Best VPN for France - 5 Providers for Total Anonymity
10 min. read
Updated on
Share this article
Improve this guide
Read our disclosure page to find out how can you help VPNCentral sustain the editorial team Read more
Several harsh surveillance laws were brought and the constant privacy breaches have made people start looking for the best VPN for France.
You might be wondering how did this happen, and what brought it up. Many have heard of the problems in France, especially those connected to multiple terrorist attacks that happened over the last few years.
Access content across the globe at the highest speed rate.
70% of our readers choose Private Internet Access
70% of our readers choose ExpressVPN
Browse the web from multiple devices with industry-standard security protocols.
Connect to thousands of servers for persistent seamless browsing.
Simply keep reading, and we’ll explain how these attacks brought anti-privacy bills, and also what’s the best France VPN for you to use in order to protect yourself.
France anti-privacy bills and legislations
Several years ago, in December 2014, the French government decided to quietly pass a new law. This was a surveillance law, allowing them to record any documents and info from the internet, especially phone call data, including the location, duration of the conversation, and even phone numbers.
The next year, another surveillance bill was brought, but this one was even more intrusive than the last. It even earned criticism from Human Rights Watch.
The general fear is that France is slowly but surely becoming a secretive and overreaching country that’s putting all of its hopes in strong surveillance.
Then came the terrorist attacks, and there were many of them. To deal with this, the French Socialist Party secretly created an illegal database with biometric data concerning over 60 million of their citizens. This was an illegal act, but it was still deemed necessary.
This database was named Secure Electronic Titles, and it contained data on almost all French citizens. The data includes a photo, eye color, fingerprints, weight, geographical address, and even an IP address.
With so many surveillance issues and geo-restrictions, VPNs are sorely needed.
What is a VPN and what can it do?
VPN is short for Virtual Private Network. They are private networks, connected by their own private servers, which are being used to provide their users with safety, security, and anonymity.
All of the big VPN providers have servers spread all over the globe.
It’s important to have a lot of servers because more servers mean a bigger network, as well as faster connections. Having many servers in a lot of countries is important for another reason.
When you connect to a VPN server, it gives you an IP address that’s considered local in the place where the server is located. This can trick the internet into thinking that you’re actually located there right now.
That’s why you sometimes get the error and a message that the website you’re trying to access isn’t available in your country. The website has already scanned your IP address, saw that you’re not in the area that it’s covering, and denied your request.
So, if you wanted to access Hulu from France, you wouldn’t be able to. However, if you used a US VPN server, you’d be able to unblock it.
Still, the main purpose of changing your IP address is your security. And when it comes to security, no other service is capable of keeping you as safe as a VPN can. A VPN’s main feature is encryption.
They use it to cover your entire data flow. They use the best protocols to create a secure tunnel through which your data flows through. With a security measure like this, nobody will be able to spy on your online actions, and this includes your ISP and even your government. Finally, your privacy would be truly private.
Other features that VPNs offer
The ability to encrypt your content and change your IP address is something that any VPN can do. It’s something that defines them as a service.
However, they also offer many extra features. Most VPNs worth using don’t log your activities, which is one of the most important things.
Many of them also offer a money-back guarantee, which allows you to get your money back if you decide that you’re not satisfied with the service. There are also:
- DNS leak protections
- Killswitches
- Different protocols for you to choose from
- P2P supporting
- Great customer support
- Unlimited bandwidth, and others.
Which VPN to choose?
This is one of the most important decisions that you’ll have to make when it comes to VPNs. At a glance, they might all seem the same to you. However, the safety of your devices and your privacy largely depend on making the right choice here.
There are two types of VPNs – the ones you pay for, and the free ones. We advise you to never choose a free one.
Free services almost always have very poor security, and they aren’t reliable. Next, free VPNs also need to make money one way or another. Most of the time, they’re either recording your data and selling it to advertisers, or bombarding you with third-party ads.
What About The Paid VPN?
Paid VPNs are generally safe, but not all are completely efficient. We recommend five services:
So let’s see what they have to offer.
ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is popular for a reason. If you need it for accessing restricted content from France, you can be sure that it’ll do its part.
It has servers in over 78 world countries, which puts its network among the biggest ones, and its servers are in all of the right places. That makes this VPN very reliable.
It has several package plans for you to choose from, and the prices are very affordable as well. It will also provide you with 256bit encryption, which is among the top ones, and it also supports the four best protocols, which are:
- OpenVPN
- PPTP
- SSTP
- L2TP/IPSec
ExpressVPN is available on multiple devices, and that includes:
- Mac
- PC
- Android
- iOS devices
- Linux
Its software is novice-friendly and very practical. And if you ever have any kind of problems, you can always contact customer support, that’s available at any time.
ExpressVPN
Take advantage of this high-quality VPN to access restricted content and mask your online activities.IPVanish
IPVanish is the next on our list, and this is also one of the best VPNs for France. It offers over 180 servers in more than 60 countries, and it’s also among the fastest ones out there, due to the fact that it owns the network it uses. This provides them with top speeds and makes this VPN the best one for streaming, online gaming, and safe downloads.
Other than that, this VPN also has various tunneling protocols for complete anonymity. The encryptions are strong, the bandwidth is unlimited, and the customer service is amazing and always reachable.
Also, there are many tutorials for you to check out in order to learn how to use all that this VPN has to offer. It also has a no-logging policy and a money return guarantee.
IPVanish
Benefit from an extensive server network and robust security features with IPVanish.NordVPN
NordVPN is also one of the best choices for keeping your privacy private and yourself anonymous. It offers over 980 servers in more than 58 countries. Its connections are fast, and prices are budget-friendly. Other than that, they offer strong double encryptions a rare feature, as well as multiple protocols. Speeds are great as well, and they offer both no logging, as well as money return guarantees.
There are also features like DNS leak protection, kill switch, unlimited bandwidth, and others that are demonstrating just how much NordVPN cares about their customers’ privacy, security, as well as their comfort.
Nord also offers software that’s easy to use, and even easier to set up, as well as constantly present customer support in case you ever have any questions about anything related to their service.
NordVPN
NordVPN’s military-grade encryption and protocols will keep all your activities under wraps.CyberGhost
CyberGhost is a premium service that can unblock all major streaming platforms. Furthermore, it has +8900 servers in 110+ locations across 91 countries, including +900 servers in France. The app will also conveniently list the least crowded options.
It also has a handy list of servers optimized for streaming in France, including options for:
- TF1
- France TV
- 6play
- MolotovTV
- Canal+
- Amazon Prime FR
- Netflix FR
- Europe 1
- RTL FR
- Radio France.
As for security, CyberGhost uses 256-bit AES encryption and won’t log your IP address or traffic. It’s also been independently audited by Deloitte. It supports up to seven simultaneous connections, including Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, Smart TV, Android TV, and other devices.
CyberGhost
If you value anonymity and privacy above all else, CyberGhost is the ideal service for you.PIA
Private Internet Access (PIA) is based in the United States and operated by Kape Technologies. It’s very easy to use and is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS devices and as a browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Opera. You can also configure PIA on your router too.
Your online privacy and security are guaranteed via AES-128 or AES-256 military-grade encryption and the OpenVPN and WireGuard VPN protocols.
With PIA, you can also enjoy the following: VPN Killswitch, PIA MACE (ads and malware blocker), Split Tunnel, Port forwarding, Connection Automation, Dedicated IP, Unlimited bandwidth, and P2P support.
Private Internet Access
PIA’s vast server fleet and security features make it an excellent VPN for France.Can VPNs Be used for torrenting
The answer to this once again depends on your choice of VPN. Many of them support P2P file sharing and even have optimized servers for that.
However, there are also some of them that don’t cover that part of your connection, and if you try to use a torrent client while one of those VPNs is protecting you, you will be vulnerable. It’s a good idea to research a VPN of your choice, and thoroughly at that.
All of the ones that we recommended earlier work perfectly with BitTorrent clients, so you shouldn’t worry if one of those is what you’re going to use.
You may also enjoy reading:
Conclusion on the best French VPN
The online privacy situation in France isn’t very good at the moment.
The problems that the country is facing now, as well as the ones from the recent past, are helping us understand these measures to a point, but the fact is that its citizens don’t feel safe.
This is true for both the real and online world and the only way for them to keep at least some control is to get a VPN and decide for themselves what they can and can’t access. And while they’re at it, they might as well increase their online safety.
VPNs will help with this, and we’ve already discussed what their abilities are. The most important thing is stopping privacy breaches, and controlling your own privacy, and there’s no better way to achieve that than to protect yourself with a strong, reliable VPN provider.
