VPNSecure was founded in 2010 in Australia by VPNSecure Pty Ltd (AU).
So they’ve been around for at least seven years now.
VPNSecure.me pushes the claim that they collect no user logs right on their homepage.
But is there something lurking beneath the surface of their privacy policy that says otherwise?
In this VPNSecure review, I will uncover whether or not the service is as secure and private as it claims to be.
I’ll also be outlining the pros and cons of this VPN to give you a final, definitive recommendation (or not).
But before we dive into pros and cons, here’s some background about VPNSecure.me.
VPNSecure Overview
OVERALL RANK: | #3 out of 78 VPNs |
USABILITY: | Easy to install and use |
LOG FILES: | No Logging Policy |
LOCATIONS: | 48 countries, 72 servers |
SUPPORT: | Live Chat, Good Quality Service |
TORRENTING: | Limited Torrenting |
NETFLIX: | Yes 2/5 |
ENCRYPTION/PROTOCOL: | Offers 3 types: AES- 256, AES-128, DES-CBC OpenVPN and more |
COST: | $6.66/mo (yearly) |
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: | www.vpnsecure.me |
VPNSecure Background
One of the first things I noticed when visiting the VPNSecure website was the live chat support that automatically appeared.
Here’s what the home page for this VPN looks like:
It’s easy to use, showcases the features of the VPN, and looks very professional.
Here’s what VPNSecure.me says about themselves on their site:
“It doesn’t matter where you live in the world we have a VPN server location close to you, with a presence in 48 countries and counting. We have you covered! Access all locations and switch servers any time you like!”
That sounds great on the surface.
Unfortunately, you can’t always trust what companies say about themselves on the homepage. So before signing up and paying for the service, I did a little digging around online.
Across the web, the chatter around VPNSecure is pretty mixed.
Some users claim that they can’t access certain sites, for example. Common sites blocked included the BBC iplayer website and Netflix.
I tested Netflix for myself, personally, in the pros and cons below. Keep reading to see if they recognized I was using VPNSecure or not.
VPNSecure is an Australian-based company. And unfortunately, they’re among the most regulated countries in the world.
For example, some other VPN services are hosted in places like the Caribbean or even Switzerland.
So as a general rule, those governments don’t impose as many restrictions on each company. They have more freedom in choosing what gets recorded, logged, or turned over to the authorities.
Let’s take a look now at the some of the features offered by VPNSecure.
Compatibility and Features Review
VPNSecure provides multiple protocols, WiFi security, and more.
This VPN supports the following devices and operating systems:
- PC
- Mac
- iOS
- Android
- Linux
- and TOR but only through OpenVPN
VPNSecure is also compatible with DD-WRT and Tomato routers as well as any OpenVPN router.
This VPN works on up to 5 devices simultaneously, which is a huge advantage of this service.
Many other VPNs I’ve reviewed will try to cap you at a certain point. For example, they might only let you connect to three devices with your plan.
Another one makes you pay based on the devices you want to connect. So even connecting a few in your house or office will start to add up quickly.
VPNSecure provides 80 servers in 50 countries. That’s like the lower-middle range when you compare it to the other VPN services.
ExpressVPN, for instance, has thousands of servers in most major cities and countries around the globe.
VPNSecure also offers a kill switch, so your information and privacy will be protected if anything ever happens to your connection while using this VPN.
This feature is critical if you live (or are visiting) a country with strict censorship laws. A bad public WiFi connection could put you in jeopardy by revealing all of your personal information within seconds.
Kill switches prevent that from happening by giving you a handy Plan B.
But how much is it going to set you back? Here’s what VPNSecure’s pricing and plans look like.
VPNSecure Cost and Plan Options
VPNSecure offers a 7-day money-back guarantee right out of the gate.
That’s about the low-end of the pack from what I’ve seen. Some VPNs offer 15 days, while others go up to a full 30.
Otherwise, their paid plans come in one-month, six-month, and 12-month options.
Each package is identical as far as features and total servers offered. So the pricing difference just depends on how long you want to prepay.
The one-month package is $9.95 per month.
This comes out to $119.40 per year (if you never upgrade).
That’s steep, so use this plan to try out the service before committing. You can pay for a month or two and then upgrade to the annual plan to get the big discount.
The six-month package is $8.33 per month.
Altogether, this second option is $49.95. You’ll save nearly $20 if you choose this plan over the monthly one in the long run.
The 12-month package is $6.66 per month.
This plan comes out to be $79.95, which is a total saving of $39.45.
The 12-month plan is clearly the best value. If you know you want to use VPNSecure in the long run, be sure to go with this plan over any other option.
Here’s how the company’s pricing plans look on their site:
And they also offer two more advanced packages if you’re looking for a PPTP or HTTP Proxy plan.
The PPTP one month plan is $7.95 per month. While the HHTP Proxy plan is $4.95 per month.
These plans both include access to all servers, PPTP, anonymous access, and no logging.
However, a word of caution.
I would not recommend you going for these advanced options unless you know what you’re doing.
PPTP, for example, is not as secure as OpenVPN. It’s outdated and behind-the-times when it comes to encryption. So people have been able to hack it today within just an hour or two.
When in doubt, stick with an OpenVPN connection, instead.
Payment options for all plans include:
- Perfect Money
- Bitcoin
- PayPal
- Credit Card
- Payza
- Cashu
Now that we’ve gone over features and pricing of VPNSecure, let’s talk about the pros and cons of the service.
VPNSecure Pros +
This VPN offers some top-notch features, especially when it comes to their security.
Here’s a quick overview of what VPNSecure does well.
1. Good Security & Privacy
Security and privacy are the first things I look at when considering any VPN that I’m going to trust with my data.
VPNSecure’s privacy features are top of the line.
Is it Well Encrypted?
VPNSecure offers three different kinds of encryption:
- AES-256
- AES-128
- DES-CBC
AES encryption is top-of-the-line. You can also upgrade or downgrade depending on what your objectives are or where you’re located.
For example, both AES-128 and 256 are extremely secure. But the latter adds an extra layer of protection that makes it even harder to crack, while the former is a little faster.
Brute-force attacks are among the most common because they’re so easy to pull off. Look, they even have a hacking tutorial on Udemy about it!
A dictionary attack is one perfect example. All it does is literally just go through all the letters of the alphabet to try and guess your passwords.
Once it reaches the end, it adds two digits (like “AA,” “AB,” etc.). There’s almost no skill required in something like this. You just need a simple program to run it for you.
However, AES-256 is basically impenetrable. There’s no known security breaches or successful hacks, so you can rest assured that your data will be safe behind its secure encryption.
VPNSecure also offers DNS Leak Protection, UDP Leak Protection, and IPv6 Leak Protection.
Is Torrenting Allowed?
Torrenting is allowed with this VPN on 90% of servers.
It’s blocked on the following servers: UK 1, UK 2, and US 10.
Torrenting with a VPN might sound like overkill. After all, they do provide similar services.
However, using them together does make a lot of sense when you think about it.
Torrents are primarily used for downloading content quickly. But they don’t always pack the same level of security.
So even though your private information might stay private, you’re not necessarily protected against evil actors out there.
Logging Policy
VPNSecure claims over and over again on their site that they have a very strict no-logging policy.
Unfortunately, I’ve been tricked by this bold claim before.
And sure enough, when you dig through the boring privacy policy, the company claims that it has the right to monitor you if they believe you are using the site illegally.
Also, no logging only applies to the following kinds of data, according to VPNSecure.me’s website:
- IP Address NOT logged
- Connection timestamp NOT logged
- Disconnect timestamp NOT logged
- Bandwidth used NOT logged
- DNS Requests NOT logged
The company also keeps your email address, username, and password, but insists that your password is encrypted using AES 2048 bit encryption.
So in most cases, you should be fine. Just be aware that there might be someone still watching out there.
2. Usability of The App Is Good
I was surprised at how simple VPNSecure was to download and use.
On the VPNSecure website, just select the device you’re looking to install the service on, and you’ll be ready to download.
Once you’ve downloaded the software, you’ll be prompted to log in.
From there, you’ll see a nice user interface that looks something like this:
If you disconnect, the banner will show that you are no longer connected at the top of the screen. You can also search for a server using the search bar.
At the bottom of the screen, your IP address, current location, and membership type are listed.
The usability of this service is not difficult or complicated at all, and the search bar adds a nice touch.
Overall, I’d give it an 8/10 for usability. Pretty good for beginners or VPN-newbs.
3. Solid Customer Support
VPNSecure uses live chat for customer support.
If you remember, it was one of the first things you see when visiting their site.
So I decided to put them to the test.
Another VPN I reviewed had a “live” chat option that was anything but. It took them hours and hours to finally give me a response.
Thankfully, VPNSecure was more on top of it.
Once you’re on the site, a live support chat automatically appears that you can minimize.
Here’s the question I sent in:
I was almost immediately met with a response.
Nick was helpful, fast, and friendly. I don’t even think I had to wait a full 30 seconds to receive his reply.
Live chat can usually either be a hit or miss because many companies use bots or take forever to respond.
Not this VPN.
Overall, the quality of VPNSecure customer service was extraordinary.
4. Their Cost Starts From $6.66/mo
The pricing plans for VPNSecure are fairly simple to navigate through.
The basic plan with the best value is $6.66 per month, and advanced plans are even cheaper than that.
Considering that you can access this VPN from as many devices as you want for this price, I would definitely say that it’s worth the cost.
There are a few others out there, like PIA, that will give you a better long-term discount if you’re willing to prepay.
However, most of those will have some limitations on the number of devices you use. So you might hit a cap at a certain point and have to get additional accounts.
5. 2 out 5 Servers Work With Netflix
Netflix has been cracking down on VPN services over the past few years.
They’ve been aggressively going after new VPN services and coming up with new ways to identify if people are using them to bypass geo-restrictions.
And that’s incredibly frustrating for most users. You pay good money to legally stream content. However, because of some random location licensing issues, you’re effectively blocked from getting all of your money’s worth.
So Netflix access is usually at the top of my list.
I used VPNSecure to log in to a server out of Mexico and decided to put it to the test.
Initially, everything looked great. The new shows popped up almost instantly.
But when I tried to play them, Netflix knew I was using a VPN and denied me the access to stream any video.
Bummer. This same cycle repeated on the following servers:
- United States: East Coast
- United States: West Coast
- United Kingdom
Good news, though.
We were able to successfully stream Netflix content on the following two servers:
- Canada
- Netherlands
Overall, that performance puts this as a Pro. And gets them a favorable slot on our best Netflix VPNs.
VPNSecure Cons –
I was pretty pleased with most of what VPNSecure had to offer.
But there were a few issues I had when digging below the surface.
Here’s a quick recap of all the cons to watch out for when using their service.
1. VPNSecure is Slower Than Average VPN
Every single VPN will boast about their connection speeds.
But the truth isn’t always as clear.
VPNSecure, too, boasts about its fast connection speeds. So I was eager to test out how fast they really are.
I ran speed tests on servers in the US, Netherlands, and Hong Kong to verify everything.
Here are the results of my speed tests:
US Server
- Ping: 117 ms
- Download: 27.18 Mbps
- Upload: 24.50 Mbps
Netherlands Server
- Ping: 37 ms
- Download: 53.62 Mbps
- Upload: 45.50 Mbps
Hong Kong Server
- Ping: 429 ms
- Download: 1.74 Mbps
- Upload: 1.49 Mbps
The Netherlands speeds were pretty good. However, the US ones were pretty slow, and the Hong Kong one was abysmal.
To be honest, I almost thought something was wrong on that last test or that I made a mistake initially. It seemed too slow to be accurate.
This kind of inconsistency would be frustrating for most users, so I can’t call connection speeds a perk.
You’d be much better off with ExpressVPN or NordVPN which are faster (and cheaper) than VPNSecure.me
Do I Recommend VPNSecure?
Yes and no.
VPNSecure does offer some nice additional features and packages, like a kill switch and tons of different leak protections.
I love that you can choose your encryption and customize each plan to suit your needs. Plus, the security and privacy are great.
Pricing is well worth it because you can connect as many devices as you want to this VPN. That makes it effectively a little cheaper than other comparable alternatives out there.
I was most pleased with their fast, friendly customer service. It was one of the best experiences I had.
Plus, two out of five servers worked with Netflix. Pretty good ratio these days!
However, there were a few downsides, unfortunately.
Connection speeds were inconsistent. They ranged from good to average to awful.
I would love to see some more servers offered by VPNSecure, as well as a simpler privacy policy.
Overall, VPNSecure gets a position 12th out of 78. Not terrible by any stretch. However, they’re not in the top 10 VPNs I’d recommend, either. So go ahead and get NordVPN, Surfshark or ExpressVPN instead – you’ll not regret.
Have you used VPNSecure? If so, help us by leaving a comment below 🙂
Leave your own VPNSecure Review
18 user reviews for VPNSecure
Nelly
OK to Fair VPN
I agree with most reviews here. The tech support is fast and good. I get my problems mostly solved this way but mostly I end up rebooting and reinstalling to fix the hard problems without troubling tech support.
Yeah, weird things happen from time to time and I'm not sure I have been compromised. Like the icon goes gray on me once in a while while I'm online indicating it has disconnected and don't notice it for a while and go what? I hope my real IP address wasn't leaked during that time? I don't think so but it's a bit disconcerting. I never contacted tech support since I really am not doing anything illegal. I just rebooted. also some sites don't work correctly with this VPN lately. I don't know if the site changed security because they keep tagging the IP address from VPNSecure.me as an abuser so I constantly have to change IP address logins. I also am one that got a lifetime subscription for $20 or 6000 days or something. I don't think it's really secure but it's enough for me that I don't want my ISP tracking me or websites knowing who I really am. IMO there are other higher quality VPN out there but you pay for that.
KG
It's been good for me past 2 years
I've had it for about 2 years now since the lifetime subscription promotion. It's been pretty reliable. Speed is good for watching Youtube and browsing around. Oftentimes I forgot to switch it off when playing CSGO and there wasn't any noticeable difference in speed. I live in rural NC and use Centurylink for cable, so it's not like I'm from one of those big metro areas with lightning fast connections to begin with. Overall I like it and will pay the monthly subscription once the "lifetime" runs out (which has about 18 years left lol).
Thomas
Decent VPN for its price with superb support
Pros:
- No IP leaks/No DNS leaks
- No logging
- Working US Netflix on 1 out of 10 US servers (checked on December 2020)
- Smoothly working torrenting with max avail. speeds
- Simplistic and easy-to-use client app on Windows and Android
- Killswitch available
- Superb support (I mean it - replies almost instantly and gives answers/solutions on anything you ask)
- Very low cost (lifetime subscription for 12$ during BF sale)
Dep
Don’t bother if from UK
It’s always been slow but it did used to work allowing me to take the services I paid to watch in the UK abroad on my travels. This is no longer the case. So what’s the point in my lifetime membership? Apparently if you leave anything other than a 10/10 review you’re a troll. Whatever the f that means. Muppet.
Stanley Reynolds
Works well for me
I've been using VPN-S for a few years now. I got the lifetime subscription (it's not really lifetime, just 20 years). For me it's quite slow. I have a 300MBS download with Comcast. By selecting and testing different servers, I have been able to get as much as 50MBs. I often have to test the speed before doing any significant downloading/streaming. I've only used their customer support once, and they answered quickly with the answer.
As far as the Australian government is concerned, I got a message from them that they are moving to Hong Kong because of recent changes. It's been transparent to me.
bg4m3r
Best if you can catch a deal.
A year or so back when there was a lot of talk in the news about VPN services due to some major security breaches (this may have been around the Equifax breach), an article I was reading listed a sale VPNSecure was running for 90% off a lifetime membership ($40). I came across this review because I was a little concerned that I never see ads for them anywhere, on YouTube, tech news sites, etc. I was worried I had paid for a scam or something. This article puts me at ease in that regard, and since I've only paid $40 for a lifetime membership, I feel I'm getting my monies worth. I have a good antivirus (Sophos Home, if anyone's interested) that provides additional local encryption on top of what the VPN provides when I run it (I typically only turn it on when doing money stuff, like paying bills, or banking, or using unknown public WiFi).
Anyway, I've been overall happy with VPNSecure. Yeah, I've noticed occasional speed issues, but it works and it's not like I'm passing national secrets over the internet, and I don't run it all the time, so it's not a constant pain. Would've been nice to see it in the top 10, but for $40 for life, I'll take 11th. 🙂
Sasha Sime
Great VPN
Stable, no crashes, support always online, easy to use, no IP/DNS leaks, speed is excellent, torrents allowed. The two negative reviews are just trolls with no proof to back their claims.
D
Fair Review
I've had VPNSecure for about 2 years now and use it off and on as needed. I got it on a promotional offer $49 for 'lifetime' membership. In reality it's like 20 years. I've run the on Linux (Kali, several Ubuntu based distros & Fedora), Windows 7, 8 &10 and various flavours of Android all pretty smoothly though Kali was a bit of challenge to get working at first, but Support was great and got me going and no issues since. I agree with all the Pros & Cons. Biggest Pro was setting my daughter up when she was living in the Caribbean so she could get decent Netflix library access. Worked the 3 years she lived there! I've installed and run it on at least 10 devices over the years and never run into a device limitation. As far as speed goes if you play around you'll find decent connection to do most everything!
Marko
VPN Secure is useless
Useless VPN. Slow and constantly crashes leaving connection exposed. Apps are full of bugs and crash constantly. Difficult to use. Support is terrible and unhelpful. IP address and DNS leaks are common making it useless
12Centuries
New Australia Government Spying Law
The VPN service might be exceptional and excellent, but there is one major, significant problem: The Australian government recently (Dec 2018) passed sweeping anti-encryption laws that allows the government--at almost every level--to have access to backdoors to all online communication.
Yes, it's as bad as it sounds. Here's a reddit thread discussing it: https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/a3ca39/australia_to_pass_sweeping_antiencryption_laws/
Buddha
Great VPN Service at an outstanding price
I've been using this service on Win10, OS X and Ubuntu with absolutely no issues. I even tried it in a VirtualBox OS X and it worked fine. Throughput is dependent on the server you connect to and I have found that many of the Asian servers are slow. On contrast, many of the European servers are fast and the US/Canadian servers are very fast. I have had no issues with torrents using this service. Again, it depends on the server you connect through. Lastly, the pricing was outstanding. I purchased a lifetime license with a one-time purchase. This translates to about 20 years for around $1.50/yr. Can't beat that.
Mike
Lifetime Subscription and Excellent Tech Support
I purchased at Lifetime subscription several years ago, and it has been worth it to me. Superb tech support. I have it installed on a Win 7 PC, Win 10 PC, Android phone, Chromebook, and two Linux laptops. Works well on all of them. It can be slow, it just depends upon the server you choose--some are considerably faster than others.
Rupe
Pretty amazing value!
Now, this is only an initial very brief comment/review on VPNSecure, as i only signed up last night! However, i have been browsing through these VPN's for a good while now so i do have some idea of what is decent value. I am leaning heavily on your review overall, but i must say that i got an amazing price last night which was $19.99 for unlimited use forever! Yes, that is uncapped speeds, uncapped devices and uncapped time! I dont know if that is just a temporary "Black Monday" offer (but by then it was 2am Tuesday) but time will tell. On the time period, it states that i have 7300 days left of use, but when i checked with the customer support chat, he stated that that period just re-ups forever and yes i did save the conversation and the initial offer terms for later reference if needed. But then, even if it didn't, it would be pretty churlish of me to quibble after 7300 days (20 yrs to save you calculating it, as i had to!) and as i am 65 now, i honestly doubt i will be around to quibble then anyway! On the customer chat experience, it was maybe 45 seconds before i got a response which i was very impressed with, although at 2am he was probably very happy to chat to stay awake...lol. He was very polite, and knowledgeable and swift to respond each time i answered. The program was very fast to download and easy to configure and was pretty intuitive to use which i was happy for as i am still somewhat a newbie in my OS which is Linux Mint 19 on this system. It will be even easier i am sure when i put it on my other device which uses Windows. On the download speeds, i found them fine, although i am no heavy user by any means. I tried both US (East) and UK 1 servers. OK that's my very quick first impressions of VPNSecure but i did think that this might be useful to someone out there in case they can snag the same cheap deal that i got. I got it through the MakeUseOf Deals website, which i had never been on before, so i dont know if they still have it or if it is on other websites also. Either way, heck if it was only for 6 months it was a great deal for me....never mind 20yrs! Lol! And i am glad that you at least found it a pretty decent VPN, so i shall enjoy my next 20yrs plus of use. Hope this helps someone, at least, get the same or similar deal.
Mike Ransier
Lifetime License Sold Me As Well
Before I posted I read a few who have posted as well. I find usage varies between platforms. The best connection has been on a LAN across Linux or WIN10. Then across WiFi second with Android Phone coming in 3rd. The costs is what forced me to go with this vendor and I do believe it is money well spent. I would advise all VPN customers to search for a Lifetime License deals then average it out to the list these fine folks have accumulated. It is imperative that all be protected from those who would be looking at your stuff.
于晨
Encrypted password?
It is a pretty good VPN but the fact that they encrypt passwords is concerning. Passwords should be hashed and salted so that it cannot be reversed without a brute force attack. Encrypted passwords can be broken by anyone with the key, so if the key gets leaked, our passwords can be decrypted in no time.
Maulin
Good VPN But doesn't Work on Netflix anymore
I bought this VPN in a LTF offer in TheNextWeb Deals website. I tested a few servers. I found most of them to be decently fast. The app is easy to use. But it doesn't work on Netflix anymore.
I spoke to their customer support rep and they told me that Netflix has clamped down on all their servers and so it won't work.
Maverick
Excellent for me
I just wanted to add that you can also buy a lifetime license. I bought one and it has all the features as the plans offered on their website. I won't say who I bought the license from unless the author requests. It was from a major retailer.
I've been really pleased using this vpn. I've used nord & express before and those were awesome. But I found myself running low on cash for a few months and found this vpn. Lifetime license was the reason I signed up. And all it cost was equal to 6 months of the nord.
Graham
Good VPN, but app could be better
I don’t know about others, but I’ve found this VPN quite good, actually. Here’s what I like about it:
- Somewhat affordable (when you buy 12 months)
- Connects smoothly
- Doesn’t throttle your connection much
However, the only thing that bothers me is that the app sometimes crashes. So when I launch the app on a daily basis, 1 time out 10 it crashes. I’ve addressed this question to their support as well and received some help. They promised to investigate this further, but I’m still facing this issue. Hence the reason I didn’t rate it 10/10.