UltraVPN Review 2024: It’s Cheap but Can It Keep You Safe?

UltraVPN is one of the cheapest VPNs available, but can you trust this low-cost option to match the security and privacy features of the top VPNs? To find out, I tested out all of its features. That meant performing extensive tests on its speeds, security, and more. I also learned everything there is to know about its privacy policy.

After my tests, I found that it can't compare to the best VPNs and doesn't offer much value. Its speeds are unreliable due to its small network of virtual servers, and it's incompatible with many devices. Worst of all, it leaked my IP at one point, so it may be dangerous.

I recommend you stay safe by sticking with a top VPN. You can check out our list of the best VPNs available today to get better speeds, more servers, and military-grade protection.

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My global testing team and I could watch most of our streaming libraries while connected to UltraVPN, with largely solid playback. For our streaming tests, we utilized an international team of testers to make sure the VPN worked with the platforms listed below. There were some playback issues, and one platform wouldn’t work at all.

While you could theoretically use a VPN to watch content that isn’t available where you live, please be aware this probably goes against the terms of service agreement and might break copyright laws.

Works With: Netflix, Hulu, Max, BBC iPlayer, and Amazon Prime Video

We were able to watch Netflix in several countries including the US, Canada, and the UK.

Videos loaded instantly, and I didn’t have to deal with any annoying buffering

However, something odd happened to our testers in Japan, France, and New Zealand. When they connected to servers in their respective countries, Netflix would show them the US library. I asked support if this was related to UltraVPN’s use of virtual servers, but I couldn’t get a conclusive answer.

Once again, I recommend being careful and making sure you only watch the library you have legal access to in your region. I tested Hulu since I’m located in the US (the main country where it’s available). While I could watch it, I was never able to get Hulu streaming in good quality.

Thankfully, there were no issues related to buffering or long loading times

On the other hand, I was happy that the VPN didn’t affect my streams on Max negatively. Surprisingly, the best experience came with Amazon Prime Video. The service is known for easily detecting VPNs, so I was happy I could watch it with zero issues.

The video played back in perfect quality once it started playing and never downgraded

Finally, our UK tester was able to watch BBC iPlayer but some troubleshooting was required.

The video took her 12 seconds to load. Then, after it had only played for 5 seconds, it stopped and she received an error message that stated: “Sorry, you don’t have enough bandwidth to play this now.” However, it worked perfectly once she switched to the Coventry location.

Doesn't Work With: Disney Plus

I could never stream Disney Plus from the US using a US UltraVPN server. I attempted several times. When I contacted support, I was told to try switching protocols, but it didn’t work. The screen just kept on loading indefinitely.

I know the issue wasn’t with my speeds since they were fast enough for streaming

Overall, UltraVPN is a solid choice for streaming, but there are a few VPNs that perform better. If you want to stay safe online while you watch all your favorite platforms without buffering or long load times, check out our list of the best VPNs for streaming.

UltraVPN can give you excellent speeds or extremely slow ones. This is due to factors like overcrowded servers and its use of virtual locations, which we’ll expand upon shortly.

The majority of our tests are done by our speed expert in the UK. She records the results for our charts from the same location with the same internet connection, so they’re easier to compare. At least 10 tests are done on each server to create accurate averages. The following tests were done with the WireGuard protocol since it was the fastest.

Our speeds increased by 9% on nearby servers and fell by 49% on distant ones

The top VPNs will reduce your speeds between 10 and 20% on nearby servers. UltraVPN actually increased our speed tester’s rates on each nearby server.

In one test, it raised her download rates by around 25%

However, I knew that UltraVPN’s speeds vary wildly. I performed my own tests and had a nearby server drop my speeds by 98%. For comparison, the top VPNs rarely lower our speeds by more than 50%. Another server less than a thousand kilometers away dropped my speeds by 40%. Then, a server over 14,000 km away only lowered my rates by 13%.

It’s so hard to predict what kind of speeds you’ll get with UltraVPN because it uses virtual servers. This means you’ll never really know how far away you are from the location, and the company doesn’t disclose where its servers really are. The VPN also has a small server network that can easily become overcrowded.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t give you any way to see what the server load is (how many people are using it at once). To get a VPN that maintains your speeds on every server in a reliable way, check out our list of the fastest and most dependable VPNs available.

High ping rates ruined the experience whenever I played games with UltraVPN. The ping lets you know how long it takes your data to travel. You’ll want it to be below 85ms to enjoy lag-free gameplay where your character can instantly respond to your commands.

All of my movements were severely compromised due to high amounts of lag

The closest server to our tester gave her a ping of 311ms. This is another consequence of virtual servers. The best VPNs hardly reduce your download and upload speeds on nearby servers, but every VPN increases your ping rates significantly as servers get farther away.

Since you never know how far away the servers really are, it’s difficult to find the right server for gaming. It could even be impossible if none are physically located near you. However, you can stay safe while you play without lag using one of the best VPNs for gaming.

UltraVPN only gives you 830 servers, but they’re spread out across an impressive 125 countries. You can connect to city-level locations in 7 countries. The US offers the most with 25 individual locations in the country.

However, city-level locations are less useful because UltraVPN only offers virtual servers. Connecting to a city, rather than a country, lets you optimize your location better with some VPNs. But, we’ve already discussed why this is impossible with this service.

Once you access the network, you can scroll down or search for a location

The servers are decently distributed. You get 43 in Europe, 34 in North America, and 26 in Asia, while there are only 3 in Africa and 2 in Oceania. Compared to top-ranking VPNs, the number of servers is minimal. CyberGhost offers about 10 times as many servers and Private Internet Access has 3 times as many.

On the bright side, it does offer some rare VPN locations like Brunei, Bhutan, and Nepal. Plus, it owns all of its servers. I always appreciate this because it eliminates a middleman that could potentially access your data.

But, the variety in these servers is also lacking. Many VPNs have servers optimized for different purposes like streaming, P2P, or gaming. UltraVPN doesn’t offer optimized servers or dedicated IPs, not even for an additional fee.

I also asked support about obfuscation technology, which hides your VPN use, and I was never able to get a solid answer about whether UltraVPN offers it. Overall, you can find VPNs with much larger networks that offer more features in this list.

UltraVPN offers all the necessary security features, but it failed one of my leak tests, so I can’t consider it completely safe. Although this only happened in one out of my 20 tests, it worried me because that’s the last thing you want to see with your VPN. When I contacted support, they simply told me to switch servers and clear my browsers’ cache.

Support staff told me this happens when a server is down or overcrowded

I was also encouraged to always check with a leak test website as soon as I connect to UltraVPN to make sure it’s working properly.

Obviously, this wasn’t very reassuring. At the very least, you should feel confident that a VPN can protect your IP. To be fair, I didn’t encounter the problem again after clearing my browser, but I’ve tested dozens of VPNs that didn’t leak my IP even with an extensive cache.

UltraVPN comes with military-grade encryption, a kill switch, PassWatch (password manager), and secure protocols, but the results of my test make me worried it can’t keep me safe. To make sure your IP and online activities are always hidden, I recommend you try one of the safest VPNs available in this list.

Encryption and Protocols

It comes with AES 256-bit encryption, the same level used by banks and militaries around the world because it’s nearly impossible to break. You also get the choice between 3 protocols.

While I’ve seen it reported that its proprietary Hydra protocol offers obfuscation, support couldn’t confirm this. You can also connect to IKEv2. This is an older protocol that’s more easily detected and a little slower, but it can be useful for mobile devices since it’s lightweight.

WireGuard was the fastest protocol in our tests, and it’s renowned as one of the most secure protocols available. This is all great, but none of this matters if the VPN leaks your IP.

Kill Switch

UltraVPN’s kill switch can only be used with the protocol set to automatic or Hydra. So, that’s a little disappointing. However, it’s still good that it offers this feature, which blocks your internet connection if the VPN suddenly disconnects (which is a possibility with UltraVPN).

Split tunneling

This feature lets you choose what traffic goes through the VPN tunnel. It’s useful if you want to keep up with local news or access your banking app while you encrypt the rest of your traffic. I also appreciate that UltraVPN offers this for all of its native apps and lets you whitelist and blacklist sites and applications.

UltraVPN claims it won’t keep identifiable logs, but it records more information than the top VPNs. While most of this information is anonymized, it seems a bit excessive, and you can find more privacy-friendly VPNs.

It’s also headquartered in the US, and the policy hasn’t undergone any independent audits. So, while I don’t believe it will record or sell any of your vital information, I understand if you’d feel more comfortable using a service that offers more privacy protections. To find a VPN that records less data with an audited policy, check out our list of the best no-log VPNs.

Does UltraVPN Keep Logs? No

The company states it will not log your IP address long term or track your online activities. However, it admits it collects your IP address when you connect to a server. UltraVPN further states the IP is immediately encrypted and is always deleted at the end of your sessions.

The VPN also collects how often you use the VPN, how much bandwidth you consume, and the duration of your sessions. This is in addition to a large amount of information on your device like its OS, the browsers you use, settings, and more.

As you can see, it records a serious amount of your data. Like every VPN, it also holds on to the information you give them directly to sign up, like payment details, emails, and more. I understand that the VPN must record some data to maintain its services. But, with this amount of data stored, you’d really want to see an independent audit.

Was UltraVPN Audited? No

UltraVPN has never undergone an independent audit, so its policies haven’t been verified. The best VPNs have their privacy claims put to the test by reputable third parties. I hope UltraVPN undergoes this process in the future.

Based in the US

I confirmed with UltraVPN support staff that the company is under US jurisdiction. The US is a founding member of the 14 Eyes Alliance. This is an agreement between several governments to share data from their citizens. It also means there’s a possibility the company could be asked to change its policies in the future.

Does UltraVPN Work in China? Yes

According to UltraVPN, you should be able to use it in China.

They gave me no further tips, but I’d recommend using the Hydra protocol

The Chinese government has banned several VPNs, but it’s uncommon for it to go after individuals for using them. However, I recommend you read up on the laws and regulations before you decide to use a VPN in the country. My team and I don’t condone any illegal activities and urge you to use your VPN responsibly.

UltraVPN hasn’t always allowed torrenting with its service, but it does at the moment. It works decently for these purposes.

While connected to the Czech Republic server, I could download a 700MB file in about 28 minutes. This is basically the same amount of time it would take me with no VPN connected, so it hardly affected my download speeds at all. However, the VPN doesn’t offer features like port forwarding, which some VPNs allow to let you download torrents even faster.

With that said, the security issues I encountered with UltraVPN, make me wary of using it for torrenting. You never know who you’re connecting to on a P2P network, and it’s easy to download a mislabeled file.

Torrenting is legal in most countries, but downloading copyrighted files isn’t. We recommend you only access torrents within the public domain, so you never break any laws.