Can I stream Hotstar outside India? How to pay for Hotstar abroad?

Hotstar might be the coolest of all streaming services in India, but you will quickly have trouble streaming the content of the platform if you are outside India. And even more, how can you actually pay for the Hotstar Premium  Package?

Since May 2019, Hotstar requires you to have an Indian cell phone number and an Indian payment card to sign up for and pay for the Hotstar Premium package. The payment card can easily be fixed, but it is harder to arrange with the Indian phone number. Read towards the bottom of the article to find out more about this.

If you already have an active Hotstar account, you do not need to worry about this. Follow the instructions to find out how you can watch Hotstar abroad using a VPN.

Game of Thrones season 8 is now available on Hotstar Premium
A screenshot from the first episode of Game of Thrones season 8 on Hotstar India

If you try to watch Hotstar in Europe, like we are, you will most likely see an error message looking something like this.

If you try to watch Hotstar in Europe
Error message if you try to watch Hotstar in Europe

If you stay in some other country, you might not see the above error message, but instead, you might see something like this.

No free content on Hotstar for people outside India
No free content on Hotstar for people outside India

The image above was taken as we tried to access Hotstar in Canada. There is content available, but you will have to pay to get access to it. If you try to access other content on Hotstar in, for example, Canada, you will see an error message looking something like this.

You cannot see normal Hotstar content if you are outside India
You cannot see normal Hotstar content if you are outside India

As a result, you will get a totally different offer if you try to watch and access Hotstar outside India. But, what can you do if you really want to watch and stream all the content available on Hotstar in India when abroad? How can you fully enjoy Indian Hotstar no matter where you might be in the world?

Watch Hotstar outside India

If you want to watch Hotstar outside India and you have a Hotstar account, you need to get an Indian IP address. This is a way to make the Hotstar website believe that you are located in India. But, most VPN providers who offer Indian IP addresses are blocked by Hotstar, and that is why it is important to use a VPN provider that will help you get actual access to Hotstar… Which VPN provider is that?

Based on our tests, the best provider at the moment is Surfshark VPN (I have earlier recommended both PureVPN and ExpressVPN for this reason, but they do not work anymore). They have several servers in India, and if you connect to one of these you can easily watch cricket, football and other sports on Hotstar, in addition to all the available TV shows, movies and much more.

Surfshark VPNwith 30-day money back guarantee

You can also use SurfsharkVPN to get access to American Netflix, to watch Amazon Prime, Hulu, BBC, ITV, ZDF, ARD, and lots of other TV channels and streaming services online, so it is well worth the cheap subscription fee. If you do not like it, they also have a 31-day full refund policy. You can read more about SurfsharkVPN in our detailed and thorough Surfshark VPN review.

Here I am watching Hotstar from abroad
I am watching a movie on Hotstar in Europe

Above you can see a screenshot I just made as I used Surfshark VPN to watch Hotstar from abroad.

How to watch Hotstar Premium abroad (and pay for it)?

How to sign up for Hotstar abroad?

Hotstar has two different Premium packages, one for sports, and one for sports, movies and TV series. They are incredibly cheap (seen from a Western perspective), and once you have a subscription to those you can watch Premier League football online, stream your favorite HBO TV series, and watch great Hollywood movies online. But, how can you actually pay for Hotstar Premium? You are required to have an Indian payment card, meaning that you are stuck if you do not have a good friend in India to help you out. So, what is the solution if you want to subscribe and pay for Hotstar Premium outside India?

An Indian cell phone number is required to register a Hotstar account
Unfortunately, you now need an Indian Cell Phone number to create your Hotstar account. To get a phone number in India you need to be in India and register is with a name and address. That is really hard, and we do not have a nice get-around solution for this (currently). In other words, if you do not already have an Hotstar account, we do not have a good solution for actually creating an account. If you already have an account and would like to upgrade it to Premium, follow the instructions beneath.

How to pay for Hotstar Premium without an Indian card?

  • First, you need to visit Fiverr.com and register an account there (this is a site where you can buy all sorts of services).
  • The link is taking you directly to the “gig” or the “job” that will solve your problem on Fiverr. It is a person in India that will help you pay for local services there. It should look something like the image beneath.
  • Press “Contact Me” to contact the seller. She is normally answering very quickly and will tell you how much you will need to pay for the service. You will then pay the amount for the service, plus the subscription via Fiverr.
  • You need to give him your username and password for Hotstar so that he can log in to your account and pay for the service.
  • Once this is done, he will show you a proof of payment and you can log in to your account and watch Hotstar Premium all across the world!

This is how you can pay for Hotstar Premium from abroad. I have done it myself and it is working great! 🙂 Take a look at the screenshot beneath, I am watching Hotstar Premium in Europe!

I am watching Red Sparrow on Hotstar Premium abroad
I am watching Red Sparrow on Hotstar Premium abroad

Have you been convinced? Have you tried it yourself? Please write a comment to share your experience in streaming Hotstar from abroad. If you have a question, write it down beneath, and I will do my best to answer as soon as possible!

This article is completely up to date and everything described here work, even in 2020! Enjoy reading, and I hope you will be able to stream whatever content you are interested in on Hotstar in a few minutes from now!

9 thoughts on “Can I stream Hotstar outside India? How to pay for Hotstar abroad?

  1. Anita Srisakulchawla says:

    I have been watching Hotstar using express VPN already paid for premium also
    Then notice came up this morning that as of 17th September u need to have premium to watch but I still can’t
    I tried the surf shark also not possible
    What next

  2. SolPro aka Riddhi says:

    Thanks Thomas for great article.
    Nice to see my fiverr gig’s reference here in this article. My username is Sol Pro on fiverr and many readers must be interacted with me due to this article.
    I hope whoever bought my gig is satisfied with the service.

  3. Mike B. says:

    I just followed the instructions here… I used Surfshark as my VPN and used the Fiverr link recommended to buy the subscription, and it worked perfectly, just in time to stream the match between Liverpool and Manchester United earlier today. The only problem was that Liverpool won and not Manchester United, besides that – everything was perfect!

  4. Touseef Ahmed says:

    Hello everyone, I am Touseef from fiverr. First of all very informative article.
    I want to summarise it in short what exactly you need to watch hotstar outside of India:
    1.VPN
    2.An hotstar account(preferable)
    3.Contact someone on fiverr(you can contact me in this case).

    Thats it!. I am on fiverr and have a specific gig for this: http://tidd.ly/f2264a58

  5. Matthew says:

    It seems to me as if the Fiverr gig doesn’t work anymore, at least it says that it has been paused when I visit the Fiverr website. Do you know any other solution if I want to pay for Hotstar abroad?

  6. Shippy says:

    Ok, but does Fiverr protect my identity from the seller ?

    1. I mean when I pay, will the seller know my real name and credit card?

    2. I also know that using PayPal personal account reveals your real name etc. How can I anonymize myself with PayPal?

    • Thomas Stein says:

      Hello,

      the seller at Fiverr has no clue about who you are… All he knows is your username at Fiverr, and also the username and password to your Hotstar account as that information is needed for him to actually pay for your Hotstar subscription. He might see your name with the PayPal payment, and I don’t think you will be able to hide your name there, but I think, if you just create an account, you might be able to use it with a fake name until a certain limit of spending or receiving money. But, I am not 100% sure of that…

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