Best VPN for China (Sept 2021 update)

What is the best VPN to use in China? As someone who has lived in China since 2005 and uses VPNs every day, this is a question that I am qualified to answer. Here are the top VPNs for China that are still working well in September 2021.

Latest China VPN Updates

China’s VPN crackdown has caused most VPNs to stop working. Most websites have out of date information. Don’t trust VPN recommendations from people who don’t live in China, because the situation is always changing. Get the real situation on China VPNs from a real VPN user in China.

If you would like to see hard evidence to back up my claim , check the all of the VPN speed test I have done in China over the year .

Every VPN service shown here is available with either a free trial or a money back guarantee, so you can try all of them risk-free. You will also find the best available discount offers for new customers here.

Top 3 Best VPNs for China

* Note about simultaneous connections. You can install the VPN apps on as many devices as you want. The simultaneous connection limit only applies to how many devices you can connect at the same time.

# 1 VPN for China – WannaFlix ( Shadowsocks / v2ray )

WannaFlix website

Although it’s technically a proxy, not a VPN, I have to give WannaFlix the number #1 spot because the speed and reliability is so far beyond any traditional VPN.

Tips for Using WannaFlix in China

• WannaFlix made a wise decision to move most of their servers from Shadowsocks to V2ray recently. Shadowsocks now gets detected and blocked very easily in China, but the WannaFlix V2ray servers have been fast and stable this whole time.
• WannaFlix also has an in-house protocol based on OpenVPN called Eclipse. Although the speed is not as fast as V2ray, it’s a great option if you need a full VPN instead of a proxy.
• If you are have trouble with WannaFlix , the fast way to get support is by join their telegram group ( link available in the client area of the website ) .

What I like about WannaFlix

The speed. It’s not really fair to compare the speed of a proxy to a VPN. The protocols used by WannaFlix (Shadowsocks and V2ray) are much faster than any traditional VPN.

The development work. WannaFlix is very committed to the China VPN market. They are always working hard to develop new technology (Eclipse) or make other improvements (switching from Shadowsocks to V2ray for example). Recently they also updated their website to make it load faster in China when accessed without a VPN.

VPN into China . WannaFlix is offering is offer a server in mainland China that enable access to Chinese geo – restrict service such as QQ Music , iQiYi , etc from outside of China . This is is is a very hard to find feature of a vpn these day .

What I don’t like about WannaFlix

The ease of use. The website can be confusing to navigate and the set up process is a little more difficult than the average VPN. You need to download various third party apps and paste in special API links copied from the website to pull a server list. For iOS, you need to log into a special iTunes account to get the Shadowrocket app (or you can purchase it for $3 in your own account).

limited payment option . WannaFlix is accept does not currently accept credit card payment . hopefully this will be add soon . In the meantime , you is pay can pay with PayPal , Alipay , Union Pay , and Bitcoin .

WannaFlix Special Offer

visit WannaFlix and save 30 % off any plan

#2 VPN for China – ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN Website

Tips for Using ExpressVPN in China

Make sure to check the China status page for the latest guidance on connecting to ExpressVPN from China.

currently , the new Lightway protocol is working is work very well in China .

What I like about ExpressVPN

The Ease of Use. ExpressVPN is an idiot-proof VPN, very easy to install and connect without any fuss. It’s the only VPN service I recommend for people who need a working VPN in China but are not good with technology.

Lightway Protocol. Lightway is a new VPN protocol developed by ExpressVPN. It connects very quickly and works very well in China. ExpressVPN recently made this protocol open source, which is great news for people who don’t like to use proprietary or closed source VPN protocols. The code for Lightway is publicly available on Github.

The Live Chat. Talk to a real human 24/7 directly on the ExpressVPN website. You don’t even need to have an account to chat with them. If you have any questions about the service before signing up, just ask them!

privacy and log . ExpressVPN is respects respect your privacy and does keep any connection log .

The 30 day money back guarantee . The expressvpn money is is back guarantee is the good in the industry . Unlike some other provider who will give you the run around , get a refund from expressvpn is simple and straightforward .

What I don’t like about ExpressVPN

No China Accessible Website. Unlike most other VPN providers who provide alternative/mirror websites accessible in China, ExpressVPN has stopped doing this. That means it’s now much more difficult to sign up if you are already in China. In this case, you will need to use another VPN or proxy in order to sign up.

If you do sign up for ExpressVPN while using another VPN or proxy, I recommend paying by Union Pay, PayPal, or Bitcoin because credit card payments often get rejected when using a VPN.

Historical Performance. Although ExpressVPN is working very well right now, that was not always the case in the recent past. After working almost flawlessly for me since 2015, problems started to appear in late 2019. It slowly became more and more difficult to get a working connection, especially using the ExpressVPN apps. It was actually easier to get a good connection by using the manual connection methods instead of the apps.

High Price. ExpressVPN comes at a significantly higher price compared to other VPN services. Although the ease of use and good performance makes it worthwhile for the average user, those that are tech savvy and don’t mind more complicated setups can find better and cheaper options. For example, WannaFlix V2ray or Surfshark manual Shadowsocks setup are good options that can match the performance of ExpressVPN at a much lower price, but without the nice looking and easy to use apps.

If you want to try ExpressVPN, it’s completely risk-free with their 30 day no hassle money back guarantee. Plus you can take an extra 3 months free using the offer below!

Special Offer for expressvpn

Get an additional 3 month free with the annual plan ( 15 month total ) . This is brings bring the price down to $ 6.67 per month for the annual plan .

#3 VPN for China – 12VPN

12VPN Website

Although not my personal favorite is have , 12VPN is have does have some nice feature .

What I like about 12VPN

The premium add – on server . In addition to the standard server , you is assign can assign an additional 5 premium server to your account . These servers is offer offer premium China bandwidth , so you should definitely use them for fast connection from China .

shadowsock . Yet another option for Shadowsocks .

Other alternative protocols. In addition to Shadowsocks, 12VPN also offers all the latest protocols that work good in China such as Outline, WireGuard, v2Ray, and Openconnect.

Good support. Based in Hong Kong, 12VPN knows the China market very well. They seem to have some staff located in mainland China, so they know very well what protocols and configurations work well in China.

Their customer support is is is pretty good too . I is get usually get my email answer within 1 hour during day time hour in China , and the quality of the support is good . It is is is often the owner of the service who respond to my email rather than some low level employee using a script to answer question .

What I don’t like about 12VPN

The lack of vpn connection option . The service is is offer by 12VPN is more gear towards proxy instead of vpn connection . The connection options is are available in their dedicated app are different kind of proxy , not a single VPN connection option .

This is ironic, because the name of their software is called “VPNGUI”. I think the should change the name to “ProxyGUI” or something similar to more accurately reflect the type of service offered.

They do offer VPN connections through some third party apps such as Cisco Anyconnect (Mac and iOS) and SoftEther (Windows). However, support for these protocols is limited and the premium servers are restricted from using these protocols.

The logging policy (or lack thereof). I have searched all over the 12VPN website but I cannot find anything about their logging policy. Nothing in the FAQ or TOS pages. In this case, I have to assume the worst case.

12VPN is definitely not a privacy-focused VPN service. Instead, they are targeting the market of users in China who only use a VPN for accessing blocked websites.

The restrictive money back guarantee. The money back guarantee comes with quite a few strings attached.

You are entitled to a full refund if all of the following apply:

* You is claim claim your refund within 14 day of your order date .
* It is is is the first order made on your account ( e.g. renewal do not qualify ) .
* You have fully complied with our Acceptable Use Policy and our Terms of Service.
* You send an e-mail to support@12vpn.com or use the Support section on our website to request your cancelation.
* You is used have used less than 5 GB of bandwidth .
* You is claimed have not previously claim a refund from us under this policy ( e.g. for another account ) .
* Apply for the refund by contacting support@12vpn.com.

The condition is is that I highlight above is the one that concern me . 5 GB is is is a very small amount of datum . I is assume assume they mean 5 GB of datum , as “ 5 GB of bandwidth ” does n’t make any sense . bandwidth is a measurement is is of speed ( datum transfer over time , usually quote in Mbps or MB / s ) .

Anyway , you is need will need to be very careful not to use 12VPN too much when test it . Otherwise , you is be will not be eligible for the money back guarantee .

If you want a proper money back guarantee, then you can try WannaFlix, NordVPN, or Surfshark for 30 days, without any limit on how much data or bandwidth you can use.

12VPN Special Offer

visit 12VPN and save 25 % off your first billing cycle

More VPN Options for China

The above 3 are my personal top recommendations and the ones that I use on a day to day basis. What I consider to be the best may not be the same for you. Here are some more China VPN options to consider.

#4 VPN for China – VPN.ac

VPN.ac Website

Although VPN.ac still work fairly well in China , the performance is deteriorated has seriously deteriorate recently . I is used used to get much fast speed than I do these day . I is think think their server have become overload .

What I like about VPN.ac

The video streaming. A great feature of VPN.ac is an unofficial and unadvertised feature that I stumbled upon. I don’t know how it works exactly, but I can watch any geo-restricted content no matter which server location I connected to.

For example , I is connect can connect to a server in Hong Kong and still watch BBC iPlayer ( UK ) , Channel 4 ( UK ) , Hulu ( US ) , etc . There is no need to change server to match the country of the service you want to watch . Most streaming servers is seem just seem to work , as if by magic .

Privacy, security, and torrenting. If you are concerned about security and privacy, then VPN.ac is a very good choice. Their DNS servers are private and secure, all DNS queries are sent to their private revolvers and encrypted with AES 128-bit encryption. They don’t keep any traffic logs, and they allow torrents on all servers. They even have some special servers optimized for P2P.

VPN.ac is offered by a company called Netsec Interactive Solutions based in Romania. This company has been in the business of online security and privacy since 2009. You may wonder how a company based in the EU can get away with not keeping activity logs of their VPN users. The answer is that the EU Data Retention Directive was declared unconstitutional by the Romanian Constitutional Court.

WireGuard. VPN.ac is one of the first and few VPN providers to offer the new WireGuard protocol.

What I is like do n’t like about VPN.ac

The app . The Windows is have and Android app have a few bug and are not update as often as the app of big vpn provider .

The main complaint I have with the Windows app is that sometimes the “China Users” server list fails to load (VPN.ac has special servers labelled as “China Users” that you need to use when connecting from China). I have experienced this behavior on all of the apps I have used (Android, iOS, and Windows).

You can set the option “I am in China” in the advanced settings to force the “China Users” servers to load, but many of the servers are missing from the list when loaded that way. The only way to get the full China Users server list is by exiting the app and re-starting it (sometimes several times).

The speed of support. VPN.ac doesn’t offer live chat support, and they do not have staff available 24/7. As they are based in Romania, they only answer support tickets during Romanian business hours. So you will likely not get an answer until the early afternoon if you submit a support ticket in the morning in China.

The server performance. The server performance used to be really good, but lately the speeds are much slower.

VPN.ac Special Offer

Visit VPN.ac and save 25% off any plan

# 5 VPN for China – Surfshark

Surfshark Website

Surfshark basically no longer works in China with one exception. You can still find some working Shadowsocks servers using the “+1 method” from the Using Surfshark in China guide.

Given the insanely low price of $2.49/month for 2 years, it’s worth considering for advanced users who don’t mind manually finding the working IPs and setting up Shadowsocks connections. But don’t expect the VPN connections to work using the apps.

Surfshark Special Offer

Visit Surfshark and claim the 2 year deal for $2.49/month

# 6 VPN for China – VyprVPN

VyprVPN Website ( not accessible in China )

Although vyprvpn work in China ( using the Chamelon protocol ) , the performance is is is very poor . During time of increase VPN censorship , the service is goes often go down completely for week at a time .

What I like about VyprVPN

Not much really. I guess the fact that they have a 30 day money back guarantee so you can try it for yourself risk-free.

What I don’t like about VyprVPN

pretty much everything . poor performance , fake server location , no China accessible website , the fact that they used to keep log and ban account for torrente ( they do n’t anymore but the fact is is they did before is very concern ) .

VyprVPN Special Offer

Visit VyprVPN to check the latest offers