PrivateVPN doesn’t shy away from talking itself up on its website. It makes a whole bunch of bold claims, such as it being the “fastest growing VPN worldwide”.
PrivateVPN also promises to “unlock anything, protect everything” – that’s just what we like to see from a VPN service, but can it possibly deliver on such strong claims?
We put PrivateVPN to the test hoping to answer that question, plus:
Does PrivateVPN work with Netflix? Where is PrivateVPN located? Does PrivateVPN work in China? What is Stealth VPN? And, of course, is PrivateVPN any good? Our unbiased and in-depth review will explain all, but if you’re in a rush you can find our key takeaways just below. Pros Consistently fast speeds No logging & no IP, DNS & WebRTC leaks Works with Netflix, BBC iPlayer & more Torrenting/P2P allowed on all VPN servers Choose from VPN servers in 59 countries User-friendly apps for PC, Mac, iOS, & Android Cons Small number of individual VPN servers No browser VPN extensions No native app for Linux Live chat not always available Works with
Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Sky, HBO, Torrenting, Kodi
Available on
Windows Mac Ios Android Linux Price from
$2.88/mo
PrivateVPN is one of the best VPNs on the market, there’s no doubt about it. It’s fast, safe and tantalizingly cheap – but it’s not without its flaws. Read on to find out just what to look out for.
Speed & Reliability Very fast speeds across the server network
PrivateVPN provides consistently fast speeds across its VPN server network. Reliably quick uploads and downloads are ideal for both secure torrenting and buffer-free streaming.
Connecting to a same-country server (UK to UK), PrivateVPN only slowed our internet connection down by about 7%.
PrivateVPN is one of the fastest VPNs available – if speed is what you want then it’s a serious contender.
Speed results from our physical location in London (100Mbps fibre optic connection) to a London test server.
Before using PrivateVPN:
DOWNLOAD Mbps 92.94
UPLOAD Mbps 97.54
PING ms 3
When connected to PrivateVPN:
DOWNLOAD Mbps 86.7
UPLOAD Mbps 88.94
PING ms 5
Download speed without PrivateVPN: 92.94Mbps
Download speed with PrivateVPN: 86.70Mbps
Our download speed loss when PrivateVPN is running: 7%
Ping times are low (great for gamers) and upload speeds are high (great for torrenters).
Even across international connections, such as the UK to the US, PrivateVPN is pretty speedy – you’ll be able to do pretty much anything online without breaking a sweat.
Take a look at the average download and upload speeds we recorded connecting out from the UK to PrivateVPN’s servers:
USA: 63Mbps (download) & 25Mbps (upload) Germany: 86Mbps (download) & 56Mbps (upload) Singapore: 32Mbps (download) & 15Mbps (upload) Australia: 18Mbps (download) & 13Mbps (upload) Server Locations Just 150 VPN servers cover 59 countries
Globe with a blue flag 59 Countries Image of a city landscape 75 Cities Image of a pink marker 7,000+ IP Addresses See all Server Locations PrivateVPN’s array of locations (59 countries) and VPN servers is nowhere near the highest we’ve seen, but it’s not as poor as it may first look.
Screenshot of PrivateVPN's beta server list
PrivateVPN offers more than 7,000 individual IP addresses so, despite maintaining just the 150 or so VPN servers, you shouldn’t have to worry about facing congestion or slowdown.
Those 150 VPN servers also do a pretty good job of providing worldwide coverage. There are servers in popular locations like the US, Canada, Australia, and loads of countries in Western Europe, but PrivateVPN also provides plenty of choice in South America and Asia-Pacific.
Those in South and Central America can connect to VPN servers in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Panama.
While Asia has VPN servers in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, India, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the United Arab Emirates.
Disappointingly, Africa is covered by South Africa alone.
PrivateVPN provides city-level choice in eight countries, which is great for experiencing the best speeds:
Australia (2) Canada (2) India (2) Italy (2) Sweden (3) the UK (2) Ukraine (2) the US (9) PrivateVPN uses a mix of physical servers and virtual servers. It owns some of its servers and leases others. While this isn’t ideal, PrivateVPN ensures that those leased servers are not keeping user logs by setting them up themselves and monitoring the servers remotely.
Streaming & Torrenting Works reliably with Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and more
PrivateVPN is one of the absolute best VPNs for streaming.
PrivateVPN makes streaming easy by organizing its locations list into servers optimized for accessing certain streaming services like Netflix and BBC iPlayer.
PrivateVPN also has dedicated VPN servers for 18 other streaming channels including:
Amazon Prime ESPN HBO Hulu Sky Torrenting PrivateVPN is a great VPN for torrenting, with P2P allowed on all servers, but there are special servers in 17 countries optimized for that purpose too. You can find these servers under ‘Dedicated IP/Torrent’ within the ‘By Service’ servers list.
PrivateVPN is one of the safest choices for torrenting due to its no-logs policy, host of security features, and fast uploads and downloads.
PrivateVPN is ideal for Kodi, too.
Bypassing Censorship Works reliably in China thanks to Stealth VPN protocol
PrivateVPN is a good VPN for China.
Its advanced privacy tools and Stealth VPN protocol, which hides the fact you’re using a VPN, meaning that PrivateVPN is one of our most reliable VPN choices for China – or for bypassing censorship in any other country, for that matter.
Thanks to the Stealth VPN feature, you can use PrivateVPN in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey too. With plenty of servers in Asia, speeds should remain fast.
PrivateVPN also provides Tor over VPN if you’re looking for an extra layer of security.
Platforms & Devices Simple custom VPN apps for the main platforms
Apps Windows Logo Windows Mac Logo Mac iOS Logo iOS Android Logo Android Linux Logo Linux Router Logo Router PrivateVPN has custom VPN apps for the most popular platforms, including:
Microsoft Windows Apple MacOS iOS Android For any other platforms, like Linux, there are plenty of manual setup guides online to help you through it.
You can connect up to six devices at the same time, which makes PrivateVPN a good choice for those who want to protect not only their devices but their family’s too.
Games Consoles & Streaming Devices AppleTV Logo AppleTV Amazon Fire TV Logo Amazon Fire TV Chromecast Logo Chromecast Nintendo Logo Nintendo PlayStation Logo PlayStation Roku Logo Roku Xbox Logo Xbox On top of custom apps for the four most popular platforms, PrivateVPN provides solutions for smart TVs too.
PrivateVPN is one of very few providers to offer a dedicated VPN app for the Amazon Fire TV Stick, meaning all you have to do is download the app from the store and you’re ready to go.
In order to protect games consoles or any other streaming device, you’ll need to connect them to a configured router or another device running the PrivateVPN app, such as a laptop or smartphone.
Browser Extensions Unlike the majority of our other top-ranking VPNs, PrivateVPN has no browser extensions. This means that there are no add-ons for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, or Safari.
ExpressVPN, for example, provides full-featured VPN extensions for the most popular web browsers. VPN browsers tend to come with added WebRTC leak protection, but thankfully we didn’t experience any leaks during our PrivateVPN tests.
Encryption & Security Very secure VPN with plenty of configurable options
Protocol
IKEv2/IPSec
L2TP/IPSec
OpenVPN (TCP/UDP)
PPTP
Encryption
AES-256
Security
DNS Leak Blocking
First-party DNS
IPV6 Leak Blocking
Supports TCP Port 443
VPN Kill Switch
Advanced features
SOCKS
TOR via VPN Server
Please see our VPN Glossary if these terms confuse you and would like to learn more.
It’s not just a name – PrivateVPN really is a truly secure and safe VPN, with lots of advanced features in place to make sure your data and browsing habits are kept as private as possible.
Screenshot of PrivateVPN Settings Menu in App
PrivateVPN provides near-uncrackable AES-256 encryption, the OpenVPN protocol – our personal favorite, and DNS servers operated by PrivateVPN so that your traffic doesn’t take any unexpected diversions.
You can choose to connect using other VPN protocols (PPTP and L2TP) but we don’t recommend them as they don’t provide the same level of security. In fact, PPTP is unsafe to use.
PrivateVPN has a VPN kill switch for Windows to keep you safe if your connection drops, but it’s missing for MacOS and mobile devices, which is disappointing.
Our thorough VPN testing detected no DNS or IPv6 leaks, and you can also use Tor over VPN or TCP Port 443 for even greater security.
Screenshot of leak test results for PrivateVPN PrivateVPN browserleaks.com test results while connected to a US server. We test from the UK.
Logging Policy Strict zero-logging policy mitigates EU jurisdiction
A VPN can’t truly be private unless it has a top-notch, robust logging policy. PrivateVPN claims that it “doesn’t collect or log any traffic or use of its service.”
That’s great – unfortunately, that one quote is also the full extent of it. We’d like the privacy policy to explicitly say that it doesn’t log DNS requests, connection timestamps, or IP addresses, but thankfully a support agent confirmed that PrivateVPN doesn’t collect this data.
Ultimately, we trust PrivateVPN to keep you safe, and you should too, but ideally we look for a little more information and clarification in a privacy policy, just for peace of mind.
Jurisdiction PrivateVPN was founded in 2009 and is owned by Privat Kommunikation AB, which operates under the jurisdiction of Sweden, making it subject to EU data retention laws and intelligence-sharing agreements.
However, PrivateVPN’s zero-logs policy means that even if it was asked to comply with any type of investigation, it doesn’t have any information about its VPN subscribers to give to the authorities, so there’s nothing for users to worry about.
Ease of Use Simple setup and user-friendly custom apps
How to Install & Set Up PrivateVPN Screenshot of PrivateVPN Download Button Go to the downloads section of the PrivateVPN website to begin the installation process.
Screenshot of PrivateVPN Terms and Conditions You have to accept PrivateVPN's terms and conditions before you can install the software.
Screenshot of PrivateVPN Installation Wizard Once you've accepted the terms, the VPN installation wizard will let you know once the installation is complete.
Screenshot of PrivateVPN Completed Installation When the software has been installed, you'll be prompted to restart your machine before you can use the VPN.
Screenshot of PrivateVPN Desktop App Main Screen The desktop VPN client is uncluttered and user-friendly, displaying your new IP address and chosen server location.
Screenshot of PrivateVPN's server list PrivateVPN's server list is arranged in alphabetical order by country name and displays the city name too.
Screenshot of PrivateVPN's streaming servers PrivateVPN makes streaming your favorite shows easy with a list of dedicated VPN servers.
Screenshot of PrivateVPN Protocol Selection You can choose which VPN protocol you want to connect with, but OpenVPN is the default setting.
Screenshot of PrivateVPN Connection Guard The VPN connection guard tab allows you to toggle on/off features such as the kill switch and DNS leak blocking.
Downloading and installing PrivateVPN is incredibly easy and takes only a matter of minutes. There are step-by-step installation guides for loads of popular devices on the website if you need help.
PrivateVPN’s minimalist VPN apps do a great job of keeping things simple while simultaneously showcasing its more advanced features.
The desktop and mobile PrivateVPN apps are very similar in appearance, and everything is clearly labeled and accessible – although mobile users should beware that the Android and iOS versions are missing the kill switch.
PrivateVPN’s apps don’t provide integrated support, either, so newbies or those looking for assistance will need to head online for help.
Customer Support Useful online resources but live chat is inconsistent
Live chat Support
Online Resources
PrivateVPN does have a live chat help feature on its website, but it’s not available 24/7, which is less than ideal.
The chat box is either red or green depending on whether or not it’s available – there doesn’t seem to be any way to predict exactly when that will or won’t be. When it’s unavailable PrivateVPN brings up an online form instead.
Email replies to the online form are fairly quick, and the support agents are very knowledgable and friendly.
Even if the live chat isn’t active when you need it, PrivateVPN’s online resources and FAQs should be able to see you through most issues.
Pricing & Deals Super cheap VPN, especially on 15-month plan
PrivateVPN Coupon PrivateVPN logo PrivateVPN
Get 73% off with PrivateVPN's 15-month plan
TestedEnds 28 Aug Get CodeED Terms PrivateVPN Pricing Plan PrivateVPN is affordable with a sizable 73% saving available when taking out a 15-month plan. $2.88 per month for the duration is an extremely enticing price for a service the quality of PrivateVPN.
There are also shorter plans available, but these work out to be more expensive on a monthly basis.
Monthly
US$7.12/mo
Billed $10.95 for the first month Save 35% 3 Months
US$4.20/mo
Billed $12.60 for the first 3 months Save 61% 15 Months
US$2.88/mo
Billed $43.20 for the first 15 months Save 73% All plans have 30-day money-back guarantee
Payment & Refund Options Credit Card PayPal
Bitcoin PrivateVPN accepts a fairly limited number of payment methods, but there is an option to pay in cryptocurrency for a higher level of privacy:
Major credit and debit cards PayPal Bitcoin PrivateVPN offers a seven-day free trial completely risk-free. You don’t need to provide any payment details, just an email address, and you’ll have full access to the service for a week.
There is also a 30-day money-back guarantee for all users, and the only conditional is that you use less than 100GB of data in the period.
You will need to provide a reason for asking for your money back, but all refunds are processed within five business days of them being requested if you have second thoughts.
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