9.8
/ 10
| 🚀Speed | 6.0 / 10 |
| 📍Servers | 5.0 / 10 |
| 👍User Experience | 6.0 / 10 |
| 📞Support | 7.0 / 10 |
| 🏷️Pricing | 7.0 / 10 |
I stumbled upon ZoogVPN and was impressed that it spoke to every popular VPN feature that I could think of. You name it and it claims to have it with slick marketing lingo. ZoogVPN promises exceptional performance for streaming, torrenting, privacy, security, and anti-censorship. So, I had to test this VPN to see if it could substantiate all its claims.
After multiple tests, I found that ZoogVPN compares favorably with some big names in the industry. It unblocks most streaming platforms, allows you to download torrents safely, and secures your data with state-of-the-art technology. However, you’ll have to deal with its small server network and difficulty connecting with some servers.
You can go ahead and try ZoogVPN risk-free. The VPN has a free plan that offers 10GB of monthly bandwidth, but you can also take advantage of the 7-day money-back guarantee to get a refund if you upgrade but aren’t satisfied with the service.
ZoogVPN impressed me with its streaming abilities. It unblocked most streaming sites that I tested like Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Disney+, and Prime Video. I streamed lag-free as I watched all my favorite shows.
ZoogVPN successfully unblocked popular streaming sites during my tests. This was possible on the “New York 1” server. The Miami server and 2 other US servers failed to unblock most streaming sites. I unblocked my Netflix US account and watched popular TV shows on my smart TV in HD. I was impressed to see that my colleagues in countries like the UK, Canada, and Poland didn’t have any issues accessing their respective Netflix libraries.
Luckily, ZoogVPN also worked flawlessly with other popular streaming platforms. During my tests, I unblocked Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, and Amazon Prime Video.
There were no lags or buffering while I watched popular shows like Avengers Endgame, Murder Mystery, and The Tomorrow War on my PC.
ZoogVPN couldn’t unblock BBC iPlayer. My colleague in the UK connected to the “London 1” server, but she couldn’t unblock her BBC iPlayer account while connected to the VPN. The streaming platform detected that she was connecting with a VPN and blocked her access when she tried watching a show. It gave an error message like the one below.
BBC iPlayer only works in the UK. Sorry, it’s due to rights issues.
Although ZoogVPN couldn’t unblock BBC iPlayer, I was impressed that it unblocked other popular streaming sites despite having a small server network. Also, I was pleased that I was able to stream in HD on all the platforms that worked.
ZoogVPN impressed me with fast speeds on nearby servers but not with distant servers. The speed of the servers far away from my location dropped significantly. ZoogVPN’s 1Gbps servers provided me with unlimited bandwidth, and I was able to stream, play online games, and surf the web unrestricted.
Before connecting with ZoogVPN, I had a base internet download speed of 46.23Mbps. During my tests, ZoogVPN servers provided me with an average download speed of 28.7Mbps — a 37.9% drop in my internet speed. Nearby servers like the New York, London, and Canada servers gave me download speeds of 33.84Mbps, 31.09Mbps, and 29.92Mbps. However, my download speed dropped significantly with the distant servers. The server in Japan produced 9.32Mbps, an 80% drop from my base internet download speed.
The upload speeds dropped moderately during my tests. I got an average of 2Mbps on a 6.7Mbps base internet upload speed. This speed was sufficient but not ideal for activities like gaming, where upload speeds and ping matter much more. I saw my latency ranging from 100-400ms while connected to the VPN and upload speeds between 1-3Mbps. These speeds simply aren’t ideal for fast-paced, multiplayer gaming.
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.
ZoogVPN has a small network of 45 servers in 23 countries, offering 1000+ IPs. The servers have a fair coverage in Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific, Australia, and Africa. The largest coverage is in Europe, followed by North America.
ZoogVPN has servers in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Belgium, Spain, Italy, and France. You can also use servers in Australia, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, Hong Kong, India, Israel, and Russia.
Most countries have just 1 server location except for the US, UK, Singapore, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and Germany.
It usually takes about 11 seconds to establish a connection, but I encountered failed connection issues on some servers. Also, I found it easy connecting to a server only via the IKEv2 protocol on my Windows PC. OpenVPN connections failed throughout my tests. However, connecting on my Android wasn’t that challenging.
I was impressed to learn that ZoogVPN uses dedicated bare-metal (physical) servers. This allows ZoogVPN to offer secured and high-performance servers while having full hardware control. It also means that the VPN won’t be required to share your information with any third-party services.
ZoogVPN provides state-of-the-art security features. It uses military-grade AES 256-bit encryption and a 2048-bit hash key to protect your sensitive data from hackers, snoopers, and other threats. If you’re connecting to the free servers, you’ll only have access to the AES 128-bit encryption.
ZoogVPN supports OpenVPN (UDP/TCP) and IKEv2/IPSec security protocols. However, it doesn’t support newer protocols like Wireguard. On the Android app, the default protocol is OpenVPN and IKEv2 for iOS, but I was always connected through the IKEv2 protocol on my Windows device. You can also choose your preferred protocol on the app’s settings tab.
ZoogVPN has a functional kill-switch for the Windows and Mac apps that cuts off your internet access if your connection abruptly disconnects to prevent data leaks. However, it isn’t turned on by default. You’ll have to navigate to settings to toggle the feature on. ZoogVPN also provides DNS leak protection, which resulted in the VPN passing my DNS, IPv6, and WebRTC leak tests.
ZoogVPN makes use of third-party DNS servers. During my tests, I found out that it uses Cisco’s OpenDNS, which offers fast domain name resolution speeds and keeps your traffic secure from suspicious websites. One thing that ZoogVPN lacks is a split-tunneling feature. A split-tunneling feature helps exclude certain apps from the VPN tunnel. It provides the flexibility that allows you to browse local websites faster and securely while conserving bandwidth.
ZoogVPN claims to have a zero-logs policy. The VPN states that it doesn’t keep log user activity, visited websites/apps, IP addresses, log-in/log-out sessions, or connection timestamps. However, it does store the bandwidth used and your email address. ZoogVPN claims that the logging of the bandwidth used is to improve the VPN service, while the email information it collects is for communicating with you and processing your payment. The VPN advises you to use a temporary email to sign up if you’re in doubt.
ZoogVPN is incorporated in Greece, a privacy-friendly jurisdiction. Greece isn’t part of the 5/9/14 Eyes data-sharing alliance that compels VPN providers to share users’ data. Greece also falls under the European Union’s GDPR that compels service providers within the EU to notify you of any data request.
ZoogVPN hasn’t had any third-party audits yet. However, customer support informed me that the VPN is planning on one as soon as it gets a trusted and reliable partner. For now, you’ll have to take ZoogVPN’s word that it doesn’t keep logs.
ZoogVPN supports torrenting on some servers indicated as P2P on the server drop-down menu. These servers are located in Austria, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Hong Kong, Israel, Singapore, Australia, the UK, and the US.
Most of the P2P servers are in Europe. So, you could experience slow speeds if you’re far from the server location and can’t connect with a P2P server close to you. It took almost a day to download a 700MB public domain torrent file during my tests.
ZoogVPN is safe for torrenting. It has a zero-logs policy, automatic kill-switch, and DNS leak protection. So, you could easily download torrents and carry out P2P file-sharing safely without any malware or virus infecting your computer as long as you’re willing to endure long download times.
Keep in mind that my team and I don’t condone illegal torrenting, so be sure to check the rules and regulations in your country and make sure the torrents you download are copyright-free.
ZoogVPN works in China but requires a technical setup. Since I don’t live in China, I couldn’t personally test the VPN there. However, customer support confirmed that the VPN works there and sent me a guide on configuring the VPN to work in China.
ZoogVPN has an obfuscation feature called ZoogShadowing that allows you to use the VPN in censorship-heavy countries like China, Qatar, UAE, Iran, Turkey, and others. These servers are marked with a mask symbol in the server drop-down menu. The VPN uses obfuscated servers that make your traffic appear as normal HTTPS traffic, making it less likely to be blocked or detected as a VPN connection. ZoogVPN also uses Manual IP resolution that makes it possible to access the VPN apps/websites unrestricted even if the censorship-prone countries blocked it.
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. Instead, the country uses tools that technologically block many VPNs from working over there.
ZoogVPN supports an unlimited number of device connections. However, the free plan only supports 1 device connection, so you’ll only be able to try it out on a single device at a time without paying for a premium plan. With the paid version, I connected all my devices during my tests, including an Android phone, an iPhone, my Windows PC, and a smart TV.
Although ZoogVPN supports unlimited devices, its small server network could lead to overcrowding and consequently slower speeds. In contrast, IPVanish allows for an unlimited number of device connections but has thousands of servers that you can choose from.
ZoogVPN works with most popular devices. It has VPN apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Android TV, and Amazon Fire TV. It also supports browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox.
You can also set up the VPN manually on Linux or via OpenVPN on supported devices. ZoogVPN works with OpenVPN-supported routers so that you can use it with your Apple TV, smart TVs, gaming consoles, and other devices. You can use ZoogVPN with DD-WRT, ASUS, Mikrotik, D-Link, TP-Link, Linksys, Tomato, Tenda, and OpenWRT routers.
ZoogVPN is easy to set up on multiple devices. It offers user-friendly native apps for popular devices and manual configuration settings with the tutorials available on its website.
The ZoogVPN app features a server list at the drop-down menu. There’s an activation button at the center of the app interface to connect with a server. To customize the app, you will find the right sidebar. You’ll find the settings menu here to activate the kill-switch or switch the security protocol.
ZoogVPN provides a fast and helpful customer support service. The VPN offers live chat, email, and phone support. ZoogVPN’s live chat support is fast and effective. I got helpful feedback quickly.
There’s also a well-detailed FAQ page, online resource center, and step-by-step tutorial and troubleshooting guides. I found useful information that helped me set up the VPN on all my devices.
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.
ZoogVPN offers attractive pricing plans. There’s a free plan that provides 10GB monthly bandwidth with limited features. If you decide to upgrade to a premium plan, you’ll find 3 attractive plans. ZoogVPN has a 1-month, 6-month, 1-year, and 2-year plan. The 2-year plan is the cheapest with an 85% discount. Even the monthly plan is still priced reasonably.
You can pay for ZoogVPN’s subscription using popular payment methods like PayPal, debit/credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express), Bitcoin, UnionPay, JCB, and Paymentwall.
ZoogVPN offers a 7-day money-back guarantee that allows you to try the full service risk-free. However, you won’t be eligible for a full refund if you’ve used more than 2GB of bandwidth. Also, customer support will have to troubleshoot your issues first. To get a refund, you’ll have to send an email to support explaining the reasons for your cancellation.
ZoogVPN is a decent service that competes favorably with the big names in the industry. The VPN is fast, unblocks popular streaming sites, features military-grade security, and has a zero-logs policy. The only drawback was the small server network that made connecting to a few servers problematic.
Even though ZoogVPN isn’t popular, the VPN’s attractive pricing and excellent performance make it a good choice for a VPN. I recommend you give the service a try.
Yes. ZoogVPN provides top-grade security, fast speeds, top-notch privacy and allows you to watch your favorite streaming platforms lag-free. However, I had a few issues connecting with some servers on the Windows app. That notwithstanding, ZoogVPN performs excellently for a small VPN.
Yes. ZoogVPN offers a free VPN plan that provides 10GB of monthly bandwidth on servers in the Netherlands, the UK, and the US. This free plan offers limited features such as weaker encryption, limited streaming, and P2P. If you upgrade to the premium plan, you can take advantage of the VPN’s 7-day money-back guarantee and claim a refund if you aren’t satisfied with the service.
Yes, ZoogVPN keeps your data secure with its military-grade encryption. I was pleased that ZoogVPN didn’t expose my actual IP address during my tests. The VPN is incorporated in a privacy-friendly jurisdiction, so it doesn’t compel VPN providers to hand over your data to the government.
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