Best VPN for Gaming in Australia
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A VPN will rarely lower your ping. What a gaming VPN does is hide your IP address from other players, get you onto other regions’ servers and protect you on shared Wi-Fi. On a server in your own city, the extra lag is small.
What does a VPN do to your ping?
A VPN adds a stop on the way to the game server, and the lag depends almost entirely on how far away that stop is. On a local server the cost is small: NordVPN’s Australian server gave us a ping of 13 ms from Melbourne (tested October 2026).
The table puts every VPN we have tested on a local server beside the same line with the VPN off, each with its date. We measured ping to Cloudflare’s nearest server, so read it as a guide to the network, not to any one game.
| VPN | With the VPN | Without | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|
 Surfshark | 12 ms | 12 ms | October 2026 |
 NordVPN | 13 ms | 12 ms | October 2026 |
 Proton VPN | 14 ms | 14 ms | October 2026 |
 PureVPN | 15 ms | 14 ms | October 2026 |
 AdGuard VPN | 30 ms | 21 ms | October 2026 |
 Intego VPN | 37 ms | 15 ms | October 2026 |
 Mysterium VPN | 440 ms | 16 ms | October 2026 |
Ping from Melbourne to a server in Australia, with and without the VPN, on the date shown.
Tested on an account Surfshark gave us free of charge (16–25 Oct 2026). Tested on an account NordVPN gave us free of charge (14–25 Oct 2026). Tested on an account Proton VPN gave us free of charge (17–21 Oct 2026). Tested on an account PureVPN gave us free of charge (21 Oct 2026). Tested on an account Intego VPN gave us free of charge (22 Oct 2026). Tested on an account AdGuard VPN gave us free of charge (24 Oct 2026). Tested on an account Mysterium VPN gave us free of charge (24 Oct 2026).
Mysterium VPN is the exception: its relay adds heavy lag even close to home. On 24 October 2026 its Sydney server took our connect time to Amazon’s Sydney data centre from 28 ms to 445 ms, because traffic went through a distant relay first.
That rules it out for online games. The details are in our Mysterium VPN review.
Overseas servers are fine for a turn-based game and a real handicap in a fast shooter. NordVPN’s ping from Melbourne:
- United States: 159 to 177 ms (tested October 2026)
- Japan: 127 to 189 ms (tested October 2026)
- United Kingdom: 280 to 322 ms (tested October 2026)
Our earlier results (2021–22)
A nearby server is not always free, either. When we tested NordVPN in August 2021, a Sydney server took our ping from 15 ms to 46 ms: nothing in a strategy game, noticeable in a shooter. Both rounds are in our NordVPN review, each with its date.
When is a gaming VPN worth having?
- Hiding your IP address. In peer-to-peer games and voice chat, other players can sometimes see your IP address. A VPN shows them its address instead, which protects you from the sore loser who wants to knock you offline.
- Playing on other regions. Some games matchmake by location. A VPN puts you in another country, with the lag that distance brings. Check the game’s terms first: some publishers do not allow it.
- Shared and public networks. University halls, share houses and hotels often block game traffic or run dodgy Wi-Fi. A VPN gets around the first and protects you on the second.
- A badly routed connection. Now and then your provider sends traffic the long way round, and a VPN finds a shorter path. That is the exception, not a reason to buy one.
Our earlier results (2021–22)
One oddity from our first round: when we tested Astrill from Melbourne in March 2022, its Sydney server downloaded about as fast as no VPN, in a single run. We did not measure ping on that test, so treat it as luck, not a ping gain.
VPNs with servers in Australian cities
The closer the server, the lower the lag, so city coverage matters more for gaming than the total server count. This is what each provider lists on its own server page.
| VPN | Lowest monthly price | Renewal price | Money-back | Countries | Devices | Australian cities | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Surfshark | A$3.49 27 months, A$94.23 upfront | – | 30 days | 100 | Unlimited | 5 Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney | Visit Surfshark |
| 2NordVPN | A$4.79 27 months, A$129.33 upfront | A$187.08 per year | 30 days | 150 | 10 | 5 Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney | Black Friday deal ends soonVisit NordVPN |
| 3Proton VPN | US$3.49 (about A$4.97) 2 years, US$83.76 upfront | US$83.88 per year | 30 days | 149 | 10 | 5 (cities not named on its site) | Partner offerVisit Proton VPN |
| 4PureVPN | US$2.15 (about A$3.06) 27 months | – | 31 days | 65+ | 10 | – | Visit PureVPN |
| 5Intego VPN | US$3.75 (about A$5.34) 2 years, US$89.99 upfront | US$149.99 per 2 years | 30 days | – | 2 | – | Partner offerVisit Intego VPN |
6 CyberGhost | A$3.27 26 months, A$85.02 upfront | A$85.02 per year | 45 days | 100 | 7 | 3 Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney | CyberGhost review |
7 IPVanish | US$2.19 (about A$3.12) 2 years, US$52.56 upfront | – | 30 days | – | Unlimited | 5 Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney | Visit IPVanish |
8 ExpressVPN | US$4.99 (about A$7.10) 15 months, US$74.85 upfront | US$99.95 per year | 30 days | 113 | 10–14 | 5 Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney | Visit ExpressVPN |
| 9AdGuard VPN | A$4.25 2 years, A$102.08 upfront | – | 30 days | – | 10 | – | AdGuard VPN review |
| 10Mysterium VPN | US$2.29 (about A$3.26) 2 years, US$54.94 upfront | – | 30 days | 108 | 6–15 | – | Black Friday deal ends soonVisit Mysterium VPN |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
– means we do not have that detail yet. Prices shown in US$ are published in that currency; the Australian-dollar figure is approximate, converted at the European Central Bank euro reference rates for 30 Oct 2026 (US$1 = A$1.424).
In Perth or Adelaide? Check your city’s row first. A provider without a server there sends you interstate, adding lag to every match. A dash means we have no Australian city on record for that provider.
Consoles: PlayStation, Xbox and Switch
Consoles do not run VPN apps. Install the VPN on your router, so everything in the house goes through it, or share a connection from a PC or Mac running the VPN. Check the Routers column in the table below before you buy.
What to look for
- A server in your city. See the table above.
- WireGuard or a protocol built on it. It is the fastest of the common protocols. NordVPN calls its version NordLynx.
- Split tunnelling. The game goes through the VPN while downloads and updates go direct, or the other way round.
- A kill switch you can turn off. Handy for privacy, annoying if it drops you from a ranked match while the VPN reconnects.
| VPN | Split tunnelling | Kill switch | WireGuard | Routers | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surfshark | ✓ Listed | ✓ Listed | ✓ Listed | ✓ Listed | 2 Nov 2026 |
| NordVPN | ✓ Listed | ✓ Listed | ✓ Listed | ✓ Listed | 19 Oct 2026 |
| Proton VPN | ✓ Listed | ✓ Listed | ✓ Listed | Not listed | 2 Nov 2026 |
| PureVPN | ✓ Listed | ✓ Listed | Not checked | ✓ Listed | 2 Nov 2026 |
| Intego VPN | Not checked | Not checked | Not checked | Not checked | – |
| CyberGhost | ✓ Listed | ✓ Listed | ✓ Listed | ✓ Listed | 2 Nov 2026 |
| IPVanish | ✓ Listed | ✓ Listed | ✓ Listed | ✓ Listed | 2 Nov 2026 |
| ExpressVPN | ✓ Listed | ✓ Listed | ✓ Listed | ✓ Listed | 2 Nov 2026 |
| AdGuard VPN | Not checked | Not checked | Not checked | Not checked | – |
| Mysterium VPN | Not checked | Not checked | Not checked | Not checked | – |
As each provider lists them on its own website, on the date shown. "Not checked" means we have not read that provider's list yet.
The table shows what each provider lists on its own website, not what we have tested.
FAQ
Does a VPN reduce ping?
Almost never. It adds a step to the route, so ping rises a little on a nearby server and a lot on a distant one.
Will I get banned for using a VPN in games?
Using a VPN is legal in Australia, but some publishers restrict it in their terms, particularly for buying games at another country’s price. Read the terms for the game you play.
Which Australian server should I use for gaming?
The one in your own city, or the nearest. Every interstate hop adds lag.
Is a free VPN good enough for gaming?
Rarely. Free plans have few locations and busy servers, the opposite of what you want. See best free VPN in Australia for what the free plans include.