Do you actually need a VPN in Montenegro?
VPNs are legal in Montenegro. There is no ban, no licensing and no record of anyone being penalised for using one. Freedom House rates the country Partly Free in Freedom in the World 2026, with a score of 68 out of 100, and its concerns are about corruption and laws rushed through parliament, not online censorship. Civil liberties are described as generally respected. Montenegro is not covered by Freedom on the Net, which is itself a sign that the internet is not a battleground there.
In practice nothing a traveller uses is blocked. WhatsApp, FaceTime, Viber (the default messaging app across the Balkans), Zoom and Teams calls all work on Telekom, One and m:tel. Netflix, YouTube and news sites load normally. The friction is commercial, not political: UK streaming services show a Montenegrin catalogue or refuse to play, and banks sometimes challenge a login from a Podgorica IP address.
The everyday reason is shared Wi-Fi. A Montenegrin summer is lived on apartment routers with the password printed on a card, beach bar hotspots and coworking spaces in Budva and Tivat, and a remote worker on a nomad permit will spend months on those networks. Encrypting that traffic is the point. If something breaks at the weekend, 24/7 live chat from NordVPN or Surfshark is more useful than any feature list.
What a VPN does and does not do in Montenegro
A VPN encrypts everything between your device and the VPN server, so the apartment owner's router, the cafe and the carrier see only scrambled traffic. It also lets you choose where you appear to be: a UK server keeps your bank, BBC iPlayer and streaming accounts behaving as they do at home, which matters more here than in the EU because Montenegro is outside the EU portability rules that let Netflix and Sky follow you around member states.
It will not make a crowded August beach bar's Wi-Fi faster, it will not turn your UK SIM's roaming into a local plan, and some streaming services block VPN ranges whatever provider you use. Both picks come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so test them on your actual connection: NordVPN for a short trip, Surfshark for a season on the coast.
Recommended VPNs for Montenegro
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 Montenegro
Surfshark lists one server location in Montenegro, which gives you a local IP for Montenegrin sites and banking. NordVPN's published list does not include Montenegro at the time of writing, but it has servers in every neighbour: Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and North Macedonia. Belgrade or Zagreb is close enough that the difference is a few milliseconds, and for UK services you route to London either way.
Mobile networks are decent. Ookla's Speedtest data for the second half of 2025 named Crnogorski Telekom the fastest mobile network in Montenegro, about 15 percent ahead of the second-placed operator and more than double the third. Coverage drops in the mountains around Durmitor and on the road to Žabljak, so download maps before you leave the coast.
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.
Nothing is blocked in Montenegro, so the job is to log in before you fly, turn on the kill switch for apartment and beach bar Wi-Fi, and set a UK server as your default if you rely on banking apps or iPlayer. Buy a local tourist SIM or eSIM on arrival rather than roaming, since EU and UK roam-like-at-home allowances do not cover Montenegro. Our Best eSIMs for Montenegro guide covers getting online the moment you land; both apps work on an eSIM plan as well as Wi-Fi.
Final recommendation
Montenegro is a simple country for VPN use: legal, nothing blocked, and cheap local data. For a week in Kotor or a fortnight on the coast, NordVPN is the pick. Its servers in Serbia, Croatia and Albania keep latency low, its UK servers are reliable for banking and iPlayer, and ten device connections cover a family's phones and tablets.
If you are coming on the digital nomad permit or spending a season in Budva or Tivat, Surfshark is the better value. Unlimited devices covers every laptop, phone and TV stick in a rented apartment, and it is the one of our two picks with a server inside Montenegro, useful for a local IP.
