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PrivateVPN Review

Rob Mardisalu

Rob Mardisalu

Editor of TheBestVPN.com

PrivateVPN Review Table of Contents:

PrivateVPN was founded in 2009 in Stockholm, Sweden.

The full company name is Privat Kommunikation Sverige AB, and the company was originally named privatvpn.se. To date, we’ve reviewed another two Sweden based VPN providers, here’s our FrootVPN review and Mullvad review.

Those weren’t good enough, though.

I was excited to take a look at PrivateVPN because the name of this VPN provider itself implies that it’s stacked with some excellent privacy and security features.

I was interested to put these claims to the test and see just how private PrivateVPN really is. I also wanted to see if they sacrifice performance and speeds in the name of privacy.

In this review of PrivateVPN, I’ll be answering those questions (and more) while outlining the pros and cons of this VPN service. Ultimately, I’ll be letting you know whether I recommend them as a good VPN choice or not.

But before we dive into that, let’s find out more about the company behind PrivateVPN.

PrivateVPN Overview

OVERALL RANK: #29 out of 78 VPNs
USABILITY:  Easy to install and use
LOG FILES: Questionable Logging
LOCATIONS: 61 countries, 84 servers
SUPPORT: Ticket system and FAQ page
TORRENTING:  Torrenting Allowed
NETFLIX: Yes 5/5
ENCRYPTION/PROTOCOL: 256-bit AES PPTP, OpenVPN, IPSec, IKEv2 & L2TP
COST: $10.95 /mo
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: www.privateVPN.com

Background Info on PrivateVPN

When I first went to the PrivateVPN website, I noticed that they were using a shield with a lock in the middle as their company logo.

This fits in with their name really well. I also immediately noticed how easy their homepage was to navigate.

This made me wonder if their services were just as easy to use.

Here’s what the homepage of PrivateVPN looks like:

PrivateVPN

It’s bright and vibrant. Plus, at the time of my website visit, PrivateVPN was offering a 25% discount on all of their plans.

Not too shabby of a first impression, in my opinion.

Here’s what PrivateVPN has to say about themselves on their site.

PrivateVPN features

Right off the bat, I really like that this provider offers every feature across all of their plans.

But this statement doesn’t tell me how private or secure they are.

Do they keep logs on their users? Or is their privacy policy just as tricky as almost every other VPN on the market?

Better yet – are their speeds up to par with other competitors?

I’ll be laying out the results of my own speed test on PrivateVPN servers in the pros and cons section.

Before we go over that, let’s take a look at the conversation surrounding PrivateVPN across the internet.

Overall, I didn’t find a ton of negativity about the company online, and most reviews of their services seem to be fairly positive.

One thing I noticed is just how much the company communicates with its customers on social media:

PrivateVPN social media tweet

They tweet out when they add new server locations, apps, and installation guides.

And their users seem to love them. Literally.

Just look at what this Twitter user had to say about their service:

PrivateVPN twitter service reviews

Notice how the user said that PrivateVPN’s servers work with Netflix?

I will be putting that claim to the test later on.

One Twitter user named R.Q. Mehdi seemed to want some additional features in the platform so that he could view ping and connection speeds for each server on the PrivateVPN app.

PrivateVPN tweet R.Q. Mehdi view ping and connection speed

It looks like the company hasn’t gotten back with him yet…or at least not publicly.

Since PrivateVPN is located in Sweden, there are bound to be some legal limits on just how private they can actually be with user’s information.

In fact, the Swedish government has been tightening down on data retention laws in the country, hoping to make it mandatory for VPN providers to keep logs on users.

According to Privacy News Online, Sweden wants to introduce VPN surveillance and mandate that their internet is built around optimizing governmental surveillance.

This is potentially bad news for any VPN provider. However, the company has been pretty up-front with its customers about the legal changes so far.

PrivateVPN tweet legal changes Swedish Government

Before we talk about pricing and speeds for PrivateVPN, let’s go over their features.

PrivateVPN Compatibility and Features

PrivateVPN boasts about its speeds, protocols, and security before anything else on their “features” page.

PrivateVPN speed protocols and security

They also appear to have apps for different devices that are made with those specific operating systems in mind.

I like that they offer unlimited bandwidth, speed, server switches, and more across all plans.

They also offer a referral program and free setup guides for each device to assist users with the installation.

PrivateVPN operating systems

The VPN service supports the following devices and operating systems:

  • PC
  • Mac
  • Linux
  • iOS
  • Android
  • TOR

PrivateVPN works simultaneously on up to six devices. That’s a pretty nice perk compared to some providers that only provide two or three.

I’ll break down pricing below so that you know exactly how each plan works.

You can connect PrivateVPN to the following kinds of routers:

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

This VPN provides 150+ servers 60 countries. They have servers in most major cities worldwide, however, the total is on the lower end of all the companies I’ve reviewed so far.

For a VPN provider that was founded in 2009, I expected to find more available servers and countries.

PrivateVPN offers a complete list of servers on their site:

Servers list

The company offers a kill switch for their Windows VPN app, but they claim that a kill switch feature for their Mac VPN app will be out soon.

Kill switches are a huge deal when it comes to privacy and security.

They can sense when your internet connection is about to be disconnected, and they terminate your current browsing session to keep your data and browsing history safe.

I really wish that PrivateVPN offered this extra protection across every app. But at least they’re working on it, and hopefully, it will be out soon. Some VPN providers don’t offer a kill switch at all.

Private VPN also offers IPv6 and DNS leak protection.

Pros of PrivateVPN

PrivateVPN has some wonderful features. I was really pleased with the overall security of their servers.

First, I’ll tell you what the company is doing right before we switch our attention to where they can improve.

1. It’s safe and secure

PrivateVPN doesn’t have a ton of features to offer.

However, you can rest assured that their security is rock-solid. Here’s a quick look.

Is it Well Encrypted?

According to their FAQ page,

PrivateVPN encryption

This is top-of-the-line security that not even a brute-force attack can break through.

It’s bank-grade, so you can definitely trust your data to this kind of encryption.

What Protocols Are In-Use?

The very front page of their website lists down the protocols that they’re using:

  • OpenVPN
  • PPTP
  • L2TP
  • IKEv2
  • IPSec

Based on the number of protocols, it is safe to say that they’re tunneling software is secure.

Is Torrenting Allowed?

Torrenting is allowed with PrivateVPN.

That means you’re free to connect with others to move large files like movies, music, or software and use a VPN to protect your security as well as your privacy.

2. PrivateVPN is easy to use and install

PrivateVPN has an installation guide for you, no matter the device or computer you’re looking to install it on.

You can even find installation guides right from the home page.

PrivateVPN installation guides

Once you’ve downloaded PrivateVPN, here’s what the platform will look like.

PrivateVPN platform after download

Just enter your email and password to get started.

PrivateVPN enter email and password

Here’s what PrivateVPN looks like once you’ve logged in. Notice the “Not Connected” graphic at the bottom of the page.

Just pick a server from the list and hit connect.

Once you’re connected, you’ll receive a notification.

Just hit “Disconnect” to end your connection, or choose another server from the list.

That’s it.

However, if you want to see more advanced options, click the “Advanced” button in the bottom right-hand corner.

There, you can find a user dashboard:

PrivateVPN user dashboard

A settings page:

PrivateVPN settings page

And connection guard options.

PrivateVPN connection guard options

Overall, I’d give it a 7/10 for usability.

I like that the advanced features are there if you need them, but they aren’t automatically added to the normal interface.

3. Convenient customer support

PrivateVPN has ticketing and live chat options for customers.

To contact them, just click on the text bubble on the bottom right-hand corner of their home page, or click the “Live Support” button in the top left-hand corner of the PrivateVPN app.

When I tried to access PrivateVPN’s live feature, no representatives were online.

All you have to do is enter in your name, email, and message to submit a ticket.

PrivateVPN submit a ticket

Once you hit send, you should see this notification.

PrivateVPN ticket notification

I wish that live chat was available 24/7, but the ticketing option was relatively easy to use.

PrivateVPN doesn’t go above and beyond when it comes to customer service, but they definitely met my expectations and regular industry standards.

Plus, they have a great FAQ page where you might be able to find an answer to your question.

In fact, I found the answer to my question about P2P downloads there. (They’re allowed, but PrivateVPN recommends using Sweden servers.)

4. Inexpensive long-term pricing

PrivateVPN’s pricing is relatively cheap and easy to understand.

The yearly plan is only $5.95 per month, too. And you can access as many as six devices at the same time.

There was a 25% off sale on all their plans when I visited the site, but even without the discount, their prices are reasonable.

Plus, every feature is available with each kind of plan. So you can try out the monthly plan to test them out, before switching to the long-term one to lock-in the big savings.

5. A Perfect 5/5 Servers Worked with Netflix

Supposedly, PrivateVPN has created their VPN specifically for Netflix.

That’s the claim anyway. And a big one at that.

But unfortunately, most “Netflix Compatible” VPNs have fallen by the wayside ever since Netflix cracked down in 2016.

We have good news, though.

PrivateVPN delivered where it counts: Our real-life tests.

We connected to the following servers and were able to successfully stream:

  • United States: New York
  • United States: Los Angeles
  • Canada
  • United Kingdom
  • Netherlands

A perfect 5/5 score is good enough to put them among the Best VPNs for Netflix that we’ve seen.

Cons of PrivateVPN

There are tons of great things about PrivateVPN.

Their encryption is amazing, it’s easy to use, and they even offer installation guides to customers.

But there are also a few things that aren’t so great about their service.

Here’s what I wish I could change about PrivateVPN.

1. Questionable logging policy

PrivateVPN claims to keep absolutely no logs of your data.

And in their privacy policy, they do verify that they don’t keep user logs of your internet traffic.

That’s great, right?!

However, they do collect your IP address and cookies.

They even claim that sites may not load correctly on their servers if you disable cookies.

Even worse, they might sell your data to third parties. Here’s what their privacy policy says:

“Third parties might analyze our site data. In this case, however, we only give them non-identifiable information. This is to improve our site or marketing and only for internal use.”

This sketchy logging policy means that PrivateVPN isn’t so private after all. I wish they were more transparent about their terms of service.

2. Inconsistent server speeds

Every VPN provider talks about its server speeds like they’re the fastest in the world.

But you can’t just take them at face value. The only way to know for sure is to test and verify for yourself.

So that’s exactly what I did.

I tested PrivateVPN connection speeds across different servers across the world.

I ran speed tests on PrivateVPN’s US, Netherlands, and Hong Kong servers to see how they compare to competitors.

Here are my results:

US Server

  • Ping: 139 ms
  • Download: 4.70 Mbps
  • Upload: 7.63 Mbps
PrivateVPN speed test US server

Netherlands Server

  • Ping: 50 ms
  • Download: 19.83 Mbps
  • Upload: 23.07 Mbps
PrivateVPN speed test Netherlands server

Hong Kong Server

  • Ping: 245 ms
  • Download: 4.63 Mbps
  • Upload: 5.73 Mbps
PrivateVPN speed test Hong Kong server

Some of those speeds looked great, right?

However, the last Hong Kong one was awful. So the performance results are really hit-or-miss, to be honest.

PrivateVPN Pricing Options & Plans

One of the best things about PrivateVPN is that they offer a 30-day money back guarantee.

This is huge, especially if you commit to the service and find that there’s something you just don’t like about it that’s a dealbreaker for you.

PrivateVPN offers a one-month, three-month, and one year package.

Here’s how they are broken down:

The one-month package is $10.95 per month.

This comes out to be $131.40 per year.

The three-month package is $7.31 per month.

This comes out to $87.72 per year.

The one year package is $5.95 per month.

This comes out to only $71.40 per year, so it’s the best value out of all the plans. The company was also offering a 13th month free with this plan.

The company was offering a 25% discount at the time I looked at plans and pricing. So these rates may not last long.

PrivateVPN 25% discount

Here’s how the company’s pricing plans are broken down on their site:

privatevpn pricing

Payment methods include credit card, PayPal, and Bitcoin.

PrivateVPN payment methods

I would recommend trying out PrivateVPN for a month and then changing your plan to a yearly one if you find that you like the service.

PrivateVPN is also one of the more affordable VPNs out there. Especially when you consider all the features you’ll have access to with each of their plans.

If you don’t like something about the platform, you can always get a refund within 30 days of your purchase, too.

Now that you know all about the features and pricing of PrivateVPN, let’s discuss the pros and cons.

PrivateVPN Review Conclusion – Do I Recommend it?

No, I don’t.

If you’re looking for a VPN that’s easy to use and has strong encryption features, PrivateVPN is a great choice.

They offer leak protection, too, and a kill-switch if you’re using Windows.

You can use as many as six devices simultaneously without having to pay more for the service, and every plan comes with the same feature.

Plus, the company offers a 30-day money back guarantee. Torrenting is also allowed with PrivateVPN.

Customer service is satisfactory, and the company has a fully equipped FAQ page to give users resources to find answers to questions on their own time.

However, I would love to see some more server options with Private VPN. 100 is a really low number, especially for a VPN that’s been around since 2009.

I also wish that the company was more transparent about their logging policy, which is bound to be a bit more strict than companies in other countries due to Swedish laws.

Last but not least, the server speeds were unfortunately too inconsistent to recommend it.

If you need a VPN with low costs, stacked features, and high-quality security, think about PrivateVPN.

Otherwise, try a better all-around option like NordVPN ($3.49/mo when last reviewed) or ExpressVPN ($6.67/mo when last reviewed) that are both ranked in top 10 VPNs.

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    64 user reviews for PrivateVPN

    Pavel 10/10 September 25, 2021

    I am satisfied.

    I have been using it for more than 1 year. It works flawlessly. 1-2 times I had a problem after updating the program. I contacted the support and my problem was solved immediately. I have no remarks. The speed is good. I have not noticed a difference in daily use.

    I recommend it.

    John 8/10 August 28, 2021

    Good VPN for routers

    Use PrivateVPN in two countries - UK and Thailand where, I am pleased to say, I have superb speeds connected to the UK and Singapore respectively. I am not using the software but have connected directly to my router which is not listed above - Draytek using L2TP. I have no problem receiving 32Mbps in the UK from a 50Mbps line and 20Mbps in Thailand using a 45Mbps line. I switched from NordVPN a year into a 3 year contract because they autonomously increased the password length outside the maximum parameters afforded by the Drayteks I have. Wasn't happy. Personally I'm very happy with PrivateVPN.

    SLC 1/10 July 23, 2021

    A Waste of Time

    The first problem arose when PVPN closed my port -- this occurred approximately 3 days after installation. I thought it was my client and switched. Then I noticed that a couple of sites (which show your IP address as a warning -- you are the only one that can see this address) were suddenly showing two IPAs....the real one and the VPN one. Even after proof was provided, they didn't really understand the problem.....their response was to say they needed to remote into my computer. Not gonna happen.... I informed them that I had uninstalled the program and asked them to delete the account...I was told 3 times during the course of the day that it would take a couple of hours.....after about 4 hours, I discovered the account was still active....when I inquired, they stated it would now take 24-48 hours. Any questions after that were met with "stock" answers "your request has been submitted", "you will be notified by email when account deletion is completed" -- not one direct response to any question. I asked to be transferred to supervisor.....supposedly none would be available for another 4-5 hours. All in all, tech support was not knowledgeable and customer service was not helpful.

    Mikhail 6/10 May 31, 2021

    It is hit or miss. It is not perfect protection

    It has multiple servers on offer, it has a killswitch that kills .exes, it has a shadowsocks tunnel you can activate for added layering........and I still got DMCA'd while using both features on a Windows 10 machine. It is sufficient for geo blocked content streaming but I would not trust it for anything illicit, illegal, or life risking. If you are in a bad place that will come at you hard for what you are doing online then for your own good friend I implore that you look elsewhere. Try

    vpn.ac

    instead of PrivateVPN if you absolutely need security. Try windscribe if you want something cheap/free to just browse with. This product is not secure as advertised, be aware of this.

    Barry 5/10 April 8, 2021

    iPlayer not working, most UK servers won't connect

    I use the Openvpn client and downloaded their config files. Only server I can get to work in the UK that works with iplayer is TUN is London 1. Just checked today and iplayer is now blocking this server. Tried connecting all other servers in UK and they were all offline. Won't be used in future.

    Mark 2/10 February 9, 2021

    Don't do it

    There were problems with google thinking the vpn was doing suspicious behavior so I had to verify I wasn't a robot with every new search window.

    Customer service was just plain stupid. Very simply, the refund process makes you jump through hoops. I sent an email stating I wanted to cancel my account. You can't cancel through chat. Do a screen capture of the email for proof.

    No response.

    I contacted the chat. The agent says

    You canceled the account but don't say anything about getting a refund. Are you shittin me? Isn't the refund implied when you cancel? Do I need to spell it out ?

    So I sent another email explicitly this time. With reasons as before. This is mandatory. BS.

    They sent an email back asking me for reasons? Can they read?

    Steve 1/10 January 28, 2021

    Avoid at all costs, these guys suck

    First off their service is automatically set to auto-renew. It's pretty deceptive in how it's marked in the account dashboard so make sure to disable it. I used PIA for years and never had issues, these guys had almost a week of outage in terms of connecting to a server. Their customer support is pretty much there to laugh at you and say you're not getting a refund. Total garbage. Go with Surfshark or PIA.

    John Smith 1/10 January 27, 2021

    TERRIBLE "Support"

    Putrid customer support. If you check out the critical reviews of them in Google Play, PrivateVPN emails customers rudely and degrades them which happened to me.Pay more elsewhere for a VPN and avoid this company.

    Leon 7/10 January 26, 2021

    Nice, but idk

    It's ok, i share an acc with my dad, he likes that it's from sweden but i find them a bit fishy. I might convince him to switch to Nord, but i livechatted PrivateVPN and they will be adding wireguard before 2022, so that's nice. Worked fine, but speeds went from ~600 Mbps to like 20-80, depending on the server. I went on Moscow one (I'm from the EU) I got like 200 Mbps on one test and 55 on the next. It's OK though

    Rog 1/10 December 14, 2020

    The worst (and I mean the worst) customer service in the world

    The service itself is ok, my problems started when I decided to renew my subscription paying by Bitcoin. They use an insecure system asking for the public transaction hash so they can track your payment. The trouble is someone had already used my hash to claim they had made my payment and got a year’s subscription for free. It took a week of emailing to get it sorted, if they actually read the emails it would have been sorted in a couple of hours. By the end of the week they were saying I was a “scammer or a fraudster”. Finally they read the email and saw I was genuine, but no “sorry”.

    Fast forward 2 months, I was waiting to see if they made their system more secure, they didn’t, so I posted a bad review on TrustPilot. Within 15 minutes I got an angry email demanding I give them my Bitcoin address so they could refund my payment and cancel my account. They had also raised concerns with TrustPilot about the authenticity of my review. I suspect they want to claim my review was malicious and have it removed. Very bad customer service, maybe the world's worst.

    Rod 10/10 December 6, 2020

    Surprisingly extremely good

    I am using it on my router. OpenVPN is a little slow but they went above and beyond helping me set up Wireguard now my Speed is amazingly fast. I like the router setup because it secures all my smart home device it started out at 10 mbps with Open vpn after switching to wire guard setup it's now 120 mbps and streams all streaming service with no issues I am very happy with the support and service

    Stephen 3/10 November 25, 2020

    Unreliable connection

    During the few weeks I have been using privateVPN I have frequently had difficulty connecting. Now I am completely unable to connect. PrivateVPN's helpline have not yet been able to resolve the problem and appear to have blocked me from their live chat.

    Brian 1/10 November 18, 2020

    Not A Good Choice

    ISP identified my correct IP Address even though I was connected to VPN via private VPN. When I have asked for an explanation in the past, 2 days passed before a response was received. Response totally useless. Asked the same question today from their less than stellar support, interesting to see if I get an intelligent response this time. Near as I can tell Private VPN blocks nothing, and since accurate IP turns up in search even when VPN connected, it does not appear to work at all. Don't get me wrong it gobbles up resources and bandwidth but does not appear to mask my IP address. Clearly, from reading other reviews, this has not been an isolated instance.

    Joe Smith 7/10 November 15, 2020

    Good and easy to use

    I have been using PrivateVPN for 18 months. With a 50 Mbit fibre line It streams all UK TV from Johannesburg very well. Australian TV depends on the day.

    NordVpn I found to be poor with the BBC iplayer, I eventually gave up. My experience with ExpressVpn is that it is a little better but very expensive.

    PrivateVpn support can be very good or poor depending on the support agent.

    John Doe 10/10 November 6, 2020

    I love them

    I love them. have tried many of the top tier VPNs like express vpn and nord, both are okay but still lock out as detected VPNs for some local streaming programs like DSTV, PrivateVPN allows me to watch DSTV even with the VPN on and I have no issues with netflix either.

    Richard 8/10 October 21, 2020

    I've found Private VPN to have consistent high speeds

    I've found Private VPN to have consistent high speeds. I use a dedicated London server and download speeds in excess of 80 As you say Security is excellent. In terms of keeping information I will contact their HQ about that. I also have NordVPN and when it comes to BBC Iplayer they are nowhere near as good as Private VPN-speeds are about the same but you have to pay for a dedicated server-too many servers and you have to juggle between static servers & others. Private VPN is simple & works well. I also have a Spider Pro VPN very similar to Private VPN-works well evewn though download speeds are slightly lower.

    Victor 10/10 October 19, 2020

    About support

    Some reviews saying that customer support was not helpfull but based on my experience everything was other way around. Customer support was trying to help and spent a lot of time helping to fix the issue

    Z3r0 10/10 August 13, 2020

    Excellent

    Not sure why everyone has issues with this VPN. I've tried Express and Nord, two of the most recommended and highly rated VPNs and PrivateVPN trump's them both.

    Artur 1/10 July 20, 2020

    Disgusting VPN

    Disgusting VPN. I can't even register on it. writes API ERROR. Moreover, it connects through another VPN. No support. They promise to help, but the competence is not enough. Moreover, they do not want to return the funds. I paid them in BTC, so they want to deduct the fee on the refund, however, they don't have this specified anywhere. Only the announcement hangs that we will refund all funds GUARANTEED. Ordinary thieves and crooks with insufficient qualifications. Do not contact them under any circumstances!

    Paul Daystar 1/10 May 27, 2020

    Please skip PrivateVPN

    I attempted to work with these jokers, but they refused. I'm really shocked they are even in business for the lack of true protection they offer their users. I want to warn everyone, they have very few ways to connect to the Internet IF you want a USA IP. If you don't care, then fine. They have several countries. I would never buy long term here as their choices are slim pickens. If you want to just use their IP for a short time, fine. NOT more than a month or two, otherwise they become obsolete really quickly. I have tried two more companies since leaving, and have learned the old saying, "You get what you pay for" really applies here. I realized I must pay a little more if I want some features beyond basic, and was so grateful I didn't take the bait of their sale before I actually tried this poor quality service. Very much would {not} recommend Private VPN.

    Cornelis 6/10 March 31, 2020

    Private VPN

    I have been using PrivateVPN for some 3 years now and would give it a 50/50 recommandation.

    To be honest up till a few months ago it worked to our satisfaction, not perfect but it did what was expected of it. My worries on privacy never went away and without going into details I have the impression PrivateVPN can not cope with the demand. By the way, a bag of kudo's for their support, they really go out of their way to solve your problem. In March 2020 I had to uninstall the app several times, as their helpdesk advised. But not on all our platforms (mac - windows - linux and android) all traces were removed. After reinstalling VPN started to connect again. That leaves me to wonder what else stays on your disks or their servers.

    Also sometimes when the connection was broken no kill switch stopped traffic. Several times the app stopped dead in its tracks, no indication that it did while internet traffic still took place: without notifying the user. You had to look at the time connected to see that the app still ran. Sometimes it looked like VPN was working but then suddenly I got ads and google pages in the language of the countries I was traveling at that moment, confusing. For me that meant VPN no longer was active. How can one trust a service that puts you in situations like that. Surprisingly speed and bandwidth was never a problem

    Amy Kay 1/10 February 23, 2020

    Avoid at all costs

    PrivateVPN is little more than a scam – run by a Swedish scam artist by the name of Martin. I was forced to take legal action against PrivateVPN in order to obtain a refund (to which I was legally entitled under their money back guarantee). Their money back guarantee is pretty much worthless due to the following reasons: a) as soon as you request a refund you receive an automated message saying your email has been received; b) but then when the refund doesn't arrive, emails to PrivateVPN are ignored; c) you suddenly find yourself locked out of your PrivateVPN account. Furthermore, follow-up emails to PrivateVPN are frequently replied to by Martin – who specialises in writing extremely abusive and profane replies. Steer well clear of this horrid VPN.

    Dennis Östergren 10/10 February 3, 2020

    Thoughts after a year or so of being a customer

    Hi all,

    after extensive use of their service, here are my thoughts:

    Valeria 1/10 January 29, 2020

    Scammers

    They claim to have 24-hours customer support included in the package, but NONE of the communication channels doesn't work!

    They claim to refund within 30 first days in case of a problem, but don't give ANY instruction on how to do it, so considering my first point, there is NO way to do that!

    Don't get get robbed by them, these are pure scammers

    Willem 3/10 January 7, 2020

    Very bad manual under Ubuntu

    I have been using Private VPN for about six years and have a good experience with them. Help desk responded fast, patient and helpful. Connection is stable, but upload speed could be better, especially with torrenting.

    I have one Mega issue: Their Linux instruction (Ubuntu) sucks. It is very outdated, three different way's how to install and they assume we all are Linux-experts. One clear guide, step by step pictures, how to install will be better. They had helped me very good to give me an alternative method how to install, but recently they changed their server-list and things do not work anymore.

    When you use their Linux instruction, make sure you use the DNS-server 1.1.1.1,1.0.0.1 otherwise you will still leak your real IP-address. (not mentioned anything about it in their instructions).

    For Ubuntu is no kill switch available. I might try another VPN when my account expires in five months, as I like to play with computers and don't like the installation problems with their VPN. After it works, it works quiet good, that I must say honestly!

    Andrea 5/10 November 3, 2019

    Not satisfied

    My main complaint is about the connection speed on my PC with Win 7 Pro. I got no such a problem with their app on android devices (tablet, tv box) but on my PC the connection is not satisfying. Servers in my country are almost always slow, for instance there are times when I find better speed connecting to servers abroad. But the issue is that speed remains very often at max 4-5 MBit downloading, while my connection is 100 MBit. I think I won't renew my yearly subscription.

    Bill Smith 1/10 September 30, 2019

    Horrible

    This company has the worst customer service. I had to contact them to try to resolve some issues. I was insulted, threatened, and refused assistance. I worked with them for several hours and was accused of trolling their page when trying to get information. Now I have paid for their service, I have no support, and they refused to refund my money.

    Saif 3/10 July 31, 2019

    Login security frequently bans IP addresses

    Only one issue I have is that they frequently ban my IP address. Once this happens, I can't even visit their website to get support. I raised a ticket by connecting to a different router. The support guy wrote me that your IP is banned because "You tried to log in with this email address: **********@gmail.com" Obviously the address is unknown to me and there is no reason that I will use this address to login to PrivateVPN.

    Doorg 1/10 July 16, 2019

    They blocked my IP address

    I don't recommend this company. I'm using service 3 month, but now... I don't know why, they blocked my IP address and I can't use VPN now. I wrote to support, they answer was very fast, but they want to know my IP address. I'm not comfortable with this. Make your own opinion.

    Mario Rossi 9/10 June 30, 2019

    Good VPN. A VPN of a company under EU laws

    The question about privacy on PrivateVPN is : why a customer should not believe to a regulated EU company located in a country (Sweden) that is notorious about privacy care, and instead consider affordable about the privacy VPN companies that exist only in fiscal black list countries where not exist any regulation about privacy and where don't exist any data about the company itself except for the company name? Who there is behind for example to NordVPN? Why I should believe that they don't sell all data to Facebook (for example). About speed, after two years of usage of PrivateVPN I've never seen so slow connections as these in this test. I can't say that the speed is always the same, sometimes some server are slower than others.

    Jocke 10/10 June 21, 2019

    Stable and fast

    I've been using PrivateVPN for a year now. I live in Sweden and have obviously chosen the Swedish servers mostly since they are the closest. They are fast, whenever I check the speed I get around 200-250Mbit down on my 300Mbit line. Depending on the time of day. During this year I have had no connection problems. I can watch BBC iPlayer and Netflix USA (even though not so much anymore since it has become boring) without any buffering problems.

    I have also bought Surf Shark (since it was so cheap for 24 month and has nice options) but PrivateVPN is faster in page loading. Not much but Surfshark adds about 2-3 seconds on page loads. I still have 2 months on my PrivateVPN subscription. If Surfshark doesn’t improve their speed on page loading I probably will continue with PrivateVPN as my main VPN when surfing.

    Paranoid Internet User 8/10 June 21, 2019

    4/5 Star Service

    Used Nord, Pure, and then PrivateVPN. No major issues whatsoever with PrivateVPN. Most of the problems people have with VPN is that they have little to no IT experience and then just blame everything on the VPN Company! Their claims of "ZERO" LOGGING/PRIVACY is my only major concern with them from reading reviews. Otherwise they are a reliable service!

    Tim Jenson 10/10 May 23, 2019

    What are you using a dial-up to access their service.

    You got the slowest speeds I've seen from any internet or VPN connection. What are you using dial-up? What is the speed of your connection? I almost get my full bandwidth on a few servers. I have 250 megabytes down services with Comcast, and I'm getting about 176 when connected to the VPN it varies, but I haven't seen anything below 100, all though I've only been using them for a few weeks. The reason they keep cookies is if you're reading a review on a website they offer direct links for their readers that PrivateVPN offers different discounts depending on what deal they have with the reviewer. Also it let's them figure out how to market their product better. They're trying to make money like the rest of us, if you don't like the cookies download a addon that deletes cookies from each site you visit after you leave it. VPNs can't protect you from cookies on other sites either. If you click to your Facebook account with the VPN, they can find out what VPN the IP is from and match that up with your account, so they know you use that VPN. If you don't block the cookies using privacy add-ons, you might go to another site that with that Facebook cookie still on your machine. These companies work together, so it wouldn't just be Facebook that knows you're using PrivateVPN other sites would know as well. A VPN isn't going to solve all your privacy problems you have to be proactive. I can't stress how important privacy add-ons for your browser are. I also would recommend Firefox over Google Chrome, Google is notorious for spying on their customers. By the way, I had to turn off my ad blocker and another privacy add-on that blocks cookies completely. to get that very large discount had they not collected cookies they wouldn't know where I clicked from and I wouldn't have got that deal. Cookies have their uses and their not always bad, once you understand the risks, and take the proper precautions you can better protect your privacy.

    Zin 9/10 May 7, 2019

    Tweak

    I've use PrivateVPN for over a year and I'm extremely satisfied. I love the long-term price, the built-in kill switch (It kills selective programs like qBitTorrent at the very instant which a connection drops, which subsequently prevents from becoming discoverable during the next few seconds in which Windows would establish a new connection automatically) and simplicity to use! Was not too happy about having to manually give it permission to start when I scheduled it to run at computer startup and even manually, I was really annoyed with the fact! There are long and complicated ways around it, something scripting related for geeks to do but it sure ain't easy for me! You could lower permissions for "all" executables in windows but not individually if without digging in deep and that would borderline with insanity to do. I searched high and low and found a an attractive user-friendly and totally free software with a tiny footprint which does not have to ever run in the background and which takes care of granting Individual permission to selective programs like a champ! I do not profit from sharing this knowledge and I'm not an affiliate of any sort so I will not provide you with a link to find it, but I'll tell you its name for you to search and discover.... I highly recommend "AUC Pass" Enjoy!

    Beardy Beard 3/10 May 6, 2019

    Question about Hola

    I'm a complete novice to VPN's and when I was told I needed one to access some sites my Internet Provider has blocked, I was recommended Hola!

    I've been using it casually over the last year and only to gain access to the blocked sites. For a bit it worked fine but recently it keeps trying to get me to go to premium and the sites I could access are now blocked. I decided to remove it and look for another VPN but just happened to see your review.

    Should I be worried about what Hola have accessed if I have deleted Hola's extension from Firefox and deleted the application from my MacBook?

    Sam 10/10 May 2, 2019

    Worth it

    Before getting PrivateVPN I tried to compare as many VPN's as I could, the things I considered were cost and ability to watch netflix from different countries on multiple devices, and of course security. I paid $45 for 2 years which was significantly cheaper than other vpn's that I considered of the same tier. From a safety aspect its great I literally have no worries, I also tend to torrent a lot which it still allows me to do. My usual internet speed without the vpn is about 400 mb but while using PrivateVPN I usually average about 55 mb which isn't too bad (considering the average for higher tier VPNs is about 50-60). Overall I'm extremely happy with Private VPN and I use it on multiple devices including my phone and android tv boxes to watch Netflix from other countries.

    me 10/10 April 06, 2019

    Exactly what I wanted

    I researched a lot of different VPNs, but eventually went with PrivateVPN. All I want to be able to use a VPN for is occasional torrenting and watching German Netflix. At first, I got Nord, but ended canceling a few days in because there was no support for German Netflix. PrivateVPN seems to be the only service that has a German Netflix server, and it's worked perfectly every time. Plus I got a great deal: 18 months for around 50 bucks

    John Doe 4/10 April 06, 2019

    Sucks

    Maybe cheap but you can be tracked using them
    1. Connecting to some states for a while will give message letting you know your traffic can be seen.
    2. Disconnects on it’ Own
    3. Timer showing how long you using the vpn
    4. You can upload a screenshot showing the message telling you your traffic can be seen they blame you not them
    5. Your internet provider will shut your internet off

    Lenny Spina 1/10 March 27, 2019

    PrivateVPN

    When I first started I paid for 3-day trial. It seemed to be fast so I purchased the full product knowing I had a 30-day guarantee. That all changed after a few weeks, the speed got slower and slower. So I asked for a refund. The 3 day charge was not refundable and I was informed that I had used too much! After only a few weeks I HAD USED TOO MUCH SO NO REFUND! I tried working with their rep, Martin but it was no use. Not only didn't he help but he strung me along past my 30 day period. Long story and IT WAS A WASTE OF MONEY AND A DISHONEST GUARANTEE!! AVOID PRIVATE VPN!

    internet user 2/10 February 26, 2019

    Look elsewhere

    I can't even use their site/service when running another VPN! So if you're hoping to use TOR, better look somewhere else. The whole point of using VPN is to unblock and unrestrict website access. What's the point of blocking competitor's access to your own website? Sounds fishy.

    Jim 2/10 February 12, 2019

    Worst VPN Service

    PrivateVPN have the worst service. I had to try and cancel after two hours of testing it out, but they refuse to cancel and refuse to credit back the trial fee. The "support" guys are very rude and it is like trying to reason with a Troll off Reddit.com. I have to caution anyone who is thinking about trying this service out.

    Pete 2/10 January 6, 2019

    No Refund

    I used this VPN for less than 1 month and it didn't work well. In fact it wasn't any better than having no VPN. I sent their support email a detailed message as to why it didn't work and requested a refund. They refused my refund because they said I didn't give them a reason why it didn't work. I kept sending the same detailed explanation. I then had to request a refund through PayPal. This company is corrupt and cannot be trusted. Avoid this company.

    A Nonymous 1/10 December 19, 2018

    DO NOT TRUST PRIVATE VPN

    "30-Days Risk Free. Not satisfied? Get your money back." BULLSHIT! They spout "most trusted", "full money back guarantee", "ultra fast servers". LIES!

    Prices are in USD or something, although I could not see this clarified anywhere on the website and consequently was charged about 30% more than I expected.

    I paid for a 'buy 2 years, get 6 months free' plan and on the very next page, they offered a 3 years deal for only a few cents more!

    It's messy. I closed down the app on my laptop and logged out of the website, yet I was somehow still logged in to the VPN?!

    Now, back to this supposed money back guarantee: Private VPN promises super fast connections, yet I was continually waiting for my videos to buffer and, once or twice, it even timed out! I also couldn't access something I wanted to see and they guaranteed I would be able to.

    On my first day, I asked for a refund. The initial form asked for reasons, which I gave. Private VPN gives as a valid reason for a refund.

    I received an automated response saying I would get my refund within 5 days and please give reasons. I gave my reasons for the second time.

    I received instructions on how to access the thing I couldn't see. I replied saying, as I'd already mentioned, I didn't want that, I want a refund, please. I received an email asking for my reasons.

    Are you kidding?!

    I've since read other reviews from people who've also been dicked around trying to get their money back. Don't risk it. DO NOT TRUST PRIVATE VPN.

    mario Medina 1/10 December 9, 2018

    mr

    Lousy customer support will use any kind of tricks not to refund your money. No such thing as 30 day money back. I asked for a refund 2 days after signing up and not getting a hold of customer support got an answer 3 weeks later saying i used 150gb of their lousy service and no refund was available. No live support.

    Josef 2/10 December 4, 2018

    PrivateVPN

    I have PrivateVPN about a month. It’s cheaper but make you from fibre internet dial up internet. Practical there is not customer service because only contact by email and answer after 24 hours. Other bad things is when I want to watch Netflix I have to disconnect. I just keep for to do banking but I think VPN is useless because when you are on any web they can locate me exactly.

    Stephen Whitinger 1/10 November 26, 2018

    PrivateVPN Not Recommended

    Private VPN does not honor the 30 day refund policy BEWARE! Claimed that I used 384 GB in a 2 hour period (most of the 2 hours was spent to to get it to work) The app would not work properly on my android box. Contacted support took 12 hours to get a reply. Deleted the app and went with another service.

    Dennis Östergren 9/10 November 3, 2018

    New customer experiences

    New customer, and am well pleased. It's always difficult to put a review in the correct perspective and context, especially in terms of making it general enough to be unbiased. As for me, their pricing is very attractive, the level of security is top notch. The amount of servers and geo-coverage, is for me really somewhat of a non-issue, truly. It all depends on needs, and my needs are a secure connection when on public wifi, and the ability to unlock Netflix, BBC and the like, and to that end, privateVPN works like a charm. My own personal needs do not extend to needing servers all over the world, I would make do with 10, as long as they are situated where I need them, and for my needs, they are. So in terms of my personal needs, I couldn't find any better, myself being in Sweden is not a point in and of itself, but I do know that because of regulations and such, I do trust their no logging policy, it's very much ingrained into the Swedish mindset of being mindful of privacy. Quick install, works like a charm on my Linux boxes, nothing to complain about really. There might well be others that are better, in some senses, but this is the first one I truly tested, and have found no reason to look further, it just works.

    Les Banks 1/10 October 29, 2018

    Appalling customer service

    Had terrible problems installing this service so contacted customer service via very slow web chat. Was promised refund under the 30 day money back guarantee but never got it despite several emails. I’d steer clear if I were you.

    Matteo 4/10 October 28, 2018

    not reliable, average quality

    I used privateVPN for the last year, when it works well streaming/torrent can go very fast but let's say at least 30% of the time servers are super slow (impossible to do anything with that). Some servers went offline FOR DAYS and their support it's slow and annoying.

    Bob Roper 5/10 October 14, 2018

    Poor customer services

    Having used the VPN service now for approx 7 months, I encountered a problem with the ethernet/wifi connection and opened a ticket.

    Within an hour I received a response but this wasn't to hopefully resolve my problem. I am still waiting to hear from them some 30 hours later.

    I have about two months remaining on my current subscription but unable to use the service.

    I have sent many messages to them with no response. They are always off-line.

    Their customer service is absolutely atrocious.

    Not recommended

    kevin 1/10 October 8, 2018

    This vpn is so annoying!

    I used the vpn, but there was a problem and I asked them for help and their help was so frustrating and upsetting. I've tried several servers for Torrenting, but other servers besides Swedish servers are often broken and bad.

    I sent an e-mail to support but I could not contact the support right away. I couldn’t send the email, because I received an error saying "could not api", it took a long time and also the response was not very helpful and I could not get an apology either. I am curious what they are doing in the company?

    James 5/10 October 5, 2018

    Slow and unreliable access to US Netflix enabled servers.

    Your review is spot on! Slow inconsistent service, disconnects randomly. Netflix works into US/UK (from Canada) BUT it sometimes is impossible to connect to a "Netflix enabled" server (overload) but at the same time access to the other servers works. Cannot oftentimes connect during the evening (North America timezones) to a Netflix enabled server and get ANY performance whatsoever -- Speedtests (during this time) regularly report download speeds < 1.0 Mbs, Do not buy -- I am waiting for my contract to run out and switch to something else.

    Steve 3/10 July 14, 2018

    Fine until something goes wrong

    Good performance when everything is working OK but when things are not quite right and you contact them this is where the true nature of a company emerges.

    Sadly their customer support is the worst I have come across for decades. Very rude, aggressive, impatient, disrespectful, and don’t provide answers. And this goes all the way to the top. Shameful but apparently not unusual for a Swedish company so may be a cultural thing. If you are used to it and can tolerate it then be my guest but not for me. Or hope nothing goes wrong.

    Salamon Stern 10/10 July 4, 2018

    I like it

    I had some problems first time, but the support team helped me quick. The vpn works great on Lubuntu 18.04, i recommend it!

    Henke 9/10 July 3, 2018

    Easy and good to use

    Setup remotely to my parents in greece, they want to view swedish TV, there was a minor issue to get it working, just needed to install/repair one of the files and worked flawless after this. My parents are happy, they now dont have to do anything, just start the computer and let it connect and then go straight into viewing the swedish channels they were restricted from using.

    I actually used HideMyAss for a few years but the servers they had sucked so im happy about this switch and so are my non technical parents.

    Syd Lyon 6/10 June 23, 2018

    I'm happy

    Your app isn’t the easiest one for a guy who is new, but your efficient support was really good and got things sorted for me. Overall I am happy to date.

    jim tynan 1/10 June 2, 2018

    PrivateVPN

    First off they aren’t 100% money back guarantee.

    I’m having a dispute and requested a refund.

    Pointless company.

    Pentti 8/10 May 15, 2018

    Pretty good

    I’ve been using VPN for 5 years now. I have tried several, Anonine, Mullvad, NordVPN, Kaspersky through the years. I would say PrivateVPN is pretty secure, at least I haven’t found any leaks on the sites that test for them. But it was a bit hassle to get it right, it didn’t protect DNS-leak out of the box – for me – on windows 10 home, and their app isn’t the easiest one for a novice I guess, but great patient support (on a weekend). Overall I am happy with them.

    Great uptime and I get almost all of my 300/100Mbit. Great price with a discount they had (got 15 months for $39). It’s not better than the others, but not worse either imho.

    Alex 1/10 March 24, 2018

    Very bad

    I signed up for 3 month service, then found all kinds of issues with documentation, false or misleading claims on their website, issues with some protocols including errors of configuration in OpenVPN and IkeV2. Their support is being very combative and providing a refund. It seems to me their business model is to get customers by offering 30 guarantee, but then be so nasty people just give up.

    I discussed this with a lawyer so will be calling Visa and the the police, BBB, and leaving reviews everywhere

    Paul 10/10 March 13, 2018

    Layman’s Review

    I’m not a computer guru so I can’t really analyse this app or compare it with others but I know enough to understand that I needed a VPN and why. I researched several VPNs tried a few ‘free’ options and eventually decided that a proper subscribed service was the way to go for a trouble free VPN ‘gateway’ and all the features I needed.

    Basically PrivateVPN does what it says on the box at a reasonable price which is what I wanted. Support is excellent, fast and informative. Nobody judges you, they just tell you what you need to do to get going.

    Is it the best? I honestly don’t know, but it does everything I need reliably consistently and without issue and that to me is worth every penny.

    Betty 2/10 February 15, 2018

    Privacy is not priority...

    Trevor is on the money. Crashed my computer as well as couldn’t connect to VPN. Think it is because of my Linux debian os? Well I tried with Chromebook which I have never had any problems connecting to with a VPN and it would work with the VPN anymore. In fact, I cannot connect to any VPN even another companies VPN after using them. Seriously untrustable VPN. Heed this warning.

    Trevor 1/10 December 29, 2017

    Very poor

    Have tried this on and off over 6 months. Trying to access even the BBC MEDIA PLAYER from another country is impossible. If the service cannot even enable access to the BBC, then, it is very poor.

    The helpline has been no help at all.

    Martin 10/10 December 28, 2017

    PrivateVPN Employee

    Brad,

    First I’d like to thank you for reviewing our service! It’s important to provide objective reviews.
    At the same time, it’s very important that all information is correct in any way.

    1. When it comes to Netflix it’s important to connect to right VPN location. Of course, all locations doesn’t work with Netflix. No VPN provider provides that. It’s all about connecting to the right VPN location: https://privatevpn.com/best-vpn/netflix-vpn/

    2. Speeds – When it comes to the speeds I’m not even getting close to your low speeds(Expect from the Hong Kong server). There are many different reasons why a VPN user can experience low speeds. Here are my test results I’ve made from Sweden US server: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/6919592199
    Netherlands Server: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/6919595617
    Hong Kong: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/6919599172

    3. Logging policy – The information was incorrect on our website as we do not collect information such as IP addresses. This has been corrected now.

    If we track clicks and sales to get data on how different campaigns are performing. How do you get that to we “might” sell it to a third-party company? I don’t understand why someone would even buy non-identifiable information.

    Stephan 10/10 November 8, 2017

    PrivateVPN - Highly Recommended

    Living abroad and wanted VPN to access and protect my web browsing. Some websites I use to view television series are not accessible and this VPN allowed me to connect with a secure and stable connection. Interface is easy, highly recommend!