu, the bright green-branded streaming service founded in 2007.
Hulu provides on-demand access to a stacked lineup that includes hit movies like Annihilation and Sorry to Bother You; cult-favourite shows like Rick and Morty and This Is Us; and exclusive originals like Shrill and The Handmaid’s Tale.
Unlike Netflix, that has expanded internationally, Hulu’s library is strictly limited to viewers in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and U.S. military bases. That’s because Hulu doesn’t own international streaming rights for any of its shows and movies; it only holds the U.S. distribution licenses. If Hulu were to expand the availability of its content abroad, it would have to make new deals with distributors to acquire streaming rights in other regions — and that requires a lot of negotiating and money-spending.
There’s still a chance Hulu will go global. But until then, those attempting to watch Hulu from outside the U.S. will have to circumvent Hulu’s geo-restrictions with the help of something called a virtual private network, or VPN.
Do you need a VPN to watch Hulu?
To prevent users outside the U.S. from accessing its shows and movies, Hulu requires two things of its accountholders: a U.S.-issued form of payment and a U.S. IP (internet protocol) address — that’s the numerical ID containing information about your location and web activity that gets assigned to your device by your internet search provider, or ISP, when you connect to a local network. It’s like a house’s physical address, but for your computer/smartphone/tablet.
That IP address part is where a VPN comes into play. For the uninitiated, a VPN is a service that creates a safe, secure connection over the internet by routing your device’s traffic through its own private servers. Known as encryption, this process shields your personal information and online activities from the prying eyes of your ISP and — this is key — creates a temporary IP address that hides your true location.
You can probably guess where we’re going with this: If you’re trying to watch Hulu from outside the U.S., you can have a VPN spoof your IP address and trick Hulu into thinking you’re based in the U.S. Simple, right?
Actually, not so much. Because here’s the thing: Hulu isn’t dumb.
Does Hulu block users with a VPN?
Just like Netflix, Hulu prohibits its accountholders from using VPNs in an effort to protect its licensed content, and it’ll slap you with an error message if it thinks you’re trying to use one to watch its content. Its tactics are threefold:
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Hulu blocks anonymous IP addresses whose geographical location it can’t verify
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Hulu checks your IP address against its own blacklist of known VPN servers
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Hulu keeps a lookout for IP addresses with a large number of users. If there are too many people sharing any given server, Hulu will assume you’re all using a VPN and shut that shit down.
If a VPN provider wants to unblock Hulu for its users, it needs to steer clear of Hulu’s blacklist while maintaining a sizeable U.S. server network. These are no easy feats, so the list of VPNs that can consistently bypass Hulu’s ferocious firewall is pretty short.
What is the best VPN for watching Hulu?
Need help making sense of all this? Below, we’ve broken down the pros and cons of VPNs that are currently capable of unblocking Hulu and keeping you anonymous online. That way, you can make an informed decision on how to spend your hard-earned cash.
These are the best VPN for watching Hulu in 2024.
Sometimes things that are expensive are worse, but not ExpressVPN. For a couple of pounds more each month than you would spend on another provider’s subscription, you can get the perfect blend of security, speed, and support — on up to five devices at once.
ExpressVPN users can take advantage of a kill switch and ultra-strong AES 256-bit encryption to avoid being tracked online. Adding to that protection is the fact that ExpressVPN is based in the British Virgin Islands — a country without mandated data retention laws — and promises to uphold strict no-logging policy when it comes to both your activity and your connection.
ExpressVPN gives you the option of enabling a split tunneling tool that routes only some of your traffic through its private servers, which prevents bandwidth bottlenecks that might otherwise slow down your connection. What’s more, its huge global network of more than 3,000 servers features plenty of U.S. locations — meaning if you ever encounter a too-busy server while you’re trying to reach Hulu abroad, there will likely be others to choose from.
In addition to live chat and email assistance that’s available around the clock, ExpressVPN makes available to its users an active blog filled with how-to guides, troubleshooting tips, general security advice, and helpful, easy-to-understand infographics. It’s an excellent resource no matter your VPN skill level, and a big part of why we believe ExpressVPN is a solid choice not just for Hulu, but for all your VPN needs.
While ExpressVPN doesn’t offer dedicated (single-use) IP addresses or Hulu-specific servers, it promises to rotate all of its IP addresses regularly to increase its users’ anonymity and prevent Hulu from blocking its service.
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You want U.S. servers? NordVPN’s got plenty: Out of its 5,500-server global network, nearly 1,600 of them are based in the States, and none of them are virtual. In other words, watching Hulu with NordVPN means never having to worry about running into connection-crippling bottlenecks that can happen when a shared server tries to accommodate too many users at once.
If you’re really, really worried about having your IP address flagged by Hulu, know that NordVPN also gives its users the option of adding a dedicated/single-use IP address to their plans.
On the security front, NordVPN does its very best to quell your privacy concern with double VPN encryption, DNS leak protection, an automatic kill switch, a built-in ad/suspicious website blocker, and an option to route your traffic through the Onion network with every plan. Moreover, its Panama headquarters affords you a viewing experience free of mandatory data retention laws and outside the jurisdiction of the 14 Eyes alliance, and there’s a strict “no-logging” policy that applies to all of its users’ online activities.
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A VPN will keep you anonymous while you’re watching Hulu, but no matter where you are, it won’t let you watch Hulu for free — you’ll still need a Hulu subscription.
If you’re not super thrilled about the idea of paying for a VPN on top of your Hulu plan, CyberGhost VPN is your friend: It lays claim to many of the same security features as premium providers like ExpressVPN — 256-bit encryption, unlimited bandwidth, an automatic kill switch, a no-logging policy — but costs as little as £2 a month with a multi-year plan.
CyberGhost is unique in that it maintains Hulu-optimised servers; when you connect to one of them, CyberGhost’s software automatically conceals your IP address and replaces it with one from its system that’s based in the U.S. Its server network includes 844 American locations in 11 cities, so there’s a slim chance yours will be too crowded for streaming.
As great as CyberGhost seems up front, there are two reasons we highly recommend taking it for a test drive before you commit to a paid plan: Its apps are known to be slow to connect to its servers, for one thing. It’s also partially based in Germany, a member of an intelligence-sharing alliance in which the government can force companies under its authority to turn over customer data. You do have the option of signing up for a more expensive CyberGhost plan that includes its ultra-secure “NoSpy” servers, which are located at its data centre in Romania (a non-14 Eyes country), but none of them are optimised for Hulu as far as we can tell.
Make good use of CyberGhost’s one-day free trial and, if necessary, its 45-day money-back guarantee.
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Surfshark has made waves in the VPN world with affordable subscriptions, above-average customer support, and a well-rounded suite of security features that includes a kill switch, double encryption, and a private DNS and leak protection.
The main reason that Surfshark is on this list is that it’s the only decent Hulu-unblocking provider offering unlimited simultaneous connections across all sorts of devices, including Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, Linux, FireTV, and browsers like Chrome and Firefox. For families, roommates, and other types of shared households with lots of different TV tastes, it should be a go-to.
The biggest drawback to using Surfshark is its small server network: There are just over 1,000 of them, and that relatively low number means you’ve got a pretty good chance of encountering sluggish servers. On the plus side, every single one of its servers can bypass Hulu’s VPN ban — or so the company claims.
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No matter which VPN you subscribe to, your connection probably won’t work perfectly everywhere and every time. That’s why it’s so important to choose a provider with a reputation for excellent customer service. Enter: PureVPN.
Based in Hong Kong, this 14-year-old provider offers around the clock assistance via live chat, support ticket, and email — and according to the VPN review site BestVPN.co, its average response time for the latter clocks in at just under 40 minutes.
PureVPN operates a self-managed network of more than 2,000 servers in over 140 countries, including more than 650 in the U.S. No matter which one you connect to, you’ll enjoy split tunneling, a kill switch, 256-bit encryption, a built-in ad blocker, and DNS and IPv6 leak protection. Unfortunately, that suite of tools comes at a price: PureVPN’s connection speeds are known to be a little on the slow side.
We should also note that PureVPN got some heat in 2017 for handing over a user’s account information to the FBI as part of a cyberstalking case. It’s since updated its privacy policy and undergone an independent audit that verified its no-logging promise as just that, but whether you trust PureVPN (or any VPN provider, really) to keep your data secure is ultimately your call to make.
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Private Internet Access is a seriously robust service that should suit beginners and experienced users. This streaming-friendly VPN provides powerful encryption, strong connection speeds, and a massive server network. You get everything you need to unblock Hulu.
The app is easy to use and stylishly designed, and you get 10 simultaneous connections with a single account. There is no free version and logging in can be a bit clunky, but this shouldn’t stop you from considering Private Internet Access.
If you’re looking for a comprehensive VPN that unlocks leading streaming services whilst protecting your data, Private Internet Access does the job and more.
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Joseph joined Mashable as the UK Shopping Editor in 2018. He worked for a number of print publications before making the switch to the glittery world of digital media, and now writes about everything from coffee machines to VPNs.
Haley Henschel is a Chicago-based Senior Shopping Reporter at Mashable who reviews and finds deals on popular tech, from laptops to gaming consoles and VPNs. She has years of experience covering shopping holidays and can tell you what’s actually worth buying on Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day. Her work has also explored the driving forces behind digital trends within the shopping sphere, from dupes to 12-foot skeletons.
Haley received a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and honed her sifting and winnowing skills at The Daily Cardinal. She previously covered politics for The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, investigated exotic pet ownership for Wisconsin Watch, and blogged for some of your favorite reality stars.
In her free time, Haley enjoys playing video games, drawing, taking walks on Lake Michigan, and spending time with her parrot (Melon) and dog (Pierogi). She really, really wants to get back into horseback riding. You can follow her on X at @haleyhenschel or reach her via email at [email protected].
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