Are VPNs legal?

In the UK, using a VPN is completely legal. No registration, no restriction, nothing to declare. Businesses have used them for decades and individuals can too.

The same is true across the EU, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and most of the world.

Where it is restricted

A small number of countries restrict or ban VPN use, typically by allowing only government-approved providers. The list changes, so check before you travel rather than after you arrive:

• Banned or effectively banned: North Korea, Turkmenistan, Iraq, Belarus.
• Only approved providers permitted: China, Russia, Iran, Oman, the UAE.
• Restricted in practice: Turkey and a few others block providers rather than banning use.

The consequences range from the service simply not working to a fine. We are a UK company and we are not going to guess at another country's enforcement for you — check an official source for your destination.

What a VPN does not do

It does not make anything legal that was not. Piracy, fraud, harassment and buying illegal goods are exactly as illegal through a VPN. Our acceptable use policy is short and means what it says.

It does not make you untraceable. It moves who can see what. Serious investigations have other routes, and we would rather say so than let you rely on something that is not true.

It does not override a site's own terms. Using one to reach a streaming library from another country is not a crime, and it does usually breach that service's terms. That is between you and them, and it is a real thing that can get an account closed.

Age verification and UK law

Since 2025 UK law requires age checks on certain sites, and those checks use your location. A VPN changes the location a site sees. We will state the obvious: routing around a child-protection measure is not what this is for, and for an adult using a VPN for ordinary privacy reasons, being asked to verify differently is a side effect rather than a feature.

The short version

In the UK: legal, unremarkable, and used by every bank and law firm in the country. Abroad: almost always fine, occasionally not, and worth thirty seconds of checking before you fly.