Article Summary
- Best Mac VPN overall: NordVPN, fast NordLynx protocol, clean native app Get for $3.49/mo
- Best value: Surfshark, unlimited devices, works great on macOS Get for $2.49/mo
- Privacy pick: Proton VPN, Swiss-based, open-source everything Get for $2.99/mo
- Comprehensive testing across our top VPN providers to find the best native macOS apps.
Bought a shiny new MacBook or Mac desktop and need a VPN? You’re in luck, because we’ve just put together our latest list of the best macOS VPNs for your consideration.
Based on our testing, NordVPN takes our top spot, closely followed by Surfshark. While Surfshark’s app has near-total feature parity with the Windows version, NordVPN just edges it out by offering exclusive features you won’t find elsewhere. Proton VPN heads up the rest of the list as a VPN with incredible privacy credentials, even if the app itself is a little dated. Next up is ExpressVPN, with stellar speeds and a Mac app that’s just as good as, if not better than, the Windows app. Finally, we have IPVanish, which offers unlimited simultaneous device connections for a reasonable price. Read on and we’ll get into exactly why each VPN deserves your attention when you’re looking for the best Mac VPN.
Best Mac VPNs at a Glance
| VPN | Best for | macOS kill switch | Split tunneling | Devices | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NordVPN | Best overall | App-level | No | 10 | $3.49/mo |
| Surfshark | Best value | Yes | Windows only | Unlimited | $2.49/mo |
| Proton VPN | Best privacy | Yes (full) | No | 10 | $2.99/mo |
| ExpressVPN | Best Mac app | Yes | Yes | Up to 14 (tier-dependent) | $2.99/mo |
| IPVanish | Budget, unlimited | Yes | Yes | Unlimited | $2.49/mo |
Why You Need a VPN on Your Mac
When you buy a Mac, you’re buying into Apple’s stellar security ecosystem. For the most part, you’re protected against a wide range of threats that Windows machines suffer from. However, there’s one major part of your online experience that Apple doesn’t protect by default: the privacy of your internet traffic.
Any time you connect to public Wi-Fi, there’s a risk that some of your traffic could be monitored by another user on that network. Browsing from your MacBook on coffee shop Wi-Fi? Doing a last-minute check of your itinerary from airport Wi-Fi? Your Mac won’t protect you against traffic monitoring.
That’s where a VPN comes in. It adds an extra layer of security to your Mac by encrypting all the traffic that leaves your device, making it nearly impossible for someone else to read what you’re doing online. Connecting to a VPN server also hides your real IP address, replacing it with the IP of the server you’re connected to. That can make it seem like you’re connecting from a different country altogether, which is seriously useful if you’re trying to unblock streaming sites.
For example, Netflix shows different libraries depending on where you are in the world. If you’re travelling away from home, you might not be able to tune into the series you’re halfway through from your hotel room. A VPN lets you connect through servers in other countries to access their content libraries.
Keeping your ISP from snooping on your traffic has other benefits too. Some internet providers deliberately slow down streaming or torrenting traffic. Since a VPN hides what you’re doing, they can’t pick and choose what to throttle.
The only issue is that not every VPN plays nice with macOS. Plenty of providers slap together a basic Mac app and call it a day. The good ones build native apps that genuinely work with Apple’s ecosystem instead of cobbling together something that pales in comparison to their Windows offering. So we tested our top VPN providers to find which ones have the absolute best macOS apps.
Best VPNs for Mac Compared: In-Depth Reviews
1. NordVPN
NordVPN takes the top spot because it nails all of the fundamentals you’d expect from a VPN client: excellent app design, consistently fast speeds, and rock-solid security. While the Mac app is slightly less feature-complete than our second-place pick (more on that in a second), NordVPN exclusively offers the NordLynx protocol, which delivers impressive performance without draining your MacBook’s battery.
NordVPN maintains 9,000 servers across 181 countries, which ranks it among the best VPNs out there for global coverage. We also found that streaming reliability hit a 100% success rate in our tests across Netflix, Disney+, Paramount+, and other services.
We’re impressed with NordVPN’s onboarding process for macOS. You do need to jump through a few hoops to get all of NordVPN’s security features working, but Nord makes it seamless with a full tutorial that gets you into the options you need to enable in seconds.
The apps do differ slightly between Windows and macOS. It’s not as immediately obvious how to access settings on macOS, as they’re hidden behind the “User” panel instead of sitting with the rest of NordVPN’s features on the sidebar as in the Windows version. The kill switch layout is different too. Instead of offering a full system-wide kill switch on macOS (something VPN providers have traditionally struggled with), NordVPN offers the option of shutting down specific apps when your VPN connection drops. It’s slightly less robust than a system-wide kill switch, but it works.
NordVPN also doesn’t offer split tunneling on macOS. Other than that, most of the features you’d want are there, including NordVPN’s Meshnet, which lets you set up your own encrypted network and share files between devices securely. NordLynx, NordVPN’s proprietary protocol, is available on macOS, as is NordWhisper for obfuscation. They offer OpenVPN too, but no IKEv2. Threat Protection is also available, NordVPN’s malware and tracker blocking tool, though note that on macOS its scanning is more limited than on Windows due to Apple’s app sandboxing.
Overall, if you’re looking for a VPN with unique features and rock-solid performance, check out NordVPN. However, if you want absolute feature parity between Windows and macOS, read on.
For more information, refer to our full NordVPN review.
2. Surfshark
At $2.49/month, Surfshark is hard to beat if you own multiple Apple devices. You get unlimited simultaneous connections, meaning your MacBook, iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV can all stay protected (similar to our best Android VPN recommendations) without paying for another subscription.
Surfshark has almost total feature parity between Windows and macOS. In fact, we noticed that the Multi-IP feature (which splits your browsing traffic between multiple IPs) is available exclusively on macOS. The only place where parity slips is the set of protocols you can use. On Windows, it’s OpenVPN or WireGuard. On macOS, it’s WireGuard or IKEv2. This isn’t a big deal, as most of the time you’ll want to use WireGuard anyway.
Otherwise, Surfshark has the same responsive, lightweight interface on both platforms. It’s a high-speed VPN that consistently unblocks streams and offers 100 locations to choose from, so you’ll get low-latency connections from almost anywhere in the world. It also offers great onboarding specifically for macOS, so you won’t get lost setting your VPN up, and if you do, there’s excellent support documentation available.
For more information, refer to our full Surfshark review.
3. Proton VPN
If privacy matters more than anything else, Proton VPN is your pick. Based in Switzerland with strong data protection laws, Proton operates 20,500 servers with a proven no-logs policy that’s been independently audited by Securitum.
The Mac app includes unique privacy features like Secure Core routing, which bounces your traffic through privacy-friendly countries before it reaches its destination. Proton VPN on macOS also comes with NetShield, which dynamically filters ads and trackers out of your browsing. It’s all wrapped up in a stylish purple-and-black dashboard that shows you exactly where you’re connected.
The reason Proton VPN isn’t higher is that it’s still missing a few features the Windows app offers. Don’t get us wrong, all the privacy essentials are there, including a fully working kill switch. What you won’t get is port forwarding or split tunneling. At least the macOS version offers most of the protocols you’d get on Windows, including Proton VPN’s Stealth protocol for obfuscation against network blocks. The one swap is that instead of OpenVPN, you get IKEv2. Not a huge difference, but worth noting.
The Mac app code is open-source and publicly auditable for security verification, too.
For more information, refer to our full Proton VPN review.
4. ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is a premium product, and one look at the Mac app makes that hard to dispute. In fact, the macOS client is arguably better than the Windows one. Take VPN protocols: on Windows, ExpressVPN supports Lightway over UDP and TCP. On macOS, you get the choice between Lightway, WireGuard, and OpenVPN.
Lightway works fantastically on Mac devices. It’s been built from the ground up for speed and battery efficiency, including on MacBooks. Part of the reason it works so well is that it handles transitioning between Wi-Fi and mobile networks seamlessly, so it’s also a great protocol if you need a VPN for your iPhone (or if you’re tethering from one to your MacBook).
The macOS app itself also looks better than the Windows version. All of its features are integrated into a single dashboard where you can easily change settings, whereas the Windows version opens separate windows for that.
As for the VPN basics, ExpressVPN is excellent here too. Our speed tests show it maintains consistent performance across its server network, even when you’re bouncing between servers to unblock streaming services. For 80%/month, you also get 24/7 support that includes live chat with Mac-specific troubleshooting.
For more information, refer to our full ExpressVPN review.
5. IPVanish
IPVanish isn’t quite as capable as the rest of the VPNs we recommend, but it’s still a very functional VPN with extensive support documentation for setting up on Mac.
At 83%/month on a two-year plan, IPVanish offers unlimited simultaneous device connections on a fairly high-speed network.
The Mac app is straightforward and functional, though it lacks some of the polish of our higher-ranked picks. To make up for it, IPVanish offers both a kill switch and split tunneling on the macOS app, which is a rarity among VPN providers.
One issue we found is that telemetry is enabled by default. Most of the apps we’ve tested on Mac explicitly ask for your permission first. That said, the data is anonymized, and IPVanish has passed several third-party audits confirming its no-logs policy.
We also found that IPVanish doesn’t play well alongside other VPNs on macOS. This won’t be an issue if you’re only using IPVanish, but it could be a problem if you’re migrating from another provider.
For more information, refer to our full IPVanish review.
How We Tested and Chose the Best Mac VPNs
We’ve reviewed our top VPN providers to find the ones that work well on Mac devices. We already know these VPNs are among the best in the industry from extensive testing, so we don’t have concerns about speed or stream unblocking. If you’re interested in how each provider performs generally, refer to our in-depth reviews on each one. We bought each VPN with our own money, so we’re confident our speed results aren’t preferentially buffed. It also means we’re free to say exactly what we like about each provider: what they do well, and what they need to improve.
What we’re interested in here is how each provider works on Mac specifically.
Our Mac testing focused on how the app performs compared to the Windows version, which usually has more features. We look for native app quality, menu bar integration, compatibility across Intel and Apple Silicon, and broad macOS version support. If the macOS version is underperforming, we call it out. Essentially, what we want is total feature parity and clean integration with macOS.
How to Set Up a VPN on Your Mac
Long gone are the days when the macOS version of a VPN was an afterthought compared to Windows. Setting up a VPN on macOS is now simple, and most providers give you a native Mac installer that does all the work for you.
- Sign up for a VPN service: Pick any one of our recommended providers. They all come with polished macOS apps that run natively on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs.
- Download the Mac app: Either grab your provider’s client from their website, or download it from the Apple App Store. Most major providers support macOS 11 and up, so you’re covered on Sonoma, Sequoia, and the latest Tahoe (macOS 26).
- Install and log in: Run the installer from your browser’s download history. Some apps handle the entire install for you; others ask you to drag and drop the application into your “Applications” folder. After that, open the app and log in with your account details.
- Pick a server: Hitting “Quick Connect” is enough if you just want private browsing, but if you’re trying to unblock a specific streaming service, use the location dropdown and pick a server in the country you’re targeting.
- Double-check: To make sure you’re covered, visit whatismyipaddress.com and confirm your IP address has changed.
While you can also set up a VPN manually via System Settings > Network by adding a new configuration under the “VPN & Filters” menu, we recommend sticking with the native apps. It’s easier, and you get all the extra features built into each app.
What to Look for When Choosing a Mac VPN
Not all VPNs are worth using, and of those that are, not all work well with macOS. Some providers offer lackluster native apps; others skimp on features you’d expect from other versions of the app. Here’s what to look out for when choosing a Mac VPN:
- Native macOS app: If your provider’s answer to macOS is manual setup through System Settings, look elsewhere. Native apps handle protocol switching automatically, offer better leak protection, and integrate cleanly with macOS notifications and menu bar controls. All five VPNs in our lineup have polished native apps that feel at home on Mac.
- Protocol flexibility: NordVPN and Surfshark both use WireGuard by default for speed, but can fall back to other protocols on restrictive networks. This matters if you work from coffee shops or corporate offices that block newer protocols.
- Battery efficiency: All VPNs use at least slightly more battery on a MacBook, but the best ones have a negligible impact. Look for VPNs that offer WireGuard, as it’s built to use less CPU than OpenVPN. IKEv2 is a good middle ground if you can’t get WireGuard.
- Security auditing: This applies to all VPNs, not just Mac ones. If a provider has a recent third-party audit, you can be reasonably sure its no-logs policy is legit. Proton VPN underwent a no-logs audit by Securitum in 2025, while both NordVPN and Surfshark were audited by Deloitte the same year. All confirmed their privacy claims.
- Kill switch reliability: macOS has aggressive network switching that can briefly expose your real IP when moving between Wi-Fi and cellular. We test kill switches by forcing network changes and monitoring for IP leaks.
- Simultaneous device connections: Most providers cap how many devices you can connect at once, which can be a pain if you’re covering all your Apple devices alongside Windows machines, smart TVs, and so on. NordVPN and Proton VPN limit you to 10 devices, while ExpressVPN allows up to 14 depending on the tier. Surfshark and IPVanish offer unlimited connections for comparable prices.