Blog · fact-checked 2026-10-28
HBO Max, Hulu and Peacock from abroad: what a VPN fixes and what it can't
HBO Max now sells directly in most of Europe; Hulu and Peacock are still US-only and want a US card. What a VPN changes, what it doesn't, and which VPNs have US servers.
Published 2026-10-28 · 5 min read · every claim links to its source
“VPN for HBO Max”, “VPN for Hulu”, “Netflix US VPN”: the US streaming services are the most common reason people land here. The useful answer has changed a lot in the last year, and for some readers it’s that they don’t need a VPN at all.
Short version
- HBO Max is no longer US-only in most of Europe. It launched in Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg on 13 January 2026, and in the UK and Ireland on 26 March 2026. If you live there, subscribe locally. A VPN only gets you the US catalogue, which differs.
- Hulu and Peacock are still US-only, and both generally want a US payment method to sign up. A VPN changes your IP address, not your card.
- If you already pay for a US service and you’re travelling, a VPN with US servers is the normal fix, and it’s where the provider choice actually matters.
HBO Max: check before you reach for a VPN
The service called Max went back to the name HBO Max on 9 July 2025, after Warner Bros. Discovery announced the switch in May. More importantly, it has spread. Warner Bros. Discovery launched it in six more European markets on 13 January 2026, and in the UK and Ireland on 26 March 2026, ending Sky’s long exclusive on HBO shows there. UK plans start at £4.99 a month with ads, and TNT Sports moved onto HBO Max in the UK the same day.
So for most of Europe, “how do I watch HBO” is now a local subscription, not a VPN question. The VPN question is narrower: the US catalogue still carries things local versions don’t, and Americans abroad want the account they already pay for. Our HBO Max page covers that case.
Hulu and Peacock: the hard ones
Hulu is a US service. In the US it now lives inside the Disney+ app as well as its own; Disney said in 2026 that it has “no current plans to sunset the Hulu app”, despite earlier reports that it would close. Disney+ outside the US is a different catalogue and isn’t a way into Hulu. Hulu is also among the stricter services about VPN traffic: a 2026 test found Proton failed consistently while ExpressVPN and NordVPN passed.
Peacock is sold only in the US and its territories, and it’s the US home of the Premier League. Reviewers consistently report that it rejects non-US cards at checkout even when you connect from a US IP. An existing US subscription generally keeps working abroad through a US server; a new one from abroad is the hard part.
What a VPN fixes, and what it can’t
- Fixes: your location. A US server gives you a US IP, which is what decides the catalogue and whether the stream plays.
- Doesn’t fix: your billing country. Hulu and Peacock check the card at sign-up. That’s why the advice for travellers is “keep the subscription you have”, not “sign up from abroad”.
- Doesn’t fix: your app store region. If the app isn’t in your phone’s store, a VPN won’t put it there. A browser or a TV app installed at home usually still works.
- Sometimes fails: datacenter blocks. Services block IP ranges they’ve identified as VPN servers, so a server that works today can stop next week. Test before the game, not during it.
- The terms. Using a VPN to reach a catalogue sold for another country is generally against streaming terms of service. People do it; you should know.
Which VPNs have US servers, counted
All eight providers we track have US servers, so presence isn’t the question. What separates them for US streaming is how many US locations they have (more IP ranges to rotate through when one gets blocked) and how they did in 2026 streaming tests.
Disclosure: some Visit buttons below are affiliate links and may pay us a commission at no cost to you. Each button says whether it is one. Ranking never reads commission. How this works.
| VPN | US servers listed | US cities | Netflix (2026 tests) | Best price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proton VPN | 6215 servers | 22 | $3.49/mo then $83.88/yr | |
| NordVPN | 2507 servers | 55 | $3.49/mo then $139.08/yr | |
| Mullvad | 209 servers | 21 | $5.60/mo then $67.20/yr | |
| Private Internet Access | 134 WireGuard endpoints | 54 | $2.03/mo then $26.33/yr | |
| Windscribe | 101 servers | 30 | $5.75/mo then $69.00/yr | |
| Surfshark | 24 locations | 24 | $2.49/mo then $79.00/yr | |
| ExpressVPN | 54 cities | 54 | $2.99/mo then $99.95/yr | |
| CyberGhost | 11 cities | 11 | $2.19/mo then $56.94/yr |
US presence from each provider’s own public list, fetched 2026-10-28; units differ by provider. Netflix dots summarise named 2026 tests (sources on each provider’s page); we haven’t run our own yet.
For a ranked answer to your own situation, the five questions take about thirty seconds. The service pages for Netflix US, Hulu, Peacock and HBO Max each carry three picks and the full server table.
Company announcements are given as fact and linked; secondary reports are labelled as reports. Availability changes; if something here is out of date, tell us and it gets fixed with a new date.