Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and is located on an island just off of the mainland. Currently, it has a population of just over 1.2 million people and has a wide and diverse economy. It is also popular for those that are traveling. Whether you are going to the city for business or personal reasons, you won’t want to use public WiFi without using a VPN first. It will help protect your privacy and unblock restrictions. Here are some of the best VPNs to use in Abu Dhabi.
| Rank | VPN Service | Our Score | Server Locations | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | 9.8 | 95 |  |
| 2 |  | 9.2 | 78 | |
| 3 |  | 9.0 | 280 | |
| 4 |  | 9.0 | 76 | |
| 5 |  | 8.8 | 68 | |
With all of the business travel and tourism to Abu Dhabi, using a VPN is crucial to protect your privacy. That is because of cyber crooks in the area. You can just bet they are waiting to take advantage of unsuspecting users. By using a VPN in this case, you will create a secure and private connection to the server of your choice. That will make it much harder for the prying eyes of thieves or the UAE government to gain access to sensitive information.
Censorship in Abu Dhabi and the UAE is also a big reason to use a VPN. Whether you are trying to access geo-blocked content or banned content, no one wants to get a message telling them they are not allowed to do that. By using a VPN and connecting to a server in another region, you can get around the geo-blocked or restricted content just as you normally would in other locations.
Those are the two best reasons for using a VPN while in Abu Dhabi. From getting around censorship rules to accessing geo-blocked content to protecting your privacy from prying eyes, using one is a good idea while there. Now that you see why it is so important we’ll talk about the best options for you.
What is the best VPN for Abu Dhabi?
Our list of the best VPNs for Abu Dhabi is based on the following criteria:
- Military grade strong encryption to secure privacy
- Providers that don’t keep any logs
- The ability to unblock geo-restricted and banned sites
- VPN providers with servers that perform well in the Abu Dhabi region
- Network stability to minimize server disconnects
- Multi-platform support for devices including Amazon Firesticks
Without further delay, here is a list of the best VPN services to use while in Abu Dhabi.
1. Best VPN for Abu Dhabi: PIA
Sign up for 24 months for just $3.49 a month (65% discount)
Private Internet Access (PIA) gives users a few different options. Unlike in the past, you no longer have to set up a profile for each VPN server. Now, you can connect to any of their server locations in 33 countries. As you can see below, the PIA team has organized their servers by region, country, and city. The server locations are listed in alphabetical order by country.
There are a lot of torrent users who love Private Internet Access. The service includes a feature that will stop your system from communicating if the connection to their service drops. Meaning if your encrypted VPN access is dropped for any reason it will keep you safe.
PIA offers a Windows client and other apps that are simple and easy to use. However, you won’t want to underestimate it. PIA offers different levels of privacy protection depending on your needs. You can control encryption levels to help you find the right balance between privacy and speed. As you can see, our speed test showed that PIA performs well in Dubai, UAE (the closest location). When we connected to a server there, we got a speed of 85.10 Mbps.
When it comes to their Windows client the PIA team has included an Internet kill switch. The kill switch will kill your Internet connection anytime the VPN fails. That can really come in handy for those wanting to ensure anonymity. Private Internet Access offers VPN from just $3.49 a month.
2. Best VPN for Abu Dhabi: PureVPN
Sign up for 24 months for just $2.88 a month (74% discount)
PureVPN has been in business since 2007 making them one of the oldest VPN providers on the market. Having an early start has helped them expand and innovate. PureVPN has one of the best VPN clients available on the market. They also have free apps for both iOS and Android.
Innovation is an area that helps PureVPN stand out from the pack. They continue to add new features and add-ons to the service. You can add NAT firewall, a dedicated IP address, StealthVPN browser and a special option called dedicated streaming to help speed up your performance.
Since we wanted to test a server in the region, we opened the Windows client and clicked on the “Country Selection Tool” option. From there you can expand any country and select a specific server using the “Browse All Servers” tab. The PureVPN network has several servers located in the UAE area. We connected to one of them located in Dubai and tested the performance. As you can see, our download speed was 65.48 Mbps.
PureVPN does really well in the pricing category. They have cut pricing by over 50% as the service continues to grow. You can sign up for unlimited VPN and access all their server locations from just $4.99 a month. The annual plan is a great value.
Read our full review of PureVPN.
3. Best VPN for Abu Dhabi: HMA
Sign up for 36 months for just $2.99 a month (75% discount)
HideMyAss was brought to life in 2005 when Jack Cator, a 16-year-old student in England, decided that he wanted to create a service to help people avoid censorship. Specifically, Jack was unable to access social media sites and online games because they were blocked on the school network. HMA added hundreds of thousands of users the first month and has since grown into one of the largest VPN services in the world with over 350 server locations. Privax, the parent company of HMA Pro VPN, joined the AVG team in 2015.
If your goal is to find the VPN with the most server locations, then HideMyAss is your best choice. Just keep in mind that HMA logs user activity which is a concern for some VPN users. HMA hosts a number of servers in the Saudi Arabian region, including some in Dubai (the closest location). To connect to a server there, you need to choose the “Location Mode” and select “Change Location” to get started. Then click on the “Cities” tab and search for Dubai. From there, you can select the United Arab Emirates, Dubai server location. We connected to a server in there to test and found the speed to be 61.46 Mbps.
In 2016 HMA and a few other leading VPN providers led the way in simplifying their custom client software. The result is a full set of custom apps that make it easy for any user to connect to the HMA network and encrypt your connection. They have software available for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. You can also connect to HMA through your router. HMA offers unlimited VPN access from just $4.99 a month and offers all new users a 30-day risk-free money back guarantee.
4. Best VPN for Abu Dhabi: IPVanish
Sign up for 12 months for just $4.87 a month (60% discount)
As well as coverage in Eurasia, IPVanish hosts servers in every continent other than Antarctica. The network produces great speeds in the region when we perform our speed tests. You will find multiple server locations all over the region. You can select a location or an individual server from the drop-down menu.
IPVanish hosts a number of servers in the locations in the area and you can choose to connect to any of them. If you see servers that have the letter “a” in the server name, those are the fastest. For example, you would look for one labeled similarly to dxb-c01.ipvanish.com. (located in Dubai). In this case, however, you will find a single server. We tested an IPVanish server there, dxb-c01, and found the speed to be 10.04 Mbps.
When it comes to value IPVanish is hard to beat. They offer unlimited access to their VPN network and custom software for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Amazon Firestick and more for $7.50 a month or $58.49 a year. That works out to just $4.87 a month on the annual plan. A 7-day money back guarantee covers all new members.
5. Best VPN for Abu Dhabi: TorGuard
TorGuard was launched in 2012 by team members located in Nevis, West Indies. When you compare it to other services, this VPN service is relatively new. However, they have more than 1250 servers located in 42 different countries around the world. Their target audience is the torrenting community, but it will work just fine for anything you want to do in the region. Though there are not any servers located in Dubai, the servers there are the best option.
TorGuard has a solid mix of server locations, strong encryption, and the ability to unblock popular streaming services like Netflix, YouTube Red, and Amazon Prime as well as torrenting activities. Often times, you can gain access to Amazon Prime video content in several different locations. When using the Windows client, you have the option to surf anonymously, protect WiFi, torrent anonymously, unblock basic websites (Google, Facebook Instagram, etc.), choose a server, and more.
Since we wanted to test a server in the area, we opened the Windows client and selected the OpenVPN protocol. Now, you can scroll through the list of countries arranged in alphabetical order. Then, you can choose a city. The TorGuard network includes a few servers in Dubai. We connected to one of them and tested the performance. As you can see, the download speed was 0.73 Mbps.
The TorGuard VPN service is a favorite in the file-sharing community. Everything is easy to use and straightforward so you can easily protect your online privacy. There are frequently features added to the mobile versions as well. You can sign up for full access for as low as $4.99 a month during their current promotion.
Though you shouldn’t have to, you can always take a look at our top 10 VPN services for different choices. These selections are the best overall, so they are sure to meet any goal you have. We used security, regional locations, speed, and price as the factors for picking these selections. In addition, we also picked the ones with large networks of servers you may wish to connect to. Fast networks for streaming HD content and protecting your privacy are marks of reliable VPN providers. Of course, our choices will give you both options.