5 Best VPNs for Washington, DC in 2024 (Fast & Secure Servers) (2024)

ExpressVPN’s Washington, DC server location checks out fine, supplying a server in Washington and unblocking US content like every other server.

In fact, I found that this is one of its most reliable US servers (behind the New York and Los Angeles servers) to unblock content available in the continental US from anywhere.

Given ExpressVPN’s robust AES 256-bit encryption, it’s little surprise that this server doesn’t leak IP, DNS, or any other form of data.

Thus, you can connect to it to retain access to local content in the world’s political capital and prevent Verizon, AT&T, or your preferred American ISP from snooping on what you’re doing online.

This encryption is also important against public Wi-Fi network admins, especially for travelers/tourists in the region. So, you can safely connect to the free Wi-Fi service at The Castle, US Capitol Visitor Centre, or PJ Clarke’s without worrying about session hijacking, man-in-the-middle attacks, malware injection, and other common public Wi-Fi threats.

Fortunately, these robust privacy and security features make their way to other ExpressVPN servers. Of these, you get 24 US servers in 17 cities to unblock US content that may be unavailable in the capital city.

For example, during Stanley Cup game blackouts, you can only get the online streams in other states – or if you’re connected to a VPN that shows you are in other states.

On top of that, you’ll appreciate the New Jersey server, as this is one of the few places where you can place bets online in the USA.

I even tested it to place small bets on GG Poker, DraftKings, and PokerStars without getting found out.

ExpressVPN still has an extra trick: fast, automatic obfuscation.

This feature hides your VPN usage from ISPs, the US government, and other parties looking at your internet data. Thus, VPN traffic blocks don’t affect you, and your online activity isn’t monitored for that.

The good news is that you get this feature on the USA server and all other 3000+ servers in 94 countries on ExpressVPN. In fact, this represents the highest country count here. Thus, tourists and travelers to Washington can keep in touch with content back home as much as they enjoy the USA.

I took the liberty of testing these VPN servers, unblocking access to:

• Netflix libraries in other regions (like Canada, Mexico, and Australia)
• France TV over French servers
• BBC iPlayer on the UK servers
• Crave TV on Canada’s servers

Besides these, ExpressVPN also unblocked the Pirate Bay, one of the major torrent websites blocked by US ISPs. Thankfully, the customer support staff told me that all ExpressVPN’s servers are P2P enabled, so I downloaded some torrent files.

The VPN provider hid my torrent activity so well that neither my ISP nor copyright trolls knew what I was doing. In fact, you can set ExpressVPN up on your router to seed/upload torrents, thanks to its port forwarding add-on.

The best part is that this extra feature comes free, unlike PureVPN, where you’d have to pay an extra monthly fee to get port forwarding.

Since ExpressVPN uses obfuscation on its vast server network, it’s impressive that it maintains fast enough speeds for streaming and torrenting.

I wanted to put a number to it, and I got almost 33Mbps on ExpressVPN over a 100Mbps network in my ExpressVPN speed tests.

This isn’t the fastest on the list, but it’s capable of 4K content streams and ultra-fast downloads. Even so, it’s about the second fastest when I equal the playing field by turning on obfuscation on the others.

Remember to enable ExpressVPN’s proprietary Lightway (UDP) protocol to get these superfast speeds. You can switch to Lightway (TCP) on some unstable connections for relatively fast speeds without sacrificing security.

You can get everything ExpressVPN offers on five simultaneously connected devices. That should help a single traveler cover all their mobile and PC devices or protect multiple units in a travel group. If you need more connections, I suggest you look at the other VPNs.

Likewise, ExpressVPN is the most expensive VPN provider here.

But when you consider the free port forwarding for torrent seeding, fast and automatic obfuscation, in-house Lightway protocol for speed, an evasive New Jersey server, and other add-ons, it makes a value case for itself.

While ExpressVPN offers one Washington, DC server capable of generating multiple IP addresses, CyberGhost has 306 servers in Washington alone.

In fact, this is only behind the provider’s New York server count, showing how much of a priority it makes local VPN servers in the country’s capital.

Like with ExpressVPN, you can stream content available anywhere in the USA and bypass internal geo-blocks on AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, or other local American ISPs.

However, the Washington server alone can’t access all USA content, especially when you need to place bets online or watch Washington Wizards’ blacked-out games. In this case, you get 1300+ US servers in 10 other cities to connect to.

This is less than the 17 cities supported by ExpressVPN, and there’s an obvious lack of New Jersey servers. Given that it’s where most US online gambling platforms are legal, you’ll have to defer to ExpressVPN and PureVPN to place online bets from DC.

But don’t let that discourage you. CyberGhost beats ExpressVPN with its massive haul of 9000+ servers in 90+ countries to unblock content in other regions and countries.

This will appeal to tourists, students, diplomats, and expats who want to keep in touch with content in their country, access their home banking services without raising red flags, and use local services in the USA.

But CyberGhost doesn’t have automatic and fast obfuscation on all its servers. Heck, it doesn’t even have obfuscation at all. So, you can’t bypass strong VPN blocks with this VPN, and you’ll have to defer to ExpressVPN.

Thus, I believe the 3000+ servers on ExpressVPN may be more quality than quantity.

It’s impressive how CyberGhost has optimized some of its servers for streaming, gaming, and torrenting. This tells you how much it supports those activities, but I still tested everything to be sure.

On the streaming servers, I spent a few hours unblocking and watching:

• Netflix US, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video on the US servers.
• NRK TV on the Norwegian servers.
• Voot on the Indian servers.
• Bilibili on the Hong Kong servers.

I got zero buffering or lag, even when I switched to watching live content on some of these services.

My next port of call was the torrenting servers. I was impressed to find one in the USA, and it unblocked access to The Pirate Bay and RARBG.

This shows that it’s AT&T that was enforcing this website’s block in the past, not the US location itself.

I took the step further, downloading a few non-copyrighted materials to see if I would get a cease-and-desist from AT&T or nasty notices from copyright trolls. It’s been crickets for over two weeks now!

However, I didn’t spend much time on the gaming tests since I’m not much of a gamer. But I shared the VPN with my travel buddy (more on that later).

He had a great, lag-free experience playing Call of Duty (PC), Apex Legends, and League of Legends on the VPN.

But how fast is CyberGhost if it handles all these tasks like it’s nothing?

A few tests revealed an average of 38Mbps. This is higher than ExpressVPN’s scores but not as impressive. Again, ExpressVPN has obfuscation enabled for its tests, so CyberGhost should have done better.

This boils down to the lack of an in-house protocol for speed like ExpressVPN. That said, remember to turn on WireGuard (the best balance of speed and security) and IKEv2 (more speed, especially on mobile) to get similar impressive speeds on CyberGhost.

Speaking of sharing the VPN, CyberGhost allows up to seven simultaneous connections with unlimited bandwidth, two more than ExpressVPN.

This also covers PCs and mobile devices you may travel with or smart TVs, routers, and game consoles you may get when settled in Washington, DC.

And the best part is that it’s cheaper than ExpressVPN.

But a service shouldn’t be as expensive when it doesn’t offer torrent seeding or any obfuscation and lacks New Jersey servers.

PureVPN uses quantum-resistant servers in the USA and, by extension, Washington, DC. I’ll explain what that means for you in a minute.

The VPN provider also has a Washington DC server if you want local IPs or to encrypt your public Wi-Fi connection at Mad Hatter, the Washington Public Library, St. Regis Bar, or anywhere else in the region.

This is made possible by PureVPN’s military-grade AES 256-bit encryption on its 1800+ US servers and 6500+ global servers in 78+ countries.

Besides the encryption, its quantum-resistant protection is on a few server locations, especially those in the 14 Eyes surveillance alliance.

Since these countries are some of the most data-invasive, PureVPN’s technology ensures they can’t get access to your live traffic, even if they try with next-gen quantum computers.

Thus, it’s little wonder why I trusted PureVPN enough to download some torrent files during my two-week tour of the Washington D.C. area.

It even has a specialty P2P server section, like CyberGhost, so I don’t have to test which VPN servers are the best for downloading torrents.

And yes, there’s a US server there to ensure the least latency and best download speeds while hiding your torrenting activity from copyright trolls and your ISP.

Furthermore, PureVPN supports torrent seeding (like ExpressVPN) but comes at an additional monthly cost for port forwarding.

Before you shoot down the idea, this affordable VPN still doesn’t cost as much as ExpressVPN when you add the port forwarding feature for torrent seeding.

But downloading torrents isn’t the only thing for which PureVPN’s servers are good. It may offer the second least country count (ahead of VyprVPN), but it’s no slouch when it comes to:

• Getting Netflix streams in other regions like Canada, the UK, Australia, and Mexico
• Streaming BBC iPlayer over UK servers
• Watching ViX on the Mexican servers

Even without an in-house protocol, PureVPN’s WireGuard ensured a lag-free experience. I also noticed that the major streaming platforms I tested automatically default to the highest streaming quality, showing that PureVPN must be fast.

Still, I wasn’t expecting the massive 87Mbps score this VPN got on the 100Mbps network!

That’s more than twice what I got with ExpressVPN and CyberGhost.

And with obfuscation enabled, it keeps pace with ExpressVPN, so it’s not all bad on either front.

It’s also the only other VPN (besides ExpressVPN) to feature a New Jersey server, prime for placing online bets in the USA. Now, you don’t have to travel to the New York-neighboring state to enjoy games and winnings on online poker, casino, and other preferred gambling interests.

Overall, PureVPN is the joint best second option to connect multiple devices, offering ten simultaneous device connections.

I also like its easy-to-use PC and mobile apps, which I got up and running in less than five minutes.

The best part is that it’s the cheapest provider listed, even with those blazing fast speeds, New Jersey server, and torrent seeding support.

VyprVPN is the only alternative to ExpressVPN if you want fast obfuscation on all servers but not all protocols.

Before that, this VPN first got my attention for its Washington, DC servers to obtain local IP addresses. So, whether you’re abroad and need a DC IP address or in the region and need a local server to encrypt your internet connection, you’re in luck.

Like ExpressVPN, the Washington server is also one of the most reliable for unblocking US content anywhere. However, you may experience blackouts when Washington Capitals, Washington Wizards, and D.C. United are playing in the region.

In that case, connect to the 7 other US server locations outside Washington to unblock those streams.

You’ll notice this is the least US city coverage, so you should go for the others if you want an IP address in more US cities. This is compounded by the lack of a New Jersey server location. In other words, no online betting and gambling for you on this VPN.

If you’re interested in unblocking content abroad, you’ll get VyprVPN’s 700+ servers in 70+ locations to make it happen. That’s the least server count here and the least supported locations, making VyprVPN less desirable if you want a lot of servers.

The issue I have with fewer servers is server overcrowding which could impact speed and performance. But VyprVPN offsets that in two ways: offering ping results to help you pick the fastest servers and optimizing its limited servers for speed.

For context, this VPN scored 100Mbps on the 100Mbps network, behaving as if a VPN isn’t enabled at all. This zero-speed drop represents the fastest speed here, and that’s on WireGuard.

So, you don’t have to worry about buffering streams, lagging games, and slow torrent downloads when connected to any VyprVPN server.

In fact, you can download and seed torrents with this VPN service, thanks to its port forwarding package that’s included in the price.

Since my tests yielded a 14Mbps upload speed, you’ll also enjoy relatively fast torrent uploads.

Still on speed, VyprVPN also has an in-house protocol, but it doesn’t use that for basic speed-related reasons. Dubbed Chameleon, this protocol mimics ExpressVPN’s Lightway in providing fast obfuscation from anywhere.

That’s the best way to bypass VPN traffic blocks when on public Wi-Fi in government institutions, museums, and other restrictive public spaces in Washington.

The final icing on the cake is VyprVPN’s 30 simultaneous device connection support, the highest on this list. This makes it the best VPN for a large tourist group, big travel party, Washington delegation, or users who need to protect many devices.

But that doesn’t come cheap, slotting behind ExpressVPN to earn itself the second most expensive VPN provider here.

Considering its fast obfuscation, even faster standard speeds, secure torrenting, free port forwarding on all devices, and massive simultaneous connections, it’s worth every penny.

PIA is the go-to VPN provider for servers in almost every US state, including Washington, D.C., the country’s capital. That’s impressive for several reasons.

For starters, domestic travelers to Washington have an option of servers to connect to sports and other local content they enjoy back home.

Likewise, Washington DC residents can bypass game blackouts and enjoy the same services as their fellow country people elsewhere.

On top of that, US residents, students, tourists, and other travelers can connect to these servers to unblock some of the largest content libraries and most of the free web from anywhere.

After all, connecting to a PIA US server is the only thing standing between you and buffer-free Hulu, Netflix US, CNN Go, Peaco*ck TV, and other US-exclusive content streaming.

With such a large US server spread, the missing New Jersey server sticks out like a sore thumb. Again, defer to ExpressVPN and PureVPN if you’re interested in unblocking online casinos in the USA.

I’m equally impressed by PIA’s solidly reliable military-grade encryption on these servers. Thus, connecting to anyone means your ISP or the US government can’t intercept your live traffic, see what you’re doing online, restrict the sites you’re visiting, or collect data on your online activities.

The same courtesy extends to PIA’s other servers in 84 countries.

While it doesn’t mention the number of servers, PIA used to have the largest server count (35,000+) before it took down that number.

So, I’m not concerned about suffering server overcrowding here.

In fact, I tried, and I had no issue unblocking France TV (French servers), NRK TV (Norway), and other content I threw at it on the first try.

That said, PIA is one of the more reliable torrenting VPNs I found.

It lacks a P2P server category as you get with PureVPN and CyberGhost, but most of its servers are P2P-enabled.

So, you can connect to the US or Washington DC servers to get lower latency and download torrents without Verizon or T-Mobile sending you nasty emails.

However, there’s a mix of good and bad news coming:

The good news is that PIA offers port forwarding as part of its affordable package without having to pay extra, like PureVPN. And the basic VPN isn’t expensive like ExpressVPN or VyprVPN either, so you can’t say the price was worked in.

But then, it doesn’t offer port forwarding on any USA servers.

So, you’ll have to connect to external servers to seed torrents on this VPN.

Since torrenting is somewhat illegal in the USA, it might have done that to protect users. After all, connecting to other servers means you didn’t use US resources, so you may not be in trouble under US law.

If you’re not all about that seeding lifestyle, PIA’s SOCKS5 proxy offers an even faster torrent download potential. Sure, this comes without the VPN’s encryption, but it ensures online privacy and faster speeds on uTorrent, qBitTorrent, Vuze, or your preferred torrenting clients.

The only issue I have with PIA is that it’s based in the USA.

Thus, it might be compelled (under domestic laws) to give up data about what you’ve been doing on its servers. Such data may include unblocked websites, torrent files you downloaded, and secure communications.

However, PIA uses an open-source code that can be verified for a strict no-logs policy by anyone. I’d have preferred a reliable third-party audit, which other VPNs here have, but this is a good start.

In other words, the VPN provider won’t have any data to hand over regarding your activities if asked since it doesn’t collect such data.

You can enjoy everything PIA offers across ten connected PCs and mobile devices simultaneously. That’s less than VyprVPN’s offer, but it’s better than two other VPNs on this list.