If you’re looking for the best VPN in Istanbul, we strongly recommend using NordVPN. Unfortunately, using a VPN has become a necessity in Turkey because of surveillance and censorship.
Turkey has a very poor track record when it comes to Internet freedom. Popular social media sites have been blocked in the past for certain periods of time in order to prevent users from accessing certain information. For example, Twitter was blocked for two weeks to prevent users from accessing leaked wiretapped recordings of senior officials during election season. Bandwidth throttling is also a common practice.
Turkey has blocked thousands of websites, some only temporarily, some permanently. In addition to this censorship, users are also under surveillance. There have been instances where users were arrested because of their online activities such as criticizing the government. Surveillance is especially dangerous for users in certain fields of work, such as journalism.
To escape censorship and surveillance, VPNs are being used in Turkey by users. So far, Turkey has not made VPNs illegal, though it’s likely a matter of time until it does. Some VPNs have also been blocked already.
If you are located in Turkey or are planning on visiting, it’s strongly recommended to use a VPN. This report will help you choose the best VPN in Istanbul so you can be safe.
How to choose the best VPN in Istanbul?
There’s one important thing to mention before we proceed. The best VPN in Istanbul will be a premium one. You will come across many free Instabul VPNs being advertised but you should be very cautious. Free VPNs make revenue by selling users’ browsing data. That is why they can offer their services for free. They also lack the necessary features, particularly when it comes to security.
You need to consider the following if you want the best VPN in Istanbul:
- Security and traffic encryption
For users who plan on using VPNs in countries like Turkey where there is strict censorship and surveillance, security should be a priority. That means military-grade encryption to protect traffic and various security measures to prevent data from leaking. Most VPNs use AES-256 encryption. When traffic is encrypted, it becomes unreadable to all parties who may otherwise have access to it (e.g. the Internet Service Provider).
- Large server networks and obfuscated servers
A VPN that has a bigger server network usually offers a better experience. Users have more location choices and servers tend to lag less because they’re not as busy.
It’s better to choose a VPN that has obfuscated servers. When connected to regular servers, users’ Internet Service Providers can see that a VPN is being used, and VPN traffic can be blocked. It’s not necessary to hide VPN usage in countries where VPNs are legal, but while they are currently legal in Turkey, it’s better to be cautious. Obfuscated servers conceal the fact that a VPN is being used because the VPN removes all traces of itself from users’ data. So if you want the best VPN in Istanbul, choose one that has obfuscated servers.
- Strict zero-logs policy
No decent VPN will track users as they browse and log their online activities. All VPNs must have strict zero-log policies, which essentially means that no browsing data is collected. However, all VPNs will claim to have such a policy while also collecting browsing data. This is particularly common with free VPNs. This is why VPNs need to be audited. If an audit by an independent party confirms that data is not collected, users can trust the VPN.
- Internet speed
Users often worry that if they use a VPN, their Internet speed will be severely affected. That is not an unfounded worry because VPNs do affect speed. For users whose Internet Service Providers are throttling their Internet speed, using a VPN will be very beneficial because speed will increase. However, for most users, there will be a slowdown. To what extent depends on several factors, including the encryption protocol. But if you want the best VPN in Istanbul, choose a VPN that will retain at least 80% of the original speed.
- Extra features
If you want the best VPN in Istanbul, use a VPN that has additional features. If you use separate programs to get features like adblocking, protection against malware, a password manager, etc., it would be more convenient to use a VPN that has them included. Particularly if you pay for programs to get these features.
NordVPN – the recommended VPN for Istanbul
Our recommended VPN for the best VPN in Istanbul is NordVPN. It’s at the top of the best VPN lists for a reason. It encrypts traffic using top-level encryption, has many servers to choose from, and has an audited no-logs policy. It’s also affordable and has excellent additional features. Not to mention it’s very fast.
NordVPN encrypts traffic using AES-256 and ChaCha20 encryption. It’s military-grade encryption, which means it’s practically indecipherable. There are also security measures to protect users’ data from leaking. For example, if users get disconnected from the VPN while online, NordVPN’s kill switch will immediately kill the connection to the Internet to prevent traffic and IP addresses from leaking.
NordVPN’s network of servers is pretty impressive. It has almost 6,000 servers in 60+ countries. Users can choose from hundreds of locations. It also has obfuscated servers in case users need to conceal VPN usage. But no matter which server users connect to, they will not be tracked and their data will not be stored. NordVPN only collects what’s necessary to maintain an account, everything else is off-limits. This is backed up by independent audits as well.
NordVPN is known for being a fast Istanbul VPN. It’s mostly because of its NordLynx encryption protocol. Users can switch encryption protocols to see which one gives the best speeds but using NordLynx is recommended because it’s one of the things that makes NordVPN the best VPN in Istanbul.
All NordVPN subscriptions come with additional features. Even the cheapest subscription has an adblocking feature and protection against malware included. Other subscriptions also include a password manager, a data breach scanner, and 1TB of cloud storage. NordVPN is not the cheapest VPN available but it does offer excellent discounts, which make it very affordable. Using the discounts, a two-year subscription can cost only $2.99/month.
NordVPN does not have a free Instabul VPN but you can test the program using the 7-day free trial. To initiate the trial, you need to use an Android device but once initiated, the trial can be used on all devices. If you want to use it for free for longer, you can use the 30-day money-back guarantee as a longer free trial as long as you request a refund within 30 days.