Amazon Prime Video has a huge library of shows and movies, however many of these are restricted by the country or region you live in. A VPN is a popular means of bypassing these geographical restrictions and opening up the wider Amazon Prime library. Using a VPN allows you to watch shows from other country catalogs or connect to your home version of Amazon Prime when traveling abroad.
Unfortunately, Amazon Prime is very effective at blocking VPNs with very few providers consistently beating the VPN ban. We’ll show those that still work in our round-up of the best VPNs for Amazon Prime Video.
We’ll also walk you through exactly how to use a VPN to watch Amazon Prime Video and reveal VPNs that don’t work.
If you don’t want to read the full article, here’s a summary of our recommended VPNs.
We found these to be the best VPNs for watching Amazon Prime Video:
- ExpressVPN Our top pick for Amazon Prime. Reliably unblocks Amazon Prime Video allowing access to content in other countries with no restrictions. Super-fast connection for streaming. Includes 30 day money-back guarantee.
- NordVPN Best budget VPN for Amazon Prime Video. Works with Amazon Prime Video and many other streaming channels. Very fast, zero logs, and strong encryption.
- Surfshark Solid provider that’s great for streaming video. Works with Prime Video while keeping you safe.
- CyberGhost Prime Video servers clearly marked in the app. Great security and extremely fast.
- PrivateVPN Newer provider offering great speeds, no logs, and access to Amazon Prime Video from abroad
- Hotspot Shield Low cost provider that unblocks Amazon Prime Video and lots of other streaming sites. Great speeds and strong security.
Every Amazon Prime account comes with a subscription to Amazon Prime Video. The popularity of the United States’ most popular e-commerce company translates to a huge number of viewers on its premium video streaming service, which claims in excess of 100 million subscribers. Unfortunately, a lot of the most popular content on Prime Video is only available in the US. If you’re spending time outside of the country, you’ll need to trick Amazon into thinking you’re on US soil to unblock it, or else get error 4601:
That’s where a VPN, or virtual private network, comes in. A VPN encrypts all your internet traffic and routes it through a middleman server in a location of your choosing. In this case, the location would be somewhere in the United States so you can watch Amazon Prime Video from abroad. VPNs will allow you to watch Amazon Prime and Instant Video from outside the US on a Windows PC, Mac OSX, iPhone, iPad, Android, and Linux.
In the past, Amazon looked the other way when it came to VPN users. Most VPNs with servers in the US would allow users to bypass the geographic restriction. That’s no longer the case, and Amazon’s firewall has gotten much stricter as of our 2018 testing, and attempting to stream through a blacklisted VPN results in error 1042:
Still, a handful of VPNs are able to bypass Amazon’s VPN ban. We check these VPNs regularly as Amazon continues to block new VPNs. With that in mind, we’ve curated a list of the best VPNs for Amazon Prime Video from outside the US based on the following criteria:
- Fast and stable speeds
- DNS leak protection
- Plenty of servers in the US
- Apps available for Kindle Fire tablets and Amazon Fire Stick / Fire TV
- Beat the Amazon Prime VPN block
Best VPNs for Amazon Prime Video
These 6 VPNs evade the Amazon Prime VPN ban and still work.
1. ExpressVPN
Jul 2020
Unblocks Amazon PrimeTested Jul 2020
Apps Available:
- PC
- Mac
- IOS
- Android
- Linux
Website: www.ExpressVPN.com
Money-back guarantee: 30 DAYS
ExpressVPN is one of the best all-around VPNs on the market featuring fast speeds, solid security, well-designed apps, and excellent customer service. Amazon Prime Video streams great on select US servers. These change occasionally, so we recommend hitting up ExpressVPN’s 24-hour live chat support to ask which servers currently work with Prime Video. In over 3 years of monitoring the service, we’ve found ExpressVPN to be the most consistent VPN to unblock Amazon Prime, making it our top recommendation.
Subscribers can connect up to three simultaneous devices. ExpressVPN has a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can try it risk free.
Mobile apps are available for iOS and Android, including on the Amazon app store for Kindle Fire tablets. Windows, MacOS, and Linux apps are also available.
Pros:
- Unblocks Amazon Prime as well as Netflix, Hulu, and BBC iPlayer
- Fast and reliable connections
- 2,000+ servers in 94 countries
- No logs of personal data and great security
- Excellent customer support
Cons:
- Some services offer more configuration options for power users
Our score:
Read our full review of ExpressVPN here.
2. NordVPN
Unblocks Amazon PrimeTested Jul 2020
Apps Available:
- PC
- Mac
- IOS
- Android
- Linux
Website: www.NordVPN.com
Money-back guarantee: 30 DAYS
NordVPN operates a handful of servers optimized for Amazon Prime. You can either contact the live chat support or search through the official knowledge base to learn which servers to use. Kindle Fire HD users will need to find the Android APK on a third-party site as the Android app isn’t available on the Amazon app store.
NordVPN uses strong encryption and sticks to a true zero logs policy, so your privacy is protected. Speeds are fast enough in most cases to stream the latest season of The Grand Tour in HD. You can connect up to six devices at one time on a single subscription and use any of them to catch up on The Tick.
Apps are available for Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android.
Pros:
- Servers specifically optimized for Amazon Prime Video
- Up to 6 devices can connect at once
- Strong encryption and no logs for great privacy protection
- Live chat support
Cons:
- Can be slow to connect
- No app available for Kindle Fire HD on the app store
Our score:
Read our full review of NordVPN here.
3. Surfshark
Unblocks Amazon PrimeTested Jul 2020
Apps Available:
- PC
- Mac
- IOS
- Android
- Linux
Website: www.Surfshark.com
Money-back guarantee: 30 DAYS
Surfshark is a VPN that caters to cord cutters who want to unblock streaming sites from abroad. Amazon Prime Video is one such streaming service, along with Netflix, Hulu, and BBC iPlayer. Surfshark allows you to connect an unlimited number of devices at once, making it a great budget option for a family or group of housemates. Firestick users can find the Fire TV app by searching for Surfshark on their devices.
Encryption is strong and a kill switch ensures no unencrypted data leaves your device if the VPN connection happens to drop. The company doesn’t store any logs and allows P2P filesharing. Surfshark works in China. Customer support is on call around the clock.
Apps are available for Windows, MacOS, iOS, Android, and Amazon Fire TV.
Pros:
- Unblocks Prime Video and other streaming channels
- Unlimited devices
- Works in China
Cons:
- A relatively small server network
- Some slow speeds
Our score:
Read our full Surfshark review.
4. CyberGhost
Unblocks Amazon PrimeTested Jul 2020
Apps Available:
- PC
- Mac
- IOS
- Android
- Linux
Website: www.Cyberghost.com
Money-back guarantee: 45 DAYS
CyberGhost recently ramped up its unblocking efforts and added several popular streaming sites to its roster, including Amazon Prime Video. The Windows and Android versions even let you select a server based on which streaming service it can unblock, so there’s no need to contact customer support or guess at which ones work. You should have no problem watching Man in the High Castle or other titles on Amazon Prime.
Speeds are excellent according to our tests, and CyberGhost has been adding new servers to its network faster than we can keep articles updated, suffice to say it’s well over 5,000 in some 90+ countries now. Encryption is strong and the provider keeps no logs of users’ activity nor IP address.
Apps are available for Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android.
Pros:
- Unblocks Amazon Prime Video
- Excellent speeds in our tests
- Strict zero-logs policy for total privacy
- Support available via live chat
Cons:
- Doesn’t work in UAE or China
- No Linux GUI
Our score:
Read our full CyberGhost review.
5. PrivateVPN
Unblocks Amazon PrimeTested Jul 2020
Apps Available:
- PC
- Mac
- IOS
- Android
- Linux
Website: www.PrivateVPN.com
Money-back guarantee: 30 DAYS
PrivateVPN is a smaller and newer provider, but keeps its stride when walking among giants. It has unblocked everything we’ve thrown at it thus far, including Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and, of course, Amazon Prime Video. Not all servers work with Prime Video, but some do. You can play trial and error or just message PrivateVPN’s customer support to ask which server location to connect to.
PrivateVPN scored well in our speed tests, despite the relatively small number of servers. Encryption is uncrackable and no logs are stored. A single subscription allows you to connect up to six devices at the same time. The Android app is available on Google Play, and an app specifically made for Amazon Fire TV devices can be found in Amazon’s app store.
Apps are available for Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android.
Pros:
- Unblocks Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, and BBC iPlayer
- Scores highly in speed tests
- Up to six concurrent connections
- No logs stored and strong encryption
Cons:
- Some previous issues unblocking Amazon Prime Video
- Smaller network of servers than rivals
- Live chat support isn’t 24/7
Our score:
Read our full PrivateVPN review.
6. Hotspot Shield
Unblocks Amazon PrimeTested Jul 2020
Apps Available:
- PC
- Mac
- IOS
- Android
- Linux
Website: www.Hotspotshield.com
Money-back guarantee: 45 DAYS
Hotspot Shield is another excellent provider for Amazon Prime Video and streaming in general. It has excellent speeds — in some cases, it’s even faster than without a VPN. It unblocks a range of services, including Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and multiple Netflix libraries. With servers in 26 US cities, if one doesn’t work, you can switch to another. If you run into issues, live chat customer support is available 24/7 to help.
Hotspot Shield has your back when it comes to security with 256-bit encryption, perfect forward secrecy, DNS and WebRTC leak protection, a kill switch (Windows only), and automatic wifi protection. This provider uses its own Catapult Hydra protocol, which is reportedly responsible for the excellent speeds enjoyed by users. Hotspot Shield keeps no logs that could be used to identify you.
Apps are available for Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android.
Pros:
- Unblocks Amazon Prime Video and other sites
- Allows you to connect 5 devices at a time
- Secure, reliable connections
- Live-chat support
Cons:
- Doesn’t work with home routers
- Bitcoin not accepted
Our score:
Read our full Hotspot Shield review.
How to unblock Amazon Prime Video with a VPN
Once you’ve selected and signed up for one of the VPNs above, follow these instructions to unblock Prime Video.
Here’s how to use Amazon Prime Video with a VPN:
- Download and install the VPN app for your device. We recommend ExpressVPN.
- Run the app and select a server location in the US. Note that not all servers will work, so if they aren’t labelled, you might need to consult your provider’s website or customer service to ask which one to connect to.
- Hit the Connect button
- Once the connection has been established, open the video you want to watch. It should now be unblocked!
Note that Amazon is a bit confusing in how Prime users access videos. You can find TV shows and movies from the main Amazon website and watch from there, or access them from primevideo.com. We had better luck going through Amazon, but if your VPN doesn’t work for one, just try the other.
VPN’s that don’t unblock Prime Video
Amazon Prime detects and blocks many VPNs. The following VPNs do not unblock Amazon Prime Video from outside of the United States, according to our tests or by their own admission:
- Zenmate
- PureVPN
- LiquidVPN
- Hola
- VyprVPN
- IPVanish
- Tunnelbear
- CactusVPN
- Private Internet Access (PIA)
- Buffered
- HideMyAss
- Windscribe
- Hide.me
- Turbo VPN
- Avast VPN
- Opera VPN
Amazon Instant Video vs Amazon Prime Video
It’s worth noting that Amazon Prime Video is not the same as Amazon Instant Video. Amazon Prime Video is an unlimited streaming service that comes as part of an Amazon Prime subscription. Amazon Instant Video is a pay-per-view service where users can buy or rent TV shows and movies. You don’t need an Amazon Prime account to buy or rent on Instant Video, although having a subscription might score you an extra discount.
A VPN is not necessary for Amazon Instant Video purchases, though prices may vary between countries.
How to set up a VPN with Amazon Fire TV stick
Update: All of the VPNs we recommend now make apps specifically for Amazon Fire TV. You can find them by searching from the home screen on your Firestick or Fire Cube.
Amazon Fire TVs and 2nd-generation-or-newer Fire TV Sticks do support VPN apps, but you’ll have to sideload them since none are available in the default Amazon app store. This process isn’t difficult but isn’t as easy as just installing an app from Google Play. Check out our article on how to install a VPN on an Amazon Fire TV stick.
The first-generation Amazon Fire TV stick doesn’t have built-in support for VPNs and there are no VPN apps you can install on it unless you root it. If you want to watch Amazon Prime Video from outside the US on a Fire TV stick, you’ll need to set up your VPN on a router.
You can use your laptop to set up a virtual router, which makes your laptop into a wifi hotspot similar to smartphone tethering. Then turn on the VPN on your laptop and connect the Fire TV to that. We have instructions on how to do this for both Windows and MacOS.
Alternatively, you can set up a VPN directly on your home wifi router. Doing so will connect all the devices connected to your wifi network to the VPN. This process varies depending on the router firmware.
See also: Best VPNs for DD-WRT routers
You can find instructions on how to set up a Fire TV with a VPN here. This tutorial is for Netflix, but the same rules apply to Amazon Prime Video. This approach also works if you want to learn how to watch Amazon Prime video on any other Android-powered device like Roku, Chromecast, or a smart TV.
Contents
- 1 Best VPNs for Amazon Prime Video
- 2 1. ExpressVPN
- 3 2. NordVPN
- 4 3. Surfshark
- 5 4. CyberGhost
- 6 5. PrivateVPN
- 7 6. Hotspot Shield
- 8 How to unblock Amazon Prime Video with a VPN
- 9 VPN’s that don’t unblock Prime Video
- 10 Amazon Instant Video vs Amazon Prime Video
- 11 How to set up a VPN with Amazon Fire TV stick
This is absolutely disgusting!
You pay for the service and they don’t allow you to use it as you see fit? I use VPNs to route ALL my traffic to keep ISPs and the other shady MITMs from snooping on everything. This is a very poor and unethical business practice!
OCTOBER 16, 2018: I just signed up for NordVPN to my iphone and tried Amazon Prime, and go this:
CONNECTION TYPE INVALID
Your device’s Internet connection is using a VPN which prevents accessing your video. Go to Settings….blah blah, disable the VPN blah, blah…
So, at the moment, Nord and Amazon don’t play well. Is there something else that needs to be done?
I have Nordvpn subscription and can’t deny that it was challenging to use Amazon for a while with it. I don’t know what changed, but from last week it started working fine. I guess they fixed the problem or smth.
I find it plain stupid of blocking any content. Throw in Ads for global audience, Mcdonalds , Coca Cola beer commercials. The more people watch your show the bigger your following.
Duhhh
Long live torrent’s and mp3′ for this reason.
Dumbass corporate goons
I barely comment on sites, but after reading the comments, I can’t help it. People, what are you talking about? I had only good experience with Nord’s customer support. If you can’t find a working server with amazon – contact their staff through the live chat, I got help in a minute this way. If you’re lazy to talk, just try one of Canada’s servers, it should work.
VPN hasn’t been working on Nord for at least a week. I didn’t install the latest update, but my husband did. Neither of us can get Prime on our computers. He called Nord and got the usual runaround about going to this page and that page, downloading this and that. There is no chatting with Nord and just getting a simple list of a few servers to try and they seldom update the list. After two years with Nord, we’re looking around for a VPN with better customer service.
So, with that said, are there settings that you can manipulate on fire tv while using IPvanish? Right now after just installing it, l get the proxy not supported error.
Thanks,
As far as I know Amazon has blacklisted all IPVanish VPN servers from accessing streams.
Nordvpn doesn’t work on amazon firetv as of 10 jun if you are overseas.
NordVPN does NOT work with Amazon. I have just canceled my premium service with them for that reason. You can’t even visit the website with NordVPN.
ExpressVPN does not work for Amazon Prime UK or BBC apps. Chatting with their online service they are aware of this and kindly gave me a full refund. Do you have any knowledge of what does work for the UK side of things?
Hi Chris,
Amazon and BBC have both ramped up their anti-VPN efforts lately. Everything is in flux right now so we’re waiting for the dust to settle a bit to see who can provide reliable access, and then we’ll update the article. That being said, PrivateVPN and NordVPN are my other go-to unblockers for non-American content.
Best,
Paul
NordVPN doesn’t work anymore. Can’t even get to the main amazon.com site with NordVPN. Customer service was terrible.
Express VPN does not work. tried both location..
Hotspot Vpn does not work any more on Amazon fire tv. I get this service area restriction message. Is there a workaround or re omen ration?
Most likely Amazon blacklisted all of Hotspot’s servers, so you need to switch providers.
Express VPN suddenly stopped working this week with Amazon Prime— worked fine until now – the techies are trying to get it working … but its been a week now and still no further forward
This is an old article, but I had no issues until yesterday using windscribe pro. I am in the US and need a VPN because my ISP slows streaming to being near useless. And I cannot even watch the purchased and rented videos. Is there a proper way to contact Amazon about this or do I switch to other services?
It doesn’t work on Fire TV Stick last edition. I have installed ExpressVPN and IPVanish changing the DNS server and then depending on the on the server I choose, the system shows two type of messages: PLR_PLS_CALL_FAILED and GEO_IP BLOCKED.
Although, the VPN services mentioned in the article is pretty good, there are problems connecting to Amazon.com (USA) when your internet has the VPN service enabled. For an example, we have our router setup with NordVPN which allows us to connect as many devices the router can handle, because the router is considered as one device, which falls within the rules of max devices connected is 6. Back to connecting to Amazon.com. It has been an issue with us since around the beginning of the last quarter of 2017. When attempting to watch a video from Amazon Prime, we would get an error of, geographical nature. Meaning that when connected using the VPN service, Amazon did not recognize the location of the Amazon Fire TV or any other android box that was connected to the home network. After disabling the VPN, flushing the DNS, then Amazon Prime Video would work without any issues. However, having the VPN service disabled did not protect our home network. In saying all that, I have contacted both Amazon and NordVPN to report the problem we were having when a VPN service was enabled. Amazon was hush, hush about the problem and it seemed that they have a policy not to say anything regarding VPN related issues. This was my conclusion after about a dozen discussions with Amazon in email or chats. I reported the problem with NordVPN regarding the Amazon Prime issue when using the VPN service, immediately, NordVPN tech support replied indicating it was a known issue and they were attempting to fix it with Amazon, but Amazon is dragging their feet in helping VPN service companies resolve is connection issues. Has anyone tried to go to Amazon.com to buy something when connected using a VPN service? Were you successful in connecting to Amazon? Anyway, long story short, Amazon is one of the hardest sites to hit when using a VPN service (at least using NordVPN).
Amazon.com is now blocking NordVPNs servers.
nordvpn does not work with amazon prime
I have Nord VPN and Amazon blocks this too. I’m in South Africa for two years and wanted to keep my current Amazon video account.
NordVPN also not working
When using NordVPN through any U.S. server you cannot access amazon.com. They are aware of this. However, per their suggestion, I was able to access amazon.com by connecting through a Canadian server.
VPN-Secure doesn’t work for amazon prime either
NordVPN does NOT work with Amazon.com nor Amazon Prime Video.
VPN Unlimited is not unblocking Prime Video anymore.
Amazon firestick has the ipvanish app available and it WILL cause geo-blocking messages on Prime if enabled. Even through an in country server.
Keenow doesn’t work. Amazon Prime Video is still blocked.
I have ExpressVPN and got the HTTP Proxy Not Supported.
Ask the live chat service on the website which server to use. I promise it works.
I have ExpressVPN and Amazon always worked just fine… until today!! What? Not just for watching movies, but even just going to Amazon.com, it’s not working with the VPN turned on. I can reconnect to the VPN once I start playing the video and it will still play, but I can’t browse on the site if it’s on. Super annoying. Never had an issue with it till now.
Hi Temoa, try contacting their live chat and ask what server to use. Sometimes VPN servers get blocked by Amazon and you just have to find the right one that’s still working.
It may not support them but some work, iPVanish isnt one of them.
I am getting blocked using ExpressVPN. I just signed up because TunnelBear no longer works.
Not all servers work. Ask the live customer service on ExpressVPN’s website which servers unblock Amazon Prime Video.
You might be aware of this– I just installed IPVanish on my Amazon FireTV Stick- Amazon and Hulu (and perhaps other app’s firewalls) block access to services when the VPN is enabled.
I’m trying to get my money back..
Amazon Fire TV doesn’t support VPN apps, so I’m not sure what you mean when you say you installed IPVanish on it.
I have IPVanish installed on my Firestick latest generation. Setup was extremely easy! It works when I am connected to TerrariumTV , Mobdro, Kodi builds, etc. However, if I want to watch my Amazon Prime or Hulu programming, I need to disconnect IPVanish. It is an annoyance, but only takes a couple of seconds to disconnect or reconnect. Now if you are using the VPN as a safety precaution or attempting to remain totally anonymous, I can understand your disappointment. I use a separate installation of IPVanish on my PC for other online activities.
Yep, IPV released a Fire TV app since my last comment.