The Best UAE VPN Services in 2024

Whether you're living in the UAE or planning on visiting it for a long or even a short period of time, you will most probably need a UAE VPN for different reasons. 

The UAE has become a travel destination for many, whether it's for business or recreation. According to the UAE embassy, over 12 million tourists go to the UAE every year. 

One of the issues people face in the UAE is the restrictions imposed on internet usage. So, let's see what restrictions there are and how to bypass them.

Internet Restrictions in the UAE

FreedomHouse has given the UAE the "not free" label regarding internet freedom. The UAE has one of the highest internet penetration rates in the world at 99.2% of the population; this means that over 9 million internet users in the UAE are subject to the government's severe internet censorship. 

The biggest telecommunication companies in the UAE are mostly state-owned, which means the state completely controls them. Unfortunately, this resulted in the ban of voice over internet protocol services (VoIP) in the UAE. 

VoIP ban in the UAE

VoIP services like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram calling, and Skype are all banned in the UAE. This is because the government claims that VoIP services bring in cyber-terrorism threats and cause political protests, threatening the country's national security.

The more realistic reason is that the UAE doesn't want people to use VoIP services, especially to make international calls; the government wants people to use the local telecommunication services to profit telecom operators in the UAE. This is especially because international calls are quite expensive, and VoIP services are free.

The population of the UAE is 9.99 million; the total expat population is 8.84 million. This means that at least 8.84 million citizens of the UAE have left their homes, leaving family members and loved ones behind, and naturally, would want to make international calls to keep in touch with them.

The only way to bypass this ban is to get a VPN, as paying for a VPN is much cheaper than paying for international calls.

Are VPNs legal in the UAE?

The UAE is one of the countries that partially allow VPNs; VPNs in the UAE are only allowed to companies, institutions, and banks and only for internal purposes. 

However, individuals are not allowed to use VPNs to download and unblock content that is banned by the government. Using a VPN can lead to imprisonment and/or a fine of up to Dh 2 million. 

Despite the ban on VPNs for individuals, according to AtlasVPN, the UAE had the highest VPN adoption index in 2020 at 53.06% and the second-highest rate in the first half of 2021 (after Qatar) at 44.47%.

Since we have your best interest at heart, we have prepared a list of the best UAE VPN services with the highest levels of security to ensure you never get caught using a VPN.

Before telling you about our UAE VPN recommendations, let's see the criteria we base our research on.

How to choose a good VPN

Some of the features that need to be in a good VPN include:

• AES-256-bit Encryption: This is the strongest data encryption; it is so strong that governments, banks, military bases, and other official parties use it to protect their most confidential info.
• Zero-logging Policy: A no-log policy denies third-party apps access to your info, as the VPN itself will never save your login info and internet traffic.
• Servers run on RAM (No data is written on hard drives): This gives you more security by storing your data on RAM servers that get erased every time the server is rebooted.
• Kill-Switch: A kill switch is a feature that severs your internet connection if your VPN connection drops suddenly, preventing your real IP address from being exposed.
• Split Tunneling: This feature will allow you to choose which apps run on the VPN server and which ones stay on the public network.
• Unblocking streaming services, such as Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, HBO Go, and so on.

Choosing a good VPN also depends on the quality of the customer service of the company, the devices the VPN is compatible with, the languages supported by the VPN provider, and the prices.

But we know it can be such a pain to go through every single VPN service on the internet to look for these features. So, we did the work for you and summarized what we found in a list of the best UAE VPN services. 
 

UAE VPN Recommendations 

1. StrongVPN

StrongVPN is the first go-to UAE VPN; it has exceptional security and speed, and its prices are affordable.

Features checklist:

• AES-256-bit Encryption - Available. 
• No-log Policy - StrongVPN has a true no-log policy. 
• Servers run on RAM - StrongVPN does NOT have RAM-based servers. 
• Kill-Switch - StrongVPN has a kill-switch.
• Split Tunneling - StrongVPN has this feature only on the mobile app. 
• StrongVPN unblocks content for Netflix US, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+.

StrongVPN works across iOS, Windows, Android, macOS, and Linux. It also has a Firefox and Chrome extension.

StrongVPN has 950 servers in 46 different cities in 20 countries. This means that when you change your UAE IP address, you'll have a wide variety of servers to choose from.

StrongVPN supports four languages; English, Spanish, Russian, and Chinese. It also offers 24/7 customer service through live chat, phone support, emails & tickets, and the knowledge base.

StrongVPN offers two plans, both allow up to 12 devices: 

• A one-month plan for $10/mo.
• A 12-month plan for $41.99/year ($3.50/mo).

Both plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

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2. CyberGhost

Cyberghost is also a great UAE VPN; it includes all of the features you need and more.

Features checklist:

• AES-256-bit Encryption - Available. 
• No-log Policy - CyberGhost has a true no-log policy. 
• Servers run on RAM - CyberGhost has RAM-based servers. 
• Kill-Switch - Cyberghost has a kill-switch.
• Split Tunneling - CyberGhost has this feature for mobiles and desktop/laptop devices. 
• Cyberghost unblocks content for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, ESPN, Hulu, Kodi, BBC iPlayer, and HBO Max.

Cyberghost works across Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Linux, TVs, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, and Roku. It also has a Firefox and Chrome extension.

Cyberghost supports many languages, including English, Spanish, French, and Italian. It also offers 24/7 customer service through live chat, emails & tickets, FAQs, and the knowledge base.

Cyberghost offers three plans: 

• A one-month plan for $12.99.
• A 12-month plan for $47.88/year ($3.99/mo).
• A three-year plan for $87.75/year ($2.25/mo) + three months for free.

The first plan has a 14-day money-back guarantee. The other plans come with a 45-day money-back guarantee.

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3. Surfshark

 
Surfshark is another good option for a UAE VPN.

Features checklist:

• AES-256-bit Encryption - Available. 
• No-log Policy - Surfshark has a true no-log policy. 
• Servers run on RAM - Surfshark has RAM-based servers. 
• Kill-Switch - Surfshark has a kill-switch.
• Split Tunneling - Surfshark has this feature only on Windows and Android. 
• Surfshark unblocks content for Netflix, Hulu, SkyTV, Fox Go, BBC iPlayer, DAZN, and Spotify.

Surfshark works across Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Fire OS, Routers, Playstation, and Xbox. It also has a Firefox and Chrome extension.

Surfshark supports many languages, including Spanish, English, Portuguese, and French. Surfshark also offers 24/7 customer service through live chat, emails & tickets, blogs, and the knowledge base.

Surfshark offers three plans:

• A one-month plan - $12.95/mo. 
• A 6-month plan - $38.94 ($6.49/month), billed every 6 month.
• A 24-month plan - $59.76 ($2.49/month), billed annualy.

All plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

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 4. HideMyAss (HMA)

Last but not least, HideMyAss is a good, fast, and affordable VPN. It also has most of the features you need in a UAE VPN.

Features checklist:

• AES-256-bit Encryption - Available. 
• No-log Policy - HMA has a true no-log policy. 
• Servers run on RAM - HMA does NOT have RAM-based servers. 
• Kill-Switch - HMA has a kill-switch.
• Split Tunneling - HMA has this feature only on Android.
• PIA unblocks content for BBC iPlayer, the US and UK Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Go, and Disney+.

HMA works across iOS, Windows, Android, macOS, and Linux. It also has a Microsoft Edge, Opera, and Chrome extension.

HMA supports many languages, including Arabic, English, and Spanish. HMA also offers 24/7 customer service through live chat, phone support, emails & tickets, Articles & Guides, and the knowledge base.

HMA offers three plans:

• A one-month plan - $13.34/mo.
• A 12-month plan - $63.94 billed every year ($5.33/mo).
• A 36-month plan - $130.65 billed every 36 months ($3.63/mo).

All plans are available with a 7-day trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

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UAE VPN: How to Use It

1. Choose a VPN from the list above.

2. Install the app or download the VPN extension for your PC. 

3. Choose a username and password and log in.

4. Choose the VPN server address according to your needs and go online.

5. Enjoy surfing the internet safely.