AzireVPN Review

AzireVPN was created by a Swedish company called Netbouncer AB (2012).

As of writing this review, they have 22 servers in five different countries.

They claim to have your privacy in mind, noting strong protocols that are supposed to keep your online life safe and secure.

But do they?

That’s what we’re going to find out today in this AzireVPN review.

We put them through our 13-step review process to answer to find out if they can live up to these lofty expectations.

AzireVPN Overview

OVERALL RANK:	#67 out of 78 VPNs
USABILITY:	Easy to set up and use
LOG FILES:	No Logging Policy
LOCATIONS:	5 countries, 18 servers
SUPPORT:	Responsive customer support
TORRENTING:	Allowed
NETFLIX:	Available in Stockholm, Sweden only
ENCRYPTION/PROTOCOL:	AES-256; OpenVPN, WireGuard
COST:	$4.26/mo for a year
OFFICIAL WEBSITE:	www.AzireVPN.com

AzireVPN Pros

AzireVPN started strong.

Their no-logging policy is detailed and backed up by a ‘blind operator mode,’ which adds another layer of security to an already impressive program.

They’re using the best VPN protocols and encryption that the industry has to offer, including a newer service that might become the new norm.

Also, Azire works with torrenting services and manages to break through Netflix’s VPN ban.

Let’s examine all of these positive features one at a time.

1. No Activity Logging

Azire claims that they don’t log any of your activity. They make this very clear on their website.

That’s a huge claim, backed up by itemized points. It should be noted that a lot of VPN companies claim that they don’t log your activity, but when you look closer at their terms of service and privacy policy, they actually do.

Curiously, AzireVPN does not have a privacy policy listed on their site, but I did look through their terms of service.

They reiterate their policy again, word for word, proving that what is listed on the main site is their official logging stance. There are no hidden terms or backhanded language. Amazing.

Their anti-logging stance is backed by a blind operator system. That removes an ordinary system administrator’s ability to query any endpoints or allowed-IP information used by the WireGuard protocol.

Azire limits even the abilities of their own operators to protect your information. That’s an impressive measure that not many companies are willing to take.

2. Impressive Protocols and Encryption

All the anonymity in the world doesn’t mean a thing without a powerful VPN tunneling protocol and high-level encryption to protect your online information.

One of the most important factors to look for when choosing a VPN service includes your protocol and encryption options. And AzireVPN some of has the best.

Their default protocol is OpenVPN. This is considered by many to be the industry standard. It’s open source, meaning that it is constantly maintained by an entire security community (as opposed to a few engineers in one company).

This continuously keeps OpenVPN on the cutting edge, constantly updated, patched, and vetted.

Azire also uses AES-256 encryption, which is currently the most secure encryption standard on the planet for VPN products.

I love how much information Azire provides on their protocols. They’re clearly proud of what they’re offering, and they should be.

A new-ish tunneling protocol that they’re touting is WireGuard.

This VPN protocol is not compatible with all platforms, functioning solely on Linux, Mac, Android, and some limited routers. It uses formally verified construction of the key exchange, and Azire states that they believe it is superior to OpenVPN.

They cite superior speed and less code as factors that make WireGuard more secure.

Last but not least, Azire offers a SOCKS5 proxy service, which is mostly used to bypass Geo-blocks placed on content while maintaining connection to the same tunnel server in another location.

All in all, your information is extremely secure with AzireVPN with tons of awesome options.

3. 1/4 Servers Worked with Netflix

It’s incredibly rare when you can find a VPN that works with Netflix.

That’s because the world’s most popular streaming service declared war on virtual private networks and proxies a few years back.

But all is not lost.

Some VPNs have the ability to crack through Netflix’s blocking software, allowing you to experience geo-blocked content no matter where you might be.

We’re happy to report that AzireVPN is one of them. We tested four of its servers and found that one of them (Stockholm, Sweden) was still allowing Netflix streaming.

4. Torrenting is Allowed

Safe torrenting is one of the greatest gifts a VPN can provide.

The ability to download large files piece by piece, by connecting with the systems of other users is highly beneficial. But it also carries a great deal of danger with it.

Sometimes, the users who connect with your computer have malicious intentions.

That’s why a VPN makes the torrenting process so much safer. By keeping your private information out of the hands of criminals, you have all the benefits of torrenting with none of the dangers.

Despite this, a lot of VPNs ban torrenting or severely limit it on their servers. AzireVPN is not one of them. It allows restriction-free torrenting on all servers.

In fact, it made it onto our list of the best VPNs for torrenting.

5. Responsive Customer Service

AzireVPN uses a contact form on the support page of their website for all customer service related matters.

It can be found by clicking on the support tag at the top of the page, then scrolling all the way to the bottom.

They have some frequently asked questions before the form in an attempt to address your concerns before you have to send an email.

I asked a simple question about their encryption and whether or not I could use TOR on their network. I got an answer just a few hours later, which is an impressive response time for a contact form. (We’ve had to wait DAYS just to get simple responses from other providers in the past.)

This wasn’t a form or copy paste response.

Someone actually took the time to read my message and send me a well thought out and polite answer, featuring links where I could get more information.

This was a fantastic support experience.

6. Easy to Set Up and Use

I had a very positive experience with my hands on test of this VPN. Installation was a breeze and my web browsing experience was pretty flawless.

First, I downloaded the right VPN client off their website.

The setup Wizard was pretty straightforward and easy, and installation went by in a snap. The whole experience from download through installation took just under a minute.

Once it was installed, AzireVPN fired right up, giving me a sign on screen. I entered my login info and then I started up.

Connection was nice and easy, and I was able to browse at my leisure. I connected to a Canadian server, which was a decision I made before logging in.

I was dismayed to see that there is no VPN dashboard while you’re connected. I also couldn’t change servers at will. I would have to log out and then back in had I wanted to do that.

To disconnect, I had to right-click the icon in my toolbar and select disconnect.

 

AzireVPN Cons

While there’s a lot of good to enjoy when it comes to AzireVPN, there’s also quite a bit that makes me hesitate.

For one, we found IP leaks in one of our tests, which is a huge issue.

It’s server park and device list are extremely small, it’s not very fast, and despite its no logging policy it is smack dab in the middle of a major surveillance alliance.

Take a look.

1. Swedish Jurisdiction (Inside 14 Eyes Alliance)

We loved Azire’s no-logging policy.

It’s an honest-to-goodness breath of fresh air.

However…

It’s slightly undone because of the company’s Swedish jurisdiction.

Sweden is a part of the 14 Eyes Surveillance Alliance, an espionage agreement between 14 countries, including Sweden and the United States. The member countries pool their information gathering efforts. So, if one government gathers intel on you, they’ve all got it.

So while Azire might not be logging you, they could turn over personal information if pressed by the Swedish government. Then Sweden, the US, and 12 other nations would have information about you and your activity.

Not ideal.

2. IP Leaks Detected

If a VPN is leaking your IP address, you should ditch it ASAP.

Hiding your IP is the literally the ONE thing that a VPN has to do. It’s the product’s entire reason for existing.

That’s why when we find IP leaks, it sours our opinion on a VPN.

And unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened with AzireVPN.

These leaks can come in two forms: DNS and WebRTC leaks.

A DNS leak occurs when errors cause your VPN tunnel to be bypassed. When this happens, your IP is completely exposed.

WebRTC leaks are caused by API’s within browsers that are meant to help ease the burden of developers in creating real-time communication applications. While they serve a beneficial purpose, these API’s can create issues with a VPN’s security, causing your actual IP to be revealed.

Because of the importance and threat represented by IP leaks, we put all of the systems that we test through six tests. Azire failed one out of the six.

Showing our Estonian IP (but should be UK IP).

• https://ipleak.net/ – Passed

• https://www.perfect-privacy.com/check-ip – Passed

• https://ipx.ac/run – Passed

• https://browserleaks.com/webrtc – Passed

• https://www.perfect-privacy.com/dns-leaktest/ – Failed

• https://dnsleak.com – Passed

We also checked out their installation software to make sure no Malware or other viruses were piggybacking along with it. We’re happy to report that it passed with flying colors.

3. Slow Server Speeds

A VPN is going to slow your internet speed.

Every single one will.

That being said, it doesn’t mean that your entire system should come to a screeching halt. When you look at some of the fastest VPNs we’ve seen you’ll see that they only slow you down a bit.

Other VPNs are less effective in this regard.

We test the speed of every VPN that we review in the same way. We measure the loss from a server in the EU and another in the US.

The speeds coming out of the EU server were not terrible, but still lower than we like to see.

EU Speed Test

• Ping: 36 ms
• Download: 47.47 Mbps (51% Slower than 97 Mbps Benchmark)
• Upload: 39.72 Mbps (25% Slower than 53 Mbps Benchmark)

The US speed test fared far worse, with upload speeds dropping by an alarming percentage.

US Speed Test

• Ping: 153 ms
• Download: 27.76 Mbps (71% Slower Than 97 Mbps Benchmark)
• Upload: 8.21 Mbps (84.5% Slower Than 53 Mbps Benchmark)

Out of the 78 VPNs we’ve reviewed, we rank AzireVPN number 40 in terms of speed. That almost puts them in the bottom third.

4. Limited Device Compatibility

Because modern VPNs are used for a lot of streaming, it becomes important to make sure that they are compatible with smart devices that can function with a television.

Unfortunately, AzireVPN does not work with devices like FireTV, Roku, AppleTV, or gaming systems like PlayStation 4 or Xbox One.

Azire runs with Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, iOS, routers that run OpenWrt and LuCi, OpenWRT, DD-WRT, and pfSense.

While that’s a decent line-up, the lack of smart devices and gaming consoles make this a con for me.

5. Small Number of Servers, Limited Kill Switch

Some of the best VPNs in the world have thousands of servers located in almost every major city in the world.

Azire has five countries and 22 servers.

That’s it.

These servers are only located in North America and Europe. No representation of Africa, Asia, or Australia.

This lack of options is really a disservice to users.

It has an impressive list of features. Unlimited bandwidth and support for IPv6 and P2P traffic is always a good thing.

But too few servers is probably why we saw such slow server speeds (and you probably will, too).

Then, they only offer a kill switch for Android. Which is a bummer!

These handy little features are a defensive security measure that most legit VPNs come out of the box with. If leaks are present in your session, the kill switch activates and boots you off the system.

Leaks are so dangerous because you can never tell when they’re occurring. And since we found leaks present in AzireVPN’s system, it would restore some of my confidence if there was a kill switch.

No such luck, though — unless you use Android.

AzireVPN Costs, Plans, & Payment Methods

AzireVPN has one premium plan which includes all of the program’s features.

They include the five simultaneous connections and unlimited server switches.

Converting these costs away from euros, we see that one month of the service will cost $5.68 at the time of this update (February 2019).

Three months will run $4.54 per month. A full year will cost $4.26 per month, and two full years will cost $3.69 per month.

Not a bad price, but there are far cheaper VPNs that have a much larger server park and more features.

Fortunately, there are a ton of different payment options available (including anonymous payments):

You can pay with a major credit card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) or via PayPal. They even accept eight different forms of cryptocurrency. That’s super helpful when you’re trying to maintain anonymity.

Azire’s Terms of Service reveal that most users get a full 7-day money-back guarantee. However, please note that this refund does NOT extend to one-month packages or purchase made using Bitcoin. So keep that in mind if you’re eyeing either option.

Do I Recommend AzireVPN?

Unfortunately, I do not.

And I stress the word “unfortunately” because I really wanted to recommend it.

The company is efficient and informative. Their customer service was superb and I really like their anti-logging policy. The website is super helpful; one of the best I’ve seen.

It just wasn’t enough.

It’s overpriced and too slow with such a limited server park. Leaks are always hard for me to get over. Especially without a kill switch for most devices.

It really was a seamless user experience, though. The app works very well. If they could address these problematic issues, I could definitely get behind it in the future.

We rank AzireVPN at number 67 out of the 78 VPNs we’ve reviewed.

You’d be much better off with NordVPN (you can read our full review here).

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