VPN Speed Test India 2026: 15 VPNs Tested from Mumbai (Raw Data)
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Speed claims from VPN providers are everywhere, but independently verified data from Indian connections is incredibly rare. Most VPN review sites run their tests from servers in the US or Europe, which tells you absolutely nothing about what your experience will be on a Jio Fiber connection in Mumbai or an Airtel Broadband line in Delhi.
So I did what needed to be done. Over two weeks in January 2026, I tested 15 of the most popular VPN services from my apartment in Andheri West, Mumbai, using a Jio Fiber 150 Mbps plan. Every test was repeated three times at different hours (morning, afternoon, and late night) and averaged. Below you will find the raw data — no cherry-picked numbers, no sponsored rankings, just real-world performance from a real Indian internet connection.
Test Methodology and Setup
Before diving into the numbers, transparency about methodology matters. Here is exactly how these tests were conducted:
Base connection: Jio Fiber 150 Mbps plan (JioFiber Home Gateway HG6245D). Average baseline speed without VPN: 147.3 Mbps download / 148.1 Mbps upload. Ping to Mumbai server: 3 ms.
Testing tool: Ookla Speedtest CLI (version 1.7.x) connected to consistent server endpoints. For each destination region, I used the same Speedtest server to ensure apples-to-apples comparisons across VPNs.
Protocol: All VPNs were tested on their default/recommended protocol setting — which in most cases is WireGuard or a proprietary protocol based on WireGuard (like NordLynx for NordVPN or Lightway for ExpressVPN). Where WireGuard was not available, OpenVPN UDP was used as the fallback.
Server selection: For each VPN, I tested connections to three regions: United States (New York), United Kingdom (London), and Singapore. These represent the three most common destinations for Indian VPN users — US for Netflix and general browsing, UK for BBC iPlayer and Premier League, and Singapore for the fastest nearby international connection and gaming servers.
Timing: Each test was run three times — at 9 AM IST, 3 PM IST, and 11 PM IST — and the results averaged. The 11 PM slot is particularly important because that is peak usage time in India when ISP congestion is highest.
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VPN apps: All Windows desktop apps were used, updated to the latest version available as of January 2026. No manual configurations or tweaks — I tested the experience a normal user would get right out of the box.
Raw Speed Data: US Server (New York)
Connecting to a US server is the most common use case for Indian VPN users — whether for accessing the US Netflix library, browsing without geo-restrictions, or connecting to US-based services. The distance is significant (approximately 13,000 km), so speed loss is expected.
| VPN Provider | Download (Mbps) | Upload (Mbps) | Ping (ms) | Speed Retention |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Key takeaway:NordVPN and ExpressVPN are essentially neck and neck for US connections, both retaining over 80% of the base speed. That is exceptional performance over a 13,000 km distance. If your primary use case is accessing US content from India, you can get NordVPN knowing it will handle Netflix 4K streaming without buffering issues even during peak evening hours.
Raw Speed Data: Singapore Server
Singapore is the closest major international hub to India, and most VPNs use Singapore-based servers for their virtual India locations. This is also the go-to server for gamers who need low ping for BGMI, Valorant, and other competitive titles with Southeast Asian servers.
| VPN Provider | Download (Mbps) | Upload (Mbps) | Ping (ms) | Speed Retention |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NordVPN (NordLynx) | 138.2 | 131.5 | 58 | 93.8% |
| Surfshark (WireGuard) | 133.7 | 126.8 | 63 | 90.8% |
| ExpressVPN (Lightway) | 136.9 | 129.4 | 55 | 93.0% |
| CyberGhost (WireGuard) | 119.4 | 108.6 | 74 | 81.1% |
| PIA (WireGuard) | 124.8 | 115.2 | 69 | 84.7% |
| ProtonVPN (WireGuard) | 130.1 | 122.7 | 61 | 88.3% |
| Windscribe (WireGuard) | 118.6 | 107.9 | 72 | 80.5% |
| Atlas VPN (WireGuard) | 110.3 | 98.4 | 81 | 74.9% |
| IPVanish (WireGuard) | 115.7 | 104.3 | 76 | 78.6% |
| VyprVPN (WireGuard) | 112.8 | 101.6 | 79 | 76.6% |
| Mullvad (WireGuard) | 131.4 | 124.2 | 60 | 89.2% |
| Hide.me (WireGuard) | 116.9 | 106.1 | 73 | 79.4% |
| TunnelBear (OpenVPN) | 95.4 | 79.8 | 94 | 64.8% |
| Hotspot Shield (Hydra) | 122.1 | 112.4 | 67 | 82.9% |
| PureVPN (WireGuard) | 108.6 | 96.7 | 83 | 73.7% |
Key takeaway: Singapore connections are where VPNs truly shine from India. The top three providers — NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark — all retain over 90% of the base connection speed. At 58 ms ping, NordVPN even delivers a gaming-viable connection. For most Indian users who want a general-purpose VPN, the Singapore server should be your default choice.
Raw Speed Data: UK Server (London)
UK servers are popular among Indian users for accessing BBC iPlayer, UK-specific streaming content, and Premier League coverage. The distance from Mumbai to London is roughly 7,200 km — a middle ground between Singapore and the US.
| VPN Provider | Download (Mbps) | Upload (Mbps) | Ping (ms) | Speed Retention |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NordVPN (NordLynx) | 128.7 | 96.4 | 142 | 87.4% |
| Surfshark (WireGuard) | 122.3 | 91.8 | 149 | 83.1% |
| ExpressVPN (Lightway) | 126.1 | 95.2 | 138 | 85.6% |
| CyberGhost (WireGuard) | 106.8 | 76.3 | 168 | 72.5% |
| PIA (WireGuard) | 112.4 | 83.7 | 159 | 76.3% |
| ProtonVPN (WireGuard) | 118.9 | 88.5 | 151 | 80.7% |
| Windscribe (WireGuard) | 104.2 | 74.8 | 171 | 70.8% |
| Atlas VPN (WireGuard) | 96.7 | 68.1 | 182 | 65.7% |
| IPVanish (WireGuard) | 101.3 | 72.9 | 175 | 68.8% |
| VyprVPN (WireGuard) | 99.1 | 70.4 | 178 | 67.3% |
| Mullvad (WireGuard) | 119.6 | 89.8 | 148 | 81.2% |
| Hide.me (WireGuard) | 103.5 | 73.6 | 172 | 70.3% |
| TunnelBear (OpenVPN) | 81.7 | 54.2 | 196 | 55.5% |
| Hotspot Shield (Hydra) | 110.8 | 81.4 | 156 | 75.2% |
| PureVPN (WireGuard) | 94.3 | 66.5 | 185 | 64.0% |
Key takeaway: UK results fall predictably between Singapore and US numbers. NordVPN leads again at 87.4% speed retention, closely followed by ExpressVPN. For Premier League streaming in HD, anything above 100 Mbps is more than sufficient, which means even mid-tier VPNs handle this use case comfortably.
Overall Rankings and Recommendations
After crunching all the numbers across three server regions and multiple testing sessions, here is the definitive ranking based on average speed retention across all three destinations:
| Rank | VPN Provider | Avg Speed Retention | Avg Ping (All Regions) | Best Protocol |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NordVPN | 87.9% | 133 ms | NordLynx |
| 2 | ExpressVPN | 86.4% | 128 ms | Lightway |
| 3 | Surfshark | 84.0% | 139 ms | WireGuard |
| 4 | Mullvad | 81.0% | 137 ms | WireGuard |
| 5 | ProtonVPN | 81.1% | 140 ms | WireGuard |
| 6 | Hotspot Shield | 76.0% | 144 ms | Hydra |
| 7 | PIA | 77.6% | 147 ms | WireGuard |
| 8 | CyberGhost | 73.4% | 154 ms | WireGuard |
| 9 | Windscribe | 72.3% | 154 ms | WireGuard |
| 10 | IPVanish | 70.3% | 159 ms | WireGuard |
| 11 | Hide.me | 71.3% | 154 ms | WireGuard |
| 12 | VyprVPN | 68.6% | 162 ms | WireGuard |
| 13 | Atlas VPN | 66.9% | 165 ms | WireGuard |
| 14 | PureVPN | 65.6% | 167 ms | WireGuard |
| 15 | TunnelBear | 56.5% | 179 ms | OpenVPN |
The speed champion from India is NordVPN, with an average speed retention of 87.9% across all three tested regions. Its proprietary NordLynx protocol (built on WireGuard) consistently outperformed standard WireGuard implementations. At current pricing around ₹280/month on annual plans, the NordVPN India deal offers the best speed-per-rupee ratio.
ExpressVPN takes a very close second and actually wins on average ping thanks to its optimised Lightway protocol. If you are a gamer or latency-sensitive user, you might want to try ExpressVPN — the 128 ms average ping across all regions is the lowest in our test. It is pricier at roughly ₹550/month, but the consistency is remarkable.
Surfshark is the budget speed king. At roughly ₹150/month on a two-year plan, it delivers 84% average speed retention, which is frankly extraordinary for a VPN that costs less than a single movie ticket. If you want speed without breaking the bank, get Surfshark — it is the best value proposition for Indian users in 2026.
Important Notes About ISP Throttling and Indian Networks
Something interesting emerged during testing that deserves its own section. On several occasions, particularly during peak hours between 9 PM and midnight, my base connection speed on Jio Fiber dropped to around 120 Mbps for specific services — likely due to ISP-level traffic management. When I connected through a VPN, the speed to those same services actually improved because the ISP could no longer identify and throttle the specific type of traffic.
This is a documented phenomenon on Indian ISPs. Both Jio and Airtel have been observed throttling specific streaming services, torrent traffic, and sometimes even gaming traffic during congestion periods. A VPN encrypts your traffic so the ISP sees only encrypted data and cannot selectively throttle based on content type. This means that in practical terms, a VPN sometimes makes your connection faster for specific use cases, even though the raw throughput numbers show some speed reduction.
If you are on an Airtel or Jio connection and notice specific websites or services loading slowly during peak hours while other sites work fine, ISP throttling is the likely culprit, and a VPN is the most effective solution.
One final note: these results are specific to a 150 Mbps Jio Fiber connection in Mumbai. Your results will vary based on your ISP, plan speed, location, and the time of day. Users in cities closer to international submarine cable landing points (Mumbai, Chennai) tend to get better VPN speeds than users in landlocked cities. However, the relative ranking of VPN providers should hold broadly consistent across Indian connections.