Whoer VPN Review 2024 — Is the Free Plan Really Secure?

Whoer is a lesser-known VPN that offers both free and premium apps. It claims to provide top-tier security and privacy features that match the top VPNs in the industry. But can the free version really keep you safe, and is it worth trying the premium version?

Unfortunately, I couldn’t thoroughly test Whoer due to the limited payment methods it accepts. Although its website makes it look like you can purchase it with international currencies, a teammate from the US and I couldn't pay with our credit cards. PayPal was also completely unavailable, even though Whoer claims to accept it.

However, after testing its free version, I don’t think Whoer VPN is worth your time. As you might expect, it’s pretty limited. It didn’t give me a good impression of the premium app, which has a small server network and lacks important features like 24/7 live support. If you want a service that offers various payment methods, fast speeds, and thousands of servers worldwide, you can try one of our top-rated VPNs from this list.

Streaming — Free Plan Doesn’t Work for Streaming

My team and I couldn’t test Whoer VPN’s premium version with any streaming services because we couldn’t successfully subscribe. We only tried testing the free servers.

The free plan offers you 2 servers, and both are in the Netherlands. Our team members in the Netherlands couldn’t get it to work with any streaming services available in the country. They tested it with platforms such as Netflix Netherlands, Prime Video, Disney+, and NPO Start and couldn’t even log into their accounts.

You could theoretically use a service like Whoer to access content that's not available in your region. However, doing so would likely be seen as copyright violation. Only our tester in the Netherlands attempted to stream with Whoer since there was a free server in her country.

The premium version might work for safe streaming, but there’s a good chance you’ll have trouble signing up like we did. If you want a reliable way to watch the content available in your country safely, check out this list of the best VPNs for streaming.

Speed — Very Slow on Free Servers

Whoer VPN’s free servers are quite slow, which is common with free VPNs.

My team and I typically test various worldwide servers to gauge a VPN’s overall performance. This is purely done to assess their speeds. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to create one of our speed charts for Whoer since the free version only lets you connect to 2 servers in the same country.

I tested Whoer’s free servers in the Netherlands from my location in Nairobi, and my average speed drop was more than 90%. Even though the Netherlands is far from my location, about 7,000km away, this is a much larger drop than usual.

The top VPNs typically lower your speeds around 40% at that distance. I’ve even tested free VPNs that only dropped my rates by 60% with servers that far away.

I can’t say whether the premium servers are fast, but they weren’t very quick in our previous tests. However, we do regularly test many top VPNs for speeds, and the best ones lower your rates by so little it’s hardly noticeable. To learn more about them, check out this list of the fastest VPNs we’ve tested.

Gaming — Poor Results With Free Servers

As you might have guessed, I could only test Whoer’s free plan for gaming. Unsurprisingly, the performance was disappointing. When I tried playing Roblox, the game wouldn’t load at all.

Minecraft requires less data, so I wasn’t surprised that it technically worked with Whoer. However, the gameplay was frustratingly slow. During my Minecraft session, there was a long delay between my button presses and the character’s actions (over a second).

Most free VPNs struggle to provide lag-free gaming

These results weren’t surprising because the ping on the free server was pretty high (312ms). You’ll want a ping rate below 85ms for smooth gameplay. This high rate was partially due to the server’s distance from me. However, even with a paid account, Whoer might not have a server near you as you’ll see in our next section.

If you want a VPN that can keep you safe while maintaining low ping, look into this list of the best VPNs for gaming.

Server Network — Small With Many Missing Regions

Whoer’s free version only offers two servers (both in the Netherlands). The customer support agent told me that the complete app has servers in 21 countries, mostly in Europe and Asia. This includes servers in Canada, Germany, France, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK, and the US. There are no locations in Africa and South America.

I also like that many of its locations are city-level

The support agent also confirmed that all the servers are physically located in the countries you connect to. Some VPNs offer virtual servers that aren’t actually in the location listed. They also confirmed that it owns all its servers, but the company doesn’t provide much information about its network — including how many servers are available in each country.

Whoer doesn’t offer any additional network services, such as dedicated IP addresses. I like these because they are helpful if you need a consistent online identity for services like website hosting.

Overall, Whoer VPN’s server network is disappointing. You can review this list to find VPNs with much larger server networks.

Security — Decent Variety of Safe Features

Whoers has adequate security features to keep your data safe online. It even offers some advanced options, like double VPN. And even though I had many issues with its free app, it did pass all of my leak tests.

On the other hand, it’s missing some common, useful features such as split tunneling, ad and malware blockers, private DNS servers, and more. To get a service with all the top security features, you can try one of these VPNs.

Encryption and Security Protocols

Whoer VPN uses top-notch 256-bit AES encryption, the same level used by the military, to protect your online activities. This type of encryption is extremely secure, making it practically impossible to crack.

Additionally, Whoer offers various protocols including IKEv2/IPSec and OpenVPN. IKEv2 is known for its stability and is a good choice for mobile devices that switch between WiFi and cellular networks. OpenVPN is considered the safest protocol around since it’s open-source, which means it’s regularly checked for vulnerabilities by worldwide experts.

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to switch protocols with the free app.

Kill switch

I was happy to find that Whoer VPN offers a kill switch — some of the smaller VPNs I’ve tested neglect this. A kill switch is a safety feature that automatically cuts off your internet if the VPN connection drops unexpectedly. I consider it a necessary fail-safe, and I’m wary of using VPNs without it.

Web proxy

Whoer also provides a web proxy tool. Although this sounds like something fancy, it’s actually just Whoer’s version of a browser extension, which is compatible with Chrome, Firfox, Vivaldi, Brave, Sidekick, and Opera. It doesn’t encrypt your full connection like a VPN does. Instead, it just changes the location within your browser.

Like with the free VPN, you can only connect to the free Netherlands locations unless you have a premium account.

Double VPN

This feature routes your internet connection through two different VPN servers instead of just one. This means your online traffic is encrypted twice, adding an extra layer of security. However, you should be aware that this almost always results in slower speeds. This feature is also irrelevant for the free app since you can only connect to 1 country.

Privacy — Doesn’t Log Data, but Not Audited

Whoer VPN claims it won’t collect any identifiable data during your sessions, but you have to provide your email address to use the free plan. I also didn’t find any proof that it has undergone any independent audits.

Does Whoer Keep Logs? No

Whoer is clear in its policies and states it never monitors your online activities. Its policies say it only collects the information necessary to provide you with its services, such as the email you use to register, license key, subscription date, and trial status. Whoer also logs your operating system version and the app version you’re using for troubleshooting purposes.

I have no issues with its policies, but I was a bit disappointed that you have to provide your email address before you can use the free service. Many free VPNs don’t require this, and I feel more comfortable that way, especially when testing out a new service.

Was Whoer Audited? No

Unfortunately, Whoer’s privacy policy hasn’t been audited or verified by a third party. I couldn’t find any information on the website or anywhere online about this. I even tried asking their support team about it but got no reply. Personally, I prefer using VPNs that have had their privacy policies independently checked and verified.

Based in Cyprus

Whoer VPN is based in a country outside the 5/9/14-Eyes Alliance. This is basically an agreement between governments to share data about their citizens. It’s always a good thing when a VPN is headquartered outside of these countries because they could hypothetically ask a provider to change their policies in the future.

Does Whoer Work in China? Maybe

A Whoer customer support agent told me that you can use Whoer in China, but it depends on your location and your internet provider. Therefore, I’m skeptical about how well it works. The SSTP and L2TP protocols would probably be your best bet within the country if you decide to try it out.

Most VPNs I have tested struggle to work in China

The Chinese government has banned many VPNs, but there haven’t been any publicly-reported cases of them going after individuals for using them. My team and I don’t condone any illegal activities and advise you to familiarize yourself with the local laws before using a VPN. If you choose to use one in the country, you can read this list of VPNs that regularly work in China.

Torrenting — Free Plan is Bad for Torrenting

Whoer VPN’s free plan performed poorly for torrenting. When I contacted customer support to find out if I could use P2P networks with the free app, the agent said that I could only use the servers where torrenting is not banned. They mentioned that the Netherlands servers aren’t banned, so everything should have been good to go.

The process required some complicated setup, and even after all that, my file never started downloading. I obviously wasn’t able to test any more servers. However, if you’re interested in staying safe during P2P file-sharing, I recommend you take a look at our list of VPNs that are excellent for fast and safe for torrenting.

While torrenting is legal in most countries, downloading copyrighted materials isn’t. The vpnMentor team is against all copyright violations, so we ask you to please only access torrents within the public domain.