Is a VPN legal in France after the 2025 blocking orders?
Yes. Using a VPN in France is legal, with no licensing or registration requirement, and nothing in the 2025 court orders changed that. What the Paris court did on 15 May 2025 was treat VPN providers as technical intermediaries, like ISPs and DNS resolvers before them, and order the five named services to stop their French users reaching 203 pirate football and rugby streaming domains until 25 May 2025. The providers argued the Sports Code did not apply to them and lost on that point. A June 2024 order had already covered Google and Cloudflare's DNS services. None of this touches a traveller checking email or watching their own Netflix account.
Beyond sports piracy, blocking in France is narrow. Arcom requires pornography sites to verify age through a double-anonymity system under the 2024 SREN law, and courts order blocks on sites distributing pirated content. Social media, messaging, VoIP and news all work normally.
The practical reasons are the same as across Europe. Hotel, cafe, SNCF train and airport Wi-Fi carry your banking and work logins and should be encrypted. And since 1 January 2021 the EU Portability Regulation no longer covers UK residents, so BBC iPlayer will not play in France and UK Netflix or Sky Go may show a French catalogue; a London server fixes that. If the app misbehaves on a Sunday evening in a gîte, 24/7 live chat from NordVPN or Surfshark is the fastest route to an answer.
What a VPN does and does not do in France
A VPN encrypts the link between your device and the VPN server, so a hotel router, a TGV hotspot or a cafe network sees only encrypted traffic. It also lets you choose where you appear to be. A London server brings back iPlayer, your UK Netflix library and the UK version of your banking app; a Paris, Marseille or Bordeaux server (both of our picks run several French cities) gives you a French IP for French banking, Canal+ or France TV when you are elsewhere.
It will not help you reach pirate sports streams, since the 2025 orders required the providers themselves to block those domains for French users, and it will not speed up a rural ADSL line in the Dordogne. Some streaming services block VPN ranges whatever the provider. Both picks carry a 30-day money-back guarantee, so test them on your first evening: NordVPN for a city break or a ski week, Surfshark if you are moving over for a season or longer.
Recommended VPNs for France
NordVPN, best for short trips and month-by-month plans
It is the one for you if you are covering yourself, or you and a partner, and want something simple to run and easy to forget about. One plan covers 10 devices, and 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 long stays and unlimited devices
It is the one for you if one subscription needs to cover everyone. Connections are unlimited, so every phone, laptop and tablet you travel with, and anyone you share a place with, runs on the same plan at once. That suits a stay that stretches to months rather than weeks. It sells the same three terms and adds bonus months on the longer two, with the same 30-day money-back guarantee.
Server networks and speeds for France
Both of our picks have a real footprint in France. NordVPN lists four French cities, Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux and Strasbourg; Surfshark lists Paris, Marseille and Bordeaux. That spread means a server a few milliseconds away whether you are in Lille, Lyon or the Côte d'Azur, so the VPN can stay on all day for Wi-Fi privacy and switch to London only for UK streaming. Both providers also run multiple UK cities, and Paris to London is a short hop for HD video.
Local networks are strong. Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free all run 5G, and the state-subsidised fibre rollout means gigabit home connections are widely sold from around 26 euros a month. Rural areas and mountain villages still lean on ADSL or 4G, so download maps and large files before you head for the hills.
How to choose between them
The differences that matter fit in one table, and the last two rows are there to name two promises you should not believe from anyone, us included.
| 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) |
| Devices per plan | 10 | Unlimited |
| Kill switch and auto-connect | Yes | Yes |
| Independently audited no-log policy | Yes (2025) | Yes (2025) |
| Money-back guarantee | 30 days | 30 days |
| Guarantees access to any blocked site, anywhere | No | No |
| Makes slow Wi-Fi faster | No | No |
On a single month NordVPN is cheaper. Over a year or two Surfshark is. On everything else the choice is about shape rather than money: 10 devices and a simple setup on one side, unlimited devices on the other.
Setting up before you travel
Do the setup at home, on Wi-Fi you trust, before the airport. Install NordVPN or Surfshark on each device, sign in, and connect once to confirm everything works. Then turn on two settings both apps include: the kill switch, which stops your traffic travelling unprotected if the VPN drops, and auto-connect, which brings the VPN back up when your connection returns.
France needs no special preparation: install both apps at home, turn on the kill switch for hotel, train and cafe Wi-Fi, and save London and Paris as favourite servers. If you depend on BBC iPlayer or a UK Netflix catalogue, test them on a UK server from the hotel on your first evening, because streaming services change which VPN ranges they block from month to month. Our Best eSIMs for France guide covers getting data the moment you land, and both VPN apps run fine over an eSIM.
Final recommendation
France is an easy VPN country despite the 2025 headlines: legal, fast, open for everything except pirate sports streams and unverified adult sites, with French servers from both of our picks. For a city break in Paris, a ski week or a summer fortnight in the south, NordVPN is the pick. Ten device slots cover a family's phones, laptops and a tablet, and its four French cities plus London handle both local and UK needs.
For a long stay, a study year or a move, Surfshark is the better value. Unlimited devices covers a household plus the TV, and its Paris, Marseille and Bordeaux servers keep daily use fast wherever in France you settle.
