Should anyone worry about internet restrictions in Norway? Reporters Without Borders think not. Freedom of speech pressure groups, such as Freedom House, also aren't worried. Norway is an inclusive society with a popular constitutional monarchy and a responsive political class.
None of the classic causes of internet repression exist in this happy land. However, a VPN is still a vital tool in Norway. In this article, we explore the best VPNs for Norway, and explain how you can benefit from using one.
Best Norway VPN Services
Here are the best Norway VPN services – or as the Norwegians would say, "Norsk VPN". For more information, keep on scrolling to see our detailed provider summaries.
- ExpressVPN - The best Norway VPN. It unblocks plenty with fast servers in 94 countries, including Norway. Offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- NordVPN - The most popular Norway VPN. Great server network, super fast speeds, advanced features, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Surfshark - A great all-around Norway VPN. It's packed with features and fast, with unlimited connections and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Private Internet Access - The most secure Norway VPN. It has proven it doesn't keep logs, it's cheap, and offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- CyberGhost VPN - The cheapest Norway VPN service. It has great apps for all your devices, it's easy-to-use, and offers a 45-day money-back guarantee.
When putting together the list of the best Norway VPNs, we chose services with the features listed below to ensure you get the most out of your new VPN.
- Fast servers
- Norway VPN servers
- Allows torrenting
- Strong encryption
- Plenty of security features
Best VPNs for Norway – Summaries
These are the very best VPNs for Norway, however, they do differ slightly so we have taken a closer look at each VPN below. If you need more information about any of the services, check out our VPN reviews.
ExpressVPN is the best VPN for Norway. It has super-fast servers in Norway and 93 other countries, it's secure, and great at unblocking content. Offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. ExpressVPN Demo ExpressVPN is a provider with servers in 105 countries
worldwide; including Norway. It is a service that is often praised for providing high levels of privacy and security. This makes it perfect for unblocking the greatest variety of geo-restricted content worldwide. With ExpressVPN you get easy-to-use apps for all platforms that come with security features like a kill-switch and OpenVPN encryption. We love that this VPN has 24/7 live chat support to help you when you need it. And, while it is true that ExpressVPN costs a bit more than our other recommendations, you do get what you pay for – a secure VPN with excellent apps you can use on up to 5 devices. And, this VPN is fantastic for unblocking sought-after services like Netflix US, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and YouTube TV. A world-class VPN that you can test risk-free in Norway thanks to its 30-day money-back guarantee. NordVPN is a very popular VPN for Norway. It unblocks nearly anything with servers in Norway and worldwide, great speeds and privacy features. Offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. Nord Demo NordVPN is a no-logs VPN provider based in Panama that is strong on privacy. It is a reliable service with apps for all popular platforms that will easily let you bypass local censorship, access internationally geo-restricted content, or unblock content restricted by an admin in work, at school, or on public WiFi. NordVPN offers a wealth of market-leading security features that make it a good option for just about anybody. It also has rare privacy features such as double-hop connections, VPN over Tor, DNS-based malware protection, Smart DNS, and more, all at a very reasonable price point. Surfshark is a great all-around VPN for Norway. It's a perfect blend of privacy, security, and speed. Allows unlimited simultaneous connections, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Surfshark Demo Surfshark is a VPN that is often praised by users due to its low prices and amazing feature set. The cost to performance ratio is second to none, and you get all the features you need to bypass ISP blocks and torrent safely in Norway. Custom apps are available for all platforms, and the VPN has a kill-switch, obfuscation, and DNS leak protection. Surfshark is a no-logs VPN, which means it has no records about what you do online. And, it can unblock more international Netflix catalogs than just about any other VPN service. As well as iPlayer, Hulu, and anything else you fancy. It also throws in a SOCKS5 proxy, which may be of interest if you are a keen torrenter. Considering the low price tag, Surfshark lets users install the VPN on an unlimited number of devices. This makes it great for large families or people who want to use the VPN on many devices both at home and on public WiFi. With servers in over 100 countries
– including IP Addresses in Norway – you can unblock Norwegian content while abroad, or gain privacy while using local services. An outstanding VPN that is well worth testing using its 30-day money-back guarantee. Private Internet Access is a super secure VPN for Norway. It has proven in court it doesn't keep logs, ideal for tech-savvy users – advanced features, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. PIA Demo Private Internet Access (PIA) is a US-based VPN that is often praised by privacy advocates on Reddit. It is a service that has gained a superb reputation because of its apps, which have a lot of advanced features and high levels of customizability. The VPN has also proven its no-logs policy in court on two occasions, which increases the trust you can have in the service and its claims. The VPN comes with apps for all platforms, with advanced features such as a kill-switch, DNS leak protection, OpenVPN encryption, obfuscation (stealth mode), port forwarding, split tunneling, and a SOCKS5 proxy. PIA is a good choice because it has highly reliable servers in 84 countries
around the world. Plus it provides lightning-fast connections that are ideally suited to downloading and streaming. And this VPN is great on all platforms thanks to its custom apps. If you need to access local Norwegian services, you have the opportunity thanks to its servers in the country. A superb VPN that offers a lot of advanced customizability – perfect for people who want to gain granular control over their encryption levels. You can compare it yourself using its 30-day money-back guarantee. CyberGhost VPN is the cheapest VPN for Norway. As well as being cheap, it has sleek apps for all your devices, and offers a 45-day money-back guarantee – making it ideal for beginners. CyberGhost Demo CyberGhost VPN is a trusted VPN provider from Romania. It is a service that provides superb apps for all platforms, with the features you need to bypass local network blocks in work – or torrenting restrictions imposed by Norwegian ISPs. Plus, this VPN has servers in Norway to let you access local TV or services from outside of the country (or with added privacy). CyberGhost VPN is extremely cheap considering the level of service it provides – particularly when you commit to one of the longer subscription plans. Plus, it works to unblock international services such as BBC iPlayer, Netflix US, and Hulu. We enjoy using all of CyberGhost’s apps, and we consider this an ideal service for anybody in need of strong online privacy in Norway. You can install the apps on up to 7 devices simultaneously, which makes it good for families or people who own a lot of devices and require privacy both at home and on public WiFi. Finally, it has a 45-day money-back guarantee to let you try the service, and it has live chat support to help you when you need it. 1. ExpressVPN
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What makes a VPN good for Norway?
Despite repeated votes against EU membership, the Norwegians are subject to EU law. That's because the Norwegian government implements EU directives such as the EU Data Retention Directive.
It is also hard to access some content from streaming services, such as Netflix, because of local licensing and contracts with copyright holders. Using a VPN can allow you to change Netflix region so you can access content that isn't available on Norway's version of Netflix.
There are hundreds of consumer-facing VPNs on the market and not all of those services were created equally. Many VPNs have slow servers, unreliable apps, badly implemented encryption, or untrustworthy privacy policies. This makes choosing a VPN tricky – particularly if you don't know what to look for.
In this guide, our expert VPN reviewers have picked the five best VPNs for Norway. To explain how they selected these particular services we have included all the attributees we searched for below:
- Reliable apps for all platforms
- A global network of servers for unblocking content
- Servers in Norway to gain privacy when using local services
- Fast VPN servers that permit HD streaming and other data-intensive tasks
- A no-logs VPN policy that ensures your data privacy
- Strong OpenVPN encryption that secures the VPN tunnel
- A kill-switch to ensure the VPN never leaks data to your ISP (or the government) outside of the VPN tunnel
- Advanced VPN features such as port forwarding, split tunneling, and obfuscation (stealth mode)
- VPN servers allow torrenting and P2P connections
- Excellent customer care with live chat support
- Value for money
Why use a VPN in Norway?
In the following, you can read more detailed information about the reasons for using a VPN in Norway, and also about what you need to consider when choosing a VPN.
Streaming in Norway
With a VPN you can change Netflix region to access US content and a whole host of other services that aren't usually available in Norway. The VPN represents you in everything you do on the internet. It protects the traffic that passes between your computer and the VPN server.
If you're new to VPNs and want to know more, check out our beginners guide to VPNs for all the information you need in one handy guide.
The VPN makes it seems as though you're in the same country as the server you chose when turning on the VPN client. It enables you to get into streaming services with geo-location access restrictions. When looking for a VPN for Norway, you need to ensure that the provider you choose has servers in the countries from which you want to access the streaming service, such as the UK or US.
How to Get American Netflix in Norway
As you might have already guessed, a VPN will also allow you to get American Netflix in Norway. All you need to do is choose one of the VPN providers above. Then connect to a US server and you should be able to access Netflix to your pleasure. For more information see our Netflix VPN guide.
P2P Downloading in Norway
The first obstacle you face when trying to download torrents in Norway is that the country blocks most torrent directory sites regardless of their content. A Norwegian court blocked access to seven torrent sites in a September 2015 ruling. ISPs remove the addresses for those sites from their Domain Name Servers to implement the ban.
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a lookup table that translates between the web addresses that people type into their browsers and the real internet addresses (called "IP addresses") of the computers that store those sites. If your browser can't get the address of the computer that hosts a website, it can't request any pages from it. VPNs provide their DNS servers to overcome this hurdle. Once you turn on the VPN, your computer will direct all internet traffic through the VPN server. That includes DNS requests.
Another trick that ISPs around the world practice to hijack P2P downloads is to close the connections that your BitTorrent client establishes with peers. When the ISP detects torrent traffic passing through to your computer, it sends a reset command to the peer from which you are downloading. The reset breaks the connection, so you find it impossible to download anything.
When you connect to a swarm with the VPN running on your computer, all of the traffic that leaves your computer goes to the VPN server in an encrypted state. That makes it impossible for the ISP's software to spot BitTorrent protocol signals. If the ISP's computers can't detect P2P activity, they can't send out reset commands. Therefore, your download will progress.
Find out more about VPN encryption and how it works with our ultimate online privacy guide.
Data Retention in Norway
The EU passed on its Data Retention Directive in March 2006, allegedly to help copyright lawyers track down the people who were illegally downloading content. In Norway, which followed the same Directive, ISPs were obliged to keep the users' activity logs for six months. That presented a window of opportunity for copyright lawyers to get a court order for access to those records.
However, with the advancement of the internet, the Directive soon became controversial, with its moral implications facing more and more questions over time. Under the Data Retention Directive, the police and security agencies could request access to sensitive data of the ISP's customers, including IP addresses, online sessions, and similar identifiable information.
The activity logs show all of your connections – where they went to, what connection requests came in, and any characteristics of the connection, such as the network protocol used. This information can identify a download of a specific file. As all communication over the internet has a "from" and "to" address on it,
As this was a clear invasion of data privacy, the Data Retention Directive was abolished across Europe in 2014; Norway included. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force in Europe in 2016, and alongside the local Personal Data Act (2018), has reshaped the Norwegian data protection landscape.
Although Norway is now widely regarded as one of the world's leading countries for online privacy, and takes the #1 place in many free speech rankings, you can never be too careful, especially if using less-secure public networks. A VPN will keep you protected in every possible scenario, even if you're traveling to less privacy-conscious countries. Besides, you'll get to enjoy everything else a VPN can do; like spoof your location and work alongside streaming platforms.
The Best VPNs to use in Norway: Conclusion
VPNs let you geo-spoof your location, and can make you appear as if you were anywhere in the world. With this service, you can access streaming services that refuse to deliver videos to foreign connections. Video streaming sites scan requests for VPN characteristics. They block any they detect. Therefore, not all VPNs can get you video streams from abroad.
The services in this list are among the best in the world and will unblock videos with seamless ease. If you're serious about your internet privacy, then here's a quick reminder of our top VPNs for Norway:
- ExpressVPN - The best Norway VPN. It unblocks plenty with fast servers in 94 countries, including Norway. Offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- NordVPN - The most popular Norway VPN. Great server network, super fast speeds, advanced features, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Surfshark - A great all-around Norway VPN. It's packed with features and fast, with unlimited connections and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Private Internet Access - The most secure Norway VPN. It has proven it doesn't keep logs, it's cheap, and offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- CyberGhost VPN - The cheapest Norway VPN service. It has great apps for all your devices, it's easy-to-use, and offers a 45-day money-back guarantee.
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