Is Hide.me Safe To Use? Hide.me Review

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30-day money-back guarantee

$4.24/month

3 Months FREE

Secure up to 10 devices

Rating

9.4

Based on test results

Features / Compatibility

Here are the all features that we test and you should know about.

  • Encryption type
  • Third-Party Audit
  • Log Policy
  • Jurisdiction
  • Smart DNS
  • Proxy
  • Users
  • Dedicated IP
  • Servers
  • Double VPN
  • Ad blocker
  • Malware blocker
  • Password manager
  • Bandwidth
  • Gaming support
  • Torrent supports
  • Streaming supports
  • Connections
  • Downloading
  • Free version
  • China
  • AES-256 bit encryption.
  • No-logs.
  • Malaysia
  • 10 million.
  • 2000+ servers in 46 countries
  • 10 GB Free Plan
  • 10
  • Allowed
  • Sometimes.
Expert Opinion
As a sum up it definitely seems secure enough! But the limited servers are a sure drawback for such a pricey connection. But as an overview, it seems to be quite a decent connection.

Created by the Malaysian company eVenture Ltd, Hide.me VPN is quite a popular name in the VPN industry.  With a myriad of interesting security features, this VPN service seems to be the epitome of online security and privacy. But the key question is, is it really?

Hide.me website graphics

If you go with what forums like Reddit are saying, Hide.me sure seems to be the best option! But it could be their own guys getting a good name for their product! After all, there sure are various Hide.me VPN reviews available claiming it to be a bad choice!

But then again what if those reviews are of rivals? In a situation like this, it all comes down to who to believe? So to get out of this mind boggling mystery I tried and tested the service through an intensive process.  

With that, I have put together this unbiased review of Hide.me VPN which gives a clear picture of what this service is offering. Grabbed your attention as yet? So read along! 

Overview

Type Findings 
Anonymity LevelThrough various tests I calculated it to be 6.8
Jurisdiction It is located in Malaysia which is safe
Log Policy  A strict and certified log policy available
Servers
Offers servers in 28 various locations
NetflixOut of 11 servers found one working 
TorrentingProvides decent speeds and encryption while using P2P servers
Refund Policy30 refund policy. No questions asked.
PricingEither free or a premium connection for $5.41 /mo
Website hide.me

In terms of privacy and security Hide.me seems relatively secure. The encryption protocols its using are secure and all the other standard features like IP leaks protection, DNS leaks, Kill switch etc are working fine. 

However, it is not that much of a great catch to use Netflix, but it works well with torrenting. Up surface it seems like a decent and secure VPN service to opt for.

Anonymity Level 

To check out the level of anonymity that Hide.me VPN is providing, I ran the service through various tests. 

MethodFindings Rate 
Logging Certified no log and a clean background10
Kill Switch It was working perfectly10
IP Leak Not Leaking10
DNS LeakNot Leaking10
Torrent IP Leak Not Leaking10
IPv6 Leak Not Leaking10
Browser LeakNot Leaking10
Encryption Provides UDP and ESP which are secure protocols9.5
Tor/VPN
It was relatively compatible9.3
Anonymity LevelAfter checking it through various tests I calculated the anonymity level
9.8

Encryption Test 

Hide.me VPN claims to provide encryption through the following two encryption protocols:

  • IKEv2
  • OpenVPN

Instead of going through with their word I checked their service through Wireshark to really see for myself, how true their claims are. The tests had me fairly satisfied. 

With my connection to OpenVPN, I found the VPN providing encryption through UDP protocol which is a part of the OpenVPN protocol. 

Hide.me encryption UDP

I then connected to the IKEv2 protocol and checked the web traffic. With this, the tool showed the traffic encrypted through ESP protocol which is a part of IKEv2. 

Hide.me encryption IKEv2

Looks like Hide.me surely is serious about protecting users’ privacy! 

Privacy insights

To get a grasp of how capable a VPN provider is of ensuring your privacy and security, it is crucial to look into how private it is. For this, the following things should be put into consideration:

  1. Log Policy 
  2. Jurisdiction 
  3. Previous Track records 

Log Policy 

A VPN keeping logs renders the very use of subscribing to a VPN service! Thankfully though Hide.me follows a strict no-logs policy. However, instead of going through with their word, I further dug deep and found proof of its innocence. 

I found Hide.me strict its security which it proves through the certified check by Leon Juranic! Now there is no way we can question that! 

Jurisdiction 

It is crucial to choose a VPN that has a safe jurisdiction. Preferably one which is away from the eyes and doesn’t have it own data retention laws. In that case, at least we can be sure that it won’t give in user information under judiciary pressures. 

When I looked into the jurisdiction of Hide.me VPN I found to be Malaysia. The country is all pro privacy and well away from 5,9 and 14 eyes interference. 

 Previous Track Records 

Although Hide.me seem quite secure I still searched in deep for any data leaks scandal revolving it. For this I looked into various places including forums like Reddit and even the Dark web! There was no tea to spill on it. 

Some Prominent Features:

Apart from privacy, Hide.me provides various other features to its users, among which the most prominent ones are as follows:

Netflix (American)

By now you might be aware of the infamous “Netflix block” on VPNs. I therefore checked to see if Hide.me has managed to surpass it or not. 

Hide.me offers an altogether of 11 US servers and when I checked I found only one of them working. There is a fat chance of this server facing a blockade too so this definitely doesn’t seems reliable. 

Torrenting (P2P Testing)

Torrenting can get you in trouble even if all you are doing is downloading a movie! Which is why it always better to torrent with a VPN connection intact.

I tried torrenting with Hide.me and was somewhat satisfied with its results. With connection to one of its P2P dedicated servers, it provides a speedy connection with secure encryption while torrenting. 

Kill Switch 

Kill switches protect the network if you accidentally lose the VPN connection by stopping internet traffic. So a VPN without a working internet Kill switch is plain lousy! 

Now most VPNs may offer a kill switch but it often doesn’t work. I therefore checked if the Kill switch by Hide.me is working or not and found it in perfect condition. 

Tor compatibility 

Using Tor with a VPN is always a smart choice. Primarily for added speed and it patches up all the loopholes in the connection.  However, only a handful of connection are really compatible with Tor. 

When I checked Hide.me with Tor, the results were decent. There was little increase in speeds with a relatively secure encryption standard. 

Crypto payments 

Crypto payments means complete privacy and anonymity! Although it is now quite a popular payment method, only a handful of VPN providers really offer it. However, while subscribing to the service, I saw crypto payment method available. 

Split tunneling 

This is a particularly handy feature that allows users to direct only selected internet traffic to travel through the VPN connection. It allows accessing foreign and local internet traffic simultaneously. 

Additionally, with split tunneling you can freely access LAN devices and save up your VPN bandwidth!  

Stealth Guard 

This is quite another innovative feature introduced by Hide.me VPN for its users security. It is designed to make sure that there is no accidental IP leaks and the network remains secure. And the best part? It doesn’t consume any data traffic whatsoever!

Additionally it also allows you flexibility with your VPN connection. That is, with Stealth Guard it is up to you to allow Hide.me to protect some apps or the whole internet connection.

Payment Insights 

While choosing to subscribe to a VPN, it is always better to check if it’s easy on the pocket or not. I looked into the payments of Hide.me VPN and found:

  • It comes as a free version which has its limitations such as 2GB data transfer, only one simultaneous connection and restriction to 5 locations.
  • The premium connection costs $5.41 per month and allows 10 simultaneous connections with 57 locations.

So Hide.me is rather free or too expensive!

Payment Methods

Along with cryptocurrency there are various payment methods available for mainstream users such as credit/debit card, online payments such as PayPal or bank transactions. 

Refund Policies 

Before subscribing it is crucial to look if there is a chance to withdraw payments if you don’t like the service. I looked into their refund options and it was quite straightforward. 

They allow refunds within 30 days of purchasing and they don’t even hassle you with questions. All you have to do is inform at the right time.

Comparison table 

Features Hide.me VPNExpressVPNSurfsharkVPNPrivate Internet Access
Servers 1400+/57+160+/94+1040+/61+3375+/32+
Netflix1 working server USA, CA, UAE, NL, and UK servers working Servers in US, CA, NL and IR workingTwo US servers working 
Torrenting Works well with SOCKS proxy and P2P serversExcellent performance with P2P serversDecent performance through P2P serversWorks exceptionally well with P2P servers and SOCKS5 proxy.
TorFairly compatible with decent speeds and encryption Significant increase in speeds with good encryption Slight increase in speeds with IKEv2 protocol for encryptionSignificant improvement in speeds along with UDP protocol protection.
Encryption Uses secure OpenVPN and IKEv2 protocols Works with secure OpenVPN protocolFound it using fairly secure IKEv2 protocolSecures network through OpenVPN “UDP” protocol
Logs Strict and certified No Logs policy A strict No Logs policy with a log audit A strict and proven No log policy with Log audit report A strict No Logs policy accompanying a log audit report 
Simultaneous connections 10 simultaneous connection Offers 5 simultaneous connectionsAllows unlimited connections simultaneously Offers 10 simultaneous connection 
Pricing $5.41 for one month $12.95 for one month  $11.95 for one month $6.95 for one month

Final words 

As a sum up it definitely seems secure enough! But the limited servers are a sure drawback for such a pricey connection. But as an overview, it seems to be quite a decent connection.