If you're an adult who woke up in Texas in March 2024 to find yourself unable to access Pornhub, you're not alone. The fight between Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Pornhub's parent company, Aylo (formerly MindGeek), resulted in a new age-verification law for access to the site from the state. In response, Aylo chose to pull out of Texas entirely, blocking access for anyone who tries to connect from an IP address originating from within the state.

Fortunately, getting around this sort of geographical restriction is exactly the kind of task that VPNs excel at. Below we list the best VPNs for Pornhub, followed by how they can protect you and why you should use one no matter where you're going online.

What Is the Pornhub Ban?

For those out of the loop, the past year has seen Aylo, owner of Pornhub and many other online adult properties, embroiled in a legal battle down in the Lone Star state. This fight first started in Louisiana in January of 2023 and has since spread to Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Utah, Virginia, and now Texas.

Those in Texas who try to access Pornhub using an ISP located in the state will see this message the next time they try to log on:

"As you may know, your elected officials in Texas are requiring us to verify your age before allowing you access to our website.

Using a VPN will allow you to access Pornhub from any device or router you have the client installed on from any of the states listed above.

Remember: If you don't see your state above, you don't need a VPN to access Pornhub. However, as you'll read below, there are more reasons than state legislation to consider using one.

Do I Really Need a VPN for Pornhub?

As of March 2024, there's no way to access Pornhub from within Texas other than by obfuscating the origin of your traffic requests. VPNs and proxy servers can handle this job, though proxies generally serve a more client-focused crowd, and streaming over their networks can quickly become expensive.

In short: Yes, you have to have a VPN to access Pornhub from Texas (and the other states that block pornhub). But getting onto the site is only half the battle!

A VPN needs to be part of a layered approach to security and can't replace other critical security tools, such as good antivirus software, a password manager, and multi-factor authentication that's enabled wherever possible. Several of the VPNs we've listed here have companion software packages or features that can help block ads on the site, prevent malware from getting in, and protect your privacy by anonymizing cookies and stifling trackers.

Will a VPN Hide Pornhub From My ISP or the Police?

In a word, yes, a VPN can shield your online activities from your ISP. It also adds a layer of obfuscation for anyone on the web who might want to attribute particular traffic to you or a member of your household. Remember: If it comes from any device that's connected to a single Wi-Fi router (such as the one sitting in your living room), everyone who uses the router can technically be held accountable for traffic coming to and leaving that hotspot.

In some cases, though, the problem might actually be the VPN itself. If you want to learn more about the practice of VPN logging we recommend checking out this story. In short, though, VPNs may sometimes be logging just as much, if not more, about you than your ISP or any law enforcement agency would ever think to. We rarely recommend VPNs that admit to any logging, and of those who do, we only review companies that are open, transparent, and forthcoming about what happens to that data over time.

Can I Access Pornhub Using My VPN?

Most VPN services are completely fine with you using Pornhub. None of our top-rated VPN services prohibit adult content.

Some VPNs have tools that are particularly useful for adult content. Some VPNs let you designate the kind of traffic traveling through your VPN connection using a feature called split tunneling. Use split tunneling to send your Pornhub activity through the VPN, freeing up the rest of your bandwidth for other activities. As always, we recommend reading through the terms of service for any VPN provider before you hand over your credit card information—or even sign up for a free account.

If the service has any explicit disagreements with the streaming or downloading of adult content over its networks, that will likely be near the top or one of the more easily visible aspects of the company's privacy policy. Again, it's rare that you'll ever find a clause like this, and no such issue has come up in any of the VPN recommendations here.

How Will a VPN Affect My Pornhub Streaming Speeds?

When you use a VPN, your web traffic usually travels through more fiber and server locations. Regardless of the VPN you choose, you should expect slower upload and download speeds and higher latency.

In our latest round of testing, we recorded the median from 25 tests with and without a VPN running and then found the percent change between the two. The greater the change, the more impact the VPN has on your internet connection speeds. To measure speeds, we use the Ookla Speedtest tool. (Note: Ookla is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag.com's parent company.)

You can see all the latest results from our testing in the chart below:

Networks are finicky, and we don't claim our work to be the be-all and end-all of VPN speed testing. Instead, we offer a snapshot of how a particular service performed on a specific day, almost always from a box based in New York City running to a server also based in New York City. These are optimal conditions on optimal servers, and your experience may change depending on where you are in the world.

To make this list, we considered the total number of servers, download speeds, and overall ratings of the services we've tested thus far. The VPN services in the chart earlier in this story are the 25 services that had the least impact on download speed test results.

Do My VPN's Server Locations Matter?

Of course! The primary way a VPN grants access to websites like Pornhub that are being specifically geo-blocked either by local governments or the company itself is by obfuscating the origin of your IP address. Note that your VPN service may well have servers in the states where Pornhub is blocked. Don't use those servers, naturally.

The Pornhub block works by scanning every IP that tries to connect to its servers first. Before access is granted, its filtering system blocks any addresses that originate from within Texas borders. This isn't as complicated as it seems, as Pornhub's servers can usually catch 99% of traffic by registering which internet service providers are active in the area and blocking their access in huge numbers at a time.

Even if you're not living or working in any of the states mentioned above, we still recommend using a VPN when connecting to Pornhub. The site isn't exactly known for its upstanding record around privacy and malware violations, and whether you can only afford a cheap VPN or you want to dip your toe in with a free VPN, there's a service that will allow you to access the site from any US state of your choosing.

Looking for more information about browsing adult content online safely and how to get started? You can read our collection of helpful tips on the subject here!

Finally, if you're concerned about the possibility of exploitation in the videos you are served, check out our sister site Mashable's excellent article on how to find ethical porn.