Summary Review

 

In this review, we will consider the advantages and disadvantages of the VPN provider based in Moldova - HideIPVPN. The service is developing rapidly and has already gained the trust of many users. HideIPVPN uses military-grade AES 256 encryption, which is considered the most secure today. The service maintains a zero-logging policy, uses the protocols OpenVPN, IKEv2, SSTP, PPTP, SoftEther, and L2TP, these parameters are designed to provide you with anonymous and safe surfing on the Internet space. Among the additional features, you'll find an application killer to prevent app data leaks, Smart DNS to bypass geo-blocking and access streaming sites, as well as the ability to simultaneously connect up to 5 devices, but with 5 different VPN servers at the same time, and there are optimized P2P servers for downloading torrents with unlimited bandwidth.

We will test the speed on the servers, as well as make a test of the data leakage, and based on this material, each of you will understand whether he needs to HideIPVPN at the ratio of services that it provides and charging plans.

Cheapest price	Logging policy	Torrenting policy	Servers count	Customer support	Money back guarantee	Local speed (Avg.)
2.99$	No logs	Permitted	24	Email / Live chat	30 days	25 Mbps

Privacy & Security

 

HideIPVPN uses the most secure encryption algorithm AES with a key length of 256 bits, which is used by governments, banks and other structures with the qualification of "Top Secret", but also the service uses one of the most successful asymmetric encryption RSA with a key length of 4096 bits. Secure connection to the Internet is provided by 7 protocols to choose from: OpenVPN, IKEv2, L2TP/IPSec, PPTP, SSTP and Soft Ether, if PPTP protocol is long outdated and vulnerable to data privacy, other protocols are quite reliable and provide the required data protection, IKEv2 is particularly suitable for mobile applications and is also a reliable and secure protocol, OpenVPN is an open-source protocol, which has long proved itself on the market from the best side, as well as the SoftEther protocol, also open source, which easily bypasses the firewall.

With the website dnsleaktest.com we tested for data leakage, my actual location in Russia was at the time of the test, HideIPVPN successfully masked my real IP address and I found no leak of confidential information.

 

 

Logging policy & Jurisdiction

 

HideIPVPN is based in Moldova, which allows VPNs. Also, Moldova is distinguished by a loyal policy regarding free access to the Web, the country is not a member of the 5/9/14 eyes alliances and is not seen in other intelligence-sharing alliances.

Service maintains a zero log storage policy, this means that the time of connection to the server, the history of your site visits, as well as other your online activity is not stored and recorded on the servers of the company, which indicates the privacy of our personal information, and if suddenly the service will get a warrant to provide data about users for various reasons, HideIPVPN can not help in providing such services, as does not store the history of your Internet activity on its servers.

 

Performance (speed & reliability)

 

In this section, we will look at the performance of the service. To test the HideIPVPN servers for speed, we used the independent Speedtest, to begin with, we measured our speed without connecting to the VPN server and it was 57.38 Mbps, at the time of testing the location was in Russia, then we connected to the nearest server to us on the recommendation of the application and it was a server from Lithuania, the speed was 25.10 Mbps, the percentage of our speed has dropped by half, 56%, which is not a consoling result.

Then we tested the server that the customer service had recommended to me for accessing the American Netflix library and the speed was 5.08 Mbps, considering the geographical location of the server (The distance between our actual location and the server from America was 9763 km), it is logical that the speed will significantly drop, but it is still a bad result, watching HD video content at that speed will be problematic. Speed depends on many factors, you should consider the geographical location of the server, the closer the server, the faster speed, the server service network, as the load on the servers is less, the speed of your Internet service provider and encryption that you use, etc.

 

Features & Usability

 

Among the additional security features at the disposal of HideIPVPN is an Application Killer. Here you can add applications to the list and they will automatically shut down if your VPN connection fails, thereby protecting you from data leakage, which can be used by cybercriminals or your Internet service provider.

The function of Smart DNS - this function is designed to bypass the geo-blocking media services, which provides better speed when watching video content. The advantage of this function is the unlimited number of connected devices simultaneously.

Applications HideIPVPN is easy to use, intuitive, well optimized, the settings you can enable data leakage protection, change the protocol, but I would like a faster connection to the server. You can connect up to 5 devices to VPN at the same time but with 5 different VPN servers at the same time.

 

 

 

Server Location

 

HideIPVPN does not have a large server network compared to other VPN providers, the advantage of a large server network is that the load is significantly reduced and the ability to connect to the nearest server, as the coverage of users is the whole world. HideIPVPN uses 24 VPN servers in 12 countries, including 6 servers in the US, 5 in the UK, 3 in Poland, 2 in the Netherlands, and one server each in Russia, Singapore, Germany, Luxembourg, Australia, France, Lithuania, Canada

List of countries:

Netherlands, Luxemburg, Lithuania, Great Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, USA, Singapore, Russia, Poland

Streaming &Torrenting

 

Consider how the service copes with bypassing geo-blocking known streaming services, in recent times, the VPN provider is increasingly difficult to bypass the firewall of services such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Disney+, as soon as the streaming services detect VPN traffic, they immediately block your access to the libraries. Fortunately for us, HideIPVPN without problems bypassed the firewall of sites such as Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and I got access to the content of these services without problems. With Netflix things were a little more complicated when I myself chose the server from the U.S. and tried to connect, I blocked access, then I contacted support and I have immediately advised the server from Los Angeles and then I had no problem viewing the content. Otherwise, if you're having trouble accessing a site or you're not satisfied with the speed, don't forget about the excellent Smart DNS feature, which opens up access to 194 websites with virtually no change in speed.

You can trust in anonymous and confidential use of P2P/Torrent traffic, but be careful, because HideIPVPN allows P2P/Torrent traffic only on the servers in Germany and the Netherlands, otherwise you will first get a warning, and then blocked, so stay vigilant.

 

 

Platforms & Devices

 

HideIPVPN has at its disposal applications for Windows, macOS, iOS, Andriod, not a big choice compared to other VPN providers, unfortunately, there are no extensions for the browsers Chrome, Firefox. The applications are well optimized, intuitive even for beginners, in the client you will have an application killer, in other words, an emergency switch, only here you can create your own list of applications, if you want after breaking the VPN connection to disable the Internet connection to prevent data leakage, as well as you can choose the protocol that suits you best, there is an option to automatically connect servers, and you can sort servers by speed, as in the client you can enable protection against data leakage.

 

 

Pricing

 

Hide IP VPN offers three pricing plans:

1 month - $6.99 per month

12 months - $4.99 per month

24 months - $2.99 per month

Given the discounts that the service now provides, the price is quite consistent with the quality of service offered by this VPN provider.

It's up to you to decide whether or not this VPN is right for you, considering the features it offers in relation to your plans.

Also, in order for you to be able to figure out for yourself whether or not the service suits you, HideIPVPN provides you with a one-day trial for the VPN and a seven-day trial for the Smart DNS. There is a 30-day money-back guarantee if you realize that the service is not suitable for you, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

You can pay for your subscription using credit cards, PayPal, Discover, JSB, American Express, Diners Club, and if you want to keep your privacy as much as possible, you can pay with bitcoins.

 

Support

 

Support service HideIPVPN is available 24/7 online chat, or you can contact employees from technical support via email or ticket system. The site is well-stocked with useful information, including a blog, helpful articles, and a section with frequently asked questions.

When I had a problem with gaining access to the American library Netflix, I appealed to a support employee, he answered me in 5 minutes, offered to connect to the server from Los Angeles and I immediately got access, these are the positive aspects, they are effective solutions in response to the problem, of the minuses. When I contacted the support team a second time via email, I needed some information about the servers, the answer took over 45 minutes, which witnessed a long wait for a response, in online chat should answer almost immediately.

Pros & Cons

 

Pros

✓ Zero logging policy
✓ Strong encryption for anonymity
✓ SmartDNS for streaming
✓ Unlimited bandwidth

 

Cons

✘ Unstable speed
✘ Low-functioning
✘ Small server network
✘ No browser extensions

 

Last edited on Aug 10, 2022