Hotstar is a Video on Demand service first launched in 2015. Owned by Walt Disney Company since 2018, it allows viewers to catch up on shows from the Star channels a day after they air, including 100,000 hours of sports, entertainment, and movie content from the Star network.
Although Hotstar is currently only available in India, the UK, the US, and Canada, it's possible to access it using a VPN service, so you can watch Hotstar from anywhere in the world.
If you are one of the many people who get a 'Hotstar content not available in your region' notification, don't worry! In this guide, you will get all the info you need to unblock Hotstar.
Just follow our easy steps and you can start streaming Bigg Boss Tamil, Bigg Boss Telugu – or any other Hotstar show!
What is the best VPN for Hotstar?
If you're in a hurry to catch your favorite show, we've summarized the best VPNs for Hotstar below. But be sure to scroll on for a more in-depth analysis of each provider if you want more information.
- ExpressVPN - The best VPN for Hotstar. It's a fantastic service with great speeds, security, servers everywhere, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- NordVPN - The best budget VPN for Hotstar. Offers super fast connections, fully-featured apps for all platforms, and advanced privacy features.
- Private Internet Access - The most secure VPN for Hotstar on our list. It keeps zero-logs and has excellent encryption, plus many India servers.
- Surfshark - A great value VPN for Hotstar. It reliably unblocks Hotstar, letting you stream it at a reasonable price, and on unlimited number of devices.
- IPVanish - A great all-round VPN for Hotstar. It's fully-audited, easy-to-use, and offers great speeds and privacy, as well as servers located in India.
Before recommending a VPN for Hotstar, we first make sure they offer:
- Fast connection speeds
- Servers in India that unblock Hotstar
- Good reliability
- Solid privacy and security
Only VPNs that can meet all the above criteria are eligible to be included in our list of top VPNs for Hotstar. So, now that we know what we're looking for, let's take a closer look at our recommendations.
The best VPNs for Hotstar | In-depth analysis
Below, we take a deep dive into each of our top VPN picks for unblocking Hotstar. Click through to each provider for more information, or visit our in-depth review pages!
ExpressVPN is the best VPN for Hotstar. It's a well-known service and a fantastic all-rounder that can provide security and speed. Try it risk-free, with a a 30-day money-back guarantee. ExpressVPN Demo ExpressVPN is an ideal solution for anyone looking to watch Hotstar outside of India. The VPN is a well-known and highly respected name that provides a premium service - so don't be put off by the premium price! Hotstar viewers will enjoy a superbly fast server in India, and benefit from excellent software and strong OpenVPN encryption. Customer care is outstanding, the apps are incredibly feature-rich and easy to use, and the firm is well-known for protecting its users' privacy. In addition, ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it completely risk-free! NordVPN is the best buy VPN for Hotstar. It's a superb VPN service with customizable privacy features and great speeds for streaming. Offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. Nord Demo NordVPN is a highly secure VPN that is often the choice of techie people who want the most security available while sporting a user-friendly package. It has a fast server in India - perfect for watching Hotstar. The VPN software is truly outstanding and customer care, including fast problem fixing, is ace. An exceptional HotstarVPN for those who want to be as private as possible, you can test it for yourself thanks to its 30-day money-back guarantee. PIA is the most secure VPN for Hotstar on our list. It's a zero-logs provider with excellent encryption and privacy features. Plus, it's cheap and offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. PIA Demo Private Internet Access VPN (or PIA, for short) is a US-based provider that keeps zero-logs, a claim it has proven in court on multiple occasions. The VPN was recently acquired by Kape Technologies - a cybersec firm based in London whose primary aim is to help consumers gain protection online. PIA VPN has servers in 84 countries
(including India), it provides strong OpenVPN encryption, and is one of the most popular VPN services among Reddit users. It also has live chat support and access to Netflix US. PIA has apps for all popular platforms that provide strong encryption and a superb choice of servers around the world. PIA is also a cheap VPN service that performs well above its pay grade. Despite the budget price (if purchased yearly), PIA unblocks a decent amount of highly sought after content - including Hotstar and Netflix US. Surfshark is a great value VPN for Hotstar. It's reliable, reasonably priced and perfect for unblocking Hotstar shows from everywhere. Offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. Surfshark Demo Surfshark combines robust privacy options with the ability to unblock content from across the globe - making it a great option for Hotstar streamers. You'll be able to take your pick of thousands of servers in 100 countries
worldwide - India included, with locations in Mumbai, Chennai and Indore. By connecting to these servers you'll be able to access Hotstar India, SonyLIV, Voot, Zee5, ErosNow, and ALTBalaji. Plus, the VPN unblocks UK TV such as BBC iPlayer, and US services such as Netflix and hulu - making it an all-around unblocking solution. When it comes to privacy and security, this VPN is excellent thanks to its no-logs policy and strong OpenVPN encryption. And this VPN has a kill switch, DNS leak protection, and obfuscation for getting around firewalls. We think this VPN is massively impressive considering the low price. With Surfshark, you'll be able to connect an unlimited number of devices with just one subscription. This makes Surfshark a great VPN for families or those with a lot of devices. Super-fast servers mean you won't have to worry about buffering videos, and you can trial the VPN for yourself with a 30-day money-back guarantee. IPVanish is a great all-round VPN for Hotstar. This US based provider is both secure and excellent at unblocking and streaming, including Hotstar, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. IPVanish Demo IPVanish is another superb VPN for Hotstar, which some people may actually prefer over some of the providers listed ahead of it. The reason? It has a choice of several servers in New Delhi and Mumbai, making it ideal to watch Hotstar from anywhere. One slight drawback is that this VPN is based in the US (home of the NSA). However, the firm makes up for that with an awesome zero-logs policy. Thankfully, IPVanish uses our recommended encryption protocol, OpenVPN, and offers great value for your money. With a 30-day money-back guarantee, you can also test this service to see how it works for your personal needs. 1. ExpressVPN
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How we test VPNs – ProPrivacy review methodology
Even though there are a plethora of VPN options out there, many of which offer decent speeds and security, not all of them are equally capable of bypassing the geo-blocks around Hotstar. The services listed here have all been tested to ensure they work seamlessly with Hotstar – as well as other popular streaming platforms. In addition, they are built with privacy and security in mind, offer robust encryption, and a long list of customizable features.
To help you narrow down your choice and pick a fast and secure VPN, which can handle even the most demanding online tasks (like streaming in HD), our team spends hundreds of hours each month meticulously testing and reviewing VPNs. And, before we complete any guide or review, we make sure the VPN's features are all working as advertised.
When putting together this Hotstar guide, I made sure that my VPN picks met the following criteria:
- Reliable servers worldwide
- Lightning-fast speeds
- Bypasses geo-blocks and censorship with ease
- Robust encryption with multiple VPN protocols
- Strict zero-logs/no-logs policy
- Advanced security and privacy features, with customization available
- Value for money – plans, apps, simultaneous connections, etc.
- Money-back guarantee and otherwise great customer support
Which is the fastest VPN for Hotstar?
Speed is one of the most important factors to consider if you're going to be streaming with a VPN. There's nothing more frustrating than a slow, constantly buffering video – and it's even more frustrating when it's caused by your VPN creating a bottleneck. All the VPNs we recommend for Hotstar offer connection speeds more than fast enough to handle HD streaming without any issue.
To help you understand the types of speeds that you can expect from our VPN picks, we run regular speed tests on them and display the results in the table below.
| ExpressVPN | NordVPN | Private Internet Access | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ProPrivacy.com SpeedTest (average) | 100 | 85.9 | 62.2 |
| Performance | 10 | 9 | 8 |
| Reliability | 9 | 8 | 8 |
| Speed | 100 | 568.0 | 254.93 |
How to unblock Hotstar with a VPN
If you're living outside of India and want to unblock and watch Hotstar with a VPN, follow the steps below.
- Subscribe to a VPN - Any of our VPN recommendations are great candidates – our experts have tested each provider, ensuring that they unblock Hotstar. Simply navigate to the VPN's website to subscribe to the VPN service.
- Download the VPN Software for your Platform - All the VPNs in the list above support Windows, Mac, Android, and iPhone.
![ExpressVPN Streaming Apps]()
- Connect to a VPN Server in India - Now connect to your VPN's Indian server. All VPN clients will look a little bit different, but most of them will have a list of the countries on the left of the app, or a map so with all the servers the VPN operates. To look for the fastest Indian server that your VPN has to offer check how many users the server has on it and choose the one with the least, also try to connect to a server closest to you. With most of the VPNs on this list, it will find the fastest automatically. It will take a few seconds to connect to the VPN server. Once the connection is established your VPN software will let you know with a green light, shield, or lock symbol.
![india-express]()
- Watch Hotstar! - Now that you are connected to a VPN server in India, your IP address appears to be in India. That means that you can navigate over to Hotstar to watch Star India shows. It also means that you will have access to the Hotstar app if you want it.
How can I pay for Hotstar?
If you want to pay for the US version of Hotstar you can do so by using an online virtual card for the US. We recommend US Unlocked because it is by far the easiest way to get a virtual US debit card that comes with a valid US billing address. US Unlocked can be topped up using bank transfer services in most countries, and once you have your virtual US card, you can pay for US hotstar or any other US service (but not Indian Hotstar unfortunately).
The US version of Hotstar is only available while connected to a US VPN server and will cost you $49.99 per year.
Unfortunately, getting a valid Indian debit card is more tricky. This is because Indian banks are required to perform KYC using the Aadhaar identity card.
The good news is that Indian citizens advertise on Fiverr that they are willing to pay for services on behalf of international customers. Most will pay for something on your behalf for as little as $5. This is a fast and easy way to pay for Disney+ Hotstar from outside of India. However, please look at each seller's rating carefully and be sure to use one that has a good reputation.
Watch Hotstar with VPN Considerations
There are plenty of important factors to consider when selecting a VPN to unblock Hotstar. Connection speeds, the quality of the Indian VPN servers, reliability, and up-time could all make or break your VPN for Hotstar. In addition, the encryption protocols that a VPN provides, the VPN's privacy policy, and the professionalism of the VPN provider are all highly important.
With well over 800 different VPN services on the market, the hard truth of the matter is that many of these available options are positively awful. The team at ProPrivacy.com has considered the very best options in order to ensure you get the best VPN service for the job. By doing so, you can avoid the headaches often associated with getting a Hotstar VPN that actually works to unblock the content you want.
When we were compiling this guide for unblocking Hotstar, we made sure only to include the very best five VPNs for the job. These VPNs have super-fast Indian servers, perfect for streaming shows in HD quality.
In addition, these VPNs are highly subscribed and trusted providers that are known to give their customers an outstanding service.
All the VPNs we recommend provide OpenVPN encryption. And these VPNs are known to handle user data in a transparent and professional manner. This means that you can unblock Hotstar with absolute privacy.
Our recommended VPNs all have slightly different features and offer different VPN packages because of their unique VPN software. As such, it is largely down to personal preference which of the five excellent VPN services you opt for.
What is certain is that no matter which VPN you select from our list, you can stream Hotstar from anywhere!
Why Watch Hotstar Abroad?
The answer is simple! Hotstar has a wide library of popular shows that have a huge audience in India, and you'll be able to check out Game of Thrones and other HBO titles that you can't find on Netflix.
Hotstar also hosts sports programming with Indian commentary – including the Super Bowl. Due to the large number of Indian citizens that live outside of India, unblocking Hotstar is a must!
What to stream on Hotstar?
Hotstar is the home to a lot of popular shows from Star India. One of the most sought after shows that you can unblock on Hotstar is Bigg Boss. Using a VPN to unblock Hotstar will allow you to stream Bigg Boss Telugu and Bigg Boss Tamil.
Bigg Boss is the Indian version of the popular British show Big Brother, in which housemates are forced to live together in a confined living area for the duration of ten weeks. During that time, everything the housemates do is televised via cameras located throughout the Bigg Boss house. Each season, viewers are able to vote to kick out housemates in order to select a winner.
Other popular shows that can be accessed on Hotstar with a VPN include:
- Yeh Rishta KyaKehlata Hai
- Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon?
- Nazar
- Sarabhai vs Sarabhai
- Kullfi Kumarr Bajewala
- Lip Sing Battle
- Bigg Boss Tamil
- Bigg Boss Telugu
How to Download Hotstar App in USA, UK, or Anywhere Else
Some people want to be able to download the Hotstar app for their tablet or phone. Due to geo-restrictions, the download is inaccessible in many places. With a VPN, however, you can get access to Hotstar's website. That means that you can watch Hotstar shows and download the Hotstar app from wherever you live.
Watch Hotstar from Anywhere - Conclusion
In this guide, we have demonstrated just how easy it is to unblock Hotstar from anywhere in the world. All you need to do is follow the handy step-by-step guide, and you will be able to watch Hotstar from anywhere.
Because here at ProPrivacy.com we have all the most relevant information at our fingertips, we have also included the five best VPNs for Hotstar. That means that you have all the information you need right here in one place.
Don't forget to drop us a message in the comments section below if you have questions. We are always happy to help. Happy viewing!
- ExpressVPN - The best VPN for Hotstar. It's a fantastic service with great speeds, security, servers everywhere, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- NordVPN - The best budget VPN for Hotstar. Offers super fast connections, fully-featured apps for all platforms, and advanced privacy features.
- Private Internet Access - The most secure VPN for Hotstar on our list. It keeps zero-logs and has excellent encryption, plus many India servers.
- Surfshark - A great value VPN for Hotstar. It reliably unblocks Hotstar, letting you stream it at a reasonable price, and on unlimited number of devices.
- IPVanish - A great all-round VPN for Hotstar. It's fully-audited, easy-to-use, and offers great speeds and privacy, as well as servers located in India.