Updated on: April 26, 2024
Short on time? Here’s the best VPN for Safari in 2024
- 🥇ExpressVPN: Comes with high-end security features, fast speeds, excellent P2P and streaming support, and easy-to-use iOS and macOS apps. Moreover, ExpressVPN has servers in 105 countries and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
While Safari is secure, it doesn’t protect your online data from hackers. Unfortunately, third parties can still monitor your web traffic and even try to target it with cyber attacks.
A VPN solves that issue by encrypting your traffic, but not all VPNs work with Safari. That’s because many VPNs have very poor macOS and iOS apps, cause noticeable slowdowns, or just lack essential security and privacy features.
Luckily, after weeks of thorough testing, I found 5 great VPNs for Safari. My favorite is ExpressVPN since it has excellent apps for iOS and macOS devices, the fastest speeds on the market, and really great security and privacy features.
Quick summary of the best VPNs for Safari:
- 1.🥇 ExpressVPN — Best overall VPN for Safari in 2024 with fast speeds and user-friendly macOS & iOS apps.
- 2.🥉 Private Internet Access — Secure VPN for browsing torrenting sites & sharing P2P files on the Safari browser.
- 3.🥈 CyberGhost VPN — Beginner-friendly VPN with convenient automation settings for the Safari browser.
- 4. NordVPN — Great VPN for Safari with tons of high-end security features for safe browsing.
- 5. Surfshark — Budget-friendly VPN for Safari with intuitive apps (good for new users).
🥇1. ExpressVPN — Best VPN for Safari in 2024
ExpressVPN is the best VPN for Safari in 2024. It lacks a Safari extension, but that’s not an issue — you can just use its macOS or iOS apps instead, which are super intuitive. Plus, this way you secure all your device’s web traffic, not just the browser’s traffic. This is also why we’ve ranked ExpressVPN as the top VPN for Macs and iOS.
ExpressVPN has really user-friendly, feature-rich apps for Safari users. The iOS and macOS apps are intuitive, with simple navigation that makes it easy to connect to a server with just one click. Plus, they’re super easy to install — I downloaded the apps on my phone and computer in under a minute.
I was really impressed with ExpressVPN’s speeds when I tested it with Safari. When I browsed the web, websites loaded instantly. Plus, HD and 4K videos loaded instantly, and I never experienced any buffering (not even on distant servers).
ExpressVPN offers really great support for streaming and torrenting. Customer support confirmed it works with 100+ streaming platforms, including Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Max, and more. It’s also good for downloading since it allows P2P traffic on all servers and works with popular P2P clients like BitTorrent and Vuze.
ExpressVPN is really safe and secure. It has several advanced security features, including perfect forward secrecy (changes the encryption key for each session so hackers can’t access information about past or future sessions), full protection against WebRTC, DNS, and IPv6 leaks, and an audited no-logs policy to ensure the VPN doesn’t store any of your connection data.
What’s more, you also get other cool perks. First, ExpressVPN has Threat Manager, which prevents you from accessing malicious sites on Safari. It also comes with split-tunneling, which lets you customize which apps use the VPN and which don’t. It also comes with an ad blocker, which filters out most ads and stops them from loading and appearing on your browser.
ExpressVPN offers plans starting at $6.67 / month. Plus, it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Bottom Line:
ExpressVPN is an excellent choice for Safari users, as it has excellent iOS and macOS apps, super-fast speeds, really good support for streaming and torrenting, and great security and privacy features. Plus, it has additional features like Threat Manager and split-tunneling. It also comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Read the full ExpressVPN review
🥉2. Private Internet Access — Great for P2P File Sharing & Accessing P2P Sites on Safari
Private Internet Access (PIA) is excellent for torrenting since it allows P2P traffic on servers in all 91 countries. Plus, it comes with port forwarding, which allows you to connect to more peers for faster speeds, and SOCKS5 proxy support, which also provides faster speeds but doesn’t encrypt your traffic.
In addition, I really like the MACE feature, which is the best ad blocker on the market. It’s available on the macOS app, and you can use it while accessing P2P sites on Safari to avoid annoying ads on torrent trackers and also avoid malicious P2P websites.
The VPN also has other great security features. It comes with perfect forward secrecy, full leak protection, an audited no-logs policy, and open-source apps so that anyone can check the code for vulnerabilities.
And the VPN’s macOS and iOS apps are really intuitive and customizable. You get access to different options, such as movable widgets, selecting or deselecting features with a single click, and quick-connecting to one of the 6 most recently-used servers. Plus, the VPN allows unlimited connections, meaning you can use it on as many devices as you want.
While testing PIA’s speeds, I experienced little to no lag across all online activities. Websites loaded instantly, and HD videos streamed without buffering. However, 4K content took 2 seconds to load, but they didn’t buffer at all once they started playing.
PIA is great for streaming, too, as it supports over 30 popular streaming sites, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+. That said, I prefer ExpressVPN for streaming since it works with 100+ streaming platforms.
Private Internet Access has affordable plans starting at $2.03 / month. Also, it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Bottom Line:
Private Internet Access is great for torrenting on Safari. It allows P2P traffic on all servers and provides access to the best VPN ad blocker on the market. It also provides other cool security features, very intuitive iOS and macOS apps, and fast speeds. Its plans are affordable and backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Read the full Private Internet Access review
🥈3. CyberGhost VPN — Beginner-Friendly VPN With Convenient Automation for Safari
CyberGhost VPN is a simple-to-use VPN that’s suitable for beginners. Its macOS and iOS apps have incredibly user-friendly interfaces that have a large power button for connecting to the VPN. The apps also provide helpful explanations for all their features, so you’ll easily figure out how to use all the different options. I found the installation and setup process to be a breeze (it took me less than 3 minutes to install the app and make an account).
And on the macOS app, you also get Smart Rules, a feature that allows you to customize and automate your VPN connections. For instance, you can configure the VPN client to automatically launch the Safari browser after it connects to a server. Similarly, you can configure it to automatically connect to a server when you access an unsecured Wi-Fi network.
CyberGhost VPN offers great speeds. In my tests, all websites loaded instantly, HD videos played without buffering, and 4K videos loaded in less than 5 seconds. Though these are really good results, ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access are slightly faster.
I’m happy with CyberGhost’s streaming support as well. It has 100+ streaming servers that are optimized to be used with 50+ streaming platforms, including top ones like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and BBC iPlayer.
CyberGhost also offers strong security and privacy features. It has strong leak protection, RAM-only servers that wipe data with every server reboot, and perfect forward secrecy.
CyberGhost VPN’s plans are cheap (as low as $2.19 / month), and it covers long-term purchases with a 45-day refund and monthly purchases with a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Bottom Line:
CyberGhost VPN is a really user-friendly VPN — it has very beginner-friendly iOS and macOS apps. In addition, its macOS app provides convenient automation scenarios that can be configured to work with Safari. Also, the VPN has very good streaming support and good speeds. All of its plans are affordable, and there’s a 45-day refund for long-term purchases.
Read the full CyberGhost VPN review
4. NordVPN — Great Safari VPN for Browsing Securely & Privately
NordVPN comes with plenty of advanced security features, making it an excellent choice for Safari users who prioritize online security and privacy. The VPN has an audited no-logs policy, full leak protection, perfect forward secrecy, and uses RAM-only servers.
It also has other great security features like a double VPN option that sends your connection through 2 servers for double the encryption. Plus, its Threat Protection efficiently blocks ads and prevents access to malicious Safari websites. I also really like the Dark Web Monitor tool that alerts you if your email and personal information have been leaked on the dark web.
I really enjoy using NordVPN’s iOS and macOS apps. They’re both really user-friendly with an intuitive interface. Plus, there are helpful explanations for all settings and features, so you never feel lost using the VPN.
I was also happy with NordVPN’s speeds in my tests. All the websites I visited on Safari loaded instantly, and I was able to stream HD videos without any buffering. Plus, 4K videos took less than 5 seconds to load.
NordVPN is good for streaming and torrenting. Customer support confirmed it works with over 10 popular platforms like Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and Disney+. However, if streaming is your priority, I recommend choosing ExpressVPN or CyberGhost VPN, as they work with way more streaming services. NordVPN is good for torrenting since it has 4,500+ P2P servers, and it also comes with SOCKS5 proxy support.
NordVPN comes with monthly and yearly plans starting at $3.09 / month. Each plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Bottom Line:
NordVPN is a secure VPN for Safari. It includes several advanced security features plus extras like Threat Protection and Dark Web Monitor. It also has great iOS and macOS apps, fast speeds, great streaming and torrenting support, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
5. Surfshark — Budget-Friendly VPN for Safari
Surfshark is a budget-friendly VPN for Safari. Its plans are cheap since they start at only $2.29 / month, and the VPN provides very good value as well.
Its iOS and macOS apps are also really good, with quick-connect options and organized server lists. Plus, installing the apps only took me a couple of minutes. Surfshark also allows unlimited connections, which is convenient for big families that use Safari on Apple devices.
Plus, it has good streaming and torrenting support. It works with top streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime — still, it doesn’t work with Disney+ (unlike ExpressVPN or Private Internet Access). That said, it has great torrenting support since it allows P2P file sharing on all servers and works with all the top torrenting clients like uTorrent and Vuze.
Surfshark offers multiple advanced security features, including perfect forward secrecy, RAM-only servers, and an independently audited no-logs policy. Unfortunately, it only has DNS leak protection (but it still never leaked my data in my tests).
Surfshark has decent speeds, but it’s still not as fast as ExpressVPN or Private Internet Access. In my tests, websites loaded within 2 seconds, HD videos took around 4 seconds to load, and 4K videos loaded in around 5 seconds.
Surfshark also comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee — so you can easily test the VPN risk-free.
Bottom Line:
Surfshark is a great Safari VPN if you’re on a tight budget. It has really affordable plans and a great range of features including user-friendly apps, unlimited connections, streaming and torrenting support, advanced security features, and decent speeds. Plus, it has a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Read the full Surfshark review
Comparison of the Best VPNs for Safari in 2024
How to Choose the Best VPN for Safari in 2024
- Pick a VPN with good iOS and macOS apps. Very few VPNs have extensions for Safari, so it’s important to pick a VPN that has intuitive and feature-rich apps for iOS and macOS. All of my top picks have very good iOS and macOS apps.
- Look for strong security. Ensure your VPN offers industry-standard security features like 256-bit AES encryption, strong leak protection, a no-logs policy, and a kill switch to prevent data leaks.
- Prioritize fast speeds. Though all VPNs affect your speeds because of encryption, a good VPN should provide fast and stable internet connections for Safari users. ExpressVPN has the fastest speeds on this list for browsing, streaming, and downloading.
- Pick a good VPN for streaming and torrenting. All the VPNs I recommend work with popular streaming sites like Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and Amazon Prime. Also, they allow P2P traffic on most of their servers.
- Select a VPN that offers good value for money. Look for a VPN that provides good value for money. Every VPN on my list offers affordable plans, additional features like an ad blocker or split-tunneling, and generous money-back guarantees.
Top Brands That Didn’t Make the Cut
- PrivateVPN. Although PrivateVPN offers strong security, great streaming and torrenting support, and affordable long-term plans, it’s not as feature-rich as the other VPNs on my list.
- IPVanish. IPVanish has good speeds, strong security, and support for unlimited connections. That said, it’s not good for streaming, as it isn’t compatible with most top streaming services.
- TunnelBear. TunnelBear’s user-friendly interface and solid security features make it a good overall VPN. It even allows split-tunneling on iOS devices, which most VPNs don’t support. However, it isn’t as fast as the others on my list.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will using a VPN affect my internet speed in Safari?
Yes, using a VPN affects your internet speed to some extent, as your data needs to be encrypted and travels a longer distance to the VPN server, which takes time. However, with a high-quality VPN service, this impact is usually minimal and may not even be noticeable. ExpressVPN is my top choice since it has the fastest speeds on the market.
Can I use a free VPN with Safari?
Yes, you can use a free VPN with Safari, but I don’t generally recommend it. That’s because free VPNs often have limitations such as data caps, fewer server options, slower speeds, and a lack of advanced features.
Paid premium VPN services offer much better features and functionality, as they provide very fast speeds, unlimited data, consistent access to streaming platforms, and very good security and privacy features.
What’s the best VPN for Safari?
My top pick for Safari is ExpressVPN. Even though it doesn’t have a Safari extension, it still encrypts your entire device’s traffic via its VPN app. Plus, it has very intuitive macOS and iOS apps, it’s super fast, and it’s also really good for streaming and torrenting.
How does a VPN protect my privacy when using Safari?
A VPN protects your privacy on Safari by encrypting your internet connection. When you connect to a VPN server, all the data you send and receive travels through an encrypted tunnel, which prevents outsiders like hackers, ISPs, or even government agencies from seeing what you’re doing online.
Furthermore, a VPN masks your real IP address and makes it appear as if you’re browsing from the location of the VPN server you’re connected to. This makes it much more difficult for websites, advertisers, or other online trackers to monitor your activities and collect data about you.
