Houston, Texas, is the most populous city in the second-largest state in the United States. It also has the 5th largest metro area in the county, with just over 6.3 million people. The city is known for quite a few different things, from healthcare to aerospace, and is the most diverse city in the state. While many factors make up Houston’s appeal, using public WiFi without subscribing to a VPN service is a bad idea. We’ll explain more in a moment. First, have a look at our list of the best VPNs for Houston.
| Rank | VPN Service | Price | Visit | Server Locations | No Logs | Browser Extensions | Smart DNS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | $6.67 |  | 160 |  | | |
| 2 |  | $3.49 | | 87 | | | |
| 3 |  | $2.19 | | 95 | | | |
| 4 |  | $3.99 | | 73 | | ||
| 5 |  | $1.99 | | 58 | |
Houston has a nice variety of top-tier sports teams. These include the Rockets (NBA), Texans (NFL), Astros (MLB), and the Houston Dynamo (MLS). Of course, all these teams are well-known for good reasons and bad. The urban renaissance led by the Toyota Center (where the Rockets play) has helped to turn the downtown area into a night and day destination. Unfortunately, watching games or matches online is a problem if you are in the city. Due to licensing rights, anyone considered “in-market” needs to watch games on broadcast TV. The way to resolve this issue is to connect to a VPN in another city. By doing so, you can get out of market IP address. That way, you can enjoy the Rockets, Astros, Texans, or even the Dynamo play.
With Houston’s size, it should come as no surprise that the city has many different types of conventions. Some of these include the Comicpalooza, the Tattoo Arts Convention, Anime Houston, the Image Expo, and many more. It is great to see events with free WiFi when you are on the event floor, no matter what your favorite types of conventions are. If you plan on using it, you’ll want to connect to a VPN for its encryption layer of protection. That way, you can focus on the convention swag instead of identity theft.
Cultural diversity in the city lends itself to many different types of festivals. These include the Houston Pizza Festival, Woofstock, Beer Fest, and others. As great as they all are, everyone needs downtime afterward. These days, many prefer to stay in the room and stream shows and movies. If you are an international traveler wanting to catch up on your top series or if you’re going to explore new options, you only need to connect to a VPN in the region you wish to view. Then, you can enjoy content from different locations, no matter where you are.
What is the best VPN for Houston?
To determine which is the best, we took a look at a few different factors.
- Fast VPN servers in Houston (PIA, IPVanish) or Dallas (ExpressVPN, NordVPN, PrivadoVPN)
- We prefer VPN providers that do not keep activity logs
- Military-grade encryption to help protect your privacy
- Network stability to help avoid disconnects
- Ability to get around sports blackouts and geo-restrictions
- Wide variety of apps to support more platforms
Without further delay, here is a list of the best VPN services for Houston:
1. ExpressVPN – Fastest VPN in the region
Get 3 months free with 12 months of our #1 rated VPN
If you are in a larger city, especially one that has a top-tier sports team, and you want to watch the game or match online, licensing rights will stop you from doing so. When that happens, the companies refer to it as a sports blackout. To get around this issue, you need to connect to a VPN server provided by ExpressVPN. The easy way to do that is to choose a server that is outside the area. That will make the blocking software believe that you are in another region. Then, you can enjoy the game or match.
A big issue that some VPN providers have involves location. ExpressVPN is under the laws of the British Virgin Islands. This makes a difference because it places the VPN outside of the jurisdiction of the “14 eyes” countries. If you are not aware, that is an alliance of countries that share information. In other words, if one country has access to it, the all 14 nations do as well. When combined with their no-logs policy, you can feel confident that ExpressVPN will help to keep you and your information safe.
You have likely heard of ExpressVPN as their reputation precedes the quality of the service. From a worldwide network of servers to extra features like MediaStreamer, ExpressVPN tops the competition. We use the service in our office and while traveling. From privacy protection to gaming, and streaming, their network provides excellent performance. Give the service a thorough test during the 30-day money-back guarantee. You can sign up for 12 months and get 3 months free, a 49% discount with our ExpressVPN deal.
Want to learn more? Read our full ExpressVPN review.
2. NordVPN – affordable VPN with servers in Texas
One of the more uncommon features that NordVPN offers is what they refer to as a double VPN. Many experts in the community refer to this type of connection as “multi-hop.” Even though it will slow your connection, it adds a second layer of encryption to your traffic. In other words, it will encrypt your data a second time using a different location. If you are concerned that a single layer of encryption is not enough and you want extra security, NordVPN has you covered.
If you are a gamer, there are some advantages to connecting to a NordVPN server. One of the biggest ones will help you avoid lag. If you connect to one of the busier game servers, increased latency can be an issue. With NordVPN, though, you could be assigned to a less active server or make the distance shorter between you and the game server. Either one of those things could make a difference, whether you are a competitive player or one that plays more casually.
Want to learn more? Read our full NordVPN review.
3. Private Internet Access – best VPN with Houston IP address
If you are one of the many people that like to stream sports on your favorite mobile device, connecting to a VPN server from Private Internet Access may be useful to you. More and more providers are allowing their users to watch some sports for free. Great examples of that include baseball and American football in the US. However, if you are traveling abroad or are otherwise outside of your home area, you would miss out on those games. By connecting to a VPN server you should be able to regain the access you wish.
For all the gamers that are worried about lag, connecting to a VPN from Private Internet Access will help stop that from happening. The way that works is by rerouting your internet traffic to a shorter route. If your game goes through fewer spots, it will reduce the amount of lag that you encounter. That way, you can enjoy your favorite without worrying about whether you are going to wind up dead. From playing competitively to playing casually, Private Internet Access has you covered.
Want to learn more? Read our full Private Internet Access review.
4. IPVanish – large network with 54 VPN servers in Houston
If you are a gamer that likes to play online, you probably know that while popular games eventually become available in all regions, it is not always at the same time. The trick to that is to connect to a VPN server from IPVanish located in one of the early access countries. Australia is a popular choice. By doing so, you will make the software think you are there. That way, you can enjoy the game and play it earlier than others in your area.
IPVanish includes a nice addon called SugarSync cloud storage with their VPN service. While they are not the only ones to offer that type of benefit for their users, they were one of the first. It provides you with 250 GB of free cloud storage space. No matter what items you choose to store, it will help you make sure that you do not lose any non-replaceable documents, images, or files that you want to keep safe. That way, when something happens to your phone or computer, you don’t have to worry.
Want to learn more? Read our full IPVanish review.
5. PrivadoVPN – Socks5 proxy and support for P2P use
PrivadoVPN operates and manages hundreds of servers in 58 locations in 45 countries around the world. That means they offer a more extensive network than many of their competitors. One thing that separates them is their lack of virtual servers. Instead, all of their servers are where they claim them to be. Additionally, they offer their service at a reasonable price when compared to others. By doing so, they can provide you with a better experience, no matter what reasons you have for connecting to a VPN.
One of the great things you can do with PrivadoVPN is gain access to blocked content from other countries. Whether you are traveling abroad or want to discover content from other areas, PrivadoVPN makes it easy. If you are familiar with the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), you know that they offer great programming. Unfortunately, it is only available in the UK. To resolve those issues, you need to connect to a VPN in the UK. By doing so, you can gain access to your favorite shows and movies, discover new ones, or look for other options.
Want to learn more? Read our full PrivadoVPN review.
