RaiPlay is free, but it checks where you are connecting from. Step outside Italy and most of the catalogue stops playing. A VPN with servers in Italy gives you an Italian IP address, which is what the platform looks at. We recommend ExpressVPN, NordVPN, and Surfshark — all three come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can see whether RaiPlay works for you before committing.
Connecting to a server in Italy is the whole trick. Once RaiPlay sees an Italian IP address, it treats your session like any other viewer in Rome or Milan.
- Sign up for a VPN. (We highly recommend ExpressVPN)
- Download the VPN app, launch it, and connect to a server in Italy.
- Go to RaiPlay, create a free Rai account, and start watching.
RaiPlay is the streaming platform of Rai, Italy’s public broadcaster. Live channels such as Rai 1, Rai 2 and Rai 3 stream without an account. Registration — also free — unlocks the on-demand library: drama series, films, documentaries, concerts, children’s programming, and the archive Rai has been building since the 1950s.
Below we go through the VPNs we recommend for RaiPlay, then walk through the sign-up and registration process screen by screen.
VPN Life is operated by members of SNI who possess extensive experience living and conducting business abroad. Our team members are based in locations such as Japan, China and Singapore, utilizing VPNs daily for both professional tasks and personal life. Furthermore, through frequent business travel, we verify the stability of VPN connections across various network environments throughout Asia, including South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.
- Major Testing Regions: Various Asian countries, centered on Japan, China and Singapore
- Testing Devices: iPhone, Android, PC, etc.
- Testers: VPN Life Operations Team
What to Look For in a VPN for RaiPlay
Five things matter when you are picking a VPN for this particular job.
- Italian Servers: Not every provider runs servers in Italy. This is the first thing to check, because nothing else matters without it. Providers usually publish their server list on the pricing page.
- Security and Privacy: AES 256-bit encryption and a kill switch are the baseline. A no-log policy matters too — if a provider does not record what you do, there is nothing to hand over or leak later.
- Connection Speed: Encryption costs some throughput, and video is where you notice it first. With ExpressVPN or NordVPN the drop is small enough that most people never see a buffering wheel.
- Reliability: Streaming platforms block VPN server ranges from time to time, and providers rotate addresses in response. Established services keep up with that cycle. Smaller ones often do not.
- Customer Support: Sooner or later a server stops working or an app update breaks something. Live chat that answers in minutes turns a lost evening into a five-minute fix.
Best VPN Services for Watching RaiPlay from Anywhere (Outside Italy)
Here are the services we recommend.
| ExpressVPN | NordVPN | SurfShark | |
| Prices | Basic: $2.99/mo Advanced: $4.49/mo Pro: $7.49/mo (2 Years + 4 Months plan, as of August 2026) | Basic: $3.49/mo Complete: $4.49/mo Prime: $7.49/mo (2 Years + 3 Months plan, as of July 2026) | Starter: $2.49/mo One: $2.79/mo One+: $4.49/mo (2 Years + 3 Months plan, as of July 2026) |
| Money-back Guarantee | 30 days | 30 days | 30 days |
| Countries | 113 (214 locations) | 149 (224 locations) | 100 (142 locations) |
| Total Number of Servers | Not disclosed | 9,374 | 4,500+ |
| Servers in the US | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Connection Speed | Ultra Fast | Fast | Fast |
| Security | AES-256 Kill Switch | AES-256 Kill Switch | AES-256 Kill Switch |
| Privacy | No-logging | No-logging | No-logging |
| Support | 24/7 Live Chat Support | 24/7 Live Chat Support | 24/7 Live Chat Support |
| Maximum devices supported | Basic 10 / Advanced 12 / Pro 14 | 10 | Unlimited |
ExpressVPN: Ultra-fast Internet Speeds
| Prices | Basic: $2.99/mo Advanced: $4.49/mo Pro: $7.49/mo (2 Years + 4 Months plan, as of August 2026) |
| Money-back Guarantee | 30 days |
| Countries | 113 (214 locations) |
| Total Number of Servers | Not disclosed |
| Security | AES-256 Kill Switch |
| Maximum devices supported | Basic 10 / Advanced 12 / Pro 14 |
ExpressVPN offers some of the fastest internet speeds among the VPNs we have used. All VPNs may slow down your internet connection, but ExpressVPN is one of the fastest, and you rarely notice the difference. Review sites consistently rank ExpressVPN as one of the fastest VPNs. Additionally, with servers in 113 countries across 214 locations, you have a wide choice of countries to change IP addresses to. Real humans are available 24-hour live chat support to help you with setup and troubleshooting. ExpressVPN also has a no-log policy.
After you’ve registered with ExpressVPN, you can use it to easily browse the internet just by downloading their app.
- Place a high importance on internet speed
\30 day Money-Back Guarantee/
NordVPN: The Ultimate Balance of Price and Internet Speed
| Prices (standard plan) | Basic: $3.49/mo Complete: $4.49/mo Prime: $7.49/mo (2 Years + 3 Months plan, as of July 2026) |
| Money-back Guarantee | 30 days |
| Countries | 149 (224 locations) |
| Total Number of Servers | 9,374 |
| Security | AES-256 Kill Switch |
| Maximum devices supported | 10 |
NordVPN’s excellent service, and balance of price, internet speed, servers, and countries, has allowed it to gain the greatest market share in the world. Overall, NordVPN consistently receives great reviews from leading experts. NordVPN has 9,374 servers in 149 countries, so you also have a lot of choices for which country to change your IP address to. You can et help and advice from our friendly customer support team through email or live chat for your 24/7. And NordVPN also has a no-log policy.
After you’ve registered, you can easily browse the internet using NordVPN just by downloading their app.
- Want to balance price and internet speed
\30 day Money-Back Guarantee/
Surfshark: Impressive Performance with a Lower Price
| Prices (standard plan) | Starter: $2.49/mo One: $2.79/mo One+: $4.49/mo (2 Years + 3 Months plan, as of July 2026) |
| Money-back Guarantee | 30 days |
| Countries | 100 (142 locations) |
| Total Number of Servers | 4,500+ |
| Security | AES-256 Kill Switch |
| Maximum devices supported | Unlimited |
Surfshark offers impressive performance with a lower price. You can get Surfshark much cheaper than other services if you apply for the 24-month plan. Furthermore, Surfshark has no connection limits. So, you and your family can connect and use all your devices simultaneously. Surfshark has more than 4,500 servers in 100 countries. Just like the other VPNs, you also have a lot of choices for which country to change your IP address to. Customer support experts are there for you 24/7, if you need a helping hand with them via live chat or email. And SurfsharkVPN also has a no-log policy.
After you’ve registered, you can easily browse the internet using Surfshark by downloading their app.
- Who are budget conscious and want to want to connect with lots of devices
\30 day Money-Back Guarantee/
How to Watch RaiPlay from Anywhere (Outside Italy)
Here are the steps to access RaiPlay using a VPN:
- Sign up for a VPN. (We highly recommend ExpressVPN)
- Download the VPN app, launch it, and connect to a server in Italy.
- Go to RaiPlay, create a free Rai account, and start watching.
We use ExpressVPN in the walkthrough below. It is the fastest of the three we recommend, which matters for a platform where a lot of the good material is live sport and live news.
Step 1: Sign up for ExpressVPN
To register with ExpressVPN, click the “Claim Exclusive Deal” button as shown below, then follow the instructions once the price plans appear.
STEP2. Download and Launch the App and Connect to a Server in Italy
After registering, download and launch the app. Click “…” and type “Italy” in the search box.
Select a server and click the power icon in the middle. You are now connected through Italy.
If you want to confirm the connection before you go any further, check your IP address on any lookup site. It should report Italy.
STEP3. Access RaiPlay via Italy and Create an Account
Open RaiPlay. The site is in Italian throughout, so it helps to know what you are clicking: RIPRODUCI is the play button, and ACCEDI in the top-right corner is sign-in.
Connect to the Italian server first, then open RaiPlay. If you load the site before connecting, refresh the page after the VPN comes up.
Click ACCEDI, then switch to the Registrati tab. “Crea il tuo account Rai” means “create your Rai account”. You can sign up with Facebook, X, Google, Huawei or Apple, or use the button at the bottom — CREA UN ACCOUNT RAI — to register with an email address.
The form asks for first name (Nome), surname (Cognome), email, password, date of birth (Data di nascita) and gender (Sesso). The password needs at least eight characters with a number, an uppercase and a lowercase letter. Tick the privacy consent, then click REGISTRATI. There is no address field and no Italian tax code to enter.
Rai sends a confirmation email. Open the link in it and you will see “Account attivato correttamente!” — the account is live. Click VAI IN HOMEPAGE, log in, and RaiPlay is yours.
Why Isn’t RaiPlay Accessible Outside Italy?
Rai buys and licenses broadcast rights for Italian territory. A film, a football match or a foreign drama series is cleared for viewers in Italy, and that clearance does not travel with you. RaiPlay carries territory data on individual titles and checks your IP address against it before it starts playback, which is why availability differs from one programme to the next rather than across the whole site.
Sport is the strictest category. Broadcasting rights for competitions are sold country by country, often to different networks in each market, so those pages are the first to be locked down.
People in the EU sometimes expect the portability rules to cover this. They do not, at least not here. Regulation (EU) 2017/1128 obliges providers of paid online content services to let subscribers keep their access while temporarily in another Member State. For services provided free of charge, the same regulation makes it optional. RaiPlay is free, so nothing requires Rai to open it up for an Italian resident spending a month in Berlin.
How Does a VPN Enable You to Access RaiPlay from Outside Italy?
Your IP address is what tells a website which country you are in. Without a VPN, RaiPlay sees the address your provider issued in Tokyo, London or New York, matches it against the rights data for that title, and stops there.
A VPN routes your traffic through a server elsewhere before it reaches the site. Connect through Italy and the address RaiPlay reads belongs to that Italian server, not to you. The check passes and playback starts.
The tunnel is encrypted as well, which is worth having on hotel and airport Wi-Fi regardless of what you are watching.
FAQs
Can I watch RaiPlay for free?
Yes. RaiPlay carries no subscription fee. Live channels play without an account, and registering — also free — opens the on-demand catalogue.
The licence fee that funds Rai (the canone) is collected from households in Italy through their electricity bill. It is not something RaiPlay asks viewers to pay at sign-up.
Do I need an Italian address or tax code to register?
No. The registration form asks for a name, an email address, a password, a date of birth and gender. There is no address field and no codice fiscale. You can also register through a Facebook, X, Google, Huawei or Apple account instead.
The site is entirely in Italian. Is there an English option?
RaiPlay has no English interface. Browser translation handles the menus well enough, and the words you actually need are few: ACCEDI (sign in), REGISTRATI (register), RIPRODUCI (play), Film, Serie, Bambini (children).
Is it legal to watch RaiPlay with VPNs?
Using a VPN is legal in Italy, Japan and most other countries. Millions of people run one for ordinary reasons — remote work, public Wi-Fi, keeping browsing away from an internet provider.
Bypassing a geo-block is a separate question from legality. It is generally a matter of the platform’s terms of service rather than criminal law, and services may cut off accounts that do it. Check the rules where you are.
Can I use a free VPN?
You can try, but free VPNs rarely hold up for streaming. Server lists are short and often skip Italy entirely, bandwidth is capped, and the addresses they use are the ones streaming platforms block first. Several free providers also fund themselves by selling user data, which defeats the point.
What is a VPN?
VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. It builds an encrypted tunnel between your device and a server run by the provider, then sends your traffic out from there. Sites see the server’s IP address instead of yours, which hides your location and lets you reach services tied to another country.
What else can a VPN be used for?
Encrypting public Wi-Fi, reaching a home country’s banking or streaming services while travelling, keeping browsing history away from an internet provider, and working with company systems that only accept connections from approved locations.
Conclusion
RaiPlay costs nothing and the sign-up takes a couple of minutes. The only real obstacle is the Italian IP address, and a VPN with servers in Italy settles that. All three of the services below refund within 30 days, so testing one against RaiPlay costs you nothing but the time.
- Sign up for a VPN. (We highly recommend ExpressVPN)
- Download the VPN app, launch it, and connect to a server in Italy.
- Go to RaiPlay, create a free Rai account, and start watching.