Best VPN for Turkmenistan in 2024

Not only does Turkmenistan have one of the most ubuesque authoritarian leaders for president, but the regime has also always drastically restricted, censored and monitored the internet. On January 17 of this year, Turkmenistan took a step further in its fight against privacy and freedom of information and declared a total ban on VPNs. Though the picture may be bleak, worry not. If anything, now is the perfect time for a Best VPN for Turkmenistan list.

The VPNs we list here have all proven to reliably work in restricted countries. Even China’s Great Firewall couldn’t stop them, which makes us confident in saying that they will manage to bypass Turkmenistan’s watchdogs as well. But remember to keep quiet about it, if those VPNs will manage to hide your internet traffic as well as their own existence, they can do nothing against curious eyes and ears that surround you.

No time to read? Here are our best VPNs:

1. NordVPN

   The best VPN for Turkmenistan
   9.8
2. Surfshark VPN

   Forward-thinking and affordable
   9.5
3. VyprVPN

   Security-first VPN
   8.0
4. ExpressVPN

   One of the fastest VPNs for Turkmenistan
   8.4
5. Proton VPN

   The best free version
   8.6

What is the Best VPN for Turkmenistan?

1. NordVPN

In a Best VPNs for Turkmenistan review, we must grant extra points to the most secure service. The reason is that the prime goal of using a VPN in Turkmenistan may not be ease of torrenting or top streaming speeds but perfect privacy as well as affordability. This Panama-based VPN service has no equals when it comes to reliability and concern for user privacy. Additionally, it happens to be one of the cheapest premium VPNs on the market.

NordVPN uses military-grade AES-256 data encryption, has no leaks and an awesome set of security features. This includes two types of kill switch, DNS leak protection, IPv6 leak protection, a browsing safety tool, Double VPN (multihop), and Onion over VPN, a stealth protocol (“Obfuscated servers”) to bypass firewalls. The whole shebang!

NordVPN has 7000+ servers in more than 118 countries over the world, making sure that the extra security features it offers will not slow your connection down. Your online presence is well secured as the service keeps zero logs (proved by an independent audit last year), doesn’t require any personally identifiable data, allows anonymous payments and is already securely protecting millions in China, Russia and other restricted countries. Users in Turkmenistan need to look no further for complete confidentiality.

For a deeper investigation of NordVPN, read our NordVPN review.

2. Surfshark VPN

Operating out of the British Virgin Islands is a benefit in itself, as they have no data retention laws which means secure privacy. Surfshark VPN is easy to set up, the speeds are high and the price is pretty much a fraction of what the competition is charging. If you run into any trouble, you get a 24/7 live chat support feature to help you out.

Surfshark has 3200+ servers in 100+ countries, though Turkmenistan as of now is not among them. However, we had no trouble unblocking Netflix and other streaming platforms and it also worked for torrenting. The service has apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android, which means one subscription for all your devices with unlimited connections.

This service is one of the best VPNs for Turkmenistan if you’re looking to save money and benefit from the unlimited number of simultaneous connections allowed.

For a deeper investigation of Surfshark VPN, read our Surfshark VPN review.

3. VyprVPN

VyprVPN is a trusted and acknowledged defender of privacy. Based in Switzerland, it benefits from the fact that the country has no data retention laws and is otherwise privacy-friendly. GoldenFrog, the company behind VyprVPN, markets its product as one that is perfect for VPN-restricted countries. It also owns all of its 700+ servers in 64 different countries, making VyprVPN a very fast and secure provider.

This VPN will provide you with 256-bit AES encryption, DNS leak protection, an automatic kill switch, and a zero-logging policy. Their signature “Chameleon technology” cloaks data packets, making sure DPI is rendered ineffective.

VyprVPN can break through censorship walls effortlessly in China, Russia and Iran, which should make users in Turkmenistan confident it might be the right choice of VPN for them.

For a deeper investigation of VyprVPN, read our VyprVPN review.

4. ExpressVPN

When checking any Best VPNs review on the web, you can be sure you will find ExpressVPN. It benefits from the same standard of encryption as our two contenders above, no DNS leaks, a kill switch, a bagful of protocols and good app design.

When Turkey, a country often heard partnering with Turkmenistan, seized ExpressVPN servers
while investigating the murder of a Russian ambassador in Ankara, it found nothing at all. This is because Express keeps no data about its users or their activity.

Like other VPNs on the list, ExpressVPN offers stealth protocols that will guarantee you to
bypass DPI and even the toughest firewalls in Turkmenistan, the same way it already does in
Russia, China and Iran. The cherry on top is that it has some of the best server dissemination on the market (8.4+ in 105 countries), meaning there should always be a server not far away from you to allow good connection speeds.

Unfortunately, ExpressVPN does come at a pretty steep price and this is why it could not pretend to the top spot of our Best VPN for Turkmenistan list.

For a deeper investigation of ExpressVPN, read our ExpressVPN review.

5. Proton VPN

Proton VPN earns a Bonus spot for being the best free VPN option on the market, making it
affordable to all. This might make it the best choice for some Turkmens.

With that said, the Proton VPN free version only allows you to reach a limited number of servers, all of which are based in Japan, the Netherlands or USA. Three countries that are pretty remote from Turkmenistan. This means you will not enjoy the greatest connection speed with Proton VPN.

The free version does not limit your bandwidth, which all other free VPNs do. Proton VPN will also not limit the number of server switches nor how much you can download. But some of its premium security features will not be available with the free version.

For a deeper investigation of Proton VPN, read our Proton VPN review.

And the best VPN for Turkmenistan is…

NordVPN. This VPN has the strongest security credentials and ensures that no evil government authorities can find out what you are doing online. Additionally, it will easily unblock most streaming platforms, protect you while torrenting, and offer very good speed, provided your base internet connection is not too slow to begin with.

NordVPN users in Turkmenistan will also appreciate the low price point – the lowest on our list. The cost of subscription starts at 2.99 for three years.

And if you are still not convinced that this may be the best VPN in Turkmenistan, you can have a look at all our other VPN reviews and maybe find something that fits you better. Maybe…

A short guide to Turkmenistan's online freedom situation

Gas-rich Turkmenistan gained access to the internet back in 1997 but poor telecommunication infrastructures, practically nonexistent development policies and above all, the government’s constant battle against freedom of speech meant that the majority of the population has been forbidden access to outside news channels – let alone torrenting, streaming and other somewhat harmless joys of the World Wide Web. Need another example of how paranoid the Turkmen regime is?

In 2015, Turkmenistan launched its first telecommunication satellite, only to ban the use of satellite dishes within its territory one month later, in effect denying access to external TV programs to its population.

With Russian telecommunication giant MTS withdrawing from the country in 2017 due to constant friction with the government, the small portion of the population that is still allowed access to portions of the internet is left with no other option except 4G technology. 4G is currently only available via Altyn Asyr (the “Golden Age”) network, the state-owned telecommunications operator.

The use of a VPN was already a sternly frowned upon activity in Turkmenistan and could get you an “invitation” to visit the Ministry of National Security. But that didn’t stop parts of the population from installing this “evil application” in an attempt to reach social media sites and messengers that are otherwise inaccessible in the country.

First block social media, then VPNs

As if blocking Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, WhatsApp, Instagram and outside news outlets was not enough, in an effort to stop people from installing VPNs on their device the authorities have recently blocked access to Google Play Store.

Moreover, reports have recently emerged that activating a VPN app on your device will block your SIM card, leaving you with no choice but to go buy a new one if you wish to continue surfing the web… or rather what little of it remains accessible. And in Turkmenistan, where privacy is far from a well respected right, that means having to enter a state post office and using your passport to register for a new SIM card. You may well be asked a few questions while you’re at it. And the Ministry of National Security is apparently still very generous when it comes to distributing invitations to their somber VPN seminars.

It is not entirely clear how the regime monitors the activity on your phone, but Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) seems like a likely candidate. Turkmen president Berdimuhamedow, who is at the root of internet censorship in Turkmenistan, has reportedly met with cybersecurity companies to secure the provision of the kind of equipment needed for such monitoring.

Ashgabat has cut down its military collaboration with the US last year and turned to new partnerships with the two giants – both well-known internet censors and users of DPI technology to try and track the use of VPNs and other activities deemed unlawful on their respective networks.

China and Russia also became closer to the Turkmen government in recent years. Ashgabat has cut down its military collaboration with the US last year and turned to new partnerships with the two giants – both well-known internet censors and users of DPI technology to try and track the use of VPNs and other activities deemed unlawful on their respective networks.