Published 25 January 2026
VPN Speed Test Comparison: Which VPN Is Fastest in the UK?
Speed is one of the most important factors when choosing a VPN. A slow VPN will disrupt streaming, frustrate gamers, and make large downloads painfully tedious. We tested the top VPN providers on UK fibre broadband to find out which delivers the best performance in real-world conditions.
Our Testing Methodology
All speed tests were conducted on a 1 Gbps symmetrical fibre connection provided by Hyperoptic in central London. We tested each VPN provider using their recommended default protocol as well as WireGuard (where available) to establish a consistent baseline. Each test was run five times at different times of day, morning, afternoon, and evening, across three consecutive days. The results shown are the averages of these fifteen individual measurements.
We tested connections to UK servers for domestic performance and to US East Coast servers for international performance. All tests used the Ookla Speedtest CLI tool and the Measurement Lab speed test as a secondary verification. Latency was measured using ping tests to servers in London. We disabled all other network activity during testing and used a wired Ethernet connection to eliminate Wi-Fi variability. The baseline connection without a VPN measured 940 Mbps download, 930 Mbps upload, and 3 ms latency.
Speed Test Results: The Top 10 Ranked
The results revealed significant differences between providers. Surfshark took the top position with an average UK server download speed of 890 Mbps using WireGuard, retaining roughly 95 percent of the base connection speed. Upload speeds averaged 810 Mbps and latency added just 2 ms to the baseline.
Proton VPN came in a close second with 870 Mbps download on its Plus tier servers using WireGuard. Upload performance was particularly strong at 830 Mbps. NordVPN, using its proprietary NordLynx protocol which is built on WireGuard, delivered 850 Mbps download and 790 Mbps upload with a latency increase of just 3 ms. These three providers all performed exceptionally well on gigabit connections and would be imperceptible to most users in everyday use.
ExpressVPN achieved 810 Mbps download using its Lightway protocol. While slightly behind the top three, this is still an outstanding result that will handle multiple 4K streams simultaneously. Private Internet Access came next at 780 Mbps, followed by CyberGhost at 720 Mbps. Mullvad VPN recorded 700 Mbps, which is respectable but noticeably below the leaders. Windscribe, IPVanish, and Hide.me rounded out the top ten, all delivering download speeds between 550 and 680 Mbps on UK servers.
International speeds to US servers were naturally lower across the board due to the transatlantic distance. NordVPN led this category with 620 Mbps to New York, followed by Surfshark at 590 Mbps and ExpressVPN at 570 Mbps. Use our free VPN comparison tool at OnlineVPN.co.uk to see full speed data alongside pricing and features for every provider we tested.
What Affects VPN Speed?
Several factors determine how fast a VPN connection will be. The most significant is server distance. Connecting to a VPN server in London from a home in Birmingham will always be faster than connecting to one in Sydney. Data has to physically travel through cables, and every additional mile adds latency and reduces throughput. This is why choosing a provider with a large number of UK servers matters for domestic use.
Server load is another critical factor. A VPN server handling thousands of simultaneous connections will deliver slower speeds than one with lighter traffic. Premium providers like NordVPN and ExpressVPN mitigate this by operating massive server networks, over 6,000 and 3,000 servers respectively, which distributes user load more evenly. Encryption strength also plays a role. AES-256 encryption, the industry standard, requires processing power on both the client device and the server. Older devices or underpowered routers may struggle to encrypt and decrypt data at high speeds, creating a bottleneck that is not the VPN provider's fault.
Your base internet speed sets the ceiling. If you are on a 36 Mbps ADSL connection, even the fastest VPN cannot make your downloads faster. However, on modern UK full-fibre connections from providers like Hyperoptic, Community Fibre, or BT Full Fibre, the best VPNs now retain the vast majority of your available bandwidth.
Which VPN Protocol Is Fastest?
The VPN protocol you use has a dramatic impact on speed. WireGuard is the clear leader in 2026. This modern, lightweight protocol consistently delivered the highest speeds in our testing across every provider that supports it. Its lean codebase of roughly 4,000 lines of code, compared to over 400,000 for OpenVPN, means less processing overhead and faster connections.
NordVPN's NordLynx protocol and ExpressVPN's Lightway protocol are both proprietary implementations inspired by WireGuard's design principles. NordLynx adds a double NAT system to WireGuard for enhanced privacy, while Lightway uses the wolfSSL cryptography library for a similarly lightweight approach. Both performed within 5 to 10 percent of raw WireGuard speeds.
OpenVPN, once the gold standard, is now the slowest mainstream protocol. In our tests, OpenVPN UDP connections typically achieved 30 to 50 percent less throughput than WireGuard on the same server. OpenVPN TCP was slower still. While OpenVPN remains the most compatible option and is useful for bypassing network restrictions, it should not be the default choice for users who prioritise speed. IKEv2 sits between the two, offering reasonable performance on mobile devices where its ability to quickly reconnect after network changes is valuable.
How Much Speed Do You Actually Need?
Understanding your actual speed requirements helps put these numbers in context. For standard definition streaming on services like BBC iPlayer or Netflix, you need approximately 3 to 5 Mbps. Full HD streaming requires 10 to 15 Mbps, and 4K Ultra HD content needs 25 to 50 Mbps depending on the platform. Every VPN in our top ten comfortably exceeds these thresholds, even on slower base connections.
Online gaming is more sensitive to latency than raw download speed. Most competitive games function well with a ping under 50 ms and need minimal bandwidth, often under 10 Mbps. The top three VPNs in our test added no more than 5 ms of latency on UK servers, making them viable for gaming. Large file downloads and torrent users will benefit most from the highest-speed providers, as transferring a 50 GB game from Steam or downloading a Linux ISO will take noticeably longer on a slower VPN. For most everyday browsing, email, and video calls, any VPN delivering 50 Mbps or more will feel indistinguishable from an unprotected connection.
Conclusion
VPN speeds have improved enormously in 2026 thanks to the widespread adoption of WireGuard and its derivatives. Surfshark, Proton VPN, and NordVPN lead the pack for UK users, all delivering download speeds above 850 Mbps on gigabit connections. For most people, the speed difference between these top providers will be imperceptible. Choose your VPN based on the full picture, including price, privacy policy, and features, knowing that speed is no longer the limiting factor it once was.