For PrivateVPN review, I have bought the premium subscription to dig more deeply into this product and perform some serious tests to gather more facts and insights for vpninsights.com
Based and developed in Sweden, PrivateVPN is one of the best-known VPN services available. With a relatively bold name, exuding the primary purpose, this VPN provider indeed seems promising.
PrivateVPN is one of the few VPN providers who is still working with Netflix. It also offers secure encryption protocols, “UDP/OpenVPN,” with general features like killswitch and DNS protection.
I have also found it helpful to bypass ISP throttling as well, and the feature like “Stealth VPN” makes PrivateVPN rare. This feature helps to use a VPN where you cannot use a VPN by the laws of GOV, like China and UAE.
PrivateVPN General Overview
| Type | Findings |
| Anonymity Level | Through various tests, I checked the anonymity level and found it to be 9.2 |
| Jurisdiction | Sweden which is a 14 eyes country |
| Log Policy | A strict no logs policy |
| Servers | 3300+ servers in 32 locations |
| Netflix | Yes, it’s working perfectly with US Netflix. |
| Torrenting | The server speeds were good and the encryption was also through OpenVPN and UDP. the Killswitch was also performing |
| Refund Policy | 30-refund policy, data limit 100GB, which is more than fair enough. I have received the fund in 8 days though. |
| Pricing | As low as $3.82 / month on annually subscription. currently on sale OFF 65%. |
| Website | www.privatevpn.com |
I found every available feature of PrivateVPN working quite fine. It is offering superb encryption levels along with an actively working Kill switch. Additionally, it is dealing with Netflix and Torrenting fairly too.
PrivateVPN Anonymity Level
To get real-time statistics of the anonymity level offered, I checked it through various tests. You can check my PrivateVPN review process.
| Method | Findings | Rate |
| History | No data leaks news found | 10 |
| No Logs | Has a strict no logs policy | 10 |
| Kill Switch | Found it working perfectly | 10 |
| IP Leak | Not Leaking | 10 |
| DNS Leak | Not Leaking | 10 |
| Torrent IP Leak | Not Leaking | 10 |
| IPv6 Leak | Not Leaking | 10 |
| Browser Leak | Not Leaking | 10 |
| Encryption | It was found using fairly strong encryption protocols that is OpenVPN and L2TP | 9.5 |
| Tor/VPN | Working perfectly with Tor | 9.5 |
| Log audit | No Log audit found | 0 |
| Anonymity Level | Calculated it based on various VPN Leaks tests | 9.0 |
As I mentioned above, I have bought the premium service from PrivateVPN to conduct several testing purposes and their support with customers and refund policy.
As far it’s looking great now let’s dig more into the PrivateVPN review.
VPN Leaks Tests
To see if there are any leaks in the PrivateVPN connection, I ran the following tests over it. I have also added screenshots of my results to ensure integrity.
IP Leaks
I was skeptical of the available tools about IP leaks, as most of them are affiliated with VPN providers. I, therefore, developed an IPLeak tool through which I can get fair results. To get the perfect results, I ran the IP Leaks test several times and found No IP Leaks.
DNS Leak Test
Through the DNS Leak testing tool, I simultaneously sent 100 requests and found No DNS Leaks.
Browser Leak
Checking a VPN connection for these browser leaks is crucial as WebRTC Leaks can expose your online privacy. When I checked PrivateVPN, I, however, found No WebRTC Leaks.
Torrent IP Leaks Test
Having a leaking IP during torrenting results in landing in a dire situation! Therefore it is always better to check for this VPN Leak before torrenting. During a PrivateVPN review, I checked and found No Torrent IP Leaks in it.
IPv6 Leaks Test
Most VPNs overlook IPv6 Leak protection. However, it is a crucial feature to have as it ensures privacy. I checked PrivateVPN for this protection and found No IPv6 Leak.
Kill Switch Protection
Kill switches ensure that we remain protected even if there is a sudden loss in the VPN connection. But you don’t necessarily find a working kill switch in every VPN. I checked PrivateVPN and found their Kill switch working fine.
Encryption Testing
VPNs provide online security through encryption. Now, PrivateVPN claims to offer some of the best encryption standards that is the following four of them:
The four standards of encryption: the AES-128-GCM, AES-256-GCM, AES-128-CBC, and AES-256-CBC, are known to be secure. However, as CBC is prone to oracle padding attacks, there is a preference for using GCM over CBC.
Additionally, the protocols that PrivateVPN offers are relatively secure and efficient that Is OpenVPN and L2TP.
Despite what they are offering, I still ran some tests over their connection to see for myself if their claims are valid or not.
Here is the view of the tool without connection with PrivateVPN:
I then connected to PrivateVPN and tested the connection, and the results were:
PrivateVPN is undoubtedly living up to its claims of providing the best security standards. They are using the most secure OpenVPN protocol. Thus it implies that they are using 256-bit encryption to encrypt the network traffic.
If you carefully look at the first figure, you will notice that the data packets reveal what sites I am visiting. However, if you look at the figure that shows the data packets after the VPN connection, you won’t view my web activity. Therefore, it is evident that a PrivateVPN provides the best levels of encryption.
Servers Speed Tests With PrivateVPN
I have performed several tests from different servers located USA, CA, UK, NL, etc.
Used tools for this purpose was:
- vpninsights.speedtestcustom.com
- fast.com
- speedtest.com
| Servers name | Findings | Status |
|---|---|---|
| USA – Buffalo | 5% slower | Best |
| USA – Atlanta | 2% slower | Best |
| UK – Manchester | 12% slower | Good |
| CA – Toronoto 2 | 15% slower | Good |
| Netherlands – ams | 8% slower | Best |
Keep in mind, VPN supposes to slow down the regular internet speed to 10% to 12% due to encryption. But these are cases of best VPNs. Most VPNs don’t provide that much speed.
It also depends on your physical location to connect servers. While I was performing speed tests with PrivateVPN, I noticed some time it’s speeding up than with my regular connection. It’s not surprising for me to see that PrivateVPN was also helping me to bypass ISP throttling.
Crypto Payments
Crypto payments are now the most preferred method of payments, primarily as they are secure and anonymous! I read through the payment methods of PrivateVPN and was pleased to see that they allow crypto payments.
Testing Tor Compatibility
Using Tor without a VPN is a headache with ISP throttling speeds and constant fear of the vulnerable connection. Therefore, it is better to use Tor with a VPN connection. However, most VPN connections are not compatible with Tor.
I tried using Tor with PrivateVPN and was pleased with the results. Not only was it offering a significantly speedy connection, but it was also protecting the network through a relatively secure OpenVPN protocol along with UDP. Therefore, Tor with PrivateVPN is indeed the right combination.
Log Policy Revealed of PrivateVPN
Logging policies of VPNs help assess how secure and anonymous a VPN provider is. I thoroughly checked the logging policy of PrivateVPN.
Although they are situated in a 14 eyes country, they still follow a fairly strict No Logs policy, which is indeed relieving. However, they don’t have a No Log audit, so we can’t really trust them!
Jurisdiction
Considering privateVPN is based in Sweden, a country that is a part of the 14 eyes alliance, I was skeptical about their jurisdiction. However, after reading through their privacy policy, I was quite satisfied. Not only do they vow to protect our privacy, but they have also clearly mentioned the use of a minimal amount of data that they keep.
Payment Insights
Payment policies should be put into consideration while opting for a VPN service. PrivateVPN offers considerable pricing plans for its users. You can get their services for the following subscription plans:
- One month subscriptions for $7.67
- A thirteen-month subscription for $3.82
- Three months subscription for $4.88
All these payments are made through USD.
Refund Policy:
It is essential to look into the refund policies of VPN providers. After all, if you don’t like their service and their refund policy is troubling, then you can get in trouble! However, PrivateVPN offers a 7-day free trial for its users.
Additionally, they have a 30 money-back guarantee. But for that, you have to inform them within thirty days of purchase.
“Yes, we think it’s important that if you are considering purchasing our premium service, you can test and evaluate it. To test PrivateVPN risk-free for 7 days.”
Payment method testing
Along with the conventional payment methods such as credit/ debit cards, PrivateVPN allows payments through online transfers, such as Paypal, Payson, Direct Bank Transfer, and Stripe. Moreover, they allow an even more secure payment method that is cryptocurrency.
PrivateVPN With Netflix:
Well, that’s the most asked question about any VPN service. Surprisingly I have found many servers in the USA, CA, and the UK still working with Netflix.
And the best part is? They keep updating the serves list to keep running the shows.
Torrenting with PrivateVPN
As torrenting is illegal in most countries, it is better to use a VPN for security. However, there are fair amounts of VPNs that are not compatible with torrenting. PrivateVPN, although it does boast a considerable amount of torrenting features, I decided to look into it thoroughly.
They altogether have a total of 60+ VPN servers in 43 countries worldwide. Amongst them, they recommend their servers located in Sweden for P2P. Also, in the client, you can find more 19 P2P optimized servers in the list.
I found several fast P2P servers offering great speeds. Moreover, the encryption levels were fairly strong which means that the network was protected.
Stealth VPN Testing
That is a fairly discriminative bit of technology offered by PrivateVPN, which allows users to bypass VPN blocks. That is quite effective if your boss is restraining and has VPNs blocked or if you study in a restrictive university.
However, it is most useful for those who live in “anti-VPN” countries such as Iran, Cuba, the United Arab Emirates. Most importantly, it can get past the presumably “Great Firewall of China.”
“Stealth VPN allows you to bypass VPN blocks in countries like China. It essentially allows you to blend in countries with censorship so that you are not discovered. Very important to have.”
Stealth VPN had generally proven effective as it disguises regular VPN traffic as HTTPS/HTTP traffic. This HTTPS data traffic is commonly used to securely transfer data packets containing sensitive information such as passwords, credit card numbers, etc.
Therefore, most firewalls don’t necessarily try to block it. Thus by using a VPN camouflage, VPN traffic can surpass VPN blocks effectively.
Previous Track Records
I scored through the internet on various platforms such as Reddit and Quora. I even went as far as searching the deep dark web and couldn’t find any “data leaks” or other scandalous news revolving around them. They really have a spotlessly clean record maintained!
Parting words
After a detailed PrivateVPN review, I do recommend it to others. If you are looking for a VPN service that allows decent privacy and is even compatible with streaming Netflix, then PrivateVPN is the solution. With strong encryption levels and US servers, it sure seems like a complete package!
Please share your insights about our PrivateVPN review!
