PlayStation VPN

Unblock Geo-Restricted Content – Not all apps and content on the PlayStation Store is available worldwide. For instance, you can get the Netflix app, but you can’t watch shows and movies that are exclusive to the US library if you’re not from that country.

Why?

Because they can see your IP address when you try to use them. And your IP address tells them what country you are from.

But if you use a VPN or Smart DNS, any site you visit or app you use will not see your real geo-location.

Save Money When Buying Games – Games on the PSN store don’t have the same price everywhere in the world. Due to geographical price discrimination, you might pay more or less depending on what country you are from.

Well, using a VPN for PlayStation can help you get the best deal. It makes it look like you’re from a different country, so you might actually get a discount.

We tested that out for The Last of Us Part II. We used our British server and Malaysian server to see the price differences.

With a UK IP address, we got this price: £54.99. And with a Malaysian IP address, we got this price tag: RM 239.00. At the moment of writing this article, RM 239.00 is £44.72. So a £10 discount, which isn’t too bad.

Prevent DDoS Attacks – A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack is when someone uses a botnet to flood your network with tons of unwanted traffic and requests with the intention of forcing you offline.

Unfortunately, that happens pretty often on the PlayStation network. Here’s just one example of a wannabe hacker DDoS-ing players for “disrespecting” him. You can also find many other people complaining about similar issues on Reddit and the PlayStation forums.

How does a PlayStation VPN prevent that?

Pretty simple – it hides your IP address. Without it, nobody can target and DDoS/DoS your network. They’ll only see the VPN server’s IP address. And while they can DDoS/DoS the VPN server, that usually won’t work because VPN servers normally use anti-DDoS protection.

No More Lag and High Ping – If you use a PlayStation VPN, there’s a good chance you’ll get better ping times and no lag when gaming online. You just need to use a VPN server that’s in the same country as the gaming server.

Here’s why:

• Without a VPN, your connection to the gaming server can take many detours. Let’s say you’re from Italy, and the server is from the US. Your connection might take this route: Italy → France → Portugal → The US.
• With a VPN server, your traffic goes directly to the game’s server. This time, let’s say you’re from Italy, the gaming server is in the US, and you use a US VPN server. In that case, this would be the route: Italy → US VPN server → US gaming server.

Play Games Before They Release in Your Area – Besides unblocking geo-restricted content, you can also get early access to video games that weren’t released in your country yet.

For example, by using an account set to the Japan region and our Japanese server, we were able to find Yakuza: Like a Dragon on the PlayStation Store. The game was released on PS4 in Japan on January 16th, 2020, and has yet to be made available worldwide.

Bypass IP Bans – Server admins who are sore losers and IP-ban you because they’re jealous of your skills is nothing new. Luckily, using a VPN for PS4 can help you get around those bans since it hides your real IP address.

VPNs can also help if Sony bans your IP address. They could block it because you used cheats, but they can apparently block it for random things too – like massively downloading DLCs, because Prolexic’s anti-DDoS protection targeted you, or for no reason at all.

IMPORTANT: If using a PS4 VPN doesn’t help you bypass Sony’s ban, that likely means they banned your MAC address or your PS4’s CPU ID. In that case, a VPN can’t help. You could try changing your MAC address like this Reddit user says, though. But if they banned the CPU’s ID, you’ll need to get a new PS4.

Not directly, unfortunately. The console doesn’t offer native support for VPN clients. So you can’t just download and install a VPN app from the PlayStation store, and use it to connect and disconnect from servers with a few clicks.

Instead, you’ll have to manually set up the VPN on your router, or share the VPN connection from your PC or Mac. That can be a bit complicated – especially if you’re not tech-savvy at all.

In our opinion, the best way to use a VPN for PlayStation is to configure the VPN on your router. Because you configure it on the router, your console will automatically use the VPN connection every time you go online. Don’t forget – your PlayStation connections have to go through the router to access the web.

Also, you don’t need to keep turning the VPN on and off. It will be on 24/7 as long as your router stays on.

If you have a CactusVPN subscription, you can use our step-by-step guides to configure our service on your router.

Another way to use VPN on PlayStation is to share your VPN connection via your PC or Mac. For this type of PlayStation VPN setup, you’ll need an ethernet cable, and a computer, Mac, or laptop that has two ethernet ports, or an ethernet port and the ability to use WiFi. Also, you’ll need to have enough room to place the PlayStation near the device. You can use our step-by-step guides to learn how to share VPN using Wi-Fi.

If you’re only looking to unblock geo-restricted content, a Smart DNS is the perfect alternative to an PlayStation VPN.

Why?

Because it doesn’t use encryption. So it normally doesn’t have an impact on your original speeds. It just spoofs your geo-location and lets you binge region-locked content.

If you’re a CactusVPN user, switching between a Smart DNS and VPN will be easy-peasy. We offer both services, and have a straightforward step-by-step tutorial showing you how to set up a Smart DNS on your PlayStation.

Just keep in mind a Smart DNS won’t protect you from DoS/DDoS attacks or prevent bandwidth throttling. It doesn’t hide your IP address, and it doesn’t encrypt your traffic.