Best VPNs for Iran in 2023: 5 Paid and 5 Free Services
After thousands of protesters took to the streets in cities across Iran in late December 2017 and the first week of January 2018, the government responded by shutting down access to some of the country’s most popular social media sites. The blackout affected Telegram and Instagram, and there were reports of internet slowdowns in parts of the country.
That shutdown wasn’t an isolated case. The authorities of the country fall back on this method to control people again and again.
That made me create the rating of most suitable VPNs for Iran.
5 best VPN apps for Iran
- ExpressVPN: This provider allows accessing the blacklisted sites that cover news, culture, politics, and whatnot.
- NordVPN: Six multi-logins per account are possible when you are a NordVPN subscriber! The bonuses are not over!
- Surfshark: The VPN boasts best-in-class encryption and extra security functions that will guard you against cyber threats in Iran.
- PIA: Your data will not undergo a leak in Iran thanks to this service, as it offers military-grade encryption.
- CyberGhost VPN: With CyberGhost you will unblock all the apps and websites you like. Facebook and Telegram will be at your disposal!
Top 5 free VPN apps for Iran
- ProtonVPN: This Switzerland-based VPN service offers a free package without time or traffic limits.
- Windscribe: One of its tariff plans is free. But in this case, you’ll get access to servers in 63 countries out of 63 available.
- Hide.me: One connection per account, 46 locations, and a 10GB monthly limit are available for free.
- HotspotShield: A free plan with access to only 80 location (the US one), 500MB of daily traffic, and 2Mbps speed.
- TunnelBear: An attractive app with a 500MB traffic limit per month.
Before subscribing to this or that VPN service, study their reviews to know more about their security features, speeds, servers, and other characteristics that might influence your web surfing.
Internet freedom in Iran
The Internet in Iran is stated to be highly restricted. Troubles with access, limits on content, violation of user rights are observed here.
- Internet access has been improved almost due to higher internet speeds and broadens of mobile internet, but not due to the limitation of obstacles.
- It has become known that Telegram, which is used by more than 40 million Iranians, has been blocked under the pressure of authorities in power.
- Hadi Heidari has been imprisoned for 8 months after he posted a self-made cartoon on Facebook in which he expressed sympathy to the French after the November terrorist attacks in 2015.
- In a move to increase citizen monitoring and censorship, the government has obliged the ISPs to store all the collected data for a year.
- During the election campaign of 2017, Hassan Rouhani used social media, as a result, they underwent blocking. Thus, it is prohibited to conduct online activity associated with some issues.
- Well-known Iranian internet freedom activists Nizar Zakka and Arash Zad were arrested in 2015 while visiting the country.
Besides, all the utmost steps on the way to total control conducted by the government Iran has been stated to switch to intranet by 2017.
Iran has been stated to switch to intranet by 2017.
In light of the above, if you have decided to travel to the region for business or on vacation, you need to arm your network with the very finest VPN for Iran.The tool is guaranteed by many security experts as one of the best solutions for solving numerous issues appearing on the web.
Comparison of VPN services for Iran
| ExpressVPN | NordVPN | Surfshark | PIA | CyberGhost | |
| Rating | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Jurisdiction | British Virgin Islands | Panama | The Netherlands | United States | Romania |
| No-logs policy | Independently audited | Independently audited | Independently audited | Court-proven | Independently audited |
| Speed | 100+ Mbps | 100+ Mbps | 100+ Mbps | 100+ Mbps | 100+ Mbps |
| Servers | 3000+ servers in 91 countries | 5800+ servers in 60 countries | 3200+ servers in 100 countries | 30000+ servers in 78 countries | 9299+ servers in 91 countries |
| Simultaneous connections | 5 | 6 | Unlimited | 10 | Unlimited |
| Starting price | $8.32/month | $3.19/month | $2.30/month | $2.03/month | $2.03/month |
| Review | ExpressVPN review | NordVPN review | Surfshark review | PIA review | CyberGhost review |
| Discount | Get ExpressVPN, now 35% OFF | Get NordVPN, now 68% OFF | Get Surfshark, now 83% OFF + 3 months FREE | Get PIA with 83% OFF | Get CyberGhost VPN, now 84% OFF |
Top-rated VPNs to use in Iran
After a few weeks of scrupulous testing and an in-depth study of the situation in Iran, I can conclude that ExpressVPN is the best VPN service for this country. It guarantees there are no cases its subscribers can be found by third parties when using the app.
Beneficial BVI jurisdiction, diskless servers, and proven no-logs policy serve to make you 100% anonymous on the Internet.
1. ExpressVPN
| ⭐ Rating: | |
| 🥇 Overall rank: | #7 out of #32 |
| 📖 No logs policy: | Court-proven, independently-audited |
| 💵 Price: | from $8.32/month |
| 🖥️ Servers: | 3000+ servers in 91 countries |
| 🍿 Streaming services: | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, BBC iPlayer, and more |
| 🔥 Coupons: | ExpressVPN coupon 35% OFF |
Overview
Thanks to TrustedServer technology used by ExpressVPN, the data about users are not stored.
The developers worked out applications and extensions for all platforms.
Price
ExpressVPN prices
| 1 month | 6 months | 1 year | |
| Price (monthly) | $12.95 | $9.99 | $8.32 |
| Money-back guarantee | 30 | 30 | 30 |
Conclusion
- Split tunneling to route traffic for some apps through the VPN
- Fastest servers in the market
Read more: ExpressVPN review
2. NordVPN
| ⭐ Rating: | |
| 🥇 Overall rank: | #1 out of #32 |
| 📖 No logs policy: | Independently-audited |
| 💵 Price: | From $3.19/month |
| 🖥️ Servers: | 5800+ servers in 60 countries |
| 🍿 Streaming services: | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, BBC iPlayer, and more |
| 🔥 Coupons: | NordVPN coupon 68% OFF |
Overview
This VPN provider possesses outstanding security features in very truth. Among them, you’ll find automatic kill switch, onion over VPN, and even personal IP (at extra cost).
Besides, the provider updates the list of available servers to be able to unblock any content.
Price
NordVPN prices
| 1 month | 1 year | 2 years | |
| Price (monthly) | $12.99 | $4.99 | $3.49 |
| Money-back guarantee | 30 | 30 | 30 |
Conclusion
- CyberSec function to get rid of ads and malware
- Obfuscation to unblock any sire or service
Read more: NordVPN review
3. Surfshark
| ⭐ Rating: | |
| 🥇 Overall rank: | #2 out of #32 |
| 📖 No logs policy: | Unaudited |
| 💵 Price: | From $2.30/month |
| 🖥️ Servers: | 3200+ servers in 100 countries |
| 🍿 Streaming services: | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, BBC iPlayer, and more |
| 🔥 Coupons: | Surfshark VPN coupon 83% OFF + 3 months FREE |
Overview
Strict no-logs Surfshark VPN policy in combination with a kill switch, camouflage mode, and other characteristics of the service provide its users with 100% anonymity and privacy while surfing the web.
Price
Surfshark prices
| 1 month | 1 year | 2 years | |
| Price (monthly) | $12.95 | $3.99 | $2.30 |
| Money-back guarantee | 30 | 30 | 30 |
Conclusion
- NoBorders mode for unblocking content from any part of the world
- Secure VPN protocols (OpenVPN and IKEv2/IPsec)
Read more: Surfshark review
4. Private Internet Access
| ⭐ Rating: | |
| 🥇 Overall rank: | #13 out of #32 |
| 📖 No logs policy: | Court-proven |
| 💵 Price: | From $2.03/month |
| 🖥️ Servers: | 30000+ servers in 78 countries |
| 🍿 Streaming services: | Netflix, YouTube, Hulu |
| 🔥 Coupons: | PIA now 83% off |
Overview
Private Internet Access is a VPN for any user because it offers a user-friendly interface and reliable protection. Besides, it’s possible to pay for the service with cryptocurrency to get an extra level of protection.
Price
PIA prices
| 1 month | 1 year | 3 years | |
| Price (monthly) | $11.95 | $3.33 | $2.03 |
| Money-back guarantee | 7 | 7 | 7 |
Conclusion
- Wide choice of protocols
- Instant setup
Read more: PIA review
5. CyberGhost VPN
| ⭐ Rating: | |
| 🥇 Overall rank: | #15 out of #32 |
| 📖 No logs policy: | Unaudited |
| 💵 Price: | from $2.03/month |
| 🖥️ Servers: | 9299+ servers in 91 countries |
| 🍿 Streaming services: | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, BBC iPlayer, and more |
| 🔥 Coupons: | CyberGhost VPN now 84% OFF |
Overview
You’ll like CyberGhost VPN in Iran if you aim to unblock streaming services or download torrents. It’s great for such purposes because of specially configured servers.
Price
CyberGhost VPN prices
| 1 month | 1 year | 2 years | 3 years | |
| Price (monthly) | $12.99 | $4.29 | $3.25 | $2.29 |
| Money-back guarantee | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
Conclusion
- No leaks were observed
- Automatic kill switch
Read more: CyberGhost VPN review
Free VPN providers for Iran
I’ve also studied free VPNs to use in Iran. 100% free services are not recommended because you’ll have to watch ads and some of them keep logs on users’ activity. That’s why I’ve created a rating with free plans for premium services.
Free ProtonVPN
A termless free plan by ProtonVPN is a perfect choice if you don’t have money and servers in only 68 locations are ok for you. Besides, you won’t have to watch ads on the app.
Free Windscribe
One of its packages is also free. This time, you’ll have access to servers in 63 countries but your monthly traffic will be limited to 10GB.
Windscribe VPN overview
Free Hide.me VPN
Another VPN with restricted monthly traffic (10GB) for a free plan. You can connect to the servers in 46 locations – not bad for a free package.
Hide.me VPN overview
Free HotspotShield VPN
You won’t have to pay for its Basic plan. It’ll give you access to the US-based server, 500MB daily traffic limit, and speed no more than 2Mbps.
HotspotShield overview
Free TunnelBear
This reliable service takes the 5th place in this rating because of its tiny traffic limit per month – 500MB.
TunnelBear overview
FAQ
How does a VPN for Iran work?
A top-rated VPN service provides its customers with features that are of high use in such censored countries as Iran.
When connecting to the internet through one of the VPN servers your real address is to be shifted for a new one, so that neither your ISP nor other online users can see your authentic IP.
Besides, having chosen one of the US-based servers, you can access any geo-restricted content. Thus, if you need to unblock Facebook or communicate via Telegram while staying in Iran, all you should do is to connect to the internet through one of the US servers.
Apart from the IP change, all your traffic is to be routed through a secure tunneling created with the help of up-to-date protocols. Due to the protocols and long bit keys, all the transferring data is to be encoded and thus unavailable for adversaries and computer fraudsters. In such a way any vulnerable data is to be completely protected by the service.
So, as you see, the best VPN service for Iran is a tool, which is to make your network defended from unauthorized interference and government surveillance. Moreover, the app is optimized for an average user too, which gives you the possibility to get professional assistance from the support team any time you need it.
How to choose the best VPN for Iran?
After a person has decided to subscribe to a VPN in Iran, it is necessary to study some VPN characteristics in order not to get into a trap and find the provider that meets all user’s demands. Of course, there are lots of providers like Betternet, Whoer, or HideMyAss which have a pretty good reputation among netizens.
Here’s what to take into consideration:
How to use a VPN for Iran free?
Want to be protected while surfing the internet but DON’T want to pay for a VPN subscription?It is possible if a VPN …… has a period of a free trial.
The majority of reliable VPN providers give their potential clients a chance to test the service before paying for it. What is the benefit for the VPN? After a person feels all the facilities of a reliable VPN for Iran first-hand, he/she can hardly stop using it.The period of a free trial may last from 24 hours up to 30 days.… offers a money-back guarantee.
In case a person is dissatisfied with the services provided by a VPN, one can take advantage of the money-back guarantee feature. … provides users with a free plan.
Free VPN plans are usually limited in its facilities and offer a limited number of servers, IPs, functions, and devices per 1 account. That is the reason why free plans are not so popular among netizens.… is 100% free.
There are VPN providers that protect users’ devices and change their IP addresses without payment. However, such free VPN for Iran is not without weak sides. The speed and bandwidth of free VPN providers are usually limited, which slows down streaming and makes VoIP communication scarcely possible.
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