US-based UltraVPN is a small-scale VPN provider. Founded just four years ago, the company is already making quite a name for itself in the VPN industry.
UltraVPN offers a very affordable and generous free trial plan, allowing users to test out the service without committing to a long-term contract. The company provides PPTP, Hydra, and IKEv2 protocols and 256-bit AES encryption (the highest level of encryption currently available).
One unique feature of UltraVPN is its “Instant Mode”, which allows users to connect to the VPN without having to go through the hassle of downloading and installing client software. Simply enter your username and password, and you’re good to go!
Currently, UltraVPN is one of the most popular VPN providers among users looking for a fast, reliable, and affordable service. For this post, we’ve conducted an in-depth review of UltraVPN to see if it lives up to the hype.
UltraVPN Basics
Let’s start with the basics. UltraVPN is a software program that allows users to connect to a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN can be used to encrypt your internet traffic, making it more private and secure. It can also bypass geo-restrictions, making it possible to access websites and services that would otherwise be unavailable in your country.
UltraVPN is one of the simplest VPNs to set up and use. It has a straightforward user interface and is available for various platforms, including Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. UltraVPN uses its own proprietary protocol (Hydra), which is known for being fast and reliable.
This provider has one of the tidiest server fleets among all VPN services. There are over 100 servers in more than 85 countries to choose from.
One of the great things about UltraVPN is that it doesn’t keep any logs of user activity. This means that your browsing history, traffic data, and IP address will never be stored or monitored by the company.
You might be wondering how this can be true, since the company is based in the US, which is known for its strict data retention laws. But don’t worry; after being bought by Pango in 2018, a vast overhaul was made to the company’s logging policy.
Pango owns several well-known VPNs (Hotspot Shield, Betternet, VPN360). The company has an across-the-board privacy policy that has been tested by independent reviewers.
According to the policy, a small amount of non-identifiable data will be gathered. This pertains to whether a connection was made as well as the nation you are connected to (but not which outgoing IP address you use – or your home IP address). These anonymized logs, also referred to as connection logs, are secure because it is impossible to infer what you did while using the VPN from them.
Here’s a quick glimpse of UltraVPN’s key features:
| BASED IN COUNTRY: | UNITED STATES |
| USABILITY: | Very Easy to use |
| LOG FILES: | Strict No Logging Policy |
| LOCATIONS: | 85+ countries, 100+ servers |
| SUPPORT: | Live Chat (24/7) |
| TORRENTING: | P2P & Torrenting Allowed |
| STREAMING: | Unblocks: Netflix, Peacock, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, and more |
| ENCRYPTION/PROTOCOL: | 4096-bit DH key, Automatic, Hydra, and IKEv2(IPSec) |
| COST: | $2.99/mo |
| OFFICIAL WEBSITE: | www.ULTRAVPN.com |
UltraVPN Pros
1. Well–Distributed Network
UltraVPN offers a small but powerful server network with 100 servers spread throughout 85 countries. These servers are fairly evenly dispersed throughout Europe, North and South America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
The network of UltraVPN includes virtual servers that all provide dependable connections. The modest network, however, might become overloaded if there is an unexpected increase in customers. Users may face a variety of stream and game slowdowns, poor video chat quality, and other high-bandwidth activity disruptions if there is congestion.
From the home screen, it is simple to reach the server menu. You may see the most recent location and a little arrow pointing to the server menu on the bar beneath the Connect button. Simply connect if you wish to use it again.
All in all, UltraVPN’s network does its job quite well, but we would prefer it to be slightly more robust.
2. User-Friendly Apps
UltraVPN’s apps are compatible with all major platforms, including Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Linux. The apps have a user-friendly interface that is both intuitive and easy to navigate.
Mac
Since the Mac and Windows clients are similar, we will focus on the macOS experience in this review. We had no problems at all when testing out the Mac version.
Connecting takes around 3 seconds, and the client is simple and easy to use. Some VPNs give users the option to move the program windows around. However, the Mac client for UltraVPN clings to the top bar of the display.
This may sound like a con, but it actually saves a lot of space on the screen. Besides, you can still access all the features and settings by clicking on the icon in the top bar.
The server list is easily accessible from the main screen. You’re able to choose not only the country of your server but also the specific location within that country. UltraVPN gets bonus points for this feature, which is rare among VPN providers.
As you can see from the photos above, UltraVPN’s interface is fairly intuitive, even for the less tech-savvy. If there’s one feature likely to cause a bit of confusion for new users, it’s the firewall.
This “firewall” is actually UltraVPN’s kill switch. If the secure VPN connection abruptly fails or becomes inactive, this technology instantly disconnects the user from the internet to avoid exposing them on a regular network.
We visited the Settings menu but found limited customization options. However, users can navigate here to switch between the Hydra and IKEv2 protocols, or to turn the kill switch on or off.
The software has a nice UI, but there are still many features missing. For instance, we would have appreciated an auto-connect tool that could automatically select the best and closest server.
Windows
The Windows app is particularly well-designed and includes features such as a kill switch and auto-connect that are not found in the other apps.
The kill switch will automatically disconnect your device from the internet if the VPN connection is lost, while the auto-connect feature will automatically connect you to the best server based on your location.
Android
People are likely to be on a mobile device while connecting to a VPN. Mobile VPN users greatly outnumber those who use desktop computers to access security software.
For that reason, we appreciate VPN providers who take the mobile interface into account when designing their product. The Android client for UltraVPN offers the same rich features and simple design as the desktop version.
However, the Android client is unique in that it exclusively makes use of Hydra, which specializes in anonymity and bypassing censorship (it’s even more difficult to block than WireGuard).
3. Solid Encryption
UltraVPN uses the AES-256 encryption cipher with a 2048-bit key and HMAC SHA256 for message authentication. This is considered to be one of the best encryption ciphers available and is used by many military and government organizations.
UltraVPN also offers a number of other security features that are not found in most other VPNs. These include a built-in firewall, anti-spyware, and an ad blocker.
4. Protocols
To generate a secure tunnel, you can choose between three protocols: Automatic, Hydra, and IKEv2(IPSec).
Automatic
With the Automatic protocol, your device will automatically connect to the most secure tunneling protocol available.
This is the recommended protocol as it offers the highest level of protection and is always up-to-date with the latest security features.
Hydra
Hydra is a highly anonymous multi-protocol VPN client that uses the TLS 1.2 protocol. Made originally by Aura, Hydra is UltraVPN’s proprietary protocol. However, it is somewhat slower than WiredGuard.
IKEv2(IPSec)
IKEv2 is a VPN protocol that uses the IPSec protocol to generate a secure tunnel. It is considered to be more secure than Hydra, but it is not as fast as WiredGuard or OpenVPN.
Unfortunately, UltraVPN doesn’t offer the OpenVPN protocol, which is the gold standard for VPN security and speed.
5. Fast Speeds
UltraVPN is one of the few VPN providers offering true high-speed connections. The average speed of their servers is around 100Mbps depending on the country, which is much faster than most other VPNs.
This makes UltraVPN a great choice for users who need a fast connection for gaming, streaming, or other high-bandwidth activities.
The European servers, with an average speed of around 130Mbps, while servers in Asia are the fastest, with an average speed of 160Mbps.
6. Bypass Streaming Geoblocks
UltraVPN can bypass geo-restrictions in Netflix and other streaming services, allowing you to stream content from any country. This is because UltraVPN uses a number of servers that have been optimized for streaming.
To find the best server for streaming, simply connect to the “Streaming” server location in the app. Try a few different servers before you find one that works consistently.
There are four dedicated servers for streaming. In our test, the UK locations worked fine with UltraVPN. There was very little lagging or buffering, and the video quality was excellent. On the other hand, the Canadian server offered mediocre video quality with several delays and buffering.
We tested UltraVPN’s ability to unblock content from several popular streaming sites, with mostly positive but occasionally surprising results. Here’s what we found.
Netflix
Given that it has the largest collection of any streaming service, Netflix is probably the first site that VPN users try to unblock. Since Netflix is accessible everywhere, it uses a different method of geo-blocking than other streaming services.
It allocates various streaming collections to the locations where they are available (excluding, of course, countries where Netflix does not operate) rather than limiting access to a single place. In other words, the US catalog and Canadian catalog are very different from one another.
A user will get access to the Netflix collection that matches the country of his or her IP address. Since the American library is the largest, it’s worth using a VPN that gives you an American IP.
However, those who attempt to unblock Netflix may run into further issues. The channel has the ability to block VPNs that it flags as untrustworthy.
We were pleased to see that Ultraflix by UltraVPN is one of the few providers that can still unblock Netflix. The service uses a number of US-based IP addresses to give users access to the entire American Netflix catalog.
Hulu
Another industry leader in streaming that has mastered banning VPN services is Hulu, which has managed to block several well-regarded VPN providers (including some that were able to get past Netflix’s restrictions).
Using UltraVPN’s UltraFlix servers, you can access Hulu from anywhere in the world. Like Netflix, UltraVPN will give you a US IP address, so you can access all Hulu’s content regardless of where you’re located.
Amazon Prime Video
Over 150 million people worldwide have subscribed to Prime Video. Except for a few nations, including Syria, Iran, North Korea, and Mainland China, the service is practically universal.
Amazon’s geo-blocking functions are similar to those used by Netflix. As a worldwide service, it assigns particular libraries to each location. So, an Amazon Prime Video subscriber will receive certain content based on his or her IP address.
The US version of Prime Video holds the largest content library by far. To access it, you need to use a VPN to get an American IP address.
However, Amazon prime does not work with UltraVPN. It easily detected that I was using a VPN and displayed the following error message: “Your device is connected to a VPN…”.
Disney+ and HBO Max
When we tested Disney+ and HBO Max with UltraVPN, we were impressed by the quality of streaming. Although we occasionally experienced lags on both platforms, which may have been caused by unreliable connection speeds, the video quality was excellent, and there were no problems finding functional servers.
DAZN
We tried using UltraVPN to unblock DAZN, but none of the servers could access the material.
BBC iPlayer
Streaming from the BBC iPlayer was slow and difficult. The video quality was roughly average, and there were several delays. At one point, when we attempted to play a fresh episode of a show, we received an error message.
7. Torrenting
Although there are no dedicated servers for torrenting, all of UltraVPN’s servers allow P2P traffic. You can torrent on any server with the “Torrenting” location in the app.
The best server for torrenting is the Netherlands server, which offers excellent speeds and reliability. The UK server is also a good choice for torrenting, but its speeds are not as fast as the Netherlands server.
8. Very Affordable
Whichever term plan you choose, you’ll receive the exact same benefits. Six devices may connect simultaneously, which is typical for a VPN company.
There is also a 30-day money-back guarantee included with each plan choice. Additionally, you will receive the PassWatch password manager and dark web scan tool free of charge.
The longest package offered by UltraVPN offers the best value. You will pay $2.99/month for the two-year plan, but you will only be charged once for the entire amount, which will be about $71.76.
9. Good Customer Support
UltraVPN offers 24/7 live chat support, which is available in English, French, and German. We tested the live chat support and found the agents to be very responsive and helpful.
The customer support representatives were able to answer all of our questions and provided us with additional information when necessary.
We also contacted UltraVPN’s customer support via email and received a response within a few hours. The representative we spoke to was very polite and helpful.
Overall, UltraVPN’s customer support is excellent and is available 24/7 to help you with any issues you may have.
10. Kill Switch
A kill switch is a requirement for all trustworthy VPN companies. This function prevents your true IP address and other personal information from leaking by cutting off your internet access when your VPN connection is hacked.
UltraVPN has a kill switch for Windows that will automatically disconnect your device from the internet if the VPN connection is lost. This is a very useful feature that not all VPNs offer.
The kill switch is located in the “Settings” tab of the app and can be turned on or off with just a few clicks.
However, we found UltraVPN’s kill switch to be less trustworthy than those offered by competitors. The kill switch took a few seconds to actually cut off our internet connection throughout our tests. Unfortunately, our true IP was readily apparent to anyone who wanted to view it during those brief intervals.
11. No Logging
UltraVPN is a no-logs VPN, which means that they do not keep any logs of your online activity. This is a very important feature for a VPN because it ensures that your privacy is protected at all times.
UltraVPN’s privacy policy is very clear and concise. They state that they do not collect or store any logs of their users’ online activity.
They also state that they do not track the IP addresses of their users or the websites they visit.
12. Password Manager
The PassWatch password manager is the only genuinely useful add-on for UltraVPN that is free of charge. This feature is available as a browser extension for Windows and macOS. For Android and iOS, it takes the form of a mobile app, though this is visually identical to the browser extension. Here are some of its features:
Password Generator
The PassWatch password generator can create passwords of up to 32 characters in length. The generator includes options for special characters, numbers, and mixed-case letters.
Identities
The PassWatch identities feature allows you to securely store personal information, such as your name, address, email, and credit card number. This information is encrypted and can only be decrypted with your master password.
Secure Me
The Secure Me feature is a browser extension that encrypts your login credentials and stores them locally on your computer. When you visit a website, Secure Me will automatically fill in your username and password.
Credit Cards
The PassWatch credit card feature allows you to store your credit card information securely. This information is encrypted and can only be decrypted with your master password.
UltraVPN: Cons
1. Very Basic Features
UltraVPN only offers basic features, which may not be enough for more experienced users. It does not have browser extensions, for example, which can be found on other VPNs. This is very limiting, as you can only use UltraVPN on certain devices and not others.
It also doesn’t have RAM-only servers, which means your data could be at risk if the server is ever hacked. Lastly, it doesn’t have Double VPN capabilities like NordVPN or ExpressVPN. Double VPN encrypts your data twice for increased security.
2. Limited Device Options
Firstly, UltraVPN does not support Linux. This may not be a big deal for some people, but it’s worth mentioning.
Secondly, this service has only four device options: PC, Mac, iOS, and Android. If you want to use UltraVPN on other devices—routers, smart TVs, gaming consoles—you’re out of luck.
3. Free Trial Needs Credit Card Info
A free trial is available for UltraVPN, but you need to provide your credit card information to sign up. This is a bit of a turn-off for some people, as other VPNs offer free trials without requiring this type of sensitive information.
Getting Started With UltraVPN
We found the process of downloading and installing UltraVPN to be fast and straightforward.
Step 1: Download
Go to the website and download the UltraVPN app.
Step 2: Register for an Account
You must provide your name and email address and create a password.
Step 3: Log in
Once you have registered, log in to the UltraVPN app using your new account credentials.
Step 4: Choose Your Connection
Choose the country you want to connect to from the list of available options. Then click on the “Connect” button.
Step 5: Connected
You should now be connected to UltraVPN and can start browsing the internet securely and anonymously.
Accessing Settings
Click on the cog in the top left corner to open the options menu. It is straightforward and provides just a few choices, primarily security-related. Two icons in the upper right corner will take you to your Account and Support.
You may view your plan type and the email address you used to sign up for the service in Account. From your account dashboard, you can also access additional information by clicking “Manage.”
Via Support, you can get quick access to the FAQ area and contact page, where you can request assistance with any questions or problems you might be experiencing with the service.
Overall, setting up and using the VPN is easy. There aren’t any complicated menu options or sophisticated features. It is an excellent option for anyone searching for a simple, slick-appearing VPN service because it is incredibly user-friendly.
Pricing
UltraVPN’s pricing is competitive with other well-known VPNs. Plans for one month, six months, and twelve months are available; they automatically renew if you don’t cancel. Additionally, you should be aware that once your original plan expires, you will be charged extra to renew. UltraVPN’s website gives you access to a 7-day free trial; however, this is only accessible on Android and iOS devices.
Only PayPal or credit/debit cards are accepted as payment methods for UltraVPN. Since I wanted to join anonymously, I wish it accepted cryptocurrencies as payment. Each UltraVPN package has a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Starting at $7.99 for a single month, a one-year commitment lowers the price to only $4.99 each month. This is really impressive, considering how quick and typically successful it is in unblocking content.
The actual value of this VPN, though, comes when you sign up for two years. As a result, the price drops to just $2.99 per month, placing UltraVPN firmly in the affordable category.
How Secure Is UltraVPN?
After being bought by Pango in 2020, UltraVPN has been on a rollercoaster of a ride. The VPN service boasts an impressive array of features, including military-grade encryption and a strict no logs policy. But how secure is it really?
When it was previously owned by Aura Group, UltraVPN was found to have numerous security vulnerabilities. One of the most serious was collecting and selling user data to third parties.
Fortunately, Pango has addressed these issues and made UltraVPN much more secure. The encryption has been beefed up to military-grade AES-256-bit, and the no logs policy is now watertight.
Additionally, UltraVPN now uses perfect forward secrecy, which means that your data is safe even if the VPN’s encryption keys are compromised.
Conclusion: Is UltraVPN Worth It?
UltraVPN is an excellent choice for you if you require an effective and affordable VPN. UltraVPN has a strong presence in 85+ countries with 100+ servers, which is more than enough to unblock any website or service. The provider also uses military-grade AES 256-bit encryption with Hydra protocol by default, ensuring your data remains safe from government surveillance and hackers.
The VPN does unlock a lot of content, and the cost is reasonable. It moves pretty quickly as well. As a result, it’s a good choice for those who want to unblock foreign game servers or stream on services like iPlayer, for instance.
Overall, we believe that UltraVPN is an excellent choice for a fast, reliable and affordable VPN service.