Your smart TV, your security camera, your thermostat, none of them can install a VPN app. They don’t have that option in their settings menu, because they were never built to. That’s not a small gap: IoT devices are consistently the weakest point on a home network, and the only real way to cover them with a VPN is to move the VPN connection up to the router itself.
Why smart home devices need a different approach
A phone or laptop can run a VPN app directly, encrypting its own traffic before it leaves the device. Smart home devices almost never offer that option. Their firmware is stripped down, closed, and rarely receives meaningful security updates once a product line is discontinued, which is exactly why security researchers keep finding new ways to compromise them.
Recent reporting from Security Affairs on attackers hijacking hotel Wi-Fi gateways to redirect victims to phishing pages is a reminder of how much damage a compromised network device can do before anyone notices. Apply that same logic to your home network: a smart camera or speaker with unpatched firmware, sitting on the same network as your laptop and phone, is a foothold an attacker only needs once.
A VPN doesn’t fix vulnerable firmware. What it does is encrypt the traffic leaving your network and mask the IP address your smart devices connect out to, which matters more than people assume, since plenty of IoT devices phone home to manufacturer servers far more often, and with far less transparency, than most users realize.
The two ways to cover IoT devices
Router-level VPN. You configure a VPN client directly on your router (or a secondary router dedicated to this purpose), and every device connected to it, phones, laptops, smart speakers, cameras, everything, routes through the VPN automatically. This is the only option that actually reaches devices with no VPN app of their own.
A dedicated VPN-only network segment. Some routers let you create a separate Wi-Fi network specifically for IoT devices, routed through a VPN, while your main devices use a direct connection or their own VPN app. This adds a layer of network isolation on top of the encryption, so even if one smart device is compromised, it can’t easily reach your laptop or phone on the other network.
Want to compare all VPNs side by side? Check our full VPN comparison table with scores across 18 criteria.
Which VPNs work best for this
Router-level setup depends more on your router’s firmware than on which VPN brand you pick, since you’re generally configuring a standard OpenVPN or WireGuard connection manually rather than using a polished app. That said, the VPNs that score well on protocol support and server reliability on our table make the setup itself smoother:
| VPN | Protocols score | Owned servers | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| NordVPN | 5/5 | 6,274 servers, 104 countries | Largest network, easiest WireGuard config |
| Surfshark | 4/5 | 3,200+ servers, 65 countries | Unlimited devices, good for large smart-home setups |
| Mullvad | 5/5 | 769 servers, 37 countries | Simplest WireGuard config, strongest privacy |
NordVPN’s large server count and full WireGuard support make it a reliable choice for a router that needs to stay connected around the clock. Surfshark’s unlimited device policy is worth considering if you’re also running VPN apps on every phone and laptop in the house alongside the router-level connection for IoT devices, since some router configurations still count toward a device limit depending on how your provider counts connections. Mullvad’s WireGuard configuration is about as close to plug-and-play as manual router setup gets, which matters if this is your first time configuring a router VPN client by hand.
How to actually set this up
The exact steps depend heavily on your router’s firmware. If your router supports OpenWrt or DD-WRT, or you’re willing to flash a router with one of these, our step-by-step guide to setting up a VPN on an OpenWrt router covers the full WireGuard client configuration process.
If you’d rather not touch your main router’s firmware at all, a dedicated travel router configured as a VPN gateway and placed between your main router and your smart home devices works just as well, and keeps the rest of your network untouched. Our guide to VPN travel routers using GL.iNet hardware walks through that exact setup, and it applies just as well to a permanent home installation as it does to travel.
For anyone running a home server or NAS alongside their smart home setup, it’s also worth pointing your IoT network segment through a self-hosted VPN gateway if you already have the hardware. Our guides to setting up a VPN server on a Synology NAS and on a QNAP NAS cover that route.
Common mistakes people make with this setup
Assuming the router VPN covers devices it doesn’t. If you only route your IoT network segment through the VPN and leave your main devices on a direct connection, that’s often the right call for performance, but it means your laptop and phone still need their own VPN app if you want them covered too. Router-level and device-level VPN coverage aren’t automatically the same thing.
Picking a router that can’t handle the throughput. Older routers or budget models can struggle to maintain full speed once VPN encryption is added to every device’s traffic, smart home devices included. If your internet feels slower after setting this up, check whether your router’s processor is the bottleneck before assuming the VPN provider is at fault.
Forgetting that some smart devices need direct local network access to function. Certain smart home hubs and casting devices, Chromecast being a common example, rely on discovering other devices on the same local network segment. Routing them through a VPN-only segment isolated from your main devices can break that discovery process. Check your specific devices’ requirements before assuming a strict VPN-only segment is the right call for everything you own.
What a VPN won’t fix
It’s worth being clear about the limits here. A router-level VPN encrypts traffic in transit and hides your home IP address from the services your devices talk to. It does not patch a vulnerable device, does not replace a strong Wi-Fi password, and does not stop a device that’s already compromised from causing damage inside your own network. Segmenting IoT devices onto their own network (VPN-routed or not) and keeping firmware updated where updates are still offered counts for just as much as the VPN layer itself.
The only way to genuinely cover smart home devices with a VPN is at the router. NordVPN's server network and full protocol support make it the easiest all-around choice for this, Mullvad is the simplest to configure manually if you're comfortable with a smaller, privacy-focused network, and a dedicated travel router is worth it if you don't want to touch your main router's firmware at all. Whichever you choose, treat the VPN as one layer, not a replacement for network segmentation and keeping firmware current.
Keep reading: How to Set Up a VPN on Your Router: Step-by-Step Guide and VPN on a Raspberry Pi