The best VPN in Halifax, Nova Scotia VPNs hide your IP address and help in shielding you from Canadian mass internet surveillance. They also unblock streaming platforms around the world.
If you’re in Halifax, you can use a VPN to get an international IP address and access geo-blocked websites and apps, like American Netflix.
If you’re abroad, you can get a Canadian IP address to access streaming services like CTV or CBC Gem.
How to choose a Canada VPN
Most users will want a good all-rounder as their Canada VPN. Rock-solid privacy and a watertight zero-logging policy come first, and will ensure your data stays private from your ISP, the government, and any other dodgy snoopers on public Wi-Fi.
Then, excellent apps for a good range of devices will be important for most, as staying protected on the go is just as important as at home. Streaming support is also a big plus, and in our testing the most private services are also the best for this, so no sacrifices need to be made.
Overall, we rate ExpressVPN as the very best Canada VPN. With plenty of servers both in and outside Canada, top streaming support and excellent, audited privacy credentials, it’s the full package. However, there are also a few good alternatives, so here we’ll run down the top VPNs for Canada so you can pick your favorite from the bunch.
Best VPN in Halifax Nova Scotia today
ExpressVPN
Available on: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Linux | Simultaneous connections: 5 | Streaming sites unblocked: Netflix, iPlayer, YouTube, Amazon, Hulu, Peacock, Disney+ | Number of servers: 3,000+ | Server locations: 160
It’s easy to see why ExpressVPN is quite simply the best Canada VPN of 2023. Not only does it offer excellent connection speeds all over the world, but it can unblock just about every streaming service around, is perfect for torrenting, and is incredibly private and secure to boot – as our only 5-star rated VPN, our ExpressVPN review is testament to its quality.
First things first, ExpressVPN boasts industry-standard AES-256 encryption combined with a selection of protocols, Perfect Forward Secrecy and an audited no-logging policy. It also has a kill switch to protect you if your connection drops, plus split tunnelling, which can route some of your traffic through the VPN while keeping some untouched.
As well as that, Express has a stellar history of reliably unblocking Netflix libraries around the world (including Canada), as well as Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and more. That’s quite a cinematic roster, and much of it will be unlocked as part of your subscription if you virtually relocate yourself to a certain country.
Don’t be intimidated by Express’s comprehensive list of features – if all you want to do is press a button and get connected, you can do that too. While fine-tuning a VPN is fun for some, we really appreciate how ExpressVPN works perfectly out the box, and is perfectly suited for those that just want to plug and play – especially on mobile devices.
Overall, there’s not a VPN service out there that can match ExpressVPN. Simply put, it can basically do everything. But, if you’re not sure, it also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can test the service. If you change your mind, you’ll get a full refund, no questions asked.
Strong privacy protections
Even though it’s free, Windscribe Free is just as private and just as secure as the premium VPN. It’s equipped with the industry-standard AES-256 encryption cipher and Windscribe’s ‘Firewall’ ensures there are no data leaks.
The Windscribe Free privacy policy only collects a minimal amount of information. But none of this can be used to identify you. An independent audit would go a long way, but we’re confident that Windscribe is private.
Unfortunately, it’s based in Canada, somewhere in Toronto. This puts it at the mercy of the CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service), which collects large amounts of data on Canadian citizens.
But it shouldn’t be an issue as Windscribe stores no identifiable data about its users. If the Canadian authorities demand data, Windscribe can’t spoil your privacy as it has nothing to submit.
Privacy policy protects against ISP Surveillance
Hide.me Free has the same privacy guarantee as its premium version, which is close to zero-logs. This makes it the most private free VPN for Halifax. Nova Scotia.
It only keeps connection data in order to maintain service performance, and even this is deleted every few hours.
Hide.me established itself in Malaysia for privacy reasons and it releases regular transparency reports detailing legal requests it receives and how it’s unable to offer any information.
Diverse server network, but throttles speeds
Hide.me Free is a private and secure service, but it has recently started to throttle its users’ connection speeds. We suspect this is to encourage users to upgrade to its premium version.
When connecting into Montreal from our location in the US, we recorded an abysmal average download speed of 1Mbps. This is an awful result and limits your online activities to basic web browsing.
While Hide.me Free’s download speeds are disappointing, it has an impressive server network for a free service. You can select servers in these eight countries:
- Canada
- France
- Germany
- Netherlands
- Singapore
- Spain
- UK
- US
Windscribe Free still offers more countries, but Hide.me’s selection is still good and quite diverse, including a server in Singapore.
Poor for streaming & limited by data cap
Hide.me was a big disappointment when testing it for streaming. We weren’t able to access any US streaming services or watch your favorite Canadian TV when overseas.
Torrenting is permitted on all of Hide.me free servers, and Hide.me’s security suite is safe enough that we’re comfortable recommending it for free P2P file-sharing activity, especially if you activate ‘Stealth Guard’.
Just remember that, like with Windscribe Free, Hide.me is limited to 10GB of data per month.
Easy to use protection against Canadian surveillance
PrivadoVPN Free shines as a streaming VPN, but it doesn’t forget about privacy and security. Its privacy policy does log more data than Windscribe and Hide.me, but it’s not identifiable data.
Its security package is safe, but not advanced. It has the best protocols like OpenVPN and WireGuard, and top encryption to anonymize your searches, but it’s not offering special tools like Hide.me and Windscribe do.
We’re confident PrivadoVPN will protect your privacy against Canadian snooping and data gathering. It’s based in Switzerland, which is a privacy haven, and outside the remit of Canadian intelligence-sharing alliances, like the Five Eyes.