PrivateVPN Review: Is it Worth It?

PrivateVPN is a growing VPN provider that claims to help you stay private and enjoy the entire internet at lightning speeds, such as the “fastest-growing VPN worldwide.”

PrivateVPN also makes a promise to “unlock anything, protect everything” as its official slogan. But is this self-promotion or value for money?

We rigorously tested all aspects of PrivateVPN that combined the questions that you are wondering.

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.

If you are in a hurry, you can look through PrivateVPN’s key features below.

PrivateVPN Reviews Overview

PrivateVPN Key Summary

PrivateVPN Pros & Cons

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 60 countries
• Works well in China 7-day free trial
• Connect up to six devices at the same time
• User-friendly apps for PC, Mac, iOS, & Android
• 24/7 Live chat and remote control help
• 30-day money-back guarantee

Cons

• A small number of individual VPN servers
• No browser VPN extensions

What is PrivateVPN?

PrivateVPN was founded in 2009 and is a growing, Sweden-based VPN provider. Which operates under the jurisdiction of Sweden, so it must strictly adhere to EU data retention laws and intelligence-sharing agreements.

As you know, your privacy is critical when you surf the internet. However, there are no logs kept by PrivateVPN because of its zero-logs policy. Even if it was asked to comply with any investigation by governments, there is nothing to give. PrivateVPN will help you Stay private and enjoy the entire internet.

Logging Policy

Over so many VPNs we have tested, few VPNs are entirely private. As for PrivateVPN, it claims that it “doesn’t collect or log any traffic or use of its service.”

It sounds great. We don’t hope that one quote is just for self-promotion. We would rather see the facts than talk. We want to be sure that it doesn’t collect DNS requests, connection timestamps, or IP addresses. So we contacted s support agent and confirmed its authenticity.

We trust PrivateVPN to protect your privacy, and you too. We find more details according to its privacy policy, all as mentioned above.

PrivateVPN Speed Test

PrivateVPN provides good speeds and reliable connections comparable to some competitors with thousands of servers, which are ideal for both torrenting download and buffer-free streaming.

PrivateVPN is one of the fastest VPNs out there. If PrivateVPN can meet your standards, then it’s worth your consideration.

Have a look at the results of download and upload speeds we tested when connecting out from the US to PrivateVPN’s servers:

Here is the speed test result comparison：

As you can see, PrivateVPN’s short ping time is great for gamers, and high upload speeds are good for torrents.

PrivateVPN’s speeds perform well even across long-distance connections, such as the Australia and Singapre. With PrivateVPN, you really can do pretty much anything online.

PrivateVPN purchases High-Quality Network directly from the IP transit provider, which can help you get the fastest connection speeds possible.

PrivateVPN Server Locations

PriavteVPN has built 150+ servers in 60 countries over the world. PrivateVPN’s server network seems to be a little smaller than for a VPN service, but actually, PrivateVPN’s 150+ VPN servers perform well.

With PrivateVPN, you can enjoy the privacy and protection offered by PrivateVPN whenever you’re online or whether at home or traveling the world.

PrivateVPN provides a VPN service in many popular countries, including the UK, USA, Canada, and Australia. Also, there is a bunch of options in Europe and Asia-Pacific. It is disappointing that there is only a South Africa server in the Africa continent.

PrivateVPN also provides city-level choice in seven countries, which is sufficient for avoiding server congestion:

• Australia (2)
• Canada (2)
• India (2)
• Sweden (3)
• the UK (2)
• Ukraine (2)
• the US (9)

As you know, many VPN vendors use a mix of physical servers and virtual servers, so PrivateVPN does. Some are built by themself, and some are rent. Anyway, PrivateVPN is sure that those rent servers do not keep user any logs by monitoring the rent servers remotely. So you don’t need to worry about your privacy and security.

Apps, Extensions, and Compatibility

Support Apps

PrivateVPN provides custom VPN apps for the most popular platforms, including:

• Windows
• Mac
• iOS
• Android
• Linux
• Router

If you are seldom using Linux platforms, there are many manual setup guides out there to help you set up.

Fortunately, you can connect up to 6 different devices simultaneously, which makes PrivateVPN a better choice for those who want to protect more devices of their families or friends.

PrivateVPN is the only VPN provider we have reviewed with this feature.

Apps for Games Consoles & Streaming Devices

• AppleTV
• Amazon Fire TV
• Chromecast
• Nintendo
• PlayStation
• Roku
• Xbox

Otherwise, PrivateVPN offers custom apps for smart TVs. PrivateVPN also a very few providers to provide a dedicated VPN app for the Amazon Fire TV Stick. What you need to do is download the app from the store and ready to go.

If you want to protect your game consoles or any other streaming device, you had better connect them to a configured router or device running the PrivateVPN app, like a laptop or smartphone.

The PrivateVPN app is compatible with the following routers:

• ASUS RT models
• Synology
• DD-WRT
• Tomato
• Linksys
• QNAP
• pfSense

If you don’t know how to set up PrivateVPN, you can contact PrivateVPN’s support team for remote help. Yes, PrivateVPN does value customers so highly.

Remember that PrivateVPN offers remote control installation for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems, and these protocols: OpenVPN, PPTP, or L2TP.

Extensions for Browser

As a growing VPN service, PrivateVPN doesn’t launch browser extensions yet.

PrivateVPN works with Netflix, BBC iPlayer & torrenting?

We have to say PrivateVPN is one of the best VPN services for online streaming as its slogan “Unblock Anything.”

And why?

PrivateVPN provides optimized servers for popular streaming platforms like Netflix and BBC iPlayer.

There are different Netflix libraries in other regions. So you can unblock 19 Netflix libraries with PrivateVPN, this includes US, UK, Canada, France, Japan, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, and South Korea.

You can access geo-restricted content with PrivateVPN, which also has provided VPN servers for other streaming channels, including:

• Amazon Prime
• BBC iPlayer
• ESPN
• Channel 4
• Disney Plus
• ESPN
• TV4 Play
• HBO
• Hulu
• Sky

Torrenting Download

PrivateVPN supports P2P on all servers. It regularly upgrades servers for torrenting download with high-quality network capacity directly from top IP Transit providers.

PrivateVPN will keep you private with its anonymous policy. And it offers a Forward Port feature, which is vital for torrenting.

PrivateVPN is excellent for Kodi, too.

PrivateVPN Works in China, UAE & more?

PrivateVPN can reliably bypass the high-level GFW in China.

Although PrivateVPN provides OpenVPN advanced protocol, it’s unavoidable to be blocked in China. If you can’t connect from China, PrivateVPN recommends the L2TP protocol.

What’s more, PrivateVPN has integrated the Stealth VPN feature, which can help you avoid censorship filters like in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.

PrivateVPN Speed Test in China

We primarily test servers closest to China. Those are speed results from our physical location in China to try servers.

This is the speed test result comparison:

That’s obvious which location is best for China, but this is for your reference only. The Taiwan server latency is lower than others. It’s enough for you to watch streaming and Netflix in China.

PrivateVPN specially offers Taiwan China Route server and Stealth VPN mode for high-level censorship countries.

PrivateVPN is not quite as good as the best VPNs for China. If PrivateVPN still doesn’t meet your needs, ExpressVPN would be the best alternative to PrivateVPN for China.

PrivateVPN Encryption & Security

Protocols

• IKEv2/IPSec
• OpenVPN (TCP/UDP)
• L2TP
• PPTP

Encryption

• AES-256

Security

• DNS Leak Blocking
• First-party DNS
• IPV6 Leak Blocking
• VPN Kill Switch
• WebRTC Leak Blocking

Advanced features

• Split Tunneling
• Stealth VPN

PrivateVPN does protect your privacy and security with advanced features like IPV6 Leak Protection and Kill Switch, as its name suggests.

PrivateVPN provides 2048-bit encryption with AES–256, the highest level of encryption on the market, even used by government militaries. ProvateVPN’s default protocol is the OpenVPN protocol, and it’s also our favorite choice.

Beyond that, PrivateVPN provides other VPN protocols, including PPTP, L2TP, IKEv2, and IPSec. But we don’t recommend them due to a lack of security.

To strengthen security protection, PrivateVPN offers a VPN kill switch feature. Through our VPN testing, there is no DNS or IPv6 leaking, and you can also use Tor over VPN or TCP Port 443 for even greater security.

PrivateVPN Supports Ad Blocker?

No, PrivateVPN has not integrated Ad Blocker yet.

Many online services make a living on ads. You may get blocked because of the use of AdBlockers.

PrivateVPN Offers Static or Dedicated IP Addresses?

The answer is yes. You should beware that it’s more apparent on PrivateVPN’s mobile apps that will list available dedicated IP servers.

Remember that change your protocol to OpenVPN TUN + UDP + 1194, and you can use dedicated IPs in the following locations:

• Sweden
• Norway
• France – Paris
• US – Buffalo
• Netherlands 1
• Ukraine
• Switzerland
• USA – Los Angeles
• Germany – Frankfurt 1
• United Kingdom – London 2

PrivateVPN Customer Support

PrivateVPN offers live chat support for users on the official website. Although PrivateVPN doesn’t claim that it’s available 24/7, it’s 99.98% uptime. The customer’s average rating is five stars.

Remember that PrivateVPN’s live chat help is available depending on the chat box is red or green, and we can’t figure out the correct time. There is an online contact form instead of the chatbox. You can get a quick response shortly from knowledgeable support agents.

As usual, we highly recommend you can take advantage of PrivateVPN’s online resources and FAQs, find answers to the most commonly asked questions.

PrivateVPN is easy to use?

How to Install & Set Up PrivateVPN

Although PrivateVPN is a growing VPN provider, it launched user-friendly custom apps. It’s a little difference between your desktop and mobile, and you take very little time to get started.

PrivateVPN’s VPN apps user experience is pretty smooth, which makes things as simple as possible. Everything is clearly labeled and accessible, although mobile users should notice that the Android and iOS versions are missing the kill switch.

PrivateVPN also provides free remote help and installation service. As we mentioned above, if you have trouble in PrivateVPN, head online for use.

PrivateVPN Pricing Plans & Refund Options

PrivateVPN Coupon

PrivateVPN is currently providing an 82% off special offer for new users, here is the latest PrivateVPN coupon code for 2020 below.

PrivateVPN Pricing Plan

PrivateVPN is relatively affordable while comparing with other top VPN vendors. Besides, you can save 82% when you pick up a two-year plan.

These are three different length subscription plans:

Payment & Refund Options

• Credit Card(Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JCB)
• PayPal
• Bitcoin

PrivateVPN has supported many payment methods, even including Bitcoin, for a higher level of privacy.

For the sake of user experience, PrivateVPN offers a seven-day free trial, which is entirely zero-risk. All you need is to sign up for an account with your email address, no payment details, and you’ll try PrivateVPN’s full services for seven days.

Suppose you aren’t satisfied with PrivateVPN, no worry. PrivateVPN provides a 30-day money-back guarantee for all new users. The only thing you must remember is that you need less than 100GB of traffic used during the 30 days.

How to Download PrivateVPN?

PrivateVPN supports the most popular systems and devices, and you can connect up to six devices simultaneously. If you haven’t bought PrivateVPN, click here to Get 82% Off.

You can then log in to your account via the PrivateVPN client area and click on the top menu bar’s Installation Guide. That’s it. PrivateVPN offers in-depth guides for your particular systems and devices.

By the way, if you any problem when installing and configuring PrivateVPN on your device, you can ask for help from PrivateVPN’s tech expert. And, if it’s necessary, PrivateVPN could provide Remote Control to help you with basic troubleshooting. That’s pretty great.

PrivateVPN FAQs

PrivateVPN Alternatives

PrivateVPN VS ExpressVPN

PrivateVPN is still affordable, but it has a few gaps with top-tier VPN providers. ExpressVPN is one of the best choices for the first consideration of PrivateVPN. ExpressVPN super fast speeds and extensive server networks make it unique. Click here to Visit ExpressVPN or Read ExpressVPN Review.

PrivateVPN VS Ivacy VPN

PrivateVPN’s server network is smaller when comparing with an affordable Ivacy VPN. Ivacy VPN has 1,000+ servers in 100+ countries, and it could bypass the GFW in China, then Ivacy VPN is a cost-effective option. Click here to Visit Ivacy VPN or Read Ivacy VPN Review.

The Bottom Line

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