In this article, I’ll explain how you can fix Surfshark not working with Hulu. If you’re lucky, you’ll only need to tweak a few settings and flush your browsing history. If that doesn’t work, you may have to change providers to get Hulu working with a VPN again.
Either way, the fix takes fewer than five minutes to diagnose and execute. Follow the steps below and you’ll be able to watch Hulu with a VPN again.
See also
- Hulu not working with VPN? Here’s how to fix that!
- How to watch Hulu on Apple TV outside US
- How to watch Hulu outside of the US
Surfshark not working with Hulu: Quick Fix
If Surfshark has stopped working with Hulu there are a few things you can try to restore your connections. Follow these steps in order until you’re able to watch Hulu with a VPN again.
Total Time: 2 minutes
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Delete Cookies
A good place to start to resolve Surfshark not working with Hulu is deleting your cookies.
When you go online, some websites ask you to accept cookies. These are designed to provide you with a better online experience; however, in order to do that, they sometimes contain information about your location.
Hulu may be able to access this information and figure out where you’re located when you connect to its service. If you’re outside of its broadcast zone (the US), you will be blocked from accessing the content. Even when using Surfshark.
Deleting your cookies may resolve this issue.
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Change to a different US server
Hulu may not be working with Surshark because of the IP address the VPN has provided. Hulu may have already identified and blacklisted this IP address causing you to run into errors when connecting to Hulu.
This doesn’t mean that Hulu has blacklisted all of Surfshark’s IP addresses. Changing to a different US server will provide you with a different IP. If Hulu hasn’t blacklisted this new IP, then the service will work with Surfshark again.
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Upgrade to a better VPN
If deleting your cookies and changing to a different US server doesn’t fix Surshark not working with Hulu, Hulu has been able to blacklist all of the IP addresses Surfshark can provide.
Hulu has been able to do this because Surfshark doesn’t have measures in place to stay ahead of Hulu’s VPN blocking techniques (more on this below).
To get around this, you need to upgrade to a VPN that does stay one-step ahead of Hulu.
We recommend ExpressVPN ($6.67/month). This VPN has measures in place to get around Hulu’s blocks. These measures will prevent you from running into the same errors you’ve been coming across when trying to watch Hulu with Surfshark.
Why is Surfshark not working with Hulu?
Hulu tries to block all VPNs from connecting to its service, not just Surfshark. The reason Hulu does this is simple: copyright and licensing.
Hulu is a US-based streaming service that only has the rights to broadcast its content in the United States. To avoid licensing and copyright issues, Hulu tries to prevent anyone from outside of the US from accessing its content.
VPNs like Surfshark offer users outside of the US a simple and effective way to watch Hulu by letting customers reroute their internet connections through a US-based servers and IP address – this tricks Hulu into thinking they’re connecting from inside the US. To combat this Hulu attempts to identify and blacklist IP addresses provided by Surfshark and other VPNs.
If Surfshark has suddenly stopped working with Hulu, then it suggests that Hulu has successfully identified (and blocked) all of its current US servers and IP addresses.
How does Hulu block Surfshark?
All VPNs have more customers than IP addresses (servers). It’s just how their business model works. Because of this, Surfshark customers often share the same IP address when connecting to a US server. This mismatch results creates the potential for hundreds of Surfshark customers all connecting to Hulu via the same IP address.
When Hulu sees more connections coming from the same IP than an average household, it knows that this is a VPN IP address. And blocks it.
Because all VPNs have more customers than IP addresses, even the best VPNs are susceptible to these blocks. What’s important to consider is if a VPN has measures in place to stay one step ahead of Hulu’s VPN blocking techniques. The fact that Surfshark is no longer working with Hulu means that it doesn’t have the capabilities to stay one step ahead of Hulu. In order to fix Surshark not working with Hulu, you need to upgrade to a better VPN.
Does Hulu still work with VPNs?
Yes, Hulu does work with VPNs. Hulu can’t actually block VPN, it can only block IP addresses that is suspects belong to VPNs. So all you need (to watch Hulu though a VPN again) is a VPN that has IP addresses that haven’t been detected by Hulu.
The VPNs that reliably work with Hulu are the ones that have measures in place to prevent Hulu from blacklisting all of their IP addresses. ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month) are very good at this.
How to fix Surfshark not working with Hulu
To fix this issue, you need to upgrade to a better VPN like ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month). These VPNs have reliable US servers, they work well with Hulu and most importantly, they have measures in place to stay one step ahead of Hulu’s VPN blocking techniques.
Below is a list of VPNs that work well with Hulu and that have the capabilities to allow you to watch Hulu from anywhere in the world reliably.
The best VPNs to watch Hulu
1. ExpressVPN 🥇
Why You Should Use ExpressVPN? It’s the fastest and MOST reliable VPN of 2023
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 10-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- ❌ Expensive
Special Offer for you!
Get 3 extra months free when you sign up for a 12-month ExpressVPN plan. That’s 15 months in total for the price of 12.
Number of servers: 3,000+ | Speed: >80% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 160 in 94 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $6.66/month for 15 months
- $9.99/month for 6 months
- $12.95/month for 1 month
ExpressVPN ($6.66/month) is still the best VPN. And importantly, it ALWAYS has servers that are open with major streaming sites such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video, etc.
ExpressVPN is usually very good at playing Cat and Mouse with online streaming sites. Meaning, whenever one of its servers is blacklisted it creates a new one – giving its users a constant stream of servers that aren’t blocked. Needless to say, this is a valuable attribute if you’re looking for a VPN to unblock streaming sites.
Its app is easy-to-use and free to download on pretty much any device you can think of. Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, FireStick, Android TV, Roku, PS4, Xbox, Linux, even Apple TV (with a workaround). It’s got it all covered.
The app is another main reason this VPN is so good at unblocking TV streaming sites (that claim they block VPNs) is that its software takes a pragmatic approach to user management. While other VPNs tempt customers by promising them access to hundreds/thousands of servers in multiple countries, ExpressVPN does things differently.
With ExpressVPN you only have a handful of server locations to choose from. Once you select your location the app takes care of the rest. Assigning you to the fastest available server that’s not oversubscribed. This simple technique is so important, as it keeps ExpressVPN’s servers operating at lightning-fast speeds and prevents its IPs from getting blacklisted for “abnormal” usage in the first place.
Check out our full ExpressVPN review.
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(30-day money-back guarantee)
2. Private Internet Access 🥈
The BEST low-cost VPN for streaming!
Pros
- ✅ Fast and reliable servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 10-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- ❌ Only 48 server locations
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for a 3-year plan with Private Internet Access and save 83% + 3 months free. That works out at $2.03/month.
Number of servers: 25,000+ | Speed: >75% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 70 in 74 countries | Devices supported: 10 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $2.03/month for 3 years
- $7.50/month for 6 months
- $11.99/month for 1 month
Private Internet Access is one of the leading no-log VPN services with over 1-million paying customers.
This VPN is one of the best in the industry at beating streaming sites’ VPN bans. It provides reliable connections with US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+ Amazon Prime Video, etc. It also allows 10 simultaneous devices to be connected to its servers at the same time, so you can share the account with your close friends.
If – for whatever reason – you’re not happy with Private Internet Access, there’s a 24/7 live chat support available to assist you with your problem. PIA also offers the industry-standard 30-day money-back guarantee.
From my tests (from New Zealand) I was able to get download speeds of 70 Mbps while connected to a UK server using the Private Internet Access VPN (my non-VPN speed is 100 Mbps).
Special Offer – Save 83%
(30-day money-back guarantee)
3. NordVPN 🥉
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ No logs
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 6-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
Cons
- ❌ No refunds for purchases from iTunes/App store
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for a 3-year plan with Private Internet Access and save 83% + 3 months free. That works out at $2.03/month.
Number of servers: 5,000+ | Speeds: >80% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 62 countries | Devices supported: 6 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $3.49/month for 2 years
- $6.99/month for 1 year
- $11.95/month for 1 month
NordVPN is the most widely-used VPN in the world. And it’s easy to see why. It’s a polished app that delivers fast connections (more on this later) to a massive network of VPN servers.
It’s the most reliable at unblocking popular streaming services too – US Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, etc. This is because NordVPN hired a full-time technical team (that’s responsible for monitoring its servers’ connections with popular TV streaming services) and has been aggressively investing in its network of IP addresses in key locations.
Another interesting thing to note is that NordVPN is an industry leader in its development of Nordlynx technology. Nordlynx is built using the WireGuard, a new VPN tunneling protocol designed to outperform current standards (OpenVPN and IPSec). The benefits, according to NordVPN, are dramatically faster transfer speeds while connected to a VPN. My tests – New Zealand to London – confirm that Nordlynx is currently the fastest VPN on the market. However, the difference isn’t dramatic, a few Mbps is all.
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4. Ivacy
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ Dedicated streaming servers
- ✅ 5-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
Cons
- ❌ Only 5 devices
- ❌ Sometimes runs slow
- ❌ Occasionally block by streaming sites for several days
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for Ivacy and enjoy a 7-day trial with no strings attached
Number of servers: 1,000+ | Speed: >65% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 275 in 100 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $1.16/month for 5 years
- $3.50/month for 1 year
- $9.99/month for 1 month
If you’re looking for an excellent VPN, with an even better price tag, Ivacy ($1.16/month) is a great option.
This VPN has all the features you need to stream BBC iPlayer, in HD, from any country in the world. I’ve been testing the app recently on Mac, PC, Android, iOS and FireStick and the results have been impressive – unlocking BBC iPlayer, US Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, etc. with ease.
The Ivacy app is a little different in regards to its UX (user experience). Instead of just selecting a UK server, you need to select the specific BBC iPlayer server. Don’t worry, this isn’t a bad thing – by connecting to a dedicated BBC iPlayer server, it simply means that you’re connecting to an IP address that Ivacy knows works with BBC iPlayer.
For an extra $1.99/month (£1.74) you can add-on a dedicated IP. This will buy you sole access to an IP address in a country of your choice, meaning you won’t have to share your IP (and speeds) with any other use. I don’t recommend this though, using the regular Ivacy servers is enough 95 per cent of the time.
Special Offer – 7-day FREE trial!
(30-day money-back guarantee)
5. CyberGhost
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ 1-day free trial
- ✅ Reliable servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 7-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
Cons
- ❌ Expensive
- ❌ Average speed scores
SPECIAL OFFER – 1-DAY FREE TRIAL
Take advantage of CyberGhost’s 1-day FREE TRIAL!
Number of servers: 1,000+ | Speed: >65% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 275 in 100 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $2.75/month for 3 years
- $3.69/month for 2 years
- $5.99/month for 1 year
- $12.99/month for 1 month
CyberGhost is one of the more established VPNs on the market. It has a well-established, and well-tested global network of servers that perform well.
From my tests over the past several months, CyberGhost has no trouble at unblocking major streaming services – US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max etc. This VPN performed well at maintaining download speeds, well above 65 per cent of my regular (non VPN) ISP speed.
That said, there’s nothing really unique about the service. Which forces you to look at its price-point. And there’s nothing special here. Its short-term $12.99/month price tag puts is well above the industry average of $10.10/month. Similarly, its long-term $2.75/month for 3 years deal isn’t much of a “deal” either.
Oddly, CyberGhost’s most unique feature is its a 1-day, no obligations, free trial. This is an appealing offer to customers who are new to VPNs. However, it’s important to remember that most reputable VPNs will offer customers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so try not to be too seduced by the offer.
SPECIAL OFFER – 1-DAY FREE TRIAL
(30-day money-back guarantee)
Is watching Hulu with a VPN legal?
In most countries, using a VPN is legal. There are only a handful of countries (spot the authoritarianism link) where using a VPN is illegal; these are: China, Russia, Iran, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, North Korea, Iraq, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Egypt, Eritrea, Seychelles, Suriname, Namibia, Slovenia, Nicaragua and Tajikistan.
If you’re outside these countries and are using a VPN, you’re legally allowed to do so. However, it’s important to know that using a VPN with some streaming services may breach that service’s terms of use.
The Hulu terms of use state, “bypass, modify, defeat, tamper with or circumvent any of the functions or protections of the Services, including using any technology or technique to obscure or disguise your location when you are accessing the Services.”
This means, Hulu can stop your subscription and ban you from the streaming service if you try to access its content with a VPN turned on.
However, given the wide-spread use of VPNs, plus the many legitimate and legal use cases for VPNs, it’s fair to suggest that banning customers for using a VPN would be a heavy-handed and financially costly policy for Hulu (and other streaming services) to enforce.
If you’re trying to watch Hulu outside the US, you risk having your account banned. In theory. However, the best VPNs for Hulu use military-grade encryption it is impossible for streaming services to trace where you’re physically accessing its content from.
There’s one final thing to note on the subject: Hulu has never banned anyone for using a VPN to access its service.
For more information you can check out our article answering Is streaming with a VPN legal?
