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Hide.me VPN Review: Is It Surprisingly Better than Others?

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Hide.me VPN has been offering a free and commercial paid subscription for their users since 2012. It’s also known for its free version.

Hide.me is a relative newcomer in the VPN industry, but it snowballs with fast connection speed, unblocks Netflix US, a wide variety of protocols, 1,800 servers in 72 locations, and more. However, the price is a bit steep compared to the competition. Hide.me VPN is value for money? Is it surprisingly better than others? Read our in-depth Hide.me VPN review for all the details.

Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links that I receive a small commission for at no cost to you. You can read my full affiliate disclaimer in the footer.

Hide.me VPN Reviews Overview

hide.me-official-website
Visit hide.me Website

Hide.me VPN Key Summary

Logging PolicyNo Logs
IP, DNS or WebRTC LeaksNo
JurisdictionMalaysia (Privacy Haven)
Servers1,800+
IP AddressesNot disclosed
Countries72
Simultaneous device10
Unblock US NetflixYes
Dedicated IPNo
TorrentingUnlimited
Works in ChinaYes
Support24/7 Live Chat
Free TrialNo (Lifetime free version), try free now
The Cheapest Price$4.99/mo over 24 months
Refund Policy30-day money-back guarantee
Official Websitehide.me
Coupons&DealsGet 61% Off with extra free 2 months

Hide.me VPN Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Strictly No Logs, secure your online privacy
  • Over 1,800 servers in 72 locations
  • Connect up to 10 devices at the same time
  • Unblock Netflix US library and BBC iPlayer
  • Offer a free plan, no registration, no sign up required
  • Apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Android TV, and Chrome
  • Advanced Privacy Features, Split Tunneling and Stealth Guard
  • Support anonymous payments
  • 24/7 customer support (Emails, Chat and Tickets)
  • 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee

Cons

  • Premium plans are costly
  • Unreliable in China
  • Random crashes
  • Don’t offer dedicated IP addresses

What is Hide.me VPN?

Hide.me VPN is founded and officially launched in 2012. It’s a subsidiary of EVenture Limited company based in Malaysia. It means that Hide.me operates under the Malaysian government’s laws. Malaysia is not a member of the intelligence alliance.

Hide.me does offer a superior free plan such as the worry of the increasing levels of restrictions, monitoring, and fraud. It aims to provide internet security and freedom for every internet user.

And now, Hide.me has a fair size network with 1,800+ servers in 72 locations. It’s also growing with the demand.

Hide.me supports digital rights and donates to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). And it also joined the i2Coalition and became a part of VTI (VPN Trust initiative). This proves that hide.me does really commit to internet security and privacy.

Logging Policy

As I mentioned above, hide.me is incorporated in Labuan, Malaysia, that is no laws requiring data retention. And hide.me clearly states about this in its’ privacy policy:

“We do NOT keep logs of your VPN sessions, browsing behavior, websites you visit or any activity related to your VPN connection. In addition, we NEVER store VPN connection logs and timestamps that match your incoming and outgoing IP address or session duration.”

In fact, hide.me is one of the first VPN providers in the VPN industry to be audited by the third reputed independent security analyst. And Leon Juranic, the founder and CEO of DefenseCode Ltd, certified hide.me “No Log” VPN in 2015.

hide.me-certificate
hide.me-certificate

Hide.me promises that it does not and cannot keep a record of your data. By improving transparency, hide.me had started to publish regular transparency reports since 2013, which including:

  • Illegal activities (DDoS, botnet, scams, spam)
  • Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
  • Law enforcement and police requests

In the report, hide.me lists all data requests with detailed statistics between 2013 – 2019. It’s no doubt that hide.me does receive many many claims, but hide.me gave clear responses for these requests:

“We do reply and act on every request, but as we cannot store any information, we do not have any data to present when requested.”

Hide.me VPN Speed Test

Hide.me VPN offers a life-time free VPN with no speed throttling, but I test Hide.me seven servers by the distance from our physical test location, Seattle in the US.

  • Short-distance: US, CA
  • Long-distance: UK, JP, HK, AU, SG
Hide.me-Speed-Test-Baseline
Hide.me-US-Baseline
Hide.me-speed-test-uk
Hide.me-UK
Hide.me-speed-test-au
Hide.me-AU
Hide.me-speed-test-hk
Hide.me-HK
Hide.me-speed-test-us
Hide.me-US
Hide.me-speed-test-ca
Hide.me-CA
Hide.me-speed-test-jp
Hide.me-JP
Hide.me-speed-test-sg
Hide.me-SG

Here is the speed test result comparison:

Hide.me-speed-test-comparison
Hide.me-speed-test-comparison

Surprisingly, I found Hide.me performs very well. The network latency and download speed are pretty good for short locations and long-distance locations. It’s good news for gamers, torrenting, and streaming.

As you can see, hide.me provides a fast download speed of 157.97Mbps on local connections, and it reduced the network connection speeds by just 19.1%, which is much better than most VPN providers.

Hide.me won’t throttle your connection and cap your bandwidth. Even you try to hide.me with the free plan.

Hide.me VPN Server Locations

Hide.me’s server network is not the most extensive when comparing to competitors like ExpressVPN. Hide.me free version allows you to connect to only five server locations, including Canada, Netherlands, Germany, USA East, and USA West. And when you subscribe to premium plans, you can enjoy over 1,800 servers in 72 locations.

hide.me-servers
hide.me-servers

Hide.me servers are mainly located in Europe, The Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Only Morocco and South Africa servers are built in Africa. If you would like to find a server close to you anywhere in the world, Hide.me may not be the best choice for you.

However, Hide.me is impossible to ignore that the server network is growing with the increasing user demand. And today, hide.me comes up with city-level servers in locations, including:

  • the United States ( 9 cities )
  • the United Kingdom ( 2 cities )
  • Germany ( 4 cities )
  • Italy ( 2 cities )
  • Spain ( 2 cities )
  • Australia ( 3 cities )

Furthermore, hide.me does care about users’ privacy, and it runs a self-managed VPN network without any involvement of outsiders.

Apps, Extensions, and Compatibility

Apps

Hide.me VPN almost supports all popular systems and devices, including Windows, macOS, IOS, and Android, even it supports Linux and Fedora 24+. What’s more, hide.me allows you to connect up to 10 devices simultaneously with one hide.me account. That’s good news to protect your families’ or friends’ devices.

However, hide.me provides detailed a step-by-step guide for other operating system and devices, like:

  • AsusWRT-Merlin
  • AsusWRT – stock
  • DD-WRT
  • DD-WRT
  • Legacy LibreELEC “Kodi”
  • Mikrotik
  • OpenELEC “Kodi”
  • OpenWrt
  • OpenWRT Legacy
  • pfSense
  • QNAP QTS
  • QNAP Legacy (QTS 4.3)
  • Synology DSM 6.0+
  • Tomato

Games Consoles & Streaming Devices

Hide.me does have dedicated apps for Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, and Roku. And there is also a detailed manual setup guide for Apple TV, PlayStation, and Kodi.

If you want to use hide.me on your game consoles, I recommend you set up hide.me with a VPN router. Hide.me’s network latency is lower. That’s pretty good for gamers.

Browser Extensions

When it comes to a browser extension, hide.me offers a plugin called Hide.me Proxy for Google Chrome and Firefox. You can simply install it via Hide.me website or Chrome webstore.

Only three countries allow you to connect with the free extension, including Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands. I have to say it’s constrained, but it couldn’t be more typical for a free service.

You can simply enable SOCKS, disable WebRTC, change language, and contact support in Hide.me Proxy’s settings menu. There is no other limit except server selection.

But I don’t recommend Hide.me Proxy if you really care about your online security, because your traffic won’t be encrypted with a proxy, hide.me VPN app will be more secure than Proxy.

Hide.me VPN unblocks Netflix, BBC iPlayer & torrenting?

Hide.me provides optimized servers for streaming services like Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and Disney+, but the free version doesn’t support that. And the free version only has 10GB of data usage per month. I don’t recommend using it for streaming.

hide.me-streaming-server
hide.me-streaming-server

Hide.me lists all their dedicated servers with the label in the streaming tab menu. It shows that Hide.me can unblock streaming services like:

  • Netflix France
  • Netflix Germany
  • Netflix UK
  • Netflix US
  • Netflix Italy
  • DAZN Germany
  • DAZN Italy
  • DAZN EU
  • DAZN US
  • Disney+ Italy
  • RAI Italy
  • BBC iPlayer
  • ITV UK
  • Disney+ UK
  • Disney+ US
  • Hulu
  • Joyn DE
  • Maxdome DE
  • Amazon Prime
  • ESPN
  • HBO Now

I do unblock Netflix 5 libraries with hide.me, but it doesn’t always work for Netflix-FR library. As you know, hide.me offers city-level servers in the US, UK, Germany, and Italy. This may be the problem of France’s network congestion.

Hide.me also can allow you to get access to BBC iPlayer. It’s stable and reliable. Remember that there are three UK optimized servers for unblocking BBC iPlayer, Disney+, and Netflix-US library. It’s pretty awesome.

However, hide.me may not be a right choice if you will be unblocking streaming services outside the US and UK. ExpressVPN is worth your consideration for streaming.

Torrenting

Almost all of the hide.me’s servers support P2P and torrenting download except for Lithuania and India servers because of the local regulations.

You can check the complete list of P2P servers though the servers page, P2P friendly servers are marked green, while others blocked P2P traffic are grayed-out.

Hide.me recommends activating the Stealth Guard feature while torrenting. This option can help you block internet connections to selected apps and services. It will add extra protection to your online activities.

Hide.me-torrenting-servers
Hide.me-torrenting-servers

Hide.me also provides SOCKS proxy for faster P2P connections, and it doesn’t encrypt any traffic. However, you can secure torrenting application and bind it to the VPN with SOCKS Proxy for extra protection.

By the way, if you get in trouble with Hide.me while torrenting, you can try the following instructions to get torrents working:

  • Activate hide.me Stealth Guard
  • Enable Kill Switch
  • Bind torrent client into VPN via SOCKS proxy
  • Enable UPnP (Optional)
  • Connect to our P2P/torrents friendly server

Hide.me VPN Works in China, UAE & more?

Hide.me launches TLS-Crypt obfuscation tool that is security-hardened OpenVPN config with traffic obfuscation for highly-censored countries like China. But when I talk about this with their customer manager, they told me their service can’t always be reliable when defending against the Great Firewall.

I got an effective way to bypass the GFW with a custom server from their customer support, but only a few servers worked adequately. I would like to see Hide.me will expand the server network for highly-censored countries.

Hide.me VPN Speed Test in China

I tested all five servers from my physical location in China. Honestly, they are all far from me, and only the US and Germany server could work. Here are the test results with Hide.me’s custom servers on macOS:

Hide.me-speed-test-cn-baseline
Hide.me-CN-Baseline
Hide.me-speed-test-cn-de
Hide.me-CN-DE
Hide.me-speed-test-cn-us
Hide.me-CN-US

This is the speed test result comparison:

Hide.me-speed-test-in-China-comparison
Hide.me-speed-test-in-China-comparison

My tests show that the network latency was reasonably low, even on the long-distance connection. The US ping time came in at 201ms, which is even better than ExpressVPN or PrivateVPN.

But the number of available servers is indeed too small in an oppressed country. With this in mind, I would prefer to recommend Hotspot Shield.

Hide.me VPN Encryption & Security

Protocols

  • IKEv2/IPSec
  • OpenVPN (TCP/UDP)
  • SoftEther
  • SSTP
  • WireGuard

Encryption

  • AES-256

Security

  • DNS Leak Blocking
  • First-party DNS
  • IPV6 Leak Blocking
  • Supports TCP Port 443
  • VPN Kill Switch

Advanced features

  • SOCKS
  • Auto Connect
  • Split Tunneling

Hide.me does support a range of network protocols like IKEv2/IPSec, OpenVPN (TCP/UDP), SSTP, WireGuard, and SoftEther. As usual, I recommend the automatic default option, hide.me will automatically detect the best protocol on your network.

hide.me-protocol
hide.me-protocol

However, you can manually change the protocol to find which one works better in your location. I highly recommend the IEKv2 protocol on macOS in strict internet censorship countries like China.

Hide.me also integrates many advanced built-in features, including advanced leak protection, split tunneling, IPv6 support, Stealth Guard, and Kill Switch. It shows that Hide.me puts in the effort to secure your online privacy.

hide.me-split-tunneling
hide.me-split-tunneling

I didn’t find any WebRTC or IP address leaking thanks to these features. Hide.me also will encrypt your online traffic with strong AES-256 encryption, and the Kill Switch feature will protect your real IP address from leaking when your network connection dropped for any reason.

Hide.me VPN Supports Ad Blocker?

No, there is no any Adblock feature with Hide.me VPN. But you can request this feature from Hide.me support team, and whether it will be released or not all depends on them.

When it comes to the adblocker feature, NordVPN is worth your consideration. It’s very competitive with Hide.me.

Hide.me VPN Offers Static or Dedicated IP Addresses?

No, instead of hide.me provides a Fixed IP address feature. You will get the same IP address whenever connecting to that specific VPN server. But it’s not 100% possible such as the loaded server.

Obviously, hide.me is not perfect for dedicated IP. If you are looking for VPN providers that support dedicated IP, you can look at NordVPN or SurfShark VPN.

Hide.me VPN Customer Support

Hide.me provides an amicable and professional customer support system. It provides 7×24 live chat and ticket services and offers a vibrant online knowledge base. If you have any trouble with Hide.me, you can quickly solve it via the support team.

hide.me-support-center
hide.me-support-center

However, Hide.me also offers online video resources for every problem you may encounter if you are waiting for a live chat response.

hide.me-support
hide.me-support

There is an effortless way to submit your big problem with Hide.me, like disconnection or crashes that you can’t solve. You can go to Hide.me app ‘Settings,’ click ‘Support,’ and submit your ticket. You can describe your problem in as many details as possible. Please don’t uncheck ‘Send logs and system diagnose report.’

Hide.me VPN is easy to use?

How to Install & Set Up Hide.me VPN

Hide.me VPN app client has a simple, friendly user experience. It’s straightforward to use. But it suddenly stopped working for serval times in my testing, it’s not very reliable. This is where I hope it will be optimized and improved in the future.

hide.me-enable-vpn
hide.me-enable-vpn

Hide.me app’s interface is very similar between different systems and devices. You can simply click the ‘Enable VPN’ button and get started, and it will connect to the best location for you. If you find servers for streaming, you can click the ‘change’ button In the bottom right corner and connect to the optimized servers.

Browser Extensions

You can get Hide.me Proxy extension via Hide.me the official website or browser webstore, it’s elementary to get started, absolutely free for a lifetime, and no data or speed caps.

Hide.me Proxy has helped you blocked WebRTC and QUIC to protect your IP leaking. It’s an excellent choice to prevent you from third-party snooping and government surveillance.

Hide.me VPN Pricing Plans & Refund Options

Hide.me VPN Coupon

Hide.me VPN currently offers a 61% discount with a 2-year plan. You can get extra 2 months of free usage. Here is Hide.me latest coupon code:

Hide.me VPN Coupon Special offer

30-day money-back guarantee
Save 61%
Coupon applied automatically

Hide.me VPN Pricing Plan

I have mentioned Hide.me’s lifetime free plan, no registration, no sign up required, no ads, no trackers & no logs, no speed throttling. It has only 10GB of data usage per month and 5 free locations selection.

For the premium plans, hide.me provides three pricing plans, $12.95 monthly, $99.95 annually, which equals $8.32 per month, and $129.95 every 24 months with extra two free months.

Hide.me is really more expensive than other top-tier VPNs like Surfshark or NordVPN. Also, Hide.me free VPN service is very superior.

1 Month12 Months2 Years
Price$ 9.95/mo$ 6.66/mo$ 3.84/mo
Simultaneous device101010
24/7 live chatYesYesYes
Billed $9.95
monthly
Billed $79.95
every 12 months
Billed $99.95
every 24 months
Get it NowGet it NowGet Extra 2 Months Free
31-day money-back guarantee

Payment & Refund Options

hide.me-payment
hide.me-payment

Hide.me free VPN service doesn’t require your credit card at all. It’s completely free.

And the premium service accepts a few payment methods below:

  • Credit card (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Diners Club),
  • PayPal
  • SEPA
  • SOFORT

Also, Hide.me accepts manual payment via bank transfer if you subscribe to the annual plan. For more details, you can ask help from support.

Hide.me takes user privacy seriously, so it also supports anonymous payment options, including:

  • Bitcoin
  • Ethereum
  • Ethereum Classic
  • Litecoin
  • Monero
  • Horizen
  • Dash
  • Ripple
  • Zcash
  • Dogecoin
  • Neo
  • Peercoin
  • PIVX
  • Verge
  • Tron
  • BitTorrent

Hide.me offers a lifetime free VPN service and a 30-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked. You can submit your request via email within the first 30 days of your plan and get a full refund. But your account must meet the conditions below:

  • You have not previously claimed a refund
  • You have not violated our Terms of Service
  • You have made your first order with us (renewals do not qualify)

For more details about the cancellation and refund, you can check your email for notification.

How to Download Hide.me VPN?

Hide.me VPN supports all popular devices. You can enjoy its lifetime free version. And you can click here to save 61% for the premium service.

Hide.me-Download
Hide.me-Download

You can then go to Hide.me download center or client area to set up Hide.me the application, and log in to your account to click the ‘Enable VPN’ button. You can get access to freedom on the internet.

Hide.me VPN FAQs

Is Hide.me safe to use?

Yes, it is. Hide.me is located in Labuan, Malaysia. It’s an ideal place for privacy. And hide.me is an absolutely zero-logs VPN. It’s audited by analyst Leon Juranic of security-testing firm DefenseCode LTD. So Hide.me is entirely safe to use.

Hide.me is free?

Hide.me offers a lifetime free plan, no credit card required, no registration, no sign up required, no ads, no trackers & no logs. It’s only 10GB data usage per month and 5 free location selections. If you enjoy Hide.me service, you can upgrade for more features.

How much does Hide.me cost?

Hide.me premium subscription has three pricing plans, $12.95 per month, $99.95 annually, and billed $129.95 every 24 months.

Does hide.me unblock Netflix?

Hide.me provides five optimized servers for unblocking Netflix, including the US, the UK, Germany, Italy, and France. And you can watch Netflix movies and TV shows without loading time except for the Netflix FR library. Hide.me also supports BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and other streaming services.

Does hide.me work in China?

Yes, it works, but it’s not very reliable. If you are looking for a VPN that works well in China, Hide.me is not the right choice.

Does hide.me offer a free trial?

No, but it offers a lifetime free plan. Also, you can enjoy hide.me premium plans with a 30-day money-back guarantee with no more questions asked for new customers.

Hide.me VPN Alternatives

Hide.me VPN VS ExpressVPN

Hide.me VPN is a very competitive VPN, but the server network is not extensive enough compared to the top-tier VPNs. ExpressVPN is one of the best VPN providers as its massive server network with 3000+ servers in 160 locations worldwide. Click here to Visit ExpressVPN or Read ExpressVPN Review.

Hide.me VPN VS NordVPN

Hide.me does offer a fixed IP address, but it couldn’t work 100% every time. And NordVPN provides dedicated IP addresses in five locations, including the US, the UK, Germany, Netherlands, and France. It’s free to use when you subscribe to NordVPN. Click here to Visit NordVPN or Read NordVPN Review.

The Bottom Line

Hide.me VPN Review Summary

Chris Wu

Speed
Security
Price
Easy of use
Service

Summary

Hide.me is a strong competitor in the VPN industry. It takes your online privacy and security seriously. It’s one of the first ‘no-log’ audited VPNs out there.

Hide.me offers super-fast speeds and many advanced features to help you access freedom. Maybe it’s not the best choice for streaming, gaming, or P2P sharing, but the rate is very excellent compared to top-tier VPNs.

I am looking forward to seeing Hide.me will have a big update on its application and server network for China.

I recommend you try Hide.me lifetime free version to have an experience. Hide.me subscription provides a 30-day money-back guarantee, it’s no risk, and no question asked.

4.5

If you have used Hide.me VPN, please share your honest review (good or bad).

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