9.8
/ 10
While Hide.me is a decent VPN, you can get better quality VPNs at an affordable price. CyberGhost, for example, offers premium VPN features for a super low monthly fee — so you don’t have to settle for less. If you’re looking for a fast and secure VPN for unlimited streaming and torrenting, read on.
After a recent upgrade, hide.me has significantly overhauled its VPN service to join the ranks of mid-tier premium VPNs. The provider has expanded its server network and now offers more than 1,800 servers in 46 countries. I was especially impressed with the fast speeds and steady connections of its servers. During my tests, I easily unblocked Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu on multiple US servers, and I had zero buffering or connection errors. Nearly every server supports P2P traffic as well, with the exception of 4 locations.
Hide.me protects its users by keeping no activity logs, and providing leak protection and AES-256-bit encryption. I’m happy to see that hide.me even offers the latest WireGuard protocol, alongside the industry-standard OpenVPN, IKEv2, SoftEther, and SSTP protocols.
There are 2 plans available: free and premium. The free version restricts you to 10GB per month, 1 device connection, and 5 server locations. In addition, you can’t unblock any restricted streaming services like Netflix or Disney+. If you want to try the VPN without any restrictions (and still for free!), I recommend signing up for the Premium plan with the 30-day money-back guarantee.
You’ll have unlimited bandwidth, the ability to unblock any streaming service, and access to the entire global server network. You can even share your plan with friends and family, as you’ll be able to use hide.me on up to 10 devices at once. If you don’t want to pay to use the premium version, make sure you ask for a refund within the first 30 days after you’ve signed up.
You can install and use hide.me on every major device and operating system. It has custom apps for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Amazon Fire Stick and Amazon Fire TV. There are even browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox. I found the software is easy to install and straightforward to use.
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The speeds that could be achieved with this VPN were little short of amazing, in fact with some connections, we found that surfing and downloading was actually quicker than without the VPN. There was no lag during streaming and speeds were consistent during the tests.
Thanks to a recent upgrade, even the free accounts can enjoy faster speeds, thanks to dedicated servers that are running at full speed.
Speed determines how fast content uploads, so if you're torrenting or streaming, you want the speed to be somewhat identical to your regular internet speed. Since a VPN encrypts your data, it usually takes a bit longer to send your data back and forth, which can slow down your connection. However, if your ISP deliberately slows down your connection (also known as throttling) a VPN might increase your internet speed. Testing a VPN is somewhat pointless because new servers pop up and affect speed. Your speed can also differ according to your location, so your speed test might not match ours. Having said that, we tested the speed in numerous locations to provide you with the average.
Hide.me has 1,800+ dedicated servers in 46 countries.
Hide.me is a simple VPN to use. Sign up is as easy as picking your level of subscription, entering your details and payment details, and entering an email address. If you are signing up for the free account, you are not presented with the payment screen. Once you have verified your email, you simply create a user name and password, set your communication preferences and click create account.
If you are downloading for Windows, Mac, Android, or iOS, then you click on the right OS and let the install wizard do the rest. For other OS, there are set up guides and support to get you started.
You are automatically connected to the best available server, meaning you are ready to surf anonymously with no further action required on your part. Your server can be changed by clicking on the ‘change’ button but remember to disable the VPN first. Other options can be accessed through the settings icon on the right-hand side of the connection screen.
Rarely have we seen a support system that responds to messages as quickly as the team at hide.me do. They answered the question we sent on live chat less than a minute after the question was sent.
The information was clear, useful, and in line with the details on their site and our experience to that point.
As well as live chat there is a ticket system available and a forum style community to raise questions and search for answers. There are detailed set up guides for different operating systems and FAQ pages, which are a little limited in their scope.
However, with 24/7 support available this is not the biggest problem ever.
We personally test the customer support team of every VPN we review. This means asking technical question through the live chat feature (where applicable) and measuring the response time for email questions. Whether you need to connect to a specific server, change your security protocol, or configure a VPN on your router, finding a VPN with quality customer support should be important to you.
Hide.me has packages and payment options to suit most budgets. You can get a premium plan for less than $5 a month when you sign up for a 2-year subscription. The free version is great for light users as it only offers 10GB of data each month and access to a handful of server locations.
Hide.me accepts credit and debit cards, including American Express, Diners Club, PayPal, wire transfer, and BitCoin.
You can cancel your plan within 30 days — no questions asked. However, you must cancel in writing via email. There was previously a requirement that your bandwidth usage had to be under 500MB, but this no longer applies. Refunds, where applicable, should be received within 10 days of the request being made.
Free accounts do not automatically renew, and therefore no action is required on the side of the user if you decide the service is not for you.
Hide.me might offer a good service at a reasonable price, but does it match up with other top VPNs? We find it hard to say “yes”. To be sure you’re choosing the right VPN for your needs, review this list of top recommended VPNs.
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