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How to Get a French IP Address? 3 Easy Steps To Make it Work

If you yearn for Netflix France or you want to enjoy French TV channels like TF1 and France TV, chances are that you’re looking to get a French IP address. Having an IP address from this country, you can access French content no matter your location, even if you’ve never visited the country.

However, changing your IP to France is no easy feat, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing. The good news is that this IS possible but only if you use a quality VPN. Besides, a VPN offers many security and privacy benefits, making it the best solution for this purpose.

But which France VPN to use to get a French IP address? And how do you even use it? Don’t worry – I’ll answer these questions in the following guide, so let’s set sail and see how to pretend you’re a Frenchman online.

How to Get a French IP Address?

A VPN is a tool that can change your IP address to another country, changing your online location in the process. In this case, a Virtual Private Network will route your traffic through a VPN tunnel, which further encrypts your connection.

As such, a VPN not only changes your IP but also makes your online activities safe from hackers and your ISP. Moreover, it is a great tool for streaming, so you can use it to watch Netflix France or browse through a myriad of French TV channels abroad.

Beware that only premium VPNs come with all of these benefits, though. With free VPNs and proxies being inferior to paid providers, you most likely won’t be satisfied with what they have to offer.

Therefore, I’ll show you how to use ExpressVPN (the best VPN at the moment) to get a French IP in a few simple steps!

1. Get a Subscription

ExpressVPN is the best VPN to obtain an IP address from France. It has 3,000+ servers in 94 countries and 160 locations around the globe. When it comes to France, ExpressVPN offers servers in 5 locations, out of which 2 locations are in Paris.

Other server locations include Marseille, Alsace, and Strasbourg, where ExpressVPN covers these regions with high-quality and reliable servers. Having the best server coverage in France, ExpressVPN isn’t a free VPN.

However, it offers a great 49% discount on its annual plan, where it sprinkles 3 free months on top of that. A 30-day money-back guarantee accompanies its offer, allowing you to use ExpressVPN for 30 days without losing any money.

With that said, use the button below to go straight to this cheapest deal, claim it, and move on to the next step.

Obtain a French IP With ExpressVPN

We have made a complete analysis of ExpressVPN if you want to find more details about its offer.

2. Install a VPN

Once the subscription is in place, you’ll need to install ExpressVPN. You can choose any platform you want and if you’re using Windows like me, you’ll have to install it via a small setup file.

This is easy, as you just have to follow the steps on the screen. And once that is done, open ExpressVPN and sign in using your credentials. Doing so, you’ll get a dashboard that looks something like this:

ExpressVPN Windows App 1
© 01net.com

3. Connect to a French VPN Server

Now, it’s a smooth sail. You’ll need to open the server list through the three horizontal dots shown below, click on All Locations, and select Europe. You’ll see France right below, so double-click on it and establish a connection.

ExpressVPN French IP Address
© 01net.com

You’ll now have a French IP address, as indicated by the fact that ExpressVPN’s dashboard turned green.

Alternatively, you can click on the arrow next to France in the server list and you’ll be able to see the locations/cities that the VPN has in the country. Double-clicking on any of them will give you an IP from the location you’ve chosen.

4. Enjoy French Content Anywhere!

With everything in place, you’ll be able to enjoy content geo-restricted to France outside of this country. By that, I mean Netflix France, TF1, France TV, or numerous online betting sites based in France – it’s really up to you.

Best Free VPN to Get an IP from France

Another not-so-viable way of getting a French IP address is by using a free VPN instead of ExpressVPN. However, I said not-so-viable because free VPNs don’t have any servers in this country – at least 99% of them.

Just take a look at ProtonVPN, Hide.me, or any other free VPN and you’ll see no French server. This means that you can’t get an IP from this country anyway, so they’re not worth your time. Even if a free VPN has a French server, you’re in for a rude awakening.

That’s because of limited monthly bandwidth, poor performance, and weak security, which is a far cry from what you get with paid providers. Given their deceptive logging practices, it’s better to stay clear of them if you want to preserve your privacy.

Instead, you can go for a cheaper solution like CyberGhost or NordVPN, for example.

Getting a French IP With CyberGhost

CyberGhost comes with a very affordable 3-year plan that costs less than $2.50 a month and it’s backed up by a 45-day money-back guarantee. This makes CyberGhost a LOT cheaper than ExpressVPN, thus, it’s more suitable for people on a shoestring budget.

Obtain a French IP With CyberGhost

Needless to say, CyberGhost has tons of servers in France, so you won’t have any issues getting a French IP. On top of that, dedicated streaming servers are available, allowing you to watch France TV, Amazon Prime FR, Netflix FR, Canal+, and other platforms.

CyberGhost French IP
© 01net.com

While not as easy to use as ExpressVPN, it’s still simple to change your IP with CyberGhost. Just open the app, double-click on France in the server list, and you’ll get a French IP in no time, the same way you do with ExpressVPN.

If you find ExpressVPN a bit expensive, I have no doubt you’ll like CyberGhost, so feel free to check it out today.

Getting a French IP With NordVPN

As said, NordVPN will also give you a French IP address. This provider has 5,500+ servers in 60 countries, with 230+ servers in Marseille and Paris. On top of that, while not cheaper than CyberGhost, it’s cheaper than ExpressVPN, putting itself right between the two providers.

Get a French IP With NordVPN Now

At the time of writing, you can get a very decent discount on the 2-year plan, which is also the cheapest one. NordVPN has a 30-day money-back guarantee for all plans as well, so you shouldn’t be afraid to test it out, as you can get refunded at any moment during this period.

The provider is streaming-friendly too, and with a French IP from it, you can unblock the Netflix catalog from this country, watch French TV channels, and simply enjoy the encryption and security that this provider gives you.

NordVPN French IP
© 01net.com

To get a French IP address with NordVPN, simply open the server list on the left, find France, click once on it, and NordVPN will establish a connection in about 2 seconds. From there, you can go online and every site you visit will see you as a proper Frenchman!

Verdict

Having in mind everything I said, you now know how to get a French IP address abroad. As long as you use a quality VPN, this shouldn’t be an issue. Besides, a quality VPN will be useful for streaming, torrenting, and keeping things safe and secure online.

Both ExpressVPN and CyberGhost are great options for this purpose, so don’t be afraid to test them out risk-free. Also, feel free to test some free VPNs and free proxies in the process – you’ll see their downsides from a mile away!

Get a French IP With ExpressVPN

Q&A

Wanna know more about getting a French IP? Let’s answer a few important questions.

How to get an IP from France on my mobile phone?

The great thing about VPNs is that they work on mobile phones apart from computer systems. This means that you can easily use your mobile phone to follow the steps I presented, as long as you download a VPN app from Google Play or Apple Store.

Since the apps look exactly the same, they function the same as well. In other words, connecting to a French server is all you need to change your IP to France and enjoy the benefits even on your mobile device.

My VPN doesn’t have French servers, what should I do?

You should change your VPN! Remember that free services don’t have any French servers in most cases, so if you find none of them, try ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, or NordVPN – they have hundreds of them.

Is it legal to change your IP to France?

Yes, there’s nothing illegal in changing your IP to another country. When using a VPN, you can change your IP to any given country without legal repercussions. That is if you’re not using this to sell drugs or do anything illegal online, which we never condone or imply.

Can I get a French IP address with a proxy?

Unfortunately, the answer is no. Free proxies, in most cases, don’t allow you to choose the IP address or virtual location, so you can’t get this IP address. On top of that, proxies are very limited and they work only inside the browser rather than encrypting your entire traffic.

This makes them very unreliable, as the websites you visit can still see your real IP address outside of the browser. As such, proxies will not allow you to stream on geo-restricted sites, download torrents safely, and protect your privacy 100%.

If you can, avoid proxies because they’re not meant for changing your IP address like VPNs.

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