VyprVPN

VyprVPN has been one of the best providers in the game for years. But, its parent company, Golden Frog, was recently purchased by a US entity. With VyprVPN no longer under Swiss jurisdiction, is it still one of the leading providers?

After extensive testing, I still rank VyprVPN as a top choice. Even though it’s owned by a US company, it has a proven privacy policy that shows it doesn’t log or share your data. Plus, it’s just as impressive regarding safety, torrenting, and its intuitive design. With that said, it’s not the cheapest VPN, and it lowered our speed more than expected in a few tests.

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Streaming — Great Playback With Every Major Streaming Service

We had a great experience streaming with VyprVPN. It worked for every platform we tried it with, and it only required a small amount of troubleshooting if it didn’t connect on the first try. So, it’s a great option for safely streaming your favorite platforms in HD from anywhere.

Works With: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Max, Crunchyroll, YouTube, Hulu, Disney+, & BBC iPlayer

We could watch Netflix US in full HD while connected to VyprVPN.

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That said, its Canada and Australia servers only let us watch Netflix Originals. These are titles that Netflix owns the rights to, so they’re available in all of the platform’s libraries.

VyprVPN also worked with several other US platforms, like Max.

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Unfortunately, we had to test several US servers before we could watch Amazon Prime Video. It worked straight away on UK servers, provided we were using Chrome (it didn’t work with Firefox). Similarly, BBC iPlayer only worked with Chrome as well.

Finally, we could stream on Hulu and Disney+ in great quality once we used the Chameleon protocol. During our tests, we tried switching browsers and using servers in different American cities. However, we kept getting error messages or ending up with the dreaded endless loading screen on Disney+. In the end, VyprVPN’s proprietary protocol helped us safely access these platforms.

Overall, VyprVPN is a good option for streaming. However, it did take a lot of effort to get a few platforms to work. There are other options we’ve tested that make streaming more seamless.

Speed — Inconsistent Results on Some Servers

VyprVPN dropped our speeds more than average. The WireGuard protocol gave us the best speeds, so that’s what we used for our chart. However, it still dropped our rates much more than we expected.

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The top VPNs drop your speeds by 10-20% on nearby servers, and VyprVPN was much slower on average. It was quite slow on distant servers too, with us losing up to 77% of our download rates on far off locations.

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Some of these slow speeds could be blamed on crowded servers. Unfortunately, VyprVPN doesn’t list its server load (a measure of how full they are). If you really need fast speeds for all your high-bandwidth activities, I recommend you try one of the fastest VPNs around in this list.

Gaming — Excellent With Nearby Servers

VyprVPN allowed me to play games online without lag. You want your ping to be around 85ms or below to get instant responses to your commands while playing online. We found decent ping rates on local servers, but we also had good results with several nearby locations.

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However, it may not work as well if you can’t find a nearby server (around 5,000km away or less). The sad truth is I’ve never tested a VPN that doesn’t drastically increase ping rates on distant servers. Unfortunately, VyprVPN doesn’t have the largest server network, which is one of the only reasons why it’s not perfect for everyone in this category.

Server Network — Few Servers, but Spread Worldwide

Although VyprVPN’s network is smaller with 700 servers, it covers 70 locations around the world, which is great for reducing server overcrowding and providing fast local connections. I tested dozens of country servers and never had any connection issues.

VyprVPN operates both physical and virtual servers. Virtual locations are simulated servers that are in a different country than the one listed. On the plus side, this can be more secure than having a physical server in a country with known security risks such as Cambodia.

Many customers have stated that VyprVPN servers connect them to the wrong location. I encountered this myself with the Pakistan server. I told support it gave me an American IP, and they said they were aware of the issue. They claim it’s rare, and that it’ll be fixed soon. However, I recommend you perform a leak test to make sure you’re actually connected to the location stated in the app.

Unfortunately, VyprVPN doesn’t offer RAM-only servers. These give you extra security because they’re wiped each time they’re turned off. However, it runs its own zero-knowledge DNS servers, so this wasn’t a big downside for me (more on that later).

VyprVPN also owns its entire server network. I always appreciate it when VPNs own their servers because it gets rid of the middleman which could potentially compromise your privacy.

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The only big downside of VyprVPN’s network is that you can’t choose city-level locations in many countries (only in the US and Australia). It also doesn’t offer dedicated/static IP addresses. So, while the servers perform well, there are a few things VyprVPN could do to improve its network.

Security — Robust Security Features Make VyprVPN Safe

VyprVPN’s security is top-class. Powerful encryption and custom features like its Chameleon protocol keep your online activity protected from snoops and hackers. It also offers a service called VyprVPN Cloud, which helps you encrypt connections on cloud networks (primarily useful for businesses). This is in addition to standard features like public WiFi protection.

Industry-Leading Encryption

VyprVPN is very secure because it uses best-in-class AES-256 bit encryption. This is the same military-grade encryption used by the US government to secure state secrets. The strength of this encryption lies in the fact that the number of possible keys is so large that it’s practically impossible to crack.

It also uses Perfect Forward Secrecy to generate a unique encryption key every time you connect to a server. So, even if an old key was ever unlocked, you’d still be safe with a brand new one.

Passes All Leak Test Results

VyprVPN offers the same DNS and IP leak protection as other top-tier VPNs. With ipleak.net, I tested servers in many countries, each passing its DNS and IP leak tests. It also protected me from IPv4, IPv6, and WebRTC leaks.

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Even during the test where my IP didn’t match my server, my personal data was never revealed. As mentioned above, many people have run across a strange error where servers give them an IP in a different country than the one listed. Thankfully, this won’t affect your safety.

Private DNS Servers

VyprVPN operates its own DNS servers, a unique security benefit compared to other services which rent 3rd party servers. While connected to VyprVPN, it runs all your requests through VyprDNS. This gives you an extra layer of protection. What’s more, this feature is automatically enabled across VyprVPN’s whole network.

Versatile Protocols, Including the Custom Chameleon Protocol

One of VyprVPN’s best features is its proprietary protocol. Chameleon offers all the security benefits of OpenVPN, but also scrambles your metadata to prevent DPI, VPN blocking, and throttling. This means Chameleon is great for restrictive networks, like schools and public libraries. Here’s a quick rundown of the other protocols VyprVPN offers:

• WireGuard. This protocol prioritizes security while optimizing for speed. During our tests, this was by far the fastest protocol.
• IKEv2. This protocol is a great choice for mobile networks since it can quickly reestablish connections.
• OpenVPN. This protocol is a good all-arounder optimized for security and firewall evasion. It’s the safest protocol since it’s open-source, so it’s constantly being checked for vulnerabilities by people around the world.

Kill Switch

VyprVPN has a kill switch, but it’s not automatic. I had to enable the kill switch in the app’s “customize” tab. As this is a key feature that makes sure you’re never online with an unencrypted connection, this annoyed me. For most of the VPNs I test, the kill switch feature is enabled by default.

Split Tunneling

VyprVPN’s split tunneling feature (Connection Per App) lets you choose which apps bypass the VPN. This is useful if you want to secure your data for a certain app while still having access to your local connection for things like ordering takeout food or finding nearby events.

It’s important to note all apps are set to “Use VPN” by default in VyprVPN’s settings to prioritize security. This can be a little annoying if you only want 1 app or site to be encrypted. Another downside to this feature is that it’s only available on the Mac app.

Privacy — Your Private Information Remains Confidential

VyprVPN is a trustworthy service. It follows an independently verified no-logs policy. It also owns all of its own servers, so you don’t have to worry about any middlemen handling your data.

Does VyprVPN Keep Logs? No

VyprVPN maintains a strict no-logs policy. It guarantees on its website that your data will never be sold to third parties. It doesn’t record your IP address, how often you connect, timestamps, or any of your online activities.

VyprVPN mentions in its privacy policy that they may retain personal data associated with your account “only for as long as is necessary…” However, this only refers to the information you give them to sign up. If you want even more privacy, you can create an account with a new email address.

Was VyprVPN Audited? Yes

In 2018, VyprVPN hired independent security auditor Leviathan Security to verify its no-logs policy. The audit initially identified areas where VyprVPN was potentially exposing users’ information, such as the kill switch, which was inadvertently storing user IP addresses. The report confirms that VyprVPN immediately fixed every issue.

Despite the no-logs policy being proven, this audit was conducted years ago. I would prefer if VyprVPN conducted annual audits like some other top-class VPNs. However, Leviathan Security is a reputable firm. Plus, VyprVPN has had no controversies in the years since its audit. So, I still trust its privacy claims.

Based in the US

VyprVPN is currently owned by a Texas-based, US company called Certida. The United States is a member of the 5-Eyes Alliance, a group of countries that have agreed to share intelligence on their citizens. Thankfully, VyprVPN’s no logging policy means they’d have nothing to share if anyone ever made that request.

Does VyprVPN Work in China? No

Support staff stated that there have been issues using VyprVPN in China.

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The Chinese government has banned many VPNs, but there have been no publicly-reported cases of them going after the individuals who use them. We don’t condone any illegal activities and urge you to read up on the local laws before using a VPN.

If you choose to utilize a VPN in the country, you can read this list of VPNs that have been proven to work in China.

Torrenting — A Good Choice For P2P

VyprVPN is safe, private, and quick enough to be excellent for torrenting. I could download copyright-free files from BitTorrent on VyprVPN’s servers in the UK, the US, Thailand, and Australia.

For example, I downloaded a 700MB file on several servers, and it only took a few minutes. With nearby servers, there was only a few seconds’ difference in download speed compared to my base connection. While VyprVPN doesn’t offer port forwarding or specialized torrenting servers, it doesn’t really matter when the performance is this great.

While torrenting is legal in most countries, downloading copyrighted content isn’t. I recommend you only torrenting files in the public domain, so you don’t break any laws.