Are you looking for a VPN that will allow you to keep your data secure while still allowing a certain amount of traffic to bypass the VPN connection?
Good news—I’ve got you covered!
Split tunneling allows you to divide your internet traffic into two separate categories: the VPN-protected traffic, and the regular, unsecure traffic.
That means that you can choose which sites to access securely through the VPN, and which sites to leave unencrypted.
It is a great way to add an extra layer of security to your online activity, and there are some excellent VPNs with this feature inbuilt.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the best VPNs with split tunneling. I’ll talk about their different features, pros and cons, and which one is best for you.
So, stay tuned to find out which VPNs offer the best balance between security and convenience.
Here is a quick summary.
VPN | FEATURES | DISCOUNTS | |
---|---|---|---|
Servers: 5,600 Streaming: Netflix, Hulu, iPlayer Torrenting: P2P Servers Price: $3.29/month |
GET 59% OFF | ||
Servers: 3,200 Streaming: Netflix, Hulu, iPlayer Torrenting: All Servers Price: $1.99/month |
GET 87% OFF | ||
Servers: 3,000 Streaming: Netflix, Hulu, iPlayer Torrenting: All Servers Price: $8.32/month |
GET 35% OFF | ||
Servers: 9,500 Streaming: Netflix, Hulu, iPlayer Torrenting: P2P Servers Price: $2.11/month |
GET 84% OFF | ||
Servers: 200 Streaming: Netflix, Hulu, iPlayer Torrenting: P2P Servers Price: $1.99/month |
GET 85% OFF |
1. NordVPN
NordVPN is a VPN company that enables you to use its servers to access the internet securely and anonymously.
With a collection of more than 5,200 servers based in 59 countries, it is one of the best VPNs for secure internet access as you get a lot of servers to choose from when connecting to the VPN.
Here is a detailed NordVPN review.
Besides having a lot of servers, it also does not keep any logs which means that your internet access is completely private and anonymous.
I have made it the first in this list of the best vpns for split tunnelling because it has a very powerful split.
With NordVPN split-tunnel you’ll be able to whitelist certain applications and have their traffic exempted from the VPN… their traffic is then routed as usual through your ISP.
In terms of pricing, it is one of the cheapest vpn split tunnels because their 3 year plan only costs $ 3.49/month.
Apart from giving you a 30 money back guarantee, NordVPN also has a free trial if you sign up through the Play Store or App Store.
PROS
- 5,600 servers
- Netflix, Hulu, Amazon
- Fast speeds
- Torrenting allowed
- Audited zero logs
- Statics IPs
- Dedicated IP
- Kill Switch
- Split tunneling
- Works in China
- Accepts Bitcoins
- Ad blocker
- FREE trial on PlayStore
CONS
- No PayPal
- Only 6 devices
2. ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is one of the most popular vpn services for anonymous internet access in 2021.
With its headquarters being in the British Virgin Islands, it is pretty much located in a privacy friendly location for a VPN company.
Check out my detailed review of ExpressVPN.
At the time of writing this review of the best vpns for split tunnelling, ExpressVPN has more than 3,000 servers that are located in 94 different countries.
It has made it into this list because it is one of the few vpns that have split tunnelling capabilities inbuilt into their apps.
It provides you with a split tunnel that enables you to specify certain applications and exempt them from the VPN tunnel so that their traffic flaws normally through your ISP.
For example, if you have an application that runs backups in the background and is being slowed down by your vpn connection…
You can whitelist it in your ExpressVPN tunnel so that it can enjoy the full speeds and bandwidth that your ISP assigns you.
In terms of pricing, it is not a cheap vpn as their 1 year plan costs $ 8.32/month, which is much higher than other vpns that also have capable split tunnels.
PROS
- 3,000 servers
- Netflix, Hulu, Amazon
- Fast speeds
- Torrenting allowed
- Audited zero logs
- Kill switch
- Split tunneling
- Works in China
- Accepts Bitcoins
CONS
- Only 5 devices
- No dedicated IPs
- No ad blocker
- No FREE trial
- Expensive plans
3. PureVPN
PureVPN is another one of the popular vpns that also have a split tunnel inbuilt into its apps.
Currently, PureVPN has a collection of more than 2,000 servers that are spread out in 140 different countries.
Here is a detailed review of PureVPN.
It has a split tunnel that enables you to have some of your internet traffic encrypted and passed through your VPN while the rest flow through your ISP. It is also important to remember that traffic that is exempted from the VPN tunnel is not encrypted.
As a result, traffic through these applications is transparent to your ISP and you don’t get to enjoy the additional security and anonymity that a vpn tunnel provides.
That being said, PureVPN is one of the cheapest vpns with split tunnelling support.
With their 2 year plan going only for $ 3.33/month, its pricing is in the same range as that of NordVPN.
Together with being cheap, you also get a 31 day money back guarantee with your PureVPN purchase. There also is a 3 day trial that only costs you $ 2.50, if you don’t want to risk a lot of money upfront.
- 2,000 servers
- Netfilx, Hulu, Amazon
- Dedicated IPs
- Torrenting allowed
- Kill Switch
- Works in China
- 10 devices
- Accepts Bitcoins
- Ad blockers
- Average speeds
- No free trial
- Keeps logs
4. CyberGhost
CyberGhost is also one of the best vpns with split tunnelling.
Being a vpn company located in Romania, it is situated in a pretty much privacy friendly location. Here is a complete CyberGhost review.
CyberGhost has 8,000 vpn servers located in 89 countries, at the time of writing this review of the best vpn split tunnels.
Apart from being one of the VPNs with the fastest connection speeds, it also has a split tunnel that enables you to spit your internet traffic into two channels.
However, CyberGhost split tunnel does not work like other vpns.
While most VPNs that allow split tunnelling let you split tunnels at the application level, CyberGhost split-tunnel also works at the domain level, which gives you more granular control of your split tunnels.
This is ideal for when you want to whitelist your internet banking websites that keeps asking for additional verification when you try to login with your shared vpn assigned IP address.
Their 3 year plan costs $ 2.75/month, with a 45 days refund period.
However, if you want to try CyberGhost for free then you can sign up for their free 24 hour trial that enables you to try all the premium features, including the split tunnel, for free… no credit card is required to activate your trial.
PROS
- 9,500 servers
- Netfilx, Hulu, Amazon
- Fast speeds
- Torrenting allowed
- Audited zero logs
- Dedicated IP
- Kill switch
- Split tunneling
- Accepts Bitcoins
- Ad blocker
- FREE trial
CONS
- Blocked in China
- Only 7 devices
- App crashes
5. TorGuard
It is one of the most popular vpns when talking about torrenting or P2P file sharing.
TorGuard is a United States based vpn company that also has an inbuilt split tunnel into its applications. With over 3,000 server in 50 countries it has quite a sizeable collection of servers.
Here is an indepth TorGuard review.
I have added it to this list of the top vpn split tunnels because after testing their split tunnelling, I was able to successfully separate traffic for my applications.
Once you specify the applications whose traffic you want exempted from the VPN, these applications will continue to access the internet even if your VPN app disconnects from the server and other internet traffic is blocked.
That being said, just like ExpressVPN, it is not a cheap vpn.
With a 1 year plan that costs $ 5/month, it is clearly outside the league of vpns that I would consider cheap. In addition to that, it only offers a 7 day money back guarantee on your purchase.
If you think that’s too short, then you can also test their anonymous vpn services for completely free by signing up for their 7 day free trial on their website.
- 3,000 servers
- Netfilx, Hulu, Amazon
- Fast speeds
- Torrenting allowed
- Zero logs
- Dedicated IPs
- Kill Switch
- Works in China
- Bitcoins accepted
- Ad blocker
- Only 8 devices
6. Hidemyass
Hidemyass is another of the most popular vpns even though it is popular for the wrong reasons…
This VPN has cooperated with the authorities in the past and up to date still keeps keep logs of your IP subnet mask whenever you connect to their servers.
Here is a more detailed HMA review.
It is a VPN company based in the United Kingdom, with 1,000 servers located in 190 countries, which makes it the VPN with the widest geographical coverage. That being said, it is one of the best vpn for split tunnelling because it has a split tunnelling feature in its apps which works great.
The vpn split tunnel enables you to tag certain applications whose traffic will flow normally through your internet service provider.
But just like I already mentioned above, let me remind you that traffic through a whitelisted app in a split tunnel is not encrypted, so you are not securely accessing the internet as you would when on a VPN connection.
In terms of pricing, their 3 year plan costs $ 3.99/month, which is not necessarily expensive… but it ain’t cheap either.
Just like other popular vpns, Hidemyass offers a 30 day money back guarantee with your purchase.
There is an option to test their services for free if you don’t want to risk any money upfront. You can use their 7 days free trial, but you’ll first need to provide working credit card details so that you can be billed after the trial if over.
- 1,000 servers
- Netfilx
- P2P servers
- Kill Switch
- Works in China
- Average speeds
- No dedicated IPs
- No Hulu, Amazon
- No Bitcoins
- Only 5 devices
- Keeps logs
- No ad blocker
7. Surfshark
Surfshark also has a great split tunnelling capability that enables you to split tunnels for the internet traffic on your device.
It is based in the British Virgin Islands, which gives it a slight edge of over VPNs that are based in the United States because the BVI is not a member of the 14 eyes countries and also does not have mandatory data retention laws for VPN companies.
Check out my detailed Surfshark review.
It is also one of the best vpns if you want to be able to access the internet with fast connection speeds.
That being said, I have added Surfshark to this list of apps with the best VPN split tunnelling because I was amazed by the performance of its split tunnel.
With the Surfshark split-tunnel, you can whitelist sensitive applications like your internet banking app from your VPN.
Once its whitelisted, you will be able to login using the normal IP address that the app already recognizes.
This way, you don’t get to be asked for double verification, something that would happen if you login with a strange IP address that could have been abused by other VPN users.
Surfshark is the cheapest vpn with vpn split tunnelling in this list.
With a 2 year plan that only costs $ 1.99/month and a 30 days money-back guarantee, this is the cheapest it can get with VPN split tunnelling.
Besides being cheap, Surfshark also lets you test their split tunnel by signing up for a free 7 day trial… you need a credit card to activate the trial.
PROS
- 3,200 servers
- Netflix, Hulu, Amazon
- Fast speeds
- Torrenting allowed
- Audited zero logs
- Static IPs
- Kill switch
- Split tunneling
- Works in China
- Accepts Bitcoins
- Ad blocker
- FREE trial
CONS
- No dedicated IPs
- Buggy Windows app
8. IPVanish
IPVanish is another one the best vpns to use if you want a truly private internet access.
It comes at the bottom of this list of the best VPNs for split tunnelling because it only supports split tunnelling in the Android app.
Here is a detailed IPVanish review.
It is quite a disappointment that there is no way to split tunnels in your desktop application, which is where most people would need a spit tunnel anyway.
Especially considering that it is a very expensive vpn.
In fact, IPVanish 1 year plan costs $ 6.49/month, which is clearly almost twice what other VPNs on this list ask for, for a similar plan duration.
As if that is not enough, you only get a 7-days refund period to evaluate the split tunnel and other features before you decide you want to keep your purchase or cancel and ask for your money back.
If you want to try IPVanish split tunnelling for free then you are out of luck because they do not have any free trials.
- 1,400 servers
- Netfilx, Hulu, Amazon
- Fast speeds
- Torrenting allowed
- Kill Switch
- 10 devices
- Zero logs
- No dedicated IPs
- No ad blocker
- No free trial
- Blocked in China
- No Bitcoins
9. VyprVPN
VyprVPN is another popular vpn services that also provides a split tunnel.
It is a Switzerland based VPN company, owned by GoldenFrog, that also has great streaming capabilities… rivalling NordVPN and ExpressVPN.
Here is the link to an in depth review of VyprVPN.
If you want to be able to unblock geo-restricted content on streaming platforms like Netflix and Hulu, then VyprVPN is a VPN you should try out.
That being said, it also has a split tunnel that works in a different way from other vpn split tunnels.
VyprVPN split tunnel enables you to specify applications whose traffic will be blocked when your vpn app disconnects from the server.
This is what you’d expect a vpn kill switch to do.
However, since a kill switch will block internet access for your entire device, this split-tunnel enables you to only block internet traffic on certain applications, while the rest of the applications continue to access the internet through your ISP.
Honestly, I don’t know whether I should call this a split tunnel or an advanced kill switch.
VyprVPN is also quite budget friendly and will save you a tone of bucks on their 2 years subscription plan.
It costs $ 2.71/month on the 2 year plan, with a 30 days money back guarantee.
But unlike other VPNs that will give you access to a free trial, VyprVPN does not have any free trials at the time of writing this review of the best VPNs for split tunnelling in 2021.
- Netfilx, Hulu, Amazon
- Torrenting allowed
- Zero logs
- Kill Switch
- Works in China
- Ad blocker
- Only 700 servers
- Average speeds
- No Bitcoins
- No dedicated IPs
- Only 5 devices
- No free trial
10. Ivacy
Last on this list of the best vpns with split tunnelling is Ivacy.
Ivacy is a VPN company based in Singapore owned by PMG Private Limited. Check out my unbiased Ivacy review.
Founded in 2007, Ivacy currently has more than 1,000 servers that are spread out in 50 countries in different continents.
Even though it performed rather averagely during my speed tests, I added it to this list because it has a split tunnel that also enables you to split traffic into two tunnels in your device.
With the Ivacy split tunnel you’ll be able to have your sensitive applications like your banking app or backup apps work with your ISP while the rest work with your vpn.
Even though traffic through these apps will not be encrypted by your VPN, you should be fine if you are using HTTPS when accessing the internet.
While most apps will use HTTPS, a lot of Android apps still use HTTP to communicate with remote servers which makes your whitelisted apps in the split tunnel vulnerable.
With a 2 year plan that costs $ 1.99/month, Ivacy and Surfshark are the cheapest vpns for split tunneling.
Your plan has a 30-day money-back guarantee, though you also get a 1-day free trial that does not require a credit card.
- 1,000 servers
- Netfilx, Hulu
- Torrenting allowed
- Kill Switch
- Accepts Bitcoins
- Free 24 hour trial
- Average speeds
- Keeps logs
- No dedicated IPs
- No ad blocker
- Only 5 devices
- Blocked in China
In Conclusion
In conclusion, split tunneling is an extremely useful and underrated feature to have in a VPN that you pay for.
It gives you the freedom to customize your VPN usage to certain apps, allowing you to keep your data safe when you need to and free up some bandwidth for tasks like video streaming.
After doing my research, I’m confident in recommending these VPNs because they offer split tunneling as an added feature, based on my own experiences.
NordVPN, Surfshark, and ExpressVPN are great choices, offering good security, privacy protection, and quick speed.
All in all, split tunneling is a must-have and any of these VPNs will make sure you’re taken care of.
Have you used any of these VPNs for split tunneling before?
Please share your experience in the comments below.