Cargo VPN Review 2024: Before You Buy, Is It Worth It?

Cargo VPN Provides Fast Speeds Across Its Servers

Cargo VPN does an excellent job when it comes to speed. Servers close to my location maintained blazing-fast speeds. I also got relatively fast speeds (with only a slight reduction) with servers far away from my location. The fast speeds allowed me to stream videos and play games lag-free.

Speed Test Results

I began testing with a base internet download speed of 22.3Mbps. After connecting to Cargo VPN, I got an average download speed of about 19.39Mbps — a 13% drop in speed. I got varying speeds depending on the closeness of the servers to my location. Nearby servers in the US, UK, and Canada saw download speeds of about 21.4Mbps, 23.33Mbps, and 19.49Mbps, respectively, which was quite impressive. The farthest server from my location (the server in Japan) produced 13.35Mbps — a 40% drop in speed, which was good for a distant server.

Similarly, the upload speeds were also fast across the servers. I got 22.61Mbps on the US server, 19.27Mbps with the UK server, and 28.32Mbps with the server in Japan. These speeds are more than sufficient for activities like gaming that require an average of 3-4Mbps upload speeds.

Server Network — Impressive Network

Cargo VPN has an impressive network of 1000+ servers in 70+ locations. It offers VPN servers across 5 continents, including North America, Europe, Asia, South America, and Australia. You’ll find servers in the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Finland, Greece, Estonia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Iceland, Brazil, India, Hong Kong, and the UAE.

Cargo VPN doesn’t own the servers in its network. It rents servers from another VPN service provider — KeepSolid VPN. This explains why KeepSolid VPN handles its troubleshooting issues when you reach out to Cargo VPN’s support.

There are specialized servers for streaming and P2P. You’ll also find an “Optimal” server button that connects you to the fastest server close to you. Each server displays the workload on the server in percentages. So, you get to see which server is overcrowded and which one isn’t in real-time. This should be helpful if you need to carry out an activity that requires fast speeds.

Security — Multiple Security Protocols

Cargo VPN provides military-grade protection. It uses AES-256 encryption to keep you safe from hackers, snoopers, and other cybersecurity threats.

Cargo VPN offers multiple security protocols. You can choose between OpenVPN, IPSec, KeepSolid Wise UDP/TCP protocols. Each of these protocols has different security and performance capabilities, and you can select the one that best serves you.

I was impressed seeing how Cargo VPN maintained fast speeds across its servers despite the solid security features it offers. The VPN also provides a DNS firewall. So, I didn’t get any DNS, WebRTC, and IPv6 leaks.

Despite these solid security features, it was disappointing finding out that Cargo VPN lacks a kill-switch. A kill switch will help to prevent data leaks if you have an unsteady connection. This way, your internet connection is cut off to protect your identity.

Privacy — Questionable Privacy Policy

Cargo VPN partially logs users’ data. The VPN doesn’t log the websites you visit or the files you access but it keeps a log of the bandwidth transferred, connection dates, and the number of devices you connect.

Cargo VPN rents the servers of another VPN service — KeepSolid VPN. This made me wonder if KeepSolid VPN’s privacy policy also applies to Cargo VPN users.

Cargo VPN is a product of Eltima Software IBC, a company registered in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE has a personal data protection law that requires your consent for data requests involving your information. Despite this law, Eltima states in its privacy policy that it could share your data with third parties without your consent if there’s a legal request for your information.

Given that Cargo VPN could log your data and share it with third parties, including government structures, I wouldn’t recommend it for privacy. If you’re a privacy-minded individual like me, you would probably want to opt for another VPN with a stronger privacy policy. ExpressVPN has a strict no-logs policy and independent audits to back up its claims.

Torrenting — Supports P2P and Torrenting

Cargo VPN supports torrenting on a few servers. These servers are labeled ‘torrents’ and come with slower speeds than regular servers. Surprisingly, some of the servers that allow P2P are located in places with strong anti-piracy laws like Canada and France.

With a privacy policy that could see your data logged in countries where Cargo VPN’s servers are located and your data turned over to the government, I don’t see Cargo VPN as a safe VPN for torrenting.

Keep in mind that using a VPN doesn’t give you the right to commit illegal activities, and downloading copyrighted files is illegal. Make sure to check with the regulations of your country before torrenting.

Does Cargo VPN work in China? Not Likely!

CargoVPN is not likely to work in China. Since I’m not physically located in China, I couldn’t test it myself. I contacted customer support to find out if the VPN works in China, but I didn’t get an affirmative answer.

China’s “Great Firewall” actively blocks VPN providers so that the services won’t work there. Cargo VPN lacks the obfuscation technology used by top-grade VPNs to bypass the country’s strong firewalls. So, it most likely won’t work there.

If you’re visiting China for business or vacation, you’ll need a reliable VPN. My go-to VPN when traveling to China is ExpressVPN. I recommend using ExpressVPN to browse the free web whenever you visit China. Keep in mind that using a non-government-approved VPN is illegal in China. However, there haven’t been any cases of tourists being penalized for using a VPN.

Editors' Note: ExpressVPN and this site are in the same ownership group.

Cargo VPN has the worst customer support in my experience. You can only reach out to the VPN through email for troubleshooting issues. There’s phone support, but it’s only available for sales-related issues. With the absence of live chat support, you will find it difficult to get urgent assistance. I was surprised to learn that you only get urgent assistance if you opt-in for something called a premium support plan which allows you to get support within 4 hours during European business hours.

Cargo VPN claims to respond to inquiries within 1-2 business days, but it took up to a week for me to get feedback. I got feedback from Eltima support for one ticket and KeepSolid VPN support for another, which goes to show that Cargo VPN uses another VPN’s support infrastructure. Cargo VPN has an FAQ page that is difficult to find and only contains a few questions and responses. You’ll also find a forum, but it only caters to other Eltima products. No posts about Cargo VPN are found there.