OVPN Review 2024: Before You Buy, Is It Worth It?

Decent and Consistent Connection Speeds

The speed may drop slightly when using OVPN, but it won’t be drastic enough to affect your experience. I found it sufficient for browsing the web, downloading torrents, and streaming movies. In contrast to most providers who advertise their speed metrics to attract customers, OVPN does not claim any speed metrics on its website. I ran my speed test on the platform and found its speed to be just above average.

Speed Test Results

OVPN was fast enough for data-intensive online activities but was naturally slower than my connection without a VPN. I normally have a download speed of 37.21Mbps. During my tests using OVPN’s recommended server, I was only able to utilize about half of that speed. Even with that decline, OVPN still offers download speeds that will support HD streaming and light gaming.

When I performed all of my speed tests from my US home, I had the fastest speeds working with a closer server. In my testing, the average download speed was 17.72Mbps on a 37.21Mbps testing connection, which is a 53% reduction in download speed.

My first connection to a server in the UK gave me a download speed of 18.82Mbps. A server in Germany yielded 17.72Mbps, a server in France gave me 17.76Mbps, and a server in Australia could only deliver a download speed of 12.02Mbps.

You might want to go with the provider’s recommendations when choosing servers as it would ensure you get the fastest in your location of choice. Log in to the service and select “Choose the best server automatically.” My connection speed often increased by 5 Mbps or more when I used the recommended server.

If you need a VPN that provides blazing speeds, try ExpressVPN — you won’t notice any significant reduction in connection speeds compared to your regular connection. Rather than jump on the Wireguard bandwagon to increase speeds, ExpressVPN built its open-source protocol dubbed Lightway which delivers lightning-fast speeds while maintaining great security.

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Server Network — Limited Server Availability

OVPN’s server network pales in comparison to other providers, but it still manages to cover key countries around the world. The service currently offers 102 servers in 32 cities. And according to the company’s website, these servers provide enhanced peering capabilities, lower latency, and faster speeds.

OVPN displays the ping time and server load beside every server so you can quickly select the servers with fast connections. You can anticipate the speed of your transfers based on a load of users. Generally speaking, higher loads will cause the server to be overloaded and result in a decreased speed for single users. Moreover, with more users sharing a server, an individual can gain more anonymity.

The provider owns the hardware used to run its service and all servers operate without any hard drives since the operating system only resides in the RAM. This means that information simply cannot be stored long-term, which helps to keep your data safe and out of the hands of third parties

OVPN offers IPv6 addresses, which are more secure than IPv4 and provide a faster user experience. IPv6 addresses are used primarily in mobile browsing, which is particularly useful if you extensively use the internet on your phone or tablet.

Unlike smaller networks, larger ones can handle more traffic without compromising performance, meaning OVPN might fail if traffic spikes. It simply cannot compete with service providers like CyberGhost, which have a huge server network. Cyberghost has 11,800 servers in 100 countries that consistently deliver high-speed connections.

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

Security — Implements State-Of-The-Art Security Measures

OVPN is among the safest and most secure VPNs, using the cutting-edge AES-256 encryption algorithm. Additionally, the software supports Wintun drivers as well as ChaCha20-Poly1305 encryption. Wintun is a virtual adapter designed to work with WireGuard that is more lightweight and often more efficient than the TAP adapter used for OpenVPN. With the ChaCha20 stream cipher and Poly1305 authenticator, high-security margins can be achieved on a broad range of software platforms while maintaining high performance.

Besides offering the highest level of encryption, the service supports both OpenVPN and Wireguard protocols. It is up to you to choose which protocol you want to use for the VPN connection. The Wireguard VPN protocol offers a higher level of security than OpenVPN, which is the protocol that is widely used by most VPN service providers.

The following list gives a detailed breakdown of the other security features offered by OVPN:

• Kill Switch – OVPN provides a kill switch to prevent traffic from leaving and entering when your VPN disconnects. This keeps your sessions and data secure until you determine what caused the interruption. Sadly, the feature is currently only available for macOS and Windows.
• Multihop – You can use Multihop to connect to multiple servers at the same time, making it more difficult to track your online activity. This feature will incur an additional fee on top of the regular subscription fee. The service is available at no charge if you sign up for a 6-month, 12-month, or 24-month subscription.
• Tracker Blocker – OVPN has a tracker blocker in its browser extensions that ensures that adverts, suspicious websites, malware, and phishing websites are blocked. The extension’s ad-blocking ability seemed to be hit-and-miss when I tried it. Unfortunately, the tracker blocker is missing from OVPN’s desktop application.
• OVPN does not support split tunneling, but the extension provides similar functionality. In conjunction with the desktop application, you can specify websites that should always use the VPN. If you attempt to access one of these websites without connecting to your VPN, you will receive a message that indicates that the website is on your list. You will then be asked whether you would like to turn on your VPN or continue to the site.

The OVPN extension also prevents the desktop client from leaking IP, DNS, and WebRTC traffic. I checked my IP address and DNS address while connected to an OVPN server in Japan and found no leaks. For extra assurance, I conducted several other leak tests while connected to different locations and received the same results.

Privacy — Goes the Extra Mile to Keep You Anonymous

OVPN enforces a strict no-logs policy that does not keep track of IP addresses, traffic logs, or timestamps of your activity. This provider is among the few VPN providers that do not rely on a hard drive to run its service. RAM storage is instead used to ensure that all user data is erased when the computer is rebooted. Further, the provider disables OpenVPN’s write privileges and Syslog to prevent even temporary logs from being created in the RAM.

When you sign up, you’ll only need to provide the bare minimum of information. Subscribing to this VPN does not require you to disclose your personal information, including your name, email address, phone number, and physical address. For even greater privacy, you can choose to pay anonymously with a cryptocurrency or by mailing your cash payment together with your given code to the company.

Additionally, OVPN publishes a monthly transparency report that provides information on how its servers are performing. More importantly, OVPN keeps you posted on how many information requests it received within the past month.

Over time, it becomes more and more difficult for developers to hide customer information from authorities or get around privacy laws. OVPN has joined insurance plans that cover legal fees in anticipation of and to avoid any such issues. Having this kind of financial muscle allows them to be able to refute any such request for information.

The company is headquartered in Sweden, which is a part of the 14-Eyes Alliance. The government has the right to ask companies in 14-Eyes Alliance countries for user information if it is compelled to do so. Rights Alliance filed an injunction in June 2020 against Swedish ISP Obenetwork, whose IP address is allegedly being used by the Pirate Bay. The anti-piracy group asked the ISP where the pirating platform’s servers are located, but the ISP said it lacks even a basic understanding of how things work. It was disclosed to the court by Obenetwork that The Pirate Bay used an OVPN IP address. But it so happens that OVPN doesn’t keep logs about its clients, doesn’t have hard drives on its servers, nor does it have its own address space number. In a nutshell, the clients are purchasing a public IPv4 add-on with cryptocurrency – no one, not even OVPN, knows who they are.

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Torrenting — Provides Support to Help Maximize Speeds

If you regularly engage in P2P file-sharing or torrenting, OVPN provides a very secure torrenting service thanks to its strict no-log policy and closed incoming ports. Testing showed that OVPN worked with torrent clients such as qBittorrent, BitTorrent, Vuze, Deluge, uTorrent, Tixati, and BiglyBT.

There are clear instructions on the OVPN website on how to optimize download times when sharing peer-to-peer files. You may also have to open certain ports depending on the torrenting program you are using to maintain speed and security. Its other torrenting features include unlimited bandwidth, DNS leak protection, and a kill switch. The kill switch would disconnect you from the internet immediately if an internet security vulnerability was detected.

To improve your connection speed when torrenting or P2P sharing, OVPN support recommends opening ports on its network that are normally closed for security reasons. You should also enable port forwarding to ensure your connection remains secure while opening ports. OVPN allows you to open up to 7 ports on its network.

Keep in mind that my team and I don’t condone participation in any illegal activities. So check the rules and regulations in your country and make sure you are only accessing copyright-free content.

Does OVPN Work in China? Yes, Through Servers in Singapore

Support recommends the server in Singapore as the best option for customers traveling to China who wish to access their paid content. Even though OVPN claims that its servers work in China, some users have reported that the government has blocked them from accessing some servers.

As part of the OVPN support team’s advice, you are recommended to download the desktop software, download mobile apps, and download the OpenVPN GUI client before traveling to China. The OpenVPN GUI lets they perform manual configurations on the fly if you have trouble connecting to the service.

With limited servers available to customers in China and reliance on another client for practical use, OVPN isn’t the best choice for frequent travelers. For a more reliable option while on your travels in China, ExpressVPN makes no compromises in usability to achieve that status.

Non-government-approved VPNs are illegal in China, but there have been no public cases of tourists being penalized by the Chinese government. This being said, the protection of a VPN doesn’t give you the license to commit illegal acts, so please exercise a basic level of caution when using a VPN in China.

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OVPN offers detailed guides on how to configure your connection on any device, an FAQ page, and the ability to contact a representative via a contact form, email, or live chat. The information provided on the FAQ page is so comprehensive that you will likely rarely need to speak with a customer service representative.

An option for live chat is available within the desktop application if it is more convenient for you to reach out via live chat. The convenience of this feature is that you do not have to visit the website to obtain the assistance they need. Unfortunately, I found that on most occasions I visited the site during the day in my time zone, the live chat function was not available. This makes sense since OVPN is based in Sweden, but it means that customers in other time zones will sometimes have to wait overnight for support to respond.

The question I submitted via the contact form regarding how the company handles court orders was answered within two hours. The agent offered excellent assistance and answered my questions clearly and concisely. The provider also has an active social media presence on Twitter and Facebook.

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