With over 126 million active Minecraft players, we couldn’t blame you if you want to spend hours playing Minecraft and building your own virtual world. It can be a lot of fun, and once you create your world, it’s definitely hard to close the game and get back to your real life. If you also want to play while you’re at school, you’ll probably need a Minecraft VPN.

Key Takeaways:

• A VPN for Minecraft can come in handy if you’re trying to play while you’re at school, or if you’ve received an IP ban from your favorite server. 
• ExpressVPN is the best VPN for Minecraft, with the best speeds of any VPN, but it’s very expensive. 
• NordVPN is a premium alternative that has a great security feature set and reasonable pricing. 
• Surfshark, CyberGhost and Mullvad are affordable options that could help if you have Minecraft blocked at school. 

Schools tend to set up a Minecraft IP ban, or they find other ways to impose a Minecraft ban. It’s not just Minecraft; schools do this with other games and gaming sites too, because they want you to focus on school activities rather than playing Minecraft when school blocks it. Distractions aren’t really effective when you’re trying to educate a bunch of kids, after all.

That being said, routing your connection through a VPN server can help you unblock Minecraft when you’re at school. ExpressVPN is the best VPN for the job — it’s also our top gaming VPN in general — but there are other VPN providers too, so read on if you want to keep playing Minecraft when you’re done with your school tasks. 

Top VPNs for Minecraft

What Makes the Best Minecraft VPN

Bypassing Minecraft IP bans isn’t the main reason we recommend VPNs, but if you’d like to play Minecraft and your school doesn’t agree, they’re definitely the right solution. That being said, not every VPN provider is equal, so picking the right VPN app to use is easier said than done. The VPNs below all do a great job at unblocking Minecraft.

1. ExpressVPN — Fastest VPN out there, at a cost
2. NordVPN — Low-latency VPN with great speeds and excellent security
3. Surfshark — Excellent value VPN provider with solid speeds
4. CyberGhost — Affordable VPN with plenty of servers
5. Mullvad — Very secure VPN with just the basics 

Most schools won’t give you particularly impressive internet speeds, and adding a VPN server to your connection will further slow things down. A fast VPN will have less of an impact on connection speeds, and you’ll be able to play Minecraft without waiting for everything you built to load for long periods of time.

Latency is also important, especially if you’re playing Minecraft on a player-versus-player server where you have others building in the same world, essentially competing with you. A high latency means the signal takes a long time to reach the game’s server and get back to you. This will have a noticeable impact when you connect to a Minecraft server, so stick to low-latency VPNs.

Security is the third factor, especially with vulnerabilities like Log4j impacting the Java edition of Minecraft. An encrypted connection keeps your personal data secure and offers additional benefits like DDoS protection, split tunneling and a kill switch. 

The 5 Best VPN Services to Unblock Minecraft at School

We used the aforementioned criteria to pick the best VPNs for Minecraft, but we also considered pricing, ease of use and feature set. That being said, here are the best VPNs for Minecraft and unblocking it at school.

1. ExpressVPN

More details about ExpressVPN:

• Pricing: $6.67 per month for the yearly plan, plus three months free
• Provider website: expressvpn.com

ExpressVPN is a household name in our list of best VPNs, so the fact that it takes one of the top spots here is no surprise. It’s the fastest VPN out there, which goes a long way toward an excellent online gaming experience. ExpressVPN makes easy work of dealing with IP bans on a Minecraft server, and the chances of the game detecting it in the background are basically nonexistent.

The latency with a U.S. server increased only 1.13x from our unprotected connection, bringing it from 23 ms to 26 ms. Additionally, ExpressVPN gave us the best consistency when we connected to servers in close proximity to our physical location. Note that, like all the other VPNs, latency increased with further away servers. You can find out more about it in our ExpressVPN review. 

Minecraft on Every Platform

Just as there is a Minecraft app for almost any platform, there is an ExpressVPN app for almost any platform. If your school is blocking access to Minecraft servers on a network level, you can install ExpressVPN on your iPhone or Android, and bypass that block with ease.

There is no getting around the fact that ExpressVPN is expensive. However, when you factor in all the features you get and add to that the blazing-fast internet speed, it is certainly worth it. If that doesn’t cut it for you, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee that you can use.

ExpressVPN Plans

• Unlimited GB
• 8
• Yes

30-days money-back guarantee

1-month plan, 6-months plan

1-month plan

$12.95/month

6-months plan

$9.99/month

$59.94 billed every 6 month

Save 22%

15-months plan

$6.66/month

$99.95 billed first 15 months and 12 months thereafter

Save 48%

2. NordVPN

More details about NordVPN:

• Pricing: $3.71 per month for the two-year plan
• Provider website: nordvpn.com 

NordVPN is neck-and-neck with ExpressVPN with download and upload speeds, but it falls slightly behind with latency on nearby U.S. servers, which increased just over 2x, from 13 ms to 25 ms. Nevertheless, this is still excellent results for gaming — until you try to connect to servers in different continents.

When it comes to bypassing an IP ban, NordVPN is very effective, and Minecraft’s VPN detection system shouldn’t detect it. You also get a solid set of features with DNS leak protection, a strict no-logs policy, split tunneling and a growing server network.

Secure Obfuscated Servers

Security is always a priority, and NordVPN goes the extra mile with their obfuscated servers that are excellent when you don’t want anyone (in this case, Minecraft) to detect that you’re using a VPN service and getting a different IP address. You can find out more in our NordVPN review. 

Committing to a two-year plan will get you the crème de la crème of Minecraft VPNs at an affordable price. If, for some reason, you decide you aren’t a fan, you have NordVPN’s 30-day money-back guarantee. 

30-days money-back guarantee

Basic

• *The prices are charged in the first billing cycle only. Renewal prices vary.
• Unlimited GB
• 6
• Yes

1-month plan, 1-year plan

1-month plan

$12.99/month

1-year plan

$5.74/month

$68.85 billed every year

Save 55%

2-year plan

$3.48/month

$83.43 billed every 2 years

Save 73%

Plus

• *The prices are charged in the first billing cycle only. Renewal prices vary.
• Unlimited GB
• 6
• Yes

1-month plan, 1-year plan

1-month plan

$13.99/month

1-year plan

$6.86/month

$82.35 billed every year

Save 50%

2-year plan + 3 months

$3.99/month

$107.73 billed every 2 years

Save 71%

Complete

• *The prices are charged in the first billing cycle only. Renewal prices vary.
• Unlimited GB
• 6
• Yes

1-month plan, 1-year plan

1-month plan

$15.99/month

1-year plan

$9.36/month

$112.35 billed every year

Save 41%

2-year plan + 3 months

$5.99/month

$161.73 billed every 2 years

Save 62%

3. Surfshark

More details about Surfshark:

• Pricing: $2.21 per month for the two-year plan, plus three months free
• Provider website: surfshark.com

Surfshark takes a bit of a different approach than most VPN providers. Rather than limiting your connections, you can install Surfshark on as many devices as you want. Surfshark VPN users get protection from DDoS attacks, a simple UI across platforms and reasonably low latency to most servers. 

If you’d like to enjoy some additional security, Surfshark offers multihop servers, which route your network traffic through two VPN servers rather than one. In some locations, you can tunnel with a static IP address, which might come in handy if you don’t want Minecraft servers to detect that you’re using a specific Minecraft account from multiple IP addresses. Surfshark’s ping increased from 19 ms to 29 ms on its U.S. server.

Unlimited Everything

Users who want to share their account with family members or game on multiple devices at once will appreciate the unlimited simultaneous connections, as well as unlimited bandwidth and data. Add to this apps for almost any platform and Surfshark becomes a prime choice for gaming online both at school and at home. Beyond Minecraft, it’s one of the best VPNs for FFXIV if you fancy this popular MMORPG.

The monthly subscription price is expensive, but that can be remedied if you subscribe for a longer period of time. There is a 30-day money-back guarantee if you don’t like it, and you can find out more about it in our Surfshark review. Plus, you can share it with friends and split the bill, thanks to the unlimited simultaneous connections.

30-days money-back guarantee

Surfshark Starter

• Unlimited GB bandwidth, Unlimited devices, Secure VPN, Ad blocker, Cookie pop-up blocker. Plans renew: $185.40 for one year, $370.80 for two years
• Unlimited GB
• Unlimited
• Yes

1-month plan, 1-year plan

1-month plan

$15.45/month

1-year plan

$3.49/month

$41.88 billed every year

Save 77%

2-year plan

$2.49/month

$59.76 billed every 2 years

Save 83%

Surfshark One

• Everything in Starter, plus Antivirus protection, Identity protection, Email Breach and Credit Card Alerts, Online Alias Plans renew: $191.40 for one year, $380.80 for two years.
• Unlimited GB
• Unlimited

1-month plan, 1-year plan

1-month plan

$15.95/month

1-year plan

$4.09/month

$49.08 billed every year

Save 74%

2-year plan

$3.19/month

$76.56 billed every 2 years

Save 80%

Surfshark One+

• Everything in One, plus Data removal Plans renew: $215.40 for one year, $430.80 for two years
• Unlimited GB
• Unlimited

1-month plan, 1-year plan

1-month plan

$17.95/month

1-year plan

$6.49/month

$77.88 billed every year

Save 63%

2-year plan

$4.97/month

$119.28 billed every 2 years

Save 72%

4. CyberGhost

More details about CyberGhost:

• Pricing: $2.15 per month for the three-year plan, plus three months free
• Provider website: cyberghostvpn.com

If you aren’t keen on spending too much money (and are willing to stay subscribed for a while), CyberGhost is a very affordable VPN for Minecraft with a huge server network. Bypassing an IP ban is very easy, but if you want optimal performance, you’ll want to handpick the right protocol. 

IKEv2 gave us much better speed and latency results (28 ms ping on U.S. server, up from 18 ms) than OpenVPN, which was mediocre at best. By and large, CyberGhost is great for Minecraft and it’s also an excellent Warzone VPN.

CyberGhost has a neat desktop app that shows you things like your VPN IP address, your current download and upload speeds and the protocol you’re using. Their servers are organized by category, so you get tailored servers for gaming, torrenting (legally, of course) and streaming. 

Specialty Servers for Gaming 

Latency is king for online gaming. When you open the gaming-specific VPN servers, you’ll be greeted with an estimated latency for that specific server. This will let you know whether it’s a good idea to use a certain server for Minecraft, or if you should be choosing a different one.

If you’re willing to commit to a single VPN for Minecraft for three years, CyberGhost is as affordable as they come. To add to this, it’s the only VPN on this list that offers a 45-day money-back guarantee — most competitors only give you 30. You can find out more in our CyberGhost review.

CyberGhost Plans

• *The $56.94 price under the 2-year plan is billed yearly after the first two years.
• Unlimited GB
• 7
• Yes

45-days money-back guarantee

1-month plan, 6-months plan

1-month plan

$12.99/month

6-months plan

$6.99/month

$41.94 billed every 6 month

Save 46%

2-year plan

$2.37/month

$56.94 billed every 2 years

Save 81%

5. Mullvad

More details about Mullvad:

• Pricing: $6 per month
• Provider website: mullvad.net

If all you really need to do is deal with an IP ban and bypass VPN detection on Minecraft servers, Mullvad is a solid choice. The security is great, user privacy is top notch and the fast speeds came with an average latency of only 24 ms on U.S. servers, less than two-times the unprotected latency of 15 ms. 

Unfortunately, as far as VPN features go, Mullvad only covers the essentials. There is a strict no-logs policy and a kill switch, but that’s pretty much it. Other VPN providers give you a lot more features. Mullvad also has fewer servers than most competitors, which we cover in more detail in our Mullvad VPN review.

No-User-Data Signup

While most VPNs promise they don’t store any user data, Mullvad goes one step further by not requesting user data. You don’t have to supply an email address to sign up, and you can even go so far as to mail cash for your subscription — something no other competitor on our list offers. 

Pricing isn’t at all bad, but you don’t get a cheaper subscription price if you stick around for a while. You have 30 days to get a refund if Mullvad doesn’t live up to your expectations, but keep in mind this doesn’t apply if you opted to mail a cash payment. 

Mullvad

• Unlimited GB
• 5
• Yes

30-days money-back guarantee

1-month plan

$5.30/month

Can I Use a Free VPN for Minecraft?

Some free VPNs can easily bypass Minecraft’s VPN detection measures, but free VPN services seldom have your best interests at heart. They’re often not safe, may sell your user data, and some of them have been known to bundle malware with their installation files.

If you want to keep your internet connection secure, we wouldn’t touch most of them with a 10-foot pole. However, there are a few exceptions.

The Best Free VPN Server to Play Minecraft

A couple notable exceptions to the “avoid free VPNs” rule include ProtonVPN and Windscribe. Both have solid no-logs policies, respectable speeds and do a solid job of letting you play Minecraft when you’re at school. 

Windscribe has a 10GB data limit on the free plan. Minecraft uses anywhere from 80 to 200MB of data per hour, depending on how you’re playing, so if you only play for an hour or two per day, that should be enough. If you play more, though, that might be a problem. As we mentioned in our Windscribe review, you can get more, but not a lot.

ProtonVPN takes a different approach. As we mentioned in our ProtonVPN review, you aren’t limited in terms of data, but the free plan has a speed restriction. It also only comes with three locations: United States, Japan and the Netherlands. Despite that, we found that it does a solid job if you need a VPN server to play Minecraft at school.

Final Thoughts

When all is said and done, a VPN is a great way to connect to your favorite Minecraft server while you’re at school. It will also add a bit of security and keep your data away from the eyes of the school IT admins and internet service provider, letting you play Minecraft in peace. 

The best overall option is ExpressVPN, thanks to a combination of very low latency, solid speeds and great security. Besides unblocking Minecraft, it’s an excellent Fortnite VPN, Lost Ark VPN and League of Legends VPN. Other great options at more affordable prices include NordVPN, Surfshark and CyberGhost.

What’s your favorite VPN for Minecraft? Do you go for NordVPN’s low latency, or are ExpressVPN’s blazing-fast servers your preference? Let us know in the comments below, and as always, thank you for reading. 

FAQ

• Can You Get IP Banned From Minecraft?

  Yes, a server administrator can impose an IP ban on Minecraft. You can bypass an IP ban by using a VPN for Minecraft and getting a new IP address.

• Is ExpressVPN Good for Minecraft?

  Yes, ExpressVPN has excellent speeds and reasonably low latency, which — paired with the great security — make it the best choice for Minecraft.

• Is a VPN Allowed in the Hypixel Minecraft Server?

  No, VPNs aren’t allowed on the Hypixel server, and you can get banned for using one, unless you choose one with obfuscated servers.