Swiss company PrivadoVPN is a junior provider with a simple messaging to its audience. It is “a fast and secure VPN that you can trust,” the website says. Well, we’ll check it out today.
The network has “hundreds of servers” located in 45 countries. That’s less than many others – the leading providers have thousands of servers – but it’s enough to meet the needs of the ordinary user.
PrivadoVPN has a wide range of applications for different operating systems, namely Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Fire TV and Android TV. The service supports one connection on the free plan, and up to 10 simultaneous connections on the premium plan. It is worth noting that larger companies on the premium plan, there is usually no such limit.
Pros & Cons
- 10GB/month limited free plan
- Unblock US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Disney Plus, Prime Video
- Decent WireGuard speed on Windows, Android and iOS
- Effective Kill Switch
- Split tunneling (*not for all devices)
- Great free version
- No-log policy
- P2P and SOCKS5 proxy support
- Works in China
- Small number of servers
- Mid range price/performance ratio
- Fire TV Stick app does not work
- Limited number of payment methods available
- Not many advanced features
- No 3rd party audit
Security
PrivadoVPN takes privacy seriously. Located in Switzerland, the service uses a secure privacy policy and high security standards, including AES-256 encryption, OpenVPN, and the WireGuard protocol.
This service has successfully passed the DNS leak test.
Many companies seek to build customer trust by issuing transparency reports that document interactions with governments and law enforcement agencies.
Unfortunately, Privado has no such materials. Many VPNs also regularly have their infrastructure and policies audited by third parties. PrivadoVPN has not published any third-party audits, but says it plans to do so in the future.
PrivadoVPN only collects a small amount of information, and all of it is anonymized.
The service doesn’t keep a record of anything sensitive, such as your IP address or history of visiting any sites. The only information the Swiss authorities can get is your email address and username.
Nevertheless, PrivadoVPN should take up the issue of auditing by an independent party to verify their claims. This has become standard practice in the VPN industry and provides an additional level of audience trust in the product.
Speed
In order to achieve the most objective results of the test conducted, we choose the same server on the speedtest service site during testing, thus leveling out the loss of speed due to ping, in order to be able to also calculate the potential loss/gain in the case of using PrivadoVPN.
The download speed of data from the network in the case of the Berlin location in PrivadoVPN dropped by 9.6%, and data downloads in turn dropped by 10.12%.
Considering the figures from this test, we can say that PrivadoVPN showed decent results and deserved a rating of 5/5, as the average figures on the market of VPN providers’ services loss of speed received and sent is equal to 10-20%.
Features
Kill Switch PrivadoVPN really works
PrivadoVPN has a very good Kill Switch. By simply turning it on without connecting to a VPN server, you completely cut off your connection to the Internet. This is very useful in case your VPN connection drops, which guarantees your privacy.
Most Kill Switch features in other VPN services only disconnect the internet if they detect a broken VPN connection. This makes PrivadoVPN even more secure.
No additional security tools
PrivadoVPN is secure, but it doesn’t have many extra security features. That’s fine if you’re looking for a simple solution, but some of the most popular VPNs, feature ad blockers, split tunneling, diskless RAM servers and more.
Price
PrivadoVPN is a convenient and easy-to-use and reliable VPN, but don’t expect flexible features and personalized solutions. You won’t get much for your money, At $4.99 a month for the best offer, it’s a pretty expensive VPN. For that price, we’d like to see investment in streaming-optimized servers and other privacy tools.
PrivadoVPN has a free version and a premium version, available in two payment plans. Here they are:
PrivadoVPN is available in two payment plans: a monthly subscription and an annual subscription.
With an annual subscription, you save 38% each month, which is $4.99 per month.
That doesn’t compare to some of the cheapest VPNs, which also includes some of the absolute best VPNs.
All plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try the service without risk and drop it if you’re not completely satisfied.
Unfortunately, PrivadoVPN doesn’t offer a true free VPN trial, especially one where no upfront payment is required.
You can pay for the service with Mastercard/Visa, cryptocurrency, PayPal, Discover, Amex, JCB, and Diners Club International. You can also pay via Apple Pay or Google Pay.
Streaming
PrivadoVPN did not unblock BBC iPlayer on its London server, but it worked on its Manchester server.
Later the situation was just the opposite, everything worked on the London server, but not on the Manchester location.
Regarding ITV, we couldn’t get the service up and running on either server, unfortunately.
On the other hand, PrivadoVPN can unblock other popular streaming services such as HBO Max, Disney+, Hulu and the American Amazon Prime Video catalog.
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to watch sports on DAZN.
Despite the unlocking of many platforms, the lack of identifiable streaming servers is problematic. You are left to guess which servers work with each streaming platform through much trial and error.
And once you find a server that works with your chosen streaming app, the PrivadoVPN app won’t let you save that server for future use. And the next time you want to watch your favorite content, on the server that’s right for you, it might not work.
Overall, PrivadoVPN is pretty good for unblocking video content, but there are much better VPNs for streaming.
Conclusion
PrivadoVPN is a small and relatively new VPN service that gets the basics of VPN security right, but is probably not yet ready to grow and increase its influence in this market and show openness and transparency to the company.
PrivadoVPN, both free and premium, is pretty good when it comes to streaming. It unblocks major streaming sites like US Netflix, HBO Max and Hulu. But it doesn’t have smart DNS to easily bypass geo-restrictions from TV devices.
We recommend the PrivadoVPN premium subscription for those looking for a simple solution without a set of extra tools, for basic tasks, watching streaming services, downloading torrents and pretty good security. The robust Kill Switch and secure privacy policy will help you do just that. Regardless, you can still get more advanced VPN solutions for less cost.