The Best Hulu VPNs & How to Bypass VPN Blocks

Hulu and Hulu + Live TV are only available in the United States. Though there’s a separate streaming service called Hulu Japan, it’s been independent of the American version since 2014

If you try to access Hulu from outside the US, you’ll encounter a message stating, “Hulu is not available in your region.”

The best way to bypass Hulu’s geo-restrictions and access it outside the US is to use a VPN to change your IP address. You can also use a VPN to bypass the Hulu Live TV home location error and access local broadcasts available in different US states.

The problem is Hulu detects and blocks many VPN connections. When this happens, you’ll see the following error message:

“Error playing this video. You appear to be using an anonymous proxy tool.”

We’ve tested 62 VPNs to find those that reliably bypass Hulu’s blocks and avoid error codes.

You can quickly compare the best VPNs for Hulu in the table below:

Although you can try using a free VPN with Hulu, most of these options fail to unblock the streaming service. In our use, popular choices like TunnelBear Free, Proton VPN Free, and Hotspot Shield Basic were all detected and blocked by Hulu.

Only the free versions of Windscribe and PrivadoVPN bypassed Hulu’s VPN blocks. Among these, Windscribe is the better option, offering more consistent performance and a more intuitive user experience.

Hulu doesn’t allow the use of anonymous proxy servers and VPN services. On top of that, many VPNs simply aren’t good enough to bypass Hulu’s VPN blocks.

If Hulu has detected your VPN or proxy, it will display error code P-EDU101:

“Hulu is not available in your region, or you may be using a VPN”

If this is what’s happening, try our methods below for bypassing Hulu’s VPN blocks:

1. Get a VPN That Works with Hulu

If your current VPN isn’t working with Hulu, it most likely means that your VPN’s US IP addresses have been blocked. If this is the case, you have no choice but to change VPN provider.

We advise getting a VPN that unblocks Hulu all of the time and has a proven track record getting around its streaming geo-restrictions.

Each VPN for Hulu we recommend won’t let you down as we’ve tested them extensively before selecting them.

2. Connect to a Different US VPN Server

If Hulu is blocking your VPN, it’s still possible the streaming platform hasn’t blacklisted all of your VPN’s US IP addresses and some may still work.

You can figure this out by simply changing US server locations in your VPN’s app. Depending on how many it has, this can be either a quick or long process.

The steps are: close your browser window or Hulu app > connect to a different US VPN server in your VPN app > open Hulu in a new browser window or relaunch the app.

This fix only works if your VPN operates hundreds, if not thousands, of servers in the United States.

VPNs like ExpressVPN and NordVPN have thousands of US servers that are updated frequently, successfully evading Hulu’s detection.

If your VPN still doesn’t work after testing more than five American city servers, it’s highly unlikely to work at all.

3. Contact Your VPN’s Support Team

If your VPN doesn’t work with Hulu after testing several US servers, contact your VPN’s customer support. Ask them if they have a server optimized for Hulu.

They may recommend an optimized server, or they may inform you the VPN service isn’t equipped to bypass Hulu’s VPN blocks.

Ideally, your VPN service has 24/7 live chat support available for faster responses. Alternatively, send them an email.

For instance, we contacted ExpressVPN’s live support team and they told us their New York and Los Angeles servers unblock Hulu.

4. Clear Your Cache & Cookies

Clearing your browser cookies and cache removes potential geo-location traces.

Cookies are web identifiers used by websites to track your internet movements. Deleting them can help evade Hulu’s geo-location techniques.

5. Check for IP and DNS Address Leaks

Hulu could be detecting your VPN because the software is leaking your real IP address.

Or, the VPN could be experiencing a DNS leak. This happens when DNS requests (website visit requests) fall outside of the VPN connection, revealing your true location.

Check your VPN is working properly by running an IP and DNS leak test while your VPN is running.

Free or low-quality VPNs are far more likely to suffer from IP and DNS leaks than the most secure VPNs.

The best VPNs have built-in DNS and IP address leak protection to stop these leaks from happening. For this reason, we caution against using free VPNs with Hulu.

6. Change VPN Protocol

Your VPN should come with a range of different VPN protocols to choose from.

If the current protocol you’re connecting with isn’t working with Hulu, try changing to a different one in your VPN’s settings.

For instance, ExpressVPN’s Lightway protocol is the most efficient at unblocking streaming platforms. We found the same with NordVPN’s NordLynx.

7. Disable IPv6

Many VPNs still aren’t compatible with IPv6 traffic, and this can lead to IP address leaks.

If you have an IPv6 internet connection, and your VPN doesn’t support IPv6 traffic, your connection request will revert back to your ISP.

In other words, the connection will travel outside of the VPN connection, exposing your real IP address location to Hulu.

Highly-rated VPNs like ExpressVPN can block IPv6 traffic altogether. Some VPNs even offer full IPv6 support – such as Perfect Privacy – but they don’t work with Hulu.

If you suspect your VPN is leaking IPv6 traffic, choose an alternative VPN that comes with IPv6 leak protection.

Alternatively, you can disable IPv6 on your device.

If the ‘off’ option is not available, you can also disable IPv6 via your Mac Terminal.

To do this: Open Terminal (⌘ + Space > Terminal) > Type in networksetup -listallnetworkservices > Type etworksetup -setv6off “Wi-Fi”

If you are on Ethernet, type networksetup -setv6off Ethernet

8. Purchase a Residential IP address

You can also avoid Hulu’s VPN blocks by using US residential IP. These are IP addresses that belong to household ISPs like AT&T and Verizon.

Unlike shared VPN IP addresses, which belong to data centers, residential IPs are indistinguishable from regular IP addresses. They’re also assigned to one user, typically.

Very few VPN services offer residential IPs, though. The most reliable one so far is Windscribe.

Windscribe is the best free VPN for Hulu, but residential IP addresses are only available to premium subscribers, and cost extra.

Using Windscribe’s US residential IP service works to unblock Hulu, but it’s not the most cost-effective solution.

The video tutorial below shows you how to easily use a VPN with Hulu (in this example ExpressVPN):

If the service is detecting that you’re using a VPN or proxy, refer to our instructions on how to fix your Hulu VPN not working.

How to Get Hulu without a US Payment Method

Hulu only accepts US payment cards and methods. If you don’t have one of these, there are several ways to pay for Hulu from outside the United States. We’ve outlined two of the simplest ways, which we verified to work without issues.

1. Use a Hulu Gift Card

The easiest way to pay for Hulu without a US credit card is by purchasing a Hulu gift card from an authorized online retailer, such as MyGiftCardSupply.

Once you’ve bought your Hulu gift card, connect to a US VPN server location, and then redeem your gift card on hulu.com/start/gifting.

Hulu’s dedicated gift cards guide offers more information on how to use these cards as well as promotional codes.

2. Use a US Pre-paid Card

Alternatively, you can use a virtual pre-paid card service that works with American online services. We recommend using StatesCard, which worked smoothly in our tests.

Be aware that these pre-paid card service do charge a small fee, in order to provide you with US payment details and a US zip code.

Hulu’s VPN-detection methods are as sophisticated as those used by Netflix. Even some of the most popular VPNs struggle to beat its geo-restrictions.

Of the 62 VPN services we tested with Hulu, only 24 bypassed the streaming platform’s geo-blocks.

Our latest streaming tests confirm the popular VPNs below still don’t work with Hulu:

• Avast VPN
• AVG VPN
• Avira VPN
• Betternet
• Hola Free VPN
• Mullvad
• Norton VPN
• PureVPN
• TunnelBear
• VyprVPN

If you want to know if a VPN unblocks Hulu, email us at hello@top10vpn.com, and we’ll confirm if it works or not.

Hulu doesn’t allow the use of anonymous proxy servers or VPNs because it has licensing agreements to stream content only within the United States.

As Hulu states in its terms and conditions:

“Content may be limited to distribution in certain geographic locations. For that reason, we may use different technologies and methods to verify your geographic location.”

How does Hulu know you’re using a VPN? It monitors and blacklists (bans) IP addresses it associates with VPN services.

For example, if thousands of Hulu users are using the same IP address, there’s good reason to think it’s a VPN IP address.

Also, Hulu uses GeoIP databases to discover the IP addresses of VPN servers. Moreover, many VPNs make their IP addresses public, making them easy to identify.

Finally, Hulu checks for mismatches between a user’s IP address and DNS (Domain Name Server) servers, usually caused by VPN DNS leaks.

If your visible IP address is a US one, but your DNS credentials place you somewhere else, Hulu will likely block access.