Domain.com is an American domain registrar and web hosting company. It began initially as a domain registrar but added hosting options for customers over time. The company currently services over 1.2 million websites.
Domain.com is a subsidiary of Newfold Digital, an IT services and web hosting firm. Newfold is, in turn, owned by a private equity firm, Clearlake Capital Group.
We tested Domain.com thoroughly to give you a detailed, unbiased review. Our review is based on specific criteria, including ease of use, features, customer support, pricing, etc..
(Image credit: Domain.com)
Domain.com plans and pricing
Domain.com has different pricing for different top-level domains (TLDs). For example, .COM costs $9.99 for the first purchase, .NET $12.99, and .ORG $8.99. There are many other TLDs you can choose from, some of which are pretty expensive. For instance, .CO costs $27.99 and .IO $47.99 in the first year.
Domain.com also offers web hosting plans and a dedicated website builder. The website builder costs between $1.99 to $12.99 per month. The highest plan has unique features the others don't have, e.g. payment gateway integration.
Domain.com's web hosting service costs between $3.75 to $13.75 per month. Luckily, all the plans offer unlimited storage and a free SSL certificate.
Domain.com offers a 30-day money-back guarantee for every purchase.
Domain.com features
Domain.com is an all-in-one platform for website building and hosting, with features including;
Domain Name Purchase
You can buy almost any available domain via Domain.com. The platform supports over 300 TLDs, including generic ones like .COM and .NET and obscure ones like .BUZZ and .GAMES. The generic ones are affordable, with comparable pricing to rival domain registrars. On the flip side, some obscure ones are pretty expensive, such as .GUITARS costing $89.99 for one year.
You'll often search for a domain and see it's already taken, but don't fret. Domain.com allows you to submit your name (for a fee) in advance for when a domain becomes available, so you can immediately bid for it. This pre-registration process gives you a good chance at nabbing a domain name you think others are vying for.
If you don't get a domain name after pre-registering, Domain.com refunds your fee
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Web Hosting
Domain.com offers customers three main hosting plans: Basic, Deluxe, and Ultra. Basic lets you create and host just one website, while the other plans let you host unlimited websites. The Basic plan starts at $3.75 monthly, Deluxe at $6.75 per month, and Ultra at $13.75 per month.
Notably, the three plans offer unlimited storage, which is pretty remarkable. Most hosting providers ration storage and bandwidth for their lower plans. The main difference between the plans is the number of MySQL databases and FTP logins they support.
Basic supports 10 MySQL databases, Deluxe 25, and Ultra Unlimited. Likewise, Basic supports 5 FTP logins, Deluxe 25, and Ultra unlimited.
The three hosting plans come with free SSL certificates to protect your website and a free domain name for a year.
(Image credit: Domain.com)
Website Builder
Domain.com offers a dedicated website builder with many features to help you set up a functional, attractive website without much technical work. The website builder lets you create individual pages for your content. It gives you complete control over your site's design and layout.
Domain.com's website builder features artificial intelligence to help you lay the foundation of your website. You answer a few questions at the beginning stage, and the AI will help you choose the proper layout, including images and initial content, for your site. Afterwards, you can edit it to match your taste.
The AI tool is beneficial because it does much of the background work of setting up your website. It'll be much harder to build your website's layout from scratch without it.
You can create an excellent online store with Domain.com's website builder. The tool lets you manage inventory, shipping, coupons and discounting, taxes, emails, and payments in one place. Domain.com offers a broad selection of beautiful e-commerce themes.
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Interface and in use
We found it pretty straightforward to use Domain.com. The initial step is to head to the website and pick whatever service you want. You can search for any domain name to see if it's available. If it is, you can proceed to purchase it immediately. Likewise, if you need web hosting or a website builder, select the plan you want and pay for it.
(Image credit: Domain.com)
After paying, Domain.com will prompt you to create an account. Then, you can log in to access your service at any time. We advise you to use an email you regularly check to know if any service is near its expiration date. It's even better to keep any service you purchase on auto-renew with an active credit/debit card. Don't ever let your domain name expire because people are looking to grab it if it does.
(Image credit: Domain.com)
Domain.com customer support
Domain.com offers customer support through email, live chat, or telephone. There are also video tutorials and a Knowledge Base on the website to help you understand the platform.
The competition
Domain.com's main rivals include Namecheap, GoDaddy, and Hover. Domain.com offers comparable pricing and features to its rivals.
Is Domain.com's domain registration service right for you?
Domain.com is a suitable domain registrar and web hosting service. However, we observed some flaws, such as its web hosting service not having direct monthly plans. It calculates the price monthly, but you must pay for at least a year to use it.
PrivateVPN is a Swedish VPN service that may look basic in some areas but has some surprising and unusual features.
The network is relatively small, with 63 countries and 200+ servers. Top providers like ExpressVPN and NordVPN have thousands.
The network might be small but torrents are supported everywhere and you get easy-to-use clients for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android, as well as setup instructions for routers, Linux, and more.
You might not like that you need to manually set up WireGuard on PrivateVPN apps but there's plenty to like elsewhere, including OpenVPN and IKEv2 support, a stealth mode to bypass VPN blocking, port forwarding support, system-wide and application kill switches, DNS and IPv6 leak protection, and the ability to connect up to 10 devices simultaneously, each with a different IP address.
The website claims support for unblocking a host of services, including Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, Fox, NBC, CBS, and more.
PrivateVPN states that it doesn't outsource support, and when you have problems, you talk directly to the developers.
It's hard to take a VPN's claims at face value but a 4.9 rating at Trustpilot makes it 'the world's most-trusted VPN provider', the company says. That's not a 100% guarantee of good service, but it's a strong indicator that PrivateVPN delivers on its promises.
Payment options include cards, Google Pay, Apple Pay, PayPal and Bitcoin (Image credit: PrivateVPN)
What's new?
PrivateVPN hasn't seen any significant updates for quite some time. As we write, the last iOS release was way back in November 2021, and even that was a bug fix. That's normally a good reason to stay away, but this situation is a little different.
In 2022, PrivateVPN was acquired by digital solutions provider Miss Group, an interesting company that now owns more than 30 web hosting, domain registrar, and related brands. That's a positive sign all on its own. A VPN provider doesn't get acquired unless the buyer sees real value in the business. You'd also expect having parted with a pile of cash, Miss Group surely isn't just going to leave PrivateVPN to decline.
We asked Miss Group about its future PrivateVPN plans, and although it's not ready to go public yet, we did hear that there are major improvements to the apps and service due very soon.
Plans and pricing
PrivateVPN used to have a 10GB free plan, but it's recently disappeared. The company tells us it withdrew the plan due to frequent abuse, but says this will only be temporary, and it will be available again at some point.
Paid plans are fair value at $9.90 billed monthly, or $6 if you pay three months upfront. Opting for the annual plan gets you an extra two years for free, which works out to $2 a month. The price doesn't stay at that thought and renews annually at $6 a month.
Payment is accepted by Google Pay, Apple Pay, card, PayPal, and Bitcoin.
PrivateVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee but with a very major catch. The small print https://privatevpn.com/terms-of-use says you can only get a refund if you haven't used the service. If you've connected, even just once and you disconnected immediately, that's it-- no money-back for you. That's really disappointing, especially as the free plan isn't currently available and there's no way to try before you buy.
PrivateVPN claims to not keep on logs on its users' activity online but we would still like to see the service undergo an independent audit (Image credit: PrivateVPN)
Privacy and logging
Does PrivateVPN keep any logs? The privacy policy is emphatic: "We do not collect or store logs of your activity, including no logging of browsing history, traffic destination, connection time stamps, DNS queries, IP addresses (neither allocated IP nor connected IP), data content or bandwidth."
The rest of the privacy-related small print is much like most other VPNs. PrivateVPN only holds your email address, it uses cookies on the website and might use third-party analytics, but there's no sign of data sharing or other dubious activities.
While that's good news, it still leaves potential customers having to trust that PrivateVPN is living up to its promises. Many providers are now putting their systems through public security and privacy audits, giving users real independent evidence about what they're doing, and we hope more VPNs will do the same.
PrivateVPN's Windows client has both simple and advanced interfaces (Image credit: PrivateVPN)
Windows app
PrivateVPN's Windows app opens with a very straightforward and familiar interface. The current location is highlighted, a big On/Off button connects and disconnects as required, and a menu button easily takes you to various settings, help, and accounts pages.
A well-designed location list gives you all kinds of ways to find the servers you need. They're smartly organized by country, with cities already displayed (no need to click each country to expand a city list.) Ping times indicate the fastest, you can sort the list by name or distance, or save the most important locations as Favorites.
That may be all you ever need, but if you're the technical type, clicking the Advanced View button expands the app window to reveal all kinds of low-level options and extras.
In addition to all of its available servers, PrivateVPN also shows you their ping times (Image credit: PrivateVPN)
You can change your VPN protocol, enable two kill switches and more in PrivateVPN's settings (Image credit: PrivateVPN)
You're able to choose from OpenVPN TUN, TAP, TCP, UDP, L2TP, or PPTP and OpenVPN encryption method (AES-128/256-CBC/GCM) direct from the console. That's not the ideal list, we'd like WireGuard support in the app, and L2TP and PPTP are so outdated they've been dropped by most VPNs – but it does give you more OpenVPN control than some providers.
Unfortunately WireGuard isn't supported in the Windows client (or any of the apps, for that matter) (Image credit: PrivateVPN)
A Connection Guard feature combines several technologies to protect your privacy: IPv6 and DNS leak protection, and both a system-wide and application-level kill switch to protect you if the VPN drops. The feature has many useful applications. For example, you can set up the system to automatically kill your P2P client if the tunnel fails.
A Stealth VPN feature aims to help you bypass firewalls and get online, even in VPN-unfriendly countries.
The app can install or repair its Windows TAP adapter, which is often a useful way to solve connection problems. If that doesn't work, you're able to browse the app log files or click a link to open a live chat session on the PrivateVPN site.
Put it all together and there's a lot of room for improvement here. The app is in desperate need of WireGuard support, it should throw out PPTP and L2TP, and we'd like to see regular updates to add split tunneling, 'auto-connect when accessing untrusted networks', and some of the other more advanced features offered by the top competition.
PrivateVPN's new owner, Miss Group, says it'll begin delivering on those priorities very soon, though. In the meantime, even in its current version, this is a decent app overall and easy to use for beginners with some handy expert-level controls.
PrivateVPN looks much the same on tablets, mobiles and Macs (Image credit: PrivateVPN)
Mac and mobile apps
PrivateVPN's Mac app looks much the same as the Windows version, with a simple opening window, a capable location list with Favorites, and an Advanced View for experienced users.
Look closely and you'll notice a few differences. Some are relatively minor (the location list doesn't display ping times for each server), but the app is also missing some important low-level options (there's no configurable DNS leak protection, and no application-level kill switch).
This is still a likable app, user-friendly, and boasting some worthwhile features in its kill switch and IPv6 leak protection. But it doesn't quite have the power to compete with the best of the Mac competition.
PrivateVPN's mobile apps drop the desktop's Simple and Advanced Views in favor of a single, simple interface. It works well, and looks and feels much like the rest of the range, although there are a few more differences in features.
The Android app is the most powerful of the two, with a kill switch, OpenVPN support, IPv6 leak protection, and Stealth VPN features. If there's a downside, it's that there's no support for any other protocols.
PrivateVPN's iOS offering gives you protocol options (OpenVPN, IKEv2, IPSec), and supports Stealth VPN, but drops the kill switch and IPv6 leak protection.
Overall, this is a decent range of apps that look good and are easy to use. But as with the Windows offering, they're missing modern features such as WireGuard support, split tunneling, 'auto-connect when accessing untrusted networks', and more. Hopefully, the upcoming updates will begin to put that right.
The kill switch is nicely implemented, and lets you know what's going on when it kicks in (Image credit: PrivateVPN)
App testing
PrivateVPN's Windows app performed its main tasks well. Connection times were typically 4 to 8 seconds, very reasonable for an OpenVPN app. Desktop and audio notifications alert you as to when you're protected and when you're not. The app interface generally worked as we expected, and we didn't run into any problems.
The kill switch did a great job during testing. We used various ways to close the VPN connection, including simulating a software crash, but the app shrugged off all our efforts, blocked our internet, displayed a helpful notification warning us what had happened, and began reconnecting immediately.
The leak test results weren't as impressive. Running multiple tests from several sites showed no sign of DNS or other leaks when connecting via OpenVPN, the default app protocol. But dnsleaktest.com, dnsleak.com, and others showed a DNS leak when connecting via L2TP or PPTP.
The fact that PrivateVPN could release an app with such a major failure, and then apparently not notice the problem for more than a year, has to be a big concern. Let's hope the imminent release fixes the problem, and PrivateVPN gets back into a more regular cycle of bug fixes and updates.
If you have problems with any aspect of the service, PrivateVPN's 24/7 support is on hand to help. This worked well for us, with email replies typically arriving in under 30 minutes, agents who quickly understood even very technical questions, and immediately provided detailed and accurate answers.
PrivateVPN unblocked all the streaming services we tried it with (Image credit: Netflix)
Netflix and streaming
The PrivateVPN website claims to be 'the most trusted VPN for Netflix', which allows you to 'unlock your favorite Netflix shows anywhere in the world.'
That's one very big boast, and it turned out to be some distance from the truth. PrivateVPN successfully got us into Netflix Australia and Canada, but it failed in the US, UK, and Japan.
PrivateVPN did better with our country-specific tests. After failing with Australia's 10 Play, it unblocked 9Now, then got us hassle-free access to the UK's BBC iPlayer, ITV, and Channel 4.
The positive news continued with Amazon Prime Video and Disney Plus, as PrivateVPN breezed past their defenses and allowed us to view whatever we liked.
These aren't bad results, but if you need a VPN which unblocks absolutely everything, ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Private Internet Access, Surfshark, and others all scored a perfect 100% in their most recent streaming tests.
We test all VPNs with a variety of speed checking services (Image credit: nPerf)
Website VPN detection
A good VPN doesn't just get you into Netflix. It also allows you to use search engines, social media, and other sites without them detecting VPN use. If they don't, you find yourself endlessly clicking all the tiles containing a bicycle.
To test for this, we connect to a VPN, then visit thirteen sites that do their very best to detect VPN and proxy use, and keep a count of the results. The more sites that can detect our VPN, the more likely it is that we'll run into CAPTCHAs and other security hassles.
Commercial VPNs are typically detected by four to eight sites, some free services more than ten. PrivateVPN returned the best results we've seen, with only one site detecting the VPN.
You may see different results, depending on where you are in the world and the sites you typically visit. Overall, though, we think using PrivateVPN should mean you'll have far fewer security hassles than most of the top competition.
Performance
We test VPN performance using SpeedTest's command line app, website, and other benchmarking services, from both US and UK test locations. Each test environment has a 1Gbps connection, giving us plenty of room to see exactly what a provider can do.
PrivateVPN's OpenVPN speeds were below-par at 110Mbps in the UK. Many providers reach 200Mbps and higher, while Mullvad beat 500Mbps in its last tests.
Although PrivateVPN's apps don't support WireGuard, the servers do, so we set up a manual connection to see just how much difference it might make.
The answer, it turned out, was ‘a lot.' With WireGuard running, speeds shot up to 500-600Mbps, a long way behind the market leaders (NordVPN managed 950Mbps+ in recent tests) but more than enough for most devices and connections.
That doesn't make up for the inconvenience of having to set up WireGuard locations manually. It's not exactly difficult - you just download the stand-alone WireGuard app, then use it with the appropriate PrivateVPN profile for each connection - but it's a hassle you won't see with any other major VPN (or most of the minor ones either).
PrivateVPN told us that app-level WireGuard support is due imminently, though, and if that happens, the service is likely to deliver all the speed you'll ever need.
PrivateVPN review: Final verdict
PrivateVPN was once a very capable service, and it still scores in some areas (it's one of the best VPNs around for avoiding CAPTCHAs and other blocks on non-streaming sites.) But a lack of recent investment means it's lagging behind on privacy, features, speed, unblocking, and more. We're hopeful this will change soon, but right now this isn't a VPN we can recommend.
At first glance, VyprVPN might seem much like any other small provider but look closer and you'll find there's much more here than you might expect.
The network 'only' has 700+ servers, for instance, but they're spread across 70+ locations in 60+ countries. The servers also don't have the same focus on Europe and North America that we often see with other providers. VyprVPN has 14 locations in Asia, 5 in the Middle East, 7 in Central and South America, 2 in Africa, and 5 in Oceania.
Even better, these servers are owned and managed by the company. That means there's no reliance on third-party web hosts, unlike most of the competition.
Welcome features include a zero-knowledge DNS service, a custom Chameleon protocol to help bypass VPN blocking in countries like China, WireGuard support to optimize performance, P2P support across the network, and 24/7/365 customer support to help you whenever you are in need.
Wide platform support includes apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Tomato-based routers, QNAP, Anonabox, Smart TVs, and Blackphone.
The website also has 30 tutorials to help you set up the service on Linux, Blackberry, Synology NAS, OpenELEC, Android TV, Apple TV, and via DD-WRT, AsusWRT, OpenWRT, and more.
Whatever hardware you're using, VyprVPN supports connecting up to 10 devices simultaneously. That's more than most, but if you do have a lot of hardware to protect, keep in mind that Atlas VPN, IPVanish, PureVPN, Surfshark, and Windscribe have no fixed connection limits at all.
VyprVPN was, until recently, run by a company called Golden Frog which was incorporated in Switzerland to take advantage of the favorable privacy laws. Its founders were behind some other big internet names including Usenet provider Giganews,
This all changed during our review, and apparently, VyprVPN is now owned by the US-based Certida. It’s too early to say for sure what this means (apart from exposure to the much less favorable US privacy laws), but we’ve a couple of early thoughts.
The good news is that it might bring new investment. VyprVPN hasn’t had any significant updates for a very long time, and if it had just run out of money, a new owner might help bring it back to life.
The bad news is that VyprVPN hasn’t clearly explained what’s happening to its customers, and some parts of what’s happened raise warning flags with us.
VyprVPN used to have an ‘About Us’ page where it proudly boasted of its Swiss registration, for instance. When Certida took over, we would expect that page to be updated with the new details. Instead, it took the page down and added a much harder-to-find FAQ page with a handful of details on Certida.
Don’t think you can head off to the Certida page to find out more either. It’s basically a single page with links to VyprVPN and Giganews.
This all looks a little amateurish and doesn’t show anything like the transparency we would expect from a VPN provider. Still, it’s also very early days, and if the new ownership brings new ideas and investment, then maybe customers will be better off overall.
VyprVPN pricing
VyprVPN's pricing is surprisingly simple. There are just two plans: you can opt to pay $10 billed monthly or sign up for a year at $60 to reduce the cost to $5 a month.
That really is it. There are no special discounts, no free months, and the price won't double on renewal. What you see, really is what you get.
These aren't unreasonable prices. ExpressVPN, Hotspot Shield, IPVanish, NordVPN, and others ask $7-$8 or more on their annual plans after any starter deals expire. Still, if you want to save more, there are better deals available.
Private Internet Access' three-year deal is $2.03 for its first term, for instance, with three months free. Looking at the totals, handing $60 to VyprVPN gets you one year of protection; giving Private Internet Access $79 covers you for three years and three months.
Payment options include card, PayPal, Amazon Pay, and checking or saving accounts in the US. No Bitcoin, unfortunately.
If you sign up and aren't happy, you're protected by a 30-day money-back guarantee. A few companies give you more – Hotspot Shield and CyberGhost allow 45 days, for example – but 30 days should be long enough to identify any problems.
Private Internet Access' three-year deal is $2.03 for its first term, for instance, with three months free. Looking at the totals, handing $60 to VyprVPN gets you one year of protection; giving Private Internet Access $79 covers you for three years and three months.
VyprVPN protects your privacy with 256-bit encryption and strong support for a variety of VPN protocols (Image credit: VyprVPN)
Privacy
VyprVPN protects your privacy with well-chosen protocols and strong encryption capabilities. It supports AES-256-GCM and SHA384 HMAC for OpenVPN, with TLS-ECDHE-RSA-2048 to provide Perfect Forward Secrecy. Perfect Forward Secrecy is a smart technique that ensures that a different key is used for every connection so that even if an attacker obtains a private key somehow, they would only be able to access data in that particular session.
WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2 are supported across all platforms. VyprVPN's custom Chameleon 2.0 protocol is available on all platforms to help you bypass the most aggressive VPN blocking. Reports suggest this works well in China, although we don't test this so can't confirm it.
VyprVPN provides an encrypted zero-knowledge DNS service, DNS filtering, and other snooping strategies. Works for us, but if you've other needs, it's good to see the apps also allow you to use whatever third-party DNS service you need.
Individual apps have their own privacy-protecting technologies, too, including options to defend against DNS leaks and kill switches to reduce the chance of data leaks if the VPN connection drops. We'll look at these in more detail later.
VyprVPN's privacy policy is clear on its logging policy. There's no recording of source or destination IP addresses, connection start or stop times, user traffic, or DNS requests.
The company verified this with a public audit by Leviathan Security Group. leviathan examined source code, logged into servers, inspected running processes, and more, and although it reported a few configuration mistakes, they confirmed that the company didn't log user activity.
While that's great news (and more than what most VPNs have done), the audit took place in September 2018, and can't tell us anything useful about what's happening now. We don't expect any provider to match ExpressVPN's level of audit enthusiasm (it's gone through 11 in the past year alone), but with more than four years since VyprVPN's last inspection, it's surely time for another.
VyprVPN offers clients for most major platforms (Image credit: VyprVPN)
Setup
Signing up to VyprVPN is easy, and once you've handed over your details, the website points you to an Apps page with a host of useful links.
There are downloads for the company's Windows, Mac, Android and iOS apps, the raw Android APK file if you need to install it somewhere manually, and VyprVPN's Chrome browser extension.
Setup is easy, and much the same as every other VPN app you've ever installed. Download and run the app, follow the instructions, enter your username and password when you're prompted, and essentially, you're ready to go.
You're not restricted to the apps either. VyprVPN's website has tutorials to help you manually set up the service on Chromebooks, Linux, Synology NAS, OpenELEC, Android TV, Apple TV, and on routers via DD-WRT, AsusWRT, OpenWRT and more.
These setup guides are, for the most part, relatively basic. Many are short, with only the bare minimum of text, and no screenshots (the Android TV guide says little more than 'you'll need the Android app, get it here or here'). They appear to cover the essentials, though, and should get you connected with minimal hassle.
VyprVPN's Windows VPN client looks and feels much like a mobile VPN app. It consists of a simple opening window that displays your connection state and preferred location, and a button you can click to connect or disconnect.
A capable location picker lists available locations by country and city, and it includes ping times to give you an idea of distance and provides a simple Favorites system to save your commonly used servers. Locations are sorted by country but you can also organize them by continent or ping time.
Although we're happy with the general design, a graphical glitch immediately spoiled the effect. The app displayed our default location using its long name, 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.' While this is correct, the app didn't wrap the location to fit it all on the window, and the beginning and end were cut off. It's a tiny issue, but also seriously unprofessional, and leaves us with other questions. If VyprVPN hasn't noticed or been concerned enough to fix such an obvious problem in more than a year, what else has it missed?
Back to the feature list, there's support for four protocols: WireGuard, OpenVPN, VyprVPN's proprietary Chameleon, and IKEv2. That's more than we usually see, so while this many are not necessary, it's always good to have options if one or two protocols fail.
Connection times are longer than usual, at up to 12 seconds for WireGuard. The best apps manage 1-2 seconds, and when you're used to that level of performance, an extra 5 to10 second delay can become annoying.
A Connection Details panel is just a click away and displays details including your upload and download speeds, the session length, your chosen server, protocol, and more. This isn't the most essential of features, but the stats could be useful occasionally, and we're happy to see them here.
VyprVPN also includes a built-in kill switch in case your VPN connection goes down (Image credit: Golden Frog)
A kill switch aims to protect you if the VPN drops, or that's the idea, but it didn't always work that way.
If we manually closed an OpenVPN connection the kill switch kicked in instantly, blocking internet traffic, displaying a warning, and giving us an option to reconnect.
If we did the same with an IKEv2 connection, though, the kill switch didn't appear to work, and our device used its regular internet connection instead. The app didn't display a 'Disconnected' notification, either, so if it was minimized or obscured by another app window, you wouldn't even realize there was a problem. Fortunately, it did automatically reconnect within a few seconds, limiting our exposure.
We found the kill switch protected us properly on WireGuard connections, which is important as we suspect most people won't use anything else. But again, the app warned us of connection troubles via its own window, rather than using desktop notifications as a more obvious alert.
VyprVPN's kill switch does a reasonable job in some situations but it can't begin to match the reliability of the best of the competition.
Why is there constant 1-2% (Image credit: Future)
While testing, we noticed an odd technical issue. An app file called VyprVPNService.exe was constantly using 1-2% of CPU time, even when the app wasn't connected or even running. What was going on?
Digging deeper, the service seemed to be constantly running a task called 'NetworkStateMonitor.monitorThroughPut.' The app can display your current upload and download speeds whether you're connected or not, so from the name, it looks like this task is collecting those figures. Fair enough, but we expect the task to stop when you close the app, it's actually running all the time, whether you need it or not.
The Settings dialog includes all the usual options to customize how the app works. You can have it automatically connect when Windows starts or the application launches. DNS leak protection reduces the chance of others snooping on your web traffic, and an auto-reconnect feature automatically re-establishes your connection if the VPN drops.
If VyprVPN's zero-knowledge VyprDNS service doesn't suit your needs, you can switch it to any other DNS provider you like and you can configure the app to automatically connect to VyprVPN whenever you access untrusted Wi-Fi networks. That's not just a convenient time-saver, it’s a safety net too. There's always a chance you'll forget to connect when you’re on a public network and leave yourself inadvertently exposed to danger.
There's the core of a good app here. It’s easy to use, has a strong set of features, and VyprVPN's own Chameleon protocol helps you get online where others can't. It just needs a major update to fix the issues and generally get it running smoothly again. Hopefully, that's coming soon.
VyprVPN's Mac client is similar to the Windows software, but adds split tunneling into the mix (Image credit: VyprVPN)
Mac and mobile apps
Some VPN providers spend a huge amount of time polishing their Windows app but make little effort to provide the same level of power on other platforms. But not VyprVPN - it's done a far better job of making key features available everywhere.
The Mac and Android apps look and feel almost identical to the Windows version. Spend a couple of minutes with one, and you'll immediately be ready to use either of the others.
They include almost all the most advanced Windows features, WireGuard, OpenVPN, and Chameleon support, customizable DNS, auto-connect, and a kill switch to block your connection if the VPN drops. Mac and Android users also get the Connection per App feature, VyprVPN's take on split tunneling, which isn't available on Windows.
The Android app also supports URL filtering to protect you from malicious websites. Although we didn't test the effectiveness of the system, we noticed that it gives you more control than most competing services. If you hit a site on the blocklist, for instance, the system doesn't just block it. Instead, it displays a warning, and you can ignore this and proceed to the site if you're sure it's safe.
VyprVPN's iOS offering can't match Mac and Android for power and doesn't include a kill switch, split tunneling, URL filter, or many other settings. That's not really VyprVPN's fault though. Apple's security model means it's just not possible to deliver all the same advanced VPN features on iOS that we see on other platforms.
There's still plenty to like. The iOS interface is clear and simple and most operations work just as they do with the other apps. Furthermore, with support for WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, and VyprVPN's Chameleon protocol, the iOS app should get you connected just as easily as the rest of the range.
VyprVPN's iOS app looks quite similar to its Android offering (Image credit: Golden Frog)
We evaluate every VPN we review with a variety of speed test benchmarks (Image credit: Speedtest.net)
Performance
To understand the real-world performance of a VPN, we measure download speeds multiple times, with multiple speed test sites and apps including SpeedTest, Cloudflare, and Measurement Lab across multiple sessions, in both US and UK locations.
OpenVPN speeds proved epicly bad, with UK speeds averaging 40Mbps. Even poor providers typically reach at least 100Mbps. That's so low we'd normally assume it was a mistake, or a temporary glitch, if not for the almost identical 35-40Mbps we saw in our last review.
Fortunately, VyprVPN doesn't just support the OpenVPN protocol, and switching to WireGuard accelerated our downloads to 300-325Mbps. That's still on the low side – PureVPN reached twice VyprVPN's speed at 650Mbps in its last reviews, and is still only #12 in our last speed charts - but VyprVPN is likely to be enough for many devices, connections, and tasks.
VyprVPN failed to get us into US Netflix in our latest round of testing (Image credit: Netflix)
Virtual locations
VPN performance can be affected by a provider's use of virtual locations. A provider might offer a location in Cambodia, for instance, which returns a Cambodian IP address, but uses servers that are physically based somewhere else. The service should work for unblocking, as you're getting the IP address you expect, but if you're in the country and the server is based far away, it'll be slower than you expect.
VyprVPN doesn't say much about virtual locations on its website, but our tests suggested they're used for several countries, and in some cases, the real server locations are some distance away. VyprVPN's Hong Kong and Marshall Islands locations appear to be in Hong Kong, for instance, while the company's Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, India, and Russia locations all appear to be served from near Amsterdam.
This isn't necessarily a problem. For instance, many providers host their India servers in a different country to avoid the country's upcoming data logging laws. If you happen to be in Amsterdam or Western Europe, having a local server for a distant location could improve speeds. The problem is, VyprVPN's virtual and real locations can be further apart than we see with most providers. ExpressVPN not only says exactly which of its locations are virtual, but also tells you where they're really hosted, and we'd like to see other VPNs be just as open with their customers.
Netflix and streaming
VPNs for Netflix have become particularly popular. So, it’s no surprise VPNs often sell themselves on their ability to access geo-blocked sites, giving you access to content you wouldn't normally be able to view.
VyprVPN had some success in testing, getting us into US Netflix, Disney Plus, BBC iPlayer, the UK's ITV, and Australia's 9Now.
US Amazon Prime Video was a bit hit-and-miss. We could usually stream content but had occasional DNS errors. That might have been some temporary issue during the review and nothing to do with Amazon detecting our VPN, but we can't say for sure.
There were plenty of very clear failures, including Netflix Australia, Canada, Japan, UK, along with Australia's 10 Play and Channel 4 in the UK.
VyprVPN clearly has some unblocking skills, but others go much further. ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Private Internet Access, ProtonVPN, PureVPN, and Surfshark all unblocked every platform we tried in their last tests.
VyprVPN's knowledgebase includes some decent content, but some articles are pretty barebones (Image credit: VyprVPN)
Support
VyprVPN support starts on its website, where a knowledge base provides setup instructions, troubleshooting guidance, and specific advice for various device types.
We noticed a link titled 'VyprVPN forum', clicked it to take a look, but got an 'Error 404: Page Not Found' error message. That looks very unprofessional and reinforces our earlier impression that no one's paying much attention to the details anymore.
There is at least a lot of content here, with plenty of guides covering setting up the service on a wide range of platforms. Regrettably, they're generally short, with few (or no) screenshots to help illustrate the points they're trying to make. FAQs can also be very basic, often no more than 'How do I turn on feature x?', with a few lines of text to point users in the right direction.
Still, there is some decent content here, and an accurate search system did a good job of finding relevant articles for all our test keywords.
Help is just a click away with live chat support (Image credit: Golden Frog)
If the website can't help, live chat is available to give you a near-instant response. We raised one test question and the support agent was talking to us within a couple of minutes and gave a helpful and informative response.
The final option is to send an email. We raised a simple product question and had a clear response within 15 minutes.
VyprVPN support has some issues and it's not as thorough or in-depth as top competitors like ExpressVPN. The website does give you basic information on a wide range of topics, though, and with speedy live chat support on hand, it shouldn't take long to get helpful advice on any service problems.
There's a lot to like about VyprVPN, all in all (Image credit: VyprVPN)
VyprVPN review: Final verdict
VyprVPN isn't the fastest or most powerful VPN, and the various app issues and annoyances make it difficult to recommend. Still, the service is easy to use, with more features than most, and if you could benefit from VyprVPN's firewall-bypassing Chameleon protocol then it may be worth a look.
Swiss-based PrivadoVPN is a young provider with a simple and appealing message. It's a 'fast and secure VPN you can trust', says the website. Sounds good, but do the facts back that up?
The network has 'hundreds of servers' with locations across 48 countries. That's smaller than many—the top providers have thousands of servers—but it's big enough that there's likely to be a server near you.
A strong range of apps covers Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Fire TV, and Android TV. Support for up to 10 simultaneous connections means you're less likely to run into device limits, too, although Atlas VPN, IPVanish, Surfshark, and Windscribe don't impose any limits at all.
Protocol support is good, with the speedy and secure WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2 available across the range.
Getting connected doesn't just shield your internet activities from snoopers. Privado VPN's Control Tower content filtering system also protects you from ads, trackers, and malicious websites, while a simple parental controls-type system can block adult content and even social media sites.
PrivadoVPN gets top marks for its P2P support, with torrent-friendly servers, a SOCKS5 proxy to maximize torrenting speeds, and a kill switch to protect you if the VPN drops.
If you run into trouble, 24/7 support is available to help troubleshoot. However, PrivadoVPN's support site is incredibly basic (ExpressVPN has 120+ troubleshooting articles; PrivadoVPN has five.) Fortunately, there's live chat and email support on hand if you need it, and my test email question got a helpful response in under 70 minutes.
PrivadoVPN boasts locations in 46 countries and some fairly priced plans (Image credit: PrivadoVPN)
PrivadoVPN pricing plans
Privado's plans start with a capable free option. This gives you a choice of 12 locations, and a maximum of 10 Gb data per month, but covers only one device and drops SOCKS5 (although it still supports P2P).
It's a decent free plan that outperforms many big names. Avira's Phantom VPN free plan limits you to 500 Mb a month, for instance (ouch), and Avast One's free app has a generous 10 Gb a week data allowance, but it doesn't allow you to choose a location. Proton VPN scores for its unlimited data, but only gives you a choice of three locations.
Paying $10.99 a month (card, PayPal, and even Bitcoin) for Privado's monthly subscription gets you unlimited data, the SOCKS5 proxy, and support for up to 10 simultaneous connections. Most providers ask around $10-$13 for monthly-billed accounts, so this is a pretty fair deal.
Buying an annual plan cuts the cost to a tiny $2.50 a month in the first term, rising to (a still reasonable) $4.99 a month on renewal.
The best deal, a two-year plan, costs $1.99 a month for the first term and $3.99 on renewal.
In my eyes, this is great value—although there are a handful of providers that are cheaper still. Private Internet Access' three-year plan is priced at only $3.33 a month, for instance, and that's the standard fee; there's no built-in doubling of the price on renewal.
Privacy and logging
PrivadoVPN claims to offer two major layers of privacy. It's based in Switzerland, meaning you benefit from 'the strongest consumer privacy laws in the world', and even if PrivadoVPN is served with a court order asking for information, it's a zero-log service with nothing to hand over.
PrivadoVPN's privacy policy details some of the information the service collects. You must provide your email address to sign up, and its mobile apps grab your device identifier and use crash reporting libraries to receive reports if an app fails.
Unfortunately, PrivadoVPN hasn't put itself through any logging audits, which means we have to take it at its word. Undertaking one of these third-party audits would do wonders for the service—it's a clear indicator of a service's commitment to transparency and privacy, after all.
PrivadoVPN makes solid claims on the privacy front (Image credit: PrivadoVPN)
Privacy tests
My PrivadoVPN privacy tests came back with mixed results. The Blacklight privacy inspector found PrivadoVPN's website used 13 trackers and 19 third-party cookies, which is way above average.
Most providers use trackers, admittedly, and while they're not necessarily harmful, it's also not what we'd expect from a privacy firm—especially when other VPNs including Mullvad, Hide.me, Proton VPN, and PureVPN don't use trackers or third-party cookies at all. There's also an inherent risk of digital fingerprinting with these trackers, given how interconnected they tend to be, so it's something to be wary of if privacy is your main concern.
PrivadoVPN's apps collect anonymous app crash data and send it back to the company. I noticed that the Windows app does this by default, and although you can turn it off, you'll have to find the right setting, first. I prefer ExpressVPN's approach, where the app installer explicitly asks for permission to collect this data during setup. That ensures users are always clear about what's happening and have the option of turning off telemetry with a click.
Once the apps are installed, though, the picture improves. PrivadoVPN only uses the best and most secure protocols (WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2), and they're all correctly set up for maximum privacy. DNS leak protection keeps your browsing private, and a capable kill switch prevents data leaks if the connection drops.
Control Tower (PrivadoVPN's content filter) also did a fair job of protecting me online, and its ad-blocker scored 75% in my tests (other VPNs average 50-90%.) Malware protection was below par at 42.7%, but the app shielded me from 90% of my test trackers, at the top end of the usual 70-95% range. I wouldn't rely on PrivadoVPN as my only source of web protection, but it's ideal for use as a second layer of protection alongside a specialist antivirus or internet security app.
Virtual locations
Many VPNs make at least some use of virtual locations. You might see Cambodia on the location list, for instance, and if you choose it you'll get a Cambodian IP address, but the physical servers could actually be hosted in another country.
This has its advantages. If the country has relatively poor connectivity, for instance, then hosting the servers somewhere else might get you better and more reliable speeds. If you're in or close to that country, it's a different story. When you're in Cambodia and connect to the Cambodia location, but your server is actually in New York, then it's going to cause an unexpected drag on performance.
I like to see VPNs being clear and upfront about their use of virtual locations. PrivadoVPN, unfortunately, doesn't really live up to my expectations. The website says PrivadoVPN uses virtual India servers to avoid the country's upcoming logging laws, but I found no information on the rest of the network.
There was some good news, however, as I found that Brazil, Israel, the Philippines, and even Ukraine all have servers in or very close to their named countries. On the other hand, I noticed several countries appeared to use servers based in London. These include India and Russia, which I can accept for security reasons, but I was surprised to see the South Africa location also uses servers in or close to the UK.
This won't be an issue for everyone. If you're in London, and connecting to South Africa, it could be a plus to have a local server, but I'd like to see PrivadoVPN be more transparent about where its locations are really based so that potential customers can understand the issues for themselves.
Windows apps
PrivadoVPN's Windows app looks very similar to every other VPN app you've probably ever used. Big 'Connect' button here; current location displayed there; click the location to choose something else from a list, while that gear icon over there leads you to useful tweaks and settings. You'll feel at home right away.
The location list is more configurable than many, with options to sort PrivadoVPN's servers by name or latency, or to show the nearest servers at the top.
Connecting to a new country is a little awkward. In other apps, you can often double-click a country and immediately connect to its best server. Here, you'll have to click to expand its list of cities, even if there's only one, and then click again to connect. There's a workaround—add a city to your Favorites and you don't have to expand the list of cities, saving you a click each time—but this is still a small usability hassle I'd like to see fixed.
PrivadoVPN's Windows app is hampered by a cramped and cluttered interface (Image credit: PrivadoVPN)
Connection speeds were slower than most, at 5-10 seconds for WireGuard and sometimes over 20 seconds for OpenVPN (the best apps are ready to go in 1-2 seconds for WireGuard, 6-8 seconds with OpenVPN.) That can become annoying if you're regularly connecting and disconnecting, but if your device connects automatically when it starts, you might not even notice.
I also noticed an odd technical issue: when I left the PrivadoVPN app window open on the desktop, even if I wasn't connected, it constantly used 4-5% of my CPU time. Although that may not sound like much, it was enough to raise Task Manager's 'Power Usage' rating for PrivadoVPN to 'moderate', and I'm certain it'd eat away at your laptop battery.
As with the location list issue, there's an easy fix: minimize the app to the system tray and CPU usage drops to zero (when you're not connected.) But, as with the location list issue, life would be easier if you didn't have to notice the problem and then discover (and remember) these odd workarounds in the first place.
Windows settings
PrivadoVPN's Windows app isn't as configurable as the top competition, but there's still plenty to explore.
You can opt to connect via WireGuard, OpenVPN, or IKEv2, for instance, or select Automatic to allow the app to choose the best option. You're able to use OpenVPN via UDP or TCP, select a port, or even choose a Scramble option to try and conceal your traffic from snoopers. This may not be enough to get you online in China, seeing as the country makes huge efforts to prevent VPN use, but it could bypass other VPN blocks. I'm glad to see it included in PrivadoVPN's package.
PrivadoVPN now supports WireGuard on most platforms alongside OpenVPN and IKEv2 protocols (Image credit: PrivadoVPN)
The app can automatically connect as soon as it launches. Plenty of VPNs do the same, but PrivadoVPN gives you far more control over its choice of server. You can have it connect to the recommended location, your last used server, a random server, or a random server from your Favorites list. It's a great idea I wish other providers would adopt.
A SmartRoute system is essentially PrivadoVPN's take on split tunneling. In a few clicks, you can build a list of apps that will always use the VPN, while others can be set to bypass it, perfect for apps that aren't VPN-compatible (and don't need PrivadoVPN's protection.)
I was happy to see the app included a kill switch, and even happier to find it worked precisely as advertised. Whatever I did to make the VPN drop, it blocked my internet connection and reconnected automatically. My traffic was never exposed.
The kill switch is one of the absolute variety, though: once you've turned it on, your internet is blocked, even after you manually close a connection or shut down the app. Other providers have at least the option to take a more lightweight approach, where you're protected if the VPN drops during a session, but it won't block your internet if you manually disconnect. I'd like to see PrivadoVPN add something more configurable, too.
Overall, this is a decent group of settings, but there's scope for adding more. PrivadoVPN has no customizable DNS settings, for instance, and no 'auto-connect when you access insecure networks' option. Still, the app has improved significantly since our last review, and I suspect even more features are coming soon.
The kill switch works well enough (Image credit: PrivadoVPN)
MacOS and Mac apps
PrivadoVPN's Mac app has a nearly identical interface to the Windows version with a very similar design and location list. That's always a usability plus, as it means once you've learned one, you'll know exactly how to use the other.
There's another benefit in faster connections. The Mac app sometimes connected in as little as two seconds, a fraction of the times I saw on Windows.
PrivadoVPN doesn't support split tunneling on Mac, but that's not unusual (Apple's security model makes it far more challenging to implement.) The app does still include the most important features in WireGuard, OpenVPN and IKEv2 support, and a kill switch to prevent data leaks if the VPN connection drops.
I saw some odd behavior from the app in my previous review, but this time it behaved just as you'd expect: easy to use, with all servers connecting the first time, and no unexpected disconnects.
Put it all together and, although Privado's Mac offering doesn't excel in any area, it's simple to operate and should cater to most user's needs. Even if you're unsure, no problem: the free plan means it's easy to try out the app and see how it works for you.
The Mac app keeps the interface simple much like the Windows edition, but we found it suffers from some annoying issues (Image credit: PrivadoVPN)
Mobile apps
PrivadoVPN's mobile apps tick all of the right boxes and allow you to take your protection on the go—and the iOS app adds some mobile-friendly touches, including the ability to swipe up to display the location list.
However, like the Mac app, it doesn't support Favorites. There's no kill switch, and the app's auto-connect option is relatively limited (you can set it up to connect when the app starts, but you're not able to choose the type of location.)
Still, the iOS app does support WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2 connections, and they all proved speedy and reliable for me.
As usual, Android users get the most mobile power (this time, even more than Mac.) Getting protected can be as easy as hitting 'Connect', but there's the full location list when you need to change servers, and a decent set of features underneath, like a kill switch, WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2 protocol support, split tunneling, and more.
As for our concerns, I saw a lot of reviews complaining about Android battery usage, and my Windows CPU hassles left me wondering if they might have some truth. I didn't test this, but keep it in mind, and perhaps try the free app before you buy.
The mobile apps make some improvements on the desktop clients (Image credit: PrivadoVPN)
Netflix and global stream unblocking
PrivadoVPN got off to a good start in my unblocking tests, instantly accessing US and UK Netflix, along with the UK's BBC iPlayer, ITV, and Channel 4.
Unfortunately, I didn't have the same success with other Netflix libraries, and PrivadoVPN failed in Australia, Canada, and Japan.
The service couldn't defeat Australia's 10 Play, either, though it did unblock the relatively straightforward 9Now.
The mixed picture continued right to the end, as PrivadoVPN unblocked US Amazon Prime Video, but missed with Disney Plus.
PrivadoVPN delivered the goods with some very big-name providers, then, and that's better than most. If unblocking results are a priority for you, however, there are other providers you can consider. ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Private Internet Access, ProtonVPN, PureVPN, and Surfshark all unblocked every one of our test sites in recent reviews.
PrivadoVPN unblocked US Netflix and everything else we tried for that matter (Image credit: Netflix)
PrivadoVPN performance
We measure VPN performance with several benchmarking services—SpeedTest's website and command line app, Measurement Lab, Cloudflare, and more—from both a UK data center and a US residential location with a 1 Gbps connection.
Each benchmark is run five times with our normal connection (that's with the VPN off) to establish a baseline, then five times while connected to the VPN using WireGuard, and five more using OpenVPN (where available). All tests are repeated again later (that's a minimum of 120 speed checks), then we analyze the data to see what's going on.
PrivadoVPN's results kicked off with a relatively ordinary 120-130 Mbps for OpenVPN connections. You'll have no problems browsing or streaming with that, but Hide.me reached 260 Mbps in its last OpenVPN test, and Mullvad, our top performer, managed 500 Mbps and more.
PrivadoVPN also supports WireGuard, though, and switching protocols accelerated my downloads to 830-880 Mbps. This isn't quite the fastest I've seen, and NordVPN, IPVanish, and Windscribe all maxed out our test connection with speeds of 950 Mbps and more in their last tests. But unless you're downloading terabytes of data on a regular basis, you're unlikely to notice any difference, and PrivadoVPN's WireGuard performance is more than fast enough for most devices and internet connections.
We benchmark every VPN we review with a variety of online speed tests (Image credit: nPerf)
PrivadoVPN review: Final verdict
PrivadoVPN stands out for its speed and generous free plan, but the various app usability and other annoyances mean it doesn't match the top providers. Try it, but take the free plan for a spin before you spend any cash.
TechRadar rating: ⭐⭐⭐½
Subscribe if:
✔️ You're looking for a bargain: whether you opt for one of Privado's annual plans or its free tier, you'll get a VPN that packs a lot of functionality into an inexpensive package.
✔️ You need a speedy service: PrivadoVPN's WireGuard speeds are seriously impressive, and more than enough to handle gaming, streaming, and torrenting.
✔️ You have lots of devices to cover: a subscription bags you up to ten simultaneous connections, meaning you can share the VPN's robust security with the family or simply ensure all of your gadgets are shielded.
Don't subscribe if:
❌ You need access to lots of content libraries: while PrivadoVPN managed to unblock some Netflix catalogs and regional services, it didn't achieve full marks in our streaming tests.
❌ You want comprehensive support: the PrivadoVPN support hub is pretty bare-bones, and other providers (like ExpressVPN) have more articles to pick through, covering everything from the basics to technical topics.
❌ The lack of an audit is a red flag: currently, PrivadoVPN hasn't undergone a third-party audit to verify its logging claims, which means you'll need to put a lot of trust in the provider without any verifiable claims that it's got your privacy in mind.
With a name like FastestVPN, you’ve expect this privacy tool to be speedy, if not one of the fastest VPNs available. The website even goes as far as listing what the VPN can do, it says the FastestVPN can unblock Netflix, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, and Amazon Prime Videos and also doesn't log. But is this really the case, and how does the service compare to the best VPNs on the market?
Fast Technology Ltd. the company behind FastestVPN, is headquartered in the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory that enjoys autonomy. As a result, companies operating there are subject to local law rather than British government regulations, which is obviously advantageous for security and privacy. This makes the environment perfect for VPN service providers to prosper, along with the fact that the country's data protection laws have undergone great improvement.
The VPN has 500 servers spread across 52 countries. It’s a relatively small number when compared to ExpressVPN and NordVPN, which have thousands of servers worldwide. It is not recommended for a service like this to have a small number of VPN servers because this would result in overcrowding, which could slow down your connection speeds.
If the servers at FastestVPN are rented, does that mean that they have undergone a security audit? Well, no information is disclosed about a VPN audit or if they rented servers. With 14 servers spread across the country, from the east coast to the west, the US has the best coverage, followed by Europe.
Pricing & plans
Since there is no free trial period or even a free VPN option, there’s no way to test the VPN if you want to.
Instead, there are three packages: monthly, annual, and lifetime. These cost $7 a month / $24.95 a year / and $40 for a lifetime subscription. All plans feature 2TB cloud storage and access to a password manager.
Major credit cards and PayPal are accepted as payment methods for FastestVPN, and you can also use cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Dash to make an anonymous payment. All of FastestVPN's plans come with a 15-day money-back guarantee, which is half as long as what most other VPNs offer, as most VPNs offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Privacy & encryption
Being based in the Cayman Islands is great for user privacy, since the Cayman Islands has no laws requiring data retention and the company is not monitored by the Five Eyes alliance nations.
In its privacy policy, FastestVPN makes it clear that it has a strict no-logs policy. It only stores your email address, and that information is removed as soon as your account is deactivated. However, we can't fully trust the no-log claims because they haven't been independently audited.
Since all of FastestVPN's apps use military-grade AES 256-bit encryption, nobody can see what you do online or track you down. FastestVPN uses the protocols IKEv2, IPSec, TCP, UDP, L2TP, and PPTP. It does not support the OpenVPN protocol like other VPNs. Having said that, you can manually install it on your device.
FastestVPN has built-in malware protection, an ad blocker that is good for YouTube ads, and a split tunnel that allows you to choose the traffic that is routed through your VPN. There’s also an automatic VPN kill switch, and IPv6 and WebRTC leak protection.
All of the 500 servers of FastestVPN support VPN torrenting. Although on the website, it’s against torrenting on its Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and India servers. The company claims to offer a VPN for China, but only when you manually configure OpenVPN, OpenConnect, or AnyConnect on it.
(Image credit: FastestVPN)
Streaming
Many VPN providers make empty promises about their ability to unblock geo-restricted streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and BBC iPlayer. While some service providers can unblock content on specified servers, they neglect to specify in the app which servers are best for streaming and which you should avoid.
Each of the 10 streaming servers that FastestVPN has available lets you use the VPN for Netflix, unlocking content to access the entire Netflix library, despite the poor quality. HBO Max's performance with the VPN was slightly worse, and it took us time to stream. Although the streaming VPN quality was poor, we were also able to unblock BBC iPlayer, Disney+, YouTube TV, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video.
In general, FastestVPN does a great job of unblocking streaming services and lives up to its claims of unblocking Netflix, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, and Amazon Prime Videos. However, we cannot suggest using FastestVPN to enjoy uninterrupted, high-quality streaming.
Speed & experience
FastestVPN's Windows app installation got off to a bad start, when Windows warned us about its setup program. 'Microsoft Defender SmartScreen protected an unrecognized app from starting', it informed us sternly.
That's likely to be because it's a brand new file which SmartScreen doesn't recognize yet. But checking more closely, we also noticed that FastestVPN's installation file wasn't digitally signed. That's bad news, because signing is a standard method of proving an executable file is from the vendor you expect. Antivirus apps generally see unsigned apps as less trustworthy, and it's likely this also contributed to the SmartScreen error.
Just about every other VPN provider we've reviewed uses digitally signed installers and app files to reduce the chance of issues, so we're struggling to see why FastestVPN can't do the same.
The installer is entirely safe to use, though, despite SmartScreen's warning. Once we told Windows the file was safe, we were able to install the app almost everywhere.
Almost? Yes – a second problem meant we weren't able to run it on our main test system, and lengthy conversations with FastestVPN support couldn't solve the issue.
We have to count this as a black mark against FastestVPN, because this is a very straightforward Windows 10 system, and FastestVPN's app is the only one out of 25 in recent testing which refused to run.
We were able to get the app working on other systems, though, so we don't know how typical our experience might be. It's possible you'll install the app and have it running right away.
(Image credit: FastestVPN)
Apps
The platform provides native Mac, Windows, and Amazon Fire TV Stick. You can also download mobile VPN apps for Android and iOS. FastestVPN is compatible with routers, and the company also sells its router.
FastestVPN has a Windows app that can be downloaded from the website and is simple to use and install. while Android and iOS can be downloaded from the Google Play Store for Android and the Apple App Store for Mac and iOS. Also, FastestVPN extensions for Chrome and Firefox can be downloaded through the browser web stores.
The Windows app has a large "smart-connect" button that you can press to start using it right away. The catch is that when we turned on the connect button, we expected it to connect us to the best server, but it actually connected us to the server we recently used.
Support
You can contact FastestVPN's customer support team by email or live chat. There's also a setup tutorial and FAQ page available on the website. This gives you the option to look up the answers to your inquiries instead of contacting customer support. When we tested the customer support, we weren't quite impressed, as the support in the live chat provided less information than a Google search and took longer.
(Image credit: FastestVPN)
Pros
First off, FastestVPN is based in Cayman Islands, which gives it the benefit of having no international surveillance alliances or data retention laws. It also has very cheap subscriptions, allows for 15 simultaneous device connections, unblocks popular streaming platforms, and comes with useful features such as a kill switch, an ad blocker, and a malware blocker. FastestVPN also has native apps for popular apps, comes with 24/7 live chat support, and doesn't log sensitive data.
Cons
FastestVPN isn't fast in terms of speed, it also has a small server network, and hasn't had an independent audit to back up its no-log claims. The streaming experience is also very poor, and the OpenVPN protocol has to be manually installed in the VPN because it doesn't have it in its list of protocols.
(Image credit: FastestVPN)
Alternatives
Express VPN With regard to speed, security, stable and user-friendly apps, unblocking geo-restricted websites, avoiding censorship, outstanding privacy and security credentials, a ton of features, and customer support, ExpressVPN excels in all of these areas.
NordVPN With thousands of servers and super-fast speeds, NordVPN is one of the major players in the virtual private network market. The apps are also very user-friendly and offer all the privacy and security features that you should expect from a top-tier VPN. NordVPN is also extremely simple to use, and it is based in a nation that values privacy.
PureVPN PureVPN has a sizable server network in addition to unblocking websites, and it provides all of this for some of the lowest advertised prices. When purchasing longer-term plans, PureVPN offers good value, has a ton of features, and excels at unblocking.
CyberGhost CyberGhost is among the best with a user-friendly platform. The software is free, simple to use, and never makes your computer run slowly. With CyberGhost you can access more than 1200 servers located in more than 50+ countries, and it offers extensive P2P and torrent functionality. CyberGhost software's features include remote access, DNS leak protection, anonymous browsing, and more.
Your worries will be allayed by FastestVPN's no-log policy and first-rate encryption, but things get complicated when you learn that they have sluggish speeds and no independent audits to back up their no-log policy. Yeah, they have very affordable prices, but we would love to see them support OpenVPN, increase their server network, and for Christ's sake, work on their speed. That said, FastestVPN cannot match other leading VPN services in terms of speed, streaming performance, and server coverage.
Founded in 2009 by Privatus Limited, IVPN is based in Gibraltar - considered to be a privacy-friendly jurisdiction.
This makes IVPN an appealing proposition, however as of the time of this review, the company only has a very small number of VPN servers: 77 spread across 44 different locations. This is significantly fewer than the industry average, and tiny in comparison to ExpressVPN, which has more than 3000 servers spread across 94 different countries.
Pricing & plans
Unfortunately, this service isn't suitable if you're looking for a free VPN as they don’t offer any free trial. This also means there is no way to test the software, which is disappointing given that most VPN services on the market provide this. There are two tiers offered by IVPN, IVPN Standard and IVPN Pro:
Standard Plan
1 week: $2.00
1 month: $6.00
12 months: $60.00 ($5.00 per month)
All protocols, two simultaneous connections, and an anti-tracker.
Pro Plan
1 week: $4.00
1 month: $10.00
12 months: $100.00 ($8.33 per month)
Seven simultaneous connections, all protocols, port-forwarding as a feature, and a multi-hop option.
IVPN has a 30-day money-back guarantee for all customers, which means you can get a full refund if you request it within one month of account activation.
Although there are no international options, such as Alipay or UnionPay; you can pay for your plan with Bitcoin, Monero, PayPal, or credit cards. Bitcoin is the most private payment method available. IVPN also accepts cash payments but payment processing can take up to 10 days. To pay with cash, you must sign up for an annual plan.
(Image credit: IVPN)
Privacy & encryption
Like ExpressVPN, IVPN's privacy policy is carefully written and extremely readable. They go into great detail about the specific data the company has and why it’s needed. IVPN claims to keep absolutely no log of the content of your traffic, connection timestamp, DNS requests, user bandwidth, IP address, or even cookies. The only thing they will store is your username, password, and payment information on their encrypted servers, so be sure they won't sell your information to third parties. IVPN does not even collect contact information, however anonymized crash logs are sent with user approval on desktop devices and can be opted out on mobile devices.
The company makes it clear that it will only respond to legal information requests from Gibraltar authorities. Like NordVPN, IVPN claims that being offshore protects it from intrusive information requests. The company states that since they don't log your information, there isn't much to divulge even in the case of legitimate requests. In their transparency report it appears to be true that IVPN has provided no information to law enforcement. This is an open and honest way for a VPN company to operate.
The service also undergoes a yearly VPN audit with Cure53, a reputable and trustworthy cybersecurity testing company. The auditors used a white-box strategy and had access to their open GitHub code repositories as well as a special test environment for backend services.
The full report on the audit was published in April 2022 and is as follows:
"A total of 8 vulnerabilities (1 high, 6 medium, 1 info) were discovered. All except one issue has been resolved, the remaining issue (IVP-04-014 WP, Medium) is complex to resolve without significantly affecting the user experience. The issue relates to how the daemon authenticates requests (from the user interface), which could lead to a malicious app being able to manipulate the VPN tunnel e.g. disconnect. We believe the probability of this being exploited is low, but are committed to finding a solution.
12 miscellaneous issues were discovered, 9 of which have already been resolved, and 3 of which we deemed to be very low risk and have accepted it."
Since not all VPNs can be this transparent, we appreciate the effort IVPN has made.
According to the website, they use AES-256 encryption with 4096-bit RSA keys. This is top-of-the-line, military-grade security. No one can crack it, and no one has been able to use a brute-force attack to defeat it either.
IVPN uses three VPN protocols: WireGuard, OpenVPN, and the IKEv2. IVPN's Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows apps currently support WireGuard and OpenVPN, and IKEv2 is also supported by the iOS app. WireGuard is the latest VPN protocol craze. Because this protocol is open source, potential vulnerabilities can be identified.
The VPN service should function across all of its servers as a torrenting VPN as is the case with many VPN providers. Additionally, due to several restrictions, IVPN is inoperable in China.
(Image credit: IVPN)
Streaming
Streaming is one area where IVPN really falls down. On its website, the company is very clear that while some unblocking might be effective, it cannot be guaranteed.
When we tested it, IVPN was unable to access BBC iPlayer, which is restricted to the United Kingdom. it was also unable to access any of the top streaming sites like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, and more. If you are looking for a streaming VPN, try ExpressVPN or NordVPN.
Speed & experience
A VPN’s connection speed is essential, and if it causes your internet to lag all the privacy in the world won't matter. We conducted our test using WireGuard in the US and discovered speeds averaging a remarkable 730–810 Mbps. OpenVPN is now an older protocol, so we weren't surprised when we tested with it and got average speeds of 140–180 Mbps in the UK and 180–240 Mbps in the US. Although the connections of IVPN are quick and reliable enough for high-quality streaming, torrenting, and gaming, there are faster VPNs available in the market.
(Image credit: IVPN)
Customer support
The IVPN website has a very in-depth library of informative FAQs as well as a range of extremely helpful troubleshooting guides. There is also email support (which is available 24/7) and live chat, but it lacks the 24/7 live chat features that a lot of its VPN competition offers.
Kill switch
The VPN kill switch feature is an essential tool. In the event that your VPN connection drops this blocks all of your web traffic and hides your real IP address.
Multi-hop servers
The Multi-hop feature of IVPN adds an additional layer of security by rerouting your connection through several servers in various countries. Thanks to this feature, your online activity would still be private even if the exit server were compromised.
Split tunneling
The split tunneling feature enables you to route privacy-sensitive apps through the VPN while using your regular internet connection for other apps.
Two-factor authentication
To increase account security and user-friendliness on mobile devices, IVPN has a two-factor authentication to secure your VPN account.
Apps
All popular operating systems, including macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android, are supported by IVPN. Unfortunately, since these devices do not support standard VPN applications, IVPN is inoperable on gaming consoles or Smart TVs. Additionally, it doesn't support browser extensions.
Windows
The Windows 10 app is really user friendly, with a dynamic map and location list to help you choose your preferred VPN server. Server latency times are also displayed to help you find the fastest speeds. In the event that the VPN drops, you have a kill switch to shut off your internet connection.
There are many settings to choose from in the windows app including custom DNS servers, the ability to disable ads, select a protocol, stop malware and trackers, split tunneling to allow certain apps to connect to the VPN, and then an option to automatically connect to reliable Wi-Fi.
Mac
The Mac app is identical to the Windows app; it has the same dynamic map, same location list, same WireGuard support, switch tunneling, tracker blocking, custom DNS, auto-connect when accessing insecure Wi-Fi, and more. Split tunneling, which comes with Windows but is excluded from Mac, is the only notable exception, however, the Mac app performed well when we tested it. We also had no problems connecting to any servers and privacy tests revealed no signs of DNS or other leaks.
Android & iOS
The mobile VPN app is user-friendly and comes with a map location feature, a list option to see servers with their latency times, and a favorites section so you can save those servers you use regularly.
The mobile apps lack some of the desktop features, so you don't get tracker, or malware blocking. In the Android VPN, you get an extra feature called Mock, which lets you set your GPS location to match your current VPN server. While the iOS app helpfully keeps the tunnel open even when your phone sleeps. Although this is helpful for speed, it can reduce battery life.
(Image credit: IVPN)
IVPN alternatives
ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is one of the more well-known businesses on the commercial VPN scene. It has excellent security and privacy policies, and all of its VPN servers boot from read-only disks. ExpressVPN is quick, secure, unblocks streaming websites, and works in China.
For all of the major platforms, NordVPN offers native apps. They also have P2P servers that are optimized for streaming. A VPN kill switch, powerful encryption, ad blocking, and DNS leak protection are just a few of the many features they offer that you'll find useful.
CyberGhost is among the best with a user-friendly platform and a wealth of useful VPN features. The software is free, simple to use, and never slows down your computer. It also gives you access to more than 1200 servers located in more than 50 countries and extensive P2P and torrent functionality. Web browsing, anonymous browsing, remote access, DNS leak protection, and other features are included in the software. One account may be used by up to five devices at once. As a result, you can protect both your home computers and mobile devices from intrusion. Your personal information is secure even though this company keeps some records.
IVPN is perfect for enthusiastic privacy beginners who do not care about streaming. It does the basics extremely well, using AES-256 encryption, secure protocols such as OpenVPN and WireGuard, and a no-logs policy that rivals the very best VPN services. If maintaining your anonymity is crucial, then IVPN is a great option.
If you run a small business then you’ll be acutely aware that it’s critical to look after every single customer, and if you want to do a great job in that department then it’s worth considering a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool like Bigin by Zoho CRM.
CRM tools offer more flexibility and a broader range of features than everyday office software and email clients, so they’re tempting for small businesses who want extra control without the pricing or high-end features of enterprise CRM software.
There are two paid tiers for Bigin by Zoho CRM as well as a free one (Image credit: Zoho)
Plans and pricing
Impressively, you can use Bigin by Zoho CRM for free – although the free tier is limited to 500 records, a single pipeline and three workflows, so it’s pretty restrictive.
Zoho’s Express product costs $7 per user per month if you pay annually, and that massively beefs up the feature set: you get proper email integration, web forms, customizable dashboards and integration with other Zoho tools and third-party software alongside ten workflows, three pipelines and 50,000 records.
The Premier option adds advanced workflows based on date and time triggers, advanced automation, multiple currency support and more records, pipelines, workflows and custom fields. If you pay annually, it costs $12 per user per month.
Bigin by Zoho CRM comes packed with features geared at small businesses (Image credit: Zoho)
Features
Zoho knows that lots of its customers may not have used CRM software in the past, so there’s a big focus on ease of use.
Templates tailored for a variety of industries make it easy to get started with Bigin by Zoho CRM (Image credit: Zoho)
The app uses templates designed for different industries, so if you work in real estate, software, insurance or loads of other areas then you can instantly select an interface that’s geared to your needs. The interface itself is great: clear, straightforward, and without overwhelming features.
Those templates can be customized, and you can build your own pipelines that reflect how customers flow through your business. It’s easy to build multiple pipelines for different operations in your company – think one for sales and another for customer service – and the pipelines function as timelines, so you can quickly and easily see every interaction that a customer’s had with your company.
You can click on items in the timeline to open specific modules, so you’re able to quickly get more information about what’s happened to each customer, and built-in communication tools mean you can make phone calls and send emails from within the app.
It’s easy to automate everyday tasks with Bigin by Zoho CRM, and you can use email alerts, tasks that start when certain conditions are triggered and scheduling.
Bigin by Zoho CRM has iOS and Android app that offer much of the same functionality as the desktop tool, and you can use the software to create no-code web forms that allow potential customers to easily make contact with your business. No matter the platform, you’ll get real-time notifications about your pipeline progress, support ticket updates and incoming communications.
When it comes to record-keeping, you’ve got plenty of options: you can create custom files and viewing rules to ensure that your database remains relevant and accurate, and dynamic lookup fields, fast searching and advanced filtering make it easy to zip through data. Similarly, your activities are kept in check with follow-up tasks, scheduling, filtering and a complete log of what you’ve completed and what needs doing.
You can create a list of products, import product data, apply discounts and use bulk actions to manage your inventory, and pre-built dashboards are an ideal option for monitoring your entire business, with a straightforward interface, loads of data, plenty of visualization options and KPI monitoring.
Bigin by Zoho CRM integrates with Zoho's other software as well as with third-party software from Microsoft, Google and others (Image credit: Zoho)
Bigin by Zoho CRM is an impressive tool in isolation, and it integrates with Zoho’s other apps and third-party software from Microsoft, Google, Zoom, and dozens more. API access is also available with Bigin by Zoho CRM’s pricier access tiers.
While Bigin by Zoho CRM has plenty of impressive features for small-business CRM, it’s worth remembering that the company’s full Zoho CRM product goes further in terms of functionality. You’ll get sales forecasting, lead scoring, advanced email tools and far more control over product customization with the full-fat product. You can also benefit from more powerful analytics options, marketing campaign options, collaboration features and inventory management utilities.
There’s no doubt that Zoho CRM has more features, but most of those will only be useful for larger businesses, and it’s several times more expensive than Bigin by Zoho CRM.
You could find more features elsewhere, too. Freshsales CRM is another small business option that has more extensive marketing options than Bigin by Zoho CRM – but it costs at least $15 per user per month. Salesforce Essentials ties into the market-leading Salesforce system, and it’s a better option for more complex businesses. It costs $25 per user per month, so it’s pricier than Zoho, and it’s a suitable alternative if you’re already familiar with Salesforce products.
Final verdict
Bigin by Zoho CRM doesn’t have the power or features of full-power CRM products, but that’s not necessarily a problem unless you need CRM software for a sophisticated business with loads of product stacks or if you want enterprise-level power.
Instead, Bigin by Zoho CRM functions as an entry-level CRM tool for smaller companies that want the power and control that everyday office software can’t provide – and it does a tremendous job.
It’s got a straightforward interface, slick tools for creating and navigating multiple business pipelines, and a chronological interface that makes it easy to see how customers are interacting with your business. It’s pretty easy to manage products, records and data in every area of the app, and it’s more affordable than its key rivals.
You’ll want to pay more for a different product if you want more power or extra marketing options, but Bigin by Zoho CRM is a superb choice if you need small business CRM or if you want to dip your corporate toes into the water and start to streamline your organization.
JumpCloud was founded in 2012 to provide an alternative to Microsoft Active Directory. However, through feedback from customers, they discovered a need for a comprehensive solution that could manage user access in Linux to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and serve as an alternative to AD for accessing cloud infrastructure, Mac, and Windows machines. As a result, JumpCloud has continued to innovate and expand its offerings, providing businesses with a secure and efficient way to manage their IT resources.
One of the key benefits of using JumpCloud is its ability to streamline user access. Whether you need to provision, de-provision, or modify user accounts, JumpCloud makes it easy to manage user access across all your resources, including cloud infrastructure and Mac and Windows machines. With JumpCloud, you can ensure your users have the access they need to do their jobs without compromising security.
Another advantage of JumpCloud is its focus on security. With JumpCloud, you can implement strong authentication and authorization policies that help keep your data and resources safe from unauthorized access. Plus, JumpCloud's cloud-based architecture means you always have the latest security updates and patches without needing manual intervention.
Finally, JumpCloud can help you simplify your IT infrastructure by consolidating your user management tools into a single, unified platform. This can save you time and money on IT management while also improving the overall efficiency of your organization.
If you're looking for a way to enhance security, streamline user access, and simplify your IT infrastructure, JumpCloud is an excellent choice. With its powerful tools and expertise, JumpCloud can help you achieve your goals and take your business to the next level.
(Image credit: JumpCloud)
Plans and pricing
JumpCloud offers various tiers of plans, including a free option and the ability to customize a plan for your company's specific needs. While there is a free trial available for paid tiers, the duration is not specified.
Interestingly, JumpCloud Free includes "All Premium features" and the full platform at no cost with a company email. However, it can only be utilized by up to 10 users and 10 devices, and live chat support is only available for the first 10 days.
The SSO Package is the most affordable paid tier, costing $8.50 per user per month. If paid annually, the cost drops to $7 per user per month. It includes Core Cloud Directory, MFA, and Web SSO. There are also two optional extras: Device Management and Telemetry for $5 per user per month and Premium Support for $3 per user per month on a monthly basis.
The Core Directory Package costs $13 per user per month, or $11 per user per month when paid annually. It includes Access Management and Logging, which provides Directory Insights. However, Premium Support is an additional $3 per user per month.
Next is the JumpCloud Platform, which costs $17 per user per month or $15 per user per month when paid annually. It includes all of the features of the lower tiers, plus Device Management and Telemetry. Optional Premium Support is also available for an extra fee.
The top-tier option is PlatformPlus, which costs $20 per user per month or $18 per user per month when paid annually. It adds Zero Trust, Conditional Access Policies, and Device Trust to the feature set. Unlike the other tiers, it includes Premium Support, making it the better overall value.
(Image credit: JumpCloud)
Features
JumpCloud is an excellent platform with many helpful features to support its service. With its basic features available on all tiers, including Cloud Directory, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), and the JumpCloud Protect Authenticator App, you can rest assured that your security needs are being met. What's more, JumpCloud also provides Single Sign-On (SSO) and User Lifecycle Management to complete the essentials.
But that's not all. Higher tiers offer even more advanced features to help you manage your devices and systems more efficiently. You can take your operations to the next level with options like Device Management, Mobile Device Management (MDM), System Insights, and Patch Management.
JumpCloud also offers services to help you easily migrate your data and minimize downtime during the transition. So whether you're a small business or a large enterprise, JumpCloud has the tools and expertise to help you succeed.
(Image credit: JumpCloud)
Support
If you need support, there are several ways to get it. Although there is a general phone number, it is not listed for support. However, there is a Help Center that offers many options to get support. Sometimes, a direct phone conversation can resolve the issue more quickly. Standard Support is included on all tiers.
The most direct method is via chat, but initially, you will chat with a chatbot. If you need to speak with a live support engineer, you will require Premium Support. There are also self-help options available, which are more comprehensive and better done than most. You can find articles grouped around topics such as "RADIUS-as-a-service" and "G Suite Integration," for example.
Final verdict
When it comes to cloud-based software solutions, JumpCloud's platform for a cloud directory is one that we find particularly powerful. Their solution offers several security features, including SSO, MDM, and MFA, all from a single platform. We appreciate the flexibility of their pricing plans, ranging from a free option to higher-tier programs that allow for custom configurations to meet specific needs and budgets. However, we do have some concerns to note.
For example, the cost per user can be pretty expensive for upper-tier plans. Additionally, it's worth remembering that premium support is only available with the top goal. Considering these factors, we recommend carefully considering the options available through JumpCloud to ensure you choose the plan that best aligns with your organization's needs.
Whether you're looking to secure your cloud directory or streamline your authentication processes, JumpCloud's platform offers a robust set of features that can help you achieve your goals.
