CyberGhost VPN and Hotspot Shield both offer users a range of great features and benefits, however, their approaches to privacy are very different. While CyberGhost has a strict no logging policy, Hotspot Shield has been the subject of an investigation into its data collection methods and is recognized as keeping partial logs. When it comes to how secure your connections are, CyberGhost offers military grade 256-bit AES encryption, IP and DNS leak protection, and a kill switch. Hotspot Shield does not offer a kill switch and its encryption is either 256-bit or 128-bit AES depending on the operating system you are using. It does however, run OpenVPN, which is more stable and secure than either PPTP or LT2P. While Hotspot Shield does have more server locations than CyberGhost at the current time, CyberGhost boast around five times more servers. CyberGhost also offers users two more simultaneous connections per license than Hotspot Shield, with seven to its five.
Features
9.4
Pricing
9.4
Ease of Use
10.0
Reliability & Support
9.6
Features
8.0
Pricing
9.0
Ease of Use
9.0
Reliability & Support
8.6
Rating
Features
9.4
8.0
0.0
Pricing
9.4
9.0
0.0
Ease of Use
10.0
9.0
0.0
Reliability & Support
9.6
8.6
0.0
Reviews
Review by our expert
Kate Veale
Cybersecurity Researcher
9.6
CyberGhost is a fast, reliable VPN with a budget-friendly price and, with its latest discount, it's even more affordable! But not every VPN is as good as it claims. Could CyberGhost be weaker on safety? I put the service through hundreds of tests to find out.
Whether you're interested in its speeds, server network, or security measures—or just want to know if it's reliable for gaming—I have al
Works better than any other I have tried, very secureIt's great, if ever connection drops it shuts down, which is seldom, but this means you are always safe from hackers, etc. I have used for 2 years and never been let down, i find it great value and so easy to use.
Latest negative user review
Philip
2.0
Very poor with service the same.Worked a few times when connecting to BBC iPlayer, which is the main reason I bought it, but 90% of the time it doesn't. Have tried everything they suggested, but still no go. Then took many screenshots and sent to them and they have been working on it for over a month now, with no success.
Really at a loss to know what to do next!
Hotspot Shield is a popular VPN service with over 650 million users and multiple servers in 55+ countries.
In fact, the website claims it is the #1 grossing app for productivity in the US App Store. (When we checked the App Store source, it actually indicated #8, which is still an impressive ranking.)
One of the features that make Hotspot Shield special is its unique Catapult Hydra protocol,
Fast VPN!Based on my trial tests, I am very pleased with the speed and access to streaming sites like Hulu and Amazon Prime. I knew I will get good speed in the US. I am impressed with the speed internationally. I haven’t tried additional services yet.
Latest negative user review
Philip
2.0
Very poor with service the same.Worked a few times when connecting to BBC iPlayer, which is the main reason I bought it, but 90% of the time it doesn't. Have tried everything they suggested, but still no go. Then took many screenshots and sent to them and they have been working on it for over a month now, with no success.
Really at a loss to know what to do next!
CyberGhost is a fast, reliable VPN with a budget-friendly price and, with its latest discount, it's even more affordable! But not every VPN is as good as it claims. Could CyberGhost be weaker on safety? I put the service through hundreds of tests to find out.
Whether you're interested in its speeds, server network, or security measures—or just want to know if it's reliable for gaming—I have al
Hotspot Shield is a popular VPN service with over 650 million users and multiple servers in 55+ countries.
In fact, the website claims it is the #1 grossing app for productivity in the US App Store. (When we checked the App Store source, it actually indicated #8, which is still an impressive ranking.)
One of the features that make Hotspot Shield special is its unique Catapult Hydra protocol,
Works better than any other I have tried, very secureIt's great, if ever connection drops it shuts down, which is seldom, but this means you are always safe from hackers, etc. I have used for 2 years and never been let down, i find it great value and so easy to use.
JoeR
10.0
Fast VPN!Based on my trial tests, I am very pleased with the speed and access to streaming sites like Hulu and Amazon Prime. I knew I will get good speed in the US. I am impressed with the speed internationally. I haven’t tried additional services yet.
Latest negative user review
Philip
2.0
Very poor with service the same.Worked a few times when connecting to BBC iPlayer, which is the main reason I bought it, but 90% of the time it doesn't. Have tried everything they suggested, but still no go. Then took many screenshots and sent to them and they have been working on it for over a month now, with no success.
Really at a loss to know what to do next!
Lftee
2.0
Great but file size, and where they keep it, is a problem***Hotspot shield*** is a **simple, affordable **and **great** software, did me a lot of service for free, even though *torrenting and privacy may not be reliable*, pretty much anything else you’d do using the internet (including streaming) works fantastically.
But, it has been almost a year I didn’t use it, and now when I was trying to clean some useless things from my C drive, I found **22GB text file** in my **C Drive **(or the Drive where Windows is installed or whatever you call it) **from Hotspot Shield, **I was **astonished** as I have never seen such a Huge text file ever even in Software development field… I was gonna uninstall it as I didn’t use it anymore, I just found a new reason to why…
CyberGhost VPN has the greater number of servers, offers greater security with a kill switch, IP and DNS leak protection, and 256-bit AES encryption throughout. Both offer fast and reliable connections with unlimited bandwidth and can be used on all major operating systems. Both offer a 45-day money-back guarantee. CyberGhost and Hotspot Shield can both be used to access geo-restricted content, including Netflix, however, CyberGhost does run into problems with BBC iPlayer. Hotspot Shield’s users benefit from the vendors Catapult Hydra data compression technology; however, these need to be weighed against its logging policies and previous investigations into its use of data. You can get CyberGhost for a great price if you use one of these coupon codes.
CyberGhost VPN has the greater number of servers, offers greater security with a kill switch, IP and DNS leak protection, and 256-bit AES encryption throughout. Both offer fast and reliable connections with unlimited bandwidth and can be used on all major operating systems. Both offer a 45-day money-back guarantee. CyberGhost and Hotspot Shield can both be used to access geo-restricted content, including Netflix, however, CyberGhost does run into problems with BBC iPlayer. Hotspot Shield’s users benefit from the vendors Catapult Hydra data compression technology; however, these need to be weighed against its logging policies and previous investigations into its use of data. You can get CyberGhost for a great price if you use one of these coupon codes.
CyberGhost allows torrenting across specific servers and is registered in Romania, which does not have very strict censorship or surveillance laws currently. Hotspot Shield does not allow torrenting / P2P on any of its servers.
CyberGhost allows torrenting across specific servers and is registered in Romania, which does not have very strict censorship or surveillance laws currently. Hotspot Shield does not allow torrenting / P2P on any of its servers.
Both CyberGhost and Hotspot Shield work well with the Windows operating system and offer easy to download and install apps. Both offer unlimited bandwidth and stable connections. CyberGhost’s technology allows users to connect to the best server for their needs by setting up a distinct profile based on their main reason for using a VPN. Hotspot Shield users benefit from faster speeds through the use of Catapult Hydra technology. However, Hotspot Shield users have no live chat customer services option and user guides provided on the website are unclear.
Both CyberGhost and Hotspot Shield work well with the Windows operating system and offer easy to download and install apps. Both offer unlimited bandwidth and stable connections. CyberGhost’s technology allows users to connect to the best server for their needs by setting up a distinct profile based on their main reason for using a VPN. Hotspot Shield users benefit from faster speeds through the use of Catapult Hydra technology. However, Hotspot Shield users have no live chat customer services option and user guides provided on the website are unclear.
Both services work on Android and the app from Hotspot Shield allows users to automatically connect to a proxy browser. CyberGhost’s users benefit from excellent speeds, military grade encryption, and a 7-day free trial on this operating system.
Both services work on Android and the app from Hotspot Shield allows users to automatically connect to a proxy browser. CyberGhost’s users benefit from excellent speeds, military grade encryption, and a 7-day free trial on this operating system.
CyberGhost and Hotspot shield both offer apps for the Mac operating system. Both offer fast connection speeds and Hotspot Shield users have the additional benefit of Catapult Hydra technology to improve the speeds they can achieve. CyberGhost users, however, benefit from better security, strict no logging policies, and better customer services.
CyberGhost and Hotspot shield both offer apps for the Mac operating system. Both offer fast connection speeds and Hotspot Shield users have the additional benefit of Catapult Hydra technology to improve the speeds they can achieve. CyberGhost users, however, benefit from better security, strict no logging policies, and better customer services.
Both vendors provide native apps for iOS that are simple to set up and use. CyberGhost users have the additional benefit of a 7-day free trial for this operating system.
Both vendors provide native apps for iOS that are simple to set up and use. CyberGhost users have the additional benefit of a 7-day free trial for this operating system.
Both vendors have servers throughout the USA and both are able to bypass geo-restrictions to stream content, including US Netflix. However, CyberGhost users have the additional benefit of strict no logging policies and DNS leak protection.
Both vendors have servers throughout the USA and both are able to bypass geo-restrictions to stream content, including US Netflix. However, CyberGhost users have the additional benefit of strict no logging policies and DNS leak protection.
Both vendors offer fast speeds, stable connections, and easy to use apps for all major operating systems. However, CyberGhost offers the better security with 256-bit AES encryption, an automatic kill switch, strict no logging policy, and IP and DNS leak protection. Combined with its superior customer services approach, including live chat options and easy to follow guides, it is the clear winner between the two vendors.
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Kate Veale
Katie Kasunic