Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is a small island nation located in South Asia. Despite its small size, it has a population of almost 22 million people. While some do not think of the country as a place to visit, many do so for business opportunities, great cultural experiences, wildlife, its affordable tourism, and more. Whether you plan on visiting for business or pleasure reasons, you will want to be sure to use a VPN whenever you use the internet or WiFi. We’ll tell you why right after you take a look at our best VPNs for Sri Lanka.
| Rank | VPN Service | Our Score | Server Locations | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | 9.8 | 160 |  |
| 2 |  | 8.8 | 280 | |
| 3 |  | 8.6 | 78 | |
The biggest reason to use a VPN in Sri Lanka is to protect your privacy. According to the Free Internet Project report, government monitoring is rampant and it does not recognize the right to privacy. That means the country definitely monitors those that use the internet. They do that under the guise of security. That is why you need to connect to a VPN. When you do, you create a secure and encrypted connection. That will definitely make it much harder for anyone to steal your data or track what you are doing.
As far as the other use of a VPN, you can use it to unblock censorship. That is a good thing since the government frequently blocks websites and apps from working. To solve this issue, you would simply connect to a server in another country. That will fool the blocking software into thinking you are located someplace else. That way, you can go to those sites or use those apps.
What is the Best VPN for Sri Lanka?
Surprisingly, the internet is pretty good in the country. As we mentioned though, government surveillance is widespread. Because of that, we will focus our beginning criteria on security matters.
The factors we’ll use are:
- Strong military-grade encryption to offer the best in protection
- Providers with a no-logs policy
- Ability to get around government censorship and geo-restricted content
- Providers that have high network sta to reduce dropped connections
- Ability to get around government censorship and geo-restricted content
- Fast servers that perform well in Sri Lanka and the region
- Mobile apps for multiple device platforms including Amazon Firestick
Based on those criteria, here are our best choices for Sri Lanka.
1. Best VPN for Sri Lanka: ExpressVPN
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ExpressVPN brings together fast VPN access with MediaStreamer which acts as a Smart DNS service to unblock access to geo-restricted content. The VPN service will help encrypt your connection and unblock live sporting events. You will even find a list of the latest live entertainment and sporting events on their website. Being in the British Virgin Islands puts ExpressVPN outside the 5 eyes and 14 eyes countries. They maintain a no-log policy that has been verified through high profile legal requests over the years.
ExpressVPN manages a very large VPN network. Beyond the USA, the ExpressVPN network boasts thousands of servers in key locations to help protect their user’s privacy. You can use their network to protect your privacy, unblock censorship, and watch your favorite streaming services from anywhere.
The ExpressVPN app allows you to select a server location down to the city but you can not choose a specific server. Instead, the client will select a server in your chosen location. You also need to know that some cities are not shown on the recommended tab inside the client. You may find that issue with servers in Sri Lanka. Simply select the “All” tab, open Europe, and then open Sri Lanka. At this point, you can select servers there. When we tested a server in Colombo, Sri Lanka, the speed was 18.66 Mbps.
Perhaps the biggest advantage of using ExpressVPN is their support for a wide range of devices. ExpressVPN offers custom VPN software for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. Connect from your desktop and mobile at the same time with up to 3 simultaneous connections. You can also install the ExpressVPN web extension for Chrome or Firefox. Want to protect your entire home network with a single VPN account? If so you can use the ExpressVPN router app to get all set up. The MediaStreamer feature adds Smart DNS support to devices like game consoles (PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, etc.), media boxes (Apple TV, Roku, Nvidia Shield TV, etc.), and Smart TVs.
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ExpressVPN performed very well in our speed tests. They are a great choice for privacy and to unblock geo-restrictions. Customer support is available 24/7 to provide assistance and answer any questions. Enjoy the best VPN for less with confidence as ExpressVPN offers a 30 day money back guarantee.
2. Best VPN for Sri Lanka: 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.
For those that want to find a VPN provider with the most server locations, HideMyAss is your best choice. Just keep in mind that HMA logs user activity which is a concern for some VPN users. HMA hosts some VPN servers in Sri Lanka, specifically in Colombo. To connect to a server there, you will want to go into the “Location Mode” and select “Change Location” to get started. Then click on the “Cities” tab and search for Colombo. We connected to a server there to test and found the speed to be 40.47 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.
3. Best VPN for Sri Lanka: 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 Colombo, Sri Lanka, 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 Sri Lanka. We connected to one of them and tested the performance. As you can see, our download speed was 35.54 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.
By now, hopefully, you see the best options for VPN providers to use while in Sri Lanka. Those should help you protect your privacy the best. For those that want to try other options, please have a look at the providers on our top 10 VPN list. While they are all good options, we made our decisions based on those criteria optimized for the country. No matter what you plan on doing there, those factors are important. By using our guide, we can help you with the best options to help you meet your needs.