Do you actually need a VPN on your Fire TV Stick?
It depends on where the stick lives. Plugged into your own TV, on your own Wi-Fi, the case is modest: a VPN encrypts the stick's traffic, which keeps what you do on it between you and the services you use rather than visible to the network. The strong case is a stick that travels. Plenty of people carry one to hotels, rentals and guesthouses, plug it into the TV in the room, and join Wi-Fi that is shared with every other guest. On those networks the stick deserves the same protection as your laptop.
Things also break at inconvenient hours. Both of our picks run 24/7 support over live chat and email, so there is help whenever you are wrestling with a hotel TV: NordVPN and Surfshark both answer around the clock.
What a VPN does and does not do on a Fire TV Stick
It does two things reliably. It encrypts the stick's traffic, which is the whole point on shared Wi-Fi. And it puts the stick under the same subscription as the devices you already protect, ten of them on NordVPN and unlimited on Surfshark. It can also make the stick appear to be connecting from home, but on a streaming device that circles straight back to the promise we will not make, so treat it as a maybe rather than a feature you are buying.
Two things it does not do. First, it is not a guaranteed way to switch your streaming apps to another country's catalogue: platforms actively work against location switching, what works changes without notice, and this page makes no promise about any of it. Second, it does not make streaming faster; encryption adds a small overhead, so if a page promises smoother playback with a VPN, it is telling you what you want to hear.
Recommended VPNs for the Fire TV Stick
NordVPN, best for month-by-month plans and up to 10 devices
It is the one for you if you want to find out what a VPN on your stick is actually worth to you. One plan covers 10 devices, so the stick joins your phone and laptop rather than needing anything separate. The apps are quick to install and easy to switch off and on as you need. Plans run by the month, the year or over two years, all with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Surfshark, best for unlimited devices on one subscription
It is the one for you if one subscription needs to cover everyone. Connections are unlimited, which matters more on this page than most: households with a stick on every TV, plus the phones and laptops, run it all on the same plan at once. It sells the same three terms and adds bonus months on the longer two, with the same 30-day money-back guarantee.
Getting it onto your stick
Installation is genuinely the easy part, and you do it from the stick itself. Search for NordVPN or Surfshark in the Amazon Appstore with the remote, download the app, sign in, and connect. The whole thing takes a few minutes and involves no sideloading and no technical setup; both apps are built to be driven with the Fire TV remote.
One honest caveat before you buy anything: the oldest Fire TV Stick models cannot run VPN apps at all, and both providers publish their device requirements on their own support sites. If your stick is several years old, check it first; the 30-day money-back guarantees also cover you if it turns out not to suit your setup.
Speeds on the stick
Speed mostly comes down to distance: the closer the server, the shorter the detour the stick's traffic takes, and the less speed you give up. The right default is a nearby server.
We publish no speed numbers, because they would tell you more about the Wi-Fi the stick was on than about the VPN. The 30-day money-back guarantees on NordVPN and Surfshark are the honest way to test both on your own TV, on your own connection.
How to choose between them
The differences that matter fit in one table, and the last row is the promise you should not believe anywhere.
| Feature | NordVPN | Surfshark |
|---|
| 1 month | $14.99 | $16.45 |
| 1 year plan, total upfront | $65.88 (12 months billed) | $50.85 (15 months billed) |
| 2 year plan, total upfront | $94.23 (27 months billed) | $67.23 (27 months billed) |
| Fire TV app in the Amazon Appstore | Yes | Yes |
| Devices per plan | 10 | Unlimited |
| Audited no-log policy | Yes (2025) | Yes (2025) |
| Money-back guarantee | 30 days | 30 days |
| Guarantees access to other countries' catalogues | No | No |
Priced per month, NordVPN wins only on the one-month plan. Commit for a year or two and Surfshark is the cheaper subscription, and on this page the unlimited device allowance is the deciding factor for any household with more than one stick.
Final recommendation
To find out what a VPN on your stick is worth to you, NordVPN is the pick: the stick joins the phone and laptop you already carry, with a 30-day guarantee to fall back on. For a household with a stick on every TV, Surfshark covers unlimited devices on one subscription.
Buy either one for what it actually does on a Fire TV Stick: an encrypted connection for a device that often ends up on Wi-Fi you do not control, under the same subscription as everything else you carry. It is not a guaranteed key to other countries' catalogues, and this page will not pretend otherwise.
